Speaker 1: We're back and we're breaking down the state of the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bulls. Lebron's just unparalleled longevity. He's some kind of
Speaker 1: time traveler. And plenty more from around the league with
Speaker 1: the co host of the Note Dunks podcast for the
Speaker 1: Athletic got Drake Kirby on today's episode on Gray and
Speaker 1: I'm Jack O'Brien and this is I Go Hi, You
Speaker 1: Go Love. That's how we do it, like Michelle Obama
Speaker 1: told us. Now, Tray Kirby, the author of the Blue
Speaker 1: Scorches Big Book of Basketball Facts, is here with us
Speaker 1: and also one of the hosts of Jack one of
Speaker 1: your favorite podcasts, The Star Starters and Back in the
Speaker 1: Day The Basketball Jones. Uh from way back. Man got
Speaker 1: me through some NBA playoffs, man, Yeah, I think first
Speaker 1: season of The Basketball Jones was the last time the
Speaker 1: Sacramento Kings made the playoffs. Oh five oh six season.
Speaker 1: It's been a long time that we've been doing it. Uh,
Speaker 1: and maybe it's been the curse of the Kings. You know,
Speaker 1: you gotta reunion episode exactly, we gotta go to Sacramento
Speaker 1: and they make it back this year. So look, I
Speaker 1: know you obviously from watching you on No. Dunks and uh, etcetera.
Speaker 1: Here you you're your big Bulls fan. But where are
Speaker 1: you from? Where'd you grow up? How'd you end up
Speaker 1: with the Bulls? What's going on there? I grew up
Speaker 1: in a tiny town called Plano, Illinois, probably twenty five
Speaker 1: minutes southwest of Chicago. Uh. We're most famous as the
Speaker 1: world's biggest producer of plastic fishing tackle boxes. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I love your work. Oh yeah, you know great first
Speaker 1: stand organized. Maybe you like to keep track of tiny
Speaker 1: little beads some strings. Get you a caboodle. They make
Speaker 1: those too little supplement and pill in take is all
Speaker 1: I have to keep it, you know, organized in a
Speaker 1: in a giant tackle box eight years old. We might
Speaker 1: as well just go hit Plano More Holding Company on
Speaker 1: South Street. You know that's the spot, that's the factory store.
Speaker 1: You can get a tackle box or a caboodle. One
Speaker 1: is rounder the only difference, right, and like with more
Speaker 1: like nineties colors, because I remember the caboodle was basically
Speaker 1: like a toolbox. But like, what if we did a
Speaker 1: color way with turquoise and purple exactly make it hornets
Speaker 1: colors and everyone will buy it for their six year
Speaker 1: old daughter. No doubt they were in my household because
Speaker 1: that's when I grew up. I was seven one of
Speaker 1: the Bulls won our first championship. If you're seven years
Speaker 1: old with Michael Jordan's forty five minutes away, you're gonna
Speaker 1: end up a Bulls fan for life. It was awesome
Speaker 1: up until I was fourteen. It's been a battle ever
Speaker 1: since then. It feels like you got a wizard's jersey
Speaker 1: or not. I didn't go to one m J Wizards
Speaker 1: game in Indiana. I think it was Wizards Pacers his
Speaker 1: first year back. But these days I like to just
Speaker 1: imagine that that Aaron never really happened. You know that
Speaker 1: this is all doctor footage. Nobody can really prove. I'm
Speaker 1: j was a wizard, right, this is the sin Bad
Speaker 1: movie where he's a genie. That's right. They're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: go ahead, yeah, go look for that. Yeah, Bed was
Speaker 1: a genie and Michael Jordan was a wizard. Getting on,
Speaker 1: And how are you feeling about the team right now?
Speaker 1: Better than a month ago? Yeah? You know, it's been
Speaker 1: a weird couple of seasons for the Bulls. Last year,
Speaker 1: they got off to an incredible start on top of
Speaker 1: the league. For the first couple of months of the season,
Speaker 1: you know, the Bulls were back. They were an exciting
Speaker 1: team to watch, and Lonzo Ball gets hurt that Lavine
Speaker 1: picks up a little injury, more and more guys started
Speaker 1: missing time. By the end of last season, I've flown
Speaker 1: home for the first Bulls playoff game in five years
Speaker 1: and end up being a thirty point blowout. Great. Uh,
Speaker 1: And that was kind of the vibes going into the
Speaker 1: season this year. Bulls came out, didn't look great to
Speaker 1: start the season, gave up a hundred and fifty points
Speaker 1: to the timber Wolves about a month ago. Apparently they
Speaker 1: had a team meeting at halftime, came up seventy one
Speaker 1: in the first half, had a team meeting, came back out,
Speaker 1: gave up seventy nine. But after that figured it out,
Speaker 1: like out it gave up, and that's where it started.
Speaker 1: Chat at halftime. It didn't go wrong the second half,
Speaker 1: and they're like, we gotta, we gotta really try that stuff,
Speaker 1: talking about I love a team meeting where it really
Speaker 1: turns the times, and it's just like, we gotta let
Speaker 1: them stop making baskets. Yeah, exactly. That sounds very passive. Coach. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we got just like they do, like, all right, that's it.
Speaker 1: Team meeting half time? Was that? Yeah? But yeah, Zach Levine,
Speaker 1: I mean he seems like he's uh, just flipped the
Speaker 1: switch or something. It was basically in line with when
Speaker 1: the Timberwolves game happened. You could even go back a
Speaker 1: little earlier. I think since December one, he's basically been
Speaker 1: back to the Zach Lavine. In the past couple of seasons,
Speaker 1: he had the Arthur scopic knee surgery in the summer,
Speaker 1: so when he came back to the Balls, you know,
Speaker 1: it wasn't picking up right where he left off. But
Speaker 1: now for the past month, basically he's been a fifty
Speaker 1: shooter from the field and right near fifty sent from
Speaker 1: three point land as well. And that's huge for the Balls.
