And now the low-post podcast is Friday morning and it is time on this not nice Friday on the east coast to say to utter to whisper The three most anticipated words in niche basketball podcasting. What up, Beck? Good morning, Zach. Good to see you when you said when you went to whisper, which I don't think you've done in this intro before I was a little worried you were gonna go down the road of the Atlanta Hawks social media feed with their only fans Promotion and I don't see it don't want to see it Don't want to have anything to do with it sounds like a sounds like a swing and a miss not quite as bad as the swing in the Misses the heat of the heat culture jerseys and Small font floors the whisper was actually as I was whispering as I was whispering I was I was realizing that I was channeling my I don't know if you saw this viral video yesterday Stephen a Smith answering the question of which night of the week This was a question posted on his show which night of the week is it worst to be horny and he went into a hole I Sunday Sunday night you might not be in the mood with Friday and Saturday Friday and Saturday gentlemen You got close you got close and I'm talking CLO SE Yes, that's what he said in a tone I in a tone where I was like I'm sort of riveted and disturbed all at once watching this.
Well, how did this happen? It was amazing I'm not quite as amazing as what did you want to interject something before we get to the real? I was gonna say I did not see nor hear that clip But thanks to the fine folks at awful and outside guy had read the transcript of yesterday And I was just as fascinated and bewildered. I think as you were hearing the actual thing and that was it I once I read the transcript.
I'm like, okay, I got it. I understand the point. I'm moving on with my life By the way, not a creative answer by Stephen a I was hoping for something out of the box like let me tell you about Thursdays And why Thursday's think okay, you know who doesn't stink the biggest story of the week in the National Basketball Association Maybe I'm sure we could debate it the Philadelphia 76ers 10 years of drama 10 years of bizarre draft Occurrences disappearing jump shots disappearing stars disgruntled stars trades made from weird positions of leverage or lack of leverage All of this people who forgot how to shoot Joellen beat went to cutter for a while to get to get treatment on his feet remember that one I think it was cut maybe it was great. I can't remember and now out of all of this James Harden is with the Clippers They are oh and two with James Harden their play has been I would say Embarrassing and amateurish in those two games.
We'll get to that later and the Sixers Six and one number one in the East just thumped the side in the thumb to sell a little too close for comfort down the stretch after some gas By the six beat to Celtics at home. They are fourth in offense fourth in defense Effectively tied with Boston for the number one net rating in the entire National Basketball Association and Tyree Smacksey is Staking his claim as a flat-out all-star a potential legit true blue I can be the second best dude on a championship team. You thought maybe we traded away that guy No, I am that guy. We don't even need the other guy.
We're good 25.7 assists He never turns the ball over chemistry with Joel on the pick and roll is getting better every game income Robert Covington old Process favorite Nick Petume and together with Kelly Ubray and D Anthony Mountain and Tobias Harris suddenly between maxi and Embiid The Sixers are switchable with three and D shooters everywhere we know mr. Beck that they're not satisfied that Darrell Maury got these two first-round picks and And and got these draft assets got these players with an eye on making a trade and I think if this keeps up And I'm not saying they're gonna go 61 every seven games But if they're like a little closer to true title contention than I think even they thought As they were trying to extricate themselves from the hard-end mess if that proves true I think it really widens the possibilities of what they can do on the trade market all the way like down to nothing on One end of the continuum like let's just save all this stuff save all our cap space and all the way to on the other continuum Oh someone really really good as maxi a number two guy becomes available Let's try to get into that bidding and everything in between this team is is one We have both followed from close and from afar East coasters both of us for a long time now We are veterans of the process. We remember Sam Hinky and the resignation letter fondly our shirt collars are of normal size I think and and our ex-accounts are have our names on them mr. Beck What have been your takeaways watching the Sixers?
I think outperform expectations early You just reminded me to of when game of zones did Brian Calangelo's callers, and they were like, I don't know 50 feet high Uh god, I miss game of zones. I do not miss those colors. I do not think either of us could pull off that collar um The big picture version of this I think it puts The proper context around how patient slash stubborn dale moraine the Sixers were about the harden deal Because the more they saw of maxi and maybe even they knew even before the season started to unfold The more confident you could be that you know what if james art is not playing We're fine and we can wait as long as we need to and we can hold out for whatever package we're gonna get now They still didn't get exactly what they wanted out of it obviously, but You know, there's so many different ways to evaluate a trade There's this the very basics of did you get the right value for the things that you sent out compared to what you got back? But then there's also just the context of your team when the context of this team is If if the whole concern is that you're trading away a star or superstar or whatever james harden is at this late stage of his career And you need to get a star back if you already have another star in waiting It changes everything which is as you just so well illustrated with your description of where they are Right now.
It was interesting yesterday. I won't go into the same whole rambling soliloquy Because I was already accused on twitter this morning of soliloquies, which is fine because I like the words soliloquy But I was on Bill Simmons's pod last night. We were talking about this There's a really fascinating discussion kicked off by Kyle newbeck who does a great job covering the sixers of just the idea that in this This team and then as other people piled on or added to the conversation in this era We're not in a super team era And if you've got your two stars if maxi and b are your your two tent poles Do you really need to go all out to go find the third star or in an era where we're not you're not trying to knock out super teams anymore The sons and clippers are attempting to various degrees of super team But yeah, so Kyle newx point was why don't they just use those assets to go get some other good high level role players You know, maybe this isn't the all or nothing and it's interesting too because we're talking about darryl mori Darryl chases stars has always j stars from the very beginnings of his time in houston and at the expense of chemistry and culture and Just just get me the stars and like all that other stuff vibes and cohesion That's all bs just get me the stars and we'll figure it out And it is partial defense like I don't know plenty of like Because he's always viewed as doing this because he's somehow a computer or not a person I've seen plenty of like human being slash basketball people hashtag basketball people who Came up as players and gms and coaches or whatever do the same thing, right? If you're a gee, you chase stars because stars win top 10 top 20 type talent wins It's just not unique to darryl, but I do I'd be fascinated to see that the the the algorithm inside his brain working on this scenario now Because I wonder how much he's considering this is he really still thinking i've got to get one more Knock it out of the part top 15 top 20 minimum type player Or is he actually recalibrating himself thinking considering the context of the league where it is right now And considering the heights that maxi's already achieving and could get to Yeah, maybe they don't need to go all out and maybe they don't need to be impatient about it either And maybe all of us who were saying it's a two team race in the east I think we're already kind of expanding that right?
