Speaker 1: On this episode of This League, we talk about the
Speaker 1: Devin Booker snub, which was inevitable. The Devin Booker All
Speaker 1: Star snub happens. This is the seventh time now why
Speaker 1: the Wizards are no longer the joke of the NBA.
Speaker 1: We also break down the resurrection of the Miami Heat
Speaker 1: and why the rest of the e should be worried,
Speaker 1: and we also work on answering a new batch of
Speaker 1: listener dms. All right, Marty, a bonus segment, if you will.
Speaker 1: We got to talk about brandon Ingram. What the hell
Speaker 1: is up with this kid? Brandon Ingram. Let me start
Speaker 1: by saying, brandon Ingram drafted duke player, drafted by the
Speaker 1: LA Lakers, very high.
Speaker 2: Where was he drafted, Marty?
Speaker 3: Do you second?
Speaker 2: He was drafted second overall?
Speaker 3: Okay, behind your boy.
Speaker 1: Behind your boy, So okay, brandon Ingram gets drafted to
Speaker 1: the Lakers, and then all of a sudden we get
Speaker 1: Lebron James.
Speaker 2: Playing on this team with brandon Ingram.
Speaker 1: The first time that I ran into brandon Ingram was
Speaker 1: right out after he was drafted.
Speaker 2: He was doing he was doing a spot.
Speaker 1: You know, these new NBA players, they have these sponsorship
Speaker 1: deals with brands that they really don't care anything about.
Speaker 2: So the brand reaches out to us.
Speaker 1: This is when I was working at USA Today and
Speaker 1: they say, Hey, would you like to do a one
Speaker 1: on one exclusive interview.
Speaker 2: With brand new lottery draft pick brandon Ingram.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, hell, yeah, absolutely. This kid is nice,
Speaker 1: this kid's long, he's lean, he's the possibly. At this point,
Speaker 1: everyone's calling him maybe the second coming of Kevin Durant,
Speaker 1: which is a generous comparison, we'll say quick.
Speaker 2: So I'm like, okay, yeah, I'll go interview brandon Ingram.
Speaker 1: So I pull up there and it's very clear that
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people excited about brandon Ingram being there,
Speaker 1: but none of them, none of them's name.
Speaker 2: Was brandon Ingram.
Speaker 1: He was basically comatose in the middle of this interview.
Speaker 1: He was his eye were almost closed. I have to
Speaker 1: find the clip. I don't even think actually we published
Speaker 1: it because it was so bad. I think I had
Speaker 1: to tell the it was a knee brace sponsor. I
Speaker 1: had to tell them like, none of this was usable.
Speaker 1: I've never had a.
Speaker 2: Non usable interview in my life.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So then we're trying to get some b roll for
Speaker 2: the interview. I mean, this is just like a complete.
Speaker 1: Non secutor, right, we're not planning on talking about this,
Speaker 1: but so we're doing the b roll, which is like
Speaker 1: you're getting video to put on top of the interview, right,
Speaker 1: so that you're not just seeing the two people talking
Speaker 1: the whole time. And so we're like, hey, Brandon, it's
Speaker 1: me and my producer. Shout out to Sandy, who got
Speaker 1: me fired and hired at Barstows.
Speaker 2: Shout out to Sandy.
Speaker 1: So me and Sandy are around and I'm like, hey, Brandon,
Speaker 1: can you give us some dunks and like some layups
Speaker 1: around the rim?
Speaker 2: And he goes, nah, I'm a gunna. I'm a gunna.
Speaker 2: What you mean, I'm a gunna?
Speaker 1: And he's got his brother there, and his brother's like,
Speaker 1: doesn't look at all like Brandon Ingram. He looks like
Speaker 1: he's he's not. I mean, Brandon Ingram is like slim reaper.
Speaker 2: Kind of style.
Speaker 1: This guy's two hundred and sixty pounds and probably five
Speaker 1: ft seven.
Speaker 3: That's where Mike Westbrook really yeah.
Speaker 2: That's insane.
Speaker 1: So, I mean, there's nothing more polarizing than the brothers
Speaker 1: on the set, the brothers playing basketball and Brandon Ingram's
Speaker 1: just completely out on doing anything complying. So I'm not
Speaker 1: a huge brandon Ingram human being fan. Maybe things have changed,
Speaker 1: maybe they haven't. So before we get started, I'd like
Speaker 1: to personally address this new brandon Ingram quote. They asked
Speaker 1: Brandon Ingram the other night, a couple of nights ago,
Speaker 1: about how he felt about Zion Williamson getting the All
Speaker 1: Star spot at twenty years old, one of the youngest
Speaker 1: to ever get that spot. And this is what Brendon
Speaker 1: Ingram had the gall and audacity to say, I have
Speaker 1: never played with a player as talented as me until
Speaker 1: I played with Zion Williamson, folks. And then he said, oh, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: Zion's generational talent, which I will say is true.
Speaker 2: Zion is a generational talent.
Speaker 1: He's tremendous athletically, he's skilled. Who cares that he only
Speaker 1: has like one move around the rim. He's tremendous. There's
Speaker 1: no disrespect to Zion Williamson when I say this is
Speaker 1: just big time cap. This is the biggest cap ever.
Speaker 1: Excuse me, Brandon Ingram. Do you forget that you played
Speaker 1: with Lebron James.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for a full season, for an.
Speaker 1: Entire season when Lebron James was trying to get your
Speaker 1: little ass out of there so that he could get
Speaker 1: someone new he was trying to, hence the comment, yeah,
Speaker 1: obviously he's a little salty salty balls.
Speaker 2: Brandon Ingram like, what are you kidding me? What an oversight.
