We Got a Game 7! Plus, Are the New Tanking Rules Really That Bad? With Anthony Slater

Summary

The Ryen Russillo Show – “We Got a Game 7! Plus, Are the New Tanking Rules Really That Bad?”

Date: May 29, 2026
Host: Ryen Russillo (Barstool Sports)
Guest: Anthony Slater (ESPN), with Kyle and Ceruti
Episode Focus: Breakdown of Game 6 in the Spurs-Thunder Western Conference Finals, previewing Game 7, discussions on NBA draft lottery/tanking reform, the upcoming NBA Finals, Golden State’s offseason, and classic “Life Advice.”

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Episode Overview

This episode captures the drama and implications surrounding Game 6 and the upcoming Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder, with a heavy emphasis on Victor Wembanyama’s ascension, the role of young stars, and shifting NBA narratives. Ryen and Anthony Slater also breakdown the NBA’s new lottery reforms (anti-tanking), look ahead to potential Finals matchups for the Knicks, explore the offseason pivots for the Warriors, and wrap up with signature listener Life Advice.

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Game 6 Recap & Analysis

[03:17–16:48]

Main Points

• Spurs Dominate Game 6, Force Game 7:

  • San Antonio evens the series with a “massive victory,” spearheaded by Wembanyama’s aggressive usage and all-around performance.
    • “Usage rate for Wembanyama in the first halves of these six games… last night a 42.5. Westbrook is jealous of that usage rate and he was terrific.” (Ryan, 04:31)
  • Notable Spurs third-quarter run – OKC held scoreless for an astonishing 7:28 stretch.
    • “They scored their 64th point with 8:23 to go in the third quarter. They didn’t score their next point for the next 7 minutes and 28 seconds. Zero points for 7 minutes and 28 seconds from the best team in the NBA.” (Ryan, 09:35)
  • Rotation chess match: Spurs survive “non-Wembanyama minutes” for once, flipping a series-long narrative.

• Thunder’s Struggles:

  • SGA’s uneven shooting/foul-drawing discrepancy underlines the series volatility.
  • Jalen Williams’ injury status and value discussed (see Slater, [20:28]).

Notable Quote:
"I think this is the story of the night: a massive victory for San Antonio... What they did to OKC in that stretch, especially with SGA in and Wembanyama out, that's the game."
— Ryan Russillo, [08:39]

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Young Stars & Narrative Shifts

[16:48–26:49]

Wembanyama & Dylan Harper

• Anthony Slater highlights Dylan Harper’s health and resurgence in Game 6 as “major factor” for San Antonio’s hopes in Game 7.
  • “If you get that version of Dylan Harper in Game 7… they have a lot better chance than they showed in Game 5.” (Slater, 17:32)
• Growing expectations on Wembanyama; media coverage, handling pressure, fatigue setting in after heavy minutes.

Notable Quotes:

• “Wembanyama is at a completely different level because in his third year, it’s about whether or not he’s the best player in the world.”
  — Ryan, [04:55]
• “I just wonder how much this series is or isn’t getting to him at such a young age, with the minute load, with everything surrounding the series…”
  — Anthony Slater, [25:02]

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Game 7 Preview & Psychological Dynamics

[26:49–30:16]

Pressure, Maturity & Comparisons

• Wembanyama’s postgame media handling scrutinized:
  • “If you don’t talk to the media after a loss but want to be the face of the league… you better win.” (Ryan, 25:52)
  • “Maybe it shows some immaturity, but he’s only 22. Long-term, he could still end this with a legendary series.” (Slater, 25:36)
• Comparisons to historical ‘ahead-of-schedule’ teams—e.g., early-2010s Thunder.

Knicks Matchup Speculation

• Knicks potential Finals matchup: both believe OKC/Spurs have an edge but break down past Knicks-Spurs/Thunder games.
  • “I’m gonna favor either West team, but the Knicks crew, we have a shot.” (Slater, 30:16)

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NBA Draft Lottery Reform & Tanking Rules

[30:16–37:48]

New System Details & Debate

• League shifts format: Top three teams (worst records) get 2 lottery balls, teams 4–12 get 3 each; expands lottery to 16 teams, includes 8 ‘play-in’ losers.
• Reforms aim to curb “egregious” late-season tanking.
  • “I like the relegation zone the most… now you are de-incentivizing wanting to be at the bottom and actually incentivizing avoiding it.” — Slater, [32:10]
• New rule: Teams can't get number one pick in consecutive seasons—potential headaches with traded picks (e.g., Memphis/Utah situation).
  • “I’m totally on Memphis’s side unless there’s some other part of it I’m missing.” — Ryan, [36:07]

Notable Quote:
"There's no perfect fix to tanking. This might be the best version we'll see… lucking out in the draft is still the only way to change your franchise."
— Ryan, [31:20]

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Golden State Warriors Offseason Outlook

[37:48–41:35]

Roster Uncertainty, Trade Scenarios

• Warriors face decision crossroads with Draymond (potential opt-out/extension), No. 11 pick, and speculative “monster swings.”
  • “The 11th pick will likely only be on the table if it's the massive swing you're talking about. If they can get in the Giannis conversation…” (Slater, 38:37)
• Insiders sense less “thirst” for big moves; Kerr’s remarks indicate franchise shift towards a more realistic approach.
• Speculation around Kawhi, Jimmy Butler, and even wild Giannis scenarios—though “not optimistic” from the Warriors’ side.

Notable Moment:

• Ryen’s deadpan attempt at making a “salary dump trade” for Giannis, quickly flagged as a joke by Slater.
  • [40:15–40:34]: “I was trying to come up with a trade that would match everybody else's. It’s like, so wait—one of the teams gets… this makes no sense.”

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Orlando Magic Hire Sean Sweeney

[41:35–42:47]

• Noted as a defense-first head coach similar to his predecessor. Ryen/Sater puzzled over the offensive staff and the overall direction, with hopes he can resonate with Paolo Banchero.

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Life Advice Segment Highlights

[48:14–end]

A mix of insightful, playful, and absurd listener questions with the trademark camaraderie between Ryen, Kyle, Ceruti, and Slater.

Topics & Quotes

• Best Entry Cigarette for Late-Starters ([62:16–64:40]):
  • Kyle recommends Camel Crush or Marlboro Lights—“Definitely wouldn’t start with Marlboro Reds… maybe take a spin in the backyard first.”
• The ‘Glue Guy’ Dilemma in Friend Groups ([66:18–75:50]):
  • Listener asks if he’s just the “unpaid social coordinator,” worrying his wife feels left out.
  • Kevin: “That’s probably not a great sign for your wife… not a good sign if her own bridesmaid group also pushed away.”
  • Kyle: “You’re the unsung hero, maybe one out of eight guys will acknowledge it—that means so much… everyone has some sort of ranking in their friend group.”
• Creative Life/Barstool Content Pitches ([56:08–61:14]):
  • Kyle brainstorms: “Two guys in a tube” (tubing podcast), “Dive Bar Dives,” “Best Bouncer Stories.”
• Classic Pod Chemistry:
  • Recurring jokes around Bigfoot, aliens, Chernobyl, fireworks at parties, and the social science of being “the guy who makes plans.”

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Memorable Quotes

• “Wembanyama is at a completely different level because in his third year, it’s about whether or not he’s the best player in the world.” — Ryan, [04:55]
• “If you get that version of Dylan Harper in Game 7… they have a lot better chance.” — Anthony Slater, [17:32]
• “If you’re going to not talk to the media, then you better win. It’s kind of the deal if you could be the face of the league here.” — Ryan, [25:52]
• “There’s no perfect fix, this might be a better version… but lucking out in the draft is still the only way to change your franchise.” — Ryan, [31:20]
• “You’re an unsung hero… sometimes just one acknowledgment means so much, like hitting a good shot in golf.” — Kyle, [70:39]
• “Throw the party of the summer. Just remind everybody who the fuck you are, man.” — Kyle, [74:59]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:17] — Game 6 breakdown, Wembanyama’s usage, and Spurs’ adjustments
• [16:48] — Anthony Slater joins; big takeaways, Harper’s and Fox’s health
• [22:39] — State of Thunder’s rotation, need for Jalen Williams
• [24:07] — Wembanyama’s fatigue and media pressure
• [26:49] — Handling high expectations, comparisons to historical “ahead of schedule” teams
• [30:16] — Knicks matchup outlook
• [32:10] — Tanking and new lottery system debate
• [36:07] — Memphis/Utah situation, traded pick controversy
• [37:48] — Warriors offseason, trade rumors and strategy
• [41:35] — Orlando Magic’s coaching hire
• [48:14] — Life Advice segment begins (social roles, content ideas, friend group dilemmas)

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Tone & Style

The episode blends analytical NBA basketball talk with candid, often humorous observations about the league and adult life. Ryen’s conversational style, seasoned analysis, and willingness to tackle fan/media narratives head-on set the tone. The interplay with Anthony Slater is engaging and insightful, offering inside NBA perspective. Off-court, the closing “Life Advice” keeps the tone light, self-aware, and relatable.

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Summary

This episode is a must-listen for anyone tracking the NBA playoffs narrative, with deep dives into player development arcs (Wemby, SGA, Harper), GM-level debates on tanking reform, and nuanced anticipation of a potentially iconic Game 7. Russillo and Slater are at their best breaking down little “moments”—on the court, in press conferences, or in friend group text chains. Fans of longform, personality-driven sports analysis and listeners who appreciate a blend of serious and light-hearted takes will be thoroughly satisfied.

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For more details, catch the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or watch on Netflix.

Transcript

[Ryan R]

Hey Priscilla listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music.

