0:07

We get

0:11

a lot of hoops for you. I'm going

0:13

to recap just a minor note, not even

0:15

official tales of the couch. Denver's nice win

0:17

in Miami. Miami did a great job, I

0:19

thought. We've got something that's Rudy came up

0:21

with redraft from top 10 picks based on

0:24

some controversy internally here. We got Sean Elliott

0:26

on the Wembley rookie season. Who is this

0:28

cat? Some stories about him, how it relates

0:30

to Duncan coming in as a rookie when

0:32

Sean and David Robinson were there. And

0:35

we've got Mark Silver from Synergy Sports

0:37

Radar. The most valuable thing I have

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other than a television to help me

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safely. Not

1:37

a traditional open here. Just a couple of

1:39

thoughts from last night and then Saruti has

1:41

something that we want to go over. I

1:43

actually really like this exercise. It is

1:46

born from, I think, frustration

1:49

with something a coworker said, but we're not going

1:51

to like beat up on a dude that we

1:53

like. So let's just start with this.

1:55

Remember, wins Miami last night. They're technically the one seed

1:57

now in the West. it

2:00

feels a little every couple weeks taking another snapshot

2:02

of it, but Denver's just been on fire. They're

2:05

an NBA best 10-1 since the All-Star break. They

2:07

had that win against Boston that we spent a lot of time on

2:09

that I thought. I probably should have said

2:11

insurmountable when we were doing the one word association

2:14

thing that Bill and I did on Sunday that

2:16

I didn't know about ahead of time. And whenever

2:18

you're in that spot, you're kind of like, I

2:21

think I should say,

2:23

because insurmountables feel like it's impossible. And I

2:25

just don't feel like things in sports

2:27

are necessarily impossible. I mean, certainly there's a list

2:29

of things, but in playoff games and all that

2:31

kind of stuff, like longer you're around, you're

2:33

like, I don't know. I mean, that could happen. I'm

2:35

not going to be shocked because we're

2:37

surprised so often, but I guess the

2:40

gap between Boston's best options and Denver's

2:42

best options offensively to close the game,

2:44

that part of basketball feels insurmountable

2:47

with that one. So anyway, Denver, number two

2:49

offense since the All-Star break, number seven defense,

2:51

I thought their defense in the first quarter

2:53

last thing against Miami was stifling. Miami

2:56

had been pretty hot right after

2:58

the break. Now going through a

3:00

downturn there, their 15th on offense,

3:02

11th on defense since the break. I

3:05

thought BAM out of IO's defense on Yokich

3:07

last night was the single best defensive effort

3:09

against Yokich that I've seen from an NBA

3:11

player of the entire system. There

3:13

may be another one that I'm missing. I haven't watched

3:15

every one of the 60 plus Denver Nuggets games in

3:17

its entirety. I watch a lot of them because I

3:20

like watching Yokich so much. But

3:22

as far as being tasked with try to

3:24

limit what Yokich is doing while also not

3:26

getting burned by double teaming him, I mean

3:30

just all time stuff from BAM. I

3:32

know he's not going to give you the offensive

3:34

stuff to carry a team in a big playoff

3:36

game. Not saying that's impossible, but like you're not,

3:38

even though you're running a lot of your offense

3:40

to BAM and his catches and his great passing

3:43

and some of that stuff, he's never going

3:45

to be like, Hey, is this guy a top five

3:47

player? I mean, that's just not who he's going to

3:49

be, but every team should want to BAM out of

3:51

IO. I was so impressed with him. Let's look at

3:53

the numbers really quickly here too for Yokich low field

3:55

goal attempt night for him. He had

3:58

six field goal attempts in the first. quarter.

4:01

He had zero in the second

4:03

quarter. He had one

4:05

in the third quarter, and

4:07

he took one shot in the fourth

4:09

quarter. And Denver still won by double

4:11

digits. Miami

4:13

did a fantastic job. And here's the

4:16

thing. It wasn't like Denver lit it up and scored

4:18

120. Denver got bogged

4:20

down. Miami mucked this game up.

4:23

They found a way to stay in it almost

4:26

the entire game after what looked like it could

4:28

be an ugly first quarter. And

4:30

then what happens? Late, hard

4:33

versus easy. I talk

4:35

about it all the time. I

4:37

don't care what the score is. Is

4:39

this team having a

4:41

really hard time getting good looks versus

4:44

this other team that feels like they can get in their

4:46

stuff really easily? And for

4:48

Miami with no hero,

4:51

which is important, Kevin Love last

4:53

night. But as far as hero's creation,

4:56

I think a hero can be a little overlooked

4:59

in comparison with some of the other young guys. And

5:01

when he says, hey, outcome, I'm not mentioned with Luca

5:03

and Trey. You're like, okay, we really need to keep

5:05

going with that one, specifically Luca.

5:08

But hero, when

5:10

I've watched him this year, there's just a lot of

5:12

stuff to him getting his shot off. And it's weird

5:14

because of last year where they make that incredible playoff

5:16

run and make it the NBA finals and he's hurt.

5:19

Then part of the conversation becomes,

5:21

wait, is Miami actually a little bit better

5:23

without him because of his defense? And Caleb

5:27

Martin was another level offensively gave Vincent

5:29

Heckraig games. We know what Jimmy Butler

5:31

did throughout the playoff run there, although

5:33

it did turn down a bit there

5:35

towards the end. Hero

5:37

shot creation for this team is a necessity. Terry

5:40

Rozier was supposed to be some of that. I

5:42

can't imagine he's going to continue to shoot it

5:44

this bad for Miami, but the shooting numbers have

5:46

been bad. He's come over from Charlotte, 42% from

5:49

four overall 29% from three. But he had

5:51

a couple moments last night where it's like,

5:54

okay, everything's breaking down. Fine

5:56

does something. Miami moves the ball. They

5:58

have a lot of really good capable. You know, Hakkaz initiating

6:00

the offense is really cool. But

6:04

then late last night, I was like, do you want to keep

6:06

running this Hakkaz point initiation stuff here? Because,

6:08

you know, where's Jimmy Butler? Butler had

6:10

a bad game, didn't shoot a lot

6:12

of free throws. Looking at the new thoughts

6:15

on how the game is being officiated.

6:18

Butler's last three games, he's last four games average

6:20

in three and a half free throws per game.

6:23

He's at eight free throw attempts per game on

6:25

the season. So I don't know. I always felt

6:27

like Butler was just better at getting you up

6:29

in the air on his third move and not

6:31

looking for the shot. You just have to stay

6:33

grounded against Butler. And if you're going to up

6:35

fake and get somebody to land on you, that's

6:37

not the foul stuff that I've been talking about.

6:40

I thought Pacers OKC was a game where it

6:42

was like very evident. I'm like, man, they're not

6:44

calling some of this stuff that they used to

6:46

call, but SGA still ends up with 30 points.

6:50

30 points for SGA. I

6:53

don't know how you feel about that late foul in that game. So

6:56

as we close out just Denver, Miami

6:59

last night, you know, Jokic

7:01

not taking any shots, which I think he'd prefer

7:03

to do, but then

7:05

not getting torched all night on doubling him because they

7:07

were doing a lot of different stuff the way they

7:09

double teaming. They double him on the catch. They double

7:11

him on the dribble. They double

7:13

him on the first move. There was a

7:16

play that just spoke to the simplicity of

7:18

Jokic's brilliance. So they figured

7:20

out something by keeping Reggie Jackson in.

7:23

It wasn't like this was so advanced. They just

7:25

were running a high pick and roll of Reggie

7:27

Jackson, which is being able to walk right up

7:29

into his jump shot, hit two twos and then

7:31

a three. And then it was like,

7:33

OK, that was kind of the game. It was also

7:35

interesting they brought Jamal Murray back so late in

7:38

this game last night. But there

7:40

was another play where there was initially a screen

7:42

to the right by another player and then Jokic

7:45

came over to set another screen, but he rolled

7:47

the catch to the left. And he rolled the

7:49

catch to the left off of

7:51

the Reggie Jackson screen where he ended up with the

7:53

basketball because he knew at that point, Caleb Martin would

7:55

have to come up to help based on what Miami

7:57

was doing and as much help as they were sending.

8:00

So, Jokic, instead of catching it near

8:03

the paint, where it's probably easier for

8:05

him to operate his offense, he

8:07

did something really simple. He sets the screen to

8:09

one side, but made sure he caught it further

8:11

away from the paint. On the left side, Caleb

8:13

Martin comes up, Aaron Gordon back cuts

8:16

baseline, Jokic, easy pass to

8:18

Gordon, Gordon ends up with free throws. It was

8:20

the simplest thing, but as it happened, I'm like,

8:22

wait, how did Gordon get so open on that

8:24

cut? And you can see Jokic

8:27

just realize, if I catch out

8:29

here, Martin has to come up.

8:31

If I catch in the paint, the help

8:33

is more contained, it's more condensed, and

8:35

then there's no real angle here for

8:37

Gordon if Caleb Martin doesn't have to

8:39

come off of him. So

8:42

another impressive win by Denver in

8:44

a game that was very Miami-ish.

8:48

Before we get to the guess, then, I

8:50

wanted to transition into something that Saruti brought

8:52

to my attention. Magic fans unite, very upset,

8:55

our man Woz, who we meant to have

8:57

on, and he was traveling. We'll get him on.

8:59

Right. This was like, hey, let's shit on

9:01

the guy and not ask him about his opinion

9:04

or have him on. We

9:06

gave out the, we extended the olive branch,

9:08

is what we should have said. So

9:10

what was it? What did call the

9:12

Magic people really upset about something he said?

9:15

Yeah, so I texted you and Bill, I think

9:17

last Sunday or something before the pod, and it

9:19

was because, and again, yeah, I

9:22

asked Woz to come on. He's traveling today. He's going to be

9:24

on with Bill actually later tonight. We'll get him on in the

9:26

future. This isn't the thing where it's like, hey, let's talk about

9:28

Woz when it's back. But he said on the Ring of NBA

9:30

show on group chat, they were talking a bit,

9:32

they were, I think it was their top

9:35

five future rankings for teams, and he was

9:37

just kind of poo-pooing on the

9:39

Magic in general. And specifically,

9:41

there was a line about

9:44

Paulo not being like, oh, sometimes you get

9:46

the first pick and it's wimpy, and then sometimes you

9:48

get it and it's Paulo, implying it like Paulo wasn't

9:50

something to be desired to have as a number one

9:52

pick. And Magic fans everywhere picked

9:54

that up. It was all over Magic, Reddit, Twitter,

9:56

every other place being like, this is ridiculous. Like

9:58

you're saying Paulo's not. that dude. And

10:01

I think I do think was if that's if

10:03

that's what he meant is wrong, we'll get him

10:06

on again to ask about this. But it got

10:08

me thinking, that's kind of a fun exercise to

10:10

be like, All right, like, where would Paulo, when be

10:12

and the rest of the number one picks in the

10:14

NBA rank over the less over the next of the

10:16

last 10 years, you know, so I basically like, let's

10:18

just rank him, like, where would Paulo go in that?

10:21

And that's what we're gonna do right now. Was

10:23

may have meant like, sometimes you get the number one

10:25

pick. And it's one of the generational guys, like when

10:28

I was thinking about LeBron, and the Sean Elliott interview

10:30

that we're going to do later on, I was

10:33

like, it's kind of Duncan LeBron and like,

10:35

women Yama, based on expectation, not to say

10:37

that there are other people that were certainly

10:39

hyped up, you know, Anthony Davis was up

10:41

there and Zion's gonna be in this list

10:43

that we do right now. Maybe

10:45

that's what he meant, but like, to have Paulo

10:47

be the one where it's like, and then sometimes

10:49

you end up with this guy, you're like, dude,

10:52

no, no way. So maybe we disagree with the

10:54

real maybe it was just free. Look, all I'm

10:56

telling you is somebody who speaks for a living,

10:58

and then I'll see how something I said kind

11:00

of gets totally purposed. You go wait, yeah, but

11:02

that's not exactly like the

11:04

overall meaning of what I did. I mean, sometimes

11:06

I think these breakout videos, in general,

11:09

like stuff that gets cut up. I'm like, did we

11:11

do this shit before? Do we read two sentences of

11:14

a book and go, Oh, my God, like,

11:16

I guess we kind of did sometimes a book or excerpts

11:18

to get it in the in

11:21

the consciousness of people. But anyway, all right,

11:23

moving on. Enough media, we're still Oh, we

11:26

visitation here. I

11:28

want to do this. Let me just give I'll

11:30

go in order the last 10 years of number

11:32

one NBA picks, right? So people have an idea

11:34

of what we're referencing post Anthony Bennett on right?

11:37

This is post Anthony Bennett. Yeah. So starting

11:39

in 2020, we started in 2014. So it

11:41

goes Andrew Wiggins, Kat,

11:44

Ben Simmons, Marco faults, DeAndre

11:47

and Zion Williamson, and

11:49

Edwards, Cade, Apollo and women. Yeah, so we're gonna rank

11:52

those 10 guys. And like, obviously, like, some of those

11:54

guys are newer than others. And we don't have the

11:56

full picture. But I think this is sort of a

11:58

how what they've done in the league. so far

12:00

but also like what we are realistically projecting them

12:02

to be and how happy their team is that

12:04

they have them on the roster obviously. Well

12:07

Victor's number one because the chance of perhaps getting

12:09

one of these generational guys. Number

12:11

two is Ant. Yup. I

12:14

don't know how anybody would debate one or two on that

12:16

one. And you're right. Yeah

12:18

but you're right though. This isn't the easiest

12:20

thing because there's a combination of

12:23

what you're still holding out hope for and then

12:25

who they've been to this point. I would put

12:27

Paulo third. I'd put him over Zion and Cade

12:30

just because the Zion

12:32

injury part of it. I'd

12:35

hear Cade's been like look out

12:37

Pistons. I told you that team was sneaky

12:40

talented. How about Dern the other night? Well

12:43

there's I mean you know. So we're in

12:46

agreement. Victor, Ant, Paulo I went Cade Zion.

