Speaker 1: Well, well, well we've got the.
Speaker 2: Season tournament around even naked to his second Well.
Speaker 3: No, goodn't even coffin. I told you.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Look, I'm that wind took the light out of me.
Speaker 3: So we'll get to that.
Speaker 5: We'll talk.
Speaker 3: Look, you know the Lakers, we know.
Speaker 5: When to show up.
Speaker 4: One of the time banner number eighteen.
Speaker 6: It doesn't know eighteen point one, seventeen point one.
Speaker 3: But yes, we're just going to talk about that.
Speaker 6: The state of the Houston Rocket and plenty more to
Speaker 6: discuss with former player and current ROCKETSTV analyst Ryan Holland
Speaker 6: on today's episode, Ti'm Miles Great.
Speaker 4: And I'm Jack O'Brien and this is who Miles.
Speaker 1: Checkup man, Bluesteve.
Speaker 3: Take us there, mby driving spinning k Curry a three pointer,
Speaker 3: bad stuff.
Speaker 1: Curry from down tell.
Speaker 3: The game to be honest with the Telly.
Speaker 6: Welcome to the show, Ryan Hollins, Houston Rockets color analysts,
Speaker 6: former player, former Bruin. You know he also in alumni
Speaker 6: shout out to the UCLA Bruins h and also owner
Speaker 6: of New Music Clothing.
Speaker 3: Welcome to the show, man, how are.
Speaker 5: You doing, good man? Thanks for having me tell us.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, of course of course, good to have you,
Speaker 3: always good to have you.
Speaker 6: So you know, you're working with the Rockets looking at
Speaker 6: solid at home ten and one at home, one in
Speaker 6: eight on.
Speaker 2: The road, spectacular, spectacular, it's a fortress.
Speaker 3: It's a fortress.
Speaker 2: Less spectacular on the road. Yeah, but they did get there,
Speaker 2: they did get that win on the road. But I
Speaker 2: feel like this is the team that is the most
Speaker 2: surprising to the most people, including myself.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and I'm saying from from my casual uh you know,
Speaker 6: interactions with looking at the Houston Rockets and just like
Speaker 6: in the off season, I was like, Okay, what's gonnappen?
Speaker 6: What's gona happen? Is this gonna work? Is it gonna work?
Speaker 6: It looks like it's it's it'slating, it's popping, it's moving.
Speaker 6: How are you looking at it? From the off season
Speaker 6: to somebody who obviously has much closer proximity to the team, I.
Speaker 5: Was aesthetic going in because maybe this wasn't the you know,
Speaker 5: Lebron James Durant pick up a big you know, hy
Speaker 5: ree irving box office. But we got the pieces that
Speaker 5: we needed. And if you watch the Rockets, even though
Speaker 5: the winning wasn't there the talent was there, from Alp
Speaker 5: to Jabbari to Jalen to a number of young pieces,
Speaker 5: but they were literally this was a roster guys with
Speaker 5: no veterans. So between Coachi, Doka, Fred and Dylan, they
Speaker 5: have changed it. And Jeff brings shout out Jeff Brank,
Speaker 5: He's been spectacular. Yeah, they have changed the entire landscape
Speaker 5: in Houston. So you got in love with what you're seeing.
Speaker 5: I knew it would be better. I didn't know it
Speaker 5: would be just much better in this fast and you know,
Speaker 5: the mindset isn't like, man, let's just God compete. The
Speaker 5: mindset here in Houston now it's like, yo, we're going
Speaker 5: pound for pound with any and everybody. We're not looking at,
Speaker 5: you know, moral victories. There are no moral victories this year.
Speaker 5: And I think from that aspect, that's the thing that
Speaker 5: mostly shocked me and surprised me and has me excited
Speaker 5: because it's all right, World Champs, we're going three and
Speaker 5: one with you. Let's go head to head like Lebron James.
Speaker 5: Let's go, let's let's let's we're gonna give you a
Speaker 5: thirty piece at the crib. Okay you need ay, you're
Speaker 5: not beating us this year without a D in the lineup. Okay,
Speaker 5: so you got to come with it. And the pieces
Speaker 5: that we had, they were complimented rather than shoved out
Speaker 5: the way because a lot of times you see guys
Speaker 5: make a trade. How is this gonna fit? You know?
Speaker 5: You know Phoenix, how they all going to work? Hey?
Speaker 5: Number of moves? You know, Hey, when the Nets had
Speaker 5: their big three hours, that are gonna work Philadelphia? You know,
Speaker 5: hardening being how's that gonna like? When these moves made
Speaker 5: there there were no questions with our moves. And I
Speaker 5: you know, for me, I like a I like a
Speaker 5: players that want to prove something. I like a lot
Speaker 5: of Dylan Brooks slander so he could come out and
Speaker 5: do to the great things that he's doing with the team.
Speaker 5: I like Fred, he's not worth the money. I like that.
Speaker 5: So now Fred is frustrated. I want to team upset.
Speaker 5: And that's where we had a lot of guys that
Speaker 5: want to come out and improve themselves and shoot a
Speaker 5: coach with a chip on his shoulder.
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, Udoga.
Speaker 2: Would you say it's more coach Udoka or the additions
Speaker 2: or I mean I'm sure it's a combination of both.
Speaker 2: But it feels like coach Udoka is the thing that
Speaker 2: without without which none of none of this is possible.
Speaker 2: He really seems like immediately gave them a whole new
Speaker 2: sort of animating spirit.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna give it to you right now when you
Speaker 5: sum it up, we're going we're gonna get smarter right
Speaker 5: now when we talk about this. Coach u Donka is
Speaker 5: the culture. Yeah, energy, attitude, effort, no excuses, accountability. You
Speaker 5: don't play well, you won't be playing okay. Fred is
Speaker 5: the offense. We're top five at least in the league
Speaker 5: all season and assist the turnover ratio right for a
Speaker 5: team that turned the ball over and couldn't hit free
Speaker 5: throws and the numerous losses last season. Okay. And then
Speaker 5: Dylan's the defense. He's played so hard, he's been so effective.
