Speaker 1: Well, well, well and ho ho ho ti is the season.
Speaker 1: I think we all ready for some Christmas Day games. Uh,
Speaker 1: we got Job's return, we got the state of the
Speaker 1: Knicks and MVP talk with NBA analysts Brian Geltzeiler on
Speaker 1: today's episode.
Speaker 2: I'm Jack O'Brien, I'm producer Jabari and for Miles.
Speaker 3: And this is mild and Jack at occasionally.
Speaker 4: One Davis Cup.
Speaker 3: Be driving, spinning, Katie.
Speaker 4: Curry a three stuff Curry from Don Tell again be
Speaker 4: honest with the t.
Speaker 3: Look out shows. What's you got, guys? What's up?
Speaker 4: What's up?
Speaker 3: Brian? Hey, guys, how we doing pretty good?
Speaker 1: Many you know, just enjoying this uh holiday season of
Speaker 1: NBA riches. How's the vibes? How's vibes in New York?
Speaker 1: As a as a basketball fan?
Speaker 4: It's all good. Listen. You got two decent teams, two
Speaker 4: teams hanging around in a playoff chase, both teams with
Speaker 4: the ability to go make deals to get better as
Speaker 4: we approach the trade deadline. And both teams that if
Speaker 4: they do make deals to get better, could certainly elevate
Speaker 4: their chances to advance in the playoffs. So the vibes
Speaker 4: in New York as far as basketball concern are very
Speaker 4: good and looking up you know, it's uh, you know,
Speaker 4: Jalen Brunson has changed the fortunes of the Knicks. There's
Speaker 4: no doubt about that. And I will say as well
Speaker 4: as the nuts of play, they actually I never thought
Speaker 4: i'd utter these words. They need Ben Simonthson.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I've heard people utter those words before.
Speaker 1: As a seventy six Ers fan. I've heard other people say,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 3: Who, you know who we could use right now? Benson?
Speaker 3: Like does he if he wanted to play basketball? That
Speaker 3: would be cool.
Speaker 1: But back to the Knicks, I am, how is Jalen
Speaker 1: Brunson shooting? Like how he's having one of the best
Speaker 1: shooting years of anybody?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 3: Isn't he shooting like high forties from three?
Speaker 4: Phenomenal?
Speaker 3: Forty six percent from three? Is there a world like
Speaker 3: the question?
Speaker 1: You know when when he took Dallas deep and a
Speaker 1: lot of people were like, wells, Luca took them deep,
Speaker 1: and this is the way things are from now on,
Speaker 1: Dallas goes deep. And then Brunson left and they didn't
Speaker 1: go deep, and the Knicks started making runs in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: It started being like maybe this guy is an ingredient.
Speaker 1: He's definitely an ingredient for a championship team. Is there
Speaker 1: a world where he is on a team that wins
Speaker 1: the championship and he is the best player on that team.
Speaker 3: Are we at that level yet?
Speaker 4: No? I don't think so. I don't know how you
Speaker 4: ever will be. Listen the thing about Brunson so and
Speaker 4: we the Knicks have done very well against bad competition
Speaker 4: this year and have struggled against good competition now again
Speaker 4: this particular road trip, a win in Phoenix, a win
Speaker 4: in LA against the Lakers. That's starting to look up,
Speaker 4: and that's a nice thing for them, But you worry
Speaker 4: about them defensively at that and more than that. Listen,
Speaker 4: Brunson hit through quickness and craft and smarts and an
Speaker 4: understanding of how to navigate screens. He can get to
Speaker 4: his spots at will, and it's a fantastic asset to have.
Speaker 4: But when you're in the play playoffs and then try
Speaker 4: and advance deep and you're playing against the best defenses
Speaker 4: the league has to offer, you're gonna need somebody else. Listen.
Speaker 4: I will hold to this. Brunson was at his best
Speaker 4: as Lucas wingman. It with Dallas will. I know they
Speaker 4: regret it now, they will only continue to regret letting
Speaker 4: them go and not not you know, signing him to
Speaker 4: the money that he wanted. It just it was a horrible,
Speaker 4: horrible move by Dallas. But that's where Bruntson is ideal
Speaker 4: and I think for the next Kenny Smith made a
Speaker 4: very interesting point last week that I think is important
Speaker 4: for Nick fans to kind of get their arms around
Speaker 4: a little bit. And that point is the fact that
Speaker 4: you know, the Knicks in a playoff series after the
Speaker 4: first round are never going to have the best player
Speaker 4: on the floor. With all due respect to Jalen Brunson,
Speaker 4: the teams that they're gonna play against are always going
Speaker 4: to have a better player than them. And I think
Speaker 4: that's where you get into what do they do trade wise,
Speaker 4: because that flies in the face you know you need
Speaker 4: another guy. But by the same token, is their usage
Speaker 4: there with the way Brunson and Randall dominate the basketball
Speaker 4: to actually bring in that kind of guy. So the
Speaker 4: Knicks a kind of stuck between a rock and a
Speaker 4: hard place here in terms of what to do. They
Speaker 4: have the forty eight contract, they have to go out
Speaker 4: and use it before it expires. They have all the picks,
Speaker 4: and listen, there's plug young players they have that the
Speaker 4: league is sweet on. RJ. Barrett's widely respected around the league.