Speaker 1: They're not a team that makes a ton of threes,
Speaker 1: so it's got to be Levine that actually knocks him down. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Is there like a born on date that they have
Speaker 1: with surgeries. I feel like there are certain surgeries whereas
Speaker 1: like three weeks later though, that's when all of a
Speaker 1: sudden he's like shooting from from three. I remember that
Speaker 1: a lot with Wade where you could just like feel
Speaker 1: the future based on how his knee was feeling at
Speaker 1: any given time, and it would fluctuate so wildly, like
Speaker 1: from game to game. If he was that was a problem.
Speaker 1: I remember one thing that's always messed timelines up for
Speaker 1: me with regards to knee injuries was metal World Piece.
Speaker 1: Like Curtis Meniscus. It seemed like he was gonna be
Speaker 1: out for the playoffs, and he came back in two
Speaker 1: weeks looked like the exact same player. Yeah. Now, anytime
Speaker 1: somebody hurd at me, I'm like, well, it could be
Speaker 1: a Metal World piece, you know, back right away. It
Speaker 1: doesn't usually go that way. On the complete other end
Speaker 1: of the spectrum. He got why Leonard, he's played through
Speaker 1: half this season. He's like, this is gonna take me
Speaker 1: two years to get back right camp The brakes a
Speaker 1: little bit here because it's separate for everybody, But I'm
Speaker 1: happy does see Levine looking more athletic like he always has. Now,
Speaker 1: I love a player who doesn't like necessarily show up
Speaker 1: on the statuet or you know, the everyday basketball fan
Speaker 1: doesn't like pay a ton of attention to them. But
Speaker 1: then they're just like there and they jell everything together
Speaker 1: with Alonzo as a fan who watches a lot more
Speaker 1: of these games than I do, like he he was
Speaker 1: somebody who I really believed in coming into the league.
Speaker 1: And then you know he hasn't like set the world
Speaker 1: on fire, right, But a lot of people who watch
Speaker 1: a lot of his games are like, he really contributes
Speaker 1: to wins. Do you think that him being out and
Speaker 1: him coming back in the not too distant future is
Speaker 1: is going to be a big swing for the Bulls.
Speaker 1: Alonzo is kind of the Draymond of the Bulls and
Speaker 1: the fact that he just does whatever they need to
Speaker 1: do and all of the things that are his strengths
Speaker 1: are the rest of the team's weaknesses. So I really
Speaker 1: do hope he comes back soon. Uh, the reporting on
Speaker 1: his injury has not been met a world peace encouraging.
Speaker 1: You know. I heard he was jumping on his jump
Speaker 1: shots now, which is an improvement, But the guy had
Speaker 1: surgery about a year ago, so you would think they
Speaker 1: were back already. Nonetheless, when he went out, he gave
Speaker 1: the Bulls a little bit of size on the perimeter,
Speaker 1: some defense, some deflections. He pushes the pace obviously, and
Speaker 1: then he really chucks threes like that's a crazy thing
Speaker 1: about a Lonzo he came in the shop is certainly
Speaker 1: a question mark. He learned how to shoot in New
Speaker 1: Orleans and then he was just letting it fly in
Speaker 1: the first half of the season for the Bulls last year.
Speaker 1: They don't get a ton of three point shops up.
Speaker 1: They don't have a lot of high percentage guys. He
Speaker 1: would certainly help, not to mention on the defensive end,
Speaker 1: where him and Caruso they looked like a menace out
Speaker 1: there together for the first half of the season last year.
Speaker 1: They need his transition offense, they need his threes, they
Speaker 1: need his defense. There's a reason Lonzo was a priority
Speaker 1: for the Bulls going into last season. Right it's a
Speaker 1: bummer to me as a as a Sixers fan that
Speaker 1: there we might be having another another player has entered
Speaker 1: the ring like another because the East is already so
Speaker 1: stacked like it, it already feels deflating to be like man,
Speaker 1: the Sixers look good, and so does five other teams
Speaker 1: that seem like they're gonna be impossible to get out
Speaker 1: of the first or second round with. And now the
Speaker 1: Bulls kind of putting it together. It's exciting as an
Speaker 1: NBA fan, but it does feel just positively jammed in
Speaker 1: the East. As NBA fan, there's a lot of good
Speaker 1: teams in the East, but Sixers fans don't need to
Speaker 1: worry about the Bulls. If I'm not mistaken, Joel Embiid
Speaker 1: has defeated lost to the Bulls in his career. That's crazy. Lucky.
Speaker 1: He's lucky he missed this last game though we're being
Speaker 1: eleven for thirteen from three. I'm thinking beats Stick and
Speaker 1: Lavine on the perimeter there. So I don't know, Man,
Speaker 1: He'll do what it takes. Yeah, he's undefeated. He's like,
Speaker 1: but those people that are on the court, they are
Speaker 1: not undefeated. Aaron Rodgers of the NBA, You know, right,
Speaker 1: So was Zach Levine kind of turned in a corner?
Speaker 1: Like one of the most recent things I read was like,
Speaker 1: you know, the relationship between him and Billy Donovan is
Speaker 1: they call it strained but workable, Like, you know it
Speaker 1: does it? Do you think that's anything to worry about
Speaker 1: or that's just kind of a little side note that
Speaker 1: it isn't going to really detract too much. I think
Speaker 1: there must certainly be some kind of problems and some
Speaker 1: sort of tension between Donovan and Levine. Just because back
Speaker 1: before Dorosen came, Zach Levine was the man for the Bulls,
Speaker 1: and when DeRozan signed on in Chicago, it kind of
Speaker 1: seemed like they were gonna be one A and one B.
