Speaker 1: Guess what we're back in the NBA is almost back
Speaker 1: to we're getting little tastes, little taste, well, at least
Speaker 1: me know what the opening night games look like, Christmas
Speaker 1: Day games. Looking at the schedule, will be discussing that.
Speaker 1: And you know the official Miles and Jack got Mad
Speaker 1: Boosey's Top five under twenty five with the host of
Speaker 1: the Chase Down pod Justin Rowan, I'm Miles Gray, then
Speaker 1: I'm Jack O'Brien, and this is Miles Jack Gott. You know, yeah,
Speaker 1: a little heavy, little heads, little bron and then went
Speaker 1: up with it. Anyway, Yes, welcome to the show. We
Speaker 1: got Justin Rowing in the building, the man with the
Speaker 1: cabs voice the Chase Down I think with the cabs
Speaker 1: the cab voice even isn't that what's the subtitle of
Speaker 1: the Chase Down? I don't think we have a some
Speaker 1: as far as I know voice. Yes, Justin you are.
Speaker 1: I think your handle is what calvs Hanada? That's correct,
Speaker 1: and you are coming to us from Canada as well? Correct,
Speaker 1: that's correct. Winnipeg, Manitoba, and you are Oh wait, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 1: I heard a lot of interesting stories about that place.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about that off air. Yeah, yeah, for sure,
Speaker 1: for sure. I have a Canadian friend who all the
Speaker 1: good stories about Canada seemed to take place in Winnipeg.
Speaker 1: Oh good, they were good stories. I was more like
Speaker 1: it was bad and I'm like, you know what, we
Speaker 1: don't need to expose the national audience. People already make
Speaker 1: fun of us enough. But I'm happy to hear that
Speaker 1: they're good stories. Yeah, and so for you, wait, you're
Speaker 1: a lifelong Cavesman, that's correct, a lifelong Cavs fan. Uh,
Speaker 1: growing up, especially a little less so now because Winnipeg
Speaker 1: has finally ended it's championship curse. But just by the
Speaker 1: mention of a championship curse, I think you can see why.
Speaker 1: There's some of the parallels between Winnipeg and Cleveland, both
Speaker 1: cities with just very curse sports history, very similar kind
Speaker 1: of fan mentality. Things always seemed to go wrong the city.
Speaker 1: Everyone kind of makes fun of that, you know, had
Speaker 1: had a bright past and people make fun of its presence.
Speaker 1: But both boats is kind of on the come up.
Speaker 1: I like Carlos Boozer growing up and then obviously Lebron
Speaker 1: getting dry. Yeah, we're going all the way back to
Speaker 1: Carlos Boozer. I was wondering, because you know, everybody has
Speaker 1: those weird like fandoms. Like when I was a kid,
Speaker 1: I loved Bill Cartwright because he shot weird and I
Speaker 1: shot weird. I love Dave Winfield. He's still my all
Speaker 1: time favorite Major League Baseball player, and looking back at
Speaker 1: his stats, he was not like he struck out a
Speaker 1: lot man and I remember those strikeouts. But Carlos Boozer
Speaker 1: is so funny. That is not who I was gonna
Speaker 1: who I was gonna guess, you know, And and it
Speaker 1: speaks to what high school basketball is in Canada, where
Speaker 1: I was trying to like find, you know, the big
Speaker 1: man with a bit of a jumper that I can
Speaker 1: model my game after, even though I'm only six too.
Speaker 1: So it is Carlos Boozer. Rashid Rashid Wallace was one
Speaker 1: of my favorite players growing up. I've got the Portland's
Speaker 1: sheet jersey in my cloths not too far away from me. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, and then Lebron getting drafted there obviously helped
Speaker 1: kind of move the needle. I wanted a Central Division
Speaker 1: team to to root for because you know, you kind
Speaker 1: of had those same parallels. I was a Bears fan
Speaker 1: as well growing up, but I didn't want to go
Speaker 1: Chicago Bulls because I felt like, you know, bandwagon jumping,
Speaker 1: Let's let's go with the young, up and coming guy
Speaker 1: in Lebron James. And after the decision, I wasn't sure
Speaker 1: which way the fandom was going to go, but I
Speaker 1: ended up doubling and tripling down on the calves. That's
Speaker 1: when I started blogging about the team and eventually podcasting,
Speaker 1: and here we are today. I'm I'm a loyal guy.
Speaker 1: Love that, love that? And how many? How often do
Speaker 1: you get to go to Cleveland? I went twice last year. Um,
Speaker 1: I think I've been about six times overall. Um, first
Speaker 1: time back in I actually got to see Lebron's last
Speaker 1: game in Cleveland as a member of Miami. That was
Speaker 1: my first game I ever watched in Cleveland live, which
Speaker 1: is kind of a cool experience that that was my
Speaker 1: recruiting trip to bring him back. Um. But congratulations, Yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you. I deserve all the credit there. But yeah,
Speaker 1: if I've been going a couple of times or at
Speaker 1: least once a year the past few years and have
Speaker 1: really really enjoyed it, the city has become more and
Speaker 1: more enjoyable to go to and I think it's, uh,
Speaker 1: it's an underrated gym for sure. How does it? So?
Speaker 1: Would you like, are there similarities? Like even when you're
Speaker 1: in like coming from Winnipeg to Cleveland, you're like, I
Speaker 1: can feel the similarities or do you like when after
Speaker 1: physically going there, you're like, Okay, not quite the same vibe,
Speaker 1: but on paper it's it's feeling the same. It's similar
Speaker 1: in like just being a really kind of friendly town.