12:49

I went Zion Cade. I

12:51

still think you know I was looking

12:53

at Bill's trade value rankings which aren't everything and I agree

12:55

with him. I think Cade was a 928 and Cade at

12:57

42. I think there are people that would

12:59

say we have Cade too high. I am

13:01

not doing any of my Cade stock. I

13:03

think since the all-star break he's been unreal since they

13:06

kind of traded away some of the guys I think

13:08

that Monty Williams like refused to not play and actually

13:10

started playing some of the guys that people are like

13:12

hey why is you know why is Jayden Ivey not

13:14

going to get down to minutes? Like I think Cade's

13:16

game has been better and they've won some more games.

13:18

I mean obviously the only way to go for them

13:20

was up but I am selling zero of my Cade

13:22

stock but I would still have

13:24

Zion. I just think Zion, because I think Zion could

13:26

if everything was right and again chances are it's probably

13:28

not going to happen for him. I

13:31

think he's probably two behind Wembley right? Probably

13:34

two yeah. This is

13:36

where it's like it's hard though because

13:39

we're comparing clothes with different criteria.

13:41

You know when Manon was

13:43

going to be better for the Dow and

13:45

with Zion it's like okay but what about all the

13:47

other times where it didn't work out but am

13:49

I still holding out the same hope for him? Look

13:52

I'm sure there's people that are pissed that Cade

13:54

hasn't been mentioned yet or that we'd have Cade

13:56

or Zion ahead of Cade but look Timberwolves fans

13:58

we gave you one of the thing to get

14:00

super pissed off about. So just be thrilled.

14:03

Well, this is the right thing. I think I'm not a cat

14:05

guy. I'm not a cat guy, but they still need them. They

14:07

still need them. And I don't

14:11

know if you offered cat for Cade,

14:13

who would say no. Well, that's the point is that

14:15

I think Cade, I'm still of the

14:17

belief that he can be like the primary option on

14:19

a playoff team, on a good team, you

14:22

know, maybe a middle of the road team, I just think the Pistons

14:24

are a mess and I'm not blaming that on Cade. I'm

14:26

not going to apologize for liking Cade. So I think

14:28

we've seen enough of Kath though, where it's like he,

14:30

you know, he said he's the best shooting big of

14:33

all time. Maybe he is. I

14:35

just think ultimately he's like one of the top guys

14:37

and not the top guy. And we've seen that with

14:39

Ann Edwards and I still think Cade can be the

14:41

top guy. So if you're asking me like,

14:43

who I feel better about building a franchise

14:45

around, even at, even at, even at

14:47

the same point or ages in their careers, I would just take

14:49

Cade and we could disagree on that, but I would take Cade.

14:52

All right. Do you have Wiggins? Uh, seventh,

14:54

I have Wiggins seventh. Yup. I have. I think

14:56

that's fair. All right. Uh,

14:59

it might not be because I, as much as

15:01

eight in his, like, driven

15:03

me crazy. Cause I think

15:06

he's incredibly talented. By the way, he's

15:08

on fire lately. He had

15:10

a switch where he got stuck

15:12

on quickly in the Toronto game

15:14

and he stayed right in front of quickly, like

15:16

locked him up 30 feet

15:18

away from, like quickly. Couldn't get around. It was

15:20

like, Oh, that's the guy that we saw in

15:23

college that we get so excited about being like,

15:25

he's a big, who actually gets to stay on

15:27

the floor to close games. As we felt

15:29

like the league was getting smaller and smaller, it might be getting

15:31

bigger now again, but, um, The

15:35

eight and Wiggins was like, that's just a

15:37

lack of desire off if there ever was.

15:40

I gotta be honest with you. I, I probably

15:43

have eight and lower than the average person. I

15:45

probably have them lower than you. His,

15:48

his numbers are fine. He's 16 and 10 for

15:50

his career. But like, I just

15:52

can't get over the, like, I think

15:54

he's close with the Ben Simmons thing, then he is like

15:56

false and Wiggins. Like, I just think from, from an attitude

15:58

perspective, I mean, this is. guy who again when

16:01

was asked what you know be

16:03

a you know what success

16:05

would be in his career said like a second

16:07

contract you know he also said that like he

16:09

has nothing to prove because he's already a max player well guess

16:11

what the team immediately regretted giving the max

16:13

contract and they immediately tried to trade you and

16:15

you kind of you know I know it wasn't

16:17

quite all his fault because there was a Monty

16:19

Williams stuff in there but basically just

16:22

like powdered his way out of Phoenix so I

16:24

I'm just not an Aiten fan like I don't care what

16:26

the numbers are I'm just I just don't think that's a

16:28

guy that you want on like a winning basketball team yeah

16:32

I mean when you're 25 saying what else

16:34

do I have to prove that's

16:36

not that's not

16:38

what I'm looking for if I was an HR you know

16:41

the guy's showing up be like yeah dude I already

16:44

made 100k suck it well

16:46

just just juxtaposed that with the Yannis and I know not

16:48

everybody has Yannis's mentality but I think somebody asked him like

16:51

hey what do you do you think you're in the

16:53

MVP discussion this year and he said like I think I'm

16:55

like the worst player in the NBA this year that's

16:57

what I want to hear from from a guy like

17:00

that who's who's having an incredible year but still that

17:02

might have been a bit dramatic okay so I have

17:05

we've got cat Wiggin six seven I have

17:07

eight in full wait hold on hold on

17:09

one thing I'm wiggling really quickly that

17:12

2022 season is a is a

17:14

pretty big outlier though right yeah I mean he

17:16

was an all-star I don't want to be

17:18

an all-star starter the voting thing for that was

17:20

weird I think I voted go bear by

17:23

the way Minnesota because you had to

17:25

do the backcourt frontcourt thing so I'm pretty sure I voted

17:27

go bear it and then I was like wait Wiggin's

17:29

is gonna be a starter and then there was some

17:31

weird like campaign in China or something they helped think

17:34

prop up to vote a little bit and he

17:37

was really good in 22 you know so if you're gonna

17:39

say hey he's a ring he's part of a championship team

17:41

or whatever for the most part it's all been super disappointing

17:44

yeah cuz that year I don't want to say he

17:46

was Joe Flacco but there's some Joe Flacco ish to

17:48

that season where it was like whoa like we thought

17:51

he was okay and then he has this incredible outlier

17:53

season and then we're asking oh is this the guy

17:56

did Golden State just unlock this guy for the

17:58

foreseeable future and he... with the

18:01

other guys rolling. So, uh, he's kind

18:03

of just gone back to being, you

18:05

know, yeah. All right.

18:07

Disappointing again, but he said at

18:09

least eight and 25. And I'm, maybe

18:12

I just input way too much and how, like, I

18:14

thought when eight went to Portland, the numbers that he's

18:17

putting up now is what he was going to do

18:19

all season. And then we were going to start having

18:21

like, Oh, is eight really good against stuff. And it's

18:23

like, no, he's comfortable not ever having

18:25

to be uncomfortable. Like he doesn't want conflict. He doesn't

18:27

want pressure. He didn't want to deal with any, I

18:29

didn't even know that he wants to play in all

18:31

the games, but whatever he's been doing the last couple

18:34

of weeks, specifically since he missed some time early this

18:36

March, he's been on a tear and he's playing really

18:38

well. So when he's 25, I'm like, I'm

18:41

still taking that, you know,

18:43

look, I would, I would maybe move it up

18:45

ahead of Wiggins here, but I'm still taking it

18:47

ahead of faults or Simmons. You

18:50

got last I have faults

18:52

eight because at least I think with faults,

18:54

he just gets the knock of, it

18:57

was so bad at the start and the shot thing and

18:59

the injuries and stuff. He's been a valuable player for the

19:01

magic and he's going to be a free agent this off

19:03

season. I think he's going to be a valuable player. I'm

19:06

not saying he's going to be a star. He's maybe even

19:08

a borderline starter, but like, you know, San Antonio could use

19:10

him right now and it could be awesome for Lemby. I

19:12

think he's just like a good solid player that you can

19:14

depend on. Whereas I just think Simmons and eight and just

19:17

aren't that. So I have faults actually eight. And

19:19

then who do you have nine? I

19:22

have Simmons nine and I have eight and 10. You

19:25

have eight and 10. Wow. At least, at

19:27

least Simmons, he's three time

19:29

all star. He had a couple of 13

19:31

all MBAs, two team, two time all defensive

19:33

player. The highs of Ben Simmons were higher

19:35

than the highs of eight. And I

19:37

just ate and Scott, he's 16

19:39

and 10 in his career. And

19:42

I just think he's just going to be, he's going

19:44

to be like the Hassan white side thing where like

19:46

it's going to look okay for sometimes. And like the

19:48

stats might wow. Yeah. He's going to trick a lot

19:50

of people into thinking he's good. And then he's just

19:52

going to disappoint you every time. So I would give

19:54

eight and another max before I would sign Hassan white

19:56

side. Okay. I don't do the efficiency stuff. The issue

19:59

I have with Simmons. I mean, it's minor.

20:01

He never fucking plays anymore. Saruti.

20:04

That's fair. But I'd rather, I'd rather have Simmons

20:06

not playing, I think, than Aiden. I just, I'm

20:08

just not interested. That's awesome. That's

20:11

really, that's a sizzler of a take,

20:13

but that's just not, and look, I

20:15

can't wait. You just let me

20:17

know. I got the alerts ready to go when

20:19

I get the July update on lookout for 2425

20:22

Ben Simmons. I wish

20:24

Fandul would put a prop on which

20:26

NBA reporter will write that dog

20:28

shit piece again this summer. Yeah, the

20:30

three point getting the chance. Because I'm actually friends with some of

20:32

them, but don't do it if you are

20:35

my friend. Don't be trapped.

20:37

Don't write the piece. But one of

20:39

you is going to. All right. That

20:41

was fun. One real quick note though here

20:43

too. It is kind of interesting that the

20:45

last five picks, the last five number one

20:47

overall picks have been all pretty great. I

20:50

mean, NBA, Apollo, Zion and Cade. If

20:52

you like historically, if you just take like a five number

20:55

one pick sample size, it's, it's

20:58

worth it. It's going to be worse than those five guys.

21:00

So I don't know if it's like recency bias or, you

21:02

know, maybe I don't know. I can't see

21:04

any of those guys. I've taken a huge nose dive and being

21:06

a super disappointment. So the last five years actually been pretty impressive

21:09

on the hit rate. Yeah. Because if you look at

21:11

it historically here,

21:14

again, I was, I was looking at it this morning. Yeah,

21:19

I don't know. That's it. It's

21:21

overall, it's been pretty good. I mean, the Bennett

21:23

thing's an outliner, but there's AD, there's Kyrie wall

21:25

was actually really good before he got hurt. I'm

21:28

not saying he was as good as, but there's usually

21:30

like a total bus off. In the five, there's

21:33

usually a total bus within a group of five. I

21:35

don't think any of these guys are total bus. Like

21:38

you'll have a barney or a Bennett or a, you

21:40

know, a Kwame Brown and but

21:42

it's not, it's not, it's not been

21:44

the case though. It's like barniani and

21:47

then Bennett, you

21:49

know, and Odin to me is not a bus because he

21:51

was hurt because if you played, he was going to be

21:53

a stud. Okay. That's recap and that's redrafting the draft. Next

21:57

week was open invite. Bet

22:03

the NBA with no sweat same game parlay

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combine your bets for a chance to score

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a bigger payday. All right, the Alliance won

22:23

this past week. Huge win

22:25

for the gang. So we're going solo on this

22:27

one. As of right now,

22:29

Portland is at home against New

22:31

York. Portland looking

22:33

at the schedule quickly here, obviously coming

22:36

off of the back to back. They

22:38

won last night against Atlanta. You could

22:40

say it's three or four nights where

22:43

New York is just getting on the road

22:45

for the first leg of their West Coast

22:47

trip. That's where they day off. But Portland

22:49

is plus 10. The health as of giving

22:52

this out. OG is back. He's played one

22:54

game. He's good to go. Obviously

22:56

Randall Mitchell still out. Jeremy Grant day

22:58

to day with this one. Sharp is

23:00

still out, but it's Portland plus 10.

23:02

I feel like I've been watching him the last couple

23:05

of weeks because I always watch him and

23:08

they've been just a tick more competitive

23:11

eight in his 28 and 17 in his

23:13

last three. He missed about the first week

23:15

of March. So this is what

23:17

we're going with. We're going with Portland plus

23:20

10. We're going with eight

23:22

and over 20 points and we're going

23:24

with defense. Enzo three or more made threes.

23:27

The defense. Enzo three point numbers are absurd. How many

23:29

he puts up, I think defensively Portland, you figure he's

23:31

going to get a few of these up where

23:34

it was two or more

23:36

makes. It was like minus

23:38

1200. And then you

23:41

just throw up more three with defense. Enzo,

23:43

you get much better payouts. So for those

23:45

three bets, it's plus three 41. That

23:49

is the play eight and 20 or more. Even gents of

23:51

three or more threes and the trailblazers

23:53

plus 10. However you

23:55

want to play, just head to fan dual.com/Ryan R Y

23:57

E N to bet the NBA with a no sweat.