Speaker 1: There's just no way he forgot that this is about
Speaker 1: as bad as when Kyrie Irving said, oh, I finally
Speaker 1: have someone now that I have KD that can hit
Speaker 1: a final shot in the fourth quarter. Also forgetting that
Speaker 1: he played with generational talent, one of the greatest of
Speaker 1: all time, Lebron James. Also Brendan Ingram feeling himself. Let's
Speaker 1: go into who else he's played with. He's played with
Speaker 1: the US Team USA in the National Select Team roster
Speaker 1: with Daron Fox, with Jason Tatum. He also played the
Speaker 1: McDonald's All American Game with Ben Simmons and Jaylen Brown.
Speaker 1: I would say, Brandon Ingram, all those players not only
Speaker 1: are better than you now, aka as good as you now.
Speaker 1: I would say that they were as good as you,
Speaker 1: if not better even then, so folks. He also played
Speaker 1: with Drew Holliday. Drew Holliday is much better than Brandon Ingram.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not even close.
Speaker 3: In terms of team value yet it's not close.
Speaker 1: Yes, in terms of that's what we're talking about, right, Yes,
Speaker 1: I think Drew Holliday could lock down brandon Ingram in
Speaker 1: one on one? Are we talking about one on one here?
Speaker 1: I don't know as in terms of team value for sure,
Speaker 1: Drew Holliday. In terms of one on one, it's close,
Speaker 1: totally different positions.
Speaker 2: But who are you brandon Ingram to say this?
Speaker 1: You are the second OP on a sub five hundred
Speaker 1: team that is exciting as hell but is not doing
Speaker 1: shit this year. So maybe, just maybe this year? Do
Speaker 1: you know how many teams had at least two legitimate
Speaker 1: All Stars on their team before replacements?
Speaker 2: Six? Six six This is a Marty segment.
Speaker 3: Six teams, the Clippers.
Speaker 1: The Lakers, the Jazz, the seventy six Ers, the Celtics.
Speaker 2: And the Nets.
Speaker 1: Six teams had at least two selected All Stars before replacements.
Speaker 1: Who am I missing that's on that list? Who was
Speaker 1: not on that list as a team Marty?
Speaker 3: That would be the Phoenix fucking Suns.
Speaker 2: It's not fair, folks.
Speaker 1: All the best teams in the league this year have
Speaker 1: multiple All Stars on and the Phoenix Suns are legitimately
Speaker 1: one of them, except for the world is just a cruel,
Speaker 1: cold place. As it relates to Devin Booker, they are
Speaker 1: second best backcourt in the league behind the Nets Facts
Speaker 1: and guess what, folks, for the sixth year in a row,
Speaker 1: snub city population one Devin pretty Boy Booker.
Speaker 3: So I've got a lot to say about this. I mean,
Speaker 3: I've it's taken. I've taken a good bit of time
Speaker 3: to gather my thoughts on the snub. And normally I
Speaker 3: think all star snubs are kind of, you know, silly
Speaker 3: to talk about because there's always one. But this is
Speaker 3: part of a bigger story and a bigger pattern of
Speaker 3: disrespect that Devin Booker has been subjected to. I'm so
Speaker 3: used to the slander. It honestly doesn't even really surprise me.
Speaker 2: In You're unfaced when it came out in the group chat.
Speaker 3: You're unfaced, yeah, because it's not a feeling of like
Speaker 3: anger or saltiness that a lot of people you know,
Speaker 3: want to make it into. It's just a confirmation of
Speaker 3: feelings that Devin Booker is consistently disrespected and appreciated, and
Speaker 3: that people switch up narratives to use against him at
Speaker 3: every turn for years, despite putting up offensive numbers. You know,
Speaker 3: immediately upon getting minutes in the league, people just wanted
Speaker 3: to shit on him and give him the good stats,
Speaker 3: bad team guy, that that label, that trope that's thrown
Speaker 3: out all there. When he scored seventy in a game,
Speaker 3: Median fans did everything to discredit it. In twenty eighteen nineteen,
Speaker 3: he scored fifty in back to back games. SI now
Speaker 3: Sports Illustrated is now defunct. Okay Video Platform did a
Speaker 3: segment titled is Devin Booker actually good? After he scored
Speaker 3: fifty points in back to back games? And I saw
Speaker 3: a banner ad for a subfellow's hoodie when I went there,
Speaker 3: so fuck you s I that double team video that
Speaker 3: came out. Do you remember that?
Speaker 2: I don't think I do.
Speaker 3: It was him and a scrimmage. It was like him, Joe, Kim,
Speaker 3: Noah and a few other players. He got mad. He
Speaker 3: was like, hey, stop double teaming me. Were here to work.
Speaker 1: Oh I do remember that, And everybody was like, no,
Speaker 1: Devin Booker, you can be double.
Speaker 3: What Devin Booker doesn't like to work was basically what no,
Speaker 3: I'm trying.
Speaker 1: To work on my game, I get double teamed every
Speaker 1: single night because I am amazing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't need to practice passing out of double teams.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 3: Before the Orlando Bubble last year, ESPN released an article
Speaker 3: ranking the fifty best players in the bubble. It was
Speaker 3: thirty one. He was behind the likes of Fred Van
Speaker 3: Fleet and Montrez Harrel.
Speaker 2: Yikes.
Speaker 1: I mean we saw this coming. I knew it was
Speaker 1: gonna happen before it even happened. It was so clear
Speaker 1: in my head, Yeah, that Devin Booker was gonna get
Speaker 1: the snub. I mean it's death taxes and Devin Booker
Speaker 1: not making.
Speaker 3: The All Stars and Devin Booker disrespect.
Speaker 2: That's just the way that it goes.
Speaker 1: And we know, okay, yeah, Devin Booker filled in for
Speaker 1: Dame Lillard and he played in the All Star Game.
Speaker 2: That is not the same thing.
Speaker 3: No, you want to earn your spot, Devin.
Speaker 1: Booker now getting a d spot not the same thing.