Speaker 1: You know, like you go around, everyone's very sports focused. U.
Speaker 1: There's a very good food scene in both cities, bars
Speaker 1: with where everyone's kind of friendly and you can just
Speaker 1: have a good time. Um. And those are kind of
Speaker 1: the main similarities and the things that I really value
Speaker 1: in the city. But you know, that's that's part of
Speaker 1: coming from a city of like eight dred thousand and
Speaker 1: that of a five million um person metropolis right where
Speaker 1: I'm like, someone's being friendly, what do they want from me? Yeah? Exactly,
Speaker 1: you gotta be suspicious, Yeah exactly. I wish I didn't
Speaker 1: have that guard up. And now you guys got a squad.
Speaker 1: I mean, the Cleveland Cavaliers are an exciting, young, up
Speaker 1: and coming team with a great core in place. So
Speaker 1: that's that's got to be exciting. Yeah, it's really exciting.
Speaker 1: It's nice to have something that's organic and um. By
Speaker 1: the end of eighteen, I was pretty ready to kind
Speaker 1: of move on from the Lebron experience, because you have
Speaker 1: you're not just dealing with the Lebron team, You're also
Speaker 1: dealing with like the weight of the legacy and everything
Speaker 1: that's going on. And I got made fun of on
Speaker 1: the podcast at the time for being like, you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm kind of ready to move on the cupboards Bear.
Speaker 1: There's not really a lot of moves left to be
Speaker 1: made to make this relevant. I'm interested in seeing if
Speaker 1: they can build something like grit and grind type situation
Speaker 1: with the calvs and and the fact that they managed
Speaker 1: to build something organic and and you've got all these
Speaker 1: young players under twenty five years old. I know we're
Speaker 1: discussing top players under twenty five. It's got a lot
Speaker 1: of them. They've got a lot of really promising players.
Speaker 1: I remember you said at the time, I've got my
Speaker 1: eye on this twelve year old named Darius Garland and
Speaker 1: this nine year old named Evan Mobley and un were
Speaker 1: in the gym just watching you know binoculars. Yeah, Scottie
Speaker 1: Barnes too were watching him back then as well. So
Speaker 1: you know, considering that, you know, there's a little bit
Speaker 1: of added pressure now, expectations are rising. What do you
Speaker 1: see as like a realistic next step or what what
Speaker 1: do you see the next evolution being? Yeah, I would
Speaker 1: say right now for the Calves, this season is about
Speaker 1: finding out how much they can win now with what
Speaker 1: they have, because you look at it last year, Garland,
Speaker 1: Allen and Mobili only got forty games together and almost
Speaker 1: none after the trade or the All Star break, and
Speaker 1: you look at that at the All Star break they
Speaker 1: were half game out of the first one seed in
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference. Obviously, weird things rapping with Brooklyn Philly
Speaker 1: wasn't uh the unit that they are today. Boston's a
Speaker 1: lot better now, So I don't necessarily expect them to
Speaker 1: be at that kind of a height, but you know,
Speaker 1: you have something that works with the core three, and
Speaker 1: it's almost like in poker, where you feel like you
Speaker 1: have a good hand, you like the flop and you
Speaker 1: have a lot of outs. They just need like one
Speaker 1: or two of Isaaco Cora colum Sects and Carras Lever
Speaker 1: Lowry Market and o Chaya Bashi. You need like one
Speaker 1: or two of those guys to show that they can
Speaker 1: become part of the core. And after you get a
Speaker 1: sense of how much you can win now with what
Speaker 1: you currently have, I think next offseason is where you
Speaker 1: start asking the tough questions of Okay, what kind of
Speaker 1: wind now moves can we do? What type of consolidation
Speaker 1: moves can we do? Uh? The first round pick to Indiana,
Speaker 1: it's likely to convert at that point, so they'll have
Speaker 1: all their future picks. Do you do what the Atlanta
Speaker 1: Hawks did with de Jon day Murray where you're leveraging
Speaker 1: all of your future first round picks to to make
Speaker 1: that kind of consolidation move. So I think that's what
Speaker 1: we're going to see next offseason. But this year is
Speaker 1: once again kind of about that internal growth and seeing
Speaker 1: how much better this group can get. Uh. You know
Speaker 1: you brought up Colin Sexton, and you know he was
Speaker 1: seeking an extension that would have been quite a fee. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, I see like some fans being like do
Speaker 1: we sit on this? Like you're saying, do we do
Speaker 1: we do we try and cash this in? Do we
Speaker 1: hope to see this thing developed. What's the sort of
Speaker 1: latest with that and is there any interest because it
Speaker 1: seemed like interest dwindled bit. Yeah, I do think like you.
Speaker 1: You look at some of the teams that have been
Speaker 1: reported to have interest, and I know Charis feed or
Speaker 1: Cleveland dot Com said Dallas was interested, But the Calves
Speaker 1: have no interest in anything that they can offer an
Speaker 1: assign and trade um and I think that's the same
Speaker 1: case for a few of the teams that have interests
Speaker 1: in calling Sexton. So I think the thing right now
Speaker 1: to keep in mind that people forget the Calves don't
Speaker 1: want to start that repeater or tax right now, right
Speaker 1: like you, you don't want to to start that that
Speaker 1: clock because all of a sudden becomes a bigger and
Speaker 1: bigger penalty and you're in kind of the warrior shoe.