Speaker 4: I know a lot of Knick fans are down on him,
Speaker 4: but he's widely respected around the league, and he signed
Speaker 4: to what's considered a reasonable deal for the player that
Speaker 4: he is. Quenton Grimes is very well respected around the league,
Speaker 4: and Emmanuel quickly is too, even though he's on the
Speaker 4: verge of getting paid and getting paid very well. So
Speaker 4: they have the young players, they have the picks, and
Speaker 4: they have that expiring deal in Fortyer to be able
Speaker 4: to go out and get somebody. But like you know,
Speaker 4: they've passed on a lot of guys. And I don't
Speaker 4: blame him for passing on Mitchell. Mitchell wouldn't have fit
Speaker 4: well here. But Mitchell may be available again, and that's
Speaker 4: gonna be the tough spot the Knicks are in. Maybe
Speaker 4: the best player they can go get is Donovan Mitchell,
Speaker 4: who's a very imperfect fit here. I don't know the
Speaker 4: elevations and then the way you need to be elevated.
Speaker 4: He certainly hasn't done that with the Cavs. With a
Speaker 4: lot of good players around him, So the Knicks are
Speaker 4: in a tough spot.
Speaker 2: So, speaking of guys that you know, you mentioned guys
Speaker 2: that Knicks fans are down on, I want to ask
Speaker 2: you about Julius Randall. Obviously, you know I saw him
Speaker 2: when he know, during his younger days, you know, out
Speaker 2: there in LA But you know he's a guy that
Speaker 2: he pretty consistently. You know, he putting up twenty three points,
Speaker 2: he's getting about ten rebounds, he's getting this is out
Speaker 2: five assists. I recognize not all numbers are created equal,
Speaker 2: but why does it seem like he's such a polarizing
Speaker 2: figure amongst that amongst that fan base in particular.
Speaker 4: Well, just because you know, there's a couple things involved.
Speaker 4: First of all, two years ago, he acted like he
Speaker 4: didn't want to be there. They got rid of his buddies,
Speaker 4: they got rid of Reggie Bullock, who was one of
Speaker 4: his close friends. Kenny Pain left who he was very
Speaker 4: close with, So he wasn't happy there. And Julius Randall's
Speaker 4: not a guy that's gonna be able to hide on happiness.
Speaker 4: He wears his emotions on his sleeve. That turned Nick
Speaker 4: fans off. Randall's a ball dominant player, and I think
Speaker 4: that bothers Nick fans also, Randall's also inconsistent defensively, and
Speaker 4: even a year like this year where you're getting full
Speaker 4: effort from him, some night he's good, depends upon the matchup.
Speaker 4: Some night he's not, and that remains a trouble spot
Speaker 4: for the Knicks. With all that said, I will say this,
Speaker 4: even with the ball dominance, his assist numbers are up,
Speaker 4: the ball's moving more. Him and brunts and played great together.
Speaker 4: You know the Knicks and they have some issues here,
Speaker 4: but I don't know that Randall is one of them.
Speaker 4: Right now. Here's my only one concern with Randall forgetting
Speaker 4: about the offensive issues because the Knicks offense have been
Speaker 4: prety efficient this year, and they've been a really good
Speaker 4: offensive team, and I know they're in the top five
Speaker 4: in the league of defensive efficiency, but not against the
Speaker 4: real good teams. They give one hundred and forty six
Speaker 4: to the Bucks in that ind season tournament quarterfinal game.
Speaker 4: I mean that's a big number. The thing is this,
Speaker 4: and you talk to the executives coaches around the league.
Speaker 4: Everybody says the same thing. It's been going on for years.
Speaker 4: You can hide one, you can't hide two and the
Speaker 4: Knicks have to hide Bruntson because he's an abysmal defensive player.
Speaker 4: Hiding Randalls some Knights and Brunton becomes a very very
Speaker 4: difficult thing for the Knicks. And Randall's inconsistent defense is
Speaker 4: something that sticks in the craw the Knick fans, and
Speaker 4: it's something that could be a fatal blow to the
Speaker 4: Knicks in a playoff series against a team like the Celtics.
Speaker 4: The Bucks are the sixers.
Speaker 3: Let's talk Mitchell Robinson real quick.
Speaker 1: There's a point earlier where we looked at his offensive
Speaker 1: boards and they were verging on like he could he
Speaker 1: could be in contention for the record. I think he's
Speaker 1: coming back down to earth a little bit, but he's
Speaker 1: still just collecting offensive boards.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think he's at five point three a game. The
Speaker 1: record is six. I believe in the like six point something.