Speaker 1: Devin Booker is not a reserves reserve. That's not the case.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is a respecting.
Speaker 3: Right, absolutely, Yeah, a pattern of underappreciation and disrespect.
Speaker 2: It's appalling.
Speaker 1: I would says, it's past fucked up the way that
Speaker 1: they treat him. And it's not just about the All
Speaker 1: Star selections. It's about everything that goes around that comes
Speaker 1: with the narrative of Devin Booker. And the way that
Speaker 1: Devin Booker put on a show leading up to the
Speaker 1: selection meant to me personally. He was doing everything that
Speaker 1: he could to break down any potential naysayer. He was
Speaker 1: balling for the last three weeks before the selection came out.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah, the last like ten games leading up
Speaker 3: he was real special.
Speaker 1: Thirty points, four and a half rebounds, and five assists
Speaker 1: in his last nine games. Yeah, where the Suns went
Speaker 1: seven and two. So its stats and it's winning. And
Speaker 1: you knew that. The motivation for him to ball out
Speaker 1: was because he was like, Hey, what more do you
Speaker 1: need from me, Devin pretty boy Booker in order to
Speaker 1: make the game. Yeah, he's put not only is he
Speaker 1: putting on a show. Let's just talk about who they've
Speaker 1: beaten in that time period. In the last few weeks,
Speaker 1: they've beaten Boston, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, New Orleans with the historic comeback.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and they mauled my team in Portland. I
Speaker 1: mean it was like getting destroyed by a bear. Yea
Speaker 1: just when the attention was the brightest, Devin Booker has
Speaker 1: shown up the most, and apparently he's just not an
Speaker 1: All Star.
Speaker 2: He's just not good enough.
Speaker 1: And it's a good time to remember and a good
Speaker 1: time to remind everyone that this is not just fuck
Speaker 1: them kids, this is also NBA coaches that are disrespecting
Speaker 1: him in his own conference because you the way that
Speaker 1: the rules go is, Western Conference coaches have to vote
Speaker 1: for the Western Conference reserves. Eastern Conference same deal. Can't
Speaker 1: vote for your own team players, you can only vote.
Speaker 2: For everyone else.
Speaker 1: And yet they were like, nah, you know who we're
Speaker 1: going to give it to instead, Paul George.
Speaker 2: Paul George is missed a third of the season.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's missed ten games, folks, how do you make
Speaker 1: Paul George an All Star when he's missed one third
Speaker 1: of the season.
Speaker 3: Alright, it's inexplicable, it's crazy.
Speaker 2: Like CJ. McCollum would say.
Speaker 1: Make it make sense, make it make sense respectfully, please.
Speaker 1: So Paul George is basically doing the exact same thing
Speaker 1: as Devin Booker. He's averaging twenty four six and five.
Speaker 1: Book is averaging twenty five.
Speaker 2: To four and four.
Speaker 1: Both play with current All Stars with Kawhi and Chris Paul,
Speaker 1: he's scored eighteen or more. Devin Booker has scored eighteen
Speaker 1: or more in twenty five out of twenty seven games,
Speaker 1: So he's consistent as hell.
Speaker 2: It's not like he's Boomer Bust Averages either, right.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: No, and the Suns being the hottest team in basketball.
Speaker 1: They're twenty and ten, including nine of their last eleven.
Speaker 1: And you know who ends up getting all.
Speaker 2: The shine for that, Chris Paul. Yeah, Chris Paul average sixteen.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was the weird one that didn't get talked
Speaker 3: about a whole lot.
Speaker 2: One of these things are not like the other.
Speaker 3: Well, it's just I'm cool with the coaches voting if
Speaker 3: they're just gonna be consistent about how they vote. Because
Speaker 3: last year in the All Star Game, Booker got left
Speaker 3: out and was who did they have in there? They
Speaker 3: had Westbrook, Chris Paul, and Donovan Mitchell, all who he
Speaker 3: had better stats than. And the argument was, oh, you're
Speaker 3: just you don't have the team success, you're not doing enough.
Speaker 1: But it's bullshit, because Bradley Beal made the All Star Team. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and the Wizards at that point in time were one
Speaker 1: of the worst teams in the East, so they just
Speaker 1: keep switching up on what the actual criterion is.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Zion bothers me too, because their stats are pretty
Speaker 3: comparable if you want to get I mean, I know
Speaker 3: Zion shooting sixty two percent from the field, so like,
Speaker 3: I get that, but it's just a complete one eighty
Speaker 3: from how they did it last year. And then there
Speaker 3: were people saying, oh, Mike Conley should be eighties. That
Speaker 3: was joke, phl that was that.
Speaker 2: Was joke, Phil.
Speaker 1: I just I just don't see it. What is it
Speaker 1: going to take. What do the numbers need to be?
Speaker 1: It was like you said, it was at first, all numbers,
Speaker 1: no wins. Now it's oh, well the wins are really
Speaker 1: for Chris Paul and before he got there.
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 2: Actually, well, actually, folks, Devin Booker.
Speaker 1: Led the Suns to going eight and oh in the bubble,
Speaker 1: they were already rising, they were already arriving prior to
Speaker 1: Chris Paul getting to the team. Yep, they are. The
Speaker 1: entire NBA media is well. Actually, Devin Booker every step
Speaker 1: of the way. And I think it's because he's so
Speaker 1: good looking. I think he's so smooth. He has everything
Speaker 1: going for him. He's pretty in the face, he's dating
Speaker 1: Kendall Jenner, and they're like, you know what, fuck him.
Speaker 1: Why would we give Devin Booker more things to hang
Speaker 1: his pretty little hat on. Let's take the one thing,
Speaker 1: one piece of control we can get away from him,
Speaker 1: which is that All Star spot, which, by the way,
Speaker 1: is meaningful. You might say to yourself, well, why does
Speaker 1: it matter? It matters for legacy?