Speaker 1: But to me, it kind of turned pretty quickly into
Speaker 1: deroz and his number one and the guy's taking every
Speaker 1: shot in the fourth quarter and doing a great job
Speaker 1: with it. He's been one of the best fourth quarter
Speaker 1: scores this season and last season, but that has some
Speaker 1: times left Zach Levine watching uh and just waiting to
Speaker 1: see what de Rosen does. There was also an incident
Speaker 1: earlier this year where it will Been got benched in
Speaker 1: the fourth corner of the game, which I think he's
Speaker 1: kind of still holding onto um. But he also had
Speaker 1: an incredible game against the Sixers in that fourth quarter
Speaker 1: where he kind of got to be the man. He
Speaker 1: was passing the ball, he was relocating, he was fined
Speaker 1: in three pointers. So I think they can still work
Speaker 1: things out, but certainly there's a little bit of tension there.
Speaker 1: Of Course, the Bulls just signed Billy Donovan to an extension,
Speaker 1: so it doesn't seem like he's going anywhere. Zach Levine
Speaker 1: just got a big, huge, contract as well. It doesn't
Speaker 1: feel like he's going anywhere immediately. They're gonna have to
Speaker 1: figure it out. The good thing is they're winning some
Speaker 1: games right now. That seems to be the way to
Speaker 1: work things out. Yeah. I was like, don't don't look
Speaker 1: too bad, and even like, you know, uh who, you
Speaker 1: guys played the Celtics, right, I was looking at Celtics Twitter.
Speaker 1: They were shook after that game. They were like, hey, man,
Speaker 1: I'm glad would have to play them for a while. Man,
Speaker 1: they're shook because the Bulls already beat him twice this year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: against the Celtics, and Levine was hot in that fourth
Speaker 1: quarter hit fifteen, got the lead down to two after
Speaker 1: Derosan went out, took a real tough step back, sort
Speaker 1: of a little fade away. It went off, and then
Speaker 1: the Bulls doubled about out Morford in the corner. He
Speaker 1: rattled it home, touched nine thousand times on the rims
Speaker 1: still somehow dry Celtics win, but you can see why
Speaker 1: they're stuff. They don't want to see the Bulls in
Speaker 1: a one eight series, right, Yeah, it's gonna be interesting
Speaker 1: to see who gets that six seeds. I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people are waiting for the Pacers to fade.
Speaker 1: But they're eaten two or less ten. But the Bulls
Speaker 1: are ten and two versus the Celtics, Bucks, heat Nets,
Speaker 1: and Jazz. I don't know why I threw the Jazz
Speaker 1: in there. I feel like that might be they were
Speaker 1: on top of the game for a while back. Today, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we were looking at them different lenses for sure. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's kind of funny because the criticism of the Bulls
Speaker 1: last season was that they were just beating up on
Speaker 1: the worst teams in the league. They had a great
Speaker 1: record against teams with under five hundred, but I think
Speaker 1: they were one in fourteen or something like that against
Speaker 1: the top four seeds in the Eastern Conference. This year,
Speaker 1: they're really struggling against the worst teams in the league.
Speaker 1: But for whatever reason, they can beat all the top teams. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: being able to beat the bad teams is what could
Speaker 1: you really good seeds? It comes playoff time. You got
Speaker 1: to have that part. Yeah, yeah, you want us to
Speaker 1: do both? Well write that you didn't write, Oh, there's
Speaker 1: what's better our record against them? Which one did you
Speaker 1: rather have? Okay, I think we'd rather beat the top teams. Okay,
Speaker 1: just putting it out there. You'd rather beat the top team,
Speaker 1: so you at least get media people picking one win
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. You know, It's better than somebody saying, oh,
Speaker 1: Bowls are getting swept out of the playoffs. Here bocks
Speaker 1: in five. I can take that. I gotta ask you,
Speaker 1: know you you mentioned you were seven years old in
Speaker 1: which would make you perhaps someone born in four, which
Speaker 1: would perhaps make you thirty eight years old, just like
Speaker 1: god level math. And I'm I would like to talk
Speaker 1: about another thirty eight year old that makes me feel
Speaker 1: so inadequate. This man name Lebrin James. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I'm part of him. Yeah, he's I was
Speaker 1: saying funny to me that you you always always myself,
Speaker 1: You're always comparing yourself to Vron because you're born in
Speaker 1: the same year. Yeah. It's a weird, insidious thing I
Speaker 1: have since being like a child, you know what I mean, Like,
Speaker 1: you're always like, oh, well, eighth grader, so of course
Speaker 1: he's gonna be a little bit better than me. I'm
Speaker 1: only seventh grade, you know what I mean. And with Lebron,
Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, he looks good. I'm like,
Speaker 1: not even on the team in high school. But it's
Speaker 1: just like it's weird comparatively. I can't help me, Like,
Speaker 1: you know, we're the same age. And now it's funny
Speaker 1: because my relationship to Lebron is like I look up
Speaker 1: to him like he's my daddy. Sometimes I'm like I've
Speaker 1: always Lebron is more of a son. Yeah, that four
Speaker 1: year age advantage. So do you look at so you
Speaker 1: look at Lebron as your as like your little brother
Speaker 1: because of the age thing. Okay, it thinkuse me. I'm
Speaker 1: like he's my classmate that I'm would constantly be like, man,
Speaker 1: what am I gonna get as good as him? Man?