Speaker 1: As someone who watches the games, what like does he
Speaker 1: do you get the sense that he's like a robmin
Speaker 1: type who studies the direction that people's like shots are missing.
Speaker 1: Do you think he just has like an innate nose
Speaker 1: for the ball. Offensive boards is like one of one
Speaker 1: of my Well, first of all, it's like one of
Speaker 1: the last analytic like things that people could like juice
Speaker 1: out of the analytics that like people are not efficient
Speaker 1: when it comes to like everybody should be diving in,
Speaker 1: at least briefly to try and get offensive boards.
Speaker 3: So it feels like a thing that's going.
Speaker 1: To be increasingly emphasized in the coming years. But like
Speaker 1: he seems to have a real genius for it. What
Speaker 1: what do you see there when you watch him play?
Speaker 4: It's I don't think he's not It's he's not studying
Speaker 4: the science or rebounding like Robin. He's relentless, he's very
Speaker 4: he's very quick. He's got a really quick first step.
Speaker 4: He's bouncy for guy his size. And the other thing
Speaker 4: you got to remember about him is they'll say it
Speaker 4: came into the league at what seven foot two forty.
Speaker 4: He's seven foot two eighty right now. And the dude
Speaker 4: ain't fat, all right. He has muscled up hard, so
Speaker 4: it's not only and he hasn't lost quickness, So it's
Speaker 4: not only that he beats you to the ball. If
Speaker 4: you're in his way, he's going to go through you
Speaker 4: like he's he's that physical. I mean, think about Cleveland.
Speaker 4: We talked about the Biggs last year, Mobley and Allen,
Speaker 4: what did he do to them in that first round
Speaker 4: playoff series? They couldn't keep him off the glass. And listen,
Speaker 4: Allen and Mobley are quick bigs, so it wasn't all quickness.
Speaker 4: It was sheer force at times. And that's who Mitchell
Speaker 4: Robinson is. And listen to the Knicks that will say
Speaker 4: they are so set at the center position because the
Speaker 4: way those two guys component each other, Robinson or Hertenstein
Speaker 4: is fantastic and Tom knight in and night out can
Speaker 4: pick his poison against who he matches up with, if
Speaker 4: who wants to finish with. So it really works out
Speaker 4: very very well for the Knicks that this and the
Speaker 4: Knicks guy in the words that Jay Z the Knicks
Speaker 4: got ninety nine problems, center ain't one of them. So
Speaker 4: I mean they're in good shape in that spot and
Speaker 4: I like that. I think that that's and that's the
Speaker 4: spot that they shouldn't look to trade off of. Really
Speaker 4: what they need is size on the wing. And their
Speaker 4: biggest problem, quite frankly, is that the guy that's going
Speaker 4: to be available to them is og Anobi. He's going
Speaker 4: to be out there and available. The thing is the
Speaker 4: Knicks front office and the Raptors front office are embroiled
Speaker 4: in a very big, bitter legal dispute right now. That
Speaker 4: would not get those two sides all that reticent to
Speaker 4: work with one another to make a deal, because this
Speaker 4: legal dispute is over front office intellectual capital and it's
Speaker 4: a big, big problem. And you know, Raptors suing the Knicks,
Speaker 4: Knicks counter seuing. There's a lot of bad blood there.
Speaker 4: And the thing is, if you look at the Knicks,
Speaker 4: you know the one guy that you could put in
Speaker 4: there that can elevate you on both ends of the
Speaker 4: floor as if really one of the premieer three D
Speaker 4: guys in the league is og Ananobi. And the thing
Speaker 4: is there's zero I just don't think there's any chance
Speaker 4: the Raptors are going to make a deal with the Knicks.
Speaker 4: I pretty much think rap their ownership, looks that situation
Speaker 4: and says anybody butting it?
Speaker 3: Wow, So so he's off the table.
Speaker 4: Who would you target if you're the Knicks? Listen, I
Speaker 4: don't know that there's a perfect player to target, but
Speaker 4: Danovich is available. I would take a look at him. Listen.
Speaker 4: I don't think Demark de Rosen solves any of your
Speaker 4: defensive problems. But I do think he helps you immensely
Speaker 4: on the offensive end of the floor in terms of
Speaker 4: efficiency and more than that, mid range shots late in games.