It's a minimum three team race now unless unless it's still a two team race and we've written off Milwaukee Which feels a little pretty much no i'm not going to write off milwaukee Until we see more of dame jones and middleton and boy oh boy the bucks broadcast last night Just just celebrating oh chris middleton's back in the game is gonna get to 20 minutes The minutes restrictions getting a little higher very efficient until I see more of those three I think the bucks will be fine. We're gonna talk about the bucks a little later. It's just been From game one which is ironically philly's only lost of the season The next day breaking down dames debut from a walk yesterday another one I know james court 39 made some daggers and stuff didn't look awesome to me like supporting cast didn't look awesome to be But back to philly I mean hovering over all of this is the 50 million dollars or whatever of pap space that they're set up to have this coming summer Because they did not extend tyree smaxi along with the other star players in his rookie class He is had to sort of eat the kawai Leonard sandwich of like hey man wait, we're gonna get a cap space Um and you know to his credit. He's put on a good face I'm sure he'd love to money.
He understands that he gets it and he knows the deal think about it if you're the sixers I think I think this team is already good enough that you do not have to reach In terms of assets in terms of contract coming back to you if it's even a little bit troublesome or unpalatable In terms of just player. Um, like if it's a player that's like pretty good But maybe a bee-mind is fit on your team. Maybe it's a guard a shooting guard Who struggles on defense and with him and maxi together like that's gonna be a little bit of you like you don't have to reach for that player Usually, you know what we're gonna we're gonna no we're not gonna do that. Um and and and you can also do like then you have the whole thing of um Well, should we how many should we really go all we really love that player over there?
Let's just make up let's just let's just for the sake of argument Just say oh gianna know because that that's the guy the first guy that came to mind when they traded hard it was ogianna No being the Raptors by the way playing pretty well. It's got barns. Holy smokes. Let's just say that the raptors Slump and two months from now, they're like yeah, give us everything for ogianna know But then you have the decision of like what if we can just get him in the off in the off season for like nothing And in the meantime because we can just sign him and in the meantime we can trade like a little asset for exactly the kind of role player I guess Kyle new back.
I haven't read his piece yet. It's talking about why can't we just take hit a single now? Try to hit the home run and free agency without trading anything for for it And that is one of those things that were that sounds great sounds great. Oh we can get him for for quote free It has come back to bite a lot of teams in more glamorous markets than philadelphia in the past I think this is now set up to be one of the most interesting self-plots in the entire nba the sixers Maybe in the inner circle of contenders, maybe unexpectedly even to them with a very complicated trade dilemma that begins now Accelerates in february and touches on july I don't know what the answer is.
It's gonna depend on the player the team and everything But all I know is this like they don't have to they should not feel any pressure to go headlong into anything That doesn't feel like a really snug fit for them whether it's a big one or a small one And yet I should note because we all played a part in this. I touched on at least a couple times too We spent the whole summer not the whole we spent part of the summer going oh boy clock sticking with juelon bead You know this this harden thing's hanging over them and he wants out but simmons forces wait like how It's only a matter of time. It's only a matter of time and Embieged sort of lightly fed into it with whatever off hand remark he made on a podcast or a stage somewhere. I can't even a panel a panel um And but that was really it like we haven't exactly heard a lot of juelon bead, you know passive aggressively aggressive aggressively anything Um throughout that saga and it's resolved pretty well And I think to whatever extent to whatever percentage chance there was of well, you got to keep an eye on that I think at the moment we could safely say that that that's just put to bet nothing is ever safe in this league You never know but I don't see there's no real reason to think that they should be worried about that right now which removes that other piece which is the I know look he's getting he's starting to get up there in years But the you can't afford to waste another year of juelon beads career So you have to do xyz right now I don't think that pressure is there right now because of how well they've started and if this continues and there's no reason to think that that they can't Sustain this level.
I think I'm be patient about the other thing about trades, of course the og and obis and areas and anything else, you know above or below that This is never completely in the control of the team that we're talking about right like the guys have to actually be a Available and every especially in the case of an obi there's only been like 72 different versions of him going to team x Possibly for 47 draft picks and what and none of these have ever happened because the Raptors really haven't been all that inclined To trade him and so we can obsess about all these things and speculate on who they could go get But a lot of this is just the course of the season when her team's willing to pivot pull the plug on what they're doing or whatever to Make that play are available. You know who should be available unless a remarkable turnaround Of which there is no evidence that it's coming occurs is everybody on the Bulls just the whole kit and kaboodle I look this up today Demar to rosin exactly mean and the cola vuci bitch three alphas do point oh three betas 1.0 Has played 193 minutes together season 193 minutes. So what's that like four games ish if you go like 48 times whatever What do you think the teams plus minus is in those 193 minutes? You had a guess total total are we doing per 100 total total 193 minutes for cumulative games of NBA action with the three betas on the floor What do you think chicago's plus minuses total um I'm gonna say like minus 45.
Oh, so optimistic Howard such a sunny outlook on life minus 81 Now Yeah, some luck is playing under that the Bulls can't make a jump shot They don't take any threes all they take is long to in opponents are shooting 40% from free Really, it's gonna turn around for the look this is there these guys have never been good together for one second There are plus minus coming into this season was about a big flat zero and zero's not bad It's just bad if it's all your best players together at the same time No matter what your team even like the wizards should have a plus minus better than that with their three best players on the floor together My point is the Bulls are not good But then you look at like i'm just just as an example zaklavine has a gazillion dollars owed to him over the next four seasons Um is a minus on defense? That's just not one i'm going headlong into i'm not compromising my cap space or my trade cabinet of assets For that de rosin on an expiring contract kind of interesting Weird fit again a minus on defense Although he's gotten a little better as he's moved down the positional spectrum and whatever but like takes a ton of long twos Not really sure that that's the one that words either if i'm philadelphia What do you think when you watch the sixers? Look maybe it's more useful to talk not about players about skill sets for this particular team If you're looking at this team this philly team you're like hey man, we're really good Like we we got a we got a shot not only that like a couple of these players We just got are not throwings like nikba tomb and robert covington are helping us they're like closing some games for us Um, what what do we actually need to really fortify ourselves right all right? We're gonna try to win three playoff series in the east with this team What skill set do you what when you watch them what skill set do you think okay?