Speaker 5: He's a guy you can stick on another team's guy. Okay,
Speaker 5: that the rest of the guys is like first, Dylan
Speaker 5: stood out like a store of thumb, like, man, he's
Speaker 5: playing really hard and everybody's not playing normal, but he's
Speaker 5: he's playing hard hard. Now everybody's playing hard hard. So
Speaker 5: it's the defense. Fred is the offense. He mails the culture.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, I mean the yeah that I mean with
Speaker 6: third overall and defensive efficiency, that's that's a huge improvement.
Speaker 5: So yeah, number one fast break defense. And in the NBA,
Speaker 5: this NBA like like fast break defense is everything, bro,
Speaker 5: Like that's that's twenty depending on the team, that's twenty
Speaker 5: to forty points at night in transition.
Speaker 2: Right, what do you think the difference is between at
Speaker 2: home and on the road, because they they have looked
Speaker 2: kind of like different teams.
Speaker 4: Is that just a you know, youth thing.
Speaker 5: We still have young players, of course, Yeah, we got
Speaker 5: young players and we have the team that to be
Speaker 5: successful for the most part, like everybody kind of has
Speaker 5: to play well or do something like we don't have that.
Speaker 5: We still don't have that guy that just carries you
Speaker 5: to a win, you know, you don't. We don't have
Speaker 5: the like, hey, put the ball in Luca's hands and
Speaker 5: just get out there, Like we don't have that with
Speaker 5: all due respect, So and these team wins. Everybody's playing hard.
Speaker 5: It's the defense, it's accountability, it's those things. So as
Speaker 5: far as the road, like you said, you get it.
Speaker 5: We need our young players. So if they're as they're
Speaker 5: still navigating and figuring out what the pace looks like
Speaker 5: on the road, what the temple looks like, the type
Speaker 5: of shots you can take versus what you can't take.
Speaker 5: That's where the road losses come from. And then take accountability. Also,
Speaker 5: it seems if you think about Email and Boston, it
Speaker 5: was a history major at UCLA, right, the one thing
Speaker 5: they did they started out so slow, okay, and they
Speaker 5: couldn't score the basketball. Tatum was a little, all Brown
Speaker 5: was little, and then all of a sudden, like that
Speaker 5: got fired. Everybody looked up like, dang, Boston is really good.
Speaker 5: So you got you gotta like learn email system, like
Speaker 5: it kind of takes a while, Like and em is
Speaker 5: gonna find a guy and push him to be better.
Speaker 5: So that's what we're There's still those like bumps and
Speaker 5: bruises that the team can improve from because when the
Speaker 5: offense catches up to what you're saying from the defense,
Speaker 5: oh my god, we still can't score the basketball. This
Speaker 5: is a team that's doing this on defense, dude, So
Speaker 5: when the offense comes about, Oh man, I'm telling you.
Speaker 2: As a player, what what is the difference like when
Speaker 2: you're young? I guess I'm curious about, like what what
Speaker 2: that differentiating thing is you always hear like, well, young
Speaker 2: guys have a harder time making the adjustment on.
Speaker 4: The road, Like he speak to that at all?
Speaker 2: Like what what that difference is when you're a younger
Speaker 2: players when or older? Like is it just you know
Speaker 2: you're you're not used to traveling like that. You're not
Speaker 2: you haven't like learned all the tricks of like when
Speaker 2: to eat and all that stuff.
Speaker 5: We can keep it real on this podcast, right, we
Speaker 5: can keep it real, right, right, you may so, okay, okay,
Speaker 5: So from my experiences in the league, when you're a
Speaker 5: young guy, sometimes you got to learn are you a
Speaker 5: party guy? Or you will get your rest of the
Speaker 5: night before the game? Do you do you point out
Speaker 5: when you party? All right? Do I need to get
Speaker 5: in early and get shots? Because I don't have to
Speaker 5: say at home, I can go to the gym whenever. Now,
Speaker 5: we got a certain window in which we can get
Speaker 5: into the gym. Man, referees might be a little tighter.
Speaker 5: Man the role players, like forget the stars, bro like
Speaker 5: the role players play different on the road. The whistle's
Speaker 5: gonna be different. Are the referees calling it tight or
Speaker 5: they letting us play be more physical? You got adjust
Speaker 5: at what's going on. There's some certain time you're not
Speaker 5: gonna get a whistle or a call, So that comes
Speaker 5: within experience. But you've got to understand who you are,
Speaker 5: what you're gonna bring to the table. And then I
Speaker 5: think the biggest thing is mentally you figure out I'm
Speaker 5: a ten rebound guy every single night. I'm a defensive
Speaker 5: stopper every night, no matter what's going on. I am
Speaker 5: a three point shooter every night, road home, playoffs, wherever
Speaker 5: it is. Okay, like Burger King, you can have it,
Speaker 5: show way, I got you all right, you know what
Speaker 5: I'm saying. So that's the the development where Fred noaks
Speaker 5: who he is, Dylan knows who he is, Jeff knows
Speaker 5: who he is. Our young guys are still figuring that out.
Speaker 5: For a couple of our wins, it was just like hey,
Speaker 5: Fred was like no, no, no, we ain't losing. You know
Speaker 5: what I'm saying. Dylan, you know, went off and they
Speaker 5: say he can't score the basketball. He went off and scored.
Speaker 5: So those guys are doing what they can. But once
Speaker 5: those are younger guys are just and these are like
Speaker 5: close wins, Dude, like we're right there. I almost want
Speaker 5: to say, leading the Lakers and Clippers at their place
Speaker 5: on the road, just kind of figuring out how to
Speaker 5: finish games, you know, And dude, the West is the
Speaker 5: West is deep. Like Houston ain't the only one struggling
Speaker 5: on the road. The West is deep. Okay, Name the
Speaker 5: worst teams in the West. How many of them are cakeball?
