
Loading summary
Ryan Marcillo
Hey Resilo listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. What if your drive was fueled with more like More protection for more time on the road? Shelby Power Nitro plus provides more protection for longer lasting engines, so it helps you keep your engine running like new for whatever drive is ahead. Shelby Power Nitro engine performance that lasts compared to minimum detergent gasoline. With continuous use of Shelby Power Nitro plus and gasoline direct injection engines, effects and benefits may vary. See Shell Us More Protection for more information. The Ryan Marcillo show is presented by DraftKings. We have an awesome show for you today. So I've been working on this for like a week or something. I sent a note out to a bunch of different front offices, different executives, some coaching staffs, and basically I got a ballot of 13 different people that work in the NBA on who they think the top 10 players in the league are right now. And I like to do it before the playoffs. I'll share with you my top 10 and I think it's something that all of us should always have. We've got Duncan Robinson just missed the cut for top 10 players in the NBA, but he's going to talk about Cade, who he thinks is a lot higher but just in general, like this team, his teammates, their expectations, some of the matchup stuff. And we'll ask them about Kevin Herder showing up and kind of being like, hey, we already have one of these. It's me. And we've got life advice. The NBA playoffs are in full swing and the intensity isn't letting up. And with DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA, your winnings get a boost every single day, all playoffs long. Bet player props bet live from the opening tip to the final possession. Every bucket, every dime, every clutch takeover matters. And DraftKings sportsbook keeps boosting you all the way through. All DraftKings customers can enjoy a profit boost every single day throughout the playoffs. Download the DraftKings sportsbook app now. Use the code RYAN to claim your profit boost. That's code RYAN R Y E N to get a boost every day of the playoffs in partnership with DraftKings, the crown is yours. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-MERNET NEW YORK Call 877-8-HOPE and wire text hope and connecticut, call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org on behalf of Boothill Casino in Kansas. Wager tax pass through may apply in Illinois 21 and over in most states. Void and Ontario restrictions apply. One profit boost per customer per day. NBA Playoffs bets only. Bet restrictions apply and vary when offered. Max bet and boost vary. Boost only applies to winnings and expires at the end of the last NBA game each day. See terms@sportsbook.draftkings.com promos any ball knower should have his top 10 list at the ready. It's kind of how I live, so I like to do it before the playoffs start because I think the playoffs probably influence the rankings too much. But I mean the Phoenix Suns, their finals run against Milwaukee, that was a really good example. Started hearing some Booker Kobe stuff. I still probably feel like I like Booker more than anybody. Tough one last night for my guy, but there were like some weird is Deandre Ayton top 15 shit that was happening. It was nice to see him have a 20 and 10 against Utah in the final game of the season. Finally starting to figure himself out, how do I fit into this offense well when no one else is there? There you go. Here's some shots. Ayton is not on any of these ballots. So what I did and here's the exercise. Talked with a bunch of teams, went front offices and coaching staffs. So we have 13 voters on this panel here. I was like I have my top 10. Give me your top 10 best players in the world. It's not who had the best season in 2526. It's not an MVP vote. It's not who would you build a team around. It's just right now status. You know, the way you see the game, who are the 10 best players in the NBA? I'll give you my list at the end. I like to do it twice a year. It's just a bit of an exercise again for the ball knowers out there. So according to this and if you asked 13 different people in front offices and coaches, maybe you would have a different list. You know, I could do. I don't know how different it would be though, necessarily at the top. So the way I did it is I took the 13 ballots and then I assigned a point total depending on where you were ranked and then had to do something else if you weren't on a ballot. Then assigned everybody the same value for the times that they weren't on a ballot to average this all out. So here is the top 10 list according to my poll here with guys that do this. Jokic 1 SGA 2 Wemby 3 Luca 4 Giannis is 5. He was actually not on one ballot that was a bit shocking. Ant 6, Kawhi 7. The love for Kawhi is real and it's dessert. He's incredible. This year, some voters seem to be a little bit more harsh on injuries. There was just some that were like, hey, look, if you you've had an issue this year or if you've had issues historically here, I'm just going to ding you a little bit more, which again, it's their ballot and do whatever they want. So Kawhi's at seven, tied with Tatum at seven. So Kawhi was off of three of the 13 ballots. Tatum was off of three of the 13 Ballots. Ant was actually off of one ballot, which shocked me. Cade at nine. Cade was on every ballot except for one. Steph rounds out the list at 10. Steph actually was voted in like his general number of how high he was voted was higher than Cade, but Steph was left off of four ballots. So if we dig a little bit deeper here, Jokic had of the 13 votes, he was number one or number two. On 12 of the 13, one voter had Jokic as the third best player in the NBA. That surprised me a little. SGA had five votes as the best player in the world. A couple votes for the second best. A couple votes for the third best. He had two that had him as the fourth best player in the world. Wemby's numbers, he had one vote for the best. A bunch of twos, bunch of threes. Nothing worse than four. Luca, his highest was the third best player. I have two sixes and one seven. And I do have some some quotes for you here to get into some of the voter, the voter's thoughts here. Steph was ranked as high as the sixth best player in the world on four ballots. He was 8th, 9th, 10th, and 10th. On other ballots, again left off of four entirely. Kawhi's highest number was four, the fourth best player in the world, and again left off a ballot. He had some votes all the way, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10. Tatum was always around 6, 7, 8 or 9 and then left off a ballot. Again left off a three ballots just like Kawhi. Ant had his highest vote, was the fifth best player in the world. And then for the rest of it, it's all 6, 7, 8, 9 and then left off of 1. Cade consistently, despite being left off of one ballot, was always like 8, 9 or 10. He did have two votes for the sixth best player in the world. And then you have Steph, who again, Steph was as high as 6 here are the other names that were brought up. Durant had votes for the seventh best player in the world, the ninth best player in the world and 10th, Jaylen Brown was on five ballots, sixth best player, seven, two eights and a nine. And then Mitchell was on one ballot at number eight. Brunson was on two ballots, number nine and number 10. And another outlier vote here that I was a little surprised. Again, everybody interprets it a little bit differently, even if the general question is pretty straightforward. Embiid going to vote as the 10th best player still in the world despite the injuries and lack of availability. So we have our 10 and then we have Durant, Jalen, Mitchell, Embiid, Brunson, and out of that group, no one else. There were some guys that went a little bit deeper. Hey, in a couple years maybe it could be this or whatever. So let's dig into some of the thoughts here from some of our voters here. Somebody that had Jokic one best player in the world. I think there's a big gap between him and number two and number three. If he were to retire tomorrow and train horses. Denver is at best a playing team On Wemby, second best player in the world, will be number one in the next two or three years. He's the most unique player to ever play in the NBA since Wilt Chamberlain. Number three. He has sga. The scoring and leadership are unmatched in the league. And then he emphasized there is a huge gap from the top three in the rest of the group. Another voter had Jokic one said, quote, probably almost underrated, how amazing he is. Number one player in the world still underrated. Don't have that a lot. Women. Yama 2. Disgusting that he's only 22. They should stop giving out defensive player of the year for the rest of his career. Number three, Doncic. Number four, sga. So this is an SGA voter that had him for no further explanation. And then he said with Giannis at five, he was actually playing in an unbelievable level before he shut it down. And number six, Tatum, a bit of a legacy pick, but he's earned it. Another voter who had Jokic1. I don't think this is close. That was it. End of statement. Wembanyama will become the best player in the world once he figures out the nail. Very simple. Still really good. But you can take him off his spot still and he can be guarded by a few guys in the gym who are still 6, 8 and the strength, kind of like an Aaron Gordon. Wemby's the most Impactful defensive player I've seen since I've been in the NBA. Not even close. Luca, he gave us some depth here. I think he's the best scorer in the world and showed that this season consistently. Showed that this season consistently. I don't think anybody can make harder shots and I think he improved his defense. The defensive rebounding is real too. Sga, so under control, so poised. I wish I could see his teammates guard him. Wallace, Dort, caruso. Those are three of the 10 best on ball defenders in the NBA. Most teams don't even have one of those guys, let alone three to rotate onto ball handlers. He wears down the top defensive players in the half court. He's dominant in transition when you think him. When you. Even when you think you have him figured out. Ant was just the fact that his shooting is close to 50% of the difficulty of the shots that he takes is very impressive. Has shown growth. Giannis would be over Ant based on physical dominance but the health is declining and I just love this known on Kawhi at his best. Still thinks he's an absolute nightmare. Since January he's been frightening to guard one of the hardest guys in the game to plan for the machine. Another voter who had Luca seventh. Let me, let me, let me build to this. This voter had SGA1 and it was for all the very obvious reasons. Then he had Jokic 2. He said Wemby's 3 right now will be the most unguardable player we've ever seen. If he remains healthy, there will be rule changes in the coming years to address him. Like Shaq Kawhi. He had Kawhi. That's right. Is that the Kawhi vote? That's four. Double checking my work here. Let's see. That's right. We had two fourth place votes for Kawhi. So back to this. Kawhi imposes will on the game, doesn't rely on officiating, baiting, trickery and is a matchup nightmare on both ends. Only him and Wembanyama are trouble on both ends on this list. Okay, he has Cade ahead of Luca. Will rise up this list quickly with his two way play. And on Luca. This one is going to be interesting. Slowly becoming the best ever version of Zach Levine. Not a compliment. He needs to impact winning consistently defend and make others better, not just getting buckets out of other players. Wow. That is not a compliment. Here's somebody else who had Luke a little low. He said Luke is probably low but you have to defend in the playoffs. Especially the Last two rounds. I just don't think he can. Will compromises too much defensively. And then he said having Wemby over SGA is probably too early to do this, but it's just because of the defense and how insane it is. So there you go, some feedback from the people that do this. I would also say last year when I went around the league and called a bunch of guys and I because the defensive stuff, defensive, it's not so much defensive player of the year, but all first, second team, all defense. I want to check with people whether it's their own in house metrics that they're not going to tell me the formula, right? But they're going to go, oh, this guy grades out pretty well or whatever. But especially the coaches, like the defensive stuff. Like I remember I was like, hey, am I out of my mind? With Tamani Kamara, his first team, all defense, and to have other coaches get down at all, like, he's ridiculous. And that was what was happening last year when I was making these calls to make the rounds of like, is there anything I'm missing? You know, especially in the defensive stuff. And a bunch of teams asked me, they're like, what are you doing with Jokic and SGA at mvp? And I was like, I'm voting Jokic. I don't really have to think about it, to be honest with you. And everyone that I talked to was like, that's the right thing to do. Except for one that was like, nah, you got to give it to SGA and the 68 wins and everything. And I was like, no, I totally understand. I totally understand it. This year as I've had a harder time with the MVP vote and feel like I'm leaning sga, I would say, even though, you know, not that I care about Thunder fans feelings because how annoying you all can be, there was, there was way more pro SGA best player in the world a year later. Now, is that because of the championship? You know, because when last time I was doing something like this, which I didn't, it's not like I shared everything, but when I did it a year ago, there was almost no conversation about it whatsoever. And in this case, SGA had 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 votes out of the 13 for the best player in the world. So I don't think it's just about the championship at all based on the conversations I was having with guys too. It's like another year of this guy being just this ridiculous. And yeah, his team is better. Like, I'll say it I think if Devin Booker's on OKC last year instead of sga, the Thunder still win an NBA championship. Not many people are going to agree with me and it's not even really a knock on SGA at all. I just think that's how good that team is and how incredible they are with the different varieties of like, ways they can play the game and all the different lineups and all the guys that are so good defensively. It was noted here and in this piece. But I think the positive here for SGA is that again, it's my little world, right? So maybe it'd be different if you talk to 20 different people and all this kind of stuff. But I think it is somewhat of a sign of the shift, the shift that there's more and more people looking at SGA saying, hey, he's actually the best player in the world. Even if based on these voting totals, Jokic is still number 1. My top 10 Jokic 1. Wembanyama 2. SGA 3. Luca 4. Giannis 5. Steph 6. Little high on Steph probably ant 7. Kawhi 8. Tatum 9 Cade 10 so I did not zag in a classic sense where I was like, you know who I have? Jalen Johnson. I got an 8. So it does feel, it feels pretty consistent on kind of who the 10 guys are. And I think Cade showed out really well here. And some of the commentary on Cade was I had one guy saying like he's going to be the best point guard in the NBA in two years. I'm like, wow, okay. I mean, it's an awesome position. There's a lot of really good point guards. But if you start looking at this list and depending on what you think of Luka Steph moving on, it's actually not crazy at all. So there you go. Tastytrade has a suite of probability tools so you can make smarter picks for your portfolio and manage your money the way you want. You can trade stocks, options, futures and more all in one platform. Tastytrade offers low commissions, including a $10 cap per leg on options trades so you can keep more of what you earn. The platform is packed with trading features like backtesting, which lets you simulate your trading strategies using 10 plus years of data so you can test your ideas about potential Cinderella stocks. Active traders can use features like ladder trading mode, one click trading and smart order tracking to manage their positions during crunch time. Get live stellar support from tastytrade's Deep Bench of Experience desk reps during trading hours. You can search for relevant symbols that align with your investment interest and broaden your understanding of the market using AI powered search tastytrade Inc. Is a registered broker, dealer and member of finra, NFA and sipc. You can earn a double commission rebate on your stock and ETF option trades up to $3,000 total for your first 30 days. When you join tastytrade today, visit tastytrade.combarstool today to learn more. Terms and conditions apply. We're getting ready for the playoffs. They are getting ready for the playoffs. The number one seeded Detroit Pistons. And joining us now right after practice, it is Duncan Robinson. What's up man? Good to see you.