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[Ryan R]

The Ryan Marillo show presented by DraftKings. I'll break down game six. A little open on that. And the most important factor, I think that even this series for San Antonio and the Thunder look ahead to game seven as well. We'll do more in the series with Anthony Slater, who is in Oklahoma City as we speak, fresh off of his trip to San Antonio. ESPN's Anthony Slater. I said his name twice because I'm so excited that we got him. We're going to break that down. Maybe the little final sprinkles in there. Heavy Knicks guy and also lottery reform. Some thoughts on that after that vote went through and why Golden State may be the key to some major off season headlines. We've got life advice, so enjoy the pod. Also, a reminder that Cerruti is back in the content game. It's just soccer. The first episode just dropped from Barstool Sports. He's teamed up with some soccer vets, I should say football vets as they get you ready for all the stuff. Big game this weekend and the World cup and a reminder to watch the show on Netflix. My show, not his. The NBA playoffs are here and DraftKings sportsbook and official sports betting partner of the NBA brings excitement to every game day, the whole postseason. When the lights get brightest, the best players in the world show you exactly who they are. Playoff stars turn it up round by round and DraftKings turns it up with them. From the first round all the way to the finals. Bet player props bet live. From the opening tip to the final possession, every bucket, every dime, every clutch takeover matters. And only DraftKings sportsbook keeps you in on the action all the way through new DraftKings customers. Bet just $5 and you'll get $100 in bonus bets instantly. Download the DraftKings sportsbook app. Use the Code Ryan so you're ready for the moment. That's Code Ryan. R, Y, e, n turn five bucks into $100 in bonus bets instantly in partnership with DraftKings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800- Meyer reset New York. Call 877-8-HOPE and wire text hope and why 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 in Ontario, restrictions apply.

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[Ryan R]

see sportsbook.draftkings.com promos Limited Time Offer Game 6 Another blowout. The series is tied. We head to Game seven for the Western Conference finals and a chance to play the New York Knicks for an NBA title. All right, first thing I was looking for, I talked about it after Game five. Wemby doesn't get deep enough, sets up too far away immediately. And I know you can say, hey, he hit two threes. He's on the perimeter. But that's not what I saw. I saw somebody that it was like a clear thing of like, let's just not have him so far away from everything. And I thought that that was very telling. It was something I was looking for and I was rewarded. Hell, I even got like the I was talking about bad lobs. Like whatever the good lobs are, throw them a couple bad ones. I even got those last night. So I was happy about it. There is a trend here in the first half. We've talked about it with field goal attempts. Let's look at usage rate for wembanyama in the first halves of these six games. Game one, a 30 usage rate in the first half win game two 21.6 game three 23.3 both losses. Game four a win usage rate 41.3 game five a loss 19.6, the least usage rate of any of the first halves. And then last night a 42.5. Westbrook is jealous of that usage rate and he was terrific. He was all over the place. And you know what he is supposed to do despite being young. But what is at stake for him? And you know, after a bad Game five? I mean, here's the part that sucks. I understand. Like people think, oh, he's the media darling. Like, this is a very natural timeline that happens all the time with any of these. Early, early, like, hey, this guy's going to be really special. It's happened with ant. And the ant shift will. Will, like, turn on him if it isn't turning a little bit already of like, hey, but he wasn't healthy and it wasn't like they were supposed to win that series necessarily, but it's just what happens. I mean, I've seen it too many times. It's just if you don't win after a certain amount of times, hey, what's wrong with this guy? Wembanyama is like a completely different level because in his third year, it's about whether or not he's the best player in the world. And so anytime it's not like, hey, you can have a bad game, or like, hey, we were just saying after game one, like, we go into 26, 27, where it's undisputed. Even if, like, SGA were to win another title, which, you know, it's probably not what would happen, but I know at least that conversation is, like, on the table for him. It's just a completely different level for how he's going to be graded. So the biggest thing I think from last night, which has been obviously a problem for the spurs, when you think about the non Wembanyama minutes, and I think the cornet number was pretty damning on what his plus minus was the first five games of the series, but it's also to be expected. But what would happen last night with Wembanyama not on the floor and he's playing a ton of minutes for him too, by the way. So it was a massive victory. Like, I think this is the story of the night, a massive victory for San Antonio. So Wembanyama comes out up 14, 13. You may have it a little bit differently. The way I'll do like plus minus on the in and out is like, if you come out and then the other team makes the free throw, like, I'd still count that point against you. And conversely, if you come in at a score during a free throw and then the other team makes the second free throw, I don't count that point against you. So anyway, Wemby comes out with five minutes to go in the first quarter, SGA stays in, which was my biggest thing from game one, I'm like, look, if you are all about downhill attacks with SGA and you have these sub patterns, you got to throw them out the window and you've got to Just keep SJ SGA in there as much as possible when Wembanyama's not playing. And the whole point of OKC and with all this depth, even though there's no AJ Mitchell, but I mean we can give you credit here for your depth when you do what you do in game five and what they did in game three, which I still was like this is unbelievable that SGA is in there with four bench players and they're pulling away in this game. But you've got to keep SGA in there. And that's exactly what they've done since game one. But here's what happened last night is during that stretch, 14, 13, SGA staying in for basically four minutes without Wembanyama and Wembanyama's back in at 3022. So they were plus seven without Wembanyama. They actually wanted to sub him in a little bit earlier but he got stuck at the scorers table where there was a few more extra possessions in there. So that's a plus seven in the third quarter when Minyama comes out up 1074, 64. By the time he comes back in it's 85, 64. That's all with SGA in. Wembanyama comes back to the game I think with 401 left and they actually sub SGA out as Wembanyama comes back in. So in that first and third quarter stretch or women, Yama subbed out and SGA is on the floor for the entire time. You're looking at a plus 18. That's the game. An incredible job of, of all of the guys just stepping up and making it hard for everybody on OKC. I mean offensively that third quarter is the worst quarter scoring wise the OKCs had all season long. They had 13 points. I mean it was so bad that they scored their 64th point with 823 to go in the third quarter. They didn't score their next point for the next 7 minutes and 28 seconds. Zero points for 7 minutes and 28 seconds from the best team in the NBA. Some of them were good looks and misses but it's not a shot various thing where you're not making any of them for 728. So credit the defense, credit that building and the fight of all these young players responding to this, you know, survival mode. So really showed. I think a lot of us something as far as the foul stuff, I do have some time for it. It feels like we have to do this every day after one of these games. But I do have some thoughts. SGA only drew three fouls last night. He drew nine in game five. I don't know if there's some sort of officiating correction. You know, when I go through the SGA shot attempts, he was 6, 18. I think 8 of the 18 were good shots. And for a good shot for him, still kind of like that contested pull up jumper. But as long as only like one defender, it's like, hey, that's a pretty good shot for him. There's even one of those eight that I don't even know that it should be called a good shot. But he's just so good that he made it against Wembanyama on the right side where it's a step back jumper and they're like isolated against each other. It goes in but I'm like, I don't know, I wouldn't classify this as like the first thing you would want to do. But it went in and he made it. But he wasn't getting to the free throw line. And we've seen now in the wins, SGA has averaged 11.6 free throw attempts per games and in the losses, 6.3 free throw attempts per game. We'll keep it singular this time. SGA shooting in the series has not been great. 38, 26% from the floor. On the free throw thing, I think you fall into three different categories, right? First categories, OKC is great, so you're going to about it. They've been great for two years, which seems like forever in today's time. Ultimately when you're really good and you're the headline, you're just going to be a target. We learned to hate stuff quicker, successful stuff quicker than ever before. There seems to be kind of a general, even non sports thing where success is just resented. And I think it's just kind of the way it goes now. So I don't. There's certain things about OKC that I'll get to here, but I think that's kind of what we would do. Maybe this is a stretch, but if Seattle were in the super bowl next year, would you be like, you know, a little tired hearing about these Seahawks? Maybe not that, maybe not that. Unless we felt like the Seahawks were doing like something specific that other teams weren't doing as much because the falling down thing is a real thing. You know, I was thinking about Embiid my guy the other day. I was like imagine if he made it to the NBA finals. And the way like with everyone paying attention, you think you don't like falling down from a perimeter guy that might not weigh 200 pounds. How would the discourse be if Embiid were somehow in the NBA Finals falling down at, like, 270 all the time? You think that'd be fair? He might be better off not making the Finals. The second category is I think they're. They're content pleasers. There's one that I don't really love. I don't know who most of the people are, and it's not even a zag because it's so predictable. They're people that just, no matter what happens, they're always going to defend the athlete. You'll hear it maybe like, in a studio show where it's like, hey, all the great players have gotten calls. You're like, yeah, but they don't seem to piss me off as much as these do. And then there's the broadcast, which I would say a lot of the guys I know have been guests on the show. Some I would even consider friends. But when you're partnered up with the league, they don't want people on the broadcast going, this sucks. I think that makes sense. I think it's probably a pretty good rule with your business partner to be like, hey, man, this really sucks. This quarter sucks. I can't believe this guy got this call. I'm telling you right now. And I've noticed this, this post season, I think, on some of the questionable calls that drive all of us crazy. They're not going to these replays as much. I have no information. I can only tell you as a professional watcher of things that I've noticed it, where I'm like, I want to see the replay on that. And it's like, oh, we're not getting that replay. We're not getting this replay. I think it's a real thing. I have no idea if I'm right or not. But then there's other times where you just have the old school Mark Jackson where there's a terrible whistle, and he just goes, there's contact there. And you're like, man. And we're all on the couch going, yeah, but that's not the right call. Or you have the comment from Candace Parker when she asked Dwayne Wade if he would like playing with that kind of whistle when Wade had 97 free throws in six games in the 2006 NBA Finals, including 46 free throws in Games 5 and 6 combined. It was disgusting. Wasn't fun to watch. And, you know, it's kind of back to my original thoughts on, like, a lot of things, like, what if everyone did this, but it didn't happen last night? And I think the third category is just the OKC lunatics. It's not all of you, but it's some of you. Whether it's the propaganda, whether it's small market, whether it's like, new money in the NBA world of what new money would be. You excuse dort plays, but you want federal charges brought up on Carter Bryant, you get mad if we don't say J Dub. Maybe that's pissing people more, pissing people off more than some of the calls are. But I still don't think that social media is a really good slice of, like, what real people are thinking. Game seven. I have. Look, I'm picking OKC and seven. I imagine they'll look a lot better at home. I have no idea how it's going to play out. We had the Game one Caruso thing with Wembanyama. Then we had Hartenstein as a massive part of the story, which I raved about after Game five. And then he kind of was not part of the game plan last night, and they preferred Jalen Williams. And you can say that, like, the game kind of gets messy on the box score because of what was going on and what happened in the fourth quarter after the scoring drought and all that stuff. But, like, I felt like when the minutes mattered, they wanted Jalen Williams, not J Dub, the other one. So you also have OKC's history. Just last year in the Western Conference finals, they lost by 42 points in game three against Minnesota. Now, maybe it was a little different because they knew there was a gap and they'd won the first two. They ended up winning the series in five, and they're sitting around smiling, losing by 42. And I think I've landed on this, like, I'm not going. When OKC loses and looks completely unfazed. And then you can almost turn it into a negative thing where you're like, they're acting a little goofy. Are they taking this seriously? I just think it's who they are. And. And long term for your recovery, health in sports, it's probably the best way to be because there are shots where you can look at them. But I just. Who is getting their ass kicked going, hey, they look great. I would hate a team that, like, man, they're. They seem to be, you know, enjoying themselves a little bit. But I think it's them. I just think it's them. And the fact that they know they did the exact same thing a year ago and won an NBA championship. So I still think it's okay seeing seven, but it feels like the result of whatever the previous thing was 48 hours ago is irrelevant to how the next game's going to play out. It's never too late to improve your credit. With Experian Boost, you can raise your credit scores instantly for free, get credit for the bills you're already paying, add your positive rent, utility, and even streaming payments to instantly increase your credit scores. I'm just telling you young folks, you're coming out of there post college right now. Maybe you forgot about a couple things. You start entering the real world, maybe you're a couple years removed from that and you're like, man, why do they keep asking me about this cable bill? Well, you probably didn't have cable, but you get the whole point. It all starts to become a little bit more real. The sooner you fix it, the sooner the other way more real stuff will be easier to navigate. Download the app and get started for free today. Results will vary. Not all payments are boost eligible or considered by lenders. See experian.com for details. Anthony Slater of ESPN Big National Voice. Fancier shirts. Now you. Actually, I got to give it to you. You have not changed at all. So thanks. Thanks for keeping it real.

