← The Ryen Russillo Show
The Ryen Russillo Show
Giannis Ready to Be Traded? Belichick HoF Snub w/ Voter Mike Sando, Plus Surprising & Disappointing NBA Teams w/ Austin Rivers
01:35:15
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Hey Priscilla listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Hey guys, it's Rhea from Chicks in the Office and we're partnering with Abercrombie for the newest drop of their active brand. Your personal best YPB leggings are made with buttery soft fabrics that hug you in all the right places and come in Abercrombie's viral Curve Love fit designed to eliminate waist gap. Paired with sports bras and super soft sweatshirts. It's activewear that supports my lifestyle both in and out of the gym. Head into the new year feeling your personal best. Shop Active by Abercrombie in the app, online and in stores. The Ryan Rosillo show is presented by DraftKings. We have a bunch of breaking news. Giannis trade demands cranking up. I've got a few minutes on that report. Also, Mike Sando is going to join us for about 10 minutes. He is a voter for the Pro Football hall of Fame. He will explain how Belichick was left out. He was in the room. We also have Austin Rivers on some of the surprise teams, including a Clippers team that I watched live in person in Utah and saw them beat up on the jazz. They're 16 and three. A lot of basketball stuff that I want to get to with him. The alliance is back and Life Advice Super Bowl 60 deserves a sports book built for the moment. DraftKings sportsbook and official sports betting partner of Super Bowl 60 puts you right in the center of the biggest game of the year. And anything can happen during the Super Bowl. And DraftKings has your back with early exit. If your player goes down in the first half, you still get paid in cash when your bet settles. No bonus bets, no waiting. While other sports books don't offer injury protection, DraftKings covers the entire first half, even the second quarter. An early exit works on live bets, too. Pregame or in game, DraftKings has you covered. New to DraftKings, new customers can bet just $5 to get 300 in bonus bets. If your bet wins, download the DraftKings sportsbook app and use the code RYAN. That's code RYAN R Y E N to turn five bucks into 300 in bonus bets. If your bet wins in partnership with DraftKings, the Crown is yours.
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We have kind of breaking news. Giannis was not traded. All right, but in the time that we were taping this show before we taped, we had Austin Rivers on about an hour and a half before this News came out. ESPN.com Sham Sharania saying the two time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo is ready for a new home ahead of the February 5th trade deadline as several teams have made aggressive offers to the Bucks who are starting to lose. Listen, league sources told ESPN on Wednesday. This is the line I thought was interesting. Sources said Antetokounmpo has informed the Bucks for months that he believes the moment has come to part ways after 12 plus years together. This timeline has been annoying and people have acted, I think, at least in some, I would say vocal minority Bucks fan groups where they've been like, you know, it's just you guys, it's like, no it isn't. This went back to the combine that I talked about where it was like very specific. And so look, here's the point. This story in particular feels very directed that this is Giannis's side of things, telling the Bucks, you've got a week before the trade deadline. Get us the fuck out of here. All right? That's all this is. This is a shot, a salvo, however you want to describe it, where it's like, all right, let's crank this up a little bit more here. This is a massive waste of time. This should have already been done. The Bucks tried to get really cute and salvage what was a declining roster, which is what is supposed to happen after you win a championship with some older players like Middleton wasn't going to get better, Lopez wasn't going to get better, Drew Holiday, they flipped for Dame to be aggressive, proactive, to show what they were doing for Giannis. And then Dame comes in and that ends up being a disaster. And then to show how creative they can be all over again. And so I don't blame Horse for trying to figure out how to duct tape this thing together as it was falling apart. But I think there's like a vacuum moment where you go, what are we doing for Miles Turner again? We're waving and stretching the 100 million on Dame to then pay Turner 100 million. And it's like you know, Miles Turner had a nice little season. Stretch five. You need to stretch. Stretch five next to Giannis. But, like, it feels like we're doing a lot of stuff for Miles Turner. But that's the problem is you sit there around a star like, you know, again, I think one of the three best players in the NBA when he's healthy, which he is not right now, which has been an issue towards the end. But still, there's a market for this guy because of how special he is. There's also the deadline of going into October where you have to worry about his player option, or the deadline for a four year supermax extension if you're the bucks for $275 million, which I think if everybody was happy, they would probably just go ahead and do. I also think that the Bucks are afraid to do it because they don't want to have it on the record that they were going to go ahead and trade this guy. It's very clear that Giannis and the way his camp have handled this is that they don't want to be the bad guy. The same way it's Kevin Garnett back to Minnesota, like, kind of wanted to get out, but, like, didn't want to be the bad guy. Where, again, I think a lot of this stuff is just a massive, massive fucking waste of time. Like, who cares about prison? The Bucks fans are going to love you. Five years removed from this stuff. I don't think they're going to care. I think they're going to understand if they watch Bucks games every night, because this is a mess. They're just not very good. Remember that little start? It was like, oh, they're three and one. Maybe he'll be happy and I'll sign the extension now. There's always the conversation, too, of like, hey, the summer market is just easier to navigate. And, yeah, I'd allow that. Like, all right, I'll give it to you. It's a little bit easier in the summer to navigate some of this stuff, but I think that can be overstated. You know, if you want to figure out a deal, if you have some dance partners here now, I'd have to understand more about, like, how open is the market. Is this a free market trade or is this. I'm only going to these one or two places, and then if not, I'm coming back, I'm signing the extension, and then I'm going to ask out and do this whole thing all over again. I just think the buck should have gotten in front of this, but I can understand why they didn't want to, why they were trying to salvage it, why they never want to be the ownership and front office of record that moved on from Giannis. But again, I just thought this whole thing should have been done earlier instead of backing yourself into a corner where you're going to end up getting less back and another chance for him to get older. Injury and then the contract investment, everything else. Now, on the potential trade stuff, I don't know if the New York thing works now for them. I'm sure plenty of Knicks fans would be like, we're good on Cat. This is why he was available at that price point in the first place. If you're the Knicks, it makes sense now. It can't just be Cat, it can't just be these two teams. And then if you're Milwaukee, even if you're hitting the reset, are you hitting the reset and rebuild? Well, you don't have a bunch of your picks. There's a bunch of pick swaps there with Portland. There's the. The 28 swap language. Then there's the most and least favorable of Portland, Boston and Milwaukee, where the second most favorable goes to Washington. There's a swap there in 30. So is there something that Portland can grab in the trade? Other picks? Certainly the Knicks don't have any. Is there anything there that exists where Portland likes the return to get involved, to somehow give the swap rights back to Milwaukee? It reminds me a little bit in 24 when Bridges was flipped to the Nets, to the Knicks, where the Nets wanted to be in control of their picks. So they end up getting some picks to Houston to get back some of their picks from the Rockets. Now some of those Phoenix picks, who knows? Like, those things could be end up really valuable. Maybe not. I mean, this stuff changes like every 12 months. It's like, which picks do you want to bet on? Which picks do you want to bet against? Is there anything here where Portland's like, we'll give up some of these swap rights because we like what's coming back to us. Then you get a factor in too, like which teams are on the rise, which front offices feel like they have to make some sort of move. What is the relationship with ownership? Are people getting impatient there? I mean, that's a big factor in a lot of the stuff that you're trying to figure out. So is there a deal where Giannis ends up in New York, which, as when we had Windhorst on earlier in the year and he was talking about his own experience with the Giannis timeline, it was like, you know, the Knicks, he was paraphrasing, but the Knicks were kind of like, well, you can't come to us this late in the game if you're Giannis's side and be like, hey, I don't want to go to the Knicks. Well, we've already figured out everything that we're going to do and we're getting ready for this season. If you wanted to do that, you need to do it around draft time, you need to do it during free agents, you need to do it when the guys are scheduled to be mad. And I don't know if there was any stuff that was done that maybe makes this a little bit easier to pull off. But back to the buck side of it, do they have enough juice in this trade to get back a player they like and then also find any kind of way to get some control back of some of those swaps in Portland? Or does that even make any sense for Portland? Because it's like, hey, this Giannis thing's probably still going to end bad at some point, so we still want to have the rights to your picks and we'll just sit on the sideline and watch you figure it out. Because we think post Giannis, you start throwing 20, 30 on the year of the pick, it's like, man, who knows what could happen by then? But we're going to go ahead and bet against you being a good enough team and we're going to want that swap. So yeah, there's a lot of stuff to factor in there. But look, this is just if it doesn't happen for next Thursday, it's just going to get uglier. Uglier. And then I imagine it would happen this summer and I can't wait. I can't wait to see what happens before we move on with the show. A quick word on the tool that keeps people's workflow tighter than my takes Microsoft 365 copilot the world moves fast your workday even faster. Pitching products, drafting reports, analyzing data. Microsoft 365 Copilot is your AI assistant for work built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other Microsoft 365 apps you use, helping you quickly write, analyze, create and summarize so you can cut through clutter and clear a path to your best work. Learn more@Microsoft.com M365 copilot Mike Sando joins us from the Athletic. He does a lot and we hit him up again this morning and we said, hey, look, you're tweeting about The Belichick hall of Fame ballot. You understand it better than everybody because we hear the breaking news. Belichick does not make the hall of Fame his first time up for nomination. Induction and ultimately take us through the process of how this really works and how we get to a point where Belichick doesn't get in the first time through.
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Yeah. First off, super frustrated by it. I think it's embarrassing.
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A
And you're a voter, too.
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C
I'm a voter and you know, to me, the hall of Fames don't overthink it. Like, just pick the best guys. Right. And to me, Belichick might be the best one on the whole ballot if you, if you counted the modern eras. But there is, in 2025, the hall changed the processes to make it harder for people to get in. And if you, I believe, if you go back, I believe it was four or five years ago, Deion Sanders was complaining there are too many of these guys getting in. They need to have a super upper ring for the real guys. Right. I believe that, you know, that was in. That. Maybe not in a direct reaction, but I believe that, you know, then four or five years later, they. They changed the math to make it harder to get in. And so after, if you notice, last year, only three modern era and one from the coach, senior and contributor bucket made it so the total class was four for like 17 straight years before there were five modern eras plus two, three of the years we'd have eight people classes every year. And so there's a. To me, there's a big tension right now between the hall trying to make things more exclusive and some voters who are feeling rushed and are like, wait a minute, by the way, on Bill Belichick coaches, just the last couple years, they don't have to wait five years to be eligible. They just have to wait one year. I think there's a lot of voters going, wait a minute, you're forcing this process upon us. We have guys who've been in the queue for 10, 15 years that are just going to fall by the wayside. We're never going to get them in. And so I think that that is contributing to some surprising results. Now, this specific one with Belichick, here's how that works. Belichick is in a bucket competing against Robert Kraft, who's a contributor, and three players that are retired for at least 25 years, Roger Craig, Ken Anderson, and L.C.
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Greenwood.
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So there's 50 voters, and they say, hey, of those five, you can pick three. You pick three, and at least One's going to get in, and you need.
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A
40 to get in of the 50 votes, right?