Duncan Robinson
Good to see you too. Thanks so much for having me. I've been trying to get on the show for about eight years now. Finally get the nod. Now that I'm on the first team and first seed in the east, you finally give me some love. I appreciate it.
Ryan Marcillo
We're a selective group here, so you've done your job and, and we're happy to have you. Let's, let's talk about this number one seed. Did you think when you broke training camp that you'd be the number one seed in the East?
Duncan Robinson
I never would have put any limitations on us as a group. Let me say that I knew that we had a lot of talent and I knew that we had something entirely unique from a play style standpoint. You know, I, I just never seen the combination of like youth and athleticism and then also just that two headed monster of Kate and JD So I, I knew we would be really good, you know, did I, I know for sure that we'd be number one in the East. No, but here we are. So it's been a fun ride.
Ryan Marcillo
It's also a really interesting spot that you're in because you're in the one. You know, it's been, you really start to finish to the east and then Boston has the season they have without Tatum. They add Tatum and now it feels like nationally it's like, okay, well Boston's just going to win the East. You're three and one against the Celts. Granted the last time you played him was January 19th, so you know, without Tatum, you can't put a ton in that. But is that anything that you are, your group is kind of aware of, of like, hey, we did all this work and now everybody's picking up Boston.
Duncan Robinson
I mean it's been pretty par for the course of the entire year. I think that's one thing that, you know, we've collectively sort of wrapped our mind around and embraced is we're not really going to get any sort of national media recognition until you really do something. And you know, finishing first in the east is great, but obviously we have higher expectation and hopes for this season. And yeah, to your point, I mean we, we, we have, we've had some battles against Boston this year. The roster looks a little bit different than it does now for them. You know, the last time we played them even post pre deadline, so, you know, they got it rolling. You know, there's a lot of really good teams in the East, I think, I think 1 through 10 when you look at it, you know, everyone wants to talk about how good the west is and obviously I get the top end. Teams over there are really good and you got the defending champs over there as well. But when you talk about 1 through 10 in the east, I think it stacks up with anybody just in terms of depth and just night to night, you know, know you're, you're, you're in for a grind.
Ryan Marcillo
I want to talk about your teammates here. Cade misses all this time with the lung injury, which is scary because like I always pay attention to like the reevaluation date and it's like if we don't get a closer, non reevaluation date, then this could be even worse. But he comes back, he plays the three games in April. You know, how do you, how important was that to just kind of like, hey, we, we need to feel this for real before the playoffs start of having our guy back and remembering what this offense is like with him.
Duncan Robinson
Yeah, you know, I thought it was big, you know, big on him for doing all the work that he needed to do to get back. You know, that was a pretty challenging process. You know, coming through, coming back from something like that where you really just kind of got to be laid up for a couple weeks. Right. To just let the thing heal. But he worked his tail off to get back and be ready for those last three and obviously he commands so much attention and he has the ball in his hands a lot. So I think we're all comfortable playing with him. You know, we. He's played 65 games or whatever it is. 64, 65 games. So it's not like we're not used to it, but there is an adjustment, you know, when he goes out, not no one person is going to fill in for what Cade Cunningham brings. Right. So it's kind of by committee. And as a result you kind of, everybody gets a little uptick in Usage and whatnot. But, you know, when he comes back, I think the great thing about this group is we all have a really good grasp over what's being asked of us on both ends of the floor. And there's a ton of buy into that. You know, we all want Cade to be the all NBA guy that he is. Right. And, you know, for a lot of us it's how can we help elevate him to that? And as a result, when he's able to be that, like, we're all beneficiaries of that as well. So it was good to get him back, you know, get his conditioning back right now, you know, through the challenge of being the one seed is now we just got to wait another week before we play another game. But was good to get him back for sure.
Ryan Marcillo
I love what you do offensively in that you don't just go like, hey, we're going to run a high pick and roll for Cade and if he can work during on a roll, we've got the lob. If he likes the dribble advantage against the center or an undersized perimeter guy, then he's just going to go. I think to the staff's credit, you just find ways to start your possessions. You may get back to that, but you'll start it with something different. You set a screen from on the side and then he curls back to it. What do you have to do knowing that you're for the most part like your ratio of taking threes, like you're taking 80% of your shots from three. But like, what do you have to do with Cade where some of that action isn't as straightforward as maybe other teams would be, where it's just like, he's our best player and he's just going to run and he's going to have this kind of advantage. It seems like you throw a lot of variety at the defense to get back into what it is that you want.
Duncan Robinson
Yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, he's a really dynamic pick and roll player. So there's a variety of possessions that are just going to come out of spread pick and roll or different forms of pick and roll on the floor for, for me personally, I always try to work and position myself within a spot where I'm putting my defender with some sort of decision. Right. You know, you got JD Rolling. You know, he's either got to be that low guy who's tagging or be that first guy who's got to get an early chuck, but create some sort of decision so even if he's not helping off of me, then that's creating an advantage for us in some regard. The other one, which, you know, you mentioned earlier, you know, Kate, a lot of times, because of his size, can just sort of have an advantage without necessarily just blowing by his primary defender. As a result, you get a lot of secondary defenders that are trying to sort of pinch and be involved and even sometimes just full go and put two on the ball. I try to put myself in proximity as often as I can as that next guy, just to sort of put that. That decision in a little bit more of a challenge. That decision maker defensively in a little bit more of a challenging spot. So he's kind of like, am I going, well, I don't really want to leave this and then sort of setting the dominoes for rot. He does go that. That rotation has to happen. So, you know, a lot of it is just sort of like, building this. This chemistry and this nuance of playing with guys. I mean, Kate is like, such a selfless player. Like, he wants to get other people involved. So as soon as he feels too. A lot of times he's just, you know, very willing to get off it, which I think is pretty unique for particularly younger players. Like, a lot of times guys are, oh, they see two on and they want to, like, fight it, right? I can score. I can still get to mine. Um, he's. He's shown time and time again that when the second comes, he's just willing to get off it.
Ryan Marcillo
Some of the stuff you explained, though, it. It can seem really simple. Like, do I take a step just to make sure my defender has to think about me? Like, I don't want to. I don't want to take the possession off. So therefore, my defender can kind of take the possession off mentally because he's like, well, Duncan's not doing anything. Would. Would it be fair to say maybe you did, but I don't know. Did you understand almost none of that when you first got into the league?
Duncan Robinson
I think I understood some of it conceptually. And then I think what I've gotten a lot better at in my time is impacting offensive possessions outside of just, like, catching and shooting. Right. And finding ways to use my gravity just to benefit the team. And, you know, this year has been a unique challenge in that, and I think I've gotten a lot better. Better at it, quite frankly, this year, because we have a lot of, like, very contrasting skill sets on the floor at once, to the point where if I'm not Super in tune with where I am on the floor and who I'm next to or my positioning, or if I'm not, you know, max my spacing all the way to the corners or flying off for something at the right time, then our spacing can really become compromised. And what you get is you kind of get this effect where, like, take at, for example. Dude is just, you know, in my opinion, the best defender on the planet. I know there's. That guy in San Antonio is really good. He impacts that side of the ball. But when it comes to. When it comes to just, like, guarding the ball, I mean, I tell people, like, two or three times a game, he just does, like, alien things. And I'm just like, I've never seen that. Like, I've seen a lot of basketball, and I've never seen that, like, at. And I. And it's fun. Like, it's this constant collaboration of, like, how can I help you become your best version and do what you do well, and how can you help me? And we're constantly building it, and it's cool to see how far we've come throughout this season because we really have, you know, made a lot of improvements there, and I think it's helped our offense.
Ryan Marcillo
Okay, Duran, you get there this year, and so, I mean, he seemed like he was going to be kind of like, all right, he's this big, athletic guy. He's going to be a rim runner. A rim runner. He's going to roll every time. And then it's like, no, we're going to have the ball in his hands a lot more. His usage rate is going to go up. Like, he's going to. He's going to make the defense. He's not going to be taking threes, but, like, he's going to be making the defense think about some other options as opposed to just this freak. Was that something that was a conscious decision, you think, from, like, hey, we've got to get him the ball more to see what he has, or he improved enough that justified this number of touches and maybe a little bit more room to grow offensively?
Duncan Robinson
Yeah, I think it really developed over time. I mean, when you look at the start of the year, obviously his impact was, of course, felt in both painted areas on both sides, and particularly as a rim roller and catching in short rolls and sort of just putting people in the basket, and then obviously as an offensive rebounder. But when you look at that stretch, especially when Cade went down and how consistent he was, almost as, like, an offensive engine that. That's really what impressed me. And he's worked his way to that point, right? And, you know, he. He works his tail off. That was one of my big takeaways from this summer coming into this year, is I played against him for however long he's been in the NBA Three, four years, and I felt like I kind of knew who he was as a player, and I got with him in. In open runs and. And, you know, training camp, and I'm like, this guy just has a different level that a lot of people. People don't understand. You know, it starts with his physicality. I think, you know, to my point earlier, about guys on this team just really having a really clear understanding of who they are and what they do. You know, he just wants to dominate the paint, and he's going to impose his will on you for every single minute that he's out there. And I think there's a lot of players in the NBA that might have maybe not his physical profile, but have, you know, that sort of physical capability, but they don't have that relentless approach to, like, I'm just going to wear on you. And pound over and over. And he does it, man. He does it night in, night out. He's available. You know, he played 67 games or whatever. It is. Like, it. It's been so impressive to me this year because for long stretches, you know, he's. He's just been such a consistent offensive and defensive player for us, and really an anchor.
Ryan Marcillo
Ron Holland, does he wake up mad at the world, or does he wait until the ball goes in the air?
Duncan Robinson
I mean, Ron's, like, the nicest kid ever. I've been. You know, I've really enjoyed getting to know him. Actually. We had, like, a little scuffle last year when I was in Miami. We got tied up, like an offensive rebound. He, like, totally flopped. I, like, kind of wrapped him, and he just, like, dove, and we both went down, and we kind of got tangled up. We got double tech. So when I was coming in, I was like, all right, this dude's just, you know, trying to start or, you know, whatever, right? That's, like, kind of his thing. Nicest kid ever. Has a ton of. Obviously, you know, you see, like, the frenetic energy that he plays with, but he really has a desire to, like, want to be a great player. I mean, he. He works his butt off. He's obviously, you know, really trying to grow his offensive game. And I mean, he's such a. He's a physical driver. Like, when he gets Downhill. He's. He's a load to deal with, so. And obviously, you know, some of the. The shooting strides that he's made this year and will continue to make, you know, I have no doubt with the way that he works that, you know, he'll continue to make him throughout his career.
Ryan Marcillo
Okay. A couple more teammates that I want to ask about, but I think. And I thought it was Danis all season. Apparently it's Danis. Right.
Duncan Robinson
So I just call him DJ Danis, Danis. I don't know. Checks out, works for me.