[Anthony Slater]

I don't even know if that's a compliment, but I'm going to take it as one. So thank you.

[Ryan R]

You never know with me. You are freshly into Oklahoma City, where you could be stationed for a while, right? Depending on how this goes, you might be there for like eight days.

[Anthony Slater]

Tuesday, media day, Wednesday, Game one. Is it a Wednesday? I haven't even looked. What's game two? Is it Wednesday, Friday or Saturday?

[Ryan R]

I just know that we'll be there if it's Oklahoma City, but if not, I'll be in San Antonio. So maybe you won't be in OKC that long. All right, so I opened the pot up with a bunch of different thoughts. I don't need to repeat them all to the audience here, so why don't you just take the lead? Your biggest takeaway of Game six, as we pivot into what we think could happen in Game seven, Dylan Harper, probably.

[Anthony Slater]

You know, I just think that he was awesome in Game one and clearly had some type of injury that looked like hammy. Might it be knee? Because I was covering the Minnesota series, he had a weird fall where his knee was a problem, like heading into game five or something like that of the Minnesota series. Then it was released. As a doctor, which you know, usually, what is it, a groin strain? I didn't really think he was going to play. And then he was surprisingly a green light right in the middle of the series. But I mean, he didn't, he wasn't effective at all for a while in this series. And then I thought he finally looked again like himself or at least like the somewhat of the Game one version. And I thought that was a major factor along with, look, they hit what they hit eight first quarter threes. Wimby was hot early. They were just running hot emotionally, which I think helped them. And then the 200 run in the third quarter. But, you know, if you're asking my biggest takeaway, I think it's if you get that version of Dylan Harper in game seven, like the one you got in game one in the same building, then I think they have a lot better chance than they, you know, showed in Game 5, for example.

[Ryan R]

Think about that statement. You know, think about that statement 11 months ago, you're doing draft prep and you go, I wonder what Dylan Harper is going to do in game seven of the Western Conference finals. And he's so spectacular that you're like, yeah, you know, he may have to bring it home for this team as like the Robin to Wemby's Batman. I thought he sucked for the first few minutes of the game last night too. He took a three where it looked like they were going to have to level the rim again after he bricked it so hard it didn't even hit the rim. He had a pretty nasty turnover. Then he got stripped on that Wallace drive where I just early I know he'd hit a three, but there was a series of plays there. Oh, there was also a play where Wemby got stripped from behind by Dort and Harper didn't even react to it. And maybe he was doing the math of like, I'm so late reacting that now I'm not going to chase down by any of this. But he didn't even move. And there was just a few things happening there at the beginning where I'm like, oh, no. Like is he checked out with this one? Because the other crazy thing is that dear Fox is supposed to fill in these down Wemby game gaps. And you know, we can talk about his ankle, which I understand is part of it, but he also is dear and Fox, where he has moves physically, Slater, where I'm like, well, that actually looks like de' Aaron Fox again and nothing is going in and yet they're still in game seven. And maybe that Speaks to why the trade market was so cool on somebody who's so talented.

[Anthony Slater]

Yeah, you know, he's. To me, he looks slower to me even during the regular season than the best version I ever saw of Darren Fox. Was that King's Warrior series I covered. But, yeah, that would have been 23. Who's super zippy in that series. Like, the warriors came away extremely impressed by, you know, covering him. And part of the reason they were able to finish off that series is because, I don't know if you remember, but he broke like a finger in that series. He played through it, but it was taped up and he didn't shoot it as well. I just have seen the San Antonio version and he just doesn't have that like full, full throttle speed. You still see the burst. At times he still, you know, gets the spots. And again, you mentioned it, the high ankle probably has added to. At times him MC a little bit slower. But yeah, I mean, he's just low efficiency. Really.

[Ryan R]

Yeah. All right. On the other side of things, Jalen Williams, his minutes. I love that he even tried to go out there. They're keeping him on three minute shifts. There's a stretch there in the third quarter where it was ugly. There's a kind of handoff where he brings it up the top of the key where I think he was supposed to keep the ball and he loses it and then just flips it to Caruso to keep some sort of possession of the ball. Then there's the other one on the left side where it just is completely out of bounds and he's kind of like defeated. You know, I know the guys in the broadcast, you know, hey, the handle's the first thing that goes, which I, I kind of understand. But at the same time, it's not like he's not doing any kind of work dribbling with any of this stuff. So from the announcement of him being available in game six, I'm like, I wonder if they just kind of do like an OKC thing here and close this out. Now. I wonder. Look, I love that he tried to get out there, but if that's what he's going to look like, those 12 minutes might be more valuable with, you know, again, I mean, we were talking Aaron Wiggins here. If Mitchell's not available, Ken Rich Williams,

[Anthony Slater]

you know, has kind of keeps getting a couple coffees in this series.

[Ryan R]

I just don't know what position Ken Rich is like, I still have gun to my head and he'd be like, what position does he play? I'd be like, just shoot me.

[Anthony Slater]

He's like a center, I guess, for

[Ryan R]

them, kind of sort of. Yeah, he's good. He's good player.

[Anthony Slater]

Yeah, he is. It reminds me a little of Aaron Gordon in Game 7 last year. Remember, he tried to play through. I think it was a grade 2 hamstring strain that had just happened and that was even crazy. Like he. Yeah, yeah. But you know, like, that's. I think. I'm not saying Williams is playing through that level of strain. I would say he's clearly not. He can move better. Gordon couldn't. Game 7.

[Ryan R]

Gordon actually looked like the most hurt guy I've seen that tried to play her in a. Like. Yeah, so go ahead. Sorry.

[Kyle]

Jumped.

[Anthony Slater]

Well, I would say one of the problems, I think there's this idea of like, look, you survived all season without Jalen Williams. You swept the Lakers without Jalen Williams. You don't necessarily need him. But it's like so much of that was A.J. mitchell, right. And A.J. mitchell has a calf strain who, like, they're not even hiding. Like, he's not questionable for these games. He's just been out, out, out, out. So I think, you know, clearly Jalen Williams is healthier than that. And I thought, you know, when the spurs have been effective in this series, you've seen the Thunder's lack of ball handling and creation without Mitchell and Williams. And I just think even if I. My guess is they're going to try Jalen Williams again in Game seven.

[Ryan R]

They should.

[Anthony Slater]

Yeah. Yeah. Because they're thinner, you know, at that spot, you know, and like SGA struggling. That's the other part of this. It's not like your lead guy is having this monster series. Like he needs help. He needs help in that category. And I think that's part of why maybe you could call it a desperate move by the Thunder to throw Jalen Williams out there for. I think it was 10 minutes where he was minus 18. But I think they believe they probably need at least a spurt of him to get past this series.

[Ryan R]

It just depends on who wins because, like, whatever the good stuff is looks really good. I've been raving about Harnstein for multiple games and then it seemed like that was a shift away from him last night. And it's not just a box score. Minutes. Nasty fourth quarter, as I'd mentioned, in the open a little bit was like, oh, the clear preference is the backup. Kind of their third string center in Jalen Williams, which is, you know, they've tried a few different looks and I wouldn't say it was about like necessarily mixing it up from a strategy standpoint against Wembanyama. It's more of, I don't know, like, you know, certain things. Some things look like, oh, okay, this is the solution. It's game three or it's game four and you, by the time you're at game seven, it's like, remember that thing you thought was going to work? Like, they don't even want to try that stuff anymore. Your impression of Wembanyama knowing kind of what's on the line way ahead of schedule. And you know what I close with is that for him, the criticism becomes like, if he has a bad game seven, it's well, oh, I guess this guy's not the best player in the world. Which is a slightly different grading scale

[Anthony Slater]

than by the way, nobody.

[Ryan R]

80 guys. Yeah, yeah.