- [13:58]
C
Top vote getter gets in no matter what. They're never going to have zero after that. Anyone has to have 40 of the 50 votes to get in. So, like last year was the first year of this, and I presented the case for Mike Holmgren. Belichick wasn't in, and I would have bet you 5,000 bucks that Holmgren was going to get in. Just being in that room and listening to how it all went, the support was totally broad and only one guy got in starting sharp. And I was like, that made me get into the math of this. I was like, okay, now let's put the psychology with the math in this case. I have a saying, the closer you are to the ball, the closer you are to the hall, okay? So it's easier for players to get in than coaches, and it's easier for coaches to get in than owners. That's just the way it is. So now you have a situation where the voters have to pick between three players, an owner and a coach. So it's an apples and oranges bucket in there, right? And to me, there's competing interests. There's some people who like me who say, well, of those Belichicks, the best he's going to be, he's going to be one of my picks. There's, I think there's some other people going, wait a minute, we waived the five year waiting period for him, but not these other guys.
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A
Why?
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C
What are we doing? And then I think there's some people that are like, hey, I think Belichick's going to make it anyway. But I'm super into Roger Craig's candidacy. I'm going to make sure he gets in. And I really like Ken Anderson. And by the way, I'm afraid that if these players don't get in, we'll never see him again. Because there's so many senior players that people want to have get in, but there's really not that many coaches. I mean, the number of coaches that need to get in is, you know, Belichick, Holmgren, Shanahan, maybe Coughlin. You know, we'll have discussion on Tomlin and Pete Carroll when they come, but there's five guys. They're all going to be in the mix. Roger Craig misses this year. We may never see him again. And I think people are being forced to make these choices that produce unintended consequences. And this is an embarrassing consequence to me. It's super embarrassing.
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Just so I understand the math, and I'm, I'm asking here again because I think this is the part where this is confusing because what happens is the headline is Belichick doesn't make the hall of Fame. So now you're like, oh, well, it was because Belichick was tough, he was petty. There's going to be media members that don't like him. There's always stuff to hall, hey, you're going to have to wait a year. Like, we're going to make you wait a year. And then I was running through like the players that would have to wait a year for the Pro Football hall of Fame and the players didn't have to wait a year. And I, I'd say it's probably one of the best results of like, yeah, I can understand that guy waiting a year. And it's great that this guy didn't have to wait a year. Belichick compared to his contemporaries, like, if there's ever a coach that doesn't have to wait a year, he shouldn't have to wait a year. So the headline, minus the voting procedure that you're sharing with us here is just, oh, okay, it was Belichick the way he was Spygate. It was then there was Napoleon theory on all these different things that he'd be working against him. The math makes this a lot more understandable because it's 50 people. He's got to get 40 of those votes. And of those 50 voters, there are probably voters that are thinking, hey, Belichick's going to get in. So I'm not going to vote for him because I need to keep a Roger Craig alive because maybe I've been arguing his position in the room with the way that you guys go through the process.
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C
Absolutely. And I resent the fact that we're now waiving the five year period. There's, I think there's some protesting of these processes. And then the math gets super interesting because if you think about that, so there's 50 voters and you have to pick three. So there's really, there's 150 votes available.
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Right, right.
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So, so if just enough people decide to prioritize, someone else, even I think, think Belichick's there. We can get Belichick to 39 pretty fast. Like, hey, two people think, you know, the Spygate stuff make him wait a year. Two people say, you know what, I just really liked Roger Craig and so I want to help him. 200 people do the same thing for Kane Anderson, who's been waiting forever. Right. And then you know, three people decide that, you know, for another reason, whatever it is, and pretty soon he doesn't have 40. And it looks like no one thinks he's a Hall of Famer when every. I believe everyone in there thinks he's a Hall of Famer. So to me, the hall has to look at all of this stuff and the unintended consequences and find a better way. I feel a real tension right now between trying to make it more exclusive, not let fringe guys in versus a lot of guys have been waiting, and this is their last chance to get in versus let's create the appropriate lane for coaches. Let's not make it too easy. We don't want them all getting in, but let's have a lane for them to get in. And I think they made that lane for the coaches harder than they maybe realized because of some of the thoughts that are going through people's minds when they make the votes.
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A
So now that we've explained this, because I think that the best thing that you've said as far as where you are with reading that headline and then hopefully listening to this today is that it is easy to get to 11 people. It doesn't mean there's 11 people against him. It's also very dismissive of the 39. Say if that's the total for Belichick, it's like, hey, and then also kind of hearing from some of you people in the room, they're like, at no point did you ever think he was necessarily in jeopardy that.
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C
Well, yeah.
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A
Yeah. Well, go ahead. I mean, unless I. I didn't feel.
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C
He was in jeopardy either.
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I'm.
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C
I'm shocked that it happened. But, like, you know, I would say, you know, on these types of things, I will say, okay, if anyone's got a. Let's have no surprises here. If anyone's got a issue here, let's talk about it. I do feel a need to do that on some of these where I think they're slam dunks, because I've been surprised enough before. Not so much with the players over the years. I mean, we haven't had like a Jerry Rice not make it or something. The, you know, some of the most questionable ones could have been, like, to waiting, you know, or something like that. But at least there were some things around him where, okay, he wrecked the Eagles team or I was undermining his quarterback. There was something you could find, I just didn't find. Like, this, to me, is a standalone.
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A
I mean, can you share. Was there anyone in the room that was Emphatically arguing against or at least arguing in favor.
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C
We're asked not to do that, and I respect that. But there's robust discussion on just about all these guys. Okay? And there are. We do want to have that. We want to say we want everything. I don't want to have you surprised. I want to have everything out there. So there's discussion on. Everyone who's on the ballot this year got a discussion. It wasn't just silence when they gave the presentation. And there have been years where, I mean, I think when Emmett Smith was up, you know, it was almost a joke. Like, the speech was. Emmett Smith had more carries for more yards and more touchdowns than anyone in history. Any questions? Sat down, Jerry Rice. There's been a couple of those. We didn't have that in this. There wasn't any of those. It was all a real discussion and a good discussion. The discussion's good, and people care and people do their homework. And this result makes it hard to convince people of that, you know, because you're like, what?
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A
Yeah, that's the thing. And that's where I'd want to close. Like, if somebody is, in seeing that headline going, oh, well, 50 voters got together and decided to say, hey, we didn't like Bill. He's going to wait a year. That is not what happened at all.
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C
That is not what's going to happen. And you know that thing you always hear about vote trading and all of that? I've never been a part of that. I've never been approached by somebody to be like, hey, you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. You know, you vote for my guy. I've never had anyone do that, so. And I also believe this. If anybody thinks they're doing that, they're fooling themselves. Because when we vote, no one can see what we're voting. I don't even think the hall has it tagged to be. To know how I vote. I don't think they know that it goes to a web portal during the meeting. And I can make my votes. I have to pick the minimum number. I have to pick three in that category or five and it's five in the other. But no one sees what I'm doing. Like, there's no. I could say, yeah, hey, I'll do this, I'm doing that. I'm voting for what I want to vote for. I go in. It's like. It's like you're in a voting booth at the polls. You've got the curtains around you. In the old days, right? You Vote what you want to do. So there's no one that can influence that, you know, other than you.
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A
Thank you for clearing that up because I know that you've been. You've been tweeting a lot. Again, your handle, too, for listeners, if they want to see. Because you've been explaining a lot of this stuff and it's. It's not hostile, but I can understand that you're frustrated.
- [22:46]
C
But, yeah, it's at Sando NFL. I care about this and I'm frustrated, too. And I. I have had multiple times where I just want to quit the committee because I get frustrated with the result, but I feel like it's better for being on it, you know, to try to influence it and do the research. And so that's why I'm being super transparent here. I believe it's really helpful for people to understand the process and it's not defending it because I think things should change. And I think it's a joke that he didn't make it in, but I do think we have to explain so people have a full understanding of what's going on. And that's what I'm doing. So I've got multiple posts at Sando NFL, and you can just find them on there. And you're going to learn things about it that I would not know unless I cared and was in the middle of this for 15 years or longer. I don't even know how many.
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A
Thank you for clearing that up. We'll let you get back out of your day, man.
- [23:39]
C
Thank you.
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A
Thanks, Mike. The GameTime app gives the advantage back to fans. It's the hack for unlocking amazing tickets and experiences in a few taps. It's incredibly easy to use, and the game time guarantee means you can Trust you'll get 100% authentic tickets on time and at the best price. Plus, fees are always included. So what you see is what you pay. The show is heading to San Francisco next week, and I'm seeing tickets for Tuesday 76ers warriors game starting at $48. That's a little bit under the window that I was quoted at for getting the show a suite. And so that means I'm going to be on the Game Time app, getting the show staff dialed in to the warriors and Sixers. And honestly, seeing Steph live, like, if you take your kid to the Grand Canyon, I get it. Niagara Falls, maybe. You have a little bit of money and you're taking them internationally to Eiffel Tower. How come you haven't taken him to see Steph yet or her take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use the code RESILLO for $20 off your first purchase terms. Apply again, create an account and redeem code resillo R U S S I L L O for $20 off. Download the GameTime app. Today, Austin Rivers joins us and this segment is brought to you by Microsoft Copilot. You can catch out Austin on PEACOCK NBA Monday, February 2nd for the Timberwolves at Grizzlies featuring on the bench coverage, which of course, you know, that we love on this show. We had Robbie Hummel on not that long ago. Austin joins us from time to time. It's good to see you, man. What's up?
- [25:16]
B
Absolutely. It's been a while. How you been, man?
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A
I'm great. I love the coverage. I told Robbie that and I'll just quickly get into it because I, I want to acknowledge, you know, when you try different stuff in television, most of us are like, oh, this is stupid. Yeah, it isn't. It's, it's terrific. And I want to ask you about some of that stuff because I know you had the Timberwolves and of the warriors, minus a few guys the other night. How's it been for you? I mean, how much have you, have you enjoyed something that probably was a little different, but you've executed really well.
- [25:48]
B
Yeah, we, you know, obviously, you know, Sam came up with the idea, Sam Flood and was really adamant about this on the bench idea that he wanted to execute. Initially, I was just like, I don't know how that's going to work, just because there's like an ebb and flow to calling a game. And obviously the traditional broadcast is us sitting at center court, all three of us play by play with two color right there in the middle. You know, we could sit next to each other. Kind of feel when someone else is going to talk. Not. You have that chemistry. Me and Robbie being, you know, opposite ends of the court. Not sometimes, most of the time, not being able to see him. I was concerned just with the talking over each other and the chemistry, but we've just figured it out, you know, it's just like worked, you know, I, a lot of that producers have been great. Frank, Marv. But yeah, we, we've figured it out and the access we've, we've gotten has been incredible. It's like, I mean, we're right there in the bench. It's been, it's, it's been a lot of fun, man.
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A
Who I'm sure there's, like, multiple answers here, but is there a moment this season, halfway through, having this kind of access, being on the bench for a whole game where you're like, you know, which group I really like that would maybe surprise us? Or just something like, hey, these guys are really connected. It doesn't necessarily mean that they're the best team. But is there one team that's kind of stood out in this time of doing it this way?