Ryan Marcillo
It's basically his first year. Like, he barely played. I think he got into seven games last year. And, you know, because he went to St. John's I a little bit more aware of him, and I'm watching him run around with you guys, and I'm like, thinking about your rotation because you do have depth. You have different options, different looks that you can do based on the matchup. You know, it's kind of like a defensive decision with Sar, sometimes you. Or, you know, now with. With her there. But with him, I'm like, he's playing a lot like a guy who's like, I've got to prove to the league that I belong here long term. And at times I was like, hey, this is a really cool story, but normally a number one seed, like, he's. How many players like him would be in charge of the possession? But he has all the confidence in the world. He's shot it from three well enough. And especially when Cade was out, it was like, hey, I'll. When we break down on the possession, like, I'll try to unlock it and solve it here a little bit. So I. I find him to be an incredibly rare player with that profile, first year in on a team that's this good, who's actually been asked to do so much for you offensively, depending on who's available.
Duncan Robinson
Yeah, I mean, he's mature beyond his. His years from a basketball standpoint, I'll say. You know, he's. He's obviously well coached. I mean, playing for. For Pitino, and he just has this. This sort of like, confidence and bravado to him and a disposition really, on both sides of the ball. It's like a competitive grit and spirit that I think is really, like, contagious. And, you know, when it really started earlier in the year when kid missed some time, he had like a wrist thing, I think. And, you know, Danis just like, came in and stepped in, and we didn't really miss a beat, at least from A winning standpoint, obviously it looked different, but like, he just kind of came in and was doing like a version, his own version of. Of like, leading this offense, like Kate Cunningham style, really. I mean, it was in a different way, but to your point, like, all three levels, defensively, still being in there and guarding the ball, like being a Hawk defensively. And from that point on, you know, he's just kind of been this, like, mark of consistency, especially whenever his number's called. You know, he's kind of been through it in terms of Cade comes back, you know, like a top three player in the world comes back and obviously, yeah, your role is going to change. And he just, like, has totally bought into, hey, whatever you need me to do. And then, you know, Cade misses a game or whatever, steps in and goes out and gets 17, 8 and 5. Right. And I don't think people realize how hard that is to do in the NBA. Like, playing in the NBA as a lead guard, having the ball in your hands, decision making is impossibly hard as is. But then to do it, like, intermittently and just be like, oh, yeah, like, we need you tonight to come in and do that is. It's absurd. Like, I tried to tell him, you know, there was a little stretch when K came back and obviously his role shifted, right? And I think I could tell it was the first time all season, I could tell he was, like, kind of wrestling with it a little bit. I'm like, dude, you're actually good enough to handle this. And there's like, such a small subset of people on the planet that are good enough to be able to just step in like this and process what's happening in front of them and still be successful, but, like, you're uniquely good enough to do it. And I have zero doubt in my mind, like, come to playoffs, he's going to be a big part of it. Like, I. I know how this stuff goes. There's always a game or two in every series where a DJ or. Or somebody that you maybe wouldn't expect would just come in and. And completely change the trajectory of a game. The reality is that we all expect it because we know who he is and how he is. You know, we've seen it all season. So I'm excited for that moment for him. You know, he wasn't even eligible for the. The playoffs last year.
Ryan Marcillo
Right.
Duncan Robinson
And now he's going to come in and be a big part of it this year.
Ryan Marcillo
I noticed you said K top three. I gotta follow up there. I mean, who. Who are we leaving out between Jokic SGA and Wembanyama.
Duncan Robinson
You know, I'm. It might be a home or take, but, like, yeah, I'm gonna ride with my guy. Like, what are we talking about here? That's the guy that passes me the ball, if you weren't aware. So as far as I'm concerned, he's the best player in the world.
Ryan Marcillo
Good answer. I mean, it's very topical because we did our top 10 based on, you know, I talked to some coaches in front offices. Kate did make the top 10. I. Yeah, he came in ninth.
Duncan Robinson
I mean, that seems like a little recency bias considering that he missed some time at the end of the season. I feel like he. For much of the season, especially with the eligibility stuff, I was like, if this guy hit 65, I think he has a real claim to be MVP. That's obviously my home or take. But you. You watch a lot of basketball yourself.
Ryan Marcillo
Yeah, and my list isn't the definitive list. I talked to. It wasn't every team. It was, you know, who knows, you talk to a bunch of other guys. But look, I think the fact that cade was on 12 or 13 ballots, like, as a. As a clear top 10 guy, was. Was the next step. And I would have voted him. I probably would have voted him fifth for mvp, you know, I don't know, maybe. Maybe fourth. I couldn't have put him ahead of any of those three guys. I think there's probably a Luca conversation
Duncan Robinson
in there because what if he doesn't? What if he plays 70, you know, whatever. 70 games. 71 games. And, you know, we're first in these by five games and, you know, some of the efficiency stuff, throw it out the window because he, you know, working his way back the last three games. Do you feel differently?
Ryan Marcillo
There's no way I would have voted Kate in the top three. Rvp. How's that? Fair enough. Fair enough.
Duncan Robinson
I respect your take. I mean, you got the ocean view in the background for a reason. You know what you're talking about.
Ryan Marcillo
I don't know. You know, I don't know if that has anything to do. I gotta ask about Kevin. Her who has come on the show before. There's an old saying that you can't have two guys in a group, in a friend group, wear the fedora. So was there a bit of, like, when they traded for him, you're like, oh, hey, cool. But, like, I've kind of been the white guy that offers spacing and, like, it's good to meet you, but was there Any tension there?
Duncan Robinson
See, I think the more Fedora is, the better. Personally, no. You know, I've known Kevin, I've known Kev for a little while. Great guy. I was excited that. That we got him. Obviously, you know, tough to see Ji going in any trade scenario, right? Like, you're always losing a teammate. It's. It's always zero sum in some regard, but he's. He's been great, man. I mean, he's. Once again, like, I don't think people realize how hard it is to just come into a completely new situation, especially a team that has had the success that we had had up until that point. It took him, understandably, like, it took him like a week or two or whatever to kind of get his feet underneath them. And he didn't have a ton of opportunity early, but as soon as he started getting opportunity, everyone quickly saw, you know, how much of a value add he can be. He's. He's such a complete player. I don't think people give him enough credit for his ability to just be proficient in all aspects of the game. I mean, he's. He's way more solid of a defender than people think. Playmaker, passer. You know, I knew it. Having played against him, and I've always. I don't know. I don't know why, but I was always like, yeah, Kevin hurries, good player.
Ryan Marcillo
What does that mean? The way you said that, you know,
Duncan Robinson
sometimes it's like, you know, guy from the Big Ten played against them similar, you know, or similar statures, sort of. He's a much better athlete than I am. But I see it, and I'm like, I like that guy having success because in some world, there's like, oh, if that guy can do it, then I can do it. You know, so I'm always pulling for him, but especially now that we're teammates. I've loved to see him just get more. More confident, more comfortable.
Ryan Marcillo
Is there a white guy spacing text thread where, like, Sam Merrill's like, hey, I'm going to add Sam Houser. I hope you guys are cool with it.
Duncan Robinson
No, but it's not a terrible idea. It's interesting because to my point, just a second ago, it's like, there's a fine line between a rivalry and a sort of, like, companionship, camaraderie, right? Because you want to see the Sam Merrills, the Sam Housers, the Kevin Herders, the Doug. Like, you want to see them be successful, because it's like, oh, yeah, like, I would love to see Samuel go out and impact a playoff series. So, you know, the narrative can be like, you need a guy like that, you know, but at the same time, you don't want them to, to be doing too good if they're not wearing your same jersey, obviously, you know, so it's sort of a thin line there. I don't know if I'm making any sense.
Ryan Marcillo
Yeah, you are making sense, but I'm just like wondering like, if Defenseo has a bad year, you guys are like, hey, we got to drop you off of the threat. No, no, no, you can't be, you can't be.
Duncan Robinson
We're more loyal than that. I'd like to.
Ryan Marcillo
Okay. Steven Jenzo's three point shooting I don't think would have ever put him in danger of any of this stuff. Speaking of danger, because of some of the closing lineups that I've watched with you guys, whether it's Cade healthy and then Duran's like, he's one of the centers that perimeter guys aren't like, hey, cool, I've switched into him now. Yeah, I'm going to work him. Harris has all sorts of size Sar, you know, so, you know, you are going to be hunted. It is Duncan Robinson season depending on certain lineups. So how do you prep for that? When you're like, okay, if this is our closing five, if this is our five man lineup during this stretch, like, all right, I know that I'm going to get put into all sorts of actions here. How do you prepare yourself for those scenarios?
Duncan Robinson
I mean, it's not new, right? Like, I've seen this for much of my career and especially now, the way the NBA game is trending, it doesn't just happen in the last three to five minutes of games. You know, it happens pretty much the full 48 or all of them that I'm out there. So, you know, I think I've, I've gotten a lot better, like significantly better about being solid, you know, controlling positioning, making sure that I'm not like passive switching, obviously fixing, fitting into the scheme. Right. So. So part of that is as a group, understanding and wrap your mind around, you know, schematically what we're trying to achieve in those, those small, small pick and rolls and, you know, the big one's, like not fouling, like, not just. I've had issues in the past, just sort of like hacking and you know, putting people on the line, so trying to be better about that. So I think, you know, I think I've gotten better at it this year and, you know, it helps with this group, like, I got a ton of confidence of the people behind me, right? So just trying to do my job to the best of my abilities. And, you know, JB's really empowered me as well, like, on that end, you know, giving me some, like, defensive matchups that, that I've. I've, you know, been able to kind of like, sink my teeth into and build some confidence from. And you also get a lot of confidence when you got those guys behind you, right? Like, take away threes, don't foul, press up and, you know, get him inside the line.
Ryan Marcillo
There was a moment this season, I try not to do it too often text during the season. I want to be like, hey, man, sick layup. Hope you're well. But there was that stretch of Cleveland games that you had where you beat them in overtime, and then I think you lost them like, four days later. And one thing that I've noticed a little bit more was your team in particular, like, when I watch you, whether it's like the defensive glass, it's like, man, it is brutal to try to rebound against you guys, right? It. It is. It's just. They're not going to call at all. So just go up there and battle. I think the off ball, the discrepancy between what is called on the ball is too much and what is called off the ball is like, it doesn't necessarily matter. So there was this Cleveland game where there was a bunch of, like, different stuff that was happening off the ball where I'm like, I can't believe they're not calling anything versus on the ball. There was a couple hardened plays in there that weren't exactly my favorite that you're like, that's. That's the call that you're going to make. Do you adapt to these things? Granted, it's a matchup thing, but do you adapt to, like, hey, you know, it's. It's the first media time out here. We're six minutes into the game. It looks like they're going to let us get away with murder off of the ball. So, like, let's keep pushing the limits of this.
Duncan Robinson
I think the baseline for us as a group. Group is physicality. Right? So I, I think every game that we kind of come into, we set. We try to set a tone from. From a physicality standpoint. And to your point, like, you know, a lot of that transpires off the ball. And I do think offensive players are so talented and capable of, like, manipulating whistles and sort of optics of like, what looks like a Foul on the ball. And I, I get it. You know, officials are in really difficult spots there. When the skill level is so high and the offensive creativity is so high, what you tend to get to your point is off the ball just sort of goes unpoliced a lot of times. Now I'm not a beneficiary of that on the other end because I feel like I get grabbed and held and tugged at the entire game and I, I try. I had a stretches this year. I wasn't great. I was bitching and a lot of refs and I needed to like, I like was like watching film back of like this is just too far. Like this is becoming a distraction and I've dialed it back significantly since then,
Ryan Marcillo
but that's some good self scouting right there, Duncan.
Duncan Robinson
Yeah, I got some, I got a kitchen cabinet of people that hold me accountable that I like to rely on. They're like, dude, you're just getting out. It's gone too far. But you know, off the ball there's not a lot of freedom of movement quite frankly. Like people are, are grabbing, holding and the playoffs that all like ramps up even more. So as a team, we always try to find ways to sort of like impose physicality. Now the refs will sometimes kind of let you know within to your point, like the first six, seven minutes of how it's kind of being officiated and, and then when you sort of adjust from there where it gets really frustrating and I think where a lot of people have, have found frustration this year is the inconsistency of like we're going to let this go and then all of a sudden, you know, halfway through the second quarter, we start calling everything. It's like you can't let go of the rope and then try to grab it again, you know, so, and I do think in the playoffs there tends to be a little bit more of a consistency around how the game is officiated. So it's just tough night tonight in the NBA. It's just you don't know who you're going to get from a crew standpoint. Not saying that there are bad refs, but you know, there's some that are just better than others.