[Anthony Slater]

And it will be like, oh, he's still here two way. I would say that he's looked a little bit fatigued as the series has gone on. And I was very curious, you know, how he would handle a series where it is 45 minutes, 40 minutes, 38 minutes and it's every other day and it's seven games and it is the type of physicality and emotion that is being put into these games. And you know what, I saw some number where he had like, you know, 20 something paint touches in game one. Remember he was a bunch of dunks. He was just down there all game, Game one. I know part of the reason he hasn't in the preceding games is scheme change, Hartenstein, you know, some of that stuff. But I just think he's, he's settling for jumpers more than you'd like him to now. He hit a bunch early last night, but, you know, and I also think you're seeing some of that fatigue and emotion. And this first time on this type of stage, dealing with American media and the American coverage of it, you know, frustrating him to a degree. People might roll their eyes at the idea of, oh, you didn't talk to the media after Game 5, whatever, but kind of, you know, a relatively immature move. I don't know. Did you see his like postgame last night? It was like this quick walk off. You could tell he did not like to be in the press conference. I just, you know, I just wonder how much this series is or isn't getting to him at hit such a young age with the minute load with everything surrounding the series. But again, look, if he closes out with like a 40 pointer, it's going to be like a Legendary series from what? However old he is right now. 21.

[Ryan R]

22. Yeah, 22. Maybe he's doing a little 2009 Mamba Mentality. You know, have you cared at all

[Anthony Slater]

about like, did you care about like that didn't talk to the media or like has short and you know, frustrated he seemed with the media last night.

[Ryan R]

I think you should do it. Not because I'm in the media. I mean I never do any of this post game stuff. So I could selfishly say what the fuck do I care? I never have to deal with it. But I mean it's kind of the deal like when you're the guy, especially if you could be the face of the league here.

[Anthony Slater]

Which he says he by the way.

[Ryan R]

Yeah. So you know, you better win if you're going to do it. And then there's other degrees of like Dylan Brooks in that Memphis Lakers series where he was psyched to be the villain and put on the shades and poke the bear and fuck with LeBron and all that kind of stuff. And then they get embarrassed and then he wouldn't talk to the media. It's like, okay, wait, so you're going to do all this shit and then when it's time to like, hey, what happened? Then you're not going to talk to anybody. So like to me these are two completely different categories. So yes, there are times where a guy's not going to be available and it's like you talked all this shit and now you're not going to have to like sit there at the locker after the result happened that, you know, you didn't say was going to happen. So I don't know. I can give a guy a pass every now and then, but, you know, so what's the conference finals and you should probably do it.

[Anthony Slater]

Yeah. After the. Your worst game in the series. And I would go back to the Minnesota series. I covered he elbows. Nas Reed does not talk that night. Okay, fine, you got ejected. You're technically can get out of that. Doesn't talk at the next shoot around even though he's requested, does it or. And then it, you know, wins Game four plays extremely well. Like it was a, it was a great encore response. Won't really even address it in the postgame press conference that night. Again, this guy's 22. This is like the first time he's going through so much of this. But I thought even the response to the Nas Reed stuff was a little immature publicly.

[Ryan R]

But yeah, you know what, that's two. So if he has a dud in game seven and doesn't talk to you guys. You know, you could say, all right, there's, there's a pattern here, but no one's rooting for you guys. No, no. If there's anything that I've learned the last few years is that the, the media, that is day to day with this, that covers it. I don't think anybody takes your side on anything.

[Anthony Slater]

No. But I do wonder like, again, like game five, it's like you were the leader of the team. To me it's more about, you know, setting the tone and the message for the locker room, like if we're actually talking about like team dynamics of it. But again, I agree with you. People are probably this deep into this conversation, like, who is this guy whining because he didn't come up and give, you know, standard post game press conference answers? I just thought it showed a little bit of. To me at times in the series, you've seen their inexperience in their top core and. But again, they might win Game 7 in Oklahoma City and take down a team we thought was a dynasty in the making.

[Ryan R]

Do you have a, like, difference of opinion on the Knicks chances based on who wins game seven?

[Anthony Slater]

You know, they played the spurs well this year. It's, you know, this, the NBA Cup. Right. The spurs took down the Thunder in the west finals of the NBA cup and were crowned to a degree. But then the Knicks beat them in, in what was a, you know, I thought a, you know, almost playoff level atmosphere. You remember watching that, that cup final game.

[Ryan R]

I love these games. You know, they, they really are. And they're not my first thing when I heard about it because I kind of fall into the, all of us are doing this far too often where it's like, what's this new announcement? What is wrong with these morons? You know, and then you go, yeah, actually it's like one extra game and doesn't really disrupt anything. I mean, some of the courts are a little bright, but that's, it's fun to have basketball that intense early in the season. So. Yes, I think it shows you something. Look, it was the first time we saw OKC look rattled on offense and you're going, am I still going to think five months from now like this mattered? And you know, times with sga, the way they defend him, it's not like they're just sending him straight doubles at him all the time. Like a lot of his shot attempts, he wasn't even double teamed all that much. And it's like oh, you know, that kind of what we saw in that cup game.

[Anthony Slater]

Yeah. And you know, I remember Wimba Yamos coming off an injury like I think he was coming off the bench in those cup games. So you can't take too much from it. But I do believe the Knicks played, you know, the spurs well in that environment, which probably tells me a little bit. And also, you know, the Thunder frustrated the Knicks at times this year. Right. Mike Brown had, I believe, two technicals all season and they were both against the Thunder because he was, you know, upset about some of the SGA foul calls. So I don't know, you know, we can get into the specifics. I would like to know what type of Jalen Williams we are or are not going to see. You know, there's long breaks in those finals. I think it's more realistic to believe maybe Jalen Williams can get back to 25, 30 minutes of decent, you know, two way wing play and then I would really, you know, I'm going to favor either west team, but the Knicks crew, we have a shot.

[Ryan R]

It's never too late to improve your credit. With Experian Boost, you can raise your credit scores instantly for free, get credit for the bills you're already paying, add your positive rent, utility, even streaming payments to instantly increase your credit scores. That's the whole point of this, man, because they're keeping track of the stuff that they keep track of. But why don't you invite them to keep track of all the stuff that you're doing really well on to get those scores up? So when the big decisions come, they're going to be a little easier to get through. Download the app and get started for free today. Results will vary. Not all payments are boost eligible or considered by lenders. See experian.com for details. Let's talk about the tanking proposal that has been approved by the board of governors 29 to one vote. The one vote against Memphis, which I completely understand, which we'll get to here. So we know Basically the top three teams, meaning the three worst teams are going to have two lottery balls each. And then teams four through 12 I believe are going to have three lottery balls each. But yet also we're going to expand it out from 14 to 16 teams in the lottery with the eight seeds that lose that are going to be in the lottery and kind of back to my original cut point. Anything that's announced now, good luck getting half of the people to like it. Good luck having a third of the audience having an open mind about this so maybe this is me just in my natural mode going, I'm so sick of hearing about how everybody's tanking fix is the perfect fix. There's no perfect fix to this. As I've said the entire time, other than lucking out in the draft, it's almost impossible to add one of these special players that changes the course of your franchise. But I think this has a real chance to be a much better version of what we've seen now for decades, where it feels like kind of seven, six weeks to go. It's a free for all of terrible basketball racing to make sure you stay shy of 20 wins.

[Anthony Slater]

I like the relegation zone the most, this idea of those, you know, not wanting to be in the bottom three because I think some of the worst of the worst of the last couple months of this past season was, you know, Pacers Nets in mid March. And it's like these two teams are trying so hard to lose against each other, whereas in under this new system, you, they would be trying really hard to win against each other. Right. You know, you want to be the fifth worst team much more than you want to be the third worst team, second worst team. So I thought, you know, it was egregious by about nine teams the last two months of this regular season. But I, to me, the worst of the worst is always the bottom. And now you are de. Incentivizing, wanting to be at the bottom and actually incentivizing, you know, avoiding it. So I think that helps, you know, to a large degree. I know there are people saying, hey, well now you're just shifting who might want a tank. Hey, you know, teams might want to just avoid the play in. It's like, you know, I covered the warriors this year under the current system. They should have wanted to tank, you know, out of the play, and they should have wanted to lose that last playing game to the Suns so they could keep the 11 spot instead of going and getting swept by the Thunder. They still tried to win. I think, you know, you're going to still see teams who have playoff life try to win. And maybe there is some fudging, you know, in that upper level of, of this new lottery. But to me, I think you have taken away the worst of the worst and I think that's what matters most.

[Ryan R]

Again, the format with the three worst teams having two balls each, and then teams four through 10 are going to have three balls each. But the three worst teams also have a floor of picking 12th in the draft, which is a huge factor in all this because four, it's like. Or before, I should say, if you were doing the lottery. Now that I'm a drawing room vet, you sit there and go, okay, well, if I have the best odds, the worst I can do is the fifth pick if all four teams at the top were replaced. Right. I just. This Wizards thing isn't going to bother me as much as the Memphis, Utah thing. So you can no longer have the number one pick and back back years. Which means, say, the Wizards win the lottery next year, which you would hope. That's not even close to a possibility. I'm sure ownership and the front office is like, if we brought in train ad and we have the number one pick after having previous, like, top five picks, the hope would be that we don't have the best odds. So, you know, you can sit there and say, well, look, it wasn't really going to happen. There's really no easing into any of this. And I just think that that Jazz pick which was traded in the Jaren Jackson deal, it can't finish higher than sixth because you can't have a top five pick for three consecutive seasons. And, you know, I. Maybe Utah, I'm sure Memphis would probably still do the deal with the way they've reset this roster and how much money Jaren Jackson is owed and all that kind of stuff. But I totally understand Memphis fans going like, this is not a fan base going, hey, we're the victims here. And the rest of us going like, shut up. I don't know why they couldn't have just said, hey, for that specific pick. It's still alive in this reform. But maybe I'm missing. I called somebody at the league, but I haven't heard back yet.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Anthony Slater]

And I, I do think there's a possibility that that gets tweaked. It doesn't feel like, you know, everything is 100 set in stone. Obviously, they've agreed, you know, mostly on the rules. And clearly Memphis didn't like what they were hearing because they were the one vote, the 29 to 1, I would

[Ryan R]

have lost my mind. I mean, wait a minute. So that pick could, like, if it's top five because the previous Utah years, like, we're starting this right now.