- [27:08]
B
I've. That's a great question, because being able to call these games, I've now gotten to see, you get to meet with the front office, you meet with the. With the coaches, then you get to be up close with the players. You're right there in the huddle, so you're starting to see the turnaround. Charlotte surprised me more than anybody because their record doesn't scream, you know, anything that's going to make you feel like, oh, this team is going to win a championship anytime soon. But Knipple has been obviously, you know, fantastic playing. But then you see Brandon Miller, you've seen Lamelo. I've gotten to talk to the coach, got to talk to the front office. They're turning it around, and you see it up close, and you see, like, the positivity and the way they listen to the coach and the huddles are better. And like, just. I'll be honest, you talk about, like, Charlotte over the previous years before kind of this turnaround, and it was awful. You know what I mean? Like, what they had going on there felt like Lamelo's first year or two in the league, the kind of people that were surrounded him weren't the greatest. It just. The culture wasn't right. It feels like their culture and what they've been able to set place not only just from a front office standpoint, but from a coaching standpoint. That one shocked me a lot. Just being there, I was like, they're not far away. They got the 1, 2, and 3 right now. Obviously, Lamelo's gotta, you know, continue to mature in terms of winning habits. I think he's talented as hell. I think he needs to learn how to win games. A lot of that is. Is, I think, continuing to mature and get, you know, better as a leader. But they have the one, the two, and the three down, and then you get some exciting, you know, they got that five. What's his name? He works his ass off. He plays so hard.
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A
Diabate. Moose.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Yes.
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B
He just has a, you know, energy back, you know, a battery on his. On his back. So you start seeing the pieces, you know, before. I just. I guess, you know, you. You just think some of these teams are like a lost cause. They've been bad for so long. You just get used to these teams being bad, and then you start to see these picks start to work out, you know, and then you start to see, you got to get lucky. I talked to in the front office, he's like, yeah, we knew Knipple was gonna be good. We didn't think he'd be this damn good. You know, you. You pick a guy and, like, it starts to work out. You're like, here we go. You know what I mean? So it's like, that one surprised me. Surprisingly, just being around Charlotte, I was like, they're not. This is going the right way. I feel it here. That was the biggest shock for me, for sure.
- [29:32]
A
Yeah. Well, I'm glad you. I'm glad you picked them because even when their record was terrible at the beginning of the year, I enjoyed watching them so much. And there's a real line here. In the last 20, they're 10 and 10. The offense is the best in the NBA over that time. The defensive numbers aren't as bad as I thought that they would be, and, you know, the ebbs and flows of a season, but it's almost like a group of young guys had some light bulb go off where they go, I know this is not supposed to happen, but we might be this good. And they, like, you didn't even mention Bridges, and, like, Bridges can go, you.
- [30:06]
B
Know, yeah, Bridges is a good player.
- [30:07]
A
Yeah, they have four guys. I don't know what it is this morning, but there's like four guys averaging 19 or more a game on that team. And the funny thing is, is they're young and it's this rebuild, and yet they're kind of like nine deep. They also have, you know, Cockburn has been really good. Sion comes in and plays defense. I'm sure Sexton doesn't necessarily. He's probably going there thinking, this is going to be awesome. I'm going to get 20 shots a night. Yeah, you actually might not play in the fourth quarter a ton because. Because they're pretty good. Have you been around a young team like that where it just feels like, you know, without maybe the number one overall pick, that's going to change the face of the franchise, who immediately, you know, like a guy who comes in immediately, and you're totally different. This is just very rare. If they were able to keep up kind of this offensive pace and be a middling 500 team in the east the rest of the way, but this feels far more real than the terrible record to start the year.
- [30:59]
B
100% it was. You know, listen, I don't like to give one person all the credit because it's. It's unity with that team. It takes. But Canipple, I think, has raised everyone's play. My favorite attribute about him is there's no cool in him. He has no cool. There's. He doesn't play cool. There's nothing about him that wants to be cool. He don't care. He goes out there and competes every single game. He plays hard. Even though he's not a great. Great defender. He tries. He works hard. He tries. He plays hard. He competes. He hits big shots. Doesn't have bad body language when he misses. He doesn't throw his. He's just solid. And I think, like, when you talk about Lamelo and everything that kind of. He brings. He's a little bit more eccentric and all these different things. And Brandon Miller. Then you get this kid that comes in here and he's balling his ass off to the point where they're like, hold up. We got to get our shit straight. This guy's fucking hooping. And then now they're all playing the same. Now they're all playing this way and they play. Now they're, like, playing the right way and they're passing. I saw a play the other day, Knipple drives, passed it to Brandon Miller. He had a good shot, but there was a better next to him. Pump fakes, passes. It gives it. I'm like, that play would have never happened before. They're playing good to great basketball now. And I don't. Again, the coach, everyone gets a hand in the pot to take credit. I just firmly believe Knipple, just by example of how he plays and who he is as a person and just how he moves, just being solid and steady around a bunch of guys who were talented as hell and had every tool in the box, but they need that. They needed that, that. And I think that's been the biggest surprise. It's just like, you know, we were talking about this draft for the all star thing, you know, for the Rising Stars challenge. And I was talking to TMAC and those guys, and, like, Melo's like, I'm drafting Knipple because I know he's gonna. He's gonna. He's gonna be one of the few guys in the Rising Stars that's not gonna come in here and play cool. He's gonna just, like, compete. That's just, like, who he is. That's why that Duke team was so good, because Cooper's the same way. They got, like, this draft class has guys who, like, compete their dogs. That cool shit is like, we got a very exciting young generation of guys who, like, really want to hoop. Like, Cooper is not a, like, that dude. Half his game is based off a motor, you know what I mean? Like, these guys, like, are dogs. And that is that VJ is a dog. You know what I mean? Like, we haven't had this in, I don't know, the last draft class we've had where I've seen this. So it's like, it's exciting and it's turning teams that we thought were like five, six, who knows? Years away where Charlotte's like, oh, here it is. It's coming. You see it now. And like, that was the biggest surprise, being around them, seeing when the coach would talk. Everyone's in the huddle, listening, seeing Lamelo, like, direct stuff. I'm like, whoa, I've never seen this. Like, it's happening. It's exciting.
- [33:49]
A
Yeah, it is really, really exciting because I was, like, going through it. I'm in Utah for a little back to back Jazz action, and so I want to get to the Clippers here. But, you know, you have this rebuilding team with the Jazz, and you're just, you're just trying to figure out, like, okay, which one of these guys are actually to be hitting? Like, who are we resigning? Who are we going to have around here in two years? And now when you look at Charlotte and whatever their timeline is, it's like, hey, we think we, we kind of know who six guys are from this group right now. And it's, it's a lot harder to pull off because it has to be six guys that you actually want to keep around.
- [34:20]
E
Let'.
- [34:21]
A
Clippers. I'll ask you this first. As a Clippers alum, has this. Has this Chris Paul Clippers thing been tough for you the last two weeks?
- [34:28]
B
It was, it was, it was tough just because Chris is the best player in our franchise history. You know, so when you see a guy like that get waved or cut like that in the middle of the night, you know, however it went down, it's like, gosh, damn, we couldn't have, like, figured out a way to just have Chris on the roster the rest of the year. We couldn't have just thugged it out. I know so many players that play for teams, they don't want to be on, and you just got to show up to work with a smile and play the game. Can we not have done that for Chris for his last year playing? Probably, you know, at the same time, I know Chris, and he's competitive as ever. I don't know if that'll ever turn off. I think he knows he's not the same player, obviously, as he once was. I think, mentally, that engine has not shut off. So when he's in there talking and we need to do this, we need to do this, Ty Lou's like, yo, we got too many chefs in the kitchen.
- [35:22]
A
I can't.
- [35:22]
B
I can't operate like this. I can't cook like this. And that, unfortunately, went down the way it went. It's. It's weird because it's like they cut him. But are we still gonna. We gotta retire his jersey here one of these days. Are we gonna bring him back? You know, how does.
- [35:36]
A
Yeah, that'll be interesting.
- [35:37]
B
I don't even know. Does New Orleans. He never played for the Pelicans. Are the Pelicans the ones that do it, or does Charlotte do it? Because he never played for intro. I don't know how. It's like, who retires this guy's jersey? It's the most. Like, where does he retire? I don't. I don't. Yeah, I don't. But it was. Yeah. I didn't like how it went down, to be honest. But I understand it. And you can't argue. They won 16 out of last, you know, 16 out of last. 19.
- [36:01]
A
16 and three after last night's win. So let's. Let's talk about that, because that was. I mean, it's. They're 6 and 21 from that point on December 19, they have the best record in the NBA. And, you know, you can saw them turn it around a little bit. And I think, too, like, once Kawhi got back, and I'll. I'll admit, like, every year with Kawhi coming back, I'm like, I wonder how it's going to look. And then you're like, oh, he looks like one of the five best players in the NBA again, like, because it's. It's filthy what he did to that younger Jazz group last night, too. He's like, hey, do you want to get destroyed? Okay, now I'm going to pick on you. And it's just over and over and over again. And then seeing, like, you always knew he got that separation because of the size of his shoulders, but his. The way he can finish with his hand like, it doesn't have to be clean to one side. He can kind of just go at you, and he has this incredible touch. It was just a joy to watch in person. But they're 16 and three, as we've said here. They're in the play in, like, we all know that it's going to be, oh, one of those guys is going to get hurt again. So you can't get your hopes up here all over. So I'm tempering my hopes here. But where do you see them during this stretch in comparison to, like, the other teams in the west that we all really like?
- [37:08]
B
Yeah, it's. You know, you kind of nailed that on the head. It's tough to diagnose them because it's like, I don't know where they're going to be a month from now, health wise. It's like, I've just seen this story so many times now. 16 and 3 is they're rolling. So at this point, you see the flashes of what they could be now in a playoff series versus, like, an OKC or one of these other teams. I don't know if they can keep up that pace of playing with some of these guys. Kawhi's been brilliant. It's the biggest question they have, right? It's the most obvious red flag, glaring issues. Will he be healthy in the playoffs? What version of Kawhi do we get? Kawhi is the hardest person to analyze, man. He starts years like that, where he's like, healthy, not healthy. Then he's like, doesn't look right, doesn't. He looks rusty, doesn't look polished. And then out of nowhere, he's like, top five. Like you said, he's like a top five player in the league. And then you're like, where this. Where's this guy been? So it's just like, his game's unorthodox. His jumper's flat, doesn't always look pretty. It just. It just works. He just. He goes out there and just cuts up. He's one of the most tactical scores that we have in the NBA. He doesn't do anything extra. Everything's purposeful with his dribble, his movements. His body is ridiculous. It looks like he's in probably one of the better shapes I've seen in the last six, seven years. I haven't seen his body look like this since his first year or two with the Clippers before he got actually, like, the injuries really, really started. So that's the one thing I'll say, just from a body Standpoint of how he's moving, and I'm not talking about the way he looks, but the way he moves. He's moving well. He looks good. Like, that's where I'm just like, man, I've seen Kawhi be able to have 25 every night, but it was just like him just being better than people, but he didn't look right. And you're like, this isn't going to end well. It's like when you saw Joel Embiid a couple of those years, or you're just like, he's putting up numbers. I don't know how long it's going to last. He looks like he's almost limping out there. He's just better than everybody. So he's doing his thing. But I'm not sure right now. The way he's moving, running the floor, dunking. You're like, wait, he's quiet, looks good. He looks healthy. So you add that, you add James, you add Brook Lopez. You know, you have Collins, you have all these guys who are able to, you know, have playoffs.
- [39:29]
A
And by the way, like, just to get in, the Sanders and Miller minutes have been productive minutes. So they. They have two late roster guys that are, like, really a part of this rotation now to make up for some of the other guys.
- [39:39]
B
I didn't know who that guy was. I had to, like, do my research on it. I was watching. I was like, who?