Ryan Marcillo
Are you more likely to chirp when you have 20 as opposed to four points that night?
Duncan Robinson
Chirp at a ref?
Ryan Marcillo
Yeah,
Duncan Robinson
I'll take my frustration on a ref just about anytime. I think I, I, this is a career high in text for me this year. It's pretty wild. I think I had like five or six, maybe six or Seven. But yeah, I'll go after somebody. Especially if I make a shot and I feel like I was hit, I'll, I'll go after somebody because I, that is one area and I, I, I've been talking to him particularly lately of like, that was like an area of emphasis to start the years, like protecting shooters. We're no longer going to let that, that Dylan Brooks close out like the violent swipe on the hand to hand because it impacts the shot. And they were calling everything. I swear, like the first 10 games I got fouled like once a game on a three. And then I don't know what happened. They just like all decided, hey, we're just not going to call this anymore. I'll probably hear from somebody that I'm
Ryan Marcillo
sharing, but I'm with you. Look, I'm not defending you because we're cool. I don't understand what happened with the high five thing because then it was, all of a sudden they were letting it happen and it's like, and I'm not trying to do like softball league on you, but anybody that shot a basketball, like just because it's out of my hands, but you're going to high five. Like it, it up the follow through of the mechanics. Like it. I know some people would say, hey, the ball's already out of your hands. Like it's, it's on its path and it's like, yeah, but there's just something. And then it seemed like it was a priority and now I don't, I actually don't know what the rule is now on it. I have, I have no idea.
Duncan Robinson
You and I both. You and I both. The seemingly, the goalposts have, have been shifted, which is fine, but it was just, it was a point of emphasis to start the year. And like in years past, I had just sort of always wrapped my mind around all right, if I get hit hand to hand, they're just not calling. It's not a foul. It's not a foul by the book, but it's, it's seemingly shifted. So we'll see.
Ryan Marcillo
We're working on that technical total for you because we just want to make sure you're not in danger of getting suspended. Oh, I think you're, I think you're in the clear. Did you watch Charlotte last night going, if we get these guys in the first round after the melee,
Duncan Robinson
yeah, that was a great game. You know, obviously I got a ton of context of and from Miami, you know, just having been there for the last seven years. So it was always Kind of weird watching them play this year, but then to see them in that situation. But that was, that was a heck of a game. And I mean, like, three or four times I was like, oh, this is over. And then, sure enough, like, the team that was down just, like, flipped it. But, yeah, I mean, Charlotte, Charlotte's a tough matchup. You know, the way that they play. They've been playing great, especially the second half of the season. So whoever it ends up being on Sunday, we'll be ready for.
Ryan Marcillo
I did watch you with. You were with Stu and our guy Tommy on Old man of the Three, and it was you two hanging out, and it allowed me a little bit more perspective because I didn't know. I watched that game live. It was an awesome game against Charlotte, and it seemed like Musa was really frustrated with Durin, and it made sense because I think he's a really frustrating guy physically. And so that I thought was. There was some stuff. There's always something that's happening. A couple possessions before the whole thing. I found it hilarious that you almost had to make like. Did you feel like you had to make some sort of statement on, like, hey, guys, I'm not going to run over and sucker punch anybody on this thing.
Duncan Robinson
Yeah. You know, I, I wanted to take that opportunity, especially with Stu to my left, to sort of, like, clear the air. I didn't, like, feel like a responsibility to, to speak to the public about or like, Pistons fans. I, you know, I know internally, like, what this group thinks of me and, or at least I think I know they, they know I'm all about my, my guys, my teammates.
Ryan Marcillo
He probably doesn't do the podcast with you if there's a problem.
Duncan Robinson
Look, I, I, I don't want to say. I regret, I regret the optics, for sure. I mean, it, it looked, it looked like I was leaving my guy high and dry, and that's the furthest thing from the case. In that moment, you know, I learned my lesson. I, I should have turned around and grabbed somebody. It's funny now, you know, if you ever watch us get into any sort of altercation, first person of action, just running and grabbing somebody, most likely a teammate, just being like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Just, just, I, I got to be in the mix now. I got to be in the involvement. We can't have a repeat offense.
Ryan Marcillo
We had Caniple on. And I, I flirted with the idea of being like, you didn't, you didn't do a ton during that as well. But then I was like, he's a Rookie. I can't, I can't do that to him. It does happen kind of fast. I can also imagine with Big Stu, it's like, I, what am I going to do? Like, you just, you just do your thing and then we'll figure it out. We'll clean up, up after the mess here.
Duncan Robinson
I mean, anyone that knows Stu knows that he, he had that under control. I, the, the thing that I do regret about it in that moment is, and I don't think I could have, but at least making an effort to try to get to him, to sort of mitigate the optics of what happened, right? Like him throwing punches. Like, maybe if he doesn't throw punches the way that he does, maybe he doesn't get the amount of games that he does, right? Because, because Stu's valuable. You know, he's a big part of what we do in our physicality and can space the floor and obviously protects the rim at a really high level. So if we, if we, if I could have found a way to just get him, you know, maybe, maybe four games, right, like, you know, because he came off the bench, that was going to be a suspension no matter what. But the amount that he got, right, if we could have gotten that down a little bit, I do regret that.
Ryan Marcillo
Fair. I think that's entirely fair. Let's go back to Duncan Robinson, the high school player. Wow. We know that you ended up at Williams. Was that a PG at Exeter or did you transfer there?
Duncan Robinson
I did a postgrad year, so, yeah, I did five years of high school, five years of college. Call it the ten year plan. I'm one of a few people to, to have done it all 10 of them. Just was in absolutely no rush to finish my school.
Ryan Marcillo
Smart, though. You're filling out. You know, you're filling out. We just saw there's some of these college players. I was talking about Iowa State Deandre Kane with somebody the other night. I was like, I think he turned 26 before the draft. So, I mean, who knows how good you would have been at Michigan if you were still there. So you could have been on this team if you just decided to, like, appeal to the ncaa. That's Duncan Robinson. You will see him in the playoffs. You can also listen to him with Tommy Alter from time to time. And old man of the three, he's the best. Thanks, Duncan.
Duncan Robinson
No, thank you for having me. Appreciate you finally giving me the nod to come on the show. I've been begging for a long time, so thanks.
Ryan Marcillo
All right, well, if you win an NBA championship, You have to come on with me again and not go on part of my take deal.
Duncan Robinson
Absolutely. And I likely, if we win an NBA championship, I will not be still over for that interview.
Ryan Marcillo
So you do it at my house.
Duncan Robinson
Cheers.
Kyle
Okay, guys, it's grit week.
Ryan Marcillo
This is the part of the football calendar where nobody's watching, but everything gets built. Early mornings, pads back on conditioning, film reps. Spring training in football is all about putting in the work when nobody's cheering yet. And honestly, that's the same mindset behind the Chevy Silverado.
Kyle
This is a truck that is the definition of grit.
Ryan Marcillo
Long days, dirty work, and showing up day after day, no matter the conditions. Strong, dependable, and built for the grind. Because grit isn't about being flashy. It's about being ready when it's time to go. Check out the current offers and build your silverado@chevy.com that's Silverado. All grit, all no quit. And you can build your silverado@chevy.com today. Playoff intensity. Even though it's playing intensity, it felt so good the first two possessions of Charlotte Miami. I'm sitting there going, this is why you lift all those weights. This is why you're locked in throughout the regular season. This is why you keep coming back. And I can't wait for the next couple of months because it was immediate. There were two games last night, and I'm going to break both of them down. Portland's win in Phoenix, Charlotte. Charlotte's overtime win against Miami. But during those games, even though I knew the result of the first one, as I was watching the second one, there were two games with, like, very similar thoughts where I thought, okay, when Miami started rolling, Charlotte couldn't hit any shots in the fourth quarter. And I'm like, wow, maybe Miami's just going to go even without bam. Which is its own thing that I'll get into because it sucks that he left the game, thought it was a dirty play against Lamelo grabbing him. But you're watching it going, oh, maybe this is going to be the reminder here that there are levels, like, I talk about this in the regular season, like, who is maxing out in the regular season? And we think that they're really good. And then we get into the playoffs, it's like, oh, they were already playing at their highest level. And there's a bunch of these other teams that are like, okay, we've already been through this in the past. Like, we know what it takes, and we're going to get up to a level that you haven't even Been playing at the regular season on top of some of these teams closing with these great records. Granted, Charlotte's turnaround here has been for, like, more than half the season from the dismal start they had, which, you know, again, a little bit about injuries. So it's not just, hey, Charlotte was only playing tanking teams. And on top of everything else, their numbers were so incredible from, you know, January, February on. But that happened in both of these games, and it certainly happened in the Portland Phoenix game that I'll get into where it's like, oh, yeah, I think Phoenix toughness and their defense and their experience, like, this is going to show out here and. And, you know, we'll see how the rest of the playing plays out. So Charlotte moves on. Miami is out. You got to start with Lamello ball, because I don't know what to do about this guy. I don't know how to talk about him. I don't know how to do it fairly. I'm going to try to be fair because there's a lot of good in there. He had 30 points, 10 dimes. He hit what looked like was a game winner, kind of sealing the game in regulation. That wasn't the case. Then he hits the game winner in overtime, and the place is going nuts. And then there's a bunch of other stuff on top of it. I mean, early in the game, he celebrated a three, one of the two that he made on the entire night because he was again 2 of 16 on threes. Van Gundy was losing his mind. I think Charles Lee even called a timeout. It's like, all right, we know you got, like, threes in your veins, man. Do you have backpedaling in your hamstrings? Get back on defense. Like, what are you doing? There was a stretch where he falls asleep on defense, gets cut back, door, whatever. I mean, you know, he's going to get attacked defensively. That's not exactly breaking news. Then he started kind of getting obsessed with running the clock, which. This drives me crazy that so many players do this. And you're thinking, and you're like, all right, we're up two possessions here. So, you know, a. You have an Open look at 7 seconds left on the shot clock. No, don't do that. Don't take it now. Let's wait until 2 seconds are left on the shot clock and take a shot that has almost no chance of going in. Yes, smart, smart. Let's do that. So he did that a couple times. Then he has a play in regulation that I mentioned. That could have kind of been the game winner. Not the case. Then in overtime, he hits a shot to put him up 125. 120. And you're like, that's incredible. Then he turns the ball over, bringing it up half court. He gets doubled, throws a really tough pass. Miami makes a great defensive play. They're scrambling all over the place. And then Hero, who had already hit a three, gets fouled by LaMelo. He hits all three free throws. And now all of a sudden, Charlotte's, like, getting ready to celebrate. Up five. With very little time left, Hero puts together six points immediately. And now you're like, wait, they're going to lose this game. And then Lamelo hits what, in fact, is the game winner. So if Charlotte had lost this game, I promise you, I promise you, I wasn't going to sit here and crush Lamelo today on a bad shooting night. And the mistakes at the end, he likely avoided a brutal. Had they lost this game, he avoided, it wouldn't even have been 24 hours, because it would have been the game's over. People go to bed and then wake up today. It probably would have been pretty tough for Lamelo with so many eyes on him, so many people watching. So I don't know if the shows, maybe they're still even being a little critical, but I think had they lost this one, he would have gotten, you know, look, they would have been eliminated. I don't think anybody really would have talked about it. We lose track of a lot of this stuff. Maybe there's a few preseason things happening next October where it's like, hey, remember how, like, we know Lamelo had a really good season, but do you remember that game against Miami? I don't think most people are going to remember a lot of the playing stuff. I mean, unless you're a Bulls fan, because you have so much to choose from from all your playoff history. It just doesn't feel like the playing without the Bulls. I was like, man, something's missing. I was like, that's right, Chicago. So Lamelo's had his best season, health wise. Look, it's probably the best season of his career. It's the healthiest season that he's had since 21. 