Speaker 2: It does?
Speaker 3: It does, Yeah, people talk about it a lot. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And speaking of legacy, I love Chris Paul, but that's
Speaker 1: a legacy vote. That was He's averaging seventeen four and
Speaker 1: a half nine great, But is that if you're gonna
Speaker 1: put Chris Paul in, you have to vote Bookrin because
Speaker 1: they're on the same team and Booker's averaging more stats.
Speaker 3: Right, It's like, oh, with Chris Paul, winning matters, but
Speaker 3: with Zion stats matter. With Paul, it's I.
Speaker 2: Demand an investigation.
Speaker 3: It's just it's it's just pure hypocrisy, and I'm sick
Speaker 3: of it.
Speaker 2: I want to see who voted for who.
Speaker 3: Yeah, really, I.
Speaker 1: Want them to stand in front of a podium and
Speaker 1: explain to me why, because I believe it's undefendable. So
Speaker 1: even though we saw this coming, the outrage was even
Speaker 1: bigger than we all would expect because Lebron James took
Speaker 1: to Twitter and said book is the most disrespected player
Speaker 1: in the league right now, except and then.
Speaker 2: Follow by game Dollar.
Speaker 1: Right. So even though we all saw it coming, as
Speaker 1: you can tell, I am outraged.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I just want to go back to what I
Speaker 3: was saying earlier. I know I didn't talk a whole
Speaker 3: lot about this All Star Game. I hope I kind
Speaker 3: of made my point heard that it's just garbage that
Speaker 3: they've one year it's about wins and team success and
Speaker 3: then the next it's about oh do stats say this?
Speaker 3: It's just a pattern of disrespect that Devin Booker has
Speaker 3: experienced basically since he came to the league, And I
Speaker 3: kind of understand it. He was on a bad team,
Speaker 3: people weren't really watching, there were no national games, and
Speaker 3: they formed an opinion on him unfairly that he was
Speaker 3: just a good stats on special score like a Kevin Martin.
Speaker 3: I think a lot of people thought of him as that.
Speaker 3: Oh and yeah, I heard that quite a bit, and
Speaker 3: I just hope people understand now the pattern of disrespect
Speaker 3: that Devin Booker has had to deal with through his career,
Speaker 3: and go watch him, watch him play, and reevaluate your
Speaker 3: feelings on him, because I guarantee he's a different player
Speaker 3: than he was three years ago. When you probably last
Speaker 3: watch a son's game.
Speaker 2: What do you think about that Hornets game last night?
Speaker 1: Do you think that was part of a Devin Booker
Speaker 1: disrespect because what happened was Devin Booker was egregiously fouled.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and no foul was called. Yeah. No.
Speaker 3: I mean, you really start to sound like a Homer
Speaker 3: when you get on and complain like, oh, Devin Booker
Speaker 3: never gets calls, but he kind of doesn't. I don't
Speaker 3: want to be that guy, but he kind of doesn't.
Speaker 3: And you see worse players get it, like Bradley Beal
Speaker 3: gets that call and then not that I'm saying Bradley
Speaker 3: Beal's worst, but Damian.
Speaker 1: Lillard for sure gets that call. Harden gets that call.
Speaker 1: I mean, damn right, Marty, make it make sense.
Speaker 2: This is a DC segment. Are the Wizards better than
Speaker 2: we think?
Speaker 1: I think it's possible. I think it's possible that the
Speaker 1: Wizards have turned a corner. No team more decimated by
Speaker 1: COVID than them When Adam's was just making Miami go
Speaker 1: out there and play with seven guys. They shut Washington
Speaker 1: down for thirteen days.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Wizards got shot. Shut down for a full
Speaker 2: two weeks.
Speaker 1: No practice, no communication with your capadres, no contact, no nothing,
Speaker 1: just zoom practices.
Speaker 2: Just brutal.
Speaker 1: And I was on record during the pod saying that
Speaker 1: the Wizards might never play another game again this year.
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, No, I mean they're by far the team
Speaker 3: most affected by COVID this year. They missed the most
Speaker 3: time and the most games two full weeks at a stretch.
Speaker 3: San Antonio was close most recently, but their back playing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and san Antonio.
Speaker 1: I don't know which is worse, san Antonio missing like
Speaker 1: like one week and then another week, or whether just
Speaker 1: an entire two week layoff is worse. I think it's
Speaker 1: worse when you're just getting You're just getting a ramp
Speaker 1: up for you to just be out for two solid weeks, missing,
Speaker 1: you know, ten games. Right before they shut down, they
Speaker 1: played the Suns and they beat the shit out of your.
Speaker 2: Sons, Marty.
Speaker 1: They things seem like maybe they had their mojo going.
Speaker 1: It was early in the season. No one really knew
Speaker 1: who was gonna be good and who was not gonna
Speaker 1: be good? And then they came back and then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden they obviously were super rusty, right, And
Speaker 1: all of us didn't really think about the rust, myself included,
Speaker 1: and we're like, oh, yeah, the.
Speaker 2: Wizards are trash. The Wizards are big trush.
Speaker 1: Why because they're always big trash. So we just expect
Speaker 1: that just because something happened last year and the year
Speaker 1: before that and probably the year before that, then it's
Speaker 1: gonna continue to persist into the indefinite future.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: Also on top of that, they were the second worst
Speaker 1: defense in the NBA. I believe at that point that
Speaker 1: Bradley Beal said at one point he was a we can't.
Speaker 2: Guard a park car.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: That was when I was like, yo, burn it.
Speaker 1: Down, send Bradley Beal somewhere else, like trade him, trade
Speaker 1: him free.
Speaker 2: We were all like, free Bradley Beal, free him. It
Speaker 2: feels like just yesterday.
Speaker 1: And then what happened, And we were also like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal, Oh I don't know about
Speaker 1: that are much.