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sportsbook.spandule.com. This episode

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is brought to you by Netflix a gentleman

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now playing only on Netflix. If

24:51

you're a league pass guy then you've probably heard Sean Elliott

24:53

a little bit more this season. I know

24:55

that I've been locked in as part of the broadcast

24:58

coverage of the San Antonio Spurs and a Spurs legend.

25:00

He joins us now we're going to talk to San

25:02

Antonio basketball. What's up man? Good

25:04

to see it. Good to see you. Thanks for having

25:06

me. Okay, so what is it like learning

25:10

about women Yama, you know,

25:12

the anticipation seeing it now it's played out.

25:14

He's played in 58 games and you're there

25:16

for all of them. What's been like this

25:18

season watching somebody like this a prospect like

25:20

this who is unlike anything we've ever

25:22

seen before? It's amazing. It's

25:24

been it's been refreshing. It's

25:27

been uplifting. I think

25:29

it's reinvigorated so many people

25:31

around the city the franchise.

25:34

It's just so much fun to watch me and every night

25:36

we're coming to the arena. I

25:39

know the biggest stress that I have Ryan actually is

25:42

just wondering if he's going to play or not.

25:44

I mean when he was on a minutes restriction

25:46

that I was like he's going to play tonight.

25:49

How many minutes is he going to get tonight?

25:51

I mean that's the that's the biggest stress I

25:53

got going to the arena every night because it's

25:55

just really enjoyable to watch him on the floor.

25:57

And one of my biggest things and I tell

25:59

Spurs fans. guys all the time, because I like

26:01

to watch the growth of players from the beginning

26:03

of the year to the end. That's

26:06

what I really get off on. And

26:08

it's been like that the last three or four years

26:10

just to see how our young

26:12

guys start to absorb what the coaching staff

26:15

is telling them how they get

26:17

better game by game, sometimes quarter by quarter.

26:20

And to watch him has really been

26:22

a study in how

26:24

a young man is coachable.

26:27

He's gets along great with

26:30

his teammates and just how what

26:32

a sponge he is. I mean, he just

26:35

continues to get better and better. There's so many

26:37

aspects of his game where he's just improved from

26:40

the beginning of training camp. I saw his very

26:42

first practice until now. And

26:45

so it's just fun

26:47

to see the growth and development, but it's scary

26:49

at the same time because you sit there and

26:52

you tell yourself, I mean, am

26:54

I watching a kid

26:56

who has a chance, a real chance to be the greatest

26:59

of all time? Wow. I know.

27:01

Just saying it out loud after 15 games, you

27:03

know, but I think that's what you it's what

27:05

you kind of have to allow yourself to do

27:07

with him. I have some other questions, obviously, about

27:09

the basketball part of it. But you've

27:11

got to know him now. I imagine what's he

27:13

like? What's he like when it's, it's

27:15

just him. And it's not all of this in

27:18

the outside, assuming we know what he's like. Well,

27:20

I got a chance to go to that dinner

27:22

with him after the draft. And the next night

27:24

after the draft, where I was there,

27:26

David, Timmy, Manu,

27:30

the coaches had his his

27:33

mom and dad off in another room so we could just

27:35

sit there and interrogate him, you know, but

27:37

he just he's

27:39

just completely different than the

27:43

other teenagers that are coming up

27:45

nowadays. He's just incredibly wise beyond

27:48

his years. He's now

27:50

he's got the mind or the wisdom of

27:52

somebody who's 35 or 40 years old in

27:54

a in a 20 year old body. And

27:56

that's, that's really amazing. I think that's what

27:58

we all love most about him. He's

28:00

also a super unselfish

28:03

kid. He's very

28:05

respectful, knows the history of

28:07

the game. He's a

28:09

guy like when he saw

28:11

David and Timmy, he should have seen the reverence he

28:13

had for them. That was really amazing

28:15

to see, to see Manu and the

28:18

way he was just respectful

28:20

toward them and understood the history

28:22

of the Spurs and all that those guys

28:25

had accomplished. So he's not

28:27

this guy who comes in, expecting everything to

28:29

be handed to him. He knows that

28:31

he's got to work hard. He

28:34

knows that it's going to be a tough task ahead of

28:36

him, that it's not going to be easy, but he's ready

28:38

to embrace that. He's ready to take it head on. I

28:41

think that's just one of the many things we love

28:43

about him. Is the Spurs thing,

28:46

like I'm picturing you, David,

28:49

Tim, Pop, Manu, like I'm thinking almost

28:51

like Yellowstone where they initiate the guys

28:54

when they show up. What

28:56

is it about the Spurs thing

28:58

that is actually different from

29:00

organizations? It wasn't like that when I first

29:02

got here in 89. I'll be honest

29:04

with you, I tell my friends stories of old Spurs and

29:07

new Spurs. Old Spurs at the time

29:09

were just trying to hang on. I mean, obviously,

29:11

really small market. They

29:14

just didn't have the resources that a lot

29:16

of other organizations had. So everything

29:18

was done on the shoestring type of budget.

29:21

It was just a different mindset. But when

29:23

Pop came back in 94, 95, as

29:27

the general manager and R.C. Buford came back with

29:29

them, that's where the

29:31

culture really changed. That's where

29:33

Pop really put an emphasis on

29:36

a family atmosphere, letting

29:39

the players know that they're valued, but also

29:42

giving the players responsibility and accountability

29:44

to each other. That was the

29:46

biggest thing. So when I

29:48

got back from Detroit in 94, 95, it

29:51

was just a different atmosphere, it was a

29:53

different way of thinking about team

29:56

building, about culture building. You

29:58

wanted to bring in the right guy. even

30:01

if guys were talented,

30:03

but they're troubled, or they weren't the type of

30:05

guys you wanted to have in your locker room,

30:08

or representing the organization in

30:10

the community, those guys weren't here. The

30:12

pop would not bring them in. And

30:14

so, I tell

30:18

people we're really lucky because the culture was

30:20

really established by David and Timmy.

30:23

We had two selfless superstars

30:26

that didn't read the superstar handbook. They

30:29

were coachable, number

30:31

one. They were great

30:33

teammates to everybody around them.

30:37

And when you see

30:39

that, that trickles down,

30:41

down the line. And then you

30:43

had, of course, Pop, who was the leader of

30:45

the group who held everybody accountable,

30:47

right? Everybody. Nobody on

30:50

our team got superstar treatment. If you

30:53

stepped out of line off the court, or

30:56

you didn't follow the game plan on the court, you were gonna

30:58

hear about it. He was gonna let you know. And

31:00

he would let you know in a way that

31:03

made you understand that it wasn't just about the

31:06

game of basketball, it was really

31:08

about life and how to conduct

31:10

yourself. And so, I think

31:12

that kind of culture, it was

31:15

established. And now when guys come in, they

31:18

understand what it's all about. When

31:20

Tim comes in, and I was looking at it, I mean, you'd

31:22

won 59 games in 95, 96, and

31:26

then you have the injuries. Some

31:29

would say you were given a little extra

31:31

time off with

31:34

that lottery pick. I know

31:36

there's a lot of debate about that. Well,

31:38

go ahead, go ahead. I can

31:40

say, I mean, I was there that year. David

31:43

Robinson broke his foot, what,

31:48

early on in the season. We

31:50

were, first off, he wasn't there to start

31:52

the season. Came back and then probably broke his foot.

31:54

He was out for the rest of the year. I

31:58

had knee surgery late January. We

32:01

had other guys that went

32:03

down. And so when

32:05

you build your whole offense and your defense

32:07

around the big fella, and then he's not

32:10

there, you kind of have to kind of scrap

32:12

everything. Pop takes

32:14

over. It's a different type

32:16

of system for us. It's a

32:18

different way of thinking about the game. And

32:21

so, you know, if we have David there the

32:23

whole year, it's a whole different story. I mean, you're

32:25

talking about a team that is winning 50 plus games

32:27

again, and we're not in that lottery. We don't get Timmy

32:29

Duncan. So it was just, I was just

32:31

happenstances. It was just circumstances that just

32:35

fell, you know, in our

32:37

favor. But that's the important point

32:39

here is that you won 59 games

32:41

before the bad year that leads the day. So

32:43

then you're bringing in a Duncan to a team

32:46

that normally would never ever get somebody like this

32:48

because you were so good. I

32:51

wonder, I mean, because I looked at it

32:53

again, Duncan was fifth in MVP voting his

32:55

rookie season. That doesn't happen.

32:58

I mean, especially granted, he was a seasoned guy, you

33:00

know, playing so long at wake. So that's the thing

33:02

that doesn't happen anymore either. If you're going to be

33:04

the number one pick, but to be fifth in MVP

33:06

voting. Okay. So was,

33:09

was there ever like, did you totally get

33:11

it with Tim right away or

33:14

was there maybe a moment where you pop in David

33:16

went like, Hey, whatever we thought we had planned for

33:18

him. Like we

33:20

actually don't have to do any of those things because

33:22

one, he's so mature and he was so ready to

33:24

contribute immediately. Was there ever a change of course

33:26

or what? Did you already know exactly what you were getting? No,

33:30

I think it was pretty evident the first couple of days

33:32

of practice, what we were getting. I mean,

33:35

I'll be honest, like NBA guys

33:37

at that point that time, you

33:40

know, I didn't watch a lot of college games. It

33:44

wasn't like it is nowadays where you can turn on the

33:46

channel. You can catch almost any college game you want. You

33:48

know, back in the day, you'd catch

33:50

Timmy once or twice a year on TV,

33:54

maybe if you had the time. And so we

33:56

knew he, I knew he was a great player.

33:58

We all heard. the

34:00

hype but we just didn't really understand

34:02

until we saw him the first

34:04

couple days of practice and you could see his

34:07

talent, the

34:09

skill, the fundamentals, the

34:12

mindset and you could really get a

34:14

feel for what type of person he was. But I can say

34:16

this, my first time that

34:18

I interacted with Timmy he came over to my

34:21

house and I had

34:23

these big video games upstairs that I'd

34:25

invite the neighborhood kids over. It was

34:27

like Mortal Kombat 2 and I would

34:29

sit there and play that game all

34:31

the time man just to de-stress you

34:33

know and I used to

34:35

whoop up on the kids like talk trash

34:37

too right finish them chopping their heads

34:39

off and all the good stuff and

34:41

I Timmy came over and he came up

34:44

the stairs I said hey man you want to play some

34:46

games he's like yeah yeah and he looks around and goes

34:48

what's this well this is cool I mean I never and

34:50

he starts kicking my

34:52

butt like right off the

34:54

bat and and so for me

34:56

I was thinking to myself this is the

34:58

type of guy they're these guys that you

35:00

come across every once in a while that

35:02

you show them something that you've been doing

35:05

well and they do it

35:07

better than you in just a short period of time

35:09

and his competitiveness and his nature and

35:11

the way he was a killer really

35:15

came through that day and then I understood that like we

35:17

got a competitor like this kid he's

35:20

serious as I've watched

35:22

him at Women Yama and Tim's one

35:24

of my all-time favorite players and you've

35:26

already touched on that like has this

35:28

never quite understood like why do you want to be a pain

35:30

in the ass like if you're the best player in the team

35:32

and granted like you can be mad at your coach you'd be

35:34

mad at the roster you can be mad at all these different

35:36

things but you know when I

35:38

look at Steph or I look at a Duncan you know

35:41

there's something there where there's a selflessness despite the

35:43

fact that they know they're the best player because

35:45

I think a lot of the drama just

35:47

kind of is an energy sucker for teams

35:49

it's not to say that there aren't some players

35:51

that are totally justified for being upset about their

35:54

situation but it's becoming it just

35:56

feels more and more rare for the face of the

35:58

franchise to be somebody that just Understands

36:00

the team part of it. Maybe I sound

36:02

old with all this, but I think you

36:04

probably agree By

36:07

all accounts man, it feels like every time I

36:09

whether I watch women Yama respond to adversity in

36:11

a game Which there's certainly been a lot of

36:14

when I see him in interviews All

36:17

the interactions it feels very

36:19

real that you know Who knows what's gonna happen

36:21

and who knows how good the team's gonna be

36:23

in the next couple years, but being

36:25

tasked with this It's

36:28

just not for everybody and it feels like at

36:30

least early returns are Especially in some of the

36:32

great moments this year where I'm like, I think

36:34

this is the guy like I think this is

36:36

somebody that is is

36:39

the perfect like Personality

36:41

to continue kind of the Spurs tradition by

36:43

the way. Yeah, I don't think there's any

36:45

question. He handles the pressure All

36:49

the hype he just takes it

36:51

all in stride You know, he just doesn't get caught

36:53

up and consumed with all of it. And

36:55

I think he's like I said earlier He's just

36:57

wise beyond his years. He's able to block out

36:59

the noise Block out

37:01

the criticism. He's got the

37:03

big picture in mind and he's got he's

37:05

got big goals that he's going after And

37:08

that he's trying to accomplish so he

37:11

doesn't he doesn't let really anything

37:13

get to him and he's been that way

37:16

According to you know, everything that we've heard from

37:18

his playing days in Europe where you know teams

37:20

would try to beat up on him You

37:23

know guy grown men are going after him and

37:25

he just handles it so well I mean he

37:27

rarely rarely if ever, you know

37:30

complains on the court about not getting fouled

37:32

You haven't seen him have these interactions with

37:34

the refs or he's you know going at

37:37

him And he we had a game last

37:39

week or so, we're Indiana just they

37:41

pounded on it I mean they beat him up and

37:43

he still ends up with 31 13 6 blocks 6 assists You

37:49

know, he just continues to play he's just kind

37:51

of above everything Right, you

37:53

know, he's you know, you look at guys

37:56

We go to all these arenas and we watch

37:58

players warm up Steph Curry Curry's warmup is the

38:01

craziest thing you're ever going to see me.