26 is the best numbers for a bunch of different things. There's. Look, there's a lot of stuff with him that I'm just never going to like. I hate the shot selection. I know the threes go in more now than they were for a couple of years, so you can kind of live with it. A little bit. But that game winner, at least for a day until we got onto the next games. And then likely in a couple of weeks, even forgotten stopped caring about Charlotte. Had they been eliminated, it would have been pretty critical of him today because everybody kind of get to see, like, the ups and downs of what it is about him. Miami loses Bam in the second quarter. I did think it was a dirty play. It's why SPO was losing his mind. He was right to be losing his mind. Spoelstra always feels like when some. When he's really upset about something, usually when you're watching Heat games, you're like, yep, look at the replay. He was 100% right. I mean, he's the best coach in the league. But this is just really nasty because without him, like, they were going to try this where Bam thing, then they were staggering them a bit, maybe thinking, you know, can we use this size here? Then it didn't feel like the spacing was all that. Right. Because when Miami doesn't look good, you'll watch the lineup that's out there, and you're kind of like, all right, so this means some ISO Mitchell stuff, who is really good as a smaller player with his strength of getting some space by going into the defensive player. They never call anymore. And then Wiggins, who was great last night, but you also wouldn't be shocked if he had four points in a game. There is something to be said about, like, Wiggins and Harrison Barnes. I was thinking about this, like, Wiggins as the number one overall pick. You could say, oh, hey, he made the All Star team. He won an NBA championship. He made all this money. Like, he had an awesome career. This isn't what it's supposed to be when you're a number one pick. He's a nice player. He's fine. But for him to still be this good on certain nights this many years in, it's a reminder of why he was even picked number one in the first place. Like, I feel totally comfortable and would disagree with anybody and say, no, he was actually terrific as a number one pick. No, that's not what you're looking for when you're drafting somebody number one. I would say it was actually kind of a disappointment. But the talent that led to him being the number one pick also means this many years in, this many teams in. He can have a night like he did last night, and you're like, oh, that's right. And like Harrison Barnes, who is not the number one overall pick. I think at one point he was the number one player in high school. He even probably went a little bit later, what was it, seven to Golden State. And you kind of get excited about what it could be, but then you also realize it's just not necessarily that great. But the fact that he was that talented then I think also relates to. There's a certain night where Harrison Barnes looks terrific, even if his role is somewhat reduced with San Antonio, with all the young guys getting better and better and improving. Just something that I was thinking about a little bit last night. But with Miami's possessions, we know they're going to attack immediately. They don't want to set as many screens, they want to just dribble, drive, dribble, drive. It's almost like play action with a running back, except in this case, the running back has the football. And so it's Mitchell getting deep, it's Hero getting deep, it's Haquez getting deep. But Haquez needs momentum. Because if you get Haquez to stop with the ball and then he's left like from a stop position to then create something, he's not nearly as effective. So you have to figure out a way to try to cut him off. And that's asking a lot. But the play action part that I'm talking about is that you get deep and then you turn around. Giddy does this all the time. If you want to get deep and take the layup, fine. But if it isn't there, part of the benefit of getting deep is that everybody kind of just, it's. It's hard to stay locked to somebody 30ft away from the hoop. And then if you're helping kind of on a drive and you're getting a little bit out of position and yet the offensive team is paying attention to where the driver is, those guys just kind of shift around. And then again, that's kind of like the play action thing where it's like I'm dribbling into the lane with the ball and maybe I have an angle, maybe something collapses, but if everybody just collapses on me, then I'm just going to kick it back out. And defenders lose those people all the time. And against Miami, there's probably a few lineups out there where like, we can live with leaving some of these guys to help on the ball because we don't trust their three point shooting. But I thought where was was pretty good. Wiggins and Mitchell, even though I don't necessarily go, hey, that's an awesome closing combo for two players. Offensively, they had 55 points combined last night. So they did their job, and they were terrific. So when Miami is good, you have. We're having the night that he had, obviously, the combined scoring of those two guys. Hero puts together a late, you know, flurry there, where you're thinking, okay, here we go with Hero. And then they go into a zone in the fourth quarter. And it felt like. I don't know if Spo said this, I didn't watch the postgame presser with him, but it almost felt like Miami was just keeping that in their back pocket for the entire game. And then they were going to break out in the fourth quarter. And it was working. It was crushing Charlotte. They couldn't figure this thing out. You still have to screen against a zone. Their 2, 3 looks like it turns into a 32 at the top. They're constantly on the ball, pressure. They're disrupting all these things. And watching the Celtics and Tatum back against it like they diced it up because they have the spacing outside. But Tatum on the ball is so big that he would just get through whatever the top line of pressure was. And then it was kind of a nightmare. And it was like, Miami's like, we got to get out of this. And against Charlotte last night, it was working for a really long time. Until it didn't. And I'll always feel this way about a zone in the NBA. Eventually you should have somebody. Maybe your roster doesn't, but most rosters, you would think, do you have somebody who can come in from the corners and attack? Because if you're that extended, that baseline should be like free meals. And if you're going to leave Grant Williams open for threes in the corner, you're probably going to live with that. No offense to Grant, because they started to go Grant over Moussa or even Cockbrenner. And Charlotte's done that plenty of times. They wanted to go small, but without having bamboo. It allowed Charlotte to probably do some things in this game to get back into it that they wouldn't have been able to do had Bam been out there. Like, I think Miami wins the game, clearly, if Bam plays. But then Miles Bridges became that guy just running in from the baseline. You know, that's a ton of ground to cover because you're helping in the paint against any sort of ball penetration, and you're likely really deep and off of that three point line. So Bridges can either take the three or if you're in a panic closeout, he's going to drive right by you. He had an awesome up and under so eventually, I think that's something that should always happen. But Miami was able to live in it because Charlotte couldn't figure it out. For the longest time, Knipple did not have a great night. 212, six from three. And when Kobe White hit the three down. 114, 111. So Miami's probably thinking we should foul up three. Kobe White has this curl off the inbounds on the left side. He shot it so quickly. You can't foul him. He hits it. I mean, Kobe White, you want to talk about that transaction, how just brilliant that was for the Hornets. You just have another guy that can make some really big shots and even handle the ball for you a little bit because he can play point guard. But Knipple, when Kobe White hit that three, Charlotte went with a small lineup, and they're down three and the shot clock is off. And Knipple stayed on the bench. And then he stayed on the bench for all of overtime. I was really surprised he was not on the floor when they needed the three there. I honestly kind of shocked. I don't know if he's hurt or maybe Charles Lee just goes, hey, you don't have it tonight, buddy. But he didn't play again the rest of the game. And I did wonder, as this one closed out, if Coil Ware's 19 rebounds is enough to help them get Giannis. All right, let's talk about Portland, because they look dead against Phoenix. Portland was up 8377 with 129 to go in the third quarter. They didn't score their 84th and 85th point until 8:15 remaining of the game. So it went from up 8377 to down 9383 against Phoenix. And during that stretch, much like the time when Miami was up last night, it's like, oh, this is a bit of a reminder. Like here, Here we go. Phoenix's defense was incredible. They were winning. All the hustle plays. They were getting all sorts of deflections. And Danny Abdia, who had 41, 7 and 12, I cannot emphasize this enough how hard this was for him to score these points. Like, yeah, I know he gets the free throw line a ton in the second half, but there was multiple plays. I'm going to point to one. It's the Horns setup. Everybody knows it. Basically, it's. There's different ways you can set it up, but it's like you could do it on the elbows, where you have two teammates, you know, at the elbow, usually two guys in the corner, ball handler, straight on and Then he's trying to figure out which side he wants to go to. And then off of whatever screen is set, whether he goes left or right, you know, whatever. In this case, Portland brought it up a little bit further, so it wasn't the elbow, so it was a little closer. So it allows Avdia, like, perhaps different options depending on what they wanted to do. So basically, we're talking about six players. Three on offense, three on defense in this setup, right? Which everybody runs all the time, forever. So not. Not super complicated. All three players on Phoenix. When Denny decided to go right off of this, all three guys that were caught up in this congested area, they all went with Abdia. They didn't even care about any of the other guys. A fourth defender actually came in. When I saw this play, I'm like, what is. How is he going to solve this? And yet he was able to. And I'm just telling you, it was so hard for him to be able to do what he did last night. He had 25 points in the second half. The rest of the team had 24. Portland hit everything in the first half. They were 12 of 27 from three. And you're like, how's Phoenix even going to keep up with this? And, of course, things generally seem to balance out in these games. Watch enough of them. Portland then shoots five of 20. There were some possessions in them offensively, but, like, I have no idea what these Grant drives are supposed to be. He tried no dip threes twice. And, like, I don't know that he should be doing that, but he did redeem himself. He had a couple huge shots there late, but there just wasn't a lot of shooting around him. They even had a position where Rob Williams is like, I'll throw up a 3. Let's see if this works. That also did not work. And yet with Phoenix having all of this momentum with Grayson Allen being out, with Jalen Green having 22 in the first half and keeping the scoring going, which sometimes I wonder, like, is he going off so much that they're going to then ignore Booker a little bit? Because Jalen Green is going to be like, I got this. And Jalen Green on the other side is going to be hunted relentlessly on defense. The big lineups for Phoenix, I'm in this constant, like, is Iguidaro actually good? Nobody defends him. I think he's very mobile. I think he's probably a backup. Credit to them for nailing it with the draft, you know, taking him that late and, like, having a real rotational Guy Mark Williams is probably not as active, but you like him better offensively in theory, even though he's not really going to get that many touches. But then both these teams just decided, hey, we're going to go small anyway. So it doesn't really matter a little bit like we had in the first game with Charlotte, Miami. So when I'm watching Denny just go off going, all right, he doesn't really have any other scoring around him other than a couple Grant threes. Which one of them came off of a Denny drive where he did it all himself. That was incredibly hard. And I was thrilled to see him like in front of a national audience. People go like, oh, I guess this guy is that nasty because he's had that kind of year. Portland closed it, what, over 500 team. They were 32 and 36. So they close at 42 and 40. There was an interesting scoot stat last night that they went 24 and 28 without Scoot. 18 and 12 with them plus 3.8 with Scoot minus 2.7 without him. Scoot didn't have a great night last night. That's okay. We still got more games. That's the beauty of this entire schedule. But it was happening. It was happening. This thing that I'll always be on every year where it's like, oh, is Portland getting a bit of a wake up call here? Is Charlotte getting a bit of a wake up call? And credit to both of those teams because there was real adversity, there were real moments. You're like, this isn't going to happen. I mean, Portland looked absolutely dead and they closed it out and Denny got it done. In sports, winning takes more than talent. It takes strength, reliability and the drive
Duncan Robinson
to go the distance.
Ryan Marcillo
Sound familiar? That's the same DNA you'll find in a Chevy Silverado. As capable and dependable as a winning team, Chevy Silverado shows up and gets the job done. It won't flinch when the pressure's on. It doesn't take plays off. When it comes to trucks, Chevy Silverado is football guy approved. To learn more About Silverado visit chevy.com you want details?
Duncan Robinson
Buy I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet.
Ryan Marcillo
What's up?
Duncan Robinson
I have a ridiculous house in the south fork.
Ryan Marcillo
I have every toy you can possibly imagine.
Duncan Robinson
And best of all, kids, I am liquid.
Ryan Marcillo
So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. Today's life advice is sponsored by Microsoft. 365 copilot. What if you could add an AI assistant to your work without leaving your workflow built into Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook, Copilot works where you work, helping you do more. In the apps you already use. In Word, Copilot helps turn scattered notes into a first draft. In Excel, it generates insights from your data. And in Outlook, it cuts through the noise to get you up to speed faster. The apps you know go further with Copilot. Learn more at m365copilot.com work life advice lifeadvicermail.com Colin Steve in the mix before we get started, can we watch a show together? The three guys?
Ceruti
Yeah, I'd love to.
Kyle
What do you got in mind?
Ryan Marcillo
With some nominations. What about Tracker on cbs? I was blown away by those ratings.
Kyle
Certainly one I haven't seen.
Ceruti
No, that's going to be a no for me, I think. Well, what's something that we haven't already seen? I want to watch DTF St. Louis, but I haven't seen it. I know you've seen it.
Ryan Marcillo
So I.
Kyle
Euphoria's back. We'd have stuff to talk about a couple seasons.
Ceruti
Matty watches it. I don't watch that.