Speaker 5: Name them right? San Antonio, Memphis for a little while
Speaker 5: to they get that, and I maybe forgetting some everybody
Speaker 5: else is competitive, right.
Speaker 6: The one thing I've really like to see is just
Speaker 6: how like Alison Goon is just just I feel like
Speaker 6: coming into like a new just coming to life in
Speaker 6: a way that is very fun to watch. Right now,
Speaker 6: he's leading the team and scoring. I hear things like
Speaker 6: about em talking about how he's like a calming presence,
Speaker 6: and I've heard him say really good like al saying
Speaker 6: really good things about Emy and things like that.
Speaker 3: What is that?
Speaker 5: Like?
Speaker 6: What is that is that? Like a is that kind
Speaker 6: of the special sauce right now? Is he is coach
Speaker 6: u Doka really bringing something out of him? Does this
Speaker 6: feel like it was just about a matter of time
Speaker 6: for al to just kind of get into this moment
Speaker 6: because it feels there, there's something something happening there.
Speaker 5: Systems man you remember, may come in just singing out
Speaker 5: PE's praises. He was like, if he can't defend, he
Speaker 5: might not be playing right. If he can't get on
Speaker 5: the boards, he might not be playing. Like like he
Speaker 5: may push him and never let out he get comfortable,
Speaker 5: and then and then I'll give you two factors. Okay,
Speaker 5: he's not your kids yet. Hopefully he gets to that point.
Speaker 5: He's got Fred van Fleet running the pick and roll.
Speaker 5: He's putting on a master's class and a pick and roll,
Speaker 5: and then his dive feed him, feed him for them,
Speaker 5: and out he's one of the better finishers in the league.
Speaker 5: He just has to feel. He's got that stuff you
Speaker 5: can't teach. Okay, he's got that stuff you can't see.
Speaker 5: So he got that feel for the game. And then
Speaker 5: on defense, Outpi is a better athlete than you think.
Speaker 5: He still has his moments, but he knows we're playing
Speaker 5: in the system. On defense, he knows when he goes
Speaker 5: to help, somebody got his back, and if you don't
Speaker 5: have his back, he may be laying into you on
Speaker 5: the bench.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 5: So now he's like, all right, Like there's certain guys
Speaker 5: like you put a prime Dwight Howard in the middle
Speaker 5: of the lane and nobody scored. Like no matter what,
Speaker 5: matter what you did, nobody scored the LP. Just like, nah,
Speaker 5: I need a system. I'm not a uh, you know,
Speaker 5: a Javel McGee. I'm not a you know, one of
Speaker 5: those guys. But in the system, I can be more formidable.
Speaker 5: And I'm a decent athlete. So I'm gonna go beat
Speaker 5: some stuff up. I'm gonna go make some plays when
Speaker 5: they come about, and I feel more. I feel comfortable
Speaker 5: competing because I know what my teammates are gonna be.
Speaker 5: So that's a big part of his improvements.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean yeah.
Speaker 6: Watching him and Fred like just their two man game
Speaker 6: against the Spurs, I was like, oh, okay, this is
Speaker 6: like they've they've they've got a connection.
Speaker 5: That I was, well, you got somebody who ride with you, right,
Speaker 5: you got somebody who write with you. You know where
Speaker 5: your partner's gonna be. And it's crazy that chemistry is
Speaker 5: still not even there. And then another thing, you know,
Speaker 5: this is like the cardinal sin in the NBA ALP
Speaker 5: with short roll, so short role means I'm not diving
Speaker 5: on the rim dot popping, popping for three, I short roll,
Speaker 5: I'm playing like in between, and some people don't like
Speaker 5: that because sometimes it can ruin spaces. Coach emys like ALP,
Speaker 5: do what you want to do, Bro, you want to
Speaker 5: pop pop, if you want to roll roll, you want
Speaker 5: to short roll, short roll like he's he's he's he's
Speaker 5: letting him do that. Where there were moments where he
Speaker 5: got caught in between and friends like are you short rolling?
Speaker 5: I'm gonna hit you in that spot, And a lot
Speaker 5: of times that's extremely frowned upon. So that's another element
Speaker 5: of him just being embraced, like, yo, just be you
Speaker 5: be what you are, right, And I think that's a
Speaker 5: lot of you know what we're seeing And now he's
Speaker 5: comfortable to just play ball, you.
Speaker 3: Know right, Yeah, I mean you can.
Speaker 6: So much of it's just that man management to be
Speaker 6: able to put somebody in the right mental space to
Speaker 6: just be like, just just play, just do that, and
Speaker 6: yeah we're seeing who.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, just looking at the west. Just wanted to
Speaker 2: reiterate what you were saying. So you got the Spurs
Speaker 2: and the Blazers at the bottom grizz, but Job's coming
Speaker 2: back next week. The Jazz and then the next team
Speaker 2: maybe Jazz, Yeah, the Jazz, but then you got the
Speaker 2: war here like that's the next and the Pelicans, then
Speaker 2: the Suns, then the Clippers, then the Rockets, than the
Speaker 2: Lakers and the Kings, Nuggets, Mavericks, Thunder and then the
Speaker 2: Timberwolve Like it's just.
Speaker 5: Like Rockets got okay San Antonio twice and Memphis once,
Speaker 5: but everybody else has just been a dog.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of them out out west. All right,
Speaker 2: let's take a quick break. Well, we'll be right back,
Speaker 2: and we're back and shout out to the listeners. We
Speaker 2: got a couple questions for the Rockets section from Warren
Speaker 2: Shaw asked what's been more important Udoka, the players, the
Speaker 2: Mojo King, Yes, the Mojo King. Why does Houston look
Speaker 2: completely different at home versus on the road, and then
Speaker 2: Desmond Palell talking to out Shane Gooon. So just shout
Speaker 2: out to uh, shout out to the listeners for doing
Speaker 2: our jobs. Yeah, we appreciate y'all.