- [39:43]
A
Jordan Miller?
- [39:44]
B
Yeah. I was like, who is this guy? I was like, what the. So I, like, some of these guys have this come out of nowhere, but they're actually giving them production, you know, so it's like, we all learned that.
- [39:54]
A
Max Christie has, like, a brother who looks just like him. Because, I mean, that's the thing is, like, as expensive as the Clippers are on a high, all these high, high ticket items, and you're like, okay, well, it's Zoo. It's done. It's Kawhi. It's hard. And then it's. It's like, yeah, but like, Beals out. Collins is probably like, how do you want to use them? Depending on the matchup, Brooke has been a little bit better. But those minutes, like, the on the margins moves that the front office has made have helped them. Kind of like, at least you're not running out six guys, you know, because it's kind of hard to do that considering how their. Their salary is structured. And I'm with you, like, because I was like, wait, Sanders. And I'm, like, looking at everybody going, oh, this guy's new. This guy was here last year. And, you know, they weren't on anybody's radar.
- [40:36]
B
No, there's been. That's the beauty about, you know, about the NBA is like, just getting these surprise players. Each team, each year you'll see, like, one guy kind of just sneak through the crack of opportunity and surprise you. My pops used to always tell me, don't get hurt in the NBA because the guy behind you is one of the best players in the world. And if you give a guy an opportunity, it could be gone, you know, so it's just like Brad Beal. Some of these other guys go down. Next thing you know, like, some of these dudes find their way. And next thing you know, once somebody starts. Once a player gives production and starts getting pats on the back, they, I can do this. I belong here. And the next thing you know, something's going. So it's. You're starting to see it with them. They've surprised me probably more than any team in the NBA over the past few months. Obviously, the start to the season, we wrote them up. I was like, oh, my God, the Thunder is going to get another. They're going to get another top pick. They're going to get a, you know, another lottery. This isn't fair. And now they're starting to just like, again. I'm not. I don't know what Chris did or didn't do. You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't know what's happened since then, but it clearly has cleared the air to where they're just performing better. A lot of that, I guess, had to do, from what I heard, was really just Ty Lu and him. It was two people involved. There's Tyloo and Chris who just kind of had a relationship of different opinions about how things should be working. So you can't argue. It hasn't worked, though.
- [41:59]
A
Yeah. Like, no Kawhi minutes restriction. And playing this well probably has a lot more to do with it than just than whatever wasn't working out with cp.
- [42:10]
B
Yeah. That's why people are like, oh, they got rid of Chris. I'm like, Chris. Chris not being there has nothing to do with. I mean, I'm sure Ty Lou's job, maybe he feels a little less stressed or whatever, like, irritated, whatever the case may be. But, like, Chris wasn't playing a lot of minutes at that time. It was not like Chris was having a. And a, you know, an effect on the game. Kawhi being able to be himself is the biggest reason why this Team is rolling. Kawhi Leonard looks like a vintage version of himself. That's why they're rolling right now.
- [42:38]
E
Okay.
- [42:38]
A
I called it the Disappointment cup between Cleveland or Orlando and those back to backs. Oh, man. Okay. And. And look. Yeah, it's. It's well established. I. God, sometimes I just look at the five guys. Orlando runs out there, and I go, you have to be kidding me. Like, what is wrong with you guys? So I think there's some positive stuff that we can get to with Cleveland here. But now I'm already in this Orlando thing. Give me your sense of what is preventing this team from really what they should be. There's no way they should be any worse than the three seed behind Detroit in New York. Now, if you want to tell me, Cleveland should be the three and Orlando's four. Fine. Orlando should, at worst, the four they had right now.
- [43:19]
B
I'm about to look. Where are they at right now?
- [43:23]
A
Is it six or seven?
- [43:26]
B
I mean, they got blasted by Cleveland both game. I mean, it's not even.
- [43:30]
A
Yeah. So they're a game behind Miami now, and they're a game and a half behind Philly.
- [43:36]
D
Yeah.
- [43:36]
B
You know, it's. They've lost four in a row. It's tough, man. You know, people are like, obviously being here in Orlando.
- [43:50]
A
It's.
- [43:50]
B
It's all I get when I walk around with people like, hey, what's. What's wrong, Orlando, man? You know, what's. What's wrong?
- [43:55]
A
You know, what's.
- [43:55]
B
You know, we. Who you think Mosley, we got to get. You think Paulo, we got to trade. It's just every day people are trying to die. What. What's the issue? Because roster wise, when you Apollo again, Franz being hurt, and it doesn't help, but roster still is enough out there to where we should be winning some games. And then you talk about the surgeons of, like, Anthony Black and some of these other guys, like, why are we. Why are we, like a top three or four seed, especially in this Eastern Conference? Like, what's going on? I do believe they have to play quicker. And when I say quicker, I think they have to play at a higher pace. And I think Paulo has to be quicker with his decisions. I think, guys, if you. I think everyone in the team loves Paulo as a person, and I think they like playing with him. I think they love playing with Franz. And I think that dynamic of Paulo knowing when to get guys involved versus getting his own shots, when to take the twos, the contested twos, he takes a high dosage rate of fade Away mid range, two pointers, tries to draw fouls a lot. Sometimes doesn't get it, then he'll complain. The body language sometimes is up and down. It's been a little bit of a roller coaster year with Paulo, you know what I mean? And I think Paulo's one of the most talented young players we have in the NBA. This guy averaged damn near like 30 points versus Celtics last year in the playoffs. Like, I've seen what he could do. It's been a weird year, and I don't know what that's been. A lot of that, I think, starts when he was hurt and the team was rolling without him. That created a weird energy. Then he comes back and they lose. And then people like, well, is it because Apollo and I made a whole rant on my. When I had my podcast about, yeah, that's gone. When I had my podcast about, you know, how players see this and how it can affect them. It's. It's a known thing. Like, players on their Instagrams, they're on their phones, they see everything. When that was all over Orlando, when they were winning without him, people like, we don't need him telling you that it bothered him. And I don't know for sure. I haven't talked to him. I'm telling you, it's just in the air. And people see this stuff. And I think the dynamic with him and Franz working when they play, sometimes it ends up being a your turn, my turn thing. They remind me of like, Jalen and Tatum before they figured it out. Remember, it was like, ugly. You just be like this. They can't win like this.
- [46:08]
A
That's the model, though. I'm. You know what? I've just to jump in, though. That's the model. The 22 year for the Celtics, where it's January, they're 500. You're like, hey, this doesn't look like it's going to work. And granted that that group in Orlando, I would say, is probably on the more patient side of front offices. If we were to scout all 30 front offices, you're like, orlando's a very, very patient group. But that's kind of what I was thinking about with like, is there any chance this finally, like, switches? Because I think what you just said there with the Tatum and Brown thing, you know, again, we're now four years removed from that ridiculous turnaround of like, what is wrong with this team? And then they're in the NBA Finals. Not to say like, hey, look out, Magic fans. Like, you're headed to the NBA Finals because it matches up so well. But that feels like the. The part of you that's like. You can't get too impatient about how bad it's looked.
- [47:00]
B
It's. It's been confusing because Franz is obviously a great. He could play make as well. They need us. It seems like they're. They never match up.
- [47:11]
A
When it.
- [47:12]
B
One's hurt, the other one comes down. Then the other one comes back and the other one gets hurt and the other one. I'm just like, man, they got to get some reps on the court. They got to figure out a way to play without, like, it feeling like that. Or it's that you turn, you know, your turn, my turn. Like that. Watching this, like, I went into a game the other day, man, and there was zero, zero energy in there. I mean, like, nobody. They're just walking around. They just lost the game. Like, it wasn't even. The game wasn't close. I went to a Philly game, and Philly just came in there. Didn't even play that well. Philly was just winning by like 15 the whole game. Magic never made a run. No energy, no pop. Nobody was yelling. Nobody's trying to get anything done. You know, Suggs plays almost too hard. He'll. He'll get hurt because he'll, like, dive into the stands 100 miles per hour. I love Suggs, but he's got to figure out when and where to. Like, you can't be a batting ram every. Every game. We got it. We need you for the playoffs. There has to be, like, a way in etiquette about you playing hard. Like, Dennis Robin played balls out, but it was strategic. So it's like, I need you to. I need you to be strategic with your effort so you could stay on the floor, you know? So some of these guys. I don't know though, man. Like, that's. That's a question, you know, because I love coach Mosley as well. He, like, gets guys to play super hard, which I love. That's always been his thing. He's. He gets guys to buy in. Right now, the biggest issue with the Magic is a lot of these guys don't look like they're bought in. So it's like, when I see it, I'm like, I don't know what's not working here. I know your roster is better than what I'm seeing, performance wise, which could only conclude that they're not on the same page, because if you were, you'd be winning games. You're getting some weird years from people Paulo's playing good because he's just really good. He's not. I thought there was a step I was going to see this year from him after last year's playoffs. Tyus Jones has had a really. He's been struggling.
- [48:56]
A
You have.
- [48:56]
B
Some of these guys are having years where you're just like, I don't know what's going on right now. So it's.
- [49:00]
D
I.
- [49:02]
B
How do you diagnose that? I don't know whose fault that is.
- [49:04]
A
Is.
- [49:04]
B
It's a thing you tell. It's a great. The Celtics did turn around. So it's like this, Franz come back and they figure this out and get rolling again. You know what I mean? You got Bane, you have some other guys. Anthony Black's been a huge surprise. I mean, people knew he was going to be good, but my God, he's like, guy has like all star capability. So it's. I mean, they're talented as hell, man.
- [49:25]
A
Look, we are on the same page. But you said something like specific to the pace thing that I think was really interesting because if you look at their pace numbers, like, you know that they're going to want to go slow. They had that one game, it was earlier in the season where, you know, we're all looking at Miami's pace, right? Because Miami has always been a slow basketball team. And they come out this year, revamp. We're going to drive, we're going to attack, guys are going to touch the ball, we're going to go fast. And Orlando, like decided to play fast with him and it looked really good. Like they played fast with all these young guys. And then, you know, if you're Paolo and I'm a Paolo fan, like, I'm just. I think some of the conversations, the trade speculation around it, it's like, you just don't really. You should never be in a hurry to trade somebody like this. And they would probably move on from the coach before you'd ever trade somebody like Paolo and then go, let's see if we could figure out with something different here. I could even mention his January numbers and be like, hey, he's like 25, eight at five and a half. The shooting is 50, 38. Like he gets the free throw line constantly. But when I look at like the best version of Paolo, I kind of think of him more as a Cade. Not to say that he has to have the ball in his hands as much as Cade is. And not saying he's like wired in that hardcore like, OG type of point guard stuff, because I think that's kind of like the way Cade sees the game. But when you're that big and you have that playmaking ability, I can see how Paolo's like, look, if I just get the ball and you get me any kind of switch, chances are I'm going to kill whoever I get in the switch and I'm scoring or I'm getting to the free throw line. So my position is always like, he is not a pig. He is not a pig of a basketball player. There is some playmaking stuff, but I, I just wonder if it's one guy who still prefers the half court combined with Bane, who wants to go black, who should always be wanting to get up and down with his size and his handle and his athleticism. Pick whichever of the three centers that did you want to play. I just, I cannot believe that it's not going to have some stretch where it works out. I, I'm defiant about the whole thing as disappoint they've been.