There's a little bit of a void there um real real quick because you mentioned the bulls I just want to just throw this in there because uh on the rigor before the season started We were all asked for like one trade you'd like to see and i basically said jomardah rosin anywhere Just somebody just rescue him from this malaise Rescuing him as if as if the bulls are doing him some sort of disservice Because i don't know i guess it's because one demarter rosin is a great upstanding guy Really good player was part of some really fun raptors teams that hit their ceiling Maybe went beyond their ceiling and then he was sacrificed for them to go get co-itlettered and they went to championship without him And then he's just kind of like you know demarter rosin will be fine But of of all those guys like i i hate the the built-in um Obso obso obsoletion obso obso leateness I don't know the built-in obso lessons there's the word of the bulls They were just obsolete from the moment they did this the moment they put together the three betas as you've dubbed them You knew they were never going to really be anything other than like a low playoff team that loses the first round They do that formula they do look if there's no extension coming for demarter rosin it's Borderline irresponsible team management to not trade him for whatever you can get and because it's not as if They're holding on to him for the sake of a team that is actually looks to be going somewhere this season If there's no extension coming and we're about to hit thanksgiving Like it's i'm not saying that but anyway back six or six or six i have an answer to my other question Every great team needs more playmaking um whether that's a playmaking gourd a playmaking wing probably a playmaking big wing good luck finding one Um, you want secondary playmakers and you know you want guys who can run things when maxis off the court Um, I don't have anybody up top of my head and like you know look Tobias Harris You can run off that sort of biser's and times is i think he's a decent player he's been he's been great man flying down the open floor in transition has really made himself Accredible to good defender at almost every every position but center like it which you didn't see coming two or three years ago Tobias Harris he is bought in to whatever the Sixers have needed him to be particularly defensively and after repeated uh having to have the Um like the trade rumors were always hanging over him now He's got you know, hey, you're the expiring hanging over him whether that's because he's gonna be used as the anchor of a trade because of his salary Or whether he's just coming off the book like it's he's just rolled with it all uh been been great Um, but yeah another another playmaker of some shape and size seems like the play here and I don't think it's an urgent thing but you know, um I you know, I think of the again unfair comparisons and standard But like I think of the role that Andre gadala played for the warriors early on in the run, uh, especially off the bench Like it can you find I don't know is there is there an igadala type out there? You know bigger wing who can defend a little Pass make plays run the offense when maxes off the floor. I don't know I don't know if that person is is there But tomb is not that guy but he is a nice connector type extra passer that I think will really help them in that regard if they if they keep him I you nailed it. I think I think as unbelievable as maxi has been they need another guy who can really dribble and make plays at a level That's higher than d Anthony melton and to bias Harris and like you're not gonna find the perfect guy the perfect player Like yeah, of course we want can I get a three and D wing with some play making sure they make all make $50 million a year?
Basically like it's hard to do but Teams and particularly boston who I don't think in that game was that Wednesday night I don't think they hunted maxi on defenses mercilessly as they would in the playoffs But they are gonna throw tons of sides at him They're gonna blitz him They're gonna mix up coverages to take away the pocket pass to mb stuff that they did against harden too Like the great teams are gonna throw a lot of different looks at him And force him to give the ball up to somebody other than joell and that guy's gonna have to do something So I'm just that that's the number one need to me But this is a really good rosser and by the way you mentioned terence man, and they didn't get everything they wanted look It's possible there mark deeks cap guru 1.0 one of the best of the best in this business ever wrote a piece for forms I think about how there are no winners in the james harden trade james harden's not gonna be a winner The clippers are not gonna be a winner the Sixers are not gonna be a winner and he clarified it later Maybe even in the piecing look I get why people want to argue that the Sixers are I quote unquote winner of this trade because they salvaged a completely toxic Situation and got out of it, but in marks telling they also created However, you want to spin it some of the toxicity in the situation and yes They did this Houdini acting out of it are they winners? I would argue and again They didn't get man. They didn't get the two clippers first round picks that they really really wanted to unprotected 20 in 30 Um, I would argue that look it's too early to say anything But I think it's it's gonna be pretty clear soon That what the Sixers have done here is better than either losing harden for nothing or resigning harden to like a three-year 150 million dollar contract now if it's a two-year contract or a one plus one Maybe that becomes a different story that doesn't seem to have been palatable for James Harden thus the whole thing that happened I think they've come out of this in a middle road with optionality and some hope that if it's not the quote unquote a plus What they won the trade it's a decent outcome for them And yeah, no man no picks whatever, but I think it's clearly a better path than either of those other paths given hardens aging curve Let's say that yeah and listen We don't know exactly what was allegedly promised slash allegedly renegs in terms of of the Sixers and contract offers So harden um and and where this whole thing went south It's almost on some level of material from just a practical standpoint They they are where they are and they had to make the best of it If your options were the things you just mentioned extend harden given what he wants Um to head off this whole like if you could go back in time you could go back in time Are the Sixers playing this any differently than they did? I mean maybe on a diplomacy level there were better ways to get you're getting you're getting sinister You're getting sinister like they if they had that this was the plan I'm not no, it's not what I'm saying alienate harden risk international scandal and embarrassment But take out what they wanted in the end.
You know why you know why how it because no one is more comfortable being uncomfortable The darryl moore even on planes. He likes when people recline their seats and scrunch up his knees This is one of those sleeps he sleeps sitting up in a hardback wooden chair There's gonna be one of those movie trailers in a world where people don't like being uncomfortable one man dares To be incredibly uncomfortable. Anyway They the cold the cold you started it the cold pragmatism of this Is this whatever whatever the Sixers and darryl moore could or could not have anticipated about the way this went The cold pragmatic calculation is we cannot commit to this guy at a max deal or anywhere near it for any more length of time Then we already have it's not in our best interest as an organization now could have been handled better Whatever we don't need to go down that road. They they made the right decision to not keep extending with him to not bank their future on him And the trade the trade was good enough the trade was good enough and I will see but it's been it's been like a week Or something we can have yeah I will tell you in the next week and a half The team in the east that I will be watching I think most closely is boston Um, and I'm like I'm watching every team close.
I'm gonna talk about some random east teams in a minute Um But I don't think the Sixers are as good as boston like I don't think it's presently constructed They could beat a healthy boston self-esteem in a playoff series I don't think they could compete with whoever comes out of the not compete but beat whoever comes out of the west in a playoff series We'll see what Milwaukee turns into and what who else emerges from this morass in the east even even the heat Have started winning games despite missing so many guys here in there and Tyler hero just got her Which is a bummer for them because he really shoulders a ton of offensive creation is Jimmy butler eases into the season regardless I think boston is better than feel like despite the result on wednesday They are five and two they were my pick to win the championship to self-text this year I'm still kind of feeling it out. I'm still feeling it out with them. They've had a couple of like Derek white missed a couple games They've had guys in it. They changed the starting five right before the season Um They they have the best net rating in the NBA their wins are nicks on opening night in a slugfest a slobber knocker They heat without Caleb martin the wizards the Pacers they hung 155 on the Pacers no haliburton that game and the nets They don't really have a great win yet.