Speaker 3: Also, you caught Wenby up close recently.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we do want to ask about that.
Speaker 6: You saw that, I mean we saw from many feet
Speaker 6: away in Vegas in Summer League, which again I'll always
Speaker 6: say it was not even close to me even capturing
Speaker 6: what his essence is. But what was you know, you
Speaker 6: you were? What's that like? What was it like see
Speaker 6: him up close and personal?
Speaker 5: You got a chance to be one of the greatest
Speaker 5: players that we've ever seen played the game. How mentally
Speaker 5: tough he is, how much weight he puts on one
Speaker 5: hundred percent determined on that. And even if he doesn't
Speaker 5: right now and he plays a center position, he can
Speaker 5: be like a twenty twenty guy right now. If we don't,
Speaker 5: if we didn't improve one thing about him right now,
Speaker 5: he could be like a twenty twenty guy. He's that unique.
Speaker 5: And if San Antonio had like pieces around him, he's
Speaker 5: easily twenty twenty guys. But if he goes and works,
Speaker 5: he gets bigger, he gets mentally tough, he gets upset.
Speaker 5: It's it's almost impossible to guard him with his touch, length,
Speaker 5: ability to move, and he moves. He moves with guys
Speaker 5: a foot taller than him can keep him in front.
Speaker 5: He's he's one of the most unique, if not the
Speaker 5: most unique prospect we've ever seen. So how much stronger
Speaker 5: he gets, how much more focus he gets. But like
Speaker 5: every time I've seen him, He's done something I've never
Speaker 5: seen before. Bro. He punched on chegoon where he just
Speaker 5: turned and it was it was a nerveful punch on
Speaker 5: like he punch on your boy right right, Ye used
Speaker 5: to play on the nerve fold get it in. It
Speaker 5: was a nerveful punch on it. He was like, oh God,
Speaker 5: like what.
Speaker 3: Like get your road in the.
Speaker 1: Overcheck God.
Speaker 6: Found Oh damn, somebody needs a body bag.
Speaker 4: That was terrible and we love it. We want some
Speaker 4: more of that one.
Speaker 5: Unfortunately, whether he likes it or not, his best position
Speaker 5: is probably going to be playing the five. I like
Speaker 5: what Pop is did, what they're doing with him, and
Speaker 5: I'm intrigued to see. I think what Pop is doing
Speaker 5: when you really watch them and break down, he just
Speaker 5: let him go. What are his natural instincts? Does he
Speaker 5: Is he a short corner guy? Is he trail three?
Speaker 5: Is he getting off the bounce? And I think next year,
Speaker 5: in the year after, they're going to tighten up and say,
Speaker 5: all right, wenby uh, we want you posting up more.
Speaker 5: All right, if you shoot a three, we'll want more
Speaker 5: threes in the middle of the key, you know. But
Speaker 5: right now, like he's doing whatever the heck he wants,
Speaker 5: you know, but I think assessing what's work, what's natural
Speaker 5: for him, and getting to know him, I think is
Speaker 5: kind of scary that I think the league's not looking
Speaker 5: or guys aren't kind of like looking at that, but
Speaker 5: like there's a method to the man that's over there
Speaker 5: in San Antonio.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, you know, as somebody who's played, Like
Speaker 6: when we watch were like just his length were like
Speaker 6: he's disrupting players, like even the way they're thinking about
Speaker 6: shooting or passing. And it's wild just to think like
Speaker 6: how sort of out of your own head a player
Speaker 6: can get merely because they're like I'm actually not even
Speaker 6: sure like what this guy's like length is what like
Speaker 6: what is even within range of him like swatting me
Speaker 6: or being able to pick off a patch or something
Speaker 6: like that, Like what do you think that experience like
Speaker 6: when you're trying to contend, like you're saying with something
Speaker 6: you've never seen, what like.
Speaker 3: What is that adjustment process?
Speaker 5: Even?
Speaker 6: Like like how do you even you just you have
Speaker 6: to just come up against it and be like Okay, now
Speaker 6: I know and now I have to deal with that
Speaker 6: or is there anything you even do before too?
Speaker 2: He's not like that unique if you had been watching
Speaker 2: me playing nerve hoops for.
Speaker 3: Years ixtape I remember ye, especially the MP section of
Speaker 3: your mixtape. Yeah that was wild.
Speaker 5: I mean you saw you saw the Mavericks were practicing,
Speaker 5: and I think that, uh you know, the Rockets did
Speaker 5: it a little bit too, with the big long hand.
Speaker 5: If it's he's got like as man, if I'm not mistaken,
Speaker 5: like that's the only way to contend. But like right now,
Speaker 5: what teams are doing they just bang him, They get
Speaker 5: into his chest and they draw fouls. But like that
Speaker 5: moment where he's strong enough for you to bump in
Speaker 5: and like like even if he falls back a little bit,
Speaker 5: but like he's stealing, Like it's crazy, bro, he's still
Speaker 5: in place, like the point where he gets mad and
Speaker 5: just runs to the middle of the rim, turns and
Speaker 5: just just nerve whoops. Your disgusting. It's gonna be disgusting,
Speaker 5: Like he's nerve whooping you, like like like Jack right
Speaker 5: in the middle of the rim. It's over. That's the
Speaker 5: only way. Like, like you gotta hold him up, you
Speaker 5: gotta bang with him, and then you know you put
Speaker 5: a big boy in there, he's gonna be taking you
Speaker 5: off the bounce. You know, he can legit, he can
Speaker 5: he can mix a little bit. He's not he's not
Speaker 5: quite KD you know like we thought, but I think
Speaker 5: the potential is there. Like it's crazy. You'll see him
Speaker 5: go through digitally drills like he's got a real like
Speaker 5: a real handle, and it's like, oh yeah, whatever, whatever
Speaker 5: he's been doing, it's he don't got to pretend handle it.