Speaker 4: And I know you have brunts and cover there, but
Speaker 4: imagine being able to run the two of those guys
Speaker 4: off each other. You gotta listen. The thing for them
Speaker 4: is they have to look at who's available. And I
Speaker 4: think for the Knicks, the best thing is consider they're
Speaker 4: playing okay here. I think they could be playing better,
Speaker 4: but they're playing okay here. I think for the Knicks,
Speaker 4: you're gonna have to take this to the end, to
Speaker 4: the deadline to see if somebody decides that they're gonna punt,
Speaker 4: and maybe that you know, right now, we know the
Speaker 4: Bulls and the Raptors are the big teams that are
Speaker 4: gonna punt. We know that the Pistons are a mess,
Speaker 4: and you can get somebody off of their team, but
Speaker 4: really who And we know Utah, so I mean who,
Speaker 4: But who are you gonna take off of Utah? I
Speaker 4: mean Collins remarking and aren't really fits there? You know,
Speaker 4: Arkson is more of the same. You know they don't
Speaker 4: have that kind of wing that you can go ahead
Speaker 4: and bring in. So like the teams that have guys
Speaker 4: available right now don't fit the Knicks great. And that's
Speaker 4: the thing for the next They're gonna have to wake
Speaker 4: this thing out. As long as they can wake this
Speaker 4: thing out to use that forty eight contract for somebody,
Speaker 4: and listen, Bogdanovic may end up being the answer. There
Speaker 4: is no anatob He's the perfect fit. You're not getting them,
Speaker 4: so I think you have to look at other options.
Speaker 4: Bogdanovich is certainly not a bad option for them, or
Speaker 4: at the right price. Maybe you do look at Donovan Mitchell.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then ideal who do you put next to Brunson?
Speaker 1: Is it like an embiid or just like an athletic
Speaker 1: wing Who is the ideal person next to Brunson? Not
Speaker 1: necessarily this season, but like eventually.
Speaker 4: Well, b would be great, but you're not getting them.
Speaker 4: He's right now with what's happening there and the way
Speaker 4: Terse Maxi has grown into his role, there is absolutely
Speaker 4: if I tell you, zero chance you're getting embid anytime soon.
Speaker 4: That situation is etchton Stone there. That's a fantastic situation.
Speaker 4: So I don't think that you have a chance to
Speaker 4: get him. I mean, listen, you're gonna have to see
Speaker 4: who decides to punt. Maybe the Clippers decide to punt
Speaker 4: at one point or another of them. With what they
Speaker 4: have going on, it doesn't look likely that they're going.
Speaker 1: To so I mean, your really, it's changed since I
Speaker 1: think the last time we talked to listeners is that
Speaker 1: the Clippers are now they put it together and are
Speaker 1: beating people so badly that they're like one of the
Speaker 1: Like they went from being I don't think they were
Speaker 1: even like a net positive on the season to now
Speaker 1: being like one of the league leaders and point differential
Speaker 1: like they're absolutely crushing it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, David, Listen, they have been terrific lately, and I'm
Speaker 4: one of the things that's turned for them, which is
Speaker 4: interesting is look, we first made the hard and trade.
Speaker 4: People forget that the Harden's first game in the Garden,
Speaker 4: Mason Plumbley got hurt, and Mason Plumbley was very important
Speaker 4: to them defensively. Now they brought Pang them types a
Speaker 4: week later and he's played pretty well for them. But
Speaker 4: the other thing that's happened for them is Zubac has
Speaker 4: upgraded his game on the glass, and played much better defensively,
Speaker 4: and they need that badly. Listen. They have to hide
Speaker 4: hard in a little bit. And the thing about Harden
Speaker 4: is he's not good guarding quick guys on the perimeter,
Speaker 4: but he can cold his own in the post because
Speaker 4: of his strength. Yeah, so that's a really important factor.
Speaker 4: So they you know, with having Leonard and George, if
Speaker 4: you want to be aggressive defensively, and Man's another really
Speaker 4: good defensive player, you put him on the floor. If
Speaker 4: you want to do that, you need to have somebody
Speaker 4: that cleans up behind him, and that has never been
Speaker 4: Zubach in his career. He's gotten much better at it.
Speaker 4: But I'll tell you they're an interesting team at the
Speaker 4: deadline as well. They don't have much to trade, but
Speaker 4: I wouldn't be surprised to see them pluck Andre Drummond
Speaker 4: from the Bulls, who I think would actually fit in
Speaker 4: really well there. And let's face it, Plumble within the
Speaker 4: next three to four weeks should be back as well.
Speaker 4: But you know, they're kind of one big a way
Speaker 4: from really being a huge factor in the playoffs assuming
Speaker 4: and it's a big assumption, Listen, We're only in December, boys, Okay,
Speaker 4: it's a big assumption, but assuming that they hit the
Speaker 4: playoffs fully.
Speaker 1: Right, all right, let's uh, let's take a quick break
Speaker 1: and we'll be right back. And we're back, and so
Speaker 1: is John Morant. Not a ton to say about his
Speaker 1: return that hasn't already been said. Capped off at twenty
Speaker 1: four point comeback with a game winner.
Speaker 3: Was just.