They may not they don't really I guess at nix is the only good win They have on the schedule again. I'm not expressing any skepticism about boston. They are my pick to win the championship They're starting five has a net rating that is hilarious. They are plus 74 in 87 minutes together That is anti bulls free betas plus 74 in 87 minutes together Any construction involving jason tatum and porzingis is the only big jason tatum and whorford is the only big is plus a gazillion Whorford and porzingis together has been kind of a net zero.
That's something interesting to monitor. I just I'm still kind of feeling out. I guess i'm still feeling out the team. Um, how do all the pieces fit?
How are all the roles distributed? Why can't they score when tatum is on the bench and kind of what's up with jail and brown? Not a great start to the season for jail and brown 21 points a game 44 percent shooting Some really kind of like what is he doing shot selection down the stretch of some of these games And just just kind of just kind of feeling it out. I mean, I think there's their top six is unbelievable They're starting five is unbelievable They have an incredibly high ceiling on both ends of the floor with like infinite spacing on offense They do seem kind of more determined to get to the rim and the foul line this year than in previous iterations of the team But the playmaking is is still kind of b minus good kind of if the kind of stagnant at times and I just I just kind of want to see them more against better competition.
Just out of pure curiosity They've been amazing. They haven't blown me away yet when i've seen them start to finish in some of these games and blow me away But that's fine. It's early Anybody else's thing? No, just just on that last note about blowing people away.
Um, I don't know how The Celtics have been really good for for many many many years now Have they ever felt like it just kind of blows you away or there's the team that that clamps down at the right times And I just think to the extent that their profile Is almost more of a defensive. I know they've got like three guys averaging over 20 points a game So I shouldn't I shouldn't go too far with this this thought but like We think of them as being potentially dominant across that that starting five and even six because I think of the presence of Derek white and drew holiday to an extent for zigas as a shot blocker tatum and brown already being plus defenders at their best anyway And I do think that when it comes to Employing the like the full force of a lineup like that. That's that's a playoff thing, right? I don't know that you're doing the full you know 48 minute suffocate the other suffocate the opponent thing in the regular season that often um you can win a lot of games with defense, especially in this league where I think teams don't always go all out in the regular season Maybe they should come up with a gimmick of some kind that makes teams play harder early in the season Um, so I just I just wait to end season tournament resumes tonight, doesn't it?
Yes, it does Are you excited to I have to say I like the courts in concept I do Some of them are beautiful like the sons one that I think they're playing on tonight is absolutely a work of art I watched heat Wizards last last Friday night for the first night. I didn't see I think it was heat wizards Got only knows why um the heat's court is red. It's bright red. It took me half the game It's literally like aesthetically.
I like red my dad's always had red cars fire trucks are red red It's fun like red It took me half a game to just not be thinking at all times about how the court is red and it was distracting It took me half the game and then like after the second half I was like oh now I can focus on oh Jordan pool mix again Okay, like I can focus on basketball now. I just It's I'm not sure that it is as good as spectator experience as it is an artistic experiment It's funny because I've been I gave it with a description for myself finally because I was accused of being mean and hating The the tournament. I don't I don't hate it. I'm a skeptical agnostic or I like it.
I'm not skeptical I like it. You could take your out of this podcast. How are fine? I'm not hating.
It's fine. I don't care One way or the other. I don't care who wins this mythical cup. I do I'm I actually but I want I want like I want the freaking like They showed the standings in one of the games I was watching last night I think it was the boxy and they showed the standings and the standings were like one and oh oh and oh oh and oh oh and oh oh I was like I'm already excited.
There's one game in this group Uh, okay, um as as skeptical as I've been the one thing I feel like I went the other direction on the courts like yes the red ones are like searing your retinas But overall like I thought it was kind of fun to see all these these cool really bright very different courts and I was watching I watched um warrior's thunder and the thunder had that nice very uh pleasant placid relaxing blue court that worked I think the answer here is a very simple one Which is whatever the dominant color is on all these courts that are causing people to have seizures on their couches Just take that color make it the the runway stripped down the middle that they're using all these courts And have that be the thing that tells you this is a tournament game as opposed to regular And the rest of the court can just be normal So that red won't be quite as overwhelming and searing of your retinas if it's just a stripped down the middle as opposed to being Essentially the entire court. That's my easy solution. I did on boston I just again. I want to be clear.
They're green right? I believe they're green. I think I don't know They are green in general Um, uh, porzingis has been awesome like defensively awesome jack and threes rolling to the rim when you should roll to the rim Like again a key ingredient in them like rim equals good for boston. Um It defensively they're they're actually kind of like jones zula does some funky stuff with match-ups like he really likes to manipulate the game in interesting ways with match-ups Like he'll just put luke cornet on Like an actual good ball handling wing just to see what the other team does You saw he put drew holiday as the primary guy on both carl towns and then joey pete against filly when warford was out of the game He likes to disrupt the rhythm of offenses by messing around with the match-ups in a way that kind of Force you to scrap the play you were gonna run because oh, they're just gonna switch and that guy's gonna be there We don't want that sometimes I do think the stuff they could get a little too cute with it and it comes back to haunt them But um their defense is really good thing to watch with boston.
They're one of a few teams like this They've allowed the third most threes in the nba But the sixth fewest corner threes and when you see a split like that, that's on purpose That's not an accident They have committed to being like we'll give you some semi contested above the arc above the break rather threes corner three We're shutting it down. I think they're rock solid. I just I just want to see I want to see I'm curious. They are number one on my next week curiosity ratings Can we talk about the clippers for a second?
Yeah, let's go. Yeah, let's do it This is like we're already a gut check time for the clippers because these first two games have been like embarrassing how bad they've been offensively I like I they don't even seem to know what they should be doing like guys are being like no, you gotta go here Okay. No, okay. Now.
There's 12 on the shot. Can we start can we start play now? You gotta go over there You're standing next to that guy. You can't stand next to that guy.