38:03

He has so many people there before

38:05

the game just to watch him warm up

38:08

on the road and at home.

38:10

Victor's getting that same way. He comes

38:12

out of the tunnel, wherever we are,

38:14

he's got crowds waiting for him just

38:16

to watch him out there

38:18

go through his warmup routine. And he

38:20

handles it just better than

38:24

anybody his age could possibly do. I mean, I

38:26

can't imagine if I was that age and I'm

38:28

walking on the court, everybody's out there watching

38:30

me warm up at 20 years old and cheering me

38:32

on. I think that'd be a

38:34

little daunting and it'd be a little distracting, but

38:38

he just navigates it so

38:40

smoothly. This probably isn't the fairest question

38:42

because I think we already know the answer to it.

38:45

It's like, okay, but what about the team and moving forward?

38:47

Is the ceiling of the roster

38:49

enough? And it's like, well, no, I like

38:51

Devin. I think

38:54

his shock creation is really, really

38:56

special. I've

38:58

liked Kelvin in the past and this hasn't been

39:00

a great year for him. I really like Sohan. I

39:03

don't know that I've... Well, I'll just tell you, I didn't understand the

39:05

Sohan point guard thing at the beginning of the year. I

39:08

know the arguments for it, but I also

39:10

think from a basketball standpoint, like you played,

39:12

if the guy who has the ball the

39:14

entire time is maybe not in

39:17

tune to all of the sharing

39:20

part of it. But

39:22

look, they're trying different things. I've heard all sorts

39:24

of different theories and arguments on it, but they

39:26

moved off on it. So

39:29

I don't want to sit here, this is your home

39:31

broadcasting and be like, hey, is this team terrible around

39:33

Victor? Because that's not what I'm going to ask. And

39:35

that's not really even what I believe because I do

39:37

think there's some talent. But what

39:41

do you think is the best fit? Like

39:44

the kinds of players, I know you

39:46

can name specific players, but like, what

39:48

does he need to unlock everything that

39:50

he's capable of as a basketball player?

39:54

I'm sure we're going to continue to look at

39:56

the young guys that we have right now, obviously.

39:59

And all the guys you're... Talk about women are so

40:01

young Jeremy: so hands twenty. A

40:04

Denver Cells Twenty Two. The.

40:06

If I'm. Of. I've got my numbers

40:08

right are obviously because twenty in A or

40:11

all or guys are our oldest guy on

40:13

the team. It blames debunked a grammar twenty

40:15

to twenty nine years old so. Where.

40:17

Do. You. Know at that age you

40:20

we have to always remember that these guys

40:22

should be juniors or seniors in college at

40:24

the most. Ah, So there's still

40:26

a lot of potential. I used to gray

40:28

guys on a curve. Of. A

40:31

four years of college and then that nexus your rookie year.

40:33

So for me, like a guy who. Faces.

40:36

For one year in. College

40:38

when it comes out and you got three

40:40

years and then your fourth year to me

40:42

as like way to a would are true

40:45

rookie should be until our guys. I think

40:47

our head of the curve already is just

40:49

that. right? Now people are impatient,

40:51

They want us to win right away instead

40:53

of just going to the the building process.

40:56

So when I look at players go forward

40:58

know there are guys on our team that

41:00

are gonna be pieces and they're going to

41:02

for him be pieces that really cheap around

41:04

Victor obviously and then I think you know

41:07

you you wanna. Try to

41:09

go out and fine. On

41:11

some. Establish best. I can continue to

41:13

show him the ropes. you talked about it

41:15

earlier were Timmy comes into a team that

41:17

it's actually one fifty nine games a year

41:19

before. And he had guys.

41:22

There. That were established. A guys

41:24

they could showed him the wrote the roads. Teacher.

41:27

The nuances of the game. A

41:29

How to prepare yourself, how to get rest

41:31

those kind of things are and sort. Of

41:34

Victor hasn't had that luxury. They're all

41:36

young and old trying to learn together

41:38

as we've gotta would. You wouldn't

41:41

mind having some old have. On.

41:43

The end of the best there. That. Can

41:45

impart some wisdom. Same thing with David and we

41:47

we had called Will Jones motifs, Gary Cummings all

41:49

those guys to take David aside and say hey,

41:51

this is how this guy's gonna play Tonight is

41:53

always going to try to do to you and

41:56

they could teach you the nuances of league and

41:58

and the game. So I think that. We

42:00

the biggest thing. And we're

42:02

going to try to get to need to

42:04

develop guys. And. I was a lasting

42:06

has a baby. Up and try to

42:09

find a few more shooters because. She's

42:12

spob is the already facing double teams

42:14

sometimes person yet to extra players at

42:16

him and so I. She's a fun

42:18

unselfish guy. He sees a for bettany

42:20

body, he gets the ball out and

42:22

if you have guys at make a

42:24

decent pay I think it benefit everybody.

42:26

Okay at this isn't meant to be

42:29

critical, this is simply. Know

42:31

which is you started this and I

42:33

would agree like we're watching him and

42:35

it feels like. Something

42:37

we shouldn't do. We shouldn't be asking

42:39

like through this guy be the greatest

42:41

of all time It's you're a respectful

42:43

yeah people that are on that list

42:45

for Heaps is right or Emily how

42:47

it's so right owing that that is

42:49

part of the conversation of like how

42:51

special could he and being. I'll.

42:54

Have nights where I watch him. Get

42:57

into his office and it can be a struggle.

43:00

Agree be a struggle basically just because of his

43:02

physical. It's just hard to be that tall to

43:04

then cross someone up and then get the euro

43:06

cents. and I think when you look at both.

43:09

The. History The first. Granted there was a big modern

43:11

era there where everything was built around the center and

43:13

had a resurgence later on, but. When a

43:15

when I think of the great pie think

43:18

of because your position the wings It's like

43:20

I need a bucket tie game. Elimination

43:22

game in a playoff series? It's

43:24

gates game like you've gotta make

43:26

that bucket you've gotta get that.

43:28

Is he somebody the you think

43:31

will be able to get into

43:33

his own often off the dribble.

43:35

And. And be somebody that's making those kinds

43:37

of shots or yeah, I got out of the guys

43:40

a quest to is done it already. Is

43:42

done it already and I think a lot of

43:44

things know that a bit. His fourth quarters as

43:46

your. Have. Been really good. He's.

43:48

Been incredible in the clutch. Are.

43:51

Not a free to take the big shots. Not.

43:53

it for free to to try to take

43:55

a game over we've we've seen that and

43:57

in his release you done on both ends

43:59

now Right and what you're

44:02

saying is exactly correct. I tell everybody

44:04

the reason we were so dominant for

44:06

so long Is because at the

44:08

end of the game we could throw it down to number

44:10

21 in the low block And we were gonna get something

44:12

out of it. He was gonna score

44:14

and so that's and he was

44:16

gonna defend as well So that's why we were so

44:18

good for a long time It's

44:21

gonna take a while for I think everybody

44:23

on the court Especially a young team to

44:25

figure that out our guys have been kind

44:27

of programmed I think not our guys the

44:30

entire league has been programmed to

44:32

shoot three balls and Just

44:34

fire away instead of like we were first thing

44:37

I did when I cut the ball in the

44:39

wing is I'm looking down the low block for

44:41

David or Timmy that's how we were programmed and

44:43

so it was always an inside-out game does and

44:46

When we're more like that which

44:48

will happen over the years where we're throwing

44:50

it down him in the guts

44:52

of the game in the last three four five minutes

44:54

with Crunch time He's

44:57

gonna be that guy and he's well on

44:59

his way because again, it seems

45:02

like pressure doesn't bother him He doesn't succumb

45:04

to it. He just continues to play through

45:06

everything. Yeah I'm not worried about the

45:08

pressure with him at all and some of the

45:11

shots that he's made I guess I'm just always

45:13

picturing like are you running high picket Oh in

45:15

that seven foot five on his hand and

45:17

then he's rejecting the screen and going back to the

45:19

other side Like I don't even know if

45:22

that's physical what I just want

45:24

to be possible. Yeah, right Yeah, maybe it

45:26

is maybe this I think right we've

45:29

seen almost like these reverse picking roles with

45:31

him Sometimes with Trey Jones we've

45:33

seen a lot of that We're traced at the

45:35

screen and cuts to the basket Victor comes off

45:37

and feeds him going to the basket I mean

45:39

you want to talk about just

45:41

to just flipping the game upside down I

45:44

mean your point guard setting a screen for your

45:46

seven foot four guy

45:48

on the perimeter And he's coming off dropping it down

45:50

to the point guard roll into the rim I think

45:53

I'm gonna vote for him for defensive player of the year I

45:57

I know I Would say that's smart.

46:00

Okay, live alone. And.

46:03

I don't care about the record, I don't i

46:05

you for defensive player the year. maybe other people

46:07

would be during the adding record. his influence too

46:09

much of it. Mvp is one thing rookie year

46:11

and that kinda stuff and will hear about the

46:14

seating of these teams from I was watching the

46:16

gold stake in the other night. And

46:18

you had Chris, Paul, Come. Off the

46:20

high screen he got in the middle. And

46:23

Chris Paul wasn't sure about what he

46:25

wanted to do. I don't watch many

46:27

games or press pause. Indecisive and what

46:29

he wants. And. He didn't know if

46:31

he want to a or if you wanted to pass and

46:33

then you had clay come off the same kind of action.

46:36

Where. He's catching it driving middle. And.

46:38

Then he doesn't know. And. There's no

46:40

Sat there for women. Jamar even know if

46:42

the technically contest is. He still has to

46:44

worry about eyed Jacks and Davis on the

46:46

baseline. and then I'll watch teens. And it

46:49

actually happened Wednesday even though or Jackson Davis

46:51

got him with that that nice play their

46:53

towards the end. But. It.

46:55

Out these teams are run this pocket pass

46:57

stuff it it's like why are you doing

46:59

Because now the big is just right and

47:01

women yom us and the big doesn't want

47:03

to do anything. I think the great thing

47:05

about Jackson Davis' play was that after he

47:07

peeled off like five times on that Jets

47:10

yeah sense treaties rolling, he's getting the cat.

47:12

She's a why are you giving me the

47:14

ball at I don't want to go at

47:16

this guy. I don't wanna do this. That's

47:18

the kind of stuff where I will argue

47:20

with the end of the year as much

47:22

as I love so many other defensive players.

47:25

Use. C N B A Players give

47:27

up. Get. Confused when they're

47:29

in that restricted area. Are

47:32

in a way you do not see most

47:34

nights with In were with anybody else in

47:36

the league right? Anybody else and leap. And

47:38

I've said it before, he had his defensive

47:41

presence alone. There's. No one that

47:43

brings that to league right now. So

47:45

what you're talking about? what you're describing.

47:47

I see it on nightly basis. Where.

47:49

guys penetrate are they get on a little

47:52

pocket pass their near the basket they look

47:54

they see him is lurking they passed the

47:56

back out she's a deterrent in the pain

47:58

and And he doesn't even get a challenge

48:00

nearly as much as you think he would.

48:03

And he's still leading the league in blocks.

48:05

So you've had a lot of people that a

48:08

lot of players that get in the paint area,

48:10

they test them, they get their shot blocked,

48:12

they get it deflected. And

48:14

now you get in there and you

48:16

start thinking, not only are you deterred, but

48:18

then, I mean, as

48:21

a player, I know I'm going in there against the

48:23

key melagia one, or Mark

48:26

Eaton, you know, he's Dikemiy

48:28

Matombo. And you know that they're there

48:31

when you're going to the basket and you start

48:33

thinking, how am I going to get this shot

48:35

up? You got to get clever. It's

48:37

not a traditional layup. It's not an

48:40

easy dunk going in there. You

48:42

start thinking, do I have to throw this thing

48:44

up there? Guys

48:46

don't practice these high floaters and

48:48

runners over the top of long

48:51

arms. I mean, you practice those things,

48:53

but then you're not practicing for this guy.

48:56

So you see him deter so

48:58

many penetrations. So many

49:00

people, players get in the paint and

49:03

they think differently. And you're right, there

49:05

is no staff for that. It's

49:07

too late in the season now because it's hard to

49:09

find. But one of my favorite things early on was

49:12

the first time a team had played against him. And

49:15

there'd be those first quarter attempts where

49:17

you could see, it's like, all right, let me see

49:20

what this guy's all about. And

49:22

when Maniamo wouldn't even have to be in

49:25

position. When I watched him before the draft,

49:27

there were plays where he might have gotten

49:29

beaten, whether it was a read

49:32

or he would go to help him on the wrong

49:34

side, or maybe he would lose somebody behind him because

49:36

he was trying to give help on the ball. I've

49:39

never seen a player then make

49:41

up for whatever the first misstep was like

49:43

him because of the length of reach and

49:45

the athleticism and all these different things. I've

49:47

seen him block guys on the other side

49:49

of the rim where it was just

49:51

like, I guess I'll just get you on this side because

49:54

you're still not clear of me. And then

49:56

you can see some of the attempts that happened in the first quarter

49:58

don't happen later in the game. And again, I'm. I'm telling you

50:00

is you've sat here for every one of them. No,

50:02

yeah, his range is absolutely unbelievable. But

50:04

I think what helps him more than

50:07

anything is what he has in between

50:09

his ears. I mean, he's a smart

50:11

player and he's only going to get smarter

50:13

and get a better feel for players

50:16

that he's he plays against. I mean, he's only

50:18

seen some guys once, some guys,

50:20

some guys, you've seen him twice. But when

50:22

you start to play against more of these

50:25

NBA players and you get a better feel

50:27

for him, he's going to be even

50:29

a better defender. Yeah, and speaking of those type

50:31

of blocks, I mean, I call him dad blocks

50:33

or dad blocks where he just kind of you're

50:35

in the backyard with your kid and you just

50:38

stuff it before it doesn't even leave the ground.