Ryan Marcillo
I never watched it. I think it was too horny for me. I couldn't.
Kyle
It was pretty horny.
Ryan Marcillo
Yeah. I would hear about. It was like, I don't know. I don't know if I can get into that.
Kyle
The Rooster. I'm a Steve Carell guy. It doesn't. It really hasn't looked like something I'd be super into. But it's hbo and I think Steve
Ryan Marcillo
Carell gets the benefit of the doubt. He's a guy that you give a chance to. Yeah. Not a long list. He's. I think he's on that list. So can we think about this for a week or something and just something, you know, something else. Recap a show. But see, Saruti, you're tough because you don't like to do the week to week thing. You want it all and you want it all.
Ceruti
No, that's not true. That's not true. That's not true.
Ryan Marcillo
I mean I thought you were.
Ceruti
It depends on the show. It depends on the show if it's like. If it's. If it's like task. I loved watching week to week. You know, if it's like a big production, hbo, whatever. And I like all these shows equally. Like none are better than the others. But like there are some shows like we just speak. Speaking of Netflix, we watched something very bad is going to happen and I was happy we could just binge that show because it was, like, kind of addictive and fun and dumb, and I enjoyed all eight episodes of it. So it depends on. It depends on what the show is. If it's like a high level Game of Thrones task, you know, whatever. I kind of want the suspense
Ryan Marcillo
traders.
Ceruti
Traders. I have heard. Listen, I got buddies that love Traders.
Kyle
Great idea.
Ryan Marcillo
Love that show.
Ceruti
I had a buddy that tried out for it.
Kyle
Dude, I was ready to do a little tape myself.
Ceruti
He drove on down, he went to Mohegan sun, stood in the line.
Ryan Marcillo
I was like, what are you talking about?
Kyle
They still do stuff right now.
Ryan Marcillo
Traitors.
Kyle
It's like, swept the nation, dude. It's like season three is already in the books. You don't know about this?
Ryan Marcillo
Don't know a thing. Is it a reality show?
Kyle
Yeah, kind of.
Ryan Marcillo
I mean, imagine if somebody's telling me that Steve's buddy went to Mohegan sun, then. I didn't think it was like, you're reading for the part of.
Ceruti
No, it's like a. It's like a. What's that game? Monster.
Ryan Marcillo
It's like a murder mystery.
Ceruti
Like, you got to figure out who. I didn't watch the show, but they all love it.
Ryan Marcillo
Oh, man.
Kyle
Do yourself a favor, boys.
Ryan Marcillo
It's good.
Kyle
Good times.
Ryan Marcillo
Do you have any friends that are actors or wanted to be actors? Yeah, I do.
Ceruti
Yeah.
Ryan Marcillo
Kyle's. Are you serious? Do you know where I posted up in LA for a decade? Yeah, absolutely.
Ceruti
I got a buddy that's in Stuff.
Ryan Marcillo
He's in Stuff.
Ceruti
Went to high school with him.
Kyle
One of my buddies got murdered in Zodiac. I think he was the dude by the lake. No way. No way. He always brings that one up.
Ryan Marcillo
Does he tell Fincher stories all the time? Yes. Yes, he does. Is that a Frolic Room guy? Yeah. Yeah. What a stat. It's pretty good. Yeah.
Kyle
It's one of his. It's one of the first ones when he's talking about that part of life.
Ryan Marcillo
I love that. Maybe we'll do just a special summer episode on your buddy from the Frolic Room that was killed in Zodiac. All right, let's get some emails. Read here. Same hat dilemma. I don't know. Something's going on with the women out there. Our female women. I don't know if this is another stealing hats thing. 64190. Player comp. Ian Kadare. Thank you. Thank you for that. I'll never stop thinking about Nikitari Games. Gym stats, 18 consecutive pull ups. Shout out to Ryan's countdown method. That's right. I thought I could do 18. And then there was some questions about the full range of motion at the bottom. So I no longer. I no longer recognize that number in relation to my pull ups. But I can still. Well, I don't know how many I can do now. It's going to be a while after what happened a couple weeks ago.
Kyle
It takes a big person to do that.
Ryan Marcillo
That's good. Yeah, I don't want to. Sometimes it's like you want to lie about gym stats, like, what are you, in high school? But then sometimes you're like, what if I just round up to a number that I expect to do one day and I use that as motivation? Is that actually the real sick thing to do? But when it came to that 18 pull up thing, I thought I had them.
Ceruti
And.
Ryan Marcillo
And then somebody was like, to be fair, the look, because I have a pull up club that I'm part of, but whatever, I'm not in it anymore. They were like, you have to give us back your satin jacket. And on the back too. The guy's like wide, gripped out. It's like red with gold lettering. It's fucking sick. But may never get a chance to wear it again. Yeah, like, what do you do? I go out on my pull up club and we have a few beers, trying to pick fights, big fights. What are you guys doing this week?
Kyle
Wednesday String take day.
Ryan Marcillo
Yeah.
Kyle
Really excited.
Ryan Marcillo
Well, it's just like whenever there's like a bunch of MMA guys and they have jackets and you see them out like, what's the goal here?
Kyle
That one? Yeah, that one I could see.
Ryan Marcillo
Yeah, I could see.
Ceruti
I'm unfamiliar with the MMA jacket club, so.
Ryan Marcillo
Oh, really? Yeah. Sounds like somebody hasn't been to Hermosa peer review recently. Don't even, don't even let this guy step into Huntington. All right, here we go. I just moved to Chicago. I'm now living for the first time with my longtime girlfriend. We previously were long distance. I've been living in Boston for the past four years. I'm not much of a baseball fan these days, but I couldn't resist buying a Red Sox hat when I lived there. It's a nice two tone corduroy hat with the B logo. Ooh, Our guy went corduroy.
Kyle
Two tone corduroy.
Ceruti
Got a corduroy hat on right now.
Kyle
That you do.
Ryan Marcillo
Let me look at you again. That's a thin corduroy.
Ceruti
You just have yourself on the screen the whole time. You're not even looking at us?
Ryan Marcillo
No.
Kyle
Let me find out myself off of
Ryan Marcillo
this when we were on zoom, I could take myself out. I didn't want to look at myself. And now with Streamyard, I. I don't know how to get rid of myself. It sucks. No, I was reading the email and you were covered up. I'd say that's a thinner. It is much depth.
Ceruti
I'll zoom in here, but it is definitely a corduroy number. I like it. Problem is it gets dirty. It's white. So you touch with your hands and it's just like, oh, cool.
Ryan Marcillo
Or vintage. True. So he buys a Red Sox hat. It's corduroy. It's honestly one of the favorite. My favorite hats I've owned. Keep in mind I have no connection to Mass or Boston. Was just living there for work. It's fine. People have done worse. My girlfriend and I went to a few Sox games over the years. She also bought a Red Sox hat different from the one I own. When I was living in Boston, she would visit. She would occasionally wear both these Red Sox hats at the same time. Going out during the day. I never thought of it as a thing, but now that we're living in Chicago, I'm beginning to feel like a fraud. We were wearing the hats at the same time. Yeah. That isn't. My question is, am I insane for thinking this? I've told my girlfriend. She thinks I'm crazy. I don't feel weird when I wear the Red Sox hat out by myself in Chicago. I feel like when we both wear the hats out in public, it puts out the vibe that we are either hardcore Sox fans or Boston people, which we clearly aren't either of. I know Ryan has tangentially touched upon this subject in regards to wearing a St. Louis Cardinals hat. Yeah, I know. I mean, I've got a few in the rotation and I know I. You could make fun of me. I. Go ahead. I feel like if Suri or Kyle showed up at the function in a cardinal's hat, Ryan was wearing his cardinal's hat. Ryan would feel a type of way. Feel free to disagree.
Ceruti
I think you're 100% right.
Ryan Marcillo
Our emailer.
Ceruti
Yes. I think it's weird. I wouldn't do it.
Kyle
Well, it's because he has a conscience though, right? A lot of some people just. It doesn't break up.
Ceruti
No.
Ryan Marcillo
Dude.
Kyle
Congrats, by the way. Cashing in. Zero hundred at the end of the long distance rainbow. You guys actually, you know, made it through. I can't be easy, so it's nice to hear one of those stories that works out.
Ryan Marcillo
Yeah. Nice Nice little nugget to be emphasized, Kyle.
Kyle
Yeah, but I guess my point was that some. Some people have no conscience about this. Some people are like. Like, I have a pretty cool Red Wings shirt. I really don't have enough hockey knowledge. And for some reason, hockey dudes are the ones who will strike up a conversation, I think, more than others about what you're. Maybe it's a smaller club, but I wore it yesterday and it's like, big Red Wings guy.
Ryan Marcillo
I'm not even really a hockey guy,
Kyle
but I fucking love this shirt. Red Wings, a sick logo. But I get a little trepidatious is the word about that. So I could see where you. It's like if me and someone else were also being sort of sports posers at the. I could see how it would raise the stakes in his mind. But it really is all in your head, so. But I think it's because you have a conscience. Clearly she doesn't. I had buddies who would collect all the baseball team hats back when, like, keep the sticker on. Was hot with the new era. And it's like, you got a Diamondbacks hat. It is pretty cool.
Ryan Marcillo
But, like, you got.
Kyle
Got no ties and it's like you're wearing it because it goes with this shirt or whatever. So, like, there's a spectrum and like,
Ryan Marcillo
you know, you have a. You have a conscience.
Kyle
That's cool.
Ceruti
I don't think it's that, though. Like, I would wear a random hat. Like, I've kept me. I. I hate even bringing this. This up, but, like, I want to get a baseball hat. Like a fitted baseball hat. And man, those Ace hats are awesome. But, like, the A's suck. And they're like, the team's moving and it's like, that's like the worst hat to buy, right? But I love the.
Ryan Marcillo
That hat is so sick, though.
Ceruti
It's the best hat in the game. But I like, am I gonna wear a Sacramento A's hat? Like, that's such a loser move.
Ryan Marcillo
I feel like, why don't you just buy one of the A's hats? That doesn't. They don't say Sacramento on them.
Ceruti
I know, but they are the Sacramento A's. Now and then they're leaving Oakland, everyone's mad, and they're going to Vegas. They don't have the trademark yet. It's just like, that's just a bad. It's a bad team to buy a hat of even though it's the best looking hat there is.
Ryan Marcillo
That's kind of why I had the Toronto Stuff because of Bushman. I had the St. Louis stuff because of something else. And then I was like, all right, well, I'm just a whore. So now I'll get the Pittsburgh one because I've always liked it too. So the Toronto one I kind of stopped wearing, especially when I was traveling internationally because people got so excited. Yeah.
Kyle
Like, oh my God, that's a huge letdown. That sucks.
Ryan Marcillo
Yeah. You're from Toronto. No, my buddy was a bullpen coach.
Kyle
That's something though. That is something.
Ryan Marcillo
I think they should be more excited about that. Yeah. Yeah, I agree.
Ceruti
Well, I'm. You're willing to.
Kyle
If we were going to look for actual advice, like, can you find something that scratches that itch at the. As this hat does? And then maybe you can just do a quick pivot. You're like, listen, it's not the two tone quarter eye Boston hat, but it is. Does serve a similar purpose. Like, could you just maybe get something that you know, you could just do, do a quick pivot if you notice she's wearing that hat? Because you're not going to be insane
Ryan Marcillo
to be like, hey, could you do
Kyle
me a favor and not wear your. Your hat so that I can feel good about wearing mine?
Ceruti
I think that's a guy girl thing though, to me too, Kyle. Like, I don't, I think guys. I don't think girls care because she's not even really a Red Sox fan. Right. And neither are you, I guess. But I think, like, I wouldn't my. If I were like a, you know, I'm an Everton fan. My wife and I weren't Everton hat together, I'd feel weird about it.
Ryan Marcillo
She wouldn't.
Ceruti
I think that's just like a, hey, I'm a fan of this thing. Like, we're going a little bit too harsh. The other thing, the other thing that he didn't really mention, but is it like, is he just. Does he. He doesn't want to be perceived as like, asshole Boston guy? Is that kind of it too?