Speaker 1: I remember the when I discovered the basketball Jones was
Speaker 1: the playoffs where he was going against the Celtics. He
Speaker 1: was down I think three two in the Eastern Conference finals.
Speaker 1: He had just had that bad finals, and I was
Speaker 1: just so like pulling for him to break through this
Speaker 1: wall and like get to the finals, and I was
Speaker 1: just consuming so much basketball content. But yeah, it was
Speaker 1: it was a blast listening to you guys talk Lebron
Speaker 1: over the years. It's crazy that he is in year
Speaker 1: twenty and he's gonna be an All NBA player. I
Speaker 1: think the same man. I'm like, four, what a special
Speaker 1: year I was born. Lebron was born, Jordan was drafted.
Speaker 1: It was like, you know, if you were born in
Speaker 1: Night four, you do get a little bit of credit.
Speaker 1: I think for all those cool basketball things that happened,
Speaker 1: there was just something in the something in the year.
Speaker 1: Uh block people in for basketball fans. But yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a it's honestly wild to still be talking about Lebron
Speaker 1: through the entirety of the show. Basically I made he
Speaker 1: was there before the show even started. We've been a
Speaker 1: long running podcast in many many forms. It feels strange
Speaker 1: because the guy's like one of the most famous people
Speaker 1: on earth, and you know, he's been one of the
Speaker 1: most famous people on earth as long as we've known
Speaker 1: about him. But there are just things it are relatable.
Speaker 1: I'm like, his daughter and my oldest daughter were born
Speaker 1: in the exact same month. Son. Like, look, Lebron has
Speaker 1: Mowana birthday parties. We can exactly he's watching the same
Speaker 1: Disney plod shows. Yeah, yeah, Big Miss by George orwell not.
Speaker 1: You know, he picked something else to write about of
Speaker 1: eighty four instead of you guys as birth. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: like I think he's smart, and it's like, like, have
Speaker 1: you ever read that book? It doesn't mention Jordan being
Speaker 1: drafted at all, But I liked I just used that
Speaker 1: phrase whenever things I don't like hair happening. What is this?
Speaker 1: But I don't know what it means. I'm personally still
Speaker 1: not over that shrewder breakaway lob dunk. That was like,
Speaker 1: you know, it is the sort of oop that I
Speaker 1: would throw to Lebron And then it was like went
Speaker 1: around his right shin and it like we talked about
Speaker 1: it last week. I'm not gonna stop talking about it
Speaker 1: because I think it's the coolest, most athletic way I
Speaker 1: have seen this season. He catches it like at his
Speaker 1: right shoe and then smoothly like whips it around and
Speaker 1: turns it into a windmill two handed reverse. It's one
Speaker 1: of the coolest things I've ever seen. Like I don't
Speaker 1: I tried to like Google to find it, and like
Speaker 1: people aren't talking that much about it. But go do
Speaker 1: yourself a favor and go into the footnotes of this
Speaker 1: episode and we'll link off to it. You have a
Speaker 1: chance a little bit of a vis right, they have
Speaker 1: seven stuff. Just take it away to shroud from Shrouder.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you this crowd is your fire with that play.
Speaker 1: Is there any thirty eight year old that can do that?
Speaker 1: From Trey? And I could obviously do that, I mean yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I never said what height Trey. I didn't. I didn't
Speaker 1: even really realize how bad of a labbot Long was
Speaker 1: by Dennis Shrewder. Get above his own shoulder, no one.
Speaker 1: Here's a free one for all the content creators out there.
Speaker 1: I want to see a super cut of the worst
Speaker 1: lobs ever thrown to Lebron. Yeah, just salvaged by his
Speaker 1: pure athletics. I think, like one of his coolest highlights
Speaker 1: from his first tenure in Cleveland, so you know, like
Speaker 1: oh nine or something like that. I think it's more
Speaker 1: Williams who throws him a lob like not even close
Speaker 1: to the hoop, probably three ft up into the right
Speaker 1: of even the square on the backboard, and the highlight
Speaker 1: is just Lebron jumping up to catch it so it
Speaker 1: doesn't go out of bounds. And it's unbelievable. That was
Speaker 1: the wonder where people are like, is this like the
Speaker 1: like most obscene jump we've ever seen in our kind? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like he made catching a pass looking credible. That's all,
Speaker 1: just went up and jumped and caught it. So I'm
Speaker 1: sure between that, Dennis Shrewder all these other players over
Speaker 1: the last twenty years, you could easily put together a
Speaker 1: terrible Lobs compilation for Lebron. Yeah. I just like, yeah,
Speaker 1: a lob makes tape. Yeah, wait, hold on, that's I
Speaker 1: just want to see this one more times. Comes in,
Speaker 1: comes down and like almost almost hits his head on
Speaker 1: the rim on the way down from catching the ball. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just throwing up. Yeah, man, But the Lakers are in it.
Speaker 1: They haven't had a lot of time with both Lebron
Speaker 1: and a d but they're they're winning some games. Lebrons
Speaker 1: looked incredible, averaging thirty eight since his thirty eighth birthday.
Speaker 1: Prior to missing Monday's game against the Nuggets with ankle soreness.
Speaker 1: The Lakers were on a four oh streak. Lebron over
Speaker 1: that stretch forty seven points, nine boards tennisis forty three points,
Speaker 1: eleven boards, six assist ten and seven thirty seven and
Speaker 1: seven yeah, yeah and seven. That's off night for him,
Speaker 1: you know, it's he has been on one. You talk
Speaker 1: about like players will have a showcase game, or they'll
Speaker 1: decide to showcase the players, so they get a whole
Speaker 1: bunch more minutes and you know, a whole bunch more
Speaker 1: touches the show. Yeah, look at this, I can raise
Speaker 1: my trade value. It's almost the exact opposite with Lebron.