Speaker 2: Who's going to take the last shot? It's going to
Speaker 2: be Russell Westbrook.
Speaker 1: Jacking it up, bricking from forty and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, Russell Westbrook because he was out there. I
Speaker 1: think he said he was playing with one leg at
Speaker 1: one point, because that's that's the kind of caliber of
Speaker 1: player that Russell Westbrook is.
Speaker 2: He finally got healthy.
Speaker 1: And the first time he said that he was feeling
Speaker 1: right the entire season was that win against the Nets,
Speaker 1: and the Nets had everybody kde Harden Kyrie and the
Speaker 1: Washington Wizards beat him on a last second steal and
Speaker 1: buzzer beater, whoa, whoa, And we were like, wow, Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe this is just a grudge game, maybe it's just
Speaker 1: Russ playing against former teammates. But as as I am
Speaker 1: a lot, as we are collectively a lot, we are
Speaker 1: wrong because they've figured out their defense coinciding with the
Speaker 1: exact same time that Russ got healthy, and things have
Speaker 1: looked pretty different over the last thirteen games. They're eight
Speaker 1: and five.
Speaker 2: They beat the number one team in the East, the
Speaker 2: number one team in the West.
Speaker 3: Right, they've been playing good teams in the stretch, like, yeah.
Speaker 1: They went on the road trip west and buzzed through
Speaker 1: their opponents that they had no business beating none they're
Speaker 1: one of the hottest teams now in the league. They
Speaker 1: beat the Blazers, the Nuggets, the Sixers, the Lakers, all
Speaker 1: on the road.
Speaker 2: Jesus.
Speaker 1: So why the question is why? Why did this remarkable
Speaker 1: change occur? Scotty Brook says, Russell Westbrook says, Bradley Beal says, Hey, guys,
Speaker 1: like when you take two weeks off, it's really hard
Speaker 1: to be in game shape, right, and it's pretty hard
Speaker 1: to play consistently good defense when you're out of condition.
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe when you play some games you
Speaker 1: find only have your wind underneath you. They're a month
Speaker 1: removed from their fourth two week COVID vacation, and now
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, they're good at guarding the perimeter,
Speaker 1: they're shutting down teams, and conditioning obviously matters. Plus I
Speaker 1: don't know if you remember this or no this, but
Speaker 1: Mo Wagner is now starting.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no yet.
Speaker 1: I would say that's one of the biggest reasons that
Speaker 1: this Wizard's team, their starting corps and their bench is
Speaker 1: now playing more effectively because you've got a big man
Speaker 1: in Robin Lopez calming off the bench match up problem.
Speaker 1: Me too, leading the team in a defensive rating with
Speaker 1: one hundred and one, putting the clamps on the Blazers,
Speaker 1: holding every single opponent that he guarded zero for thirteen clamps.
Speaker 2: We were hot.
Speaker 1: Blazers were hot, and then we shot thirty five percent
Speaker 1: from the field With Robin Lopez on us. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying he's the panacea for the Wizards.
Speaker 2: But that's meaningful.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah.
Speaker 1: And ever since they've had that change, ever since they've
Speaker 1: gotten healthy, ever since they came back to condition, and
Speaker 1: ever since they made that lineup change, things have been different.
Speaker 2: And I tell you, what, are the Wizards good? Are
Speaker 2: they good now? I don't know what do you think?
Speaker 2: Have they figured their shit out?
Speaker 3: They're definitely closer now than they were coming into the season.
Speaker 3: I just really didn't like this roster and then just
Speaker 3: Westbrook and Beale together, I just didn't really believe in.
Speaker 3: But I did like Thomas Bryant a little bit, and
Speaker 3: when he went down, that's when I really gave up
Speaker 3: on this team. So the two guys you just mentioned,
Speaker 3: Wagner and Lopez coming in and making up for those
Speaker 3: minutes that they lost with Brian, I think it's been
Speaker 3: a big, big factor in this surge.
Speaker 1: The question is is the darkest before the dawn? Are
Speaker 1: we now seeing the Wizards on a surge? Are they
Speaker 1: possibly a playoff team?
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: It appears though, that I might have been a little
Speaker 1: too early with my opinion that the Houston Rockets won
Speaker 1: the John waltrade. So credit to me for saying that
Speaker 1: I was wrong. Because Russell Westbrook is, according to Bradley Beal,
Speaker 1: a perfect teammates. The teammates, all the teammates on the
Speaker 1: Washington Wizards say that Russell Westbrook is an incredible leader.
Speaker 1: He's bringing it every night. And so now this team
Speaker 1: has changed. Apparently they're beating good teams. They have the
Speaker 1: six best defense over the last thirteen games, sixth best defense.
Speaker 1: To go from the second to last worst defense to
Speaker 1: the sixth best, I don't know how you make that change,
Speaker 1: but Jesus Christ, I am now very excited to watch
Speaker 1: Wizards games because they've always put up a shitload of points,
Speaker 1: but now they can actually defend. And now there are
Speaker 1: only a couple of games out of the playoffs. So
Speaker 1: if they end up sneaking into the eight seed, this
Speaker 1: might be one of the greatest turnarounds seed in an
Speaker 1: NBA season, so Philly, Philly. Anytime you don't make meaningful
Speaker 1: changes to your roster and you make the NBA Finals,
Speaker 1: the natural assumption is that you'll probably be a favorite
Speaker 1: to go back, right, Yeah, typically typically, Yeah, the Miami Heat,
Speaker 1: even though they had one of the shortest off seasons
Speaker 1: period other than the Lakers, should be right. There should
Speaker 1: be one of those teams where you're like, yes, they should.
Speaker 2: Be a team.