- [51:21]
B
They got to play faster. They have to play faster. Especially with the lack of shooting they have. Playing faster would only play into their hands. First off, it would, it would actually create better looks to where they actually get some good open threes which they need because they don't have guys that have quick trigger, one second to be open with the exception of Bane. And you know, they don't have a bunch of, you know, knock down, knock down three point shooters. Silva's capable. They have some other guys who can make some threes but them playing fast. I mean look at the, just look at the one clip of Anthony Black going 1 on 4 versus Memphis, putting the ball over the guy's head and then punching on the whole team. You don't want that guy running up and down. You don't want Paulo who's like 6 10, 270 pounds, who can dribble the ball and could just barrel through a team. You don't want that guy running the floor, that whole team, Desmond Bain running around fire. They need to play at a higher pace. What happens is they play this slow ball and it ends up in the red every time. They're a late shot clock team where Paulo has the ball up top. There's six seconds left and the whole team, because their lack of shooting, they are just crunched in the whole. And they're just like, yo, we'll have one guy stay home in Bain, everybody else will live. With Wendell's corner three, well, he's got to hit eight of them. Well, we'll live, we'll Live with Ty Jones not shooting that well this year. We'll live with this guy. Not. Anthony Black does a lot of things. His shots starting to fall, but again, you'll live with a three. So it's like they. This is what they do. It ends up being this really, like, stagnant, sticky offense at the. Especially at the end of the game when it's like a. If it's like 90, 90 with four minutes left to go in the game, you get concerned as a Magic fan because it ends up getting real sticky towards the end where they have no movement. And then you got to hope to prayer to God that someone hits a crazy shot to win the game. You know, Desmond Bane, Bank 3. Apollo Bank 3 for the win. You know, you have to pray for one of those because it gets real sticky out there. I. That's where Fran's coming back. And I agree with you. I don't know if Paulo has the feel Kate has. No.
- [53:13]
A
I mean, I'm not saying that we're on the same page there. Like, I'm not saying he is Cade, but he's a matchup problem like Cade.
- [53:18]
B
He is a. There's not a person in the league that matches up with him that could guard him. So you're absolutely right in that regard to where. That's where I'm telling you. I feel like this. I do believe for them to be better. I think Paulo, and I say this as a respect to Paulo because I think he has his capability. I think Paulo needs to say, I don't need to average 30. I need to average 24, but I need to average 9 assists, 8 assists. I need to get this team moving fast. I need to know when to attack. I need to get the ball going. I need to give up the ball sometimes. Anthony Black, when Franz is in, we got to have a rapport. Tatum and Brown had to take a little bit each less for them to excel. You know what I mean? Like, they had to be okay with Derek White having games where he led them in scoring. They had to have games where Peyton Pritchard comes off and has 20 up the bench. You have to allow guys to have you got. Anthony Black is here now. He's not going anywhere. We got to allow him to eat at the table now. We don't need Paulo to have 30 points. I know he's capable. A little bit less is more now a year where Tatum's out, Jalen Brown gets to do all these things he's doing right now. When Tatum comes back, it's not Going to be like that. You have to take a little. You know, when Kevin Durant came to the warriors, they all ate less food, but the team was better. It's just what has to happen. I'm not comparing them to the warriors, but it's just. I do feel that's where the Magic is at right now is. And I think it starts with Paulo because he's the best player on the team. I know people try to make that thing with him and Franz. Paulo's the fucking best part of the team. And I agree with you. They're not going to move up. You don't get off. When people talk about trading Paulo, it makes me want to laugh. You don't get rid of a player this damn good this. This early. Now, if it continues not to work, that's a different conversation. But no, we got to figure this out with Buddy. He's too talented.
- [55:01]
A
I love that Toronto game the other night against okc. I don't know how much you got to see of it. Thunder or missing a little.
- [55:07]
B
I just saw the. I watched the GD highlights. You ever go to YouTube and just get the whole the 10 minute package?
- [55:13]
A
You know what was great is they were unbelievable in transition. They're a very connected team. Like, they're thinking about each other in the possession in a way where I'm like, man, these guys are like, something has happened with this group where you're like, all right, I'm driving and I may like what I have, but if you, if you cut, you know, if you crash in from the corner, like, I'll think about you. You know, I'll reward you. Cutting off the ball where some of these teams, you just see the guys stop cutting because they go, there's no point. Some guys just don't cut. Some guys are just so convinced. The idea of, like, oh, it's spacing and spacing and basics. So why do I ever want to move in? It's like, well, I like. I think that's a little obsessive in the game in the way that some teams set up offensively. It's so. You just never want anyone to move because all you're trying to do is glue guys to the corners. So Toronto really stood out that way. Then you have Scotty Barnes ending up in a huge spot defensively against Chet, and he straight up blocks Chet's shot. I don't know if I'll ever think. And this is a night too, where you knew, like, Ingram was going to have a tough time because Dort was going to be in his kidneys the entire night. And you're like, that's probably not a matchup that I. I like for Brandon Ingram. So it feels a little bit more real. Again, there's no hurdle in that game. They went small. You know, they're putting Scotty at the 5, who's playing chat, and he's handling it. Not that Chat's going to get a ton of possessions. Yeah, you just. It's so much fun to watch him when you're like, oh, what the hell's he doing? Oh, he's playing center now and then. He's also playing. He's doing all these different things. Shed's been good, you know, quickly had some moments here. They've. They've got some depth. My concern about them would be okay if I think they're now a level higher than what I thought where I looked at them going, hey, they're an average team and they have a lot of expensive guys I'm not necessarily in love with. Is there any shift for you or does it kind of come back to, like, yeah, we can get a little bit more excited about them, but when are they going to have the single best player in a playoff series in the East? And that's probably a harder one.
- [57:11]
B
That's the issue is, you look at them, they're 29 and 19.
- [57:15]
A
They're rolling.
- [57:16]
B
They've been the biggest surprise probably of the NBA this year. I don't think anybody came into the year having Toronto as a fourth seed at the midway point. The issue would be late game execution down the stretch. When you're playing in a playoff series and you got to beat someone four times when they. The floor. When the game slows down and the floor gets smaller, who are we giving the ball to? Brennan Ingram would be that guy. But can we rely on this enough to win us a series over a team that we're going to have to say they match up with Philly or whatever. It's like Philly has three, you know, three guys that could. They could end the game with hitting a shot and executing and making plays down the stretch. The biggest thing I would say to that is I had the same questions with Indiana a year or two ago. Is Pascal Siakam going to be the best player? And they're, you know, again, I know Halliburton was the engine, but closing a game, I was like, I got to close the game through Pascal. I know Pascal's really good, but would he be the best player in any series? I don't think so could you close the game that way? I don't know. But they just won by community and they just all made big plays. Nemhard hit a shot, then Halliburton hit a shot that Pascal would hit a shot. And they have that very same energy that you just alluded to, Ryan, is that. That I'll play for my teammate energy. It's like, you know, if you're. If, you know, if someone's open with the Pacers, you know that guy's getting the ball. It's not even a question there. It's not a question. Now, obviously, they're a different team now. They don't have Halliburton, but when that team's at full strength, they play with a pop that guys cut harder because they know they'll get it. It's like playing with Jokic. It's like, you know, you're getting the ball if you're open. It's like that type of feel teams don't have. There's teams that have way better rosters than Toronto and don't play the way. If the Timberwolves played the way Toronto Raptors, they'd be the number one seed in the Guy. They'd be the number one seed in the Western. Even with okc, they'd be the number one seed in the Western Conference if they played Pass, pass, good ball, quick decision basketball. They would be probably the top one or two seed in the Western Conference because you look at their. What? What. Besides the lack of point guard? Because that's the only. That's the only. And that's. I only say that because Michael Connelly's old. What else don't they have? They have everything. They have guys that can shoot, they have guys that can play, make. They have guys that could drive. They have guys that defend. Jada McDaniels defends, Anthony Edwards defends. Rudy Gobert is a whole defense within himself. Julius Randall can score and make plays for other people. He can also hit the three they have. DiVincenzo can score and hit the three. They underestimated the loss of Nikhil. That was the biggest deal. They lost Nikhil. I don't think they under. They underestimated how big of an impact he had just ball handling wise.
- [60:04]
A
Michael Connelly's price wise. You knew once, you know, the Rudy deal, the NAS deal, the Jaden extension, like, they were going to have to. The one guy was going to be gone. It's going to be gone.
- [60:13]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's the point and that's the Only thing I'll say with the Raptors is, like, they don't have. They might not ever have the best player in a playoff series right now. The way they play, though, I've seen it before because I saw again, they're a different team than Indiana, obviously, but I felt that same way with the Pacers. I was like, man, who do they close games with? I don't know. How is it. Pascal Siak, how far can this team go? And they just kept beating everybody because they play the right way and they have like, nine, 10 guys and they're deep and they like, they just keep rotating guys in of guys who can put the ball on the floor and like you said, drive to the basket and just swing, pass, pass. That's the way the Raptors play. So they've been a great surprise, but they play the right way.
- [60:54]
A
Yeah. And look, they're super connected, as we said here. And if you look at the entire defensive rankings on the season, I mean, this is 48 games in their fifth. They're buying OKC, the Pistons, the Spurs, Golden State's fourth, and defense. And there is a carryover from last year where they just, you know, they still ended up not having a very good record, but you'd go, and a lot of this stuff is lost. So I wouldn't blame anybody for not catching onto this. I think I remember when somebody else pointed out be like, did you see where Brooklyn was right now defensively last month? Like, how. How would anybody. Like, most people aren't paying attention to that kind of stuff, but Toronto had a stretch defensively last year. We're like, is this real? You know, and then I even read something this summer that was like, oh, you know, it was like, there's all these different things that baked in. And that was super fluky. Well, it wasn't fluky. There was some defensive identity that carried over from last year into this year on top of a group that just feels like, hey, you better bring it. Like, if you're playing the Raptors, you see them on the schedule, like they're going to. They've got a lot of different options, and when they're fully healthy and again, I'm with you. I don't know if I'm going to pick them against anybody, but I still can't believe Boston is this good. I hold out hope for Cleveland all the time. They're 13 and 7 in their last 20, but it's not some outrageous record. But that number 13 and 7 kind of speaks to the parody that we're in right now in this part of the season, 13 and 7, I think, is the fourth best record in the NBA over the last 20. So, like, okay, like, there's. There's a really. Outside of the Clippers part of it that you've had, like, kind of this. Do you have a minute on Cleveland? Because I still, again, like, Orlando, I maybe hold out bigger holes that this turns around at some point. But then you start hearing like, hey, they're not having fun. But I always wonder, like, which team who has huge expectations, that's disappointing. Is having fun. Like, I would not want a team that would be worse if they were still having fun.
- [62:40]
B
I hate when people say that, you know, it looks like they're not having fun. They get the fuck.
- [62:46]
D
What do you.
- [62:48]
B
Okay. All right. First off, that whole. I don't even want to get. You know what I'm going to be. We'll stick to. We're talking about Cleveland. You know, for me, with them, I've always been. I just want to talk about them in the playoffs because after last year's regular season, the year before, they dominated, and then they get the playoffs and they lose or something happens or a guy gets hurt or, you know, this guy doesn't like playing with this guy. Then they got the different coach. And it's always been a reason around Cleveland. They've got a. Colby. Almond's done a great. Their roster is great. All right, you got size. You got Donovan Mitchell, who's a superstar. Okay, They've had. Who's. The rookies played fantastic. He's in the Rising Stars games.