Speaker 1: It's like Lebron Showcase right now, where he's just balling
Speaker 1: so hard and putting up such crazy numbers that it's like, look,
Speaker 1: how good I am. You need to make some trades.
Speaker 1: Better support me here because I still got it. I
Speaker 1: still got quite a bit here. This is not just
Speaker 1: a crowning glory kind of season. He's really turning it
Speaker 1: on right now. Westbrook is at least being productive putting
Speaker 1: up the numbers, balling out of his mind right now,
Speaker 1: and Dennis Shrewder seems to have found a little bit
Speaker 1: of a fountain of youth. They put together a decent
Speaker 1: little streak here. It started by beating up on some
Speaker 1: bad teams, but they're getting decent victories, and Lebron, with
Speaker 1: the way he's playing, undeniably the Lakers have a shot
Speaker 1: in any sort of playoff series. Yeah. I love to
Speaker 1: hear that. I mean, yeah, I think it's it's it's
Speaker 1: good to see that positive movement. But yeah, to your point,
Speaker 1: it's like, so we have this guy who's Lebron James
Speaker 1: and he's playing like this, So what's your move? Uh?
Speaker 1: And I hope that move is made. Amount of NBA
Speaker 1: basketball that he has played and he's still doing that
Speaker 1: is pretty But Jack also, like you see my mixtape
Speaker 1: Brot mix tape, you know, almost almost putting you. No, no,
Speaker 1: it's good, like I'm not. We said we weren't going
Speaker 1: to talk about it on the episode, right, Well you
Speaker 1: said it would be a bad look for me or no,
Speaker 1: people weren't ready and but yeah, no, it's really cool. Thanks.
Speaker 1: All right, well let's take a quick break and we'll
Speaker 1: keep talking to NBA while I bask in Jack's wonderful compliment.
Speaker 1: After this and we're back. Some pretty good performances since
Speaker 1: last we spoke listeners around the league. I mean, Harris
Speaker 1: and Barnes thirty points on eleven from thirteen, six for
Speaker 1: seven from deep against Orlando. I was like watching the
Speaker 1: you know when they cut together all the all the
Speaker 1: buckets and like some of the passes that he is
Speaker 1: he is being well fed. There's a good passing thought
Speaker 1: it was a Wou Tang interstitial like interlude beating him
Speaker 1: if him. I'm happy for Harrison barnes Man. He's been
Speaker 1: on Sacramento through some lean years. He's trade rumors for
Speaker 1: a long long time, but somehow he's stuck around long
Speaker 1: enough to where they're good and they're super fun to watch.
Speaker 1: So I'm happy that he's getting to have some monster
Speaker 1: games here and there. Yeah, totally yeah. Keegan Murray also
Speaker 1: had a fantastic night last night too. I think fifteen
Speaker 1: points on five or six from three and only twenty
Speaker 1: five minutes. So good. It's you know, it's it's great
Speaker 1: to see them ascend like this. Like you said, it's
Speaker 1: been seventeen years, seventeen years. Miles Turner put himself a
Speaker 1: game earlier this week, twenty nine points, nine boards, four blocks,
Speaker 1: including what wound up being a game saving block, and
Speaker 1: a win over the Hornets. Again another person been involved
Speaker 1: in a lot of trade rumors, and maybe we can
Speaker 1: just enjoy watching him play basketball because he's pretty good.
Speaker 1: I need him so a d complete the four get
Speaker 1: over here still only though, I mean, he's so young.
Speaker 1: That's the thing with Miles Turner. He's been around for
Speaker 1: quite some time, been rumored to be on the move
Speaker 1: since maybe last trade deadline, even through the summer obviously,
Speaker 1: But now the Pacers are good and his instrumental in
Speaker 1: their offense actually being good, so maybe not a big
Speaker 1: hurry to get rid of him. I don't know, We'll see.
Speaker 1: I think the night that he was drafted, they were like,
Speaker 1: and the Pacers have acquired a great trade chip here
Speaker 1: with Miles Turner, and I feel like I've just I've
Speaker 1: only heard his name in trade rumors and also about
Speaker 1: his lego collection, because he's got a great lego collection,
Speaker 1: I believe, Oh really, yeah, is he like a master?
Speaker 1: But you don't know. I mean, look, I'm already feeling
Speaker 1: holly inadequate about Lebron James. I don't need to then
Speaker 1: be bested by someone with the same name as me,
Speaker 1: with a better lego collection, who's young day yeah, with
Speaker 1: a cooler spelling. No, I feel like that's the spelling
Speaker 1: they'd give him him, like they'd give the name Miles
Speaker 1: in a movie about like hackers that was like made
Speaker 1: in the eighties or something. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 1: remember I went to school with another kid who was
Speaker 1: called m y l. E. S, and I told every
Speaker 1: I remember being so like in my bag about it.
Speaker 1: I was like that, that's not He's not really a Miles.
Speaker 1: That's not how you spell that. Also, shout out to
Speaker 1: the real one, Miles Davis, who's my namesake, you know,
Speaker 1: from Bolton, Illinois. Yeah, why would you not use the
Speaker 1: spelling of Miles Davis? The coolest human whoever? Literally the
Speaker 1: birth of cool? Like yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. I mean
Speaker 1: we saw Billy Mason, consider me Miles Davis. That's right,
Speaker 1: Lori marken In putting up a forty nine. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean he's doing all right. He's doing all right. The
Speaker 1: bulls gave up on him too early, but they never
Speaker 1: used him like this, Like this is crazy. He's got
Speaker 1: like seventy dunks and seventy made threes on the year.