That's that's not good Um kawai and pg are just like in the corners like hey Remember like there was an earthquake when we came here and now we're over here like here It's just and they don't like they're I'm just gonna highlight a couple possessions for the second half of the nets game Which by the way hard and open the fourth quarter with two of the most embarrassing lazy turnovers You will ever see and they don't include the one where he passed the ball to iron eagle on the sideline like literally passed I enabled the ball Um Nine minutes left in the third quarter Paul George has Spencer didn't wait on him That's a good matchup dribbles around for a while. Hey PJ Tucker airplane center comes at a screen for me It doesn't matter that the nets are gonna switch a better defender Dorian Finney Smith on to me. Oh, okay That's not good. Um Spencer didn't really loads off of James Harden in the left corner Paul George like I'll pass to you That's good.
Why don't we catch and shoot three? Does he take it? No pump fake sidestep dribble off the dribble three McHale bridges blocks it. It's like dude.
You've got two shoot Seven thirty in the third quarter Paul George dribbles doing nothing until there's 13 on the shot clock literally nothing happens Calls for another screen from PJ Tucker. Why to get McHale bridge is the best defender on the entire Brooklyn Nets team Switching on to him and then just shoot to three number of passes on the possession zero Number of people who moved on the possession two out of five. I understand it's gonna be a learning curve We all knew it was gonna be a learning curve. They've got these four dudes that are all used to have in the ball a lot Except for Paul George who's very malleable.
I still think they're gonna have to experiment at some point with rust coming off the bench in Terence Man starting I'd like to see it at least to see what it looks like if Russ is amenable to it I still think they're gonna need to explore another trade for maybe a slight upgrade to a bigger upgrade over zubots Who's fine, but has not looked comfortable in this new construction against live in two games We all knew this was gonna happen They're rebounding is a bit atrocious. Some of that is on them lazy box outs uncommitted to it and in two games in you don't want to Overreact even though they've been abysmally bad losing two games on the road I just like I think the gut check time has to start now because everyone talked a big game like we're already to sacrifice James is all in to win a title and nobody cares about anything other than bringing the first title to the Clippers everyone's willing to do Things outside of their comfort zone. No one has done anything outside of their comfort zone for two games other than maybe Russ Who's setting more ball screens than ever in his career like? I understand learning like I we all knew that the risks of the straight were there that it could backfire that everybody was gonna Have to adjust and it was gonna take time I just didn't expect the first two games for them to look at this just sort of unaware of what everybody should be doing at any time in The game other than isolated possession here there these games have been really really bad And I want them to start now tonight playing the Mavericks I believe in a fun Western Conference game like you guys kind of all start showing me that this was not just talk That's not like this was like everyone's willing to roll in the same direction do this and get out of her like It's like these first two games have been so disturbing that I want to see it like now I'm already getting impatient it reminds me of you know Phil Jackson used to have this thing back with the Lakers where they would be winning too much And he actually enjoyed when they lost because he'd get their attention and could actually then fix things I wonder if it's actually it's always better for them to just completely you know Crap the bed these first couple games maybe Tyler gets their attention and can actually Get them to make the adjustments and the sacrifices that are necessary I don't I feel a lot better about the harden acquisition for them if Russ weren't already there.
It's it's just it's just one guy one Massive star with ball dominance baked into their entire essence too many. It's just one too many I do think it's not only inevitable, but I think part of the plan I This is semi guess semi not I think Russ is going to the bench sooner than later I think that's I think that's inevitable and I think They'll be better off that way. I've also heard some skepticism from from folks around the league who said sure Yeah, that's the logical thing to do. It's it's the smart thing to do basketball wise It's not too non shooters in the starting lineup And then you you kind of clarify things in terms of who's got the ball the playmaking and all that Russ runs the second unit But oh, how did that go for the Lakers?
And so I've also heard some skepticism about how long Russ even lasts there now getting way ahead of things That's that's way too soon to talk about but I'm not I would feel more comfortable with just the basics of this is a basketball matter If you had the simplicity of knowing you have these two great wing scores who could do a lot of different things with the ball in their hands Playmaking scoring creation and this one ball dominant guard in harden who if you could just get him to be There was whatever whatever was that first couple weeks when harden first got to Brooklyn where it looked like he was like He was just gonna be in a system machine. He was setting up Kyrie was setting up Kevin Durant I've heard you but like as much as I've praised that time in his career. I've heard that yeah He wasn't exactly happy about it. Okay, but he can do it.
He can do it. He has those moments I think they need more of that. I think the most alarming thing in this entire stretch is not even the losses It's the opening press conference where he says I'm not a system player I am the system like you're 34 you can't that was that was fine once upon a time This is not the time just now. Maybe that's just ego talking Maybe it's just in pushing back against whatever he feels like the criticism out there is This is not the time to be Tunnel vision James Harden who dominates the ball and has a usage rate over 35 This isn't the time of your career and this is not the team for that and so that that to me is as alarming as anything We've seen so far on the court.
I brought up the Brooklyn comparison earlier this week with only on my suit because it's something I've heard from within the Clippers doing it something I told the story on that podcast I was laying in bed the night after the trade and the Brooklyn lightning bolt struck me like why am I so much less excited about this? And I was about Brooklyn and then like when you hear other people talk about you're like well, okay but that was like 2000 those two years ago. That's two plus years ago to James Harden playoff meltdowns ago to James Harden quit on his team trade demands ago Time has passed everyone's older and again like Durant especially and even Kyrie to his credit. They're just faster Faster both with the ball with their decision-making and much more willing to take catch and shoot jump shots than either Kawhi Leonard or Paul George or George less so Paul George will take enough catch and shoot threes and they had no one on the team Like Russ who just has been unbelievable for the Clippers But is now in a very strange fourth option role even though he's a non-shooter playing with a center Who's also a non-shooter?
They just it's just apples to plums not even oranges like some apples to like star fruit or something like a fruit That doesn't even look or taste apples. It's just go off the chart Look again Tyler forgot more about basketball five in the last five minutes And I will know in my entire life he has said repeatedly I want 10 games give me 10 games 10 15 Whatever the number is James Harden didn't really have a total proper training camp Although everyone with the Sixers talked about how in shape and well-conditioned you look didn't have any training camp But the Clippers obviously it's gonna take time. I get it like call me like like I get it Let's give it a month I'm just saying like I want to see a little urgency now because like they played these first two games Like they could just kind of roll the ball out and on sheer talent all these teams would just like oh my god these four guys are on still we can't win and they look horrible and they're often so adorable in their process with horrible and I would like and they all downplayed after every day Paul George like I'm not gonna react Can you overreact like I'd like to see you over react you over react tonight and come out and try to play a different style against the Mavericks Anyway, any other thoughts on the Clippers look I get the trade I get why they did it I don't even like mind it. I just I'm kind of a gassed it how How they looked at these first two games?