Speaker 1: You know, one of my favorite basketball moments so far
Speaker 1: of the season is having him back getting you know,
Speaker 1: just getting to see him not really having lost a step,
Speaker 1: just being able to truly like look like he's in
Speaker 1: the matrix and moving at a different speed, like at
Speaker 1: a different frame rate than the people who are trying
Speaker 1: to guard him.
Speaker 3: It was a blast.
Speaker 1: Thirty four points, eight a sis, six rebounds, two steals,
Speaker 1: and and then he claimed he kept receipts during his
Speaker 1: ex ended absence.
Speaker 3: I don't I don't know what that means.
Speaker 1: Maybe just focus on I don't know, but we wanted
Speaker 1: to have a conversation about MVP candidates at this point. Again,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, Brian, it's early. We don't know what
Speaker 1: the net rest of the season is going to look like,
Speaker 1: but I think there's some interesting conversations to be had
Speaker 1: early on as the Joker was like leading the league
Speaker 1: in points, assists, and rebounds.
Speaker 3: It felt like it was gonna be pretty.
Speaker 1: Pretty clear cut. But you know, they've been a little
Speaker 1: bit less consistent. Embiid has taken over as the scoring
Speaker 1: leader by a pretty wide margin at this point, and
Speaker 1: they're just.
Speaker 3: They're playing incredibly well.
Speaker 1: The Sixers they are much better at this point, Like
Speaker 1: their record is way better at this point in the
Speaker 1: season than it was last year. And basically all they
Speaker 1: did was drop hard. You know, like it's it's not
Speaker 1: a he's basically doing more with less, and it's pretty
Speaker 1: pretty impressive. It's obviously not all him. Maxi has greatly
Speaker 1: improved and just like benefited from the addage room to
Speaker 1: run and create. And Nick Nurse is a great upgrade
Speaker 1: a coach. So that's Jokic emb That was a conversation
Speaker 1: we were having last year. I feel like we have
Speaker 1: to talk about Shay because Okay, see, I think is
Speaker 1: starting to enter the conversation, like people were having the
Speaker 1: conversation about, like, man, they could actually do something this year.
Speaker 1: They look pretty good. They've got a lot of pieces
Speaker 1: to move. They could add a player, at which point
Speaker 1: I think they become like one of the favorites. They
Speaker 1: are currently second in the West Minnesota, then Oklahoma City,
Speaker 1: then Denver, than Sacramento, which can't be how the NBA
Speaker 1: drew it up those those three teams being the top markets.
Speaker 1: But I don't know, what do you guys think, Dude?
Speaker 1: Do you think Shay is a legit? He He also
Speaker 1: had a game game winner against the defending champ Nuggets
Speaker 1: earlier this week. He just looks incredibly unstoppable and is
Speaker 1: just making making everything kind of come together around him
Speaker 1: and like improving that team by leaps and bounds. What
Speaker 1: do we think of him as an MVP candidates?
Speaker 4: And I think he's on the list. I just think
Speaker 4: it's coming down to what we came down to last year.
Speaker 4: It's those you know, And I think that guys like
Speaker 4: Shay and Luca and Jason Tatum are competing for fourth
Speaker 4: And I know a lot. It's cute to want to
Speaker 4: put three saliburn in there, but I don't know that
Speaker 4: he enters that conversation at any point in time. She listened.
Speaker 4: Oklahoma City's played much better this year. They look terrific.
Speaker 4: Home has been great for them. Shay has been tremendous okay,
Speaker 4: Joel Embi dominates the league in a way that no
Speaker 4: one else does. The only guy that comes close is Jokic,
Speaker 4: and to me right now, it's Mbats a word to
Speaker 4: lose again. I think he's playing that well. And I
Speaker 4: love how Jokic has played, But Denver's dropped off a
Speaker 4: little lately, and Yokic put some weight on and certainly
Speaker 4: was much better defensively last year than he's been this year.
Speaker 4: And Giannis is playing angry. And I know the Bucks
Speaker 4: have struggled, and Giannis hasn't been as good as he's
Speaker 4: been in the past defensively, but we can say the
Speaker 4: box of struggled, But what are they one game back
Speaker 4: of the Celtics right now East, I mean, I have struggled,
Speaker 4: so you know, so they they've They've played really well.
Speaker 4: So I think it comes down to the same thing.
Speaker 4: I think we can talk about other fringe candidates and
Speaker 4: give them credit for having great seasons, like Shay, like Luca.
Speaker 4: I think we certainly can do that. It's bottom line,
Speaker 4: this is something that is embiid, jokichianis and I think
Speaker 4: Giannis is the third out of them. I think it
Speaker 4: comes down to them beating Jokic and right now Joel
Speaker 4: Embiid is being done. Listen, one thing I'd say you
Speaker 4: said about the Sixers that I would I don't know
Speaker 4: that he's doing more with less. I think he's doing
Speaker 4: more with better pieces. Max Maxie didn't fit great with
Speaker 4: Harden and that it just wasn't a good fit. Getting
Speaker 4: rid of Harden has helped Maxi be better. It's helped
Speaker 4: the Anthony Melton be better. It has been a really
Speaker 4: key guy for them this year. And then listen, I
Speaker 4: know they were without Kelly Oubray for a period of time.