Speaker 1: That's unbelievable. And he I think he had eight alone
Speaker 1: in the game against the Balls. He had a huge
Speaker 1: one on Vuchevich's head. There's so much space out there.
Speaker 1: He looks athletic. Will hardly figured out how to use marketing,
Speaker 1: And it was just like he just watched him on
Speaker 1: the finished national team. He's like, let's get a ball,
Speaker 1: let's have him do some SFF. Now he's doing everything.
Speaker 1: I thought we weren't going to go for it, but
Speaker 1: I guess this guy's got something. Although like recently what
Speaker 1: they've they've started to, you know, things are wobbling a
Speaker 1: bit over there in Utah. Yeah, getting a little wobbly.
Speaker 1: But but he's still in his eye. So super producer
Speaker 1: Jabari and I were having a disagreement because he's like,
Speaker 1: watch out. Marketing might make some noise in the most
Speaker 1: imp rooved conversation, but I think I don't know. It
Speaker 1: feels like it's still chaise, like made in the chase
Speaker 1: on the chaise laune Ah, Yes, shout out wet leg
Speaker 1: But I don't know Mark market AND's averaging thirty plus
Speaker 1: over his last ten. It's just it does. It does
Speaker 1: feel though, like s is in the same category as
Speaker 1: like they gave it to freaking Jaw last year. You
Speaker 1: know they're getting they're gonna do somebody who's just making
Speaker 1: the leap to super superstar is my prediction. But Lorie
Speaker 1: feels like the kind of most improved story, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? Yeah, that's true. That's the traditional case, right,
Speaker 1: Like a guy who was existing in the NBA a
Speaker 1: rotation player and now like Market is going to be
Speaker 1: an All Star at least very he should games in
Speaker 1: Utah he probably will be. But the more modern case,
Speaker 1: no doubt, it is like a John Morant style. This
Speaker 1: guy is not quite the m v P, but he's
Speaker 1: playing in an MVP level and that is Jay. So
Speaker 1: it's no surprise those guys are kind of the two
Speaker 1: favorites right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right. We give
Speaker 1: a shout out to one of our fans. We're trying
Speaker 1: to get our listeners more involved, and we found out
Speaker 1: based on some messages he's sending us through the media.
Speaker 1: And that might sound creepy, but Greg Popovich is sending
Speaker 1: us messages through the media because he just put in
Speaker 1: one of our suggestions. But what we want to bring
Speaker 1: back to the league, I think I think it's fair
Speaker 1: to say, you know, this podcast is listened to far
Speaker 1: and wide by the most serious basketball intellectuals when it
Speaker 1: comes to the game of basketball. But here's the great
Speaker 1: For sure, it's much more difficult to play defense these days.
Speaker 1: So many people that can shoot threes. Ye, shot making.
Speaker 1: The quantity is massive going out pretty quickly. Yep, ye,
Speaker 1: people are going to score the game averages are going
Speaker 1: to go up. Naturally. We've been talking about people scoring
Speaker 1: on very difficult to very do you know, can you
Speaker 1: still work, you know, on the half court defense? But
Speaker 1: in transition, what's the point when people can spread the
Speaker 1: court the way NBA players can acting shoot? It's obviously
Speaker 1: an advantage. I've said before here it is. I'm just
Speaker 1: hoping that the league ends up with a four point
Speaker 1: shot or five point shot. Thank you. There it is.
Speaker 1: Folks himself agrees with us. Don't play the part after
Speaker 1: that where he says, then it can be an absolute
Speaker 1: surges um. He knows you've been We've been trying to
Speaker 1: rock and jockify the league for a minute now, and
Speaker 1: this is what I need from you, Coach Papovitch is
Speaker 1: just next press conference, where there's little downtime, you got
Speaker 1: to mention our suggestion that Zion be allowed to enter
Speaker 1: the arena on a fan boat and where overall is
Speaker 1: during the game, if you're truly a fan with the
Speaker 1: boots built in, Yes, like we needed professional wrestling of
Speaker 1: five Zion Williamson, and I'm sure you agree. I don't
Speaker 1: even have to ask if you agree, so quote that
Speaker 1: one next I do Scion should enter wearing fishing waiters.
Speaker 1: I want to agree on that, and I would say
Speaker 1: you should get a different number of points for every
Speaker 1: line you shoot behind. You make it past five points,
Speaker 1: you make it past the other teams three point lines. Okay,
Speaker 1: right right, right, yeah. I was saying what they should
Speaker 1: do is just randomly light up a spot on the
Speaker 1: court that if you if you shoot from that spot,
Speaker 1: like you will get whatever that value is. So like
Speaker 1: the five pointer spot just lit up in the corner
Speaker 1: and they're like, get do we get? Do we get
Speaker 1: to it? And then it goes out and like sorry, three,
Speaker 1: gotta be quicker next time. I love it. I love
Speaker 1: the idea of like an offensive team trying to pretend
Speaker 1: like they don't see it. Right, We're not going for that,
Speaker 1: We're not going You can imagine that's for that's for
Speaker 1: waste roles. That would be the new Jose Alvarado move.
Speaker 1: Somebody would just hang out in one spot hoping it
Speaker 1: lights up eventually, still here until the ten pointer comes.
Speaker 1: All right, let's take another break and we'll come back
Speaker 1: and put Mr Tray Kirby through the rapid fire round
Speaker 1: of questions. Right after this, your buns warming up. Let's
Speaker 1: buns warming up because you're about to be on the
Speaker 1: hot seat, My friend, you love that one? Do I
Speaker 1: say that a lot? He said, yeah, a couple of times.