For some time tylu I've heard had wanted, you know, I don't know what a true point guard is anymore in this league I'm not sure that that archetype really exists in the way that we once talked about it But a playmaking point guard next to the Paul George and Kawhi Leonard that's something he's really been eager eager for them to do we've It's long since been forgotten I think that you know they almost had Malcolm Brogdon until there was a flag on on his physical And if they'd done that does the harden trade ever happen But even in that failed trade the signal was clearly sent that they didn't necessarily want it to be Russ who was in that primary role So I think it's been set up for some time that eventually they're moving toward Moving Westbrook to a six-man role that even even the failed Brogdon deal or the attempted Brogdon deal kind of indicated that there Was a movement of what to kind of get somebody a different kind of player in that position? To set up the office the other thing that they have signaled in that failed trade talk other failed trade talks all along before the James Harden trade And in talking to the Sixers and being the only team really talked to the Sixers about James Harden The other that signaled for the first time in four years the Clippers had concluded the brain trust that concluded We are not good enough even if in the unlikely event both of the stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George stay healthy We're no longer good enough. Oh, we're no longer Confident enough that we are good enough to do nothing Every year until this year and to their credit in 2020 I thought they were the best team in the NBA the pandemic happened the bubble happened They were they Denver rolled them three straight games in that series 2021 They may well have won the title had Kawhi stay healthy to their credit and I think they were right until this season the internal belief There was we are good enough if those dudes are healthy I think now and they signaled it to you is the first time coming off last season when they're net rating with Kawhi and PG on the floor Was plus 8.9 per 100 possessions, which is good But not great not the 13 14 15 it had been in the past not what Denver is net rating with Murray and Yolkich's on the floor Etc. I think it was the first time where they said we're not gonna We gotta try something, you know, like whatever other choices do we have that not that hard.
It was our only choice But like we're not gonna bottom out. We're not gonna trade Kawhi and PG doesn't look like got got to try something. Okay, clippers Chuck the condors waiting on them to come home and maybe he'll maybe he'll breathe a little squawk a little life into him with his big Oversized sneakers kick him in the butt with his big goofy sneakers Chuck the Condor our condor is endangered. I think they are it the California Condor at one time at least when I was a kid I remember being a danger species.
I don't know if it's come back Maybe the Clippers single-handedly have rescued the California Condor so that means I can't make fun of Chuck the Condor because It's a be it so I feel like an old mascot like an analyst now like like um Did you see this new Halloween pelican that the pelican the Halloween pelican logo the skeleton skeleton the pelican even scarier But no, it's just it's just the logo is like is hot is bony It's like a bony Halloween skeleton producer Dan says the California Condor is a protected species and has been for a long time Shout out to the California Condor beautiful animal I'm being serious. That's a real shout out to the Condor's list. Yes People have people forget big fans of the low post the Condors NBA Twitter now I sound like a real NBA Twitter person people forget A sentence I actually said on the phone with an NBA source yesterday by the way No, this is a real thing that I said yesterday on the phone with the source. She'll be nameless People forget Aaron Brooks was a bucket.
I actually said that yesterday. That's a real thing that I said in a real NBA People have forgotten When the the pelicans unveiled the original Pierre the pelican and he was so horrifying and frightening to children Or if that they had to change him and concocted an entire video skit where Pierre underwent plastic surgery and woke up and like Tore off the bandages to reveal a new friendlier Pierre the pelican. That's a real thing that happened Okay, Howard. I told you pick a random team anywhere in the league That you wanted to either give a little love to or express some concern about now that we're two weeks into the season Who was your random team?
I mean, maybe not that random and it's gonna be love and it's it's mostly because I hope it's not too obvious Um, this is about the Warriors because the Warriors at this time last year Um, we're off to a jagged-ish start and they were force feeding young guys into the rotation because they were on a hashtag through timeline plan And they were dealing with dream on green jordan pool fall out and all this other stuff their recovery And it's early but the recovery has been pretty damn impressive And and it starts with not just obviously reformatting the bench which began last year when they did the wiseman, uh, gp 2 thing It's also just that i'm struck by how Wrong the reactions were when they flipped pool for chris fall. Um, it was Which what were the reactions that people not like that was like a obviously good trade for the Warriors I thought it was an obviously good trade as well and I I was all in on the The thought process behind it or the rationale for it, but there was a well, he's too old Um, you're you're sacrificing too much scoring by losing the younger fresh legs jordan pool with you know replacing it with a lower scoring and slower Chris ball. Um, chris paul won't play off the bench. He's not gonna be able to he won't be able to sacrifice He won't mesh with step curry.
He won't mesh with the warrior style He won't mesh with dream on green because they're both too intense and annoying and they're going to end up like killing each other or something There was there was plenty of that out there. I was not in that camp But um, and I'm not I'm not gonna say that i'm surprised by any piece of this but chris paul has been spectacular For them to the extent that a 38 year old point guard future hall of famer can be Through nine games 249 minutes 66 assists and seven turnovers Is just incredible small sample size, but they are a plus 12 with chris paul in the court So far plus 12 for 100. Um, and there are plus 10 and a half per 100 when curry sits Which the Warriors falling off a cliff when step curry sits in recent years has been somewhat of an issue Um, and I think not having not checked those the under the hood on that number in a few days I do recall that a lot of that is Unsustainably stingy defense and which leads me to believe that it was unsustainably lucky jumpshooting to some degree like the net rate They've still been good without step curry, which is like never been a thing I would I would just in my head squeeze that down from whatever plus thing you just said like a smaller plus thing Just the mere fact that they can have a you know, future hall of fame point guard on the court for 48 minutes every night Um is as a wonderful luxury and chris paul. Um still making great shots from the mid range still Um, you know still still doing chris paul things and that bench just looks so much better with them now that bench is also a different bench than they had Last season.
It's a better version of moody and a better version of cuminga. They both uh to their credit Um made the necessary steps as young players, but they also have you know gary paint in the second from day one now Instead of the mid season. I was just sorry. He was injured.