Speaker 5: It's really got on the string, Like it's wild.
Speaker 2: He's got the best handle for somebody that I've seen
Speaker 2: who's also leading the league in blocks or he's now
Speaker 2: tied for the lead in blocks.
Speaker 4: Uh as a, he could be.
Speaker 5: He could be defensive player the year this year. It
Speaker 5: probably should be because even though san Antonio is not
Speaker 5: competitive right now, you have to account for him every.
Speaker 3: Game, right yeah, like you got to count like where.
Speaker 5: Like when you go to me, like as a former player,
Speaker 5: we're like, bro, all right, like like what impact does
Speaker 5: he have? I think people are going at him, but like, dang,
Speaker 5: I gotta worry about this guy, Like dang, he's coming
Speaker 5: into town. Like dang, we got to change our game
Speaker 5: plan up. Like we used to play Dwight Howard. We
Speaker 5: work on shot fakes. You know, before the game we
Speaker 5: work on like floaters, like like you when you're changing
Speaker 5: your game plan for somebody that's an impact. I don't
Speaker 5: think he's necessarily like they're there yet, but if he
Speaker 5: gets hot, nothing would surprise me. I still think he's
Speaker 5: gonna like another year this season.
Speaker 4: Yeah he uh.
Speaker 2: He's also so he's tied with brook Lopez for the
Speaker 2: leading blocks and is also has the most feels of
Speaker 2: anybody in the top seventeen per game, so pretty pretty crazy,
Speaker 2: Like yeah, yeah, I picked him like as an upset
Speaker 2: pick for Defensive Player of the Year, but their team
Speaker 2: defensive stats are so bad that I don't think it's happening, right, Yeah, but.
Speaker 6: It part of me, it's like the impressive thing is
Speaker 6: like just for him being on the court, what it's
Speaker 6: doing to people, And I think, like I wish that
Speaker 6: was enough to say, like, well, defensively, like we have
Speaker 6: to kind of acknowledge like what he's done. I mean,
Speaker 6: even when like Jokicic looked a little bit out of
Speaker 6: sorts against him, I was like, wow, it's it's like that.
Speaker 4: I guess, yeah, all right, should we do it? Should
Speaker 4: we do the D season Tournament?
Speaker 5: My jack I mean, look.
Speaker 3: You know, I like to be humbled. You know, obviously
Speaker 3: I'm an unwell Lakers fan.
Speaker 6: And how does it team that's whatever about five hundred
Speaker 6: in the league, just getting to the top of the top,
Speaker 6: the height of all heights in the N season tournament.
Speaker 6: I for a second, I was like watching the Pacers
Speaker 6: get there. I was like, Okay, this is gonna this
Speaker 6: is gonna be a game.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: And it wasn't. It wasn't quite that way. It wasn't
Speaker 3: quite that way. It was actually quite comfortable in a
Speaker 3: fun watch. But ad my goodness, forty one and twenty I.
Speaker 4: Was, I was.
Speaker 6: I had tears in my eyes because I was hoping
Speaker 6: for that consistency. Yeah, I'm hoping that this can maybe
Speaker 6: be something.
Speaker 3: But we'll question, do.
Speaker 4: You guys on the title in the bubble?
Speaker 2: Like he had a game like that and then the
Speaker 2: next game it was kind of he kind of came
Speaker 2: back to earth. But yeah, yeah, yeah, if he can,
Speaker 2: if he can turn that on in the biggest moments.
Speaker 4: Uh. I like the Lakers.
Speaker 3: I like the Lakers.
Speaker 6: I mean, but that's the thing we're always saying, is like,
Speaker 6: you know, like Lebron, I mean, like, who was I
Speaker 6: was on a textir with somebody like the man is.
Speaker 6: He was like he's gotten the DeLorean for that game,
Speaker 6: and I thought he opped out in like twenty ten
Speaker 6: or something like that.
Speaker 3: But it was wild to watch.
Speaker 6: I mean, Ryan, you were watching, like what were your
Speaker 6: like overall? How did you How did you enjoy the
Speaker 6: Ncason Tournament? Cause I think like for me were us,
Speaker 6: we were like, Okay, let's see how it goes.
Speaker 3: We'll see how invested they are. And then we're like, oh,
Speaker 3: that's right.
Speaker 6: When five hundred thousand dollars is on the line, you
Speaker 6: will see people show up.
Speaker 5: Here's the thing that you got to understand about NBA players.
Speaker 5: These dudes would darn their fight over a five dollars
Speaker 5: back in a shooting game, literally like scrap Like, you
Speaker 5: guys are millionaires, multi millionaires, but y'all going to scrap
Speaker 5: over a five like and talk trash. Right. So at
Speaker 5: the end of the day, I knew just the fact
Speaker 5: of New Court, New Jersey's guys were going to play hard.
Speaker 5: National media comes in, you know, you want to be
Speaker 5: a part of it, and all those guys, man, I
Speaker 5: ain't chipping off like they were trying to win. You
Speaker 5: kind of want to nonchalantly win, like you know that light.
Speaker 5: But yeah, pats off to Lebron, And I don't think
Speaker 5: people are gonna understand its value till he's gone that
Speaker 5: he wants to give you all eighty two games and
Speaker 5: then like he's laying it on the line, like the
Speaker 5: guy loves basketball. And I think what we've seen him
Speaker 5: with two three times this year already, he's gotten better
Speaker 5: this year. It's almost like this is like his third
Speaker 5: stage of life in his basketball life right right, And
Speaker 5: like I will say, like he's adapted to his old
Speaker 5: man body all right, Like this is it like his
Speaker 5: old man body. And now he's like, okay, pull up jumper,
Speaker 5: post game pick and roll a d lob like he's
Speaker 5: knows he's in a nice little pocket of basketball right now.