Speaker 1: And as much as I don't think they're going to
Speaker 1: be afraid to spend in the future, they're not a
Speaker 1: contenter yet and we're still talking about internal growth. So
Speaker 1: the offerer that's out there right now, I know there's
Speaker 1: reporting saying that it's the most that can be offered
Speaker 1: between where the cat like the room that they have
Speaker 1: until the luxury tax, but the thing to keep in
Speaker 1: mind there as well, Kenneth have fifteen players on their roster,
Speaker 1: someone has to get moved. Even if Sexton is back
Speaker 1: on a qualifying offer, someone's going to have to be moved.
Speaker 1: So once that move occurs, I think you're going to
Speaker 1: then be looking at a situation where, Okay, how much
Speaker 1: more room do we have between where we're at now
Speaker 1: and the luxury tax And maybe there's gonna be some flexibility,
Speaker 1: maybe there's not. At this point, I think it's a
Speaker 1: realistic possibility that's back on the qualifying offer, But it
Speaker 1: also wouldn't surprise me that if they make a move
Speaker 1: to clear up some space, let's find a multi year deal,
Speaker 1: even if it's similar to like what Gary Trent Junior
Speaker 1: signed with Toronto where it's two years guaranteed and then
Speaker 1: a player option, so you still kind of have that
Speaker 1: bet on yourself anger. It wouldn't surprise me and that
Speaker 1: would probably be my guests. But but again that's that's
Speaker 1: not based on any sourcing. That's just based on kind
Speaker 1: of the reports that are out there now. The Colin
Speaker 1: Sexton thing, like Jabari was pointing out, till last year,
Speaker 1: he only played eleven games due to injury. The year before,
Speaker 1: he averaged twenty four points, four assistant, three rebounds in
Speaker 1: just his third season in the league. Like I I
Speaker 1: that totally missed me. That, Like, that's like, those are
Speaker 1: good numbers and its crazy good numbers. And I think
Speaker 1: the thing people forget as well is the Darius Garland
Speaker 1: leap we saw last year started the year before he
Speaker 1: and I think it was about fifteen games in April,
Speaker 1: he was averaging twenty two and seven. And while he
Speaker 1: was doing that, callin Sexton was putting up ridiculous numbers
Speaker 1: as well. Like the two of them were playing well
Speaker 1: off of one another, and Sexton was playing well off ball.
Speaker 1: I think there's always going to be concerns about having
Speaker 1: two guys are six one six two kind of playing together. Uh,
Speaker 1: the only real situation that we've seen that work is
Speaker 1: Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet both at five eleven winning
Speaker 1: a championship. But even then, you had, like Danny Green
Speaker 1: is an option, You had Kauai, you had Marcusol, you
Speaker 1: had a bokle like you had Sam. You had so
Speaker 1: much length around them. So I think there's a reason
Speaker 1: to believe that might work because the Cavs aren't exactly
Speaker 1: short on length when it comes to the front court um.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, you do have to kind
Speaker 1: of weigh all these situations and if he wasn't coming
Speaker 1: off this meniscus injury, um, my feelings about the situation
Speaker 1: might be a little bit different because even though guys
Speaker 1: do bounce back from that, you also do have situations
Speaker 1: like a Lonzo ball right now, where yeah, this should
Speaker 1: be good, but issues come up again in the future
Speaker 1: and you have trouble getting healthy. And I think teams
Speaker 1: have to be careful right like you want to. You
Speaker 1: want to think the best and all everything Kobe Altman
Speaker 1: and the team has said is hey, Sexton started the
Speaker 1: turnaround of our culture. He's such a big part of
Speaker 1: what we do. We want him back. Darius Garland as
Speaker 1: that he wants him back, but you have to kind
Speaker 1: of advocate your side, and I would expect, you know, like,
Speaker 1: it doesn't seem contentious at this point, and maybe it's
Speaker 1: just a matter of waiting out to see if there's
Speaker 1: a possibility to clear up a roster space and clear
Speaker 1: some cap room, even if it's as a third team
Speaker 1: in like a Donovan Mitchell or Kevin Durant trade or
Speaker 1: something along those lines, right right, The teams that are
Speaker 1: involved in those trades can can do pretty well even
Speaker 1: if they're not the recipient of Donovan Mitchell or Kevin Durant. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean we got Jared Allen as proof for that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you guys are kind of the best best example of
Speaker 1: that I'm speaking of, which I mean all the moves
Speaker 1: happening right now or potential moves and talk of there
Speaker 1: are no moves, I feel like. But the Celtics, I
Speaker 1: don't want to hear that, but we did get you know,
Speaker 1: we start the schedule, came out and we see the
Speaker 1: opening night games, the Christmas Day games, and I wonder
Speaker 1: if there's anything to read into that, Jack, how are
Speaker 1: you feeling Sixers the Celtics opening I mean, alright, so
Speaker 1: a lot of people are like, well, they split last year,
Speaker 1: but once the Celtics had it going, they beat the Sixers.
Speaker 1: But I think fifty like in one of the last games,
Speaker 1: and that was like once Hardened was on the team.
Speaker 1: I believe um it was. It was not. I don't know,
Speaker 1: will you watch live is the question? No, of course not.
Speaker 1: You're gonna get yourself the DVR, DVR protection, protective cone.
Speaker 1: That's right, protective cone. But the Celtics are gonna be
Speaker 1: really good again. I'll probably watch it live. I don't know,
Speaker 1: I'm not, I'm not. I don't have that much tied
Speaker 1: up in the sixers anymore, so I'll probably watch it
Speaker 1: live and the first game of the season, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. If anything couldn't have too much weight
Speaker 1: unless it's setting you up energetically emotionally, and then maybe
Speaker 1: that's one thing, but it feels like you could get
Speaker 1: through it. Meanwhile, the Warriors gonna be hosting the Lakers,
Speaker 1: so we will watch them get their fancy rings. I'm
Speaker 1: not mad at I'm not mad at that. I'm not
Speaker 1: mad at that at all. I'm interested to see how
Speaker 1: Lebron place after looking at the Warriors received their rings.