He was injured last year He was injured when they got him. Um, sorry. Sorry. It seems like he's been a fairly seamless fit for them You compare that to this time last year the bench was pool lamb Diventions who was obviously good for them cuming and moody who were still kind of scuffling wise men who just could not get it Go and she might play for the piss hi tied your own Uh, so they've like credit to the warriors, uh for recovering It was in steps some of this was mid season last year, but a good off season by muck done They'd be junior in his first uh off season as as gm.
Um, yeah, listen I I think I think any of us who have no rooting interest, but just like watching the warriors be the warriors as long as possible because they're fun It's it's nice to see them kind of looking like themselves again The only bad thing taijiro never did harvick was attend the university of Virginia Shout out to my buddy adam and his friends who track all of my slander against uva, which is not a regular thing It's once every four three or four months. I was even aware of this trend. It's so long. It's a long Story with you will not I'm gonna whisper.
We will not address it in this part Um, we are gonna look I'm gonna put I have pumped the brakes on my own warriors optimism in recent days And I wrote about them today and I talked about them with timic man a couple days ago Look they're they're they were in my second circle of contenders That which means I thought they were one of six teams that had the best chance to win the championship this or some high on them For eight-minute stretches of every game. They look like a fully formed championship contender like oh my god They're so comfortable in their own skin. They're so comfortable in their identity They know exactly how to play chris paul is fitted in ways xy and z And then for like that six minutes after that it kind of becomes a slog where you're like kind of coming Actually, just kind of a train wreck is like he's just kind of running into people Um, are they do they have enough shooting? They still don't have like the skeleton key dream on that center lineup that they know they can bank on like this is the one That has enough shooting and enough size.
Maybe they'll find it. Maybe they won't wiggens and clay have been and that that'll come They Their best win of the season was over Sacramento in the second game of the year since then even their good wins on paper Clay hits the game winner against the iran fox the controversial finish against the thunder with the basket interference thing No, she'll just out of the under who by the way is completely unstoppable like that dude is a freaking joke Just absolute joke. Um, their next five games starting on saturday home against the calves home against the wolves Home against the wolves again home against the thunder home against the thunder again That's a bizarre schedule, but those are their next five games We're gonna learn something about the warriors in those five games in minnesota I talked a lot about earlier this week. They're really good thunder early jet calves kind of scuffling at three and five But haven't had their guys very often and are kind of hungry to start playing with their full team Howard back Fun with small sample sizes and I just let me have fun Just let it be fun.
Okay. Don't poo poo me. Don't poor cold water. I'm a fun.
I'm a fun guy Top five in net rating in the nba boston plus 11.5 per 100 possessions filly plus 11.4 denver Haven't even talked about denver just rolling around with the Jamal Murray's heart cool yoke. It's just put up 35 15 and 12 Who cares plus 10.81? We'll get to the nuggets another day minnesota plus 10 then there's a drop off to plus 5.9 Who do you think is fifth in the nba in net rating at plus 5.9 per 100 possessions? Sorry about the peas I have I have I have I have a guess that's based on where I think you were going Anyway, which which makes it just uh-huh.
I have zag. This is why you have zig you're gonna guess the indiana paces We'll get to we will get to them. I was going just indiana paces. Look at you The houston rockets now Have they just blown out the kings twice in a row without the erin fox and fattened up their net rating on those gifts?
Yes, they have Is it going to temper my enthusiasm about alper and shengoon and jabari smith jr And even jail and green is starting to get into the act tari eason's back just immediately grabbed like 19 offensive rebounds at four minutes Is he has magnets in his hands? No, it will not will not temper my enthusiasm. Can't what more is not even playing garbage time It's not real. They're not actually a plus point 5.9.
I'm not even convinced there are five hundred team But they're I keep saying that they have this very interesting collection of young talent that everybody was sleeping on because of how disorganized they were less He's on under steven silos and now and they were a no veteran town on the roster last season Some of that is on silos some of it is not now They've got some veterans dealing brooks has a mr Shott all season fret band lead does what he does I'm just going to read you a stat that that again small sample size theater theater Alperin shengoon With alperin shengoon on the court the rockets are scoring 118 point eight points for 100 possessions And allowing 102 for a net rating of plus 16 point eight Without brin shengoon off the court 102 offensive rating 114 defensive rating plus 16 point eight on minus 12 off Early the numbers will normalize. I'm telling people right now He's now at the head of the table among their young guys Alperin shengoon is is going to be a star like he's going to be a flat out star on offense He's already at like 18 9 and 6 and a half assists defensively. He's been better this year I think that defensive rating is kind of faking inflated by bad jump shootings He's got some things to prove on that end. So star define it how you want, right?
Like is he going to be a top 15 player in the NBA? Probably not like odds are always against that like that's a little like if that's your definition of star that I'm wrong Offensively I think he's going to be a legitimate star like a legitimate this guy You can run a really good NBA offense through him people's need to start watching Alperin shengoon because not the sexiest player on the rockets Not the highest ceiling player on the rockets Maybe in terms of just sort of raw explosive skill set just a really really good offensive player That's my rocket spiel You and my colleague Michael Peanut the ringer are going to have to wrestle for president of the Alperin shengoon fan club Peanut was singing his praises on the Bill Simmons pot which we both did yesterday and has a story which he teased on mr. Shengoon coming I think next week so Look for that. Um, yeah, I also think that just you know, um, what a different support guard makes for the rockets Having having friend Ben bleed out there even having Dylan bro.
I mean we're getting we're getting pretty much good Dylan Brooks For the rocket so far, right and just having some I just needed some it's funny to think of Dylan Brooks as part of the stability that they needed But he is and you know this happens with young teams that have plunged into a rebuild Where if you're if you're lucky if you if you're lucky slash smart drafted Well, you get a bunch of really great talent over the course of a few years But sometimes it's just a mishmash of a bunch of talent and no real The structures in there and you could you can blame coaching But some of that is just the players that you have guys who are coming in with high expectations and high ceilings who need the ball And finding a way to make it all mesh without having brought in veterans yet Sometimes these things just have to take their course I'm not saying like the rockets had to be as bad as they were necessarily But I am kind of saying that like you just have to kind of see what you have and then decide What are the right pieces to bring and what who are the right kinds of veterans? And are they available to settle this down and give us the structure that we need so that our young guys can Channel all of their talents to their best to its best effect as opposed to it just being a pickup game Which is what they often look like and look you don't you don't get any trophies for collecting good young players when you suck for three straight years Like there's no trophies for that. That's what you should do That's why the process was kind of an infallible thing for the Sixers like eventually you're gonna get some good players Shanguine who they traded two first round picks to get from the thunder I think was the 16 pick of the drop that's a big swing and that's a home run But I'm all in on jibar's with junior love jibar's with junior to something interesting cooking I don't know where it will lead or what the stew will taste like when it's done But something interesting is happening. Let's wrap with the Pacers six and three Number one offense in the NBA by a lot number 26 defense.