Speaker 1: But it's cool. Why why don't you show your mix tape? Actually,
Speaker 1: why don't you actually put that out there? Let's see it? Man,
Speaker 1: come on you As long as you're age eight, mix
Speaker 1: tape is better than age thirty seven. Knock, I was,
Speaker 1: I was, I was on fire thirty seven. Man kind,
Speaker 1: I'm struggling at the moment that Broadway Joe would say,
Speaker 1: all right, let's say a break. It will be right
Speaker 1: back now we're back. Man. I just like to watch
Speaker 1: him wet, you know what I mean? Just o, my
Speaker 1: buns are getting hot over here, you know TM, He's thinking,
Speaker 1: what kind of a terrible mistake have I just made
Speaker 1: agreeing to be on this show? Well, guess what, Trey,
Speaker 1: You're about to enter the quickest segment of questioning in
Speaker 1: a podcast that has to do with basketball in conjunction
Speaker 1: with the NBA and I Heart Radio. Okay, very specific. Yeah,
Speaker 1: We'll get ready because what we're gonna do is we're
Speaker 1: gonna ask you some questions. Don't think don't elaborate, just
Speaker 1: respond quickly, just chest pass it right back, do not
Speaker 1: don't hold it up. If you hold it up, we
Speaker 1: are going to get angry at you. So I'm just
Speaker 1: putting that out there, right, fury perfect. Ready, we're about
Speaker 1: to do the three man we've of questioning starting now,
Speaker 1: start the clock. Um, the clock starter guy, it's not
Speaker 1: really kind kind he's a kindness. But I even I
Speaker 1: even explained to him it wasn't necessarily that it's at him.
Speaker 1: It's more just the energy. I'm music to set up
Speaker 1: the segment so he sounds when you do it, as
Speaker 1: he put it, I think I think people are projecting anyway.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I see in the chat. Yeah, your name
Speaker 1: is Brian. We get it all right, now start the clock.
Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't want to personalize that. All right,
Speaker 1: you want to go first, you want me to go first? Well,
Speaker 1: this is already taking a long time. So yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: here we go. Rock paper scissors, Shoot, rock paper scissors shoot. Alright, alright,
Speaker 1: I'm surprised. I'm surprised. I thought this was a basketball podcast.
Speaker 1: We're scared. Is Jalen Rose's hair too too good to
Speaker 1: be true? Yes? Okay, it's too good to be true.
Speaker 1: It's so beautiful, unbelievable. How could it be? Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: all I mean, who knows how, who knows how it exists? Uh?
Speaker 1: But what somebody who became famous looking bald and let
Speaker 1: where's a great bald head? You know, just brought it
Speaker 1: back on us, theroline, one of the great just brought
Speaker 1: it back. Yeah. Nothing else to say on that. Well, honestly,
Speaker 1: I don't know. Here's the next question, Trey. Uh, here's
Speaker 1: the next question, my man. You got the chance to
Speaker 1: win ten thou my man, my man, my man, Trey.
Speaker 1: I hate to interrupt you, man, but I told you
Speaker 1: we gotta keep this thing moving. You've got the chance
Speaker 1: to win ten K to make a layup with each
Speaker 1: chance twenty five k to make five of five free throws,
Speaker 1: or a hundred thousand dollars to make at least four
Speaker 1: or five from deep. Which challenge you taken a hundred
Speaker 1: large a hundred to make four from four? Yes. For
Speaker 1: the purposes of this thought experiment, yes, we will say
Speaker 1: that I'm taking the lamps, taking the laps. I'm taking
Speaker 1: the laps. I'm a righty. One of my New Year's
Speaker 1: resolutions was to finish with my left hand more often,
Speaker 1: So I think that would be a good incentive. I
Speaker 1: don't have enough comfid thisn's in my shop at age
Speaker 1: thirty eight. You know, if you're talking to me at
Speaker 1: age twenty eight, I got enough confidence in my shop.
Speaker 1: But uh really know I'm making the layups. Okay, I
Speaker 1: didn't realize making the layups, I'll probably got a better
Speaker 1: chance of making the threes than the free throws. To
Speaker 1: be honest with you, who practices free throws at our
Speaker 1: age now? And after you make the lefty layup, you
Speaker 1: stare at your left hand. I honestly do that every
Speaker 1: time I make the lefty lamp playing with you know
Speaker 1: Grandpa's The way Shack came down the court looking at
Speaker 1: like praising that hand is still one of the best
Speaker 1: things I've ever seen. Great celebration, Trey. We gotta keep
Speaker 1: this thing moving. Many come on, we got we got
Speaker 1: that's my that's my faut, that's my bad. What is
Speaker 1: your ultimate NBA jam? Do and don't say m jam pip,
Speaker 1: don't say m J and pipping? How about Larry Johnson
Speaker 1: the lines in Morning Dad? That was a good one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that would probably my choice. Yeah, you gotta
Speaker 1: have pushing. It's all about pushing uh in NBA jam. Uh.
Speaker 1: That's where I'm going. That' where I'm going. It's also
Speaker 1: a heavy nineties five. Okay. If the NBA JAM rules
Speaker 1: were the actual rules of the NBA, who do we like?