[Kyle]

Yeah.

[Anthony Slater]

And I don't know why the rule can't be like, you. It only you can't get it if you still own your pick. I mean, the fact that they've traded the pick, I agree with you. Memphis shouldn't be penalized. And, and we. If they are. And, and we'll see if it even matters.

[Kyle]

Right.

[Anthony Slater]

Because the idea in Utah is they, they're gonna be a playoff team next year. Right? I mean, like, considering who they brought in and just the arc and of. Of their rebuild, like they, you know that. But again, you could be basically the, what this, the AC in the west or fallout or whatever and you could actually still get the first pick.

[Ryan R]

So. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of like the Wizards thing. It's like, hey, who cares? They just got it. They can't get it again. They added all these guys, they tanked. These guys are coming back healthy. You don't even have to worry about it. It's like that, that's not, that's not the goal here. The goal is to like make sure it's buttoned up. Because who knows, like, who knows what could happen? You can't guarantee anything. Even if you go, hey, Utah's not even going to be in that. You guys are all wasting your time with it. I'm entirely on Memphis's side unless there's some other part of it that I'm missing. Because I think there should have been like pre existing, you know, there should have been some sort of like pre existing exemptions from some of this. And maybe it was something that's. Of all the things they're trying to get their arms around on this, maybe it was something that was easy to lose sight of. Golden State team you've covered up close before the pivot to having to know everything. Do they feel like the key though to some really interesting off season storylines here? And I'll just kind of like bullet point them for you. Whether it's the Draymond opt out, an extension, meaning that then it's like that think there'd be a six month no trade clause. So then it's like, well, you know, does he want to do the team the favor? Is there some sort of sign and trade in all that? But if there's this big ticket item to trade for, you know, it's who's. Unless you think that Jimmy Butler thing could, could lead to something. You've got LeBron as a mid level guy and then you have like the 11th pick here. So take. Just go in any direction on all of these things here. But I just think there's a lot of really interesting stuff here for Golden State this offseason.

[Anthony Slater]

Yeah. And I think it would have been multiplied if they had jumped into the top four. Right. They were sitting in that same spot that Dallas was. But can you imagine if they got like the third or fourth pick here. And it's like, you know, they can talk about a real trade ship, but also this, like, pivot point of, like, you know, considering where you are as a franchise, should you be trading that type of pick? And I would say the same thing at 11. Like, to me, you know, a marginal improvement to your rotation is like, you might leap up into the sixth, seventh type spot in the West. And I'm not sure at this point in your. To me, like, the 11th pick will likely only be on the table if it's the massive swing that you're talking about. If they can get in the honest conversation, which, from my understanding, they're not optimistic that they're going to get into that conversation. I'm curious about Kawhi. We've reported it. They really went after him at the deadline and we're given the stiff arm mostly from Steve Ballmer and the Clippers. Does the fact that the Clippers got the fifth pick, does that reopen the idea of them hitting Fast forward on a rebuild or not? And then, yeah, the LeBron one, to me, if it is a Draymond taking his number from 27 down to a certain number and working with Clutch and the warriors to do that, it could potentially be a signal if he opts in, which at this point, no signs that he's going to opt out to test free agency. If he opts in, then he becomes an expiring potential trade ship. So, yes, that will signal a lot. But I think, you know, we're probably going to know on Giannis, I believe, before the draft and before Draymond's, you know, opt in, opt out deadline. So we'll see if they get it. You know, I've said this, you know, in the past couple of weeks, but I sense a decreased level of thirst from them to make a monster move. And you could hear that in Steve Kerr's press conference afterwards about, you know, discussing of the franchise with Joe Lacob and Mike Dunleavy and coming to a more realistic understanding that they aren't chasing championships, they're just kind of trying to guide out the Steph Curry era while protecting the future. And I believe, using the 11th pick.

[Ryan R]

Let's keep up with online trade scenarios. What if Golden State flips with Milwaukee? So they'll move up a spot, Milwaukee moves down a spot, but Golden State takes on all of Giannis's money.

[Anthony Slater]

Like, you know, and that, I mean, I think the world would love that. They would love to get Giannis in any type of scenario.

[Ryan R]

I was coming I was, I was trying to come up with a trade that would match everybody else's. It's like, so wait, one of the teams gets this makes no sense. I again, I was kidding. The delivery was too dry.

[Anthony Slater]

You were. It's funny when you were like beginning to put that together, I thought you're going to say, like, takes on Miles Turner's contract, something like that. You know what I mean? Because I think there's other, like, smaller level bites that could make sense for the Warriors. They got to be creative, but at this point, I just don't see them in the honest conversation.

[Ryan R]

Breaking news. The Orlando Magic have a new head coach and he will be coaching this weekend. That's a tease. It's up next. Don't get up. Sean Sweeney, spurs assistant. Lot of camera time. Everybody raves about him. My insight on this is that Billy Donovan wanted it, he could have had it. I think Tibbs really wanted it and they went in a different direction, which you could say mirrors the previous direction with a highly regarded assistant. Again, I don't know. I'm sure there were other names that were involved here, but I don't know a lot about him other than other coaches. Think he's terrific.

[Anthony Slater]

So, yeah, defensive minded, which Mosley was also fresh voice, which I think was. Seems like was needed. But I don't mind the leaning in to the defense, you know, staying with the defensive minded head coach because that's the strength of the team. Right.

[Ryan R]

Couple plays late would be nice, but I'm sure. But look, that can be way more on the players. But I would say Orlando, of any talented teams that I like, they would have longer stretches of being stuck offensively under Mosley than like would you would deem acceptable. Like, all right, it's been four minutes, guys. Like, what are we doing here? I just hope, you know, he's got to get through to Paolo. I'm still a huge Paolo fan. He had to give. Reminded us that and all the reasons of those of us that love him as a player. A lot of moments in that Detroit series, but there's some stuff that needs to be cleaned up. And so hopefully it's the new voice or maybe it's Paolo Giannis, who knows?

[Anthony Slater]

Intriguing. Yeah, I don't know. I'm a little like you. I don't know too much about like, you know, Sean Sweeney's offensive mind in general or his staff. You know, we'll see. A lot of times you can, you can get a lead assistant coach who's like, you know, runs the offense

[Kyle]

I

[Ryan R]

do think it's kind of hilarious how specialized it is. Like, you grow up in basketball and then it's like, okay, what's this guy? He's like, oh, he's defensive first. It's like, this isn't football.

[Anthony Slater]

Yeah, you're right.

[Ryan R]

You probably have been around like, hey, we're going to run. This is going to be our basic concept on offense. As if, like, Steve Kerr is not able to be like, I don't know what's happening Once we're down at that end, Are we helping? We trapping? Like, I don't know. I'm just over here. I shoot. Hey, man, enjoy. What are you. What's your pick for game seven?

[Anthony Slater]

Thunder. You know, take the home team. I was here. Game five. You know, I think it'll be more of a. Of a fight. But they won two Game Sevens on their home floor last year. I'll just pick up the win again.

[Ryan R]

Yeah, I'm just going to look. I thought it was Thunder and seven before the series started. So stay Thunder and seven. But I think anything is. Anything is possible. It's all on the table and it's. You want to talk about. This would be one of the most dramatic ahead of schedule wins by an organization with a special player in a really long time. Like, trying to think what else would be at this level. Is it Orlando with Shaq and Penny.

[Anthony Slater]

If we're just talking West Finals now, the first iteration of the Thunder, the Harden, Westbrook Durant. Remember they were down 20 to the spurs, the Duncan spurs, and then 14 straight to then face LeBron in the Finals and were the favorites and won game one. Yeah, 2012 is what I'm talking about.

[Ryan R]

To me, that was a really close series. Yeah, the Finals. The finals are actually close. Like, those were really good games. That series, like, had me back in the lab because, like, when San Antonio won the first two after, like, those two teams getting ready to face off, I'm like, oh, come and break. And then when they played out the first two games, I'm like, this is exactly what was supposed to happen. And then all of a sudden, like, athleticism takes over and you go, oh, my God. So you think that's a really good entry. Like, this might be a good topic for you if you guys get a rain out.

[Anthony Slater]

For sure, sure, I'll take it. Yeah. No, I like, that was. That was the Thunder.

[Ryan R]

Like, that's a really good one.

[Anthony Slater]

Speeding up the process and because we're just talking about the West Finals, the Spurs can win this game and they could lose the Knicks. Like now if the spurs then went and won the title, then it would feel like a little different than those Thunder teams who never won the title.

[Ryan R]

No, I mean, you want to talk about, like, how good you felt if you were a Thunder fan in 2012. I think that's why they're so pissy now, a decade later. I don't want to go there.

[Anthony Slater]

Yeah, no, it's, you know, they, they were up 10 with. It's still a foul that gets talked about. It probably talked about less now. You know that they've won the title. But remember the LeBron no call on Durant baseline when. If he. It gets called, the Thunder might go 2 0, up 20 in that series. And then, hey, if they, if they do win those Finals, the Harden stuff, which happens next October, who knows?

[Ryan R]

I wonder if the NBA official account on Twitter apologized to the Thunder the way they apologized to LeBron and said they couldn't get sleep after the no call where he traveled in Boston. There was a lot of eye rolling in the NBA circles on like, why is that account doing this? They may not have been around. Maybe they were. Maybe they were on a different platform back then.

[Anthony Slater]

Early days.