Ryan Marcillo
I don't blame him because, look, I'm telling you right now, if you're in another major city and you and your gal are sitting there in your Red Sox hats, like at Sunday brunch, everyone thinks you're just two the ones. Yeah. So he's right. The fact that she doesn't understand this, I mean, it's kind of cool in a way that she's just like, yeah, whatever. Like, I like that.
Ceruti
Like, if you wore the Cubs hats in Boston, it'd be like way better. You Know way better.
Ryan Marcillo
I'm just thinking about like Jimmy Fallon SNL skit. You know he's just sitting there and the other people are going like oh, you know, is it. Is it wicked good loses
Ceruti
so right. And you don't want. And he. They don't. They don't. He doesn't affiliate with that and sounds
Ryan Marcillo
like they're not even from there.
Ceruti
Right.
Ryan Marcillo
Don't like the team.
Ceruti
Right.
Ryan Marcillo
Just bought a hat. Yeah.
Kyle
So he's the one with the problem. He's the one that doesn't wear the hat on those days. I think that's if.
Ryan Marcillo
If he were wearing it saying hey, I'm not like even a huge baseball guy lived there for a bunch of years. It's like oh like that guy has no problem. So you don't have to tell us who's batting second. But the couples thing, I think couples should go out of their way to not wear stuff that's the same.
Ceruti
Did it this weekend. Matty and I again kid's first birthday party. We both put jeans on and a white shirt and I was like nope, one of us has to change hand up. I changed.
Ryan Marcillo
Yeah, I got you. Exactly.
Ceruti
And she's like, well it's not that big. No one's going to notice. I'm like I'm going to notice and it annoys me.
Ryan Marcillo
Yeah.
Kyle
So you take it into your own hands. So you know, make a bat ready buddy. Get ready to learn AAA ball.
Ceruti
Get a Savannah bananas hat.
Ryan Marcillo
There you go.
Kyle
Dude, there are some really awesome like minor league hats though, I gotta say.
Ceruti
Can I ask you though if I can't get an ace hat, like what's a. Because I'm not. I don't have a baseball team. Really?
Kyle
I kind of totally can get an
Ceruti
ace in D.C. like I was thinking about Giants. Giants hat's awesome.
Ryan Marcillo
I love the Giants hat. I think that one's a no brainer you have in laws in area.
Ceruti
You're right. I feel weird about going there though where it'd be like you guys, you're not even from here.
Ryan Marcillo
I interviewed Freddie Sanchez once.
Ceruti
That guy told me at 100 pence on they were excited about that.
Ryan Marcillo
100 pence been on the show. Yeah.
Kyle
What about like Florida teams around Florida.
Ryan Marcillo
There's a. There's some good ones. What have you just said? Like I'm a huge Clint Eastwood guy. Florida. What are you talking Sally League Definitely
Ceruti
wouldn't be a Marlins hat.
Kyle
No, the Marlins used to be a. That used to be a cooler logo than it is I think.
Ceruti
Cool. Now it's terrible.
Kyle
Yeah, that's the one.
Ceruti
I'm thinking of the old one, the Rays, the Braves. Hat's a great hat, too.
Ryan Marcillo
Oh, the Troy's hat's great.
Ceruti
I have a Detroit buddy, so I can't get a Detroit habit. I agree with you.
Ryan Marcillo
I don't know if you can pull off the Atlanta hat.
Ceruti
Yeah, I don't think you.
Ryan Marcillo
I'd be correct. What about the Reds?
Kyle
There was an awesome Reds hat phase. I feel like maybe Lil Wayne did
Ryan Marcillo
that for me, but I was like,
Kyle
gotta get a Reds hat.
Ryan Marcillo
Got two different ones. I remember playing basketball with a guy who wore a Reds hat all the time. And I was like, why? It was like high school, travel, something. And he's like, this is a gang that I'm in. He told me the gang name. I still remember the gang name. It made quite the impression on me. Yeah, I don't think I had the day.
Kyle
Grew up.
Ceruti
If you're a random fan in high
Ryan Marcillo
school, this guy's in a gang and they gave him a hat. I was like, that's fucking sick.
Ceruti
If you're in high school and you are a fan of an obscure, like a team that's not around there, like, we always joke about. There was this one kid in our. In our high school who was a Panthers fan. We just call him Panthers kid. And I, like, know to this day he's just Panthers kid. So if you're the fan of, like, some random team, like, you've got staying power,
Ryan Marcillo
staying power. It's a good point.
Kyle
Especially if you just commit to, like, this is the best.
Ceruti
Oh, yeah, he wore it. He would wear, like, a Panther jersey.
Kyle
No fucking days off for this kid.
Ryan Marcillo
Yeah. That's always so strange, right? When you just, like, what?
Ceruti
You just pick a random team and you're from Connecticut. Yeah.
Ryan Marcillo
Connecticut is always. I would say, though, that's a very confused kid.
Ceruti
Look at my fandom. Yeah. Doesn't make a ton of sense. There's some kids being like, remember that Orlando Magic kid?
Ryan Marcillo
All right. A pro athlete confessed his love to my wife. Gym stats. These are important. I think. 6, 2, 2.
Ceruti
45.
Ryan Marcillo
All right.
Ceruti
Yeah.
Ryan Marcillo
27 years old. Max bench. 295 for 3. 335. One rep. I saw a thing on bench pressing of golfers and it was like, if Brooks koepka can do 22510 times and this is what his bench can do. I'm just telling you, I've spent too many hours on some of the bench calculators, they're not accurate.
Ceruti
You don't say.
Ryan Marcillo
Well, maybe sometimes I imagine if you do 225 ten times, you could probably do 315. But I'm just, if you don't ever touch any of that weight, your body's going to go like, what the hell? Because when I've done 225 at my best, and then I was like, ooh, I wonder what the calculator says. I was like, that's not even close to being true. Like, just so this guy's not going on that calculator, he's given us the hard 335. One rep, which is terrific. Curled 135 twice, but never again for fear of tearing a bicep. Don't blame you, player comp. David west certainly will never be the most gifted player on the court, but provide value to the team through physical post play, collecting boards and elite passing. Nasty little 17 foot pull up off of Chris Paul triple drive though. A few years back, my wife, girlfriend at the time received a long message via Snapchat from an athlete that she had been somewhat friends with throughout the college, but never anything more than that. Okay. She shrugged it off, let him know she was in a good situation. But what made this worse to me was that I also knew this guy while in school. In fact, we'd often talk, hang out at parties and mutual friends. And I carried him through one of our toughest classes with our major because I'm an absolute die hard for our sports programs and felt I was contributing somehow by doing this. So not a nerd.
Kyle
Definitely not a nerd.
Ryan Marcillo
We just get that out of the way.
Kyle
It's because I love the sport so much.
Ceruti
That's great. Just love the game. Yeah, just love the game.
Ryan Marcillo
When's the last time you've heard about somebody being ineligible academically in college football or basketball? By the way, you and I thought
Ceruti
we were talking about this.
Ryan Marcillo
Yeah, yeah.
Kyle
I can't tell you when, but it
Ryan Marcillo
certainly was way back. I had a segment in my head, remember when we used to obsess over Bob Huggins graduation rate at Cincinnati? Like, like, guys, wow, there's a good team, but they're not doing it the right way. We've moved on from that. We've evolved from those difference. I do think the right way. You'd be shocked how many people don't graduate, like from college. Like, what, show up one day fucking three plastic crates in a loft. And so sometimes the graduation rate. I don't know what segment I'm doing right now, so let's get back to the email. So he absolutely knew that I was her boyfriend and knew me on a personal enough level to warrant a feeling of betrayal in me. Also, he had been in a relationship for over a year at the time when sending this message someone who he later married. This is when we get a little 2026ish, but the context is important. I think. We are soon going to a wedding and he and his wife will also be attending. The message doesn't bother me anymore thanks to that prefrontal cortex development and truthfully, I'd pretty much forgotten about it. We've all grown up, been in our own respective marriages and looking back, I almost respect the move at this point, probably only because it didn't work. But at the same time that some invitations went out, my wife got a notification that he had recently been snooping on her TikTok page that then his wife followed her his wife on Instagram and promptly unfollowed her as soon as she followed back. Not good. Without all of this, I was planning to just not interact with him and act like nothing ever happened. But now because of the weird and recent developments, I fear there's a potential awkward encounter brewing. I would never say anything in front of his wife as I am not in the business of breaking up marriages and truthfully would never wish that on them. But I was wondering if you guys had any suggestions on some slick remarks I could make. I don't want to cause a scene by any means, but I think it would put a nice bow on this to have a little one liner to leave him with so he's aware that I know what he did. Thanks guys. Love the show. Grew up with Rosillo on the tv. As my older brother's a big fan, he got me into the pots. Well, thanks. Thanks to your older brother.
Kyle
Dude, shout out to the high ground here. That's good news, right? I mean, it sounds like everybody did.
Ryan Marcillo
Yeah, well, I mean, not even just
Kyle
that, but it sounds like everybody might know what he did. You know, he's got the moral high ground. The wife didn't hide it right? Brushed it off. It sounds like maybe his wife's a little nervous. Might be not the first Snapchat he's fired off. She's on edge. She's following people unfollowing. You know what I mean? He's probably already not going to have the best time at this wedding. So yeah, maybe just a nice little back on the pat on the back.
Ryan Marcillo
Hey champ.
Kyle
How you been?
Ceruti
Good to see you.
Kyle
You look great.
Ceruti
That was my first thought. It's like, you're the winner here a year. You married her, she doesn't want to leave you. By all accounts, she's not interested in this dude's advances. And you can just kind of sit back and know that everyone else is kind of thinking about this and just feel awesome and have a great time at this wedding. So the no move is the move for me.
Kyle
Sounds like his wife has her antennas up as well. So this could be like, he might
Ryan Marcillo
be dreading this day.
Kyle
Instead of like, oh, I'm going to get to be in the same room with her again. It might just be like, his eyes are going to be policed by his wife. He might not be be able to look in your direction, so you might dip out early.
Ceruti
Who knows, right?
Kyle
Right after the receiving line, and it might be gone.
Ryan Marcillo
You guys are right. You want to talk about position of strength and not just his bench number. This is like, some people, I would think, in your spot are looking forward to this. This is awesome, right? Your wife is good to go. Feel great about the whole thing. He's fucked if his wife followed your wife and then unfollowed her after she maybe saw, like, what he was looking at. How does that work on TikTok? I got banned after one post show,
Ceruti
but, yeah, that's true.
Ryan Marcillo
True story.
Ceruti
I don't know. I actually just looked that up and, yeah, you both have to have this thing called profile viewer on. We'll have to ask Kev, our social guy, about this, but I don't know.
Ryan Marcillo
Yeah, we posted one video of Matt Leiner talking on our show, and then TikTok banned me for copyright infringement.
Ceruti
For using it on your personal one.
Ryan Marcillo
Yeah.
Kyle
Huh.
Ryan Marcillo
What a run. Yeah. You want to talk about hit rate? That was it. One and done.
Ceruti
Yep. Take that, China freshman at Duke.
Ryan Marcillo
So, I mean, do you want to mess with him at all? It sounds like he doesn't want to mess with him at all, but there's a really good opportunity where he'd be like, hey, how's work? What do you do? How do you feel about messaging at work? And he's like, what are you talking about? Just general leadership, making sure everybody understands what your goals and priorities are. He's like, oh, whatever.
Kyle
I like how you look great back Pat. I think that's good.
Ryan Marcillo
Yeah. I mean, it sounds like he doesn't want to do anything, but I don't think you should have any anxiety whatsoever. I don't think you or your wife should have any anxiety at all. And you should just watch it all play out. Like, he's probably going to come up to you and say hello. He's definitely going to come up to her and say hello. I don't think that he can go full ignore the entire time. And then you've got to do a little advanced scouting on like what his wife's about. Like, would she somehow turn this into, you shouldn't be talking to my guy when it's like, well, no one's talking to him, so what the fuck? You never know.
Ceruti
She didn't go to the college though. Correct. The other three did.
Kyle
Yeah.
Ryan Marcillo
We don't have that information.
Ceruti
She's a little bit of an outsider, likely in this situation too.
Kyle
Yep.
Ceruti
So she maybe knows, hey, I've seen some things.
Ryan Marcillo
Well, it doesn't mention that he's known her in the past or anything like that, so I think it's probably an assumption. I don't think you have anything to worry about and you should be looking forward to it.