Speaker 4: He's been terrific for them. He is telling them a
Speaker 4: ton And listen, the Clippers are ready to lead Covington
Speaker 4: and Marris for dead. Covington and Mars, especially Mars, that
Speaker 4: both played well for them and given them some lived
Speaker 4: minutes off the bench for productive minutes. So I just
Speaker 4: think the Sixers are a better team than they were
Speaker 4: last year with Harden because the pieces fit better, and
Speaker 4: Embed is playing great. He's been terrific. He really has been,
Speaker 4: so I you know, I give him all the credit
Speaker 4: in the world. He's playing great. But by the same token,
Speaker 4: you know, I think we kind of have to look
Speaker 4: at all this and realize that it's great to amass
Speaker 4: talent on a basketball team. It really is. But the
Speaker 4: bottom line is the pieces still have to fit, and
Speaker 4: in this particular case, the Sixers pieces fitting around and
Speaker 4: be this year much better than last year.
Speaker 3: Jabari, you gotta you gotta pick.
Speaker 2: Well, Yeah, I mean for me, as we discussed ahead
Speaker 2: of the you know, ahead of the show, I think
Speaker 2: embiid as a leader in the clubhouse, but I think
Speaker 2: I might lean more towards Shay as being in that
Speaker 2: mix and not just you know, not necessarily being on
Speaker 2: the you know, on the outside looking in with Luca
Speaker 2: and and and and perhaps that's you know, perhaps that's
Speaker 2: on me. Perhaps that's because I wasn't full discloser, Brian.
Speaker 2: I wasn't as I didn't see it as quite as
Speaker 2: Jack did a head of the season. Jack ahead of
Speaker 2: this season actually put money on Okay s Now not
Speaker 2: just the we're not talking pre season, we're talking July,
Speaker 2: when we were in Vegas in July, on ok C
Speaker 2: to win this year's title. So maybe maybe it's because
Speaker 2: I never I didn't see that as any chance whatsoever,
Speaker 2: And suddenly, you know, I'm looking at him as continued development,
Speaker 2: you know, being able to welcome like a talent like
Speaker 2: Chit right into the fold, and you know, you know,
Speaker 2: everybody finds their own groove. I guess that's why I'm
Speaker 2: giving I'm probably giving extra credit as a result of that.
Speaker 1: Out of surprise, whereas I knew exactly that this was
Speaker 1: going to happen, and so I'm less impressed. Uh, And
Speaker 1: I agree that it's embeid. Here there's a great moment
Speaker 1: on the game winning shot that Shaye head over Denver
Speaker 1: where he releases the ball and it's the game's in Denver,
Speaker 1: and it gets loud in a very specific way that
Speaker 1: you only hear when a home crowd knows they're about
Speaker 1: to have their hearts ripped out. And it's like this
Speaker 1: like exhale inhale, loud, like screaming backwards. Thing like that
Speaker 1: they should add it to like what one of the
Speaker 1: noises they put in the t Rex scream in Jurassic Park.
Speaker 1: It's like a truly haunted sound, and I feel like
Speaker 1: it is the sound of greatness. Like everybody in that arena,
Speaker 1: every one of those fans of the champion, the defending champs,
Speaker 1: knew that was going in.
Speaker 3: They just like you.
Speaker 1: If we could insert it here, it's like, ah, it's
Speaker 1: like uh roar backwards or something, and it's I haven't
Speaker 1: heard it in a long time, but it feels like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, it signified something to me about Shay.
Speaker 2: I'll annoy some people. It's the sound that you used
Speaker 2: to get when Kobe was playing on me. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: I'm not I'm not comparing the two players. I'm not
Speaker 2: doing that, but I know that exact sound where the
Speaker 2: even though opposing crowd knows hush.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, let's uh, let's take one more break
Speaker 1: and we'll come back. And we're back and uh, Brian,
Speaker 1: I know we're about to lose you. We do want
Speaker 1: to give you a couple of rapid fire questions before
Speaker 1: you're gone.
Speaker 3: Who is the.
Speaker 1: Most underappreciated of the all time greats? Uh? You're and
Speaker 1: by the way, this is the fastest segment of podcasting.
Speaker 1: You're not supposed to think about your answers. Just boom,
Speaker 1: let it go. No, no Dailly Daly and no no
Speaker 1: beating around the bush. Greatest most underappreciated of the all
Speaker 1: time greats?
Speaker 4: Uh?
Speaker 3: Someone who deserves to be mentioned, but is often left.
Speaker 4: Out Oscar Robertson he was doing the triple double before
Speaker 4: the triple double was a thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, all right, keep going.
Speaker 4: You can go back.