- [63:35]
A
Tyson, Jalen Tyson. That's another thing with the margins, like Naquan Tomlin, who comes in. Porter, who has had stretches where he had to play a lot because of injuries. I'm like, hey, this guy's kind of good, too. That's what's so, like, Dean Wade's a good player.
- [63:54]
B
Sam. Sam Merrill shoots the hell out the ball. You know, they have. They're loaded, bro. They have a good team. We haven't even said Harlan yet. Yeah, they don't even play. Like, Hunter is like, a guy that, you know, he's.
- [64:06]
A
I mean, I know they play him, but he's off the bench now. They don't.
- [64:08]
B
Yeah, he's had a really weird year, though. He hasn't gotten going. So they moved him to the bench to give him his own lineup to be like, hey, maybe this will get him going. Let's bring him off the bench. He's not getting the ball. Apparently, he was Frustrated in the first unit because it's like, yo, Darius has it and then Donovan has it and then Mobley wants it. When do I get the ball? So they're like, all right, we'll bring you off the bench then. So that way when you come in, it's your show. Still hasn't really translated yet. If anything, Tyson's the guy fucking scoring most of the points off the bench now and he starts. But even games where like, he'll be in there with the second unit, like, I. So they. They have so many options. We didn't even get to Darius Garland yet. So it's like, I don't understand, you know, why they're not a top tier team. It could be winners fatigue from the past two years. But then you're like, winners. Then you're like, what are fatigue? They haven't. In the playoffs. They haven't gone anywhere. So it's just like, is it. Are they. You know, I. I've heard a comment from a couple coaches recently of teams that haven't won championships, but they've said, oh, we're bored, you know, right now in the regular season, we've lost games. And I'm like, you're bored? You know, and that hasn't come from Kenny. I'm saying this is what it looks like on the outside. You're like, well, they've won back to regular seasons where they've dominated. Maybe they're just waiting to get to the playoffs to turn it on. I think it got uglier than they expected. So now you're seeing that turnaround. Now where do I diagnose this team? Is, are we going to get the Cleveland. Are we getting a conference final? Cleveland finally, are we. Is this team going to get there? You know, because they have everything on the roster. Them and Orlando have been the two teams in the east. Where I'm like, what is. What's preventing y' all from getting to where we all thought and know you should be? Because your roster is. It's not a front office issue here. And I know how good of a coach Kenny is. So it's like, what's. What's going on here? Now we got. Let's get to the players and how guys are playing.
- [66:02]
A
Final thing. So final thought, we're going to stay on the Donovan Mitchell part of it. I was talking with a couple teams about this because you know how it is. You just love bullshitting about stuff. SGA fans are going to lose it on this question. But if you took out SGA on last year's Thunder team and put in Donovan Mitchell. Do they win the NBA championship last year?
- [66:25]
B
Man, that's a good question.
- [66:27]
A
Because some people think Mitchell is just a straight up loser. And I have a very hard time with those because I'm like, I get. Some guys don't win in the playoffs. So then they get like. I just think there's two different groups. Some guys are losers and some guys just don't win. And I know that doesn't. That seems too simple. I'm okay being too simple with that one. But I, you know, you're making the rounds and then you're just kind of talking to people. I'm surprised how many people. Well, maybe I'm not surprised how many people are down on Donovan Mitchell, but I was like, I wonder what you would think of that. Go ahead.
- [67:00]
B
I don't think Donovan Mitchell's a loser. And I say that from the aspect of. I think we get so caught up in the, like, first off, everyone loses except to one team. Okay? So we got a lot of losers in by that standpoint because Donovan Mitchell hasn't won a championship now he's qualified.
- [67:14]
A
Well, I'm not getting out of this second round. That's true. That starts sting up a little bit.
- [67:18]
B
It does, it does. I mean, we're talking about SGA out, you know, I'm talking about the mvp, man. Not. Not the year that he had last year. He was just too. He was too consistent to be replaced by anybody, I think last year. And that's. So that's not a knock against Donovan. I don't really know. I only think there's one guard in the NBA that you could replace Shea with and they still would have won. And that's Cade. I have Cade.
- [67:47]
A
I have Cade.
- [67:48]
B
I think if you replace Shay with Cade, that team wins still. That's a good one, I think.
- [67:57]
A
I'm with you. I love Cade. I love him. He just scores.
- [67:59]
B
And everyone likes playing with him. And he can get anybody involved at any time. And everyone eats with him, but he eats. Shea had this thing last year where he was scoring 30 every game, but like so was, you know, Jalen had 20 something. This everyone was eating, but this guy still had 30. You're like, you know the consistency of what this guy was doing. I mean, even this year he doesn't even play fourth quarters half the time to start out, he's just like having 30 every game. He's just every night. And then in the way he would close and bail them out those games in those playoffs where like Denver would push them or some of these other teams would try to push them the way Shea would just take over the game every time. Every time. I don't know if I could replace him with really anybody in that team. I think he was overlooked due to. Everybody talks about the depth of the, you know, the, the Thunder and how great they are. Well, yeah, they might have all these options, but with the last four minutes in the game, they get the ball to the, to this guy every time. So as good as this roster is, he's got to close it at the end of the day, and he did. So it's just like. And they, he does it with the lack of shooting. They don't even have a whole bunch of shooting around them. They're not even like a, a premier three point shooting team. And he just gets it done. With the lack of spacing, they have to hope Caruso and Dort are hitting threes. You know what I mean? Like, he still gets it done. So I don't, I don't know. I would say. No, I don't think you. If Donovan Mitchell's on the team, I don't think they, they win. But that's not because I think Donovan Mitchell's a loser, though. Now the getting past the second round thing is an issue, but he's just too damn good. Again, my perspectives changed when I from calling these games Ryan. Like, I've seen Donovan Mitchell, I've called like six Cleveland games. He has had 30 or more every game and has dominated and like figures out ways to get guys involved. I just, I'm like, there's no way I could sit here on the mic and be like, he's a loser.
- [69:38]
A
I just can't say that I can't do it either. I'm not going to do it because I'd also say when he, when he has like peak him for those six, eight minute stretches, there's just not a long distance.
- [69:50]
B
He's unbelievable.
- [69:52]
A
This isn't even really about. I was looking at more like Donovan going, I still like him more than people. I mean, I think this is more about. I do too though, just being in awe of SGA and giving SGA all of his flowers. And I think the other beauty of it with SGA is like, he's okay coming off the ball. He's okay letting somebody up and, you know, initiate the offense. Sometimes they have to just to do him the favor of like, hey, if they have a dog assigned to you for 40 minutes and a playoff, get off the ball, let's have. Yeah, get off the ball. And you know, there's just like done a big. I think they've done a good job of that with K2. Like some of these teams get like, oh, hey, it's your best player. Okay, cool. Well, you're going to have the ball every single time you cross the half court. You're going to be fucking exhausted in the fourth quarter.
- [70:30]
B
Yeah, it's the next issue.
- [70:32]
A
It's. It's not that hard to just go, hey, is there some other initiator? And then we just make it a little easier on our guy and then he comes back up to the ball and who knows, on a curl, maybe he gets the advantage. There was stretches in that Toronto game. I know. Even though they lost it, I was like, man, there's a lot of off ball SGA stuff, but they've been doing that a lot. That could even be a part of like the Mitchell thing where it's like, would Mitchell be coming off of the ball as much with. With that team? But again, it's all hypothetical. It's an awesome answer. I'm going to let you go and make sure we get the plug here on the way out because Austin will also is an honorary coach for the Rising Stars game Feb. 13 at the Intuit Dome for NBA All Star Weekend. Austin Rivers. I guess a lot of X and O's will go into that one.
- [71:15]
B
I got a couple plays. It's a. It's an All Star game, so it's like it's. They don't want an execute play. I just have a couple inbounds and then couple down the stretch. Like we're just. We can do some high pick and roll action with some of the guys that we have. I just got our roster like two days ago, so I'm figuring out, you know, kind of.
- [71:34]
A
No God, you know. Well, maybe he'll be a late replacement because we didn't even mention him in our Hornets thing. He had an awesome ball fake. I'm gonna text it to you right now. Awesome ball fake to the corner. Just rain from outside. Thanks, man. I appreciate it. Always, man.
- [71:50]
B
Anytime, man. Anytime. And you listen, I don't have my podcast now, so any. Anytime you. You need me to get on. I was getting hot water, man. My pod was conflict of interest if I've ever said it. So I was like, I gotta let this go. So I'm free, man. Call and gain.
- [72:03]
A
Sounds good, man.
- [72:03]
B
And join a guest on the Resillo show. So let me know.
- [72:07]
A
All right, we'll keep up the great work on NBC. Appreciate it.
- [72:09]
B
I appreciate you, man. Thank you always.
- [72:11]
A
Again, that segment brought to you by Microsoft Copilot. Microsoft Copilot, the AI assistant that actually helps you get stuff done. CoPilot works across Microsoft 365 Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook. Turning chaos into productivity. Need a presentation. Copilot builds it. Need a summary of a meeting. You definitely zoned out in. Copilot's got you. Let Copilot do the heavy lifting. You just take the credit. Learn more@Microsoft.com M365 copilot fresh off an alliance hit for the boys. We got Kyle and minus two and a half.
- [72:48]
D
Yeah, we stuck that one in.
- [72:50]
A
Just shaving lines, man. But it was work. It worked for you. I was huge. You know how many people, I wonder how many people bet Denver early and we're like, eh, whatever, five and a half when that thing opened up. So congrats to those people that were on it, that were on it early. What do we need tonight? Because we all have NBA plays, right?
- [73:08]
D
Yeah. So we're going to do one for the super bowl next week, but we're going to go back to NBA this week. I'll go first. In the spirit of Austin Rivers talking Magic basketball and Jalen Suggs. Give me Jalen Suggs open 15 or more points tonight. I think he's been kind of weird since the injury and I think it's a good bounce back spot. Plus they're playing the heat high pace. I think he's gonna be a lot of points in this game too. So Jalen Suggs, 15 or more points. That's my guy.
- [73:33]
A
Okay. I love it. That's a, that's a faithful play. What do you got, Kyle?
- [73:37]
E
I'm going back to the Big East. Well, but not in a way that you might expect. I'm going Cam Spencer, eight plus assists tonight. He's sort of. I went through like basketball reference and it's just been a lot of like 11, 12, 13. And some would say it's a breakout. Some would say this is who the guy was at UConn.
- [73:56]
A
So some would say that.
- [73:59]
E
So I'm gonna, I'm gonna say eight or more rebounds tonight for Cam Spencer.
- [74:03]
D
Shout out stores.
- [74:05]
A
Yeah, shout out. Okay. My Raptors 4 Raptors.
- [74:11]
D
It's hilarious how this has worked. Like. Yeah. I don't think any fan disliked you more than Raptors fans and now you're just on the bandwagon.
- [74:18]
A
I don't think I disliked any single fan base more than the Raptors.
- [74:22]
D
So I was gonna let you say.
- [74:23]
A
That, but yeah, even Steven.
- [74:25]
B
But touche.