[Ryan R]

That's a good one. I. I know. I like this. This. I might steal it back from you, but no, go ahead and take it. Ranking the ahead of schedule teams because you're thinking in 2012, even with that series loss, you're like, we're good. And I don't blame you for not wanting to say anything right now because your boots in the ground. Okay, see, we gotta worry about your safety. So we don't wanna. We don't want to be held responsible for anything that would happen to you there. So. Thanks, man.

[Anthony Slater]

How about the Thunder? You know, winning last year, I mean, it's not quite as fully ahead of schedule as you know, because you had the second round loss to the Mavs when they were the 1 seed. But I mean, this version of Thunder was ahead of the schedule.

[Ryan R]

We thought you guys print love ranking stuff. And you came from the Athletic, the home of. We're ranking stuff.

[Anthony Slater]

I came from. You want to rank? Yeah, I came from the Oklahoman. That's the real background of rank. We used to rank tons of stuff back. Thunder stuff too. So.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Sorry.

[Ryan R]

Go ahead. Rank counties by humidity. That's Anthony Slater. You can see his work on espn. You'll see him on tv, I'm sure, all over the place. Enjoy game seven.

[Anthony Slater]

Thanks.

[Ryan R]

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[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Fine.

[Kyle]

I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet. What's up?

[Ryan R]

I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork.

[Kyle]

I have every toy you can possibly imagine, and best of all, kids, I am liquid.

[Ryan R]

So now you know what's possible.

[Kyle]

Let me tell you what's required.

[Ryan R]

Today's life advice is brought to you by Microsoft 365 copilot. What if you could add an AI assistant to your work without leaving your workflow built in 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 [e-mail] work what's up, everybody? Lifeadvicermail.com I think based on timing wise, we can go like 25 minutes here. If you guys are space, let's do it.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Did you guys see that rocket blow up?

[Kyle]

No.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

What?

[Kyle]

When?

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Yeah, this explosion was nuts. I feel like this is like classic, just like red meat for dudes. But this the. I mean, no one got hurt, so I guess that's great. But it was like one of those blue origin whatever space rockets that Jeff Bezos was doing and like they were doing a test malfunction. The explosion is unbelievable.

[Ryan R]

You have to see it.

[Kyle]

Oh, I'll Check that out later today.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

I thought you'd be on that, Kyle, Man, I'm sorry.

[Ryan R]

I guess I'll reserve judgment on whether or not it was because, like, I remember when one of the Tesla rockets blew up and then people. Just because they hate Elon now, and it was like. And then I heard, like, the scientists on a podcast talking about what they learned. And granted, like, you could. You could argue, of course they were going to turn into a positive, but they were rocket scientists, so I was, I was impressed with what they had to say. So I don't know, maybe it's just a data collection thing. Maybe it's not bad news. And I have no idea.

[Kyle]

I actually came away more impressed.

[Ryan R]

I don't really say.

[Kyle]

No, everyone says it for you. Everyone says it for me.

[Ryan R]

Everyone says it for me. And then everybody thinks it's the funniest thing ever. And I. I haven't said it in, like, years. I think it's because I like Justin Herbert in a playoff loss. I said it like, that sounds absolutely.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

No, I think I thought it was Caleb Williams. Wasn't it Cale Williams interceptions. I forget now. But yeah, that's like, no, that's.

[Ryan R]

You think in the, in the four interception thing in the playoffs. And I was like, don't fall for this because of the time and game situation.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

I forget if it was like, I promise you.

[Ryan R]

Because I've seen it enough that I was like, yeah, I don't think I say it anymore. That's all. It's a really good, like, if you do it on an Instagram comment, people love it.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Oh, yeah, it's big. Yeah, it's big. People who think they're funny. Community. Yeah.

[Ryan R]

Yeah. Guys like, dude, what'd you do this week? Be like, I did it. I was actually more impressed with the boats. He did.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

I did the resillo tweet.

[Ryan R]

Yeah, it was. Fucking killed it on Instagram. Yeah.

[Anthony Slater]

Yep.

[Ryan R]

No, I didn't see it. I mean, I, I look, I just said there was a thing about aliens and I go, this should be a bigger deal. We just don't.

[Anthony Slater]

We.

[Ryan R]

It's like, hey, man, SGA took a million free throws last night. I don't have time for aliens.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Clip that. There you go.

[Kyle]

Also, is it going to be another Bigfoot alien sort of thing or, you know, we're going to get some clear JPEGs on the next one. I mean, it's to the point where I just like, I can't get fired up anymore. Unless, like, got another story from 15 years ago about a You know, a pilot who was going 500 miles an hour and he swears he saw it. I believe him. That's. I mean, I don't think you're crazy, but, I mean, I just need a little bit more to, you know, get titillated now when it comes to aliens.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

I think the alien thing that. I mean, I was already kind of in on the alien thing, dude.

[Kyle]

Play some bucket golf.

[Anthony Slater]

Yeah.

[Ryan R]

Get smoked.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

What's up?

[Ryan R]

Come get smoked. They'd be so good at it.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

I've always kind of been in on the aliens thing. I think it's like, just. It's kind of.

[Kyle]

It's a numbers game. Come on.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

It's gotta be something. It obviously seems more yes than no, but the Obama thing kind of sent over the top. Like, he basically said there were aliens, and then, like, two days later was like, oh, actually, I was just joking. But he wasn't joking at all in this. In this interview. Whatever interview he was doing. I don't know who it was with, but, like, clearly. But now you got the White House tweeting out all these things, and again, we're not making this political. Whatever. But, like, I don't even know what

[Kyle]

to believe anymore, dude.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

I don't.

[Ryan R]

I don't think we should even have to say that anymore. I don't know how you would listen to this.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

I know.

[Ryan R]

I'm sorry.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

I just, you know, I know it's like a reflex.

[Ryan R]

Reflex. It totally is. I don't. I don't blame you for it. But. No, there was something I was reading. I was like, this would be such a big deal in the 80s. Like, people be freaking out. You know, make it out of school early, half day.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Yeah, you'd think, like, the 80s, like, there was, you know, video was less grainy. You know, we just had less access to technology that, like, you know, things like conspiracy theories would have, like, peaked then. But now I think dudes were still

[Kyle]

picking National Inquirers at the Grand Union. Like, dude, maybe they did get them this time.

[Ryan R]

Maybe that is Bigfoot. Yeah, maybe those guys are right. Even some of those Inquirer guys had

[Kyle]

some good leads in the early 2000s. I mean, those were at all the checkouts. I don't see anything now. Now it's just like, you time or something like that. But that used to be like, ma, can we please get this one? She's like, no, they're lying to you. But they were certainly around. I don't know what happened. Were their Instagram pages now?

[Ryan R]

Pretty much. Yeah, good Call Kyle. All right.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Anyway, explosion's cool.

[Ryan R]

I didn't see it, but I'm going to do it today, I promise you.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

I sent it to you. I just texted you guys.

[Ryan R]

I feel bad that I missed it.

[Kyle]

I'll check my phone when we're doing this because I'm locked in, but I'll definitely watch it.

[Ryan R]

Okay. Whoa. It's a little spicy, but it is Friday.

[Kyle]

That is quite an explosion. All right, I'll leave it at that.

[Ryan R]

Nice. Possible threesome conundrum. Help.

[Anthony Slater]

Oh.

[Ryan R]

5, 7, 5, 8. And a good day. Go for it. Next email.

[Kyle]

Oh, we're not doing that one.

[Ryan R]

No, I think. I think we answered it. Ready to start smoking Cig Star all caps. I hate these. Hell, yeah. I'll keep it as short as I can. 511. 185 player comp. Don't hoop, but like to football. So, Tim Ream.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Yeah.

[Ryan R]

We just recorded Washed and should probably be on the bench.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Well, a little plug. We just recorded our first barstool. It's called Soccer podcast. Myself, Mike McGee, former MLS MVP and Sam's Army, Samuel army. And it was one of our topics. Who should be the captain? Tim Ream technically is the captain, but I don't really know how much he's going to play. He's like 30. Whatever. He's 38 years old. Probably not going to play a ton of games, so he's able to. But Tim Ream's the man.

[Ryan R]

By the way, you should be plugging that podcast, so thanks. Congrats. One episode down. So you're doing. You're back to content?

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

I'm back in the soccer game. Just in time. World cup is what, two weeks away versus us? Game is two. Two weeks from now? Yeah, Friday.

[Ryan R]

Hey, is that the UEFA Championship tomorrow?

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Yeah. Champions league final, Arsenal PSG.

[Ryan R]

I'm watching that.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

You should. It's at actually 9am Your time. It's early, earlier than normal.

[Ryan R]

I'm going to start my day with that.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

It's a great way to start your day. One of the things I'm bummed about at the World cup is that the games are going to be at night. I'm used to watching soccer morning and afternoon, but we'll have to make the adjustment.

[Ryan R]

Kyle, do you feel left out that Cerise found a way to get in on the barstool content game?

[Kyle]

No, I'm actually just glad he reminded me it's in two weeks because I was supposed to go hang out with my New York City Dominicans because we had such a good time. In 16 watching the World cup and I was like, you know, we should really do that again. And. Yeah, I gotta, I gotta get down there soon. I might have to do some follow ups, but. So thank you.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Dominicans are not in the World cup for the record.

[Kyle]

No, but they love watching soccer.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

The Haitians are.

[Kyle]

I don't know if they were. Oh, dude, I wouldn't say that to them.

[Ryan R]

Are you saying. Do you feel like there's a difference between Haitians you've hung out with versus Dominicans?

[Kyle]

What's this guy in the email say? Cigarettes.

[Ryan R]

What if. We'll get to smoking here in a second. We have time today. What would be a good fit for Kyle at barstool? Like say in a year? Portnoy just is like, you know that guy in Life Advice. How many episodes of this show do you think Portnoy's listened to?

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Oh, zero. I don't. I was.

[Ryan R]

Zero.

[Kyle]

Maybe you checked out your first open.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

I don't know.

[Ryan R]

No way.

[Kyle]

You don't think so?