Speaker 5: And then he's got guys that are defending and hustling
Speaker 5: around him, so he's like, cool, just just be in
Speaker 5: my spot, play my assignment, and I'm gonna be good.
Speaker 5: And you're seeing that from Lebron. Also, I think what
Speaker 5: people don't understand Lebron, you can now I will say it.
Speaker 5: Lebron is the greatest athlete we've ever seen in any sport.
Speaker 5: You may ravel him with like a bo Jackson, like
Speaker 5: from just the talent, how high do you jump? How tall?
Speaker 5: A fashion like, he's the greatest athlete we've ever seen.
Speaker 5: He probably could have He could have gone pro in
Speaker 5: just about anything, baseball, football, But that's you know, like whatever, right, soccer,
Speaker 5: like he gets done. He's blazing past right, right, Hockey
Speaker 5: easily easy, right, we can all agree to that. So
Speaker 5: when you go when you're like at the one percent
Speaker 5: of athletes ever and now like Lebron, let's say he's
Speaker 5: like it's seventy or sixty percent, he's still a really
Speaker 5: good NBA athlete. So when you guys, when we look
Speaker 5: at longevity, obviously skill is a huge component, but those
Speaker 5: elite off the chain athletes have the longevity because now
Speaker 5: they're just good NBA athletes. You get what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: That's how those guys.
Speaker 5: Can last and play forever. Obviously, injuries are every every
Speaker 5: bitten part of it, but like just being good like
Speaker 5: Vince Carter. When I played with Vince, I forget what
Speaker 5: year he played, like three or four more years even
Speaker 5: after that, which was disgusting, right, but Vince had a
Speaker 5: thirty seven and a half its vertical. We measured out
Speaker 5: of Petere and Santa Barbara, right, and it was like, dang,
Speaker 5: he's still killing because also Vince has a Jimmy he
Speaker 5: could shoot. So when you when you're evaluating those guys
Speaker 5: that can go through, it's those athletes that are going
Speaker 5: to be able to be able to last. And you're
Speaker 5: seeing that from LB right now, he's like a good
Speaker 5: he's like a good NBA athlete, Like he's good NBA.
Speaker 5: But you got to realize the dude was a one percenter,
Speaker 5: you know, in his prime, right.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's what it's also while to hear.
Speaker 6: I'm like, I think I'm two months older than Lebron
Speaker 6: and I'm like, oh, that's an old man body.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, yeah, and I'm going to my old Guden
Speaker 2: body by going to bed early and recognizing that I'm
Speaker 2: going to wake up at five every morning.
Speaker 6: Right, And I'm like, if I if I sit like
Speaker 6: all weird on my foot on the couch for too long,
Speaker 6: I will be limping for two minutes.
Speaker 4: When I got out the couch.
Speaker 3: But yeah, he's.
Speaker 5: He's got it.
Speaker 6: He's got the goods man, And yeah, I mean and
Speaker 6: also ar shout out shout out Austin Reeves too, twenty
Speaker 6: eight off the bench, I think, and I think he
Speaker 6: was sick or something too.
Speaker 4: So it was a very the Austin Reeves flu game.
Speaker 2: I do just want to say the ad stat line
Speaker 2: for that game forty one five assists, four blocks. His
Speaker 2: defense is like it he speaking of Defensive Player of
Speaker 2: the Year. This is the most I've been invested in
Speaker 2: Defensive Player of the Year. But like, there's some fun
Speaker 2: candidates and I feel like a d he's never won it,
Speaker 2: and it feels like he's been doing some things that
Speaker 2: are pretty impressive that like, Yeah, especially in the playoff
Speaker 2: run last year, I found a new appreciation for what
Speaker 2: a just lockdown shot stopper he is.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he was doing it both ends in that year.
Speaker 4: So yeah, all right, it's time.
Speaker 2: We're gonna take a quick break and come back with
Speaker 2: a rapid fire segment of questioning to close it out
Speaker 2: the fast this segment and podcasting.
Speaker 4: We'll be right.
Speaker 1: Back and we're back.
Speaker 6: Guess what, Ryan Hollands UCLA history major, You've come up
Speaker 6: against another u c l A History major, and this
Speaker 6: time we're gonna make history by maintaining our record as
Speaker 6: the fastest question and answer segment in all sports podcasting history.
Speaker 3: Okay, this is the.
Speaker 6: Rapid fire rounder questioning Ryan Hollins. We're gonna ask you
Speaker 6: a question. Don't think quick, just chest pass it right back. Okay, No,
Speaker 6: don't no, nothing fancy. And if we start talking and
Speaker 6: dragging things on you. You got a bit of professionalism about you.
Speaker 6: We're gonna need you to keep the segment moving too,
Speaker 6: because sometimes we get sloppy, so we will. We are
Speaker 6: gonna lean on you as well, because you're a professional
Speaker 6: in so many ways.
Speaker 4: Is that cool?
Speaker 5: I guess I'll be Jabbari right now. Just call it.
Speaker 3: Well, guess what Jabbari We're get about to get locked in?
Speaker 5: Bright start the Clock.
Speaker 4: Says it was such a mean look on its face.
Speaker 3: Because it's intense.
Speaker 5: Line.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you want to kick?
Speaker 3: I mean yeah, yeah, I guess we could.
Speaker 4: Uh who went first?
Speaker 3: Last time?
Speaker 5: Did I go first? Last time?
Speaker 4: I forget?
Speaker 2: I think it was okay, Yeah, yeah, I think you
Speaker 2: went first last time? You want me to go first?
Speaker 3: Whatever's up to you? I mean, all right, just whichever Ryan,
Speaker 3: who do you think should go first?
Speaker 5: Jack?
Speaker 4: All right?
Speaker 5: Cool?
Speaker 4: Ryan?
Speaker 2: Contenders The pretenders aka teams that need to be active
Speaker 2: ahead of the trade deadline.