Speaker 1: That that that will be fun because you know, like
Speaker 1: even thought last year right where he turned it up
Speaker 1: for a game and beat the Warriors, and you know
Speaker 1: that he's still capable of those one night performances. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that photos in that game. Most it's crazy. I love
Speaker 1: those like ego response kind of performances to be like, yes,
Speaker 1: that's what I love to see from these top athletes.
Speaker 1: You're not just here to want make space jam movies.
Speaker 1: He's still got some fire in you. I wonder if, like,
Speaker 1: speaking of that, I wonder if he was sweating at
Speaker 1: Draymond's wedding because it was him, Draymond, his Steph all
Speaker 1: going like throwing four's up for their four rings in order.
Speaker 1: That's right, that's also throwing four fingers up. But we'll see, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it'll be it'll be an interesting performance. I have a
Speaker 1: feeling the Warriors might prevail that one. Probably it's safe bet. Yeah. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then Christmas Day though Bucks verse, Celtics, Sixers verse,
Speaker 1: Nick's Son's verse, Nuggets, Lakers, mad of Grizzlies, Warriors, but
Speaker 1: no omission seems to be the nets. We're not getting
Speaker 1: nets basketball on Christmas Day? Now? Is that time to
Speaker 1: sound the conspiracy theory alarms and say, what do they
Speaker 1: know that we don't? Or it's just like I honestly,
Speaker 1: I think like the NFL's playing on Christmas Day, right,
Speaker 1: so you have to kind of go with your known commodities,
Speaker 1: like you need to to make sure that I mean,
Speaker 1: the one exception would be the next but the Knicks
Speaker 1: might have a better team then than they do now, right,
Speaker 1: Like they've been in plenty of trade rumors as well. Um,
Speaker 1: so I think it's just going with the known commodities
Speaker 1: because you don't know how it's going to go with
Speaker 1: the Brooklyn situations. So you want to put your best
Speaker 1: foot forward. You you want to be competitive in the
Speaker 1: rating standpoint. And who knows. I mean, Boston plays on
Speaker 1: Christmas Day, so maybe Kevin Durant will be playing on
Speaker 1: Christmas Day, right, Um yeah, First I thought the Knicks
Speaker 1: were a typo. I thought that was supposed to be
Speaker 1: the nets. I thought was Sixers nets, which they were
Speaker 1: always there, there always, they are always there. I was.
Speaker 1: I was saying, it's a little bit like the Lions
Speaker 1: on Thanksgiving Day, the Lions and the Cowboys there, they're
Speaker 1: just always there. Um, the and I'm sure it's in
Speaker 1: Madison Square Garden, right Yeah. The Knicks always draw, MSG
Speaker 1: always shows up well on TV. Like and it's also
Speaker 1: like it's that nice kind of easy into the Christmas
Speaker 1: Day schedule to write, Like you wake up, you're a
Speaker 1: little tired, maybe you had a few libations the night before.
Speaker 1: Oh there there's the next plane in some game that
Speaker 1: doesn't have a lot of consequences. This lets me get
Speaker 1: my feet wedding, and then I can watch these better
Speaker 1: matchups later in the day while maybe maybe you're still
Speaker 1: doing some prep for for whatever meals you're having throughout
Speaker 1: the day. It's it's just a nice way to ease
Speaker 1: in this in the napkame, Yeah, just snooze. Which one
Speaker 1: are you looking forward to? Most of those Christmas Day matchups?
Speaker 1: Buck Celtics, Sixers, Knicks, Son's Nuggets Like Christmas, These Warriors,
Speaker 1: I like, yeah, I'm I think I'm with you because
Speaker 1: that's that that got spicy in the postseason. The you know,
Speaker 1: we we learned that the Warriors have a Tostito's bag
Speaker 1: worth of chips on their shoulders still, and the Grizzlies
Speaker 1: aren't aren't backing down from anybody, and just like that
Speaker 1: playoff series, the Grizzlies aren't going to be healthy for it.
Speaker 1: You know, the Warriors already are catching breaks and there's
Speaker 1: my bitter cas fan coming through. But Jaren Jackson Jr.
Speaker 1: Likely won't be in that game. So maybe Brandon Clark
Speaker 1: will will step it up and and rep for up North.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, still time, still time, all right? Should we
Speaker 1: take it? Break? Yeah, let's take it. Let's do it
Speaker 1: all right, Let's take a breather real quick. We'll be
Speaker 1: right back just twenty second time and we're back. Uh.
Speaker 1: And yes, up top, we're talking about the Calves having
Speaker 1: a pretty pretty solid young core. Uh. And you know, plus,
Speaker 1: we're in that point of the summer where people are
Speaker 1: starting to put lists together and compile things to be like, hey,
Speaker 1: we can still talk. There's still some fun things to
Speaker 1: talk about. So we decided, hey, why don't we add
Speaker 1: to the mix and discuss the official mad Boost these
Speaker 1: top five under twenty five. I know you came in
Speaker 1: with a list of your own, Justin, but just you know,
Speaker 1: for the listeners for this one, I think we're gonna
Speaker 1: ask Justin for his top five players under twenty five.