[Ryan R]

No, Zero. Not insulted. But I would just say in a, let's say a theoretical world, he's like, you know that Kyle guys got some. Something to him. Something to him. Who could we team him up with in the barstool universe if like they did a once a week pod? And what would. What would be the pitch?

[Kyle]

Man, I rack my brain all the time about like, is there anything else I could do? I hate to say I don't come up with much and it scares me a little bit. I'm like, dude, you don't have any thoughts about what you could do? I'm like, this is perfect.

[Ryan R]

But.

[Kyle]

But, you know, nothing gold can stay. So I think about it often and I'm like, damn, another no good idea day. That's crazy. It's crazy. I hate to.

[Anthony Slater]

I got, I got.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

I mean, I don't want to. I don't want to get a cease and desist letter from outsider Mike. But like, we need, like, what about. Because everyone's doing the short form video stuff now. Podcasts, like, whatever. Nobody listens to long form stuff.

[Ryan R]

You're saying go long, Go super long.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Go two hours now.

[Anthony Slater]

Yeah.

[Ryan R]

You test the retention.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

A short form Kyle, smoke break. Couple questions with famous people. Like, who's not watching that?

[Ryan R]

Oh, yeah, that's a cease and desist outsider Mike camp. I mean, he was doing. He just started taping people while we would have a cigarette at espn. I don't even know that that was a documented thing.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

No, it was not.

[Ryan R]

There was a very lawless nature to the podcast stuff. There, like, there was a new wave of these younger dudes who just rolled in. I mean, it's still my favorite story ever. I don't even. I'm not even remotely, like, upset about it. What do I care? But when those guys basically just decided to start their own pod and none of them were on the air and then launched it in the espn, like, distribution thing, that's unbelievable.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

I would agree. How about this one, Sig? Everybody knows the rules.

[Kyle]

Well, see, here's the thing with that is what I think I've learned that famous people don't want to be on camera smoking cigarettes. I think a lot of them do it. Not. Not like, you know, daily, but, you know, no one wants to be photographed doing that. Seems like Jon Hamm doesn't give a shit. But everyone else, it seems like, does not want to be seen smoking cigarettes.

[Ryan R]

Good for John Hamm.

[Kyle]

Maybe at, like, a Vanity Fair party in the bathroom, it's cool to, like, be seen with one. But other than that, it seems like nobody wants to be on camera doing that. So I just think it would. It wouldn't work. Just the bones of it. It would be cool, but I just don't think. I don't think we get a lot of yeses.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

What about, like a diners, drive ins and dives type thing? But it's you going to dive bars.

[Ryan R]

I love it.

[Kyle]

I mean, I love it, but I just don't think it would ever be greenlit. That's the only idea I've had in

[Anthony Slater]

the last, like, six months.

[Kyle]

And I don't know, I feel like there's probably someone doing that already.

[Ryan R]

Not to say you can't do it. It's not new, you know? Right.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Yeah. Like the secret bar guy. I love that guy. What's your version of the secret bar thing that you could do?

[Kyle]

Right? I'll think about it more.

[Ryan R]

I just.

[Kyle]

I hate how there's no light bulb going on. It really bothers me.

[Ryan R]

I think there's maybe best bouncer stories.

[Kyle]

That's a good one. I pitched stories pods a while ago at the Ringer, and everyone had to come up with something and they were like, right, great stories.

[Ryan R]

Cool. I was like, damn it.

[Kyle]

That was my moment. Yeah. I just got to pitch stuff better. Maybe I'll take a master class or something.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Everything's the same version of the same thing, though, right? Everyone's just doing some activity while talking to somebody else for three minutes. It's kind of it.

[Kyle]

Yeah. The subway one seems to Work. But yeah, I'm trying to think, what

[Ryan R]

else does anybody ever like? People go up to couples and they go up to girls after the bars close and all that kind of stuff, which is just. I mean, it's. I guess it's good for the content creator, but you're putting the person in a tough spot.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

That's how we got Hawk Tua, isn't it?

[Ryan R]

Yeah.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Basically, somebody put a microphone on her face and she's.

[Kyle]

Here's one.

[Anthony Slater]

I don't want to.

[Kyle]

I don't want to lose this one. There's a. The Wappinger's Creek runs behind my house. Great for tubing. What about like a 40 minute tube sesh? You'd have to have like, cameras that could handle that. But like, we, you know, we.

[Ryan R]

You want waterproof cameras now?

[Kyle]

Two guys in a tube. Well, maybe it's an iPhone thing. I don't know. They're pretty rugged. Two guys in a tube. A third. Two tubes. Two tubes. A third tube which is tied on by a rope, which is where you keep the cooler. And then you just, you know, Lazy river is one thing, but we're out in nature. Like, you know, that's. You might get loose out there.

[Ryan R]

That's a good license to track from fish. I don't hate it at all. I think tubing is. Is like, no one ever has a bad time tubing.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Never.

[Ryan R]

I never hear anybody talking about going tubing.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Yeah.

[Ryan R]

All right, that could be something.

[Kyle]

I might write a couple of bullet

[Ryan R]

points now when we go like, pimp my tube. Yeah. Like a spin off.

[Kyle]

Maybe we bring the tubes for each other. It's like, here's what I got for you today.

[Ryan R]

What did you bring? Yeah, I brought you a cinder block. That's part of it. It's like pranking. Yeah. Just get punked. Yeah, I was punking him. All right, let's see if we can get this guy smoking. 5 11, 185 player comp. Don't hoop. Oh, we already did that. 28 years old, working in marketing in Dallas. Maybe relevant, maybe not. Rather than smoke rebelliously in my youth, I've actually never smoked a cig, but I'm ready to. As I approach 30. I don't have an addictive personality and would likely only do so in certain scenarios. Example, my friend is in a band, so I frequent grimy dives in urban music venues. Sig time. My question is, what's a good entry level cigarette brand? Should I graduate from mild to stronger as I progress in my smoking journey? Would love to Hear from you all. I expect Kyle has a lot of tips. Thanks. Love the podcast.

[Kyle]

I just can't ever say, yeah, it's a good time to start. It's like, I just. I know we love to joke, but it just seems like one of those things I shouldn't joke about. But if we were in a hypothetical. If you're, like, tricking OpenAI here or

[Ryan R]

ChatGPT to tell you what to do,

[Kyle]

if it was for research purposes, yeah. I'd say maybe you can get a camel crush, because you could swap between. I mean, real smokers would be like, dude, you're smoking camel crust, but you're

[Ryan R]

not a real smoker.

[Kyle]

That's a good one. You could crush the thing.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

So bad about that.

[Ryan R]

Yeah. Why would you get made fun of?

[Kyle]

Well, because it's not actually a menthol. You basically pop this little tube of something in the filter and it makes it, like menthol flavored, but until you do that, it's regular. Obviously, regular menthol stuff is in the actual tobacco. So, I mean, it's sort of a best of both worlds situation. But Marlboro Lights is an easy one if you want to feel good about yourself. Or if you want maybe not good about yourself. But some people go the American spirit route. They think it says all natural, which we know that doesn't mean anything anymore. So that.

[Ryan R]

That's one toasted. Yeah. Right.

[Kyle]

But, yeah, I definitely wouldn't start with Marlboro Reds. Yeah, I'd go Marlboro Lights. I don't even know which kind of American spirit you get.

[Ryan R]

I think they're all awful. But, yeah, I guess parliaments is what you're saying.

[Kyle]

Parliaments are pretty cool. Pretty pricey, though.

[Ryan R]

I don't like that accessory menthol thing you described. Like, this guy's already feeling like he's going to be judged getting into the game so late. How do you hold it? What's a cool way to hold it?

[Kyle]

I think if you're. The later it gets in the night, you can go out outwardly hold it like that. But I mean, just the resting right between the middle and the pointer finger is the classic.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

This is all useful information. Yeah. I don't know.

[Ryan R]

Yeah, we can get one guy smoking. I think we've done our job.

[Kyle]

If your first cigarette's gonna be outside at a dive bar about a bunch of other dudes, you're probably gonna cough. You know, I hate to say maybe take. Take a spin in the backyard first,

[Ryan R]

but he should probably be sitting down. Shouldn't he first one's gonna be crazy, dude.

[Kyle]

You're gonna probably get lightheaded. You're like, dude, do you get high off cigarettes? Like, not after a while, but yeah, I would do the first one alone because you're definitely gonna cough.

[Ryan R]

Yeah. Get start smoking by yourself. Get a month or, you know, look in the middle your skill. Yeah, yeah.

[Kyle]

A couple beers at home, you know,

[Ryan R]

watch John Hammond how to do it.

[Anthony Slater]

Yeah.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

A couple hand placements.

[Ryan R]

He looks really cool when he's doing it, dude.

[Kyle]

Rust Russ Cole too. I mean that was like a generational cigarette smoker.

[Ryan R]

Or any of the Russians in Chernobyl.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Yeah, they do it for the game.

[Ryan R]

I mean, if you're smoking next to Chernobyl, you know. No, there wasn't one guy at any of those meetings being like, hey, you cutting down at all?

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

You might be like a superhero at that point.

[Ryan R]

They're like, actually, these will help.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

Oh, man.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Peak male athleticism right here.

[Ryan R]

Yeah, Keep us posted.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Yeah, good luck.