50:40

And then he had a block in Washington

50:42

this year, where I believe was

50:44

Tyus Jones, they kind of beaten him and

50:46

he just turned around. He wasn't even looking,

50:48

turned around swung his arm and blocked it

50:50

off the glass. And it was just a play

50:53

that he just never seen a block like that in

50:55

your life. He's never seen anybody block a shot like

50:57

that. But like I said, a

51:00

lot of that is his range, but a lot of that is his

51:03

mentality and how smart he is out there on

51:06

the court. Couple things I want to do

51:08

before I say goodbye, is pop happier now this year? It

51:12

feels like he's in a better mood most

51:14

of the time. So I mean, even win

51:16

or lose, he hates to lose,

51:18

no question about it. But pop

51:20

is the type of guy who just enjoys coaching

51:23

and seeing his guys absorb what he's

51:26

telling them. And our guys have

51:28

gotten so much better over the last month, two

51:30

months or so. And so I

51:32

think that right there is feeling him more than anything.

51:35

I know that something that's anybody who

51:37

knows your history, knowing

51:40

you survived a kidney transplant for NBA

51:42

player to come back and play with

51:44

that, I think the most improved

51:46

player award you came in 11th that year. You must have

51:48

been like, hey, what else do I need to do? What

51:51

are we talking about? We've

51:55

already done that. But

51:58

this is heavy stuff. And I know it's

52:01

something you're very passionate and you've been partnering up

52:03

with Fresenius kidney care this month So why don't

52:05

you share a little bit more about what you're

52:07

doing? Yeah every March I've teamed

52:09

up with Fresenius kidney care to

52:11

help spread the message about chronic kidney

52:13

disease because it's a silent epidemic Actually

52:16

in this country is it's a health crisis Right

52:19

now you have one in seven American

52:22

adults that have chronic kidney disease

52:24

of 35 million people That's

52:28

a that's a staggering amount of people that have

52:30

chronic kidney disease The problem is Ryan is that

52:32

nine out of ten people that have it don't

52:34

know they have it That's exactly

52:37

what happened to me. I got struck down at 25.

52:39

So My

52:41

kidney disease actually started a lot

52:43

sooner than 25 years

52:46

of age because the problem with kidney disease is

52:48

It doesn't present itself until it's advanced

52:51

and so a lot of people walking around they

52:53

feel just fine right now but when you start

52:56

to feel bad your your symptoms start

52:58

to present themselves and your Kidney

53:00

disease is now in a more

53:03

advanced stage. So we're trying to get

53:05

the message out to

53:07

high-risk groups the underserved communities

53:10

to understand that Fresenius

53:12

kidney care is there to reach

53:14

out to you. They're providing care

53:16

to underserved communities They're there

53:19

with answers to your questions

53:21

and for treatment options If you

53:23

go to Fresenius kidney care comm

53:27

you can find pretty much whatever you need but

53:29

this is important because I Mean

53:33

if you get this if you catch the

53:35

symptoms early, that's a game-changer. It's an

53:37

absolute game-changer I

53:39

was struck down after a playoff series.

53:41

I felt like you know, it was 93 9293

53:45

and we lost to the Phoenix Suns

53:48

and I felt for the next two weeks I

53:50

thought I was depressed because we lost that series.

53:53

I couldn't get out of bed I

53:56

lost my appetite extremely lethargic

54:00

What finally prompted me to go to the doctor's, I woke

54:02

up one day, I had been waking up

54:04

and my hands and my feet were really swollen. But

54:07

I woke up one morning and had trouble opening

54:09

my eyes because my face was so swollen. I

54:11

just had all this water on my body and

54:13

at that point I said, okay, maybe

54:15

I'm not depressed here, something's wrong. I

54:18

went to the doctor, took a

54:20

lot of blood tests and that's where they said, hey, we're

54:22

going to, we got to run a little

54:24

bit, a few more tests on you. Looks like something's

54:27

going on with your kidneys. So I

54:30

was blindsided basically at 25

54:32

years old being a professional athlete. And I

54:35

know if that can happen to me, it

54:37

can happen to anybody out

54:39

there. And so we're

54:41

trying to get the word out for people to get

54:43

tested. If you have high

54:46

blood pressure, diabetes, you're

54:48

in an underserved community, healthcare wise,

54:51

you should talk to your doctor and get tested

54:53

for kidney disease. Because like

54:55

I said, it's a silent killer. It's

54:57

a silent epidemic that no one really

54:59

understands and the spotlight has been on

55:03

this disease. And so we're

55:05

just, you know, we're trying to help as many

55:07

people as we can, Ryan. And

55:10

I don't really want to go on too

55:12

much, but I can tell you this. When

55:14

I was 11 years old at my

55:16

very first sports camp, they gave

55:18

you physicals. You know, it was my very

55:20

first physical I had. I had high blood

55:22

pressure at 11 years old. And

55:26

that's a high blood pressure is prevalent

55:28

in the United States right now, especially

55:30

with people that are sedentary, have bad

55:32

diets, don't, you

55:34

know, do a great job of taking care of themselves.

55:36

But some of it is there for people that actually

55:38

do do a good job of taking care of themselves.

55:41

So for me,

55:43

that was untreated for a lot of years.

55:45

People used to think I had what was

55:47

called white coat syndrome. You walk into the

55:49

doctor's office, you see the doctor get

55:51

nervous, your blood pressure elevates or spikes.

55:53

That was not the case. I

55:55

had early symptoms of

55:58

kidney disease from a very, very... early

56:00

age, it went untreated for a long

56:02

time and so it's just

56:04

incredibly important to get the word out so

56:07

people understand that chronic kidney

56:10

disease is out there

56:12

and it's out there en masse. You

56:15

can also get more information

56:18

at Fresenius Kidney

56:20

Care where

56:23

this story, that's an incredible story man, like

56:25

I didn't I didn't realize that 11 years

56:27

old high blood pressure and you're just like

56:29

alright whatever. Like yeah yeah nervous. Yeah

56:32

yeah right I mean I played with

56:34

that for years you know I was

56:36

fortunate I got a transplant. My

56:39

brother Noel gave me a kidney 25

56:42

years ago so I'm

56:44

doing extremely well but not everybody has that

56:46

option and you don't want to find yourself

56:48

like me. You want to get on it

56:50

right now, you want to jump on it early,

56:53

you want to find out if you have any kind of

56:56

indications of kidney disease right

56:58

now. You catch it early, there are a

57:00

whole host of treatments. We're living in

57:03

the golden age of medicine right now. There's

57:05

so many treatment options now compared to what

57:08

it was like 25-30 years ago that this

57:10

is a situation where you can

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the answers that you need. Thanks

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a lot John. This is a lot of fun obviously there at

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the end too. I mean I knew your story but I didn't

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58:21

seeding today Synergy

58:24

is a program I've used for a long time

58:26

It's probably the most important thing that I use

58:28

as a resource in my basketball watching history I've

58:30

had it for I think two decades I'll get

58:32

into that a little bit but more importantly one

58:35

of the people that is involved with this thing

58:37

that I absolutely love Using mark

58:39

silver is with us. He's the executive Vice

58:42

president of product sports

58:44

performance at sports radar and

58:46

overseas Synergy sports as well. So

58:49

what's up, man? It's good to see you. Thanks for connecting. Good

58:51

to see ya. Thanks for having me It's be here today.

58:54

So I don't know when or who

58:56

I ran into from synergy when it

58:58

first happened But I've always loved the

59:00

draft and when I got to Boston

59:02

in 103 I would just still we

59:05

would do special draft shows or whatever or I

59:07

would go to the Celtics facility and Walt them

59:09

and do them and you

59:12

know, I Used

59:14

to beg schools for DVDs of

59:17

players and some schools would

59:19

send me just like n1 mixtapes on

59:21

DVDs One school asked me

59:23

to send the DVDs back which I didn't

59:26

I couldn't believe it. I was like wait

59:28

you want the DVDs back And

59:30

then I was at Portsmouth and I met

59:32

somebody who was working with you from synergy

59:34

It was basically like look with this program.

59:37

We're gonna give you access to it And you're

59:39

gonna be able to watch any player From

59:42

any level where there's video and then you

59:44

can sort it through all these different Mechanisms

59:46

to find exactly what you're looking for and

59:49

I don't know that I truly understood how

59:51

valuable it was until here I am 20

59:54

years later and if my account ever gets locked out before

59:56

the draft I completely freak out because I have all of

59:58

this work that I have to do So

1:00:00

let's talk about this because this has been going

1:00:03

on for a while and it's not just basketball.

1:00:05

You've ranched out a lot of different areas. But

1:00:07

you've been with this for a while and we're seeing some

1:00:09

of the acquisition parts of this. So the

1:00:12

history of what this product is for those

1:00:14

of us that know or don't know. Yeah,

1:00:16

so you actually came on board right

1:00:18

as the business was getting started. We

1:00:21

were founded in 2003. So we've

1:00:23

been around for 20 years. I've been with the

1:00:25

business for 15 of those years. And

1:00:29

really what we were focused on is solving

1:00:31

the problem you described that you had yourselves.

1:00:33

But we were doing it for teams to

1:00:35

start. The idea being is

1:00:37

no one team, NBA, college, otherwise,

1:00:40

in professional or collegiate sports, could

1:00:42

do all of the analysis

1:00:44

that they needed to do, whether that

1:00:46

be data analysis, video analysis. And

1:00:49

so the whole concept of the business, company, and

1:00:51

product was born out of this idea of, how

1:00:54

do I get access to the video and data I

1:00:56

need to make the decisions I need to make on

1:00:58

a daily basis, knowing that

1:01:01

I can't do it all myself, whether I'm an individual

1:01:03

person or even a NBA

1:01:05

franchise. And I saw that firsthand

1:01:07

before joining Synergy in

1:01:09

2007. I was an assistant

1:01:11

video coordinator with the Philadelphia 76ers. And

1:01:14

even at that time, I was

1:01:16

calling colleges to get film sent

1:01:18

to me via DVD. And

1:01:21

I was like, I'm not going to send any of that film back. Did

1:01:23

anyone ask you for it back? At least

1:01:25

when you're in the NBA, they send it

1:01:27

to you willingly and they actually will burn

1:01:29

you a copy. So even at that time,

1:01:31

we still had some VHS workflows

1:01:34

that we worked on. So Synergy was just

1:01:36

coming to pass and it was

1:01:38

really starting to gain traction. That's how I got introduced

1:01:40

to the company, is it really revolutionized

1:01:43

the way that front offices and

1:01:45

coaches prepare for upcoming components,

1:01:47

prepare for the draft. I'll give you

1:01:49

a quick story. Even back then before

1:01:52

Synergy, the best case scenario, you

1:01:55

started your draft preparation as an organization. Most

1:01:57

Of the teams would look at three good games

1:01:59

and three bad games. image for any player that

1:02:01

they were interested in, It would course then expand

1:02:04

from there. Are that is

1:02:06

that was a product of the constraint. Now

1:02:08

as opposed to you as can watch every

1:02:10

game and their forty minigames a colleges there's

1:02:12

thirty have been played if you just start

1:02:14

doing the math of minutes it takes. The

1:02:16

breakdown ah I'm to understand what happened is

1:02:18

just too much for one team now. What

1:02:21

we did A said okay thirty teams are

1:02:23

interested in less than ten The M B

1:02:25

A you have a bunch of international teams,

1:02:27

a call from the same player pool you

1:02:29

have colleges and wanted for coaching purposes and

1:02:32

so we became an aggregation platform but the

1:02:34

same time A we did is we broke

1:02:36

down the game and a way that coaches

1:02:38

and scouts understood so as well. Beyond the

1:02:40

box for this is deep about level data.

1:02:43

Ah, I'm and so we had at the

1:02:45

time or is probably. City.

1:02:47

People Com and the business. It's now over

1:02:49

a thousand com worldwide that helped break down

1:02:51

this content again. Back then were probably doing

1:02:53

all the M B A games and as

1:02:55

many be with the one games we get

1:02:57

our hands on. Today we do eighty five

1:02:59

thousand baseball games a year and what we

1:03:01

actually do is look at every possession of

1:03:03

it of a basketball game. And

1:03:05

then identify the player the had the

1:03:07

action com so anything that led to

1:03:09

a shot of wow that results in

1:03:12

a free throw or turnover and connecting

1:03:14

of the powder the other team essentially

1:03:16

and we log what play action tom

1:03:18

happened. So the best example that is

1:03:20

something like Le Bron James post up

1:03:22

on the right block, turn left, shoulder

1:03:24

to and up and under with the

1:03:26

dribble move. To. A made basket to

1:03:28

two point field or and he dunk the

1:03:30

ball And then we take into consideration the

1:03:32

other conceptual elements of the game. Who was

1:03:34

guarding i'm at the time, what quarter lowers

1:03:36

the time, what was the shot clock and

1:03:39

then back for you talk about. We then

1:03:41

make all that data available in to on

1:03:43

our own platform for data analysis. He can

1:03:45

see how often someone does something and how

1:03:47

well if they are doing it and also

1:03:49

recall that video. So we were sort of

1:03:51

cloud video before cloud video was really as

1:03:53

a concept in the tax base. Yeah.