Speaker 1: It's third in the East, and they have been respectfully
Speaker 1: big trash. They have been got hot hot and I
Speaker 1: don't mean sexy, I mean hot garbage, like the kind
Speaker 1: of garbage in New York City in August, just like
Speaker 1: flies swirling about emanating steam.
Speaker 2: It's been bad.
Speaker 1: I mean it's been And I said they were like
Speaker 1: one of my favorites that I predicted going back and
Speaker 1: being the contender in the East. And I I feel
Speaker 1: very silly even saying that, given that they've been that bad.
Speaker 2: But some of that kind of like the Wizards, not
Speaker 2: really their fault.
Speaker 3: Right yeah, yeah, no, couch of it was not, Yeah, covid.
Speaker 1: This team was once forced to play, like I said
Speaker 1: last segment, they were forced by Adam Silver's ass to
Speaker 1: play with seven guys. They've missed only one game due
Speaker 1: to COVID, but numerous players have missed time due to protocols,
Speaker 1: including Buckets, who missed ten games by the way, one
Speaker 1: third of the season with COVID. Dragis missed fourteen games
Speaker 1: and will miss more time ankle injury.
Speaker 2: He's old as fuck. They've cycled get this stet the Heat.
Speaker 1: The Miami Heat have cycled through more than fifteen starting lineups.
Speaker 1: Are eighteen fifteen starting lineups so.
Speaker 3: Far this year in like thirty one games.
Speaker 1: In thirty one games, fifteen I would say that's hard
Speaker 1: to get some chemistry and cohesion in your roster when
Speaker 1: every night it's changing.
Speaker 2: I'd say, so, uh, what is their fault is this?
Speaker 1: Pat Riley has decided or did decide, they were not
Speaker 1: going to go after another point guard and Dragas as
Speaker 1: you know, Marty has limitations, one of those being father time.
Speaker 2: He's pretty much missed.
Speaker 1: He pretty much missed the entire NBA Finals last year,
Speaker 1: and they were like, Nah, we don't need to upgrade.
Speaker 2: We're good with what we have. We'll stay pat.
Speaker 1: Pat Riley, speaking of staying pat, Pat, what are you doing?
Speaker 1: They better make some move there there is no excuse
Speaker 1: for not having a backup plan for an older, hobbled
Speaker 1: point guard that had planter foreshitis last year and now
Speaker 1: he's got an ankle bum ankle. The dude has will
Speaker 1: say he's missing wheels now.
Speaker 3: Also, Kendrick Nunn is awful now.
Speaker 1: Kendrick Nunn somehow, somehow, I think that was probably their plan.
Speaker 1: And now they're scrambling evaluating whether they should bring Isaiah
Speaker 1: Thomas on to their roster. That's how bad things got
Speaker 1: in the point guard spot for the Miami Heat, and
Speaker 1: so not surprisingly, giving all these things, COVID no point guard,
Speaker 1: point guards injured, they have sucked. And now that Jimmy's healthy,
Speaker 1: Holy shit, this is the heat we've been talking about.
Speaker 1: This is the heat that we've been wanting to see.
Speaker 1: This is the heat that we expect to see. Right
Speaker 1: the team is slowly turning it back around. They're eight
Speaker 1: and three in their last eleven. They've won four in
Speaker 1: a row. They beat the Lakers and the Raptors on
Speaker 1: the road, and Rachel Nichols recently interviewed Jimmy and asked
Speaker 1: him how the heat we're playing at the moment, how
Speaker 1: would you describe the way the Miami Heat are playing
Speaker 1: basketball right.
Speaker 4: Now, terrible, terrible, not the way that we say we
Speaker 4: want to play, not the way we're supposed to be playing.
Speaker 4: But it's okay because we will turn it around. And
Speaker 4: like you're saying, said.
Speaker 2: Better late than never, Yep, better late than never. That's true.
Speaker 1: That was before they won on their little run and
Speaker 1: the Heat go where Jimmy goes.
Speaker 2: So here's a little stat. The Heat are twelve and eight.
Speaker 1: With Jimmy and three and nine without Jimmy. So if
Speaker 1: Jimmy hadn't missed any games, they'd be seventeen and thirteen,
Speaker 1: and if he's missed the full season, they'd be.
Speaker 2: Eight and twenty two.
Speaker 1: At this point, that would mean either third in the
Speaker 1: East with Jimmy or last in the East without him.
Speaker 1: I would say he's pretty critical to that team's success.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's significant.
Speaker 2: That's significant.
Speaker 1: Now what I am hearing a little Birdie has told me,
Speaker 1: and I think it's also very public in the NBA
Speaker 1: Twitter spheres if they're thinking about adding Victor Ola Depo.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've heard that as well.
Speaker 2: What do you think about that move?
Speaker 3: I kind of love it.
Speaker 2: I think if you add Oladipo to that roster. Oh boy.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I don't know if they can get another point guard,
Speaker 1: but at that point, it just really doesn't matter that much.
Speaker 3: No, Jimmy Depo and Bam. I like that. I like
Speaker 3: that trying whole lot.
Speaker 1: And they have a huge test coming up Friday night
Speaker 1: they play the Jazz.
Speaker 2: What do you think is gonna happen in that game?
Speaker 1: Do you think that they're gonna compete or do you
Speaker 1: think that they're going to get their asses handed to them?
Speaker 2: Like every team that plays the Jazz recently has.
Speaker 3: I'm not picking against the Jazz until they give me
Speaker 3: a reason to, especially after last night. They just came
Speaker 3: in mault the Lakers. I think the Jazz are playing
Speaker 3: I mean, this is far from a hot take, but
Speaker 3: the jaz are playing better than anybody in basketball.
Speaker 1: All of that to say, if the Heat end up
Speaker 1: getting a big player like Oladipo, you better watch out.
Speaker 1: Miami fan base is not necessary to pump them up. Also,
Speaker 1: Dragon's is coming back return is imminent, probably.