Speaker 1: Now you can decide, Justin, whether you want to make
Speaker 1: it solely based on who is popping right now, or
Speaker 1: whether you want to factor in you know, someone's high
Speaker 1: ceiling potential, etcetera. And we know you have that I
Speaker 1: that you pick out like kids in middle school and
Speaker 1: stuff like that. Did you see the brawnie dunk? That's
Speaker 1: why I do have to mention the brawnie dunk. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that is I. That's probably the offseason basketball play that
Speaker 1: I've watched the most times in a twenty four hour period.
Speaker 1: That was that was really there's something about the physics
Speaker 1: of what he did there. It's it for people who
Speaker 1: haven't seen. It's like a little inside out dribble and
Speaker 1: then he is like sort of gliding by the basket
Speaker 1: and dunks it with his right right on that he's
Speaker 1: on the left side of the basket, and then like
Speaker 1: ducks under the backboard. I was, I don't know, it
Speaker 1: was kind of cool, like, I don't it seems like
Speaker 1: he's operating with different laws of physics, not just a
Speaker 1: clever name he has turns it turns out. And the
Speaker 1: fun part about it too was I actually thought like
Speaker 1: he was moving kind of like slow in the open court.
Speaker 1: Like it was like, oh, like he's not he doesn't
Speaker 1: really have that acceleration. UM. I started off the clip
Speaker 1: being like, oh, man, like what we're doing this Lebrony
Speaker 1: stuff because he's Lemron's kid, blah blah blah. And then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, he just kind of takes off
Speaker 1: out of the aware and just he ms on the guy.
Speaker 1: And that was so much fun. That was really good.
Speaker 1: But for my top five under twenty five, I went
Speaker 1: with where the rat now? Um, It's it's so hard
Speaker 1: because like situation can factor in. You're always doing a
Speaker 1: lot of projecting and stuff like that. Uh, do you
Speaker 1: guys want me to like just launch into this or
Speaker 1: how do you want to let the top? All right,
Speaker 1: So obviously I've got a very close focus on the cast.
Speaker 1: I watched them more than anyone else. I'm not going
Speaker 1: to sit here and act like I watched a d
Speaker 1: two games of every single team, but I do watch
Speaker 1: an unhealthy amount of NBA basketball. But when you guys
Speaker 1: asked me this, I thought, you know what, even though
Speaker 1: I'm an I test guy in my heart, real Hooper
Speaker 1: in the blood, Um, I'm going to look at some
Speaker 1: stats just to kind of get an idea, and I
Speaker 1: think ep M does a good job of kind of
Speaker 1: like capturing it. So I just looked at who they
Speaker 1: had as their top five under twenty five, and it
Speaker 1: was Tatum, Trey, Jared Allen number three, which I thought
Speaker 1: was interesting, Luca Garland, Desmond Dane Jaw, Jaren Jackson Jr.
Speaker 1: And LaMelo. I looked at that and I said, that's interesting.
Speaker 1: I love three kas on the top five, but I'm
Speaker 1: even I'm not that big of a homer. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to go that route. My top five under twenty five,
Speaker 1: I got Luca number one, Jayson Tatum number two, Trey
Speaker 1: Young number three, John number four, and Darius Garland number five.
Speaker 1: And my bias here is really about offensive engines. With
Speaker 1: the exception of Jayson Tatum, all of these other guys
Speaker 1: make other players better on their teams at a very
Speaker 1: high level. You can basically have a functioning offense with
Speaker 1: those guys and and very few options around them. I mean,
Speaker 1: Garland had awful spacing last year, Luca didn't have a
Speaker 1: lot of help, Trey Young has been making things work,
Speaker 1: and Jahn is obviously he's John, He's fantastic. So that
Speaker 1: is my top five. So the Tatum shade is appreciated
Speaker 1: and I love it. Um Boston last year was as
Speaker 1: good as a team can be without a single point
Speaker 1: guard or a single person that can dribble like that.
Speaker 1: That was the eight Heads. They probably if you play
Speaker 1: that series a hundred times, they probably win like maybe
Speaker 1: like four day to fifty percent of the time against
Speaker 1: the Warriors. But that that is absolute. Eight and I
Speaker 1: love the addition of adding Malcolm Brogden because they needed
Speaker 1: someone that can set the table. But Tatum, as good
Speaker 1: as he is, he's not that guy, Like that's not
Speaker 1: his particular strength. The fact that he is still on
Speaker 1: under twenty, like it's so wild to me and doing
Speaker 1: this like he has been here for so long. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it really feels like the top four is kind of
Speaker 1: nailed on with Luca, Jah, Tatum, Trey are all like,
Speaker 1: you know that that feels pretty easy. And then I
Speaker 1: didn't hear a lot of MAXI talk in your your
Speaker 1: top five and that that is a mistake you will
Speaker 1: live to regret that. That's how I'm going to round
Speaker 1: out my top five. Uh, with apologies to Anthony Edwards,
Speaker 1: who you know, if we're just going highest high point,
Speaker 1: like in the in the off season, like he he
Speaker 1: really seemed to be rounding into something, so I have
Speaker 1: high hopes. I feel like I might regret putting him
Speaker 1: out of out of my top five by the middle
Speaker 1: of this season. But yeah, I love Aunt and Max
Speaker 1: is a good shout as well, although like if we're
Speaker 1: comparing guards, I think, uh, Sexton and Max, he's probably
Speaker 1: more of a conversation. You know those fast guards that
Speaker 1: don't play defense and don't really get a lot of
Speaker 1: guys involved, but you know, put up points in a
Speaker 1: fun way. I think Cats have their own Maxi and Sexton,
Speaker 1: But of course that's just a little bit of a shade.