Ceruti
No. Have a great time.
Kyle
Yeah.
Ryan Marcillo
Would you say anything, Kyle?
Kyle
Yeah, maybe.
Ryan Marcillo
Yeah.
Kyle
Well, yeah, I think so.
Ryan Marcillo
Yeah. You'd say something with a guy.
Kyle
Yeah. Not like, you know, not letting on, like, we're not. We're not running through the plot points of the story that I know.
Ryan Marcillo
But.
Kyle
Yeah, something. Something like that. I think there's definitely be a back pat. Heard you're doing really well, man. You know, Good to see you. I think I would just. We just hope we're. We're at separate tables.
Ryan Marcillo
That's. You ever reach out to the old gang?
Duncan Robinson
That's great.
Ryan Marcillo
Yeah, that stuff's good. You could also maybe after the wedding, but just go on a, like, blitz of all of his wife's stuff just to be like, I'm aware, not some sucker.
Kyle
That would definitely be a post wedding. I wouldn't advise that, but that would definitely be post wedding.
Ryan Marcillo
Post wedding, his wife opens up her Instagram page. It's just you with your thumbs up. Or maybe like tank top, post lift. It's just like, Steve liked your photo. Like 700 in a row. Like, what? This guy's really trying to get some awareness out there. All right, that was too straightforward. Do we do one more? Let's do one more. All right. Hinge girl. Defeating my mental health. 6 foot 1 1, 185. No gym stats, but I love to run. Huge fan. Been listening for years. Never thought this day would come. Single guy in the dating apps in a mid side of western city. About a month ago, I matched and met an incredible girl. Call it honeymoon phase, but she's definitely wife material. It's gotten to a point that we spend a lot of time together. We stay at each other's places three, four times a week. Spent entire weekends together. I deleted my hinge a couple weeks ago. Mm. She has a wedding to attend in two weeks that she keeps bringing up and bringing up. I haven't been invited, which I completely understand, but it's just a precursor to what I think is happening when we spend our time together, she's never on her phone. Her mom will call, but she declines. People text and she never replies. We text all day, but a certain pattern's coming about on nights we don't spend together. Around 7 8pm she goes radio silent. At this point, I feel like I have a good feel for her routine. She does not go to bed at 7 or 8. Is it crazy to think she's doing to me what she might be doing to other guys? Nights I'm not there, someone else shows up and she goes radio silent. Just like she goes radio silent when I'm there. I won't bother her once, she doesn't reply, and the next morning she has an excuse for something that she was doing as a hinge match. I don't hold it against her. She probably has other dudes, but it's eating me alive.
Kyle
This might be a good old fashioned, do you want to be my girlfriend? Dude, nobody even says that anymore. But this might just cut through all the uncertainty and just a straight up, do you want to be my girlfriend?
Ceruti
It's the last time you asked somebody that question.
Kyle
Yeah, I think a lot of times, I think modern love, it's just like, enough time passes and then he says it in front of his friend. You're like, oh, am I your girlfriend? So, like, this could be. This could be a great antique. You dust off and just go ahead, see what happens after that.
Ceruti
I feel like the only time that conversation is had is when one of the parties is not all the way in.
Kyle
Well, you don't have to say, like, are you my girlfriend? It feels weird even saying it, but that's. You know, people use that shit all the time.
Ceruti
I do feel like it's a fair. How long were they together? Did they say, how long has this been happening? Because I do feel like that.
Kyle
He said about a month. Oh, then, yeah, maybe over a month, but. But you're spending that much time together, you know, you. You feel like you don't have the right to ask what she's up to. Because, well, you know, we met on, like, she. I'm sure she has other dudes, but it's also killing me. It's like, you just. I think you want to maybe be honest with yourself and you could be honest with each other at this point.
Ceruti
But it's the phrasing. It's like, don't just be like, hey, are you banging other dudes?
Ryan Marcillo
Just be like, hey. Like, are we like, hey, say it that way. Yes.
Ceruti
Just, you know, hey.
Kyle
I think even liking this, like, gets a little heavy. That might even be like a month.
Ceruti
Not that long of, you know, like,
Ryan Marcillo
I feel like the month thing just to jump in real quick. Like, don't worry about the wedding thing. You're not invited.
Ceruti
Right?
Ryan Marcillo
A month ago.
Ceruti
The RSVP was sent out months ago. Like, she didn't know you, dude.
Ryan Marcillo
So, yeah, she was scanning codes and you weren't even a thought.
Ceruti
What's her Instagram look like too? I guess, like, if she, you know, if she posts of the wedding, I. Hopefully she doesn't bring anybody. That'd be a good side for you. Hopefully. But you'll have an answer sooner or later.
Kyle
Dude, you're hanging out so much. This is like, it's overkill to, you know, not be sure. We're talking three, four nights a week. Like, that's a lot sleepover streak here. I mean, that's a lot. You know, you guys don't want to be.
Ryan Marcillo
You guys don't need to go a little fast.
Kyle
She's grocery shopping together. You're never in, like, you know, in the grocery store. Like, oh, what should we have tomorrow for dinner? It's like you guys are doing the thing. I think if we're spending four days.
Ceruti
So, yeah, his radar is right. Right. Like, this is.
Ryan Marcillo
There's something in here that we haven't even hit on that I think is important. So when he's texting her at night and she doesn't respond, she's giving him an excuse in the morning. Why can't you just say, like, hey, I put my phone down? I mean, unfortunately, like, there's two paths here. One would have been great if she's like, hey, seven, eight o'. Clock. Like, I don't want a screen time. That's me get my mind right. You know, movie.
Ceruti
You believe that, though?
Ryan Marcillo
Some Jenny ice cream.
Kyle
It's believable. I mean, if she said, would I
Ryan Marcillo
believe someone in their 20s puts their phone down at 7 o' clock at night? No.
Ceruti
Yeah. She's just lining a different way.
Ryan Marcillo
Maybe.
Kyle
Yeah, maybe Maybe she's focused. Maybe she's in, like, an ax throwing league or something. It's just like, yeah, you really can't be fucking around with your. Obviously, that's not what it is, but I'm just saying there's.
Ryan Marcillo
How many times does it happen where it's. The next morning, it's like, oh, hey, a bunch of things came up.
Kyle
Okay. How many times could it be? We're talking multiple weeks with three to five, like, slumber parties in a row. You know, how many times a week would he even have the chance? We're talking four weeks. I mean, can't be that many times. Probably enough to put your antennas up, but I don't think it's like he doesn't even have a big enough pattern, I think. Right. If these numbers are all correct, like, he's only really had 5, 6 chances for this to happen.
Ceruti
I think you got to give it more time. I think you got to give it more time. It's only been a month. You haven't had this conversation. Yes. You may think it's heading in this direction. That's great. She may be playing it slower. Maybe she had somebody else before she went on a hinge date. Met you. That person's still lingering. Maybe he's on his way out the door.
Kyle
You might be phasing a guy out right now. You don't even know.
Ceruti
Yeah. So it could be a good thing.
Ryan Marcillo
Why is she coming in the door?
Ceruti
I think another month. I think I would probably just observe
Kyle
the fog of war, as they say.
Ryan Marcillo
I think you guys are right. I think it's just going to. Because this is. I mean, the problem is, in the beginning of all this stuff, very normal, rational things just scare people off way quicker than they should. And if you were to go, hey, how come you're not texting me back? Are you seeing somebody else? You're probably going to ruin it. So unfortunately, you're going to have to deal with this. And you know what? Maybe there's a night where something came up for you and you weren't able to get back to her right away. You know, See how that feels? I mean, I know it's stupid in the games and all this shit, but, like, sometimes you have to do that kind of stuff.
Kyle
Agreed.
Ryan Marcillo
Like, if you're dating somebody who's a terrible texter, you then have to become just as bad. This is true.
Kyle
Don't like it, but it's true.
Ryan Marcillo
Well, you can't be like, hey, well, I'm going to stay in my normal Zone. It's like, well, then, oh, maybe I'll just go to bed tonight and we'll get back to this person right away.
Kyle
I got a good feeling about this.
Ryan Marcillo
This will be fine. Yeah, I mean, everything should. The wedding thing's irrelevant if there's a little bit of an overlap. Okay. But I mean, if she's staying with you or you're staying with her that many nights already, that's wild. But it might just mean that you guys are feelings.
Ceruti
So that's her thing, you know?
Ryan Marcillo
Maybe she's like a she sleepover every night. That's not what our guy wants to hear.
Kyle
I think younger people don't like doing uncomfortable shit. I mean, some people won't even call to order a pizza if it's not on fucking doordash. They don't even want to talk to the guy. It's like, oh, well, it's not on Uber Eats, so I guess. Guess we'll see what else we can get. Some people don't even like picking up the phone anymore, you know?
Ryan Marcillo
So is our guy the pizza?
Kyle
She's the pizza place that doesn't have doordash options. She's the pizza place. You got to call.
Ryan Marcillo
Okay, make that call. Okay.
Kyle
Make that call.
Ryan Marcillo
Kyle, thanks. Well done. Thanks to everyone on the show today. Tom, Kevin, Ceruti, and Kyle. Please subscribe. We're probably going to be doing more stuff throughout the early rounds of the playoffs because it's going to be basketball every single night. So depending on how the schedule are we saying now we're going to do Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Serutti.
Ceruti
Well, no. So next week's the draft. So first round's Thursday night. So I think we're going to do a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule for the regular POD next week and then NFL draft, right? Yes, for the NFL draft next week. Because we want to obviously cover the draft on the. On the main show. And then we'll probably put some stuff, you know, some. Some. Some ten good minutes up as well and go from there. Probably Tuesday, Thursday.
Ryan Marcillo
All right. And then we're going to be doing probably multiple. All right, to your point, we want to throw in an Extra good 10 minutes there. Maybe do twice a week. We'll have that up on the YouTube page next week. Yeah, yeah, at least next week. And then we'll see. And then if sweeps happen, we won't be doing it as much, but if there's big basketball on the night before, then we'll just do something. So make sure you subscribe to the pod. Subscribe to the YouTube page as well. And of course, check us out on Netflix. And we will be back tomorrow.
In this episode, Ryen Russillo delivers his annual pre-playoff Top 10 NBA Player rankings, informed by ballots from 13 front office executives and coaches around the league. He digs deep into the process and shares direct quotes and insight from those around the league, examining criteria like status, impact, and reputation. The episode then shifts to an extended interview with Detroit Pistons’ Duncan Robinson, discussing Detroit’s surprising run to the #1 seed in the East, the team's unique chemistry, Cade Cunningham's return from injury, and tactical insights for the postseason. The show finishes out with listener life advice and the signature mix of thoughtful hoops banter and locker-room humor.
On Jokic:
“I think there’s a big gap between him and number two and number three. If he were to retire tomorrow and train horses, Denver is at best a play-in team.” — Unnamed NBA Exec (06:05)
“Probably almost underrated, how amazing he is... Number one player in the world, still underrated. Don’t have that a lot.” (07:50)
“I don’t think this is close.” (09:52)
On Wemby:
On SGA:
On Luka:
On Kawhi:
On Cade:
Robinson on the #1 seed:
“I never would have put any limitations on us as a group... Did I know for sure we’d be number one in the East? No, but here we are. It’s been a fun ride.” (19:48)
“...We’re not really going to get any sort of national media recognition until you really do something… finishing first in the East is great, but obviously we have higher expectation and hopes for this season.” (20:52)
On being underdogs despite #1:
Cade’s return from lung injury:
Team’s offensive diversity:
On learning NBA nuances:
Jalen Duren’s emergence:
Ron Holland’s reputation:
Danis Jenkins’ first big role:
On Kevin Huerter joining the team:
On "white guy spacing" group text:
On being targeted in closing lineups:
On NBA playoff officiating:
Funny moment on the top 3 player banter:
On the infamous Charlotte game scuffle:
Quick personal backstory:
Charlotte/Miami Game:
Portland/Phoenix Game:
Hat etiquette and sports fandom:
Dealing with awkwardness at a wedding (pro athlete DM'd his wife):
Modern dating and anxiety about exclusivity:
Russillo on being a “ball knower”:
Duncan Robinson on balancing rivalry and camaraderie among shooters:
On coaching Cade back:
On NBA physicality and officiating:
End of Summary.