Speaker 4: And why we got.
Speaker 2: The Sons, we got the Sixers, we got the Lakers,
Speaker 2: we got the Warriors. Who do you think needs to
Speaker 2: make some moves? Who do you think needs to stamp patten?
Speaker 4: Who?
Speaker 2: Who do you think is like secretly kind of strong
Speaker 2: because they've got embiiding Teres Maxy.
Speaker 3: And easy easy easy easy, don't know?
Speaker 4: Oh sorry, sorry, lead the witness objection your honor?
Speaker 5: Yeah, sustance, Okay, so okay you that was a real
Speaker 5: loaded question right there from the Lakers. I stay pat
Speaker 5: unless they can package a lot for a third star.
Speaker 5: I don't. I don't see that, just realistic unless somebody
Speaker 5: becomes very disgruntled out there, someone that would actually make sense.
Speaker 5: If I'm the Sun that stay packed. I think they
Speaker 5: have enough ob least we can't, you know, fairly evaluate
Speaker 5: them without Bradley bell Uh in the lineup. What are
Speaker 5: the other teams that you said Warriors sixes could make
Speaker 5: a move. I think MAXI is showing you that he's
Speaker 5: a guy. So maybe even if you get another score
Speaker 5: in the lineup, if you're the Warriors, I think there's
Speaker 5: a move that they can make. I'm not sure what
Speaker 5: it is exactly, but I think I think they're not
Speaker 5: contenders right now, and I think a move could put
Speaker 5: them where they need to where they need to be.
Speaker 5: You know, I think they got to be a little
Speaker 5: more youthful. They need someone to take the load off
Speaker 5: of step and Clay and obviously Chris is doing an
Speaker 5: excellent job, but just a third, third guy in the mix,
Speaker 5: you know, I think they're they're missing Jordan Poole, his youth,
Speaker 5: his excitement, his scoring. But they've gotten better as far
Speaker 5: as you know, the lowered clearly, clearly with Chris Paul
Speaker 5: lowered the turnovers. But I still think they need that
Speaker 5: like just hyper super score that just wants to come in,
Speaker 5: and that Nick Young, you know, that guy that just
Speaker 5: wants to go get a bucket, that j R. Smith Like,
Speaker 5: I think they need that element of Jordan Poole, but
Speaker 5: the other stuff, you know, you had to go let
Speaker 5: him be free, right right?
Speaker 6: Okay, biggest surprise team or players so far and like
Speaker 6: and I'll give you, you know, like any like Minneapolis
Speaker 6: seventeen and five or Minnesot'm sorry, Minnesota seventeen and five,
Speaker 6: Orlando sixteen and seven, OKC fifteen and seven Golden State
Speaker 6: is ten to twelve. Who's who surprised you or his
Speaker 6: team or player so far and it was just some options.
Speaker 5: But from your heart, I would say Chet home, Gern
Speaker 5: and Okay, see, I think that you know, there are
Speaker 5: a lot of more questions and answers with Chad. He
Speaker 5: got injured, and I think he's very unique in Oklahoma City.
Speaker 5: Like man there. I wouldn't say they're contenders right now,
Speaker 5: but like they're in the mix, and it's like funny,
Speaker 5: we just played them and they're like, yeah, we're just developing.
Speaker 5: This is a developmental year. But like they are, they're
Speaker 5: really really good and they just got a unique style.
Speaker 5: They built the culture there. I would say they stand out,
Speaker 5: really really stand out with the success that they had,
Speaker 5: uh they've had over there, so I'll give them that.
Speaker 5: And and Chat, I think he's been he's been balling.
Speaker 5: He's kind of like showed you some flashes. And if
Speaker 5: any of us were like Chat's going to be better
Speaker 5: than Wemby like with him and like you're crazy, you know,
Speaker 5: but like right now, like he he likely should be
Speaker 5: the rookie of the Year. So I would say check
Speaker 5: Bemby is something that. I don't. I don't think anybody
Speaker 5: was rolling with that take, you know that week, even
Speaker 5: for you Jack.
Speaker 2: Yeah, even for me, which you know, I'm a Wemby
Speaker 2: homer in the Camphor.
Speaker 4: All Right, who's.
Speaker 2: The most underappreciator of the all time great? Like if
Speaker 2: it's a guy that deserves to be mentioned but often
Speaker 2: left out of the all time debates.
Speaker 4: Kareem Kareem All people.
Speaker 5: Forget Kareem was Wimby before Wimby broke. He didn't play
Speaker 5: that style of basketball. But if you dropped Kareem in
Speaker 5: today's NBA, he's pushing the ball ninety four feet, he's
Speaker 5: crossing you over. He's pulling up for three. If you
Speaker 5: can shoot a skyhook after fifteen foot, you can shoot.
Speaker 5: They said he could shoot his skyhook to the three
Speaker 5: point line. It was that like his touch was that crazy.
Speaker 5: So like imagine Kareem coming down off the bout some
Speaker 5: about magic. You set the picker roll this time like
Speaker 5: he was that type of athlete. There's a poster and
Speaker 5: Polly excuse me, is it is it still Polly Pavilion
Speaker 5: or they rename it forgive me? Yeah? I played in Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 5: We're like Kareem his whole head and everything as above
Speaker 5: the rim, like Kareem was Wimby before Wimby when they
Speaker 5: talk about that goat conversation. I need more respect on
Speaker 5: Kareem's night. All right.
Speaker 2: People, I've had older people tell me, like watching Wemby,
Speaker 2: They're like, man, it's like it truly is. Just like
Speaker 2: the way he runs is a lot like watching Kareem,
Speaker 2: like move on the court, like get everything about him.
Speaker 2: And they have very similar bodies like set seven foot four,
Speaker 2: very thin.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and it makes sense that he was even you know,
Speaker 6: asking for guidance or Kareem was offering him guidance on
Speaker 6: like you know, longevity and like what to do with
Speaker 6: a body like that in the league.