Speaker 1: But Anthony Edwards is one of my favorite players in
Speaker 1: the league. I have them really high. But when you
Speaker 1: look at it, Garland average more points Morris Sis after
Speaker 1: the All Star break, even with all the injuries, twenty
Speaker 1: five and ten and efficient and ten like um, he's
Speaker 1: doing like Steve Nash, Chris paula New Orleans type stuff.
Speaker 1: And and for that reason I give him a nod
Speaker 1: over some of these other guys. But it's unbelievable. Like
Speaker 1: the list of snubs under twenty five is extraordinary. I
Speaker 1: don't I don't remember another time in league history where
Speaker 1: there's this many good players under twenty five. Like we
Speaker 1: haven't even mentioned a mellow right, Like there's Kate Cunningham,
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley, Scotty Barnes, Like Garland is on my list
Speaker 1: and he's probably not even the best under twenty five
Speaker 1: prospect on the calves. Like that's that's a really, really
Speaker 1: exciting place to be if you're the NBA as a whole.
Speaker 1: I mean Zion. We haven't even mentioned Zion, but I
Speaker 1: mean he's that's just injuries. Yeah, oh and obviously shake yeah.
Speaker 1: We just I'm a bad Canadian for not mentioning. There
Speaker 1: you go. It's and and I like, justin that, you're like,
Speaker 1: you're using you know, reason and statistics to bullsh this argument.
Speaker 1: I just like, at Anthony Edwards, I'm like, but what
Speaker 1: about his vibe score? It's what it is too, Like
Speaker 1: I think those four of those top four nailed on
Speaker 1: and then that fifth is like sort of like a
Speaker 1: Rorshach test of like, all right, what are you seeing? Then?
Speaker 1: Like I love Dr Mark Green from e er Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 1: He will always be Dr Mark Green. Um. But speaking
Speaker 1: of international alliances allegiances, um, this was kind of an
Speaker 1: interesting thing from stat Muse. They said, who wins this series?
Speaker 1: At one point, as as hockey fans know, as a
Speaker 1: former hockey player myself, I know the NHL used to
Speaker 1: put the international players versus North American players at its
Speaker 1: All Star Game. With the continued influx of international NBA players,
Speaker 1: would you be in favor of the NBA attempting that,
Speaker 1: and so the Team USA potentially looked like Steph Kauai,
Speaker 1: Lebron Kadie and Anthony Davis uh And also Team International
Speaker 1: could be Luca Andrew Wiggins, Janice and Beid Yokich. That's wild.
Speaker 1: I was trying to find a replacement for Wiggins and
Speaker 1: I couldn't. By the way, there's already three Gobert you know.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm already biased at having three seven footers on
Speaker 1: the floor at all time. Let's let's just get weird
Speaker 1: with it and put them out there. Let's do this right.
Speaker 1: That team is so fun though, Luca Wiggins, yeah, and
Speaker 1: be Yeah. The who would win question is tough because
Speaker 1: it's like, okay, is this is seven game series? If
Speaker 1: it's a one off answers, either of those teams could win, right,
Speaker 1: Like it's it's gonna come down to like who executed,
Speaker 1: who makes the fewest mistakes and all that kind of stuff,
Speaker 1: which is kind of like where the NBA is at again,
Speaker 1: Like I really feel like it's going to be tough
Speaker 1: to see like a super team really emerge in the
Speaker 1: NBA right now because even the super teams that form,
Speaker 1: they're like we kind of view them as that because
Speaker 1: it's the familiar names. It's like these guys on their
Speaker 1: third contracts and back in the day, like Charles Barkley
Speaker 1: was thirty two when he went to the Rockets, Like
Speaker 1: now that you Charles Barkley, like with with modern medicine
Speaker 1: and the way these guys age, would still be a
Speaker 1: hell of a player for a few more years. It's
Speaker 1: not a new trend. The new trend is guys being
Speaker 1: productive this late into their careers, whether it's Chris Paul,
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant, Lebron James um So. Like all these teams
Speaker 1: are so loaded, I don't think you're ever going to
Speaker 1: see or at least in the next few years, unless
Speaker 1: there's like expansion or anything kind of crazy that changes
Speaker 1: the constructional league. There's not going to be like a
Speaker 1: one sided balance of power in the same way that
Speaker 1: we've seen in the past. It really is back to
Speaker 1: the point where it comes down to matchups and execution,
Speaker 1: and the best team might not always win, but it's
Speaker 1: whichever team is playing the best at that time and
Speaker 1: taking advantage of the scenario. So I think it would
Speaker 1: be the same thing with the team USA versus the
Speaker 1: International squad. It's also interesting that there's like a type
Speaker 1: of like all a lot of the best point guards
Speaker 1: they're coming out of the US, Like you got your staff,
Speaker 1: your jaw, you're you know, like hating on shape like
Speaker 1: we we we already like corrected and now you're running
Speaker 1: it back right. Yeah exactly. Um, I don't even know
Speaker 1: who that is, uh, but like and then you've got
Speaker 1: the super skilled seven footers coming from the international side.