Okay, sure. It's about right Tyree's Halliburton just a ridiculous start to the season beat mil walkie last night No, Damien Lillard But Giannis did have 54 points and shot 16 of 18 from the line in the bucks were ahead Late in that game before the Pacers came back and got it Look, I thought the Pacers would be at worst to play in team this year I like their starting five mather in mather in last two games And I think last night was the best game I've ever seen Benedict mather and play on both ends of the floor Including a big steal late in the game started to make his jump shot They're starting five fits like a glove even though ob top and hasn't caught a rhythm yet in his minutes are kind of down Um, it's a fun team to watch man I we haven't seen jereus walker yet at all or ben shepherd yet at all in jereus walker is like as a top 10 pick Is a big part of their future because I still think they have to look around Someone among their young guys is gonna have to pop alongside Halliburton for this to be a really long term kind of Contenderish kind of thing, but this is a good team like they're just a good team and I keep saying this We've all done it. We've all put myles turner in the trade machine 150 times over the last few years I just kind of hope they keep myles turner. He's a pretty good basketball player fits Well with this group by spacing the floor and playing defense a little yannus just cooked him last night over and over again Just not a I mean news flash and yannes is a tough matchup for a lot of people Um has bought into rolling to the rim and posting up switches more and now that subonis is gone and halliburton is running the show Is only 27 like I don't like he can kind of grow a little bit with these guys or be the vet is they grow I just I just want to give him some love because they're really really really fun to watch number two in pace only washington is playing faster than the Pacers and just Halliburton is any elite elite elite offensive engine like not just really good like as an offensive player all NBA good He is that good as a passer as shooter and a scorer getting better every year at beating switches and beating big guys One on one instead of just step back trees all the time.
Just a really fun team to watch that trade I said at the time. I said it last season even when the kings were rolling and I'll say it again now You can frame it as a win win. It is kind of a win win win What it really is is a win short term and long term for indiana and a win short term And we'll kind of see about the kings. I know that they have fox and blah blah blah but like Genius stroke by the Pacers Yeah, it's it's what I mean We'll be talking about that trade for a long time probably and I think the unfortunate part for the kings is and this is not a knock-on-dear Fox has been fantastic for them and one what was the it's the jerry westa clutch player award the inaugural version of it Really great player, but like given ages and track records and size frankly and everything else like if all things were equal meaning contracts That's probably not the trade they would have made.
I don't think like they made the trade they could make uh more than than anything else they they you know I think they were just where they had to break up that backward and they Fox was gonna be a much harder trade to make. This is the one and by the way, this is not to me about Fox is awesome I had Fox on my NBA team last year right here. He's a star And actually it's been kind of disturbing how bad the kings look without the iron fox like it's you should be able to Function without I know he's the best offensive player on the team and the best player on the team They have just not been able to create offense at all without him just like nothing people just go under every screen So bonus in the post is good but not good enough to like draw double teams against kind of like size guy It's been like they just got nothing going on without the iron fox It's a little bit worrisome and that a little bit worrisome. It's like semi worrisome I thought they were gonna slide a little bit this season Not necessarily in quality of play but more just that it was a weird year in the west last year And I thought just the mere fact that some a lot of multiple teams in the west were in better shape Now than last season for any variety of reasons I thought the kings might be just as good or better than they were and still slip it just in the standings Anyway because of the quality of play around them I did not see this but then again we did we weren't accounting for an early-day iron fox injury holding the back either Do you think on the Pacers so all justifiable enthusiasm exuberance at this stage And you mentioned I agree with you on Turner.
I agree the caliber and Turner those are kind of your like your foundational pieces When do you start talking about like do the Pacers start looking for the consolidation trade right some some interesting young pieces and everything They've always been a fairly conservative organization like they're not a swing for the fences kind of team They're a small market everything else. I just wonder what you know not to get too far ahead of ourselves They're gonna they're a really fun team And they're really competitive and I think they're gonna be the playoffs and we'll see where it goes from there And it's probably too soon to start talking about what needs to come next But I just I wonder at what point how you get that other whatever that other element is to really push them forward Um, but as I said, it's probably too soon for that. I think I think given Their market and the way they've generally operated I don't it honestly that is not even entered my mind And I need if I'm them I need to have a better idea of what matherin is Who had a great first two months last year and then tailed off and started off horribly this season And now it looks like okay, this is the guy that I want to see like this playing with this kind of force And Walker I need I need to see more of what I have already in house before I make any kind of decisions And for now like I'm cool right in the halliburton wave to wherever it takes me in an eastern conference that is You know, like I think it'll if cleveland writes the ship the nicks have already started to kind of look a little bit more nixie Um other than that, it's just like everyone's kind of 500 It'll it'll normalize a little bit, but I don't think the pacers are I mean they're third in each right now That's not gonna last but I don't think they're like going away as a you know Somewhere from five to ten team and just ride that out and have some fun David Letterman was at the game the other day. Do you see that indian and a day?
They wanted to court side at the Pacers game. What did the light back I would be here to court side with? Is this beard down to his ankles yet? It's very long and in fact, I believe it's it's either the scorekeeper or somebody else who works for the Pacers has an incredibly similar beard And the broadcast did a split screen of letterman and whoever that person was for the Pacers And it was and they both wear low glasses with like little circular glasses.
It was it was great Um, how are they any parting thoughts? We can read you at the ring or you wrote a column on james harden and his legacy Little l legacy this week. You are are you officially a real one now? Are you are you been on the real ones?
Are you a real one or are are logan and roger the real ones and you're just sort of the Like like real one adjacent. I don't know are you real? Uh, I'd like to think so. Um, that's that's actually a really good question I should probably check with like the ringer's HR department to see if that's in the job description or how i'm classified there I feel like a real one logan does a great job of making me feel like an actual certified real one with him and roger But they are the original they are the og real ones on that show.
I am on the real ones with logan and roger every monday Um, so people can catch me there and uh, yeah, thank you for the plug on the harden column got some other fun stuff in the works The ringer.com great landing spot. That's it. That's it. I'm glad that marriage has worked out Um, I will see you soon at either marclay center or mantis toward guard and how we're back everybody.
Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it