[Ryan R]

All right. Am I a glue guy or just Getting left out? 30 year old male, 58196. Just getting back into lifting after some back issues. So the numbers are bad, but the intent is elite. You're back, man. You're back there. Stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch. All right. A lot of us walking around with bad backs had no idea. Just implement 10 to 15 minute stretching routines every now and then. Not going to tell you it's perfect, but it's going to be better. All right, Player comp. Boris D Al won't wow you in warmups, but somehow ends up with a 14, 9 and 6. Everyone's like, wait, when did that happen? My wife and I are in our early 30s. Got married last year. Pretty big friend group. She's got a smaller circle. My friends are all over the map. Married, kids engaged, and a couple guys still acting like it's a Thursday in 2014. Here's the issue. My wife thinks my friendships are one sided. To be fair, I am doing a lot italicized a lot of the work here and I'd say I'm responsible for 80 to 90% of the outreach. That's a high number, man. Group texts, hey, let's get something on the calendar. Checking schedules, the follow up text when nobody answers the first time. I'm basically an unpaid social coordinator at this point. When we do see people, it's usually a bigger group that I've organized. But I've also noticed that some of these same friends will hang out with each other in smaller settings, like double dates. Dinners and we're not exactly high on the call sheet for those. That's where it really bothers my wife. When we were in the group, she sometimes feels like the odd one out, especially seeing how naturally some of the other couples connect. She'll get pretty quiet on the way home and it's turned into a few emotional conversations where she basically says she feels like she's trying to break into a friend group that's already established without her. It stings more now because she recently had a falling out with both her maid of honor and a bridesmaid. So her own friend circle has taken a hit. Her take is if people actually value the friendship, they'll reach out, sometimes include us in the smaller hangs and make an effort. She thinks I'm overvaluing certain friendships and basically carrying relationships that maybe aren't as mutual as I think. My take is this is just your 30s. Everyone's busy, everyone's tired, and half the guys I know need a three week lead time to grab a beer. If I don't send the text, nothing happens. So yeah, I'm doing most of the work, but if I stop, I think a bunch of these friendships will just, just quietly die, which feels worse. So my question is, am I being naive here and acting like the glue guy for people who would be fine letting the friendship fade, or is this just part of adulthood where one guy inevitably becomes the commissioner of hanging out? Love the pod.

[Kyle]

I don't think I'm one of those guys.

[Ryan R]

Go ahead.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Yeah. Let me just say this at the start because this is very true. Being married, I do things with couples and even my friends more because my wife reaches out to the other wife. And that's how we do something. Like if we're going to do something, that's how it gets done. Like none of the dudes are going, hey, you and the Mrs. You want to like, you know, whatever. No, no. It's pretty much just like the girls figure it out. We're coming over, going with pool, going this, doing that, like that's all on them. So that's probably not a great sign for your wife. I would guess that they are like, it seems like a little bit of a red flag like with the bridesmaid and the maid of honor and then all these other like her, your friends, significant others also don't want to hang out with her. Doesn't seem awesome. I'm not going to be, I'm just, I'm just laying out there. I'm going to be honest. But that part is Usually initiated by the women themselves. If we want to grab a beer or go golfing, like, sure. My buddies in the group shadow just figure that out. But like, the bigger picture couple stuff, that's the. At least in my opinion, the dudes aren't doing that.

[Kyle]

It's funny that, like, middle of the road, Steve usually gives, like, the straightforward advice, like, it's not looking good for your wife. You might have a tough. You might be married to a tough hang.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Yeah, I'm not trying to be a dick, but that's a little bit of a red flag.

[Ryan R]

I feel like I was going to say it. Yeah. That sentence just Dirk Diggler, like, that sentence just flashed in front of me, and I didn't want to bum our guy out here, but is there any chance that your wife could be the reason people don't want to hang out as much? And what's the story with the bridesmaid and the maid of honor? It could be they did something terrible and she's somebody who has a standard for her friendships. And then she's a little harsher on the judging of it, but. But in reality, like, nobody's. You know, maybe she's not the issue whatsoever, but at least it needed to be addressed. So. By the way, you know what else needs to be addressed? The hang time on Steve's dad hat on that back strap today.

[Anthony Slater]

Like this.

[Ryan R]

What are you, three inches there? That's nuts. Yeah, it's pretty.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Three inches is huge. So don't worry.

[Ryan R]

It's like Kawhi Leonard horizontally huge.

[Kyle]

You're a funny guy, man.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Yeah, no, this is. This is one of those hats that kind of fits better backwards than forwards and. Yeah. I don't know, I feel like if you tuck it in, you're kind of a dweeb.

[Ryan R]

So I just keep it. Please keep it. I don't necessarily think it looks bad, but I just. I finally was like, yeah, different angles.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

You're like. Yeah, it's kind of distracting.

[Ryan R]

Staying level, too.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Yeah, no, it's good. I don't wear it a lot because it's not really like a core forward hat, but I don't know.

[Ryan R]

Yeah. Anyway. All right, Kyle.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

This is why you gotta watch the show on Netflix, by the way.

[Anthony Slater]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

I don't think it's bad to have a guy like you. And I think a lot of times there's stuff that that guy does that well. He's an unsung hero.

[Ryan R]

A guy like this is super valuable, Kyle. It's an awesome point.

[Kyle]

Yeah. So it's. You're an unsung hero. Maybe, maybe one, one out of eight dudes will actually acknowledge it. And that just means so much. It's like hitting a good golf shot when you're having a. Just bad at golf. You're like, all right, I'll play for another two years. That felt awesome. I just piped that right down the middle. I suck at golf, but I'm not giving up because that brought me back. And sometimes just one acknowledgement from one of those hangs that you, that you put together, you put together a great party, maybe a couple people travel for it and that. And that's what makes it worthwhile for me. I've sort of branded this summer the best summer in a decade because I've been gone for 10 years and I think I got some dudes fired up. So maybe you could try some branding for this summer rebrand.

[Ryan R]

Best summer hasn't gone anywhere.

[Kyle]

He hasn't gone it. But I don't know, find the thing that it is. I don't know. I think I got some dudes fired up. We're planning some meetups and maybe some parties. Again, that totally forgot about that World cup thing, but I was throwing that out there too. So I think I got some guys fired up and a lot of them are in New York City. So that's like an hour and a half for me. So it's not as easy as just like, what are you guys doing tonight? So maybe there's a way you can rebrand this summer as something fun, see if that works. But yeah, there's nothing wrong with being the unsung hero. Your friends group, if you're actually putting stuff together and you got to have thick skin, if somebody, sometimes people are just a little bit more closer. Everyone has some sort of rankings, you know, in their friend group. And maybe you're just, maybe you're out of the top three. And that's. It's not bad to be four in some guys eyes.

[Ryan R]

So, yeah, yeah, look, I, we, we tore you down a bit, but I think Kyle's building you back up a little bit. We didn't really tear you down. He's just pointing out something that that could be, you know, now this guy's going to listen to the show and go, huh, is my wife tough to hang with? You know, so it's not really what we wanted to do, but try to address it all, leave out some stuff sometimes. But I know, man, like, I get it, like, not everybody gets to be the coolest guy in the group and more often Than not, you're not going to be the coolest guy in the group. But if you feel like no one's ever inviting you, I kind of hate to say this, but I can guarantee how you won't get invited to anything. Is be a dude in your 30s going to other dudes and be like, or do you not want to be my friend anymore? Guarantee you're not gonna have to worry about scheduling anything because guys, like, do not want to talk about that. And honestly, most of the time, if you ever were to say, like, hey, what's going on? Like, the other person is so oblivious to it, you are generally overthinking it. I would look at it this way. Like, hey, you're probably a little bit more organized. There's people I do want to hang out with sometimes that I'll just go like, you're asking me about a dinner in 12 days, dude, maybe. And then I don't necessarily get the follow up because what are you guys locking in real things here? Is that a new graphic package that we have here with Netflix where we switched the box around?

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Yeah.

[Kyle]

Sorry, I didn't know you guys could see that.

[Ryan R]

I loved it.

[Kyle]

Threw me for a loop.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

I'm like, well, where am I going?

[Ryan R]

Let me know if we get a scrap star wipe in there.

[Kyle]

Did not know you guys could see that.

[Ryan R]

Sorry. Like, this is. How's that Netflix deal going? Awesome. We've got this new thing we can do whenever we want.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

We got the pain page turn situation going on.

[Kyle]

It's great. Lesson learned.

[Ryan R]

I like the guy that's emailing in. I just don't think you want to, like, go into this as, like, a friendship summit. Like, all right, what's going on here, guys? I'm doing a lot of the texting, a lot of the scheduling.

[Kyle]

We're drifting, if you guys noticed.

[Ryan R]

Yeah. By the way, if you're not the coolest guy in the group, too, it's not going to go over well. So you've been friends with these guys for a long time. Life changes. A lot of scheduling stuff, and there's usually always stuff that you don't even know that's going on. And I think you have to look at it as whatever the relationship is, how much lifting I'm doing, not doing. I still would rather be in the mix with these guys. And that's probably the thing that you need to focus on the most. And even if you're organizing it, they're still coming to meet you and they're still coming to do this stuff. Too. So I think you look at it that way and try not to overthink it. And not saying you are sensitive, but maybe your wife is making you a little bit more sensitive about this thing because I just don't think guys are this calculated about it.

[Kyle]

Yeah, maybe you could throw the party of the summer. Doesn't have to be a super expensive one, but you know, just remind everybody who the fuck you are, man.

[Ryan R]

Like an 80s high school movie. So you're saying like just put together an all out bender that they can't miss.

[Kyle]

Yeah, or whatever. Whatever works with that group.

[Ryan R]

Like, you know, have some commentary prepared.

[Anthony Slater]

Sure.

[Kyle]

Get somebody to announce everyone as they walk in. I don't know, do something fun.

[Ryan R]

No, just topics.

[Kyle]

I saw what you said. That was a different idea.

[Ryan R]

Springboard. Yeah, sure. Current events. There's all sorts of stuff you could do. Aliens.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Talk about rocket exploding. There you go.

[Ryan R]

Yeah, maybe you have a demonstration set of fireworks. You're like, I bought a rocket for this thing. See how it goes.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Is there any bigger red flags than you get invited to a party? And guys, I got these fireworks to set off in the back. You guys ready?

[Ryan R]

Are you aware of who else is on the show right now?

[Anthony Slater]

You're out of your mind.

[Kyle]

You're out of your mind.

[Kevin Tom Cerruti]

Well, Kyle I would guess I would trust, but I don't know.

[Ryan R]

That'll do it for the show today, thanks to Kevin Tom Cerruti. Kyle, make sure you watch the full episodes. Also available on Netflix and of course subscribe. Ryan Rosilla Show Barstool Sports.