Speaker 1: I feel like big men are you know what when
Speaker 1: you're six four in eighth grade in the US, they're like,
Speaker 1: all right, get get down there and start doing the
Speaker 1: uh lay up drills for They're funny, Like I think
Speaker 1: the best American bigs right now are both on the
Speaker 1: Cavs probably like like at least when you're talking about
Speaker 1: like under town, like Jared Allen and Evan Mobile, Like
Speaker 1: Jared Allen is probably going to be the starting center
Speaker 1: for Team USA at some point in the future, and
Speaker 1: I think Evin Mobile is going to be right there
Speaker 1: in the mix. Yeah, man, It's yeah. What's funny is
Speaker 1: like I look at Team International and like in my mind,
Speaker 1: I can picture all of them juggling a soccer ball too,
Speaker 1: Like every single one and again I think, like to
Speaker 1: your point to like, I'll always say this that the
Speaker 1: guys coming from Europe, especially soccer is the biggest sport
Speaker 1: out there, and so like they're they're like sort of
Speaker 1: athletically coming from a like quick passing movement sort of
Speaker 1: mentality of sport. And I see that all the time
Speaker 1: with like these players find the passing lanes off or
Speaker 1: just just releasing it immediately giving the defenders no chance. So, Okay,
Speaker 1: in a soccer game, team international only wins. But I
Speaker 1: guess as a proposition, would we be interested in seeing
Speaker 1: something like this, I'm I think I would if it
Speaker 1: reaches a critical mass. I think it's absolutely interesting to
Speaker 1: see how this stacks up because I think it also
Speaker 1: helps us realize how much international talent is actually in
Speaker 1: the league as well. Yeah, I mean I hated it
Speaker 1: for the Rising Stars game because I I all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, like you had guys that really deserved to
Speaker 1: be in the Rising Stars Game not make it because
Speaker 1: an international player had to make it in that That
Speaker 1: was the case for Darius Garland as an example, he
Speaker 1: didn't make a Rising Stars game in either of his
Speaker 1: first two years. Um. But obviously when you're talking about
Speaker 1: like the top level, you're not going to have that
Speaker 1: issue where you're kind of uh, scraping the fringes and
Speaker 1: adding someone like Boban or whatever just to fill out
Speaker 1: a roster. So I think it'd be a lot of
Speaker 1: fun to see, like even if you want to try
Speaker 1: something out like this at All Star, but again, you're
Speaker 1: then kind of getting into the Okay, who deserves it more?
Speaker 1: Are you going to make half the All Stars in
Speaker 1: international or whatever the case? Maybe so maybe that's just uh,
Speaker 1: maybe this is one of those kind of in or
Speaker 1: out of season tournaments that that the n NBA can try,
Speaker 1: right and then to give it steaks like you know
Speaker 1: how the Baseball gave their All Star getting steaks by
Speaker 1: making it worth like home field advantage of the World Series.
Speaker 1: Like maybe we do like some trade embargoes or something
Speaker 1: like that with with the international version of US when
Speaker 1: or you get deported nuclear secrets, um exactly pull something
Speaker 1: from the headlines. Yeah right, all right, Well let's take
Speaker 1: another break, we'll come back and we'll we'll close it
Speaker 1: out as we always do with the rapid fire round
Speaker 1: of questioning. Buckle up after this and we're back and
Speaker 1: justin to close the show out. Get ready, prepare yourself
Speaker 1: for the Miles and Jack mad boost these rapid fire
Speaker 1: round of questions. Um like again with this whole segment.
Speaker 1: It's rapid. It's as fast as possible to just respond
Speaker 1: with the first answer that comes to mind, reflexively, no thinking,
Speaker 1: no follow up, just keep it super efficient. Okay. I
Speaker 1: don't know what that last sound effect was that I
Speaker 1: was doing. I think I was trying to do like
Speaker 1: a bullet like kind of ricocheting around, but it just
Speaker 1: sounded doing that's not that's not really doing anything for me.
Speaker 1: I don't I don't really know what that is. You
Speaker 1: can workshop it. Look no one said you have to
Speaker 1: be Michael Winslow from Police Academy on this podcast. Anyway,
Speaker 1: start the clock. Here we go, question number one justin rowing.
Speaker 1: All titles count exactly the same in the history. Well
Speaker 1: you're going to the first one. Okay, all right, you
Speaker 1: can do it. Do you want to what we can do?
Speaker 1: We did rock paper ships the last time we could drows?
Speaker 1: Do you have a straw ready? And like, how are
Speaker 1: we going to judge the length of two pens? Can
Speaker 1: you tell me which one is longer? Okay, oh it's
Speaker 1: the uh one that body is green and justin, yeah
Speaker 1: it guess what this shorter? Oh damn? All right, you go.
Speaker 1: I don't think those were lined up probably you're right. Well,
Speaker 1: we'll let it slide. That's fine. Well, here's a tough
Speaker 1: one for you, justin. Here's a brain buster. All titles
Speaker 1: count exactly the same in the history books. But where
Speaker 1: does Cleveland's title rank for you in your all times
Speaker 1: sports memories? Oh? Um? Number one? What really? Of all time? Man?
Speaker 1: Because it was an impossible task? And yeah, I agree,
Speaker 1: that might be my favorite sports memory. I mean that's
Speaker 1: where I'm at. It was pretty wild to see, that's
Speaker 1: for sure, as a lifelong lebron fan who's dealt with
Speaker 1: so much hate for that guy. The other is in
Speaker 1: my top three or like all CFL related to so
Speaker 1: like what and no one wants to hear about that.