Speaker 2: Right before All Star break.
Speaker 3: I'm hearing yep.
Speaker 1: Bam is now looking healthy the same way that he
Speaker 1: wasn't in the playoffs before his injury. And I tell
Speaker 1: you what, I don't think any Eastern Conference team, including
Speaker 1: the Brooklyn Nets, want to see this team in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: This Heat team in the playoffs, No way. This is
Speaker 1: like a junkyard dog that has been desperate and hungry
Speaker 1: and scrapping their way even to be in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: which I think maybe makes them more dangerous than ever.
Speaker 1: So I don't care where the Heat end up getting
Speaker 1: seated eight seven. Does it matter if they are fully healthy.
Speaker 1: The team that plays the Heat is the underdog.
Speaker 2: Count that.
Speaker 3: Let's do it. Okay, first one, we've got why aren't
Speaker 3: more people talking about James Harden as a potential MVP?
Speaker 1: Why aren't people talking about James Harden as an MVP?
Speaker 2: You know, that's a really really good question.
Speaker 1: I would say it's very similar to why Damian Lillard
Speaker 1: is not getting any shine, And it's all.
Speaker 2: Based around the media.
Speaker 1: Once you get into that like stream, like that happens
Speaker 1: kind of prior to the year even starting. There's like
Speaker 1: pre odds and like media chatter, and then you have
Speaker 1: a good couple like maybe good ten games. That's why
Speaker 1: Lucas still in the MVP race. Just that's just the
Speaker 1: hot thing to do. So you've got Braun, Embiid, Jokic,
Speaker 1: Luca and Jannis and Steph is a long shot. That's
Speaker 1: where the media is right now. And that is what
Speaker 1: is an NBA MVP narrative that will not change once
Speaker 1: you get like seven guys in that stream.
Speaker 2: I don't think it changes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Hardin is not part of that discussion, even
Speaker 1: though I think he should be. And the reason why
Speaker 1: is probably because of the way that he pushed his
Speaker 1: way out of Houston. I think that makes it tough
Speaker 1: for anyone to root for you. But let's get it straight, folks.
Speaker 1: The reason that the Nets have had continuity, the reason
Speaker 1: that the Nets have continued to win, is because of
Speaker 1: James Harden.
Speaker 2: He is so durable.
Speaker 1: That's the reason that the Size and Sean Marks decided
Speaker 1: to go after him. To begin with, Durant has missed
Speaker 1: a ton of games due to COVID. Now he's missing
Speaker 1: games due to I don't know what we'll call it injury.
Speaker 1: I think it's injury. They maybe it's load management. Doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: Harden is that guy that can step in and be
Speaker 1: a continuous force. Uh. Kyrie went on his little walkabout.
Speaker 1: He did his little thing for a while. He's missed
Speaker 1: some games due to injury as well.
Speaker 2: Who's there?
Speaker 1: Hardens there the most reliable guard possibly from a durability
Speaker 1: standpoint in the NBA, it's Tim and Dame and.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say those two, those two consistently.
Speaker 1: I looked at Harden's stats. He's missed on average, like
Speaker 1: five games a year for his.
Speaker 3: Entire career only. Yeah, he's been the league like twelve
Speaker 3: years now.
Speaker 2: It's incredible.
Speaker 1: That guy that we joked about having a fat suit
Speaker 1: on is doing everything for the team that should win
Speaker 1: the East. He's averaging I had to look these stats
Speaker 1: up twice. He's averaging twenty six or twenty five, seven
Speaker 1: and a half and eleven and eleven over eleven assists
Speaker 1: a game is twice his career average.
Speaker 2: That's the guy.
Speaker 1: You remember Harden's narrative, right, he's selfish, he's selfish. He
Speaker 1: doesn't like to pass.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've heard that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he've heard that, right.
Speaker 1: MVP Harden doesn't like to pass, even though he was
Speaker 1: leading the league and assists that year as well. Yeah, narratives,
Speaker 1: he's doubling his assist amount per game now he's doing
Speaker 1: exactly what this Brooklyn Nets team needs him to do.
Speaker 1: And you know what, he's got better odds or worse odds,
Speaker 1: however you would like to call it, than Kevin Durant.
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant is a more favorite to win the MVP
Speaker 1: when he's not even playing games. Yes, sir, double Harden
Speaker 1: is plus thirty three hundred and Crevin Durant is plus
Speaker 1: fourteen hundred.
Speaker 3: Right now, Kevin Durant plus fourteen hundred. That might be
Speaker 3: the worst value bet in all sports, right, I.
Speaker 1: Mean, why would anyone, why would anyone put a dollar
Speaker 1: a dollar into that? You know, it's interesting Harden because
Speaker 1: everybody joked after the trade that Harden wouldn't be able
Speaker 1: to share the ball with Kyrie. And guess what, this
Speaker 1: isn't Houston anymore, folks. Where he needs to drop forty
Speaker 1: in order to get off and in order for this
Speaker 1: team to win. It's like, oh, well, Kyrie's there, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'll play make for him and KD they're missing, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'll drop forty.
Speaker 2: It's it's insane to watch.
Speaker 1: Harden become this chameleon who matches his game to any scheme.
Speaker 1: When he was coming off the bench in OKC best
Speaker 1: six man in basketball, number one option MVP, playing with
Speaker 1: two other MVP quality players, playmaker James Harden one hundred percent.
Speaker 2: Whoever asked this question disrespect.
Speaker 1: James Harden one hundred percent deserves a dead serious look
Speaker 1: at MVP this year.
Speaker 2: And why isn't he Because the media fucking sucks.
Speaker 3: That's why. Okay, moving on, We've got If the Sixers
Speaker 3: trade for Lowry, big if how far do you think
Speaker 3: they can go in the playoffs?
Speaker 1: If the Sixers trade for Lowry, how far do I
Speaker 1: think that they can go in the playoffs?