- [74:27]
A
Look, I respect ball. I respect ball. I don't care if you're a fitness model or the Raptors, I'll like it. And if you look at the this stretch of winning four straight, they've had a couple days off, they've got the Knicks at home. The Knicks conversely are coming back from a stretch where they've put together three in a row. But back to back, Sacramento last night, Philly. So they've been home for a little while, but a couple days off there after the OKC win for the Raptors. Is it still minus one and a half Toronto at home?
- [75:05]
D
It did. It moved when the Giannis news dropped to two and a half, but now it's back to one and a half. So I don't know if they were like, hey, like the Knicks are going to be off tonight because they're just thinking about getting Giannis at the deadline. So honestly I, I think that's even more near all the players. Yeah. Well, at least Bridges, I know he's been on cameras for getting shipped off the Portland, so. Yeah, but it's back to the minus one and a half.
- [75:24]
A
So there you go. Okay, so that is the play and you can check out all the lines on DraftKings +509. Let's go. Get in the game with college branded Venmo debit card and earn up to 5% cash back at some of your favorite brands with Venmo Stash Rewards. Upgrade your Superfan status with special edition school design so you can pay for your game day wings and rep your team at the same time. You can add your Venmo debit card to your mobile wallet as soon as you sign up and pay online and in store right from your phone. And the best part, the card is tied to your Venmo account. Got paid back for dinner. Immediately access the money in your Venmo balance and spend it on what you want. Game day, snacks, tickets, new merch. You can easily split purchases in the app and there's no monthly fee or minimum balance. Score more with a college branded Venmo debit card and get up to 5% cash back with Venmo Stash. Sign up@venmo.com collegegrad the Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp NA Select Schools available Venmo Stash Bundle Terms and exclusions apply at Venmo me terms max $100 cashback per month. You want details?
- [76:39]
B
Fine.
- [76:40]
A
I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet.
- [76:43]
E
What's up?
- [76:45]
B
I have a ridiculous house in the south fork. I have every toy you can possibly imagine and best of all kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible.
- [76:56]
E
Let me tell you what's required.
- [76:57]
A
Okay. Life Advice lifeadvice rrmail.com Stats 59190 no max bench but 225 for reps comp. Hugo Gonzalez Tenacity but Kyle Anderson athleticism. That's a dangerous combo for your opponent. I'm not a guy who brags, but context is key here. I'm a great dad, full stop. If you pulled my friend group on who the best father is, it's me.
- [77:29]
C
Yeah.
- [77:30]
A
I'm only saying that to lend some weight to what I'm about to say. Regarding the no contact grandparents email from last week. I think Ceruti wanted to go there but pulled back. I won't. These parents are wrong. Something broken people. Over the last few years we've replaced common sense with phobias. Kids get sick. It's how an immune system is built. You have to look at it from the in laws perspective. Your safety protocols are actively damaging the most important relationship they have in their life. These grandparents have put in 30 years of work waiting for the payout and the parents are freezing the account because of a sniffle. My dad calls grandkids life's dividends and that's what they are taking as a.
- [78:10]
E
Non parent I was thinking maybe that's what could be going on here but I don't think I had the right to say it.
- [78:15]
D
So.
- [78:18]
A
I don't know that I would. I don't know that he meant to say I think the parents relationship probably still ranks a little bit higher than the grandparents relationship is the most valuable relationship of their lives.
- [78:28]
E
Sure.
- [78:30]
D
Yes I will, I will say the grandparent thing is incredible because like they, they, they get to be the fun parent with no consequences all the time. So like yeah, like if you're like hey, I don't want to get my kids sick, like of course they're not going to care because they're not the one dealing with the sick kid at home. They get to go home and not deal with the sick kid. You know, nine times out of ten it's like oh it's cool, we'll skip nap time. It's like yeah, well you don't have to deal with the kid that doesn't nap then who is miserable and won't go to sleep and is like a demon terror this household. Like you get to go home, be the fun grandparent. So I think he's right. Like, I do think, like, all right, sure, we've probably gotten soft in some areas, but also, like, it's pretty easy to just helicopter and be a fun grandparent and then just leave and not suffer any of the consequences. Rant over. Sorry.
- [79:16]
A
I would say there was something in that email that I didn't bring up because I'm big on. Like, when I just read the email, sometimes I think there's clues into who the person is during the email. The email was so, so well written that I was wondering. I'm like, is the parent perhaps so detailed in everything that there's nothing that they're not prepared for? So yet most of this is super complimentary. Could it be a bit like Ben Stiller in the movie with Jennifer Aniston where he's constantly assessing risk and you're like, hey, that's a great skill. It also could be a little annoying at times.
- [79:56]
E
Long came Polly.
- [79:58]
A
Yeah, nice. I forgot the title for a second. How are things going? Incredibly well. Incredibly well. Thanks for asking.
- [80:07]
E
That was a long time ago. I remember laughing a lot at that one. I was young when I watched that. I do remember laughing a lot.
- [80:12]
D
Yeah.
- [80:14]
A
Yeah. So anyway, I did. I did wonder that. But I don't know. I mean, it doesn't feel. Hey, man, your emails are really well written and you're using. Terrific. Are you a little too harsh on your. Your. On the grandparents kid thing like that? That felt like a bit of a stretch there. A little bit. All right, so a little feedback. Little feedback for. For some people here. We got a feedback one here for Kyle. I don't. I don't think I'm going to read this one.
- [80:39]
E
O. Maybe send it to me offline.
- [80:41]
A
I'll just try to be better. What?
- [80:42]
D
Is.
- [80:42]
E
Is it bad?
- [80:43]
B
I think you should read.
- [80:45]
A
Well, we just never. We just never have any anti Kyle stuff.
- [80:50]
E
Yeah, it's been a pretty good run. Or maybe you just have a good filter.
- [80:54]
A
Do you want some anti Kyle stuff?
- [80:57]
E
Sure.
- [80:58]
A
See how Kyle reacts?
- [80:59]
E
Sure.
- [80:59]
A
I don't think.
- [81:00]
D
I think this will only help your case because if you come with Kyle, you better not miss. I feel like he's got a lot of backers.
- [81:06]
E
I think there's probably a few things you could hit, though, so I guess.
- [81:10]
A
All right, let's. Let's do it then. Let's see. This is new. This is new territory. Start email. I have some life advice for Kyle. Maybe quit bitching and moaning every pot about how Ryan hurt your feelings. Y' all aren't going to be best friends, man. Sorry that I don't want to pick up your FaceTimes or go to the bar at one in the afternoon. We don't need to be punished because you're sad. No one likes the Patriots as much as you. You've gotten significantly more whiny since the move to Barstool.
- [81:38]
E
All right, well, I think this is maybe a guy who. There's, you know, there's. There's maybe a kernel of truth in some of this, but it seems like a guy who might not get a lot of bits. I don't think you get the bit if you think I'm still actually really upset that Ryan's just in a different stratosphere of age, success, brain power when it comes to sports and stuff. I just think, whatever, dude. It's sort of a joke. That's why we're all laughing. You're the only one in this quartet.
- [82:06]
A
Who'S not laughing, so.
- [82:07]
E
But you know what? Maybe I gotta get better. Yeah, maybe I gotta get better.
- [82:12]
D
This kind of reminds me of how seriously people took the Coors light thing. Like, I. I. People. I had people hit me up, being like, you have every right to be upset. Like, thinking I was genuinely mad. I didn't really care. It was kind of funny, and we told it on the show, but, like, people were like, you, you need to, you know, you need to put your foot down. Don't let Ryan topple, you know, trample over you. I'm like, you guys take this way serious, way more serious than we do. So this is just another example. Like. Like, it's, you know, we're just having fun, man.
- [82:39]
A
I don't know. Yeah, we're all way more okay with each other, but we don't ever really get any emails like this. I imagine this guy also hates the Patriots. The thing that I would push back on the most is that anyone that ever says, oh, since you guys went to Barstool, it's just. It's the same fucking show. It couldn't be more the same. Yeah, it really does. Nothing is different.
- [82:59]
E
I have this cool mic arm now, but that's really the only thing that's changed for me.
- [83:03]
D
Got a nice backdrop, too, and the.
- [83:04]
E
Sick curtain behind me, but that's about it.
- [83:08]
A
Because when I left ESPN and then I started doing this, it was like, oh, now that you're not espn, you're going to do this, this, and this. I was like, no, it's kind of the same. If Anything. I'm a little bit more relaxed and a little freer because I'm not dealing with any stuff. So the only difference would be that I'm probably better than I was towards the end of the radio stuff, which was. Was super frustrating. But there's. There's a very simple way that people will go about, like, some of those criticisms. I can kind of see where it's coming from. But whenever you say, like, oh, it's this now, and it's like, no, no, you're falling for the very easy labeling to then pretend you're coming to a conclusion that isn't there because there's something that's changed that makes you go like, oh, I can point to this thing. Like, I could do the exact same segment. Or like, hey, you had this guest on because you're there, and you wouldn't have done that at Ringer Spotify. And it's like, are you serious? Like, have you listened to the show? So, like, I would have. There's no one that I'm like, oh, I'm gonna do this now with this guest. Because I was. I was so afraid of what. Yeah, I was afraid of what Priscilla was unleashed. The Prestige TV would have said behind closed doors.
- [84:20]
E
If anything, we went back to, you know, instead of the actual thing, if anything. Yeah, we become a little bit more reserved, but I don't know, we've.
- [84:26]
A
We've tightened it up.
- [84:28]
D
I would say the swear per minute ratio is lower. Yeah, I would.
- [84:30]
A
I would agree.
- [84:31]
E
Certainly been on my mind. I've been trying.
- [84:35]
D
I do appreciate the enthusiasm, people, for the show, though. Like, I don't want. I don't want, like, people to misinterpret that. Like, it is funny that you think that that's a thing, but, yeah, like, I don't know. Like, I don't think Kyle's, like, super bad.
- [84:44]
E
Maybe for Netflix, if he's a Netflix guy, we can get, like, a joke graphic that we could put on when I say something like that, just so it doesn't. He doesn't miss it again, you know?
- [84:50]
A
Yeah. I feel like, what if you are a whiny bitch, though? We just like you and never said anything.
- [84:55]
D
Yeah.
- [84:55]
E
You know what? At super bowl, off air. We'll get into it.
- [84:58]
A
It. We'll get into it. What if the email makes a couple good points and I'm focusing on the wrong part of it?
- [85:06]
E
That is a good point, though.
- [85:08]
A
The show changed while the Pats went on the run, so maybe the emailer's right.
- [85:14]
D
Maybe that is a Good point, though. Next week, this is going to be the most time we've spent together in person, maybe ever.
- [85:22]
A
Ever. Yeah.
- [85:23]
E
That's easy.
- [85:24]
D
This could be like a. You know, who knows? Like, this could. It could be great. Could not be great. We'll find out.
- [85:30]
E
I feel like it'll be a lot of. Again, joking a little bit. It's just a joke, guys. I think it'll be a lot of, like, me and Serutti being left after you go do something, which is like, I'm. I'm. I'm good with that. I mean, we're good bar guys, but I just.
- [85:42]
A
Yeah.
- [85:43]
E
I wonder how many times it'll be like, we'll. I'll see you boys later. I do wonder. I'm sure. I mean, every day has to end.