Speaker 1: When Dwayne the Rock Johnson was playing for the Argonauts, Yeah, yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: Calgary stamped Stampede all Ricky Williams was Argos great brass
Speaker 1: festival the Calgary Stampede for people who are in brass
Speaker 1: bands like I was back anyway, rapid Fire, justin, where
Speaker 1: does Cleveland hosting the All Star Game last year. Rank
Speaker 1: honestly very high. Like I'd say top five for me
Speaker 1: because that's my first time and only time going to
Speaker 1: an All Star weekend, so that that was a lot
Speaker 1: of fun. Dennis Robman bought me a shot. You know,
Speaker 1: it was a good time. I'd ask more, but justin
Speaker 1: I gotta ask you me. We we gotta really keep
Speaker 1: it brief here because this is a rapid fire round
Speaker 1: of questionings. Man, Jack, I thought you were gonna be
Speaker 1: faster than this question number two. Janice was recently asked
Speaker 1: about the possibility of plan for the Bulls one day
Speaker 1: and gave an honest answer and essentially saying, you just
Speaker 1: never know where life will take you. Could you see
Speaker 1: him plan for another team down the one, Yes, but
Speaker 1: not Chicago? Is it weird? So the contact for this
Speaker 1: one because I was like, this question that you wrote
Speaker 1: doesn't really make sense to me. And the question was
Speaker 1: being asked by a local Chicago reporter, So I was like,
Speaker 1: why are why did the Bulls get to ask if
Speaker 1: he's gonna play for them? Why not? What? Why not
Speaker 1: any other team? Well, let's find them some first round picks.
Speaker 1: Tampering they're they're going down exactly. Um, but yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean I feel like definitely not the Bulls because they're
Speaker 1: a fellow Central Division team. You never you never trade
Speaker 1: your globe and generation defining talent to a fellow Central
Speaker 1: Division And if they were, it'd obviously be Cleveland because
Speaker 1: they can work, you know, justin pleae stay focused. Here
Speaker 1: is the next question. What's a silly NBA rule you
Speaker 1: would introduce if you had the power anything I'm talking
Speaker 1: to anything. You are not allowed to foul up three.
Speaker 1: You gotta play straight. I know it's smart, but if
Speaker 1: you do, it's an automatic forfeit. I like that now
Speaker 1: where the game let them take that three. And you
Speaker 1: watch a lot of basketball, you said an unhealthy amount.
Speaker 1: We can look at your posture to tell like myself
Speaker 1: and I'm just a very hunched over sports watcher, but like,
Speaker 1: what what about that rule? Is there's something that you've
Speaker 1: seen time and again that just really irks you. That's like,
Speaker 1: I wish I could make this a rule. I think
Speaker 1: it just like it takes away from the fun of
Speaker 1: the game like that, especially if you're down three, Like
Speaker 1: I I know it benefits me sometimes when I'm up
Speaker 1: three but you want to have that suspense. I want
Speaker 1: to see the best player on the other team with
Speaker 1: the best three points or whatever the case may be.
Speaker 1: I want to have the dialogue about all Lebron passed
Speaker 1: into the corner to a wide open Kyle Corver for
Speaker 1: that three. I want that instead of the free throw game,
Speaker 1: because the free throw game is just not as entertaining.
Speaker 1: And at the end of the day, we like basketball
Speaker 1: because it's entertained. I know we put so much stakes
Speaker 1: on all these results, but that's what drives me. Not Yeah,
Speaker 1: then you know, I I appreciate your opinion on that.
Speaker 1: I am a fan above all of free throws. That's
Speaker 1: kind of why I watched the game, so I would
Speaker 1: just ask you not state it so like matter of factly,
Speaker 1: that's just your opinion. Man, I love free throws as
Speaker 1: a Sixers fan. That is what I'm in it justin
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I gotta cut you off, man, you gotta
Speaker 1: keep the answers short. Okay, this is a rapid fire
Speaker 1: under questioning. Alright, which team is poisoned? Take leap in
Speaker 1: the way? Teams like Atlanta the year before, Memphis last year,
Speaker 1: even Cleveland last year have done in the past couple
Speaker 1: of seasons, Cleveland again running back. Okay, that's a reasonable answer. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, here we go rapid fire, Ah, Justin and
Speaker 1: beat a h Okay, okay, Elo or Harper? Who should
Speaker 1: have guarded Jordan's for that last hut? Harper? Mm hmmm
Speaker 1: mmm Miles or Jack? Miles? Well, I like that answer.
Speaker 1: All right, that was great man, one of the best
Speaker 1: guests we've had. I've got one way hate for Philly.
Speaker 1: I know Philly never thinks you, but I've got hate
Speaker 1: for the Sixers. You know what, even with Jared Allen
Speaker 1: being out those two games, they still needed last two
Speaker 1: minutes breaks to win those games against the Calves. And
Speaker 1: you know what, I don't need it to be reciprocated
Speaker 1: in any way. You don't have to ever think about me,
Speaker 1: but I'm up at night, your rent free in my hand.
Speaker 1: I hate the Sixers. I love that you don't have
Speaker 1: to think about me at all. Don't pay me any mind,
Speaker 1: but I Dustin Man, thank you so much for coming on.
Speaker 1: Miles and Jack, got mat Boosty whatever. Really fun time
Speaker 1: where people find you and follow you and listen to you.
Speaker 1: You can find the Chase Down podcast now wherever you
Speaker 1: guys got this podcast. You can also find us on
Speaker 1: the Calves YouTube channel. If me on Twitter at Casanada,
Speaker 1: just slap the Calves in Canada and you'll find me there.
Speaker 1: I apologize for everything you see after you found that,
Speaker 1: but you know that's that's where you can pay you
Speaker 1: know by or beware when you heard it there at Cavsnada.
Speaker 1: It's not just a clever name. He's living the life again.
Speaker 1: Justin thank you so much for joining us on Jack
Speaker 1: Out Matt boost these uh please make sure you subscribe,
Speaker 1: leave a review wherever you can do that Apple Vodka
Speaker 1: because we really appreciate it listeners, and we'll see you
Speaker 1: next time. Because there's always a name. Bye bye