Speaker 2: I think the finals.
Speaker 3: Yeah, probably pretty far. Probably adds another all star caliber player,
Speaker 3: I mean.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: Kyle Lowry can do all the things that you want
Speaker 1: to point guard to do. He can shoot, he can defend,
Speaker 1: he can take charges, he can lead an offense. He's
Speaker 1: outside of this year, pretty damn durable. The question is
Speaker 1: what are the Sixers giving up to get him. It
Speaker 1: appears that Kyle Lowry wants to go to Philly, But
Speaker 1: the question is what does Philadelphia have to give up
Speaker 1: in order to get them? Right?
Speaker 2: If they keep their young core, everything's gravy trained.
Speaker 1: This is like a Finals Finals destined team. If they
Speaker 1: have to lose like Tobias Harris, that's trouble.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's trouble. So I don't know.
Speaker 1: The bigger question is, really, how does this team match
Speaker 1: up with Kyle Lowry against the nets You've got. Kyle
Speaker 1: Lowry probably matches up with Harden, Tobias guards KD, Yah
Speaker 1: Simmons of guard KD or He'll rotate around and then
Speaker 1: the big three now at that point are pretty well defended.
Speaker 1: And that's the only way I think that Philly can
Speaker 1: somewhat stifle a team that's gonna score one hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty points per game or something like that.
Speaker 2: That's the only way.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Uh. And then on top of that, Kyle Lowry
Speaker 1: can when the lights are brightest. We know that Kyle
Speaker 1: Lowry shows up. We know what he did with the
Speaker 1: Raptors when he was in the finals. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: a fucking monster.
Speaker 3: He's a monster.
Speaker 1: I mean, at this point, Kyle Lowry fan who asked
Speaker 1: this beautiful question, is the perfect player to take pressure
Speaker 1: off of your man, mister balloon hands, Ben Simmons. He
Speaker 1: can then flex into the playmaker position with Ben, they
Speaker 1: can rotate kind of like Lebron did with Rondo, where
Speaker 1: it's like, doesn't really matter who brings the ball up,
Speaker 1: doesn't really matter who initiates the offense, and then Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons can get off in the post with his hard
Speaker 1: shots against the backboard like he likes in his little
Speaker 1: his little hook shots that he also likes, and then
Speaker 1: the lack of scoring that Ben Simmons has, you know,
Speaker 1: becomes a non issue. So yeah, how does Kyle Lowry
Speaker 1: affect this team? I would say a lot. I would
Speaker 1: say this team is going to the finals if they
Speaker 1: can wriggle their way into getting Lowry on and expiring
Speaker 1: and keeping all their core guys. But that's pretty goddamn obvious,
Speaker 1: isn't it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Okay, do the Bulls sell or buy at the deadline?
Speaker 1: You know, I would have said originally that they would
Speaker 1: be a seller because you.
Speaker 2: Would want to get rid of those valuable pieces and.
Speaker 1: You're a young franchise, up and coming franchise that it's
Speaker 1: probably not going to win anytime soon, so you should
Speaker 1: get some pieces develop your young core.
Speaker 2: But man, are they one of the most surprising teams
Speaker 2: of the year.
Speaker 3: Oh the Bulls yet I think so?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I said earlier that the Bulls were not going
Speaker 1: to be good for an indefinite period of time, and
Speaker 1: I was wrong. They're not great, but they are good,
Speaker 1: and that is important in a year that pretty much
Speaker 1: the entire East is down right, Like everyone thought that
Speaker 1: this East would be strong, and now the Celtics are
Speaker 1: sub five hundred and the Heat are a mess.
Speaker 3: Yeah we're baking from who knew?
Speaker 1: And yeah we're back to new Yeah, but at this point,
Speaker 1: the Bulls check this out. They've beaten the Pacers, they've
Speaker 1: beaten the Pelicans, they've beaten the Blazers, they've beaten the
Speaker 1: MAVs twice, and they played the Lakers, Clippers and Blazers.
Speaker 2: Tight, tight, tight. I would say that's an overachievement.
Speaker 1: So all of that to say, I think you keep
Speaker 1: on to every little piece you have and you maybe
Speaker 1: pick up another asset just so that you can maybe
Speaker 1: make a push to go to the second round.
Speaker 2: But I would not sell zach Lavine at this moment.
Speaker 2: No way, oh, no no way.
Speaker 1: Flip Saunders said that zach Lavine was going to be
Speaker 1: a star, and everyone laughed him out of the gym,
Speaker 1: and zach Lavine, let me tell you, folks.
Speaker 2: He is a star.
Speaker 1: But the Bulls in general, even without Zach Lavine and
Speaker 1: his thirty five points that he puts up nightly two
Speaker 1: nights ago, there were seven guys with ten or more
Speaker 1: points on that squad.
Speaker 2: That's deep.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I think the Bulls should probably be buyers.
Speaker 1: They have to add defense, they have to add toughness.
Speaker 1: They can score without marketing. Maybe maybe you get rid
Speaker 1: of marketing and you try to bring in like a
Speaker 1: John Collins.
Speaker 3: I like that because I also I also really like
Speaker 3: Williams a lot, like I don't really like as a stretch.
Speaker 3: I like Patrick Williams. There's a good basketball player in there.
Speaker 3: I'm not exactly sure what it's gonna look like in
Speaker 3: three years, but there is a good basketball.
Speaker 2: He's like a red onion. You have to peel back.
Speaker 1: How many layers are you gonna have to go in
Speaker 1: order to get a quality NBA player?
Speaker 2: We don't know.
Speaker 1: But I think the East is wide opening, and the
Speaker 1: Bulls house as good of a shot of taking advantage
Speaker 1: of that as anybody else.
Speaker 2: So that's my answer. That's all the time that we
Speaker 2: have for this league.
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