Speaker 2: You can go back in time and permit either Prime
Speaker 2: Ewing or Prime Mellow to take this run with this
Speaker 2: particular Knick squad in today's game.
Speaker 4: Which one are you choosing? Prime? Youwing every day of
Speaker 4: the week and twice on Tuesdays?
Speaker 1: All right, you correctroactively space sham yourself into having my
Speaker 1: good friend Robert Ory's career or Charles Barkley's career.
Speaker 3: Which one are you choosing?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Like rings, I would take Robert Ariy's career as
Speaker 4: much as I love Chuck, who was dominant and had
Speaker 4: a blast. But you know what, Robert Ry always found
Speaker 4: himself there when teams were winning, and he made some
Speaker 4: big shots of the help this.
Speaker 3: Team do it, just as Jewelry just in general, Like, yeah, just.
Speaker 2: All right, lead one more and you can have any
Speaker 2: players skill set for one day. Who's in what skill
Speaker 2: set would it be?
Speaker 4: That's an outstanding question. That's one that I've never actually
Speaker 4: thought about, but I guess I have to give you
Speaker 4: a quick answer. I would tell you any an active
Speaker 4: player or player in history. Let me ask him that way,
Speaker 4: any player ever, any player ever, if I could have
Speaker 4: their skill set, I would probably tell you Michael Michael
Speaker 4: Jordan's the pad answer, like it's the easy answer, you know.
Speaker 4: But I will tell you that very I never enjoyed
Speaker 4: and admired a player more than watching Magic Johnson at
Speaker 4: his prime, what he was able to do at his
Speaker 4: side and this asketability and just spoorting the fast break.
Speaker 4: And to me, that was a specialist special could get
Speaker 4: and that was the guy I wanted to be.
Speaker 1: I love it all right, Well, Brian, such a pleasure
Speaker 1: having you. Where can people find you? Listen to you
Speaker 1: all that good stuff?
Speaker 4: You can get me on Twitter, slash x at Beagalt's NBA.
Speaker 4: You can hear me on NBA Weekend on Serious XMNBA
Speaker 4: Radio seven to ten am East Drink Time every Saturday morning,
Speaker 4: and I host This week in NBA Radio every Sunday morning.
Speaker 4: That's eight am to ten am on Sirius XM NBA Radio.
Speaker 1: All right, Brian Geltzeiler, thank you so much for joining us,
Speaker 1: and yeah, happy holidays to you and yours.
Speaker 4: All right, all right, you two guys, thanks so much.
Speaker 3: Take care all right, take care.
Speaker 1: So usually we end with rapid fire, but where we
Speaker 1: do have to mention a couple people who are kind
Speaker 1: of on a tear right now. I don't know if
Speaker 1: we've talked about him yet. I think it is is
Speaker 1: it pronounced Joel or Joel? I think it's like for
Speaker 1: the Hoel, like the first Hoel embiid from the seventy
Speaker 1: six ers. We're just gonna go through his last seven games, uh,
Speaker 1: forty fourteen and six assists, forty two, fifteen boards and
Speaker 1: three assists, thirty five thirteen boards, two assists, forty one,
Speaker 1: eleven boards, five assists, you know, thirty four ten, six,
Speaker 1: thirty eight, fourteen, three fifty thirteen seven. During that time,
Speaker 1: the Sixers have been six and one, and he is
Speaker 1: mainly doing that while sitting out the fourth quarter because
Speaker 1: they're just destroying teams and Philly is now the top
Speaker 1: point differential team by a pretty good margin eleven point three.
Speaker 1: They're outscoring opponents by eleven point three points. Boston's in
Speaker 1: second with eight point six. That was just Boston was
Speaker 1: always the king of that. Like Boston was always number
Speaker 1: one point differential, So it just feels nice to be
Speaker 1: number one point differential and I don't know, man, he's
Speaker 1: he's on one once again. I don't people keep waiting
Speaker 1: for him to like fall off. They're like, yeah, well
Speaker 1: this is you know, he's at his peak. So they're
Speaker 1: really better, like make some moves now because he's gonna
Speaker 1: his body parts are gonna start falling off of his
Speaker 1: body next year.
Speaker 3: But it hasn't happened yet. Knock on wood, Dame.
Speaker 1: We should talk about Dame's put up in his last
Speaker 1: three games. My favorite player to watch while locked in,
Speaker 1: while he's at this in this type of zone. Last
Speaker 1: three games forty points, three boards, four assists, thirty nine points,
Speaker 1: five boards, eleven assists, thirty three points, four boards, five assists,
Speaker 1: and Milwaukee is eight and two over the last ten
Speaker 1: and second in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 3: They seem to have.
Speaker 1: Figured out like how to kind of start working things
Speaker 1: together between he and uh Giannis, they seem excited to
Speaker 1: be playing together.
Speaker 3: It's it's fun. Things are fun in Milwaukee.