- [85:49]
A
With that, but I'd love to have a night, and it's not going to happen that week, so you guys. You guys happen that week. Wow. What do you mean? I'm talking about, like, we're going to the warriors game. I'm setting up warriors tickets for us. Oh. And we're going to have a good time. But, like, if you. If you think this guy's shutting it down at the Tenderloin when I have to. All the shit I have to do. Like, I don't know. There was. There was an epiphany with one of the Van Pelt shows where I had to do the show the next day, and I went, you know what? Maybe this. Maybe you just wait until the week's over. Over.
- [86:21]
E
There's always the daytime, too. I'm just kidding.
- [86:23]
A
I know. We're working.
- [86:24]
C
Yeah.
- [86:24]
A
Yeah. Not for me.
- [86:25]
E
All right.
- [86:26]
A
Not for the mountain.
- [86:27]
D
All right.
- [86:28]
A
Dehydrated. When the mountain shows up and he's like, you look weak. Like a bad day. All right, Stay at old hookups place. Ooh, this is spicy. Hey, guys. Six, three, two, one, zero. Men's League. Glenn Robinson. You should be able to stay wherever you want with those stats, buddy. I'm traveling to visit a good friend who just had a baby. I'm going to need a place to stay. One of my female friends. Imagine a female woman. Yeah. Offered me her studio apartment. The issue is that she's also someone I slept with in the past. So now I need to ask my girlfriend of four months. Four months is. You're not getting away with it. But if you'd said one month, then it's like, okay, what is possible?
- [87:10]
E
Maybe there could have just been some cross lines. I didn't even know we were girlfriends.
- [87:13]
B
Yeah, right.
- [87:14]
A
Yeah. I didn't even know that. We never even said anything. It's like, well, I didn't think we were going to Europe and sleep with your ex the whole time. I thought we were maybe in that phase. Well. Oh, I did. Yeah. Well, you got to clarify, I didn't sign anything. So. Anyway, she summoned myself up in the past. So now I need to ask my girlfriend for four months if she's okay with it. I'm not even sure she remembers that detail. I imagine the current girlfriend, not the former one. I was thinking of saying something like, hey, I don't know if you remember. X. Yeah, right. But she offered me to stay at her place. I'd sleep on the floor. End quote. A friend of mine thinks I should just tell. Somehow the I'll sleep on the floor makes it sound worse.
- [87:58]
D
Yeah, I'm not gonna return to the scene of the crime.
- [88:03]
E
We won't even laugh. We won't even make a joke.
- [88:06]
A
No.
- [88:07]
E
I'm gonna have no fun.
- [88:08]
D
But.
- [88:09]
A
No, but I'm just thinking, like, if you're even trying to talk this out with your current girlfriend, like, hey, the way this worked out, my ex has a place. Is there any way. Okay, fine. And then I just feel like you saying I'll sleep on the floor, though, makes it even worse than not saying I'll sleep on the floor. I don't know. A friend of mine thinks I should just get a hotel and not even consider staying there. But I'm pretty focused on trying to figure out how to make it work staying at her place. You're pretty focused on trying to figure out a way to him. Why?
- [88:40]
E
Maybe he just, like, once he starts something, he has to see it through.
- [88:43]
D
I don't know.
- [88:44]
E
This is crazy, huh?
- [88:46]
D
Maybe he has the saving money itch like that other email, just to a lesser degree. It's like, if I have a free place, why would I spend money on a place?
- [88:52]
A
Well, do you like your current girlfriend? If the answer is yes, then don't do this, because you're an asshole. This is one of those things that is pretty simple. I'm not saying that I was smart enough when I was younger. I'd be like, what are you talking about? I'm gonna save like 120 bucks. Like, what's your problem? You know? He's like, are you going to drink? Well, of course I'm going to drink. Like, don't even worry about it. It's not even that big of a deal. I ended on good terms. What? No, she's Just an important person. I want her in my life, especially when I need a place to stay for free. You have to think about the other person's feelings. If you like your girlfriend in four months, which I'm starting to wonder, you may not like, if you're really focused on trying to make this work, think about their priorities. Yeah, yeah, you look, you're either too dumb to figure it out, you don't like her, or. Or you're not dumb, but you're young in this way that's completely like narcissist.
- [89:42]
E
Kind of like Giannis, you want out, but, you know, maybe you want something, somebody else to do something for you. He doesn't want to be the bad guy.
- [89:49]
A
He's putting himself in the situation where.
- [89:51]
E
It'S like, oh, man, I was staying there, I don't know, you just jumped me.
- [89:55]
D
Wait, how old? Again?
- [89:57]
A
It doesn't say. But he referenced Glenn Robinson, so I don't. I mean, that's not.
- [90:01]
E
Could have just been locked in. Yeah, could have just been locked in from a young age.
- [90:03]
A
He could have been.
- [90:05]
E
I'll just say Frazier. That got no 74, by the way.
- [90:09]
A
Even if we're talking about a Glenn Robinson reference, which would be maybe like 38, the youngest guy that I could think of that would throw up. Bull, big dog. There's no way this is a 40 year old person doing this, right?
- [90:25]
D
Yeah. Maybe that's why they're still single. I don't know.
- [90:28]
A
We don't even need more.
- [90:29]
E
First of all, a 40 year old wouldn't be like, I'll sleep on the floor, floor. You wouldn't even joke about that shit.
- [90:33]
A
Could you be like, my back and my back, really simple. Do you care about your current girlfriend's feelings if you do? If the answer is yes, then you think about her feelings and how much she's going to hate this, the anxiety that she's going to have. Even if nothing nefarious is going to happen, do not put that person, someone that you care in, care about. Do not put that person in that kind of position.
- [90:54]
D
And quickly there's, you know, know you're four months in. It's still kind of the new phase. Like, you're still, you're kind of sure.
- [91:02]
B
But you're not really, really sure.
- [91:03]
D
Like things could go wrong. You know, it's not a ball or move. Just not getting a hotel room with your girl, like that's, that's the move. Like, why are you like skimping on money to try to stay with a buddy? Even if it was like a buddy's place. It's kind of weird. It's like, hey, man, this is your girl. You're going somewhere. Like, get a hotel room like an adult. I think that's. I think that's the move.
- [91:20]
A
Yeah. Why would you want to sleep on the floor now again, if you're saving the 100, 200 bucks? I don't know. Maybe he's at Sundance.
- [91:28]
D
Yeah.
- [91:29]
A
Does it change like Augusta?
- [91:30]
E
There's only so many options, you know?
- [91:33]
A
Yeah, if you're Augusta now I kind of understand a little bit. All right, last one. I think this one might be fake. 59145 soaking wet comp. Ben Simmons with awareness Passing savant lethal in A1 on O shoot around setting. Haven't played or stepped on a court in ages. My wife and I found out over the weekend we were having a baby boy this summer. We both have some names that we like, but Jack alone by itself tops the list. Jack, Top of my list. Jack Ryan.
- [91:59]
D
That was the only boy's name that I liked, but top of my list. It didn't really matter.
- [92:05]
E
All right, so you're done. So I could still maybe have a Jack.
- [92:07]
D
You could have Jack. You could have Jack. Yeah.
- [92:09]
A
The problem is my surname is Hammer. My wife fears Jackhammer would expose him to some teasing in school, unwanted attention, and just general unfairness. I understand it, but don't share the position. Rarely do we ever use our full names, but I think it's an instant icebreaker and incredibly memorable. Yeah, I heard endless Hammer jokes growing up and still get strangers commenting about my last name when I have to provide it in public and have never minded it at all. We had a hockey player buddy. I think his last name was Hamilton. We called him Hammer. And you don't think that guy was fucking cool? I've never met a. Have you ever met an uncool Hammer?
- [92:49]
E
Well, MC Hammer, there's one that comes to mind.
- [92:52]
A
MC Hammer is a tough hang. Who are you thinking of?
- [92:55]
E
Armie Hammer was in some hot water, wasn't he?
- [92:57]
D
Cannibal variety. Yeah.
- [92:58]
A
Yeah.
- [92:59]
E
I think that.
- [93:00]
A
I don't think that was the average.
- [93:01]
E
Coolness of all Hammers by a little bit.
- [93:03]
A
I think we were offered him and I was like, yeah. I mean, there's an interview there. I just don't know that we're at Barstool now.
- [93:09]
D
So we could do it.
- [93:10]
A
Yeah, different. Somebody asked. Somebody asked me if I would do it and I was like, like, might stay out of that one. What if you went the Lone Ranger when You saw the script.
- [93:24]
E
What if you went Jackson Hammer. And that way as full his government isn't, you know, Jackson Hayes. Well. And there's a couple cool ways you could spell Jackson. But I guess if you wanted to be J, A, C, K, you could go, yeah, Jackson Hammer. And then you guys could call him Jack. And then, you know, when he introducing himself somewhere where maybe he doesn't want to do the whole Jackhammer thing, you can go that way.
- [93:47]
A
I went to high school with a Jackson. I think he's probably named after Jackson Brown. Good kid. Good kid.
- [93:54]
D
Not even everybody.
- [93:56]
A
I did too.
- [93:58]
E
Jackson, he was a diabetic and we were playing capture the flag once.
- [94:02]
A
Never.
- [94:03]
E
I think it was capture the flag. And I went to grab his flag and I pulled out his. Oh, his thing and I had to walk him to the nurse. And honestly I was probably had to go to the nurse too. I was like, wait, so that's in you. Anyway, that was the one Jackson thing I remember. Hope he's doing good.
- [94:18]
D
Yeah, Dan, I hope he is. I think it's a good idea.
- [94:20]
A
Kyle.
- [94:21]
D
I think it's a good idea.
- [94:22]
A
So we all like Jackhammer. Yeah, I love it.
- [94:26]
E
And then it's up to him. If he wants to be Jackhammer when he meets somebody, he can go Jackson or Jack.
- [94:31]
A
Right. But just a. No offense to our email. No offense to our emailer. He checked in at 59145.
- [94:42]
D
So that is a.
- [94:44]
A
We're just saying like the way the gene pool works. Like what if.
- [94:50]
D
What if Jackhammer can only be six foot?
- [94:53]
A
We. I mean that'd be a miracle.
- [94:58]
D
If your name is Jack Hammer though. You, I feel like you, like, it's like when you name like with this, like we talked about this, like celebrities.
- [95:04]
E
I wonder if there's something else going on.
- [95:06]
D
When your name's Jack Hammer, you kind of just gravitate towards being a jackhammer. I feel like, you know, probably not going to be like a literary major at a liberal.
- [95:14]
A
Thor was going to be my go to. And it's like. But I tell them I'd be like, hey, this took a lot of work. This is 20 years of work here, buddy. Like the gene pool on the male side for us is you're going to be leaning lean and be fast. You're going to be lean though. It's up to you. All right, I think.
- [95:33]
E
Take the chance. Take the chance. Go Jackson.
- [95:36]
A
59145. Dad, check in Jackhammer.
- [95:39]
D
Yeah.
- [95:41]
A
All right. But if he. What if he emails tomorrow is like my wife's six, one. Oh, yeah.
- [95:47]
D
Olympic rower. Yeah.
- [95:49]
A
Like, okay, done. Totally on board. Middle name, name. Licensed.
- [95:57]
D
Yeah.
- [95:59]
A
I don't know about it. We'll think about it.
- [96:01]
E
I don't know yet.
- [96:02]
A
All right. Thanks to Tom. Thanks to Kevin. Thanks to Sty. Thanks to Kyle. The Ryan Ro Show. Barstool sports. Sam.