Speaker 5: And lo low key, Kareem was ahead in the physical
Speaker 5: fitness game because he was doing martial arts, which added
Speaker 5: a lot of breathing yoga s. Yeah, so all this stuff,
Speaker 5: we pay all this money for him, put these names
Speaker 5: like Kareem was doing that a long time ago.
Speaker 6: Yeah, So it gets flexibility right, right, So maybe some
Speaker 6: of these guys need to get in a movie with
Speaker 6: Jet Lee or something, you know what I mean, Like
Speaker 6: how he was a Bruce Lee just you know, just
Speaker 6: to make sure you tick.
Speaker 3: All the boxes.
Speaker 6: All right, Riot, what is the most underrated NBA city
Speaker 6: to visit and what is your must have meal in
Speaker 6: that town?
Speaker 5: You know, honorable mention. Dude, I just had stirfry in
Speaker 5: Denver and I was blown away. It's the best sturfry
Speaker 5: I've ever had in my life. Like Benka had nothing
Speaker 5: on this Denver stirfry. I think it was like mister
Speaker 5: Fuji or Fiji Mount Fuji, phoebe something like that. I
Speaker 5: forget what the name was. Okay, forgive me if I
Speaker 5: butchered the name. But low key city, Fellas Miles, you're
Speaker 5: a bad one for this one city. I miss Seattle.
Speaker 5: I missed Seattle obviously. If I know Chicago, you know Miami,
Speaker 5: you know you New York? Dang, you know Dallas popping?
Speaker 4: I did not know Dallas.
Speaker 5: Dallas popping. Oh, Dallas is definitely popping intown. Hey, you
Speaker 5: guys are discussed. Why would you ask me this?
Speaker 3: You've been there, you know.
Speaker 5: That's all you got was spot.
Speaker 2: I haven't moved out to the studio in seven years.
Speaker 5: Is really spread out. I like Orlando, but it's spread out.
Speaker 5: I would say you know. It's funny. A lot of
Speaker 5: people moved to Orlando. They they play there and they
Speaker 5: always buy houses there. There's a lot of guys that
Speaker 5: live down there. Oh hey, Charlotte is turnt now. Oh
Speaker 5: yeah it is different now broo Charlotte. Okay, when I
Speaker 5: from when I was drafted there to now, it's a
Speaker 5: whole new city broke bopping.
Speaker 3: What was What was it like then and what's it
Speaker 3: like now?
Speaker 5: The downtown area there was like nothing like kind of
Speaker 5: to do. It was kind of like there and you
Speaker 5: had to like kind of drive somewhere whatever. Like Charlotte
Speaker 5: is like a like a low, low key mini Atlanta,
Speaker 5: like Charlotte Home. Charlotte is because it's it's just three hours.
Speaker 5: It's like three hours. And then you got California weather
Speaker 5: and Charlotte's the it's very comparable to California. We otherwise nice. Wow,
Speaker 5: people don't know that. Yeah, it's like yeah, all right,
Speaker 5: you heard it here great and here all right, fun
Speaker 5: fact for you guys.
Speaker 2: And finally, you can retroactively space jam yourself into having
Speaker 2: Robert Orry's career or Charles Barkley's career, which one you choose.
Speaker 5: Me give me the bread give me the bread and
Speaker 5: I get to commentate after be better after than Uh yeah,
Speaker 5: give me the bread. Shout out big shot, right, yeah,
Speaker 5: good time.
Speaker 3: Friend of the show for the Robert Ory obviously.
Speaker 6: Oh man, well Ryan his way too, Yeah yeah for real,
Speaker 6: for real, Well Ryan, thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 6: I was the jack got mad boosties. Where can people
Speaker 6: find you? Follow you? Check you out?
Speaker 3: And also you know, new music clothing. Let people know
Speaker 3: what's going on with that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, man, check me out the Ryan Honilson couitter Ryan
Speaker 5: Honolds on Instagram. I don't mind you got debating with
Speaker 5: me to but don't like call me wild names or
Speaker 5: you will be uh blocked tumbo style block with the finger. Yeah,
Speaker 5: seeing me again. Shout out. New music clothing. We got
Speaker 5: some cool stuff going for some tall people, for some
Speaker 5: regular sized people like like you two and Jabbari comfortable
Speaker 5: pants clothing. Where's the name new music comes from? There's
Speaker 5: nothing like new music, right that new music right there?
Speaker 5: You got that? You got that? Uh, whatever your favorite
Speaker 5: song is, there's nothing like new music. So nothing like
Speaker 5: the clothing. See the synergy there goes through basketball. We
Speaker 5: come out and play. We got music on driving your
Speaker 5: car new music, good thing, right, Yeah, like that new music,
Speaker 5: that new music, and so you want that feel with
Speaker 5: the clothing and shoot check out for these rockets.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 5: This has been a fun, really fun season. And again
Speaker 5: I'm interactive. Y'all write me. I likely right back, and uh,
Speaker 5: you guys keep doing an amazing job, man, fun fun
Speaker 5: stuff you guys got going here, man, keep it up.
Speaker 4: Oh, I appreciate that.
Speaker 3: I appreciate that. And yeah, you can follow us and
Speaker 3: the show. Just follow the hashtag hashtag.
Speaker 6: Bad Boostys b S d i EES for show links
Speaker 6: and updates. You can follow me on Twitter at Miles
Speaker 6: of Gray.
Speaker 4: You can find me at Jack UNDERSCOREL Brian and What's
Speaker 4: Gonna do It.
Speaker 3: It's gonna do it. We'll see you next week.
Speaker 6: Thanks for listening, and we'll have plenty more because the
Speaker 6: season never ends.
Speaker 3: I mean it does end, but you know what we're
Speaker 3: talking about. We're around and we'll be back, all right,
Speaker 3: see you guys.
Speaker 4: Bye,