Speaker 1: Lebron would be unstoppable, right, like if you could just
Speaker 1: push people, like throw people off the court, unstoppable, Your
Speaker 1: honest would be unstoppable. And Bead and bed would probably
Speaker 1: might be guys because Embad is secretly fo and fifty
Speaker 1: pounds like that man is made of granite. He like
Speaker 1: he waves his arm and people get hurt. So yeah,
Speaker 1: and bead would be difficult. Yeah. Scientists said they had
Speaker 1: found the densest material in the universe, and I think
Speaker 1: that they were just just shuring at Joel Ebid. We're
Speaker 1: naming like all all stars, right, like, these are all
Speaker 1: players who are in the m v P combo. What
Speaker 1: about though, if it was NBA JAM rules, who that's like,
Speaker 1: you know, a role player marginal third star becomes an
Speaker 1: m VP candidate or something like that. I would have
Speaker 1: to think about that one, Like, who's a guy like
Speaker 1: Andre Drummond would he suddenly get even better if he
Speaker 1: didn't have to do any fancy stuff and he was
Speaker 1: just allowed to just didn't have to cross check. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the yeah, I mean it would be the MVP Award
Speaker 1: would be named after Charles Oakley because but yeah, Zion
Speaker 1: would be also pretty unstimpable. He'd probably be the cheap
Speaker 1: cod like I feel like he would have a huge
Speaker 1: buff as we say in the video game world. He
Speaker 1: wouldn't get nerf down. They wouldn't nerf down. That count
Speaker 1: all kinds of buffs and people get all angry, and
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Tray. We have to keep this going, so
Speaker 1: I do have to ask you our next question. Is
Speaker 1: the best passing big man of all time the Joker
Speaker 1: himself outside of Brad Miller. Absolutely, yes, you know, Brad
Speaker 1: was set in the table in the two before you
Speaker 1: knew that guys that were seven ft tall were allowed
Speaker 1: to pass. Now we can now we know, so Yoki
Speaker 1: just taking it to the next level. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously he's the best passing big man of all time.
Speaker 1: The guy's a center and he's probably the best passer
Speaker 1: in the league right now during the most skilled era
Speaker 1: in any history. So it's hard to argue. But I
Speaker 1: will always love Brad Miller throwing a back door pass
Speaker 1: even if it's not open, because sometimes the joker will
Speaker 1: throw some passes like he he has off speed passes
Speaker 1: where it like seems like he threw it slow on purpose,
Speaker 1: and its just like it's like a a knuckleball that
Speaker 1: like flutters through five sets of hands, like he is
Speaker 1: really next level. Well, he's just always threading needles you
Speaker 1: didn't know existed. Yeah, you're like what and even defenders
Speaker 1: like you've figured out that my arm would go up
Speaker 1: and then you threw it underneath my armpit because you
Speaker 1: just vibed it. Okay, okay, sir. Right, And finally, Trey,
Speaker 1: we do have to ask you Jack or Miles. I
Speaker 1: gotta go Miles, gotta go Miles today. It's the connection.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not Jack, No, it's great. Miles was
Speaker 1: very thirsty this week. Last week he was he was
Speaker 1: really thirsty. He was like, you know, coming with the research.
Speaker 1: He was showing coming with it basketball card right when
Speaker 1: you got on. Uh yeah, I said, look you know
Speaker 1: what's wild though, Look I'm the same age. Look at
Speaker 1: my beard. Look none of it connects. Yeah, no, it's
Speaker 1: great flattery will get everywhere. Thank you. I got enough
Speaker 1: beard for a little much. We said, I love your beard.
Speaker 1: I wish I could just curl up and go to
Speaker 1: sleep in it. Yeah, that was a lot, but you made,
Speaker 1: you made made. Bryan cut that out at the top
Speaker 1: of the show, so the listeners didn't hear that part. Okay.
Speaker 1: I like how we're referencing the edit as the show
Speaker 1: kind of some inside baseball. Oh man. But Trey Man,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining us on Miles and
Speaker 1: Jack got mad boost these. Um where can people find you?
Speaker 1: Follow you, listen to you, check you out, support you, etcetera.
Speaker 1: I'm at Trey Kirby t r E y k e
Speaker 1: r b y everywhere. I work for the No Dunks, Inc. Podcast.
Speaker 1: You can find us everywhere. We do live podcast ten
Speaker 1: a m Eastern every day, Monday through Friday. Throughout the season.
Speaker 1: We do a bunch of extra shows as well. Uh yeah,
Speaker 1: we're talking basketball all the time. Ball. Yeah. Go check
Speaker 1: them out for a pleasure having you known. Thanks for
Speaker 1: having me guys really fun and also be sure to
Speaker 1: follow us at mad boost these m A D B
Speaker 1: O O S T I Yes on Twitter and we
Speaker 1: asked some of the listeners on Twitter, you know what
Speaker 1: of the teams that are currently on the outside of
Speaker 1: the plane race would eventually make it in and our boost.
Speaker 1: These listeners of the week were at Ja Barata z
Speaker 1: h Okay, yeah, oh, you thought you were gonna catch
Speaker 1: me crying because he didn't pick me. Yeah, no, that's
Speaker 1: I can clean it up real nice. I got a
Speaker 1: lot of experience pretending to my eye again, sweating from
Speaker 1: my eyes again. That's all. Ja Barata said, No one
Speaker 1: from the Eastern Conference. But the Lakers and the Wolves
Speaker 1: leap frog the Jazz and Blazers. WHOA, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think the Blazer is still going to do it.
Speaker 1: I think the Lakers popped in there. I don't know
Speaker 1: about those. We'll see if we I mean, if we
Speaker 1: can get everybody playing out of their minds and a
Speaker 1: d comes back. You know, on some level, Jabari and
Speaker 1: I were saying, you know, you got to be careful
Speaker 1: with you know, you can only use a paper towel
Speaker 1: so many times. We have to let a chip before
Speaker 1: you re used. And also at a J. Kramer said,
Speaker 1: raptors will make it in. Okay, okay, okay, you know
Speaker 1: the North all right, y'all. Well, thanks so much for listening.
Speaker 1: We'll be back next week with even more basketball action.
Speaker 1: Until then, take care of yourself. We see a bye
Speaker 1: bye