1:03:56

it's mind blowing that you can do this in the

1:03:58

biggest thing for me a reason was like internationally. There

1:04:00

could be some younger guy in a draft list and

1:04:02

I'd be like, all right, you know, I would just

1:04:04

give up. But I mean, if you go on YouTube,

1:04:06

every one of those guys looks like it's edited, it's

1:04:08

going to be a Hall of Famer. I

1:04:11

remember watching the Giannis video. And if you watch the

1:04:13

Giannis video that I had available to me prior to

1:04:15

the draft at Synergy, you just kind of shrugged. You

1:04:17

were like, all right, he's kind of like, impressive,

1:04:20

sort of, but I'll never forget the

1:04:22

gym. Like one of the gyms that

1:04:24

he played in, the cushioning

1:04:28

was like a gymnasium at

1:04:30

an elementary school where you couldn't do anything beyond

1:04:32

the basket because you're going to slam into the wall,

1:04:35

even though the walls were padded, because there was not

1:04:37

much room between the baseline. And so, you know,

1:04:39

that was one of the things that went into the

1:04:41

Giannis. And granted, if you're actually working for a team,

1:04:43

you're getting on a plane and going over a CMA,

1:04:45

I guess, except for the Knicks. But

1:04:48

did your, I'm wondering,

1:04:51

like, the path for you, did you

1:04:53

see an inefficiency on it when

1:04:55

you were working with a team and that made you

1:04:57

go the other way? Or did the opportunity just kind

1:05:00

of present itself? Because we know how tough the NBA

1:05:02

part of it, like, how did that work for you?

1:05:04

I would say anyone who's been in this

1:05:07

industry, you always have a time in your

1:05:09

career where you're between teams, right? So it's

1:05:11

a natural occurrence that I,

1:05:13

right, loved my time in Philadelphia, it's fairly short.

1:05:16

When that was over, I was looking for the

1:05:18

next opportunity. I was doing some

1:05:20

consulting for some other NBA teams around similar

1:05:22

type of things that Synergy did, it was

1:05:24

actually focused on defensive player tracking and

1:05:26

rotations. Again, a manual data creation process,

1:05:28

you had to have a deep understanding

1:05:30

of basketball and coaching. And

1:05:33

a way to supplement that I actually started with

1:05:35

Synergy as one of those 30 to 50 people

1:05:37

that were breaking down games. I

1:05:39

did that for a little bit with the company.

1:05:41

Eventually, they hired me

1:05:43

full time the next season to help oversee

1:05:45

a support department that didn't really exist at

1:05:47

the time. So as the first, as

1:05:50

a startup, without a lot of funding,

1:05:52

you sort of wore a lot of hats very

1:05:55

quickly within that, what's sitting within

1:05:57

the intersection of the sales

1:05:59

team. team and the engineering team. That

1:06:01

was one person in sales, our CTO and

1:06:03

one junior developer. And I

1:06:06

was the customer facing feedback loop.

1:06:08

And so I helped start organizing

1:06:10

and bringing those groups together. Naturally,

1:06:12

that evolved into leading and building

1:06:14

out product team. Within

1:06:17

a few years of that, so by 2014,

1:06:19

our company had grown, we were then we

1:06:21

had every all 30 MBA teams as clients,

1:06:24

we were almost up to 100% of D1 men's

1:06:27

basketball, which we ended up getting

1:06:29

in 2015, almost 100% of D1

1:06:31

women's basketball clients, which we ended up in

1:06:33

2016. And then there's a natural

1:06:35

progression in 2015, I ended up

1:06:37

overseeing all of the product

1:06:42

and operations for the business 2017

1:06:44

became president. Eventually, we

1:06:46

actually sold that company,

1:06:49

the original owner. And

1:06:51

we came into a group that

1:06:53

also had a computer vision and

1:06:55

automated camera product line. And then

1:06:57

two years after that, in 2021, we were

1:06:59

acquired by sport radar, which is the

1:07:01

global global leader in sports technology, and

1:07:04

help build out where we are today, which

1:07:06

is really focused on solutions in general for

1:07:09

teams, leagues and Federation. And

1:07:11

as part of the larger ecosystem that

1:07:13

is sport radar, which focuses on immersive

1:07:15

experiences for fans and betters. Okay,

1:07:17

so let's talk about the old tracking

1:07:20

versus the new tracking capabilities, where you're

1:07:22

at and what you are now able

1:07:24

to do and the information that you're

1:07:26

able to sort. Yeah, so

1:07:28

everything I talked about today, today, today,

1:07:30

so far with you has been really

1:07:32

predicated on the historical way that synergy

1:07:34

is produced data. And that was with

1:07:36

humans to people per game breaking down

1:07:38

different parts and doing it at a

1:07:40

really large scale. The MBA

1:07:43

over the last few years had has had

1:07:45

a player tracking system. And just

1:07:47

to get a little bit more detail of what that

1:07:49

actually is, is historically, it was about

1:07:51

six cameras in an arena. And

1:07:54

what those cameras did is create coordinates.

1:07:56

So represented every player in the ball on the

1:07:59

plane of the basketball. The court arm

1:08:01

and then right. Tons.

1:08:03

Of coordinates for milliseconds and allowed you

1:08:05

to recreate and understanding of where that

1:08:07

player was at any given time arm

1:08:09

and where the ball was. We only

1:08:11

knew where the center of mass so

1:08:13

soon like the belly button and how

1:08:15

that moved on that plane and then

1:08:17

machine learning could be used to create

1:08:19

pass for specific events so similar what

1:08:21

I describe it for a second rule

1:08:23

it can also identified secure all based

1:08:26

on those coordinates and. The. Benefit a

1:08:28

computer vision that it's really good at understanding

1:08:30

where everybody is at all times were that

1:08:32

becomes very expensive if you want to humans

1:08:34

it's actually track and information on. Jump Forward

1:08:37

to this season. Twenty three, Twenty Four The

1:08:39

M B A has ah. Change.

1:08:42

That system over and has a new

1:08:44

Ah Fourteen camera tracking system and now

1:08:46

includes Player Pose beta. So before we

1:08:49

understood one point it on a player

1:08:51

at any given time we now understand

1:08:53

twenty nine different doing positions on that

1:08:56

fire. So think elbow

1:08:58

rest, knee hurts, you know, orientation com

1:09:00

and all that is coming in and

1:09:02

low latency and will were doing with

1:09:04

her expansive bashful expertise within the synergy

1:09:06

products. That and Prop and Product Group

1:09:09

is taking that new type of data

1:09:11

and creating a whole new set of

1:09:13

ask for specific event data, some overlapping

1:09:15

with what we do manually but a

1:09:17

lot new on and it's a really

1:09:20

new exciting opportunity at and I think

1:09:22

one of the best. Examples to

1:09:24

help illustrate that his arm historically when

1:09:26

he came to see bands life with

1:09:28

we knew that proximity and the or

1:09:30

tracking data of an offensive player to

1:09:33

the defensive player with a six feet

1:09:35

away where they four feet away where

1:09:37

the two feet away with a ride

1:09:39

on them arm but what we didn't

1:09:41

understand the context of the Lambs and

1:09:43

Freida I owe. Sort. of com

1:09:45

mark jackson here everyone to last bath one

1:09:47

knows hands down man now and that is

1:09:50

a concept that really we couldn't understand and

1:09:52

the or tracking data is all we knew

1:09:54

as where that person was in relation to

1:09:56

the shooter but it's a big difference whether

1:09:58

your hand as up contesting that shot, if

1:10:00

your hands are down, if you're up at

1:10:02

the release point, like those are all material

1:10:05

understandings of how effective is that shooter at

1:10:07

shooting the ball and how effective is the

1:10:09

defender defending the ball. And so that that's

1:10:11

really some of the exciting things that we're

1:10:13

starting to see. And what we've done is

1:10:16

create a whole new set of data to

1:10:18

sit alongside or manually collected data off

1:10:21

of this new player tracking data. Okay, so

1:10:23

I'll give an example to the audience. I'll

1:10:26

watch a game. And I'll just

1:10:28

use the Boston Denver one again. And

1:10:30

I was like, Okay, when

1:10:32

I'm watching it live, I'm just watching it live. And

1:10:34

if I start rewinding a lot for game, I care

1:10:36

a lot about it can take way too long. So

1:10:39

sometimes I'll just watch through live and rewind occasionally here

1:10:41

or there, but then I'll know, okay, in the morning

1:10:43

or later tonight, I'm going to wait till it's logged

1:10:45

on synergy, and then I'm going to go through. And

1:10:48

so the old way I could just look at every

1:10:50

yoga possession, and I could just take it upon myself

1:10:52

to figure out which double teams I thought real double

1:10:54

teams. You certainly have

1:10:56

it all sorted out where I could just look

1:10:58

at the Celtics defensive possession sorted that way. So

1:11:00

I can find all of these different things. What

1:11:03

is the new tracking capability allow you to

1:11:05

discover maybe beyond what I'm just doing with

1:11:08

just years of watching basketball and going like,

1:11:10

Okay, that's a hard double. That's not really

1:11:12

a double. I'll put that in the miscellaneous

1:11:14

thing. Is this

1:11:17

improving? Like, do

1:11:19

these numbers actually mean that there is

1:11:21

now unlocking a better understanding of what's

1:11:23

happening with the trick tracking data? Yeah,

1:11:26

it really does. And I think a lot

1:11:29

of talk right now, right with Victor Wimaniamo,

1:11:31

how effective is he defensively, right? Is it matching

1:11:34

the eye test? Yeah, let's do this. Because I

1:11:36

test tells you he's defensive player of the year.

1:11:38

And then you'll see some look, the team isn't

1:11:40

any good. Some people are gonna have a hard

1:11:42

time with that vote. Give me what synergy unlocks

1:11:45

that maybe our eyes are not. Yeah,

1:11:47

so you have sort of like a standard

1:11:49

box for stat of blocks per game. And

1:11:51

we can see that historically, he's actually having

1:11:53

a for a rookie, let alone anybody. He's

1:11:55

up there in since 1972. The

1:12:00

top eight rookies averaging three plus blocks.

1:12:03

He's in rare company, right? And you

1:12:05

have David Robinson, Shaquille, Nio Alonzo, Mourning,

1:12:07

Dekembe Mutombo, all in that group of

1:12:09

eight. When you look at actually

1:12:11

what he's doing and sort of where his

1:12:13

game starts to separate from anybody else in

1:12:16

the league right now, and what we're able

1:12:18

to see through the player tracking data is

1:12:20

things like closeout blocks. So he is

1:12:23

facing about 96 percentile of

1:12:25

wide open jumpers, meaning

1:12:27

there's a high frequency of him guarding

1:12:30

wide open jumpers. But

1:12:32

that effectiveness for those three

1:12:34

point shots is below the average. And

1:12:36

what it's telling us is that Lembe specifically, and

1:12:38

no surprise here with his length, is

1:12:41

able to really impact shots even when he's far away. And

1:12:45

what we're starting to see is well, that's

1:12:47

because he's extremely long and being six feet

1:12:50

away for someone like Lembe Njama is

1:12:52

actually not being that far away. And

1:12:56

further to that, what's really interesting is

1:12:58

he has the most shots blocked

1:13:01

when he is the closest defender

1:13:05

at six plus feet at the initiation of the play.

1:13:08

He's done it three times this year.

1:13:10

There's only one other player who matches

1:13:12

that. And no

1:13:14

surprise here, I'll let you take a shot if you want

1:13:16

to. Otherwise, I'll give it to you. Go

1:13:19

there. Go there. So when you

1:13:21

talk about his length, go there. So

1:13:23

when you talk about is he really effective,

1:13:27

is he a good player on a bad team, the

1:13:29

player tracking data is telling you based

1:13:31

on positioning, he's doing things that no

1:13:33

other player today outside of the other

1:13:35

potential candidate and much discussed player of

1:13:37

the year, Rudy Gobert. Like he's in

1:13:40

rarefied company here. And it's exciting

1:13:42

to see. I mean, I enjoy watching him. Yeah,

1:13:45

look, I think there's some stuff. And I talked to

1:13:47

Sean Elliott about it earlier today where I go, like

1:13:49

there's a couple of plays that's on the Golden State

1:13:51

game where I wouldn't even know what that would, there's

1:13:54

no category to put that one in, but I

1:13:56

know what happened or what didn't happen is because

1:13:58

he was there. So

1:14:00

that's that's good. All right, we want to talk New Orleans

1:14:02

I know they got smoked by Cleveland last night the

1:14:04

defense better They've just been a strange team in

1:14:07

that they haven't had all their pieces. They still

1:14:09

have a good enough record and a really competitive

1:14:11

West But it feels like

1:14:14

they're they're doing some things other

1:14:16

teams aren't doing to remain competitive Yeah,

1:14:19

I think when when you look at

1:14:22

the pelicans one of the

1:14:24

really interesting things is Anyone

1:14:26

who knows the game knows the lifeblood right

1:14:28

the engine of an NBA offense is typically

1:14:30

pick and roll offense now You

1:14:32

have some unique ways to run it and you may

1:14:35

have some different actions based on your personnel But

1:14:37

pick and roll is the most often run play type in

1:14:39

in the NBA All right The data tells us that your

1:14:41

eye test will tell you that you have

1:14:43

to be effective on it typically to be good And

1:14:46

what we're seeing with the pelicans is they're

1:14:48

actually doing it in different ways.