Speaker 1: Things they are fun in the NBA for the reasons
Speaker 1: we expected them to be, Like all the good teams
Speaker 1: are starting to come together and be like, yeah, at
Speaker 1: least out East, at least out East.
Speaker 2: I would say out West, some of us are a
Speaker 2: little bit of we're still trying to figure it out, but.
Speaker 3: Still getting your footing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then uh, Ben Carro, Baby, we're gonna do
Speaker 1: a month over month comparison. He's he's like, uh, the
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow of the NBA. He's a slow starter who
Speaker 1: gets it going as he goes. October twelve points a game,
Speaker 1: five boards, forty four percent true shooting percentage. November twenty
Speaker 1: point nine, six point six boards, fifty eight true shooting.
Speaker 1: December twenty six point one points, eight point one boards,
Speaker 1: fifty five percent true shooting.
Speaker 3: Uh. For a guy who just turned twenty one years old.
Speaker 4: So pretty good.
Speaker 3: He might be good or we'll see. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Tik and Mary had a career night where he made
Speaker 1: twelve of thirteen threes, which is good.
Speaker 3: I think that's pretty good. Scored in the forties.
Speaker 1: It was the most threes by a player that young
Speaker 1: since trying to see what this guy's Kobe.
Speaker 3: Bryant, Oh, yeah, you know, I've heard of him. And
Speaker 3: speaking of Kobe Bryant.
Speaker 2: Eighteen years ago today, Kobe outscored the entire Mavericks team
Speaker 2: through three quarters.
Speaker 4: Jack did you.
Speaker 2: Did you ever see that game or do you can
Speaker 2: see the clips of that game?
Speaker 3: I don't think I did. Now I watched I.
Speaker 4: Watched it live, and I can tell you it.
Speaker 2: It's it's cliche to say it now because, like you know,
Speaker 2: people you just want to be different. But it was
Speaker 2: even more impressive than the eighty one one point game
Speaker 2: that he had just a few weeks later, and specifically
Speaker 2: because he did it through three quarters at the end
Speaker 2: of the At the end of the third quarter, the
Speaker 2: Lakers broadcast put Kobe sixty two Mavericks sixty one. Phil
Speaker 2: asked him, do you want.
Speaker 4: To go get it?
Speaker 3: He said, nah, I'll do it again pretty good.
Speaker 4: Phil gave him the choice.
Speaker 2: Said do you want to go Do you want to
Speaker 2: go out there and do it in the fourth and
Speaker 2: you know, go for a hundred.
Speaker 4: Even he said no, I'll do it again. In three
Speaker 4: weeks later, here we were that.
Speaker 3: He put up to eighty one, which is the second
Speaker 3: most still to this day.
Speaker 2: Yes, still still to this day eighty one. But then again,
Speaker 2: there's no footage of that hundred. So I'm just gonna
Speaker 2: say eighty one is the most.
Speaker 1: The most points we've ever seen scored in an NBA
Speaker 1: game we've ever seen. It's uh, it does go against
Speaker 1: what pew like people are like, Oh, Kobe was you
Speaker 1: know all about Hi getting his getting his stats and
Speaker 1: so I don't know, Wil was just out there doing
Speaker 1: that just for sheer like it.
Speaker 3: There wasn't anything fun about what Wilt was doing.
Speaker 1: He's just walking down below the basket, holding his hands up,
Speaker 1: getting the ball thrown at the net, catching it, tipping
Speaker 1: it in.
Speaker 3: No, I actually don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't think I've seen a full game's worth of
Speaker 1: Will Chamberlain highlights. So all the old heads can get
Speaker 1: mad at me for that, but that is pretty like
Speaker 1: watching him play. He looks like he's having so much fun.
Speaker 1: Kobe enjoyed playing basketball.
Speaker 2: And destroying teams in particular, so in specific teams like
Speaker 2: the Mavericks at that time.
Speaker 4: So yeah, no, that was a heck of a lot
Speaker 4: of fun.
Speaker 1: All right, Well those are those are the stories that
Speaker 1: has been another year in the books for Miles and
Speaker 1: Jack got Matt Boosti's thank you superproducer Jabbari for putting
Speaker 1: it together, thank you super producer Brian Jefferies for editing
Speaker 1: all of it together, and thank you guys for listening.
Speaker 1: You can follow us on Twitter. I'm at Jack Underscore,
Speaker 1: Obrian Jabari, Where can they find you?
Speaker 4: I'm at Jabori Davis NBA.
Speaker 2: Make sure you follow mild At at Miles of Gray.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and uh and then you can look for
Speaker 1: us hashtagging Matt boostis Is that what we hashtag it?
Speaker 3: And that's gonna that's gonna do it.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the Christmas Games, enjoy your holidays, and we'll be
Speaker 1: back in the new year. We will talk to y'all then.
Speaker 3: Bye.
Speaker 4: Peter.