1:14:51

They Still have

1:14:53

a decent frequency of their pick and rolls

1:14:55

But they tend to be in the bottom

1:14:57

half of their points per chance off of

1:14:59

those Opportunities

1:15:01

you look at some of the other top teams in

1:15:03

the West all of them right

1:15:05

are in the top half of efficiency When it

1:15:07

comes to pick and roll you look out at

1:15:09

to the East like Milwaukee and Boston They're both

1:15:11

drinking in the top five and this is a

1:15:14

sort of up-and-down category for the

1:15:16

pelican so they they are one of those and I

1:15:18

think you and I talked about it where You're

1:15:21

not sure like what they're doing and how they're stealing

1:15:23

it Conversely their isolations are

1:15:25

fairly effective. And if you look at their

1:15:27

personnel, there's there's probably a reason for that

1:15:30

So I haven't dove much deeper than that,

1:15:32

but they're extremely effective in driving the ball.

1:15:34

They're extremely effective in isolations But

1:15:37

where they're not as effective as you would

1:15:39

expect for a top five or ten team

1:15:41

and the respective conference or league Is in

1:15:43

that pick and roll play type? Yeah

1:15:46

I actually think that I test does back that

1:15:48

one up too because there's just certain like I

1:15:50

have this whole like hey Do

1:15:53

you trust the stuff that they get into? Does

1:15:55

it does it give you a good look and

1:15:57

then I feel like they're defaulting to more and

1:15:59

more Zion? which is better because it was such

1:16:01

a disaster how we all collectively felt about him

1:16:03

after the end season tournament. But

1:16:06

then I'm like, okay, are they just gonna run

1:16:08

points on and this curl into the paint? Like,

1:16:10

is that going to win you a playoff series,

1:16:12

especially considering they're gonna likely be a

1:16:14

bottom four team and not catch one of the

1:16:16

top four. All right, so

1:16:19

give me some players that maybe

1:16:22

be like, hey, he's a nice player. But

1:16:24

there's something that they do that is so elite

1:16:26

in comparison. They're in such a high percentile that

1:16:28

it's why they're gonna be in the league for

1:16:30

such a long time. So

1:16:32

I'll probably look at a player here that's more

1:16:35

not necessarily on average,

1:16:37

but he is performing at a level and

1:16:39

in company that historically he hasn't quite been

1:16:41

in. So he's taken that next step up

1:16:43

and that's Shay Gilgis, Alexander. And

1:16:46

when you look at his performance and looking

1:16:48

at something that we call our player

1:16:51

impact, synergy player impact, which is the net point

1:16:54

impact that he has over 100% 100 possessions per

1:16:56

game. If

1:17:00

you look at the top 10 in that he is

1:17:02

actually currently sitting at number two. And

1:17:04

this is a efficiency

1:17:06

metric that allows us to understand how effective

1:17:08

is he and what's the impact he's having

1:17:11

on the game. He's tied with

1:17:13

Joe M. B. I know Joe

1:17:15

has been out for a little bit,

1:17:17

but if you rattle off those next

1:17:19

names that he's in that company and

1:17:21

above everybody besides Nikolai, Nikolai Djokic, who's

1:17:23

number one, you're talking about Giannis, Paul

1:17:26

George, Devin Booker, Kawhi Leonard, Jason Tatum,

1:17:28

LeBron James and Kevin Durant. So it's

1:17:31

one that we're taking a bunch of

1:17:33

our different data manually and otherwise collected

1:17:35

and just showing like he's

1:17:37

the real deal. And the

1:17:39

numbers and the efficiency stats are very much

1:17:41

proving that out. And he's taken such a

1:17:43

jump that he's now in that rarefied

1:17:46

air of those players that you talk about

1:17:48

best in the NBA. He's having

1:17:50

that type of season. If you

1:17:52

had an MVP vote, would you default

1:17:54

to something like this over, I

1:17:57

don't know, whatever else the rest of us use? I

1:18:01

take the approach the same way when I've talked to

1:18:03

teams for the past 15 years. This

1:18:05

is one input, right? We talk

1:18:07

a lot about the eye test. And

1:18:10

one of the great things about the platform itself is

1:18:12

the data is only one part of it. Every data

1:18:14

point we give in this platform has the video behind

1:18:16

it. You can go and validate and

1:18:18

make sure, yeah, I agree with what you're saying. And

1:18:20

that can help inform your decision. I

1:18:23

think using any singular efficiency metric is

1:18:25

not the way to go. It's

1:18:29

combining everything that you know. So I

1:18:31

wouldn't use this solely. I would definitely use this

1:18:33

to help inform my decision if

1:18:36

I had one. See, this is what I love

1:18:38

so much about the program. And obviously, I'm a junkie

1:18:40

about it because it just helps

1:18:42

me. It helps me like I'm thinking about something or

1:18:44

I'm like, okay, well, let me pull up these or let

1:18:46

me look at these. Like there's a couple of players

1:18:48

where I still can't believe that the number is as

1:18:50

good as it is. Because when I watch them,

1:18:52

I just think like I don't feel like

1:18:54

that's necessarily the same thing, but that's what the

1:18:56

number tells me. But this

1:18:58

isn't a threat. This

1:19:02

is like a booster to scouting.

1:19:06

It would shock me if scouts

1:19:09

weren't in favor of this across the board

1:19:11

because all you're really doing is looking at

1:19:13

it all over again. It's not looking like

1:19:15

the video comes up. Design

1:19:18

the video feed however you want. Edit it

1:19:20

however you tailor it to whatever your needs are.

1:19:23

This is, I would say, an additive

1:19:26

to any front office, not

1:19:29

something that would replace anybody. Yeah,

1:19:31

absolutely. I think what we've seen over

1:19:33

time, just think about what you used to write

1:19:35

the amount of time you spent trying to get

1:19:38

video that was time that you couldn't spend watching

1:19:40

and sort of informing your opinion and viewpoint. No

1:19:42

different for a front office, a coaching staff, many

1:19:44

level competition is we try to

1:19:46

take that initial effort that everyone should

1:19:48

have access to good data. And

1:19:50

then you should be making those decisions against that

1:19:53

data. So a lot of the time that we

1:19:55

spent now is creating new insights, right? How can

1:19:57

we show you this data that's easy to ingest?

1:20:00

easy to communicate to your players and

1:20:02

scouts. And so your skill set somewhat

1:20:04

changes where you're no longer the person

1:20:06

creating data all the time. There's still data

1:20:09

that every team wants to create that's sort of proprietary

1:20:11

to them that they feel is important. But

1:20:14

the skill set has somewhat changed, right? And

1:20:16

now using AI and other methodologies to understand

1:20:19

the data better. There's

1:20:21

a whole new group of analytics departments that

1:20:23

didn't exist 15 years ago. Every

1:20:25

team has one out to varying degrees. And

1:20:27

so a lot of it becomes how do we better

1:20:29

understand this data? How do we then

1:20:31

analyze it? How do we make good decisions against it?

1:20:34

And in order to make those good decisions, how do

1:20:36

we communicate it? So I think early

1:20:38

days, there was a huge sort of perceived

1:20:40

threat in video rooms and front offices that

1:20:42

this type of technology could

1:20:45

replace them. Ultimately, it's made them more important. Those

1:20:48

groups have actually grown in size and

1:20:50

number. But the way

1:20:52

they work is a lot more efficient. And the work

1:20:54

product they're producing is a lot more actionable

1:20:56

and impactful for the organization, which drives their

1:20:59

value. So I think the good thing is

1:21:01

we're past the, is this a

1:21:03

threat? Is this good or bad? And now it's the

1:21:05

every team is very much focused as how do I

1:21:07

get the most out of the data available to us?

1:21:10

And that's really what we're trying to accomplish with the new player

1:21:12

tracking is we want them to be

1:21:14

able to have the information they need to make

1:21:16

the decisions surfaced in a way that's understandable and

1:21:19

in a way where they can communicate out to

1:21:21

their players, coaches and front office

1:21:23

members. Okay. Last thing. Do you

1:21:25

watch games where like I'll watch a game

1:21:28

and then I'll run to synergy to see

1:21:30

if my theory

1:21:32

is supported or destroyed because

1:21:35

you're on the ground floor with this, you

1:21:37

know, all the inputs. Do

1:21:39

you watch with an eye that is

1:21:42

more likely to be confirmed by

1:21:45

going back and looking some of the data? Because it's not

1:21:47

just the tracking. It's not just the video. It's all sorted.

1:22:00

the percentile of efficiency. And it's actually like a really,

1:22:02

really good, like you can look at five lines of

1:22:04

somebody and be like, okay, I have a pretty good

1:22:06

idea who this player is before I even looked at

1:22:08

them. But do you, because you've been

1:22:10

in it so long, watch with an eye that

1:22:12

is more aligned with the data that you pull

1:22:14

up later? I think so. I

1:22:16

think there's also a part of me that I

1:22:18

actually used to be one of those loggers and

1:22:21

there's probably muscle memory built in of I watch

1:22:23

things and it's hard to disassociate with, oh

1:22:25

yeah, I needed to in the past collect

1:22:27

that data point. I view

1:22:30

it the same way you do, right? I see

1:22:32

things that then in my head go, oh, is that

1:22:34

actually a tendency? Is that a one off? Like that's

1:22:36

a very interesting action that they ran

1:22:38

or that was an interesting result. And then I go

1:22:40

back and I look at the data and say, is

1:22:42

that a one off? Is it actually a consistent thing?

1:22:45

So I think I view it probably very

1:22:47

similar to you and as just someone

1:22:49

who's been around basketball, been around

1:22:51

the data, it's hard to remove yourself from

1:22:53

watching basketball games that way. So there's a

1:22:55

time I think when I was watching many

1:22:58

years ago, probably 100 games a week to

1:23:02

break down and provide

1:23:05

data. And then at that point, your sort of

1:23:07

your brain only works one way. Now I'm a

1:23:09

little bit removed from that where I'm not watching

1:23:11

the games from a data creation purpose anymore. So

1:23:14

I can find the enjoyment in it again. But

1:23:17

still, you look at things and you

1:23:19

immediately want to validate, oh,

1:23:21

is that a thing or is that just

1:23:23

a one off? So yeah, I'm with you

1:23:25

there. OK, and here's the bad news. Probably

1:23:29

people listening to you like where what's the

1:23:31

web address again? But you

1:23:34

just can't use it, right? You have to

1:23:36

be with an affiliated team or

1:23:39

for the most part, we are a

1:23:41

B2B service and we are here to

1:23:43

help build the game of

1:23:45

basketball for NBA College.

1:23:48

We do work with high school teams. So

1:23:50

there is a market out there

1:23:52

for those of you as high school coaches. But

1:23:55

for the most part, we do work with the teams

1:23:57

themselves and Our product is focused

1:23:59

on that. That's our her apologize all the the

1:24:01

eager listeners who are ready to to run

1:24:03

out there. But.

1:24:06

Yeah yeah even early how to in that

1:24:08

would out there being some sleep bummer so

1:24:10

to the Amazon way but this is a

1:24:12

lot to help when I was appreciate ah

1:24:14

the time and in the hours that I

1:24:16

put into it because my job would be

1:24:18

a lot tougher with authority to so thanks

1:24:20

a lot more research. Major fluffier net present

1:24:23

at me on that I. This.

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Best of our kids. I am liquid.

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So. Now you know it's possible. Though

1:25:14

it's a was required, the email

1:25:16

addresses lived by so are already

1:25:18

email.com. What? Is good guy was good Steve

1:25:20

or it. Let's get to it. We

1:25:23

had a few follow at Sarah. We.

1:25:25

Get a simple one and a not so simple one. Was.

1:25:28

Due at the city email and here surveys

1:25:30

safely chime in on our. Lowest.

1:25:33

Approval Rating: Emails. I don't

1:25:35

stop doing on the. Are paying with

1:25:37

cash at a bar five eight to ten to

1:25:39

seventy five bench for if I squat play rugby

1:25:41

for schools in the Se Si. Bad.

1:25:44

Ass Alert Stout. Recently

1:25:46

when I'm going out of in paying in cash

1:25:48

not intending of being an ass over the bartenders

1:25:50

have a habit of running on my tab. I

1:25:52

tipping over forty percent of my original fab. I

1:25:55

was like wait what? Obviously this happens when

1:25:57

I forget to close out said tap.

1:26:02

Due to his tendency of having lost my card at

1:26:04

a bar at night. I

1:26:06

mean, do it all the time? Yeah, it sounds like it's a

1:26:08

big problem for him. In

1:26:11

the pie chart of his life, it sounds like it's bigger than it

1:26:13

should be. So

1:26:15

he's just going individual transaction now with cash every

1:26:17

time he goes up? Okay, save

1:26:20

that thought. I've

1:26:22

been paying in cash. My friends think I'm

1:26:24

being rude to the bartenders by being cheap,

1:26:27

but it isn't their money. And my rude

1:26:29

for paying cash, thanks

1:26:31

for your help. So

1:26:34

wait, Saruti, you

1:26:36

think it's weird to pay cash each

1:26:40

time you order around? No,

1:26:42

I mean, as long as you're still tipping like

1:26:45

the normal amount, which is, you know, what, 20%,

1:26:47

right? I mean, 40% is insane. So obviously, you

1:26:49

know, you're in college, you're probably not super liquid.

1:26:51

So I get why you can't continue to pay

1:26:54

40% tips every time

1:26:56

you go out, especially if you're buying drinks for other

1:26:58

people. So I just get I just

1:27:00

like as you get more and more drunk, like paying

1:27:02

cash for every individual transaction seems like it could be

1:27:04

a problem waiting to happen to you. But if I'm

1:27:06

better for you, then then go I don't think I

1:27:08

can't I've never been a bartender, but I can't imagine

1:27:10

that would be a huge issue. I always thought they

1:27:12

preferred cash because it's like less of

1:27:14

a card, come back, whatever

1:27:16

what I owe you and I like to pay cash

1:27:18

when it's like, I don't need to change, like I'll

1:27:20

like work to tip into the thing you have

1:27:22

the bill and then do what you need to do with

1:27:24

it. So if you don't need

1:27:27

a bunch of change, and then you're like figuring out math,

1:27:29

I mean, yeah, you like one time deal 100. Like

1:27:32

that's not awesome. But yeah, it

1:27:35

used to be like you would just

1:27:37

leave a buck like you ordered a beer, you

1:27:39

know, you would you would go a

1:27:41

dollar and then you know, kind of a dollar

1:27:43

to every drink. I don't think people were necessarily

1:27:45

tipping just a strict

1:27:47

20% While they

1:27:50

were out at a bar because it just wasn't gonna really

1:27:52

work that way. I Just thought it was interesting. I Can't

1:27:54

tell if he thinks his friends are saying it's rude because

1:27:56

he's not tipping as much as he was before. If You're

1:27:58

in college, you should be tipping 40%. The

1:28:00

way and now I don't know what

1:28:02

the protocol is now with tabs in

1:28:04

that you just hammering every single guy

1:28:07

for forty percent that these his car

1:28:09

they're like that doesn't seem awesome but

1:28:11

usually the be such. Credit.

1:28:14

Card or Debit card. Remorse that you just

1:28:16

kind of like chalk it up to the

1:28:18

right charges or game. Kyle, I'm this one.

1:28:20

Here's what I can tell ya. I was

1:28:22

around free debit card and then I was

1:28:24

there for when everybody had it and the

1:28:26

places I worked. Fucking. Hated.

1:28:29

Everybody. That used debit card. Okay,

1:28:31

And they would use it for every single route.

1:28:33

They wouldn't run tabs and we would go out

1:28:36

of a fucking minds. And the owner that own

1:28:38

the bar was you. Think I can be a

1:28:40

little salty? He. Was the southeast

1:28:42

human being on Earth? And he

1:28:44

would just yell at college kids the entire

1:28:46

time. Screaming. At them. Even.

1:28:49

Though he went to college there but he was like it. Young.

1:28:51

Bar owner but older than her body else of that. Not

1:28:54

really didn't like been a very many people

1:28:56

I would consider super friendly person him but

1:28:59

he would be losing his mind because it

1:29:01

just happens. It was this just swell of

1:29:03

momentum of debit cards were all the sudden.

1:29:05

nobody was paying in cash but people weren't

1:29:08

running tabs. You remain in the bud light.

1:29:10

Like I fooled me, my shop shut

1:29:12

that down for me. Ethics that yeah

1:29:14

right went out for my thing would

1:29:16

always be I'll leave it open. I

1:29:19

don't know. and the bartenders can be way

1:29:21

nicer about like paid, leave it open. And.

1:29:24

Then you know what? I'm actually just going

1:29:26

around wearing a closer. Okay, cool. Like you

1:29:28

know you potentially had a chance. You can

1:29:30

add more tricks to that effect. That big

1:29:33

a deal, but is it now? Pivoted to

1:29:35

the point where people think disguised paying with

1:29:37

cash on individuals certs like people think that's

1:29:39

rude. Actually happy with this is as we

1:29:41

are. But look man, it sounds like you

1:29:43

get whacked it forty percent every single time

1:29:46

he got your college kid. You can help

1:29:48

his eyes, you know, like are you let

1:29:50

loose I'm naming in fact like of jealousy

1:29:52

Be man, keep doing your thing. You

1:29:54

need it or find a way to get the

1:29:57

in house expenses down in you've found your way

1:29:59

in the room. You can fuck off. Yeah,

1:30:01

also the cash tips thing. I

1:30:03

never quite made it to the mountaintop of being a server

1:30:05

or bartender as I've told you. That was always a dream

1:30:07

of mine. But I think those, the

1:30:10

cash tips like, you know, when you- Let's

1:30:12

buy a bar of Kyle. I'll say don't let that dream die. I

1:30:15

got some friends working on it right now. But

1:30:18

maybe more in the Valley. The write-in tips,

1:30:20

you know what I mean? That stuff all goes

1:30:22

through, that comes through the credit card thing

1:30:25

and then it has to come back to you in your check, right? If

1:30:28

there's in the tip jar, you got to split and take home,

1:30:30

right? So that's not necessarily reported and

1:30:32

it's cash in your pocket. You're walking out of there

1:30:34

with that money, right? So if you're tipping in cash,

1:30:36

like that's usually going to them instead of going to

1:30:38

the credit card people and then making its way into

1:30:41

like a separate paycheck or something. Like I said, I

1:30:43

never really got the taxes here. But they do, but

1:30:45

they appreciate that like the take home, walk home, how

1:30:47

much cash did I leave with instead of like going

1:30:49

through and then you pay taxes on that, right? I'm

1:30:51

not sure what the tax situation is, but I think

1:30:54

if it's just money in a jar that you got

1:30:56

to split up, like is that all getting reported? Probably

1:30:58

not. So I think you're actually, you know, if you're

1:31:00

like trying to plant a flag for the service workers, I

1:31:02

think they do want to cash tips. My

1:31:05

other thought would be this is

1:31:07

a group of Gen Z kids I would assume that

1:31:09

we're hanging out with here, college guys. Do

1:31:12

Gen Z, do they even use cash anymore? I don't think

1:31:14

they do. They get mad when bars don't have Apple Pay.

1:31:17

Yeah, I mean, I had a kid yelling at me

1:31:19

because we don't have Apple Pay. Like this is a

1:31:22

bar that opened in the 30s. Fuck you

1:31:24

and your Apple Pay. That's like checks for

1:31:26

like nobody when I was like growing up in that

1:31:28

age, we just checks were just something like your parents

1:31:30

use. We don't use checks and now I've written a

1:31:32

check. I can't tell when at the grocery store, right

1:31:34

now to check like, oh my God. Yeah. You

1:31:37

don't write any checks. You never write a check. I've

1:31:40

written a check to the property taxes.

1:31:43

How do you pay your property taxes? Oh,

1:31:46

it just comes out of the mortgage. Oh,

1:31:48

all right. Yeah.

1:31:50

And then for my car, you know, I don't

1:31:52

do it online. There's nothing. The

1:31:54

only thing is the last check I wrote was, yeah, I

1:31:56

think to the lawn care guy. I sent

1:31:58

a check to get my passport. That was the last

1:32:00

time i was like oh my god we need to buy a new

1:32:03

checkbook when i found it after a deep clean. Keep

1:32:06

going okay we got that one covered we're

1:32:08

on the sky side you come up the system

1:32:10

sounds like it's cheaper. Get

1:32:12

the good thing about cash to like hey you bring a

1:32:14

hundred bucks tonight to like you can set a hard time

1:32:16

spending yeah but the problem is if

1:32:19

you do bring that you're gonna spend it all

1:32:21

the matter what it's like having casino chips your

1:32:23

college to cash you're not going home like always

1:32:25

been forty five hundred. No

1:32:27

you didn't yeah that tip gets bigger every time your

1:32:30

tippet every round to buy the round

1:32:32

you like that twenty for you buddy yeah. Go

1:32:35

by not everybody has your heart Kyle not

1:32:37

everybody has your heart I know I know

1:32:39

you start feeling a little bit you start

1:32:41

running through the old veins and then you're

1:32:43

like man this guy. I'm

1:32:45

in the bars awesome i'm gonna let them know what's up.

1:32:50

The good thing is like you start

1:32:52

hard tip early now you're getting expectations

1:32:54

too hard you can just be like walk

1:32:56

in a couple drinks play cake you for twenty. Yeah

1:32:59

that's what i want to be or falls off the truck

1:33:01

there that's what that's what we're looking for then we can't

1:33:03

think we need to. Any of

1:33:05

paying more yeah you feel special

1:33:07

feel great yeah summer like

1:33:09

actually get one of tip you less i'd like to be charged

1:33:12

for. One of the favors and it's

1:33:14

gonna actually be cheaper my little

1:33:16

bar you guys like i got this through

1:33:18

this guy ten bucks first round

1:33:20

probably gonna let me date a

1:33:22

sister all right here we go double

1:33:25

breasted suit to job interview hey

1:33:27

guys first time long time. Hell yeah

1:33:29

yeah let's go I looked

1:33:31

at a little double breasted number when I was in

1:33:33

Vegas. You did not

1:33:36

in Vegas but just in general yeah I didn't know I mean I

1:33:38

don't I don't really have the physique I think to pull that off.

1:33:41

It's perfect small but it

1:33:43

was gaudy though I was like are you ever

1:33:45

actually going to wear this is an expensive joke.

1:33:52

I could just bust this out of something i'm not supposed

1:33:54

to wear that i just like what's up how the going

1:33:56

to be like yeah and then never wear it again expensive

1:33:58

joke invite six to what. I'm 85. Flair

1:34:01

comp is a better rebounding Andrea Bargnani partially

1:34:03

because of my sweet stroke and more because

1:34:05

I'm a lanky Italian Canadian and can never

1:34:07

escape the Il Maggio or

1:34:09

Gallo references in wreck ball. Lifting

1:34:12

stats aren't impressive but I've returned

1:34:14

to the iron paradise recently as I just moved it

1:34:16

by and I'm trying to keep up with all the

1:34:18

influences out here. Good

1:34:21

writer. The Dubai move leads

1:34:23

us into my question. My fiancee moved out

1:34:25

here from awesome job opportunity for her. I

1:34:27

decided to quit my consulting job and try

1:34:29

to reinvent myself in the desert in a

1:34:31

more compelling industry aligned with my actual interests.

1:34:33

My question is what a fashion bold

1:34:35

font. Is it an

1:34:37

aggressive move to wear a double breasted suit

1:34:40

to a job interview and bold? The

1:34:43

internet is divided and I think the America's

1:34:45

leading menswear podcast get a definitive

1:34:47

judgment for context. I'm living out of a

1:34:49

suitcase as we wait for our furniture to arrive

1:34:52

via the Red Sea fingers crossed. Good

1:34:55

writer like I said. I

1:34:58

don't think you could not do anything. Does that make any

1:35:01

sense? The

1:35:03

double breaster is my only option. I purchased a

1:35:05

suit for my best friend's wedding last year and

1:35:07

it fits so perfectly it'd be a shame to

1:35:10

waste it. However, as much as I want to

1:35:12

look like a go-getter, I don't want to look

1:35:14

like I'm gunning for the interviewer's job. I'm interviewing

1:35:16

across a gamut of white collar jobs and the

1:35:19

dress code errors on the

1:35:21

formal side but again, double breasted suits

1:35:23

are a state. I

1:35:25

just like this guy. I'd say attach

1:35:27

this email to your

1:35:29

CV and you're

1:35:33

going to be turning shit down. I

1:35:36

don't know man. I don't know. Double

1:35:38

breasted. Is there an open option? Like, you

1:35:40

know, I know sometimes that the suit buttons like sometimes always

1:35:42

never. With double breasted, is it just is all that out

1:35:45

the window? Is there a way this could be open? Just

1:35:49

put everybody's mind at ease. Or is

1:35:51

it just like does that guy not know how to wear a double breasted suit?

1:35:53

I don't think they can be open. I mean, I'm

1:35:56

sure you can and somebody's done it. You're going to

1:35:58

show me some shallow picture. It

1:36:00

definitely looks worse. Yeah, but is it a

1:36:02

model standing outside of like a museum in

1:36:04

London? Like I'm not wearing a

1:36:06

shirt underneath it. Yeah, he's right. He's just

1:36:08

wearing the suit jacket. Yeah, you've got a

1:36:10

picture not under. You can't look at those

1:36:12

pictures and go, Oh, I guess I'll just

1:36:14

do that. You know

1:36:16

how many times I fall in victim to that being like,

1:36:19

look at that guy looks sick. And then I bring it

1:36:21

home. I look like an idiot wearing whatever it is, whatever.

1:36:23

Turtle max, whether it's stop buying stuff. The

1:36:27

suit thing. So it works. I

1:36:30

think what is the job? A gamut, right? I

1:36:33

think that's kind of the job. I

1:36:36

think he's in Dubai, man. And I

1:36:38

think it all bets, like there's no rules

1:36:40

in Dubai, right? There's like lions as pets

1:36:42

and stuff. I think, yeah, I wouldn't

1:36:44

worry about it too much. I remember I

1:36:47

had a job interview fresh out of college. This was like

1:36:49

2010 ish. And

1:36:51

I had just gotten like this nice J group

1:36:53

blue suit. I was really excited about it.

1:36:55

And I was also kind of in that thing

1:36:57

where I was applying for jobs and I didn't

1:36:59

know if I wanted to, I was like a

1:37:02

broadcast journalism major. So I had like a lot of

1:37:04

like news background and like, I didn't know if I

1:37:06

wanted to go into like being a TV anchor, quote

1:37:08

unquote. So I was applying for a bunch of different

1:37:10

jobs. This was not a TV job. This was like

1:37:12

a behind the scenes job at the history channel. And

1:37:14

I walked in to the interview like looking good. Like

1:37:16

I had this awesome blue suit, white, really clean looking

1:37:18

haircut. What kind of hair are we doing back then?

1:37:21

At that point, it was normal. It wasn't anything

1:37:23

great. I hadn't grown the bun out yet. But it was

1:37:26

like a clean sort of like, you know, news anchor looking thing. And

1:37:28

the first I remember the girl interviewing me, like

1:37:31

she said to me, like, you don't

1:37:33

look like this is the job

1:37:35

for you. Like implying that in a good

1:37:37

way, though. No, in a good way. Being

1:37:39

like, you look like you should be aspiring

1:37:41

to do bigger things than this current entry

1:37:43

level, like, you know, data in point job

1:37:45