10 Questions Heading into All-Star Weekend

welcome to the mismatch i'm chris vernon you're joining me as he does every week from the ringer dot com is dave jacoby jacoby you know they say that there's no sort of like collective experiences anymore and some might think that the super bowl is one of the few sort of like monoculture experiences but really i felt more close to my peers last night in the aftermath of the hornets pistons fight than i did during anything in the last 10 years it seemed like everyone was watching that game it was crazy because we live in this social media world where that was such a huge game with the hornets going for 10 wins in a row and they're playing the number one seed in the eastern conference so we were like locked into that and we were texted about it before this ever happened and then the mini melee happens and because we live in this social media world like the fight goes online immediately so fast and it becomes this like cultural touchstone where then it becomes like the Zapruder film and everybody's like watch Isaiah Stewart from this angle yeah oh I was watching one this morning as we record on Tuesday morning I was watching one this morning where when he runs up Miles Bridges uh or I'm sorry uh uh Stewart swings at him and Miles Bridges like ducks and then goes for the takedown then goes for the takedown like MMA style I'm like this is awesome i mean we didn't have like that is not the hold me back hold me back nba we had real guys swinging at each other last night and like there was one going on in the corner with diabate but then there's another part that breaks out at midcourt it was just it was mayhem it was great it's a oftentimes people will allow themselves to be held back. Like they will not go a hundred percent effort trying to break free from the grasp of a teammate or a coach or a security pitch or whatever. They just sort of like, it's sort of an unspoken understanding that I will, I will, I'm, I hold my pride. I'm trying to fight this guy, but I'm being held back, which is why I can't do it. But then there are times like Diabate and, and beef stew where they're just like i'm gonna try a hundred percent with all of my effort to make this fight happen and it kept flaring up in different parts of the arena it was like it's over here in one corner then it's over here in this corner then it moves over here to that corner it was wild i mean of course we had the great eric collins there to uh take us through the whole thing it was wow wow and and they were just absolutely perplexed they're like we've never seen Moose like that. Like, Moose and Diabate is like man on fire. It reminded me every once in a while, there will be one of these like guys that you don't expect for their temper to win. Like they're pretty docile guys. But then whenever the switch flips and their temper blows, if you remember years ago, you'll remember this as a Knicks fan do you remember the Jared Jeffries one and Jared Jeffries never struck anybody as a violent man but like he got this look in his eyes and you're like bro there is a moment where he's like I think it was Carmelo or somebody and he's like sprinting and you're like hold on I never suspected Jared Jeffries was capable of this but now I'm wondering what is this guy capable of Because he snapped. And it was Jalen Duren. Jalen Duren obviously has been in these type of situations before. Because he mushed him in the face. Diabate. And Diabate acted like it was the most unbelievable personal affront ever. And just snapped. And his temper just went crazy. Duren was kind of like, this is what happened, right? Like you mush people in the face. And he's just kind of standing there. Like, you know, his temper is not going in the same way that Diabate's was. But, man, yes, you're right. With Eric Collins, like, then commentating the whole thing. It was just, you know, we don't get to see those. That'll happen maybe, like, once a season. You suspect it happened more. And it's usually the Pistons, right, that it happens with. But what a night. What a night. The game was. Great game. Great game. And Dern was killing them. before this whole kerfuffle. I think that there's going to be so much discussion of the fight, but it was a great game. And I think you're right to mention just how dominant Durant was during the game. Because previously, a couple of possessions before, he had like a turnaround fadeaway 17-footer. And it was just like, where did that come from, Jalen Durant? And Diabate did not have an answer for him. And what led to the fight was like a really hard foul, but sort of like an I give up, I can't stop this guy kind of a foul, which then escalates into like the getting each other's faces and then the much, then the fight, then the push, then the blah, blah, blah. But like this was a great game, and there was a lot of opportunities for the Hornets down the stretch there. Con missed a couple open ones. Miller missed an open one that could have sort of like brought it to one possession game at the end. But two things before we get into the major point of this game. First one is the get ready so you don't have to stay or stay ready so you don't have to get ready award goes to people. Paul, I mean, Reed won them that game. He how many winning plays did Paul Reed make when he was called into action because of the absence of Isaiah Stewart and the absence of Jalen Dern? I mean, he was he was unbelievable. He was like getting steals. He stripped him in half court. Oh, my goodness. What a moment for him called into action. The second thing is, look, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention, the standings are such that this is a very plausible first-round matchup, and I think all of us were in agreement as we're watching this, like, yo, give me that playoff series. Oh, it would be so fun to watch. It would be so fun to watch a playoff series, especially after that took place in one of the games. So there's already heat there, and you don't know who could snap at any given moment. And then, I mean, for a regular season game, when there's so much conversation that's not about basketball and people are worried about tanking you know, tanking and people worried about all manner of other subjects. This is one of those where not only was the actual game super entertaining, you think about like the future of this and the possibility of seeing those two teams get to play each other. And I think, I think I speak for both of us. Let's sign up for that now, like right now, if I can sign up for that one eight. I don't see the Pistons losing the number one seed in the East, barring some sort of injury situation. But I also don't see the Hornets losing a playing game, which they would have to, to get the eight seat. You know what I mean? So like, it does feel like they feel like a seven seat to me right now, but you know, things change. It's fair. It's fair. And the other thing is, look, this is going to be out without one of their, one of their better players for some time. We're as we're recording this, we don't have any news on Stuart, but that's going to be a very, very strong suspension. Because if there's one thing they are very serious about, it's the fact that he wasn't even in the game. Like he sprinted off of the bench. And that's what causes massive, massive problems. And on that front, like I bet they bring the hammer down on him. I'll be surprised if it's not a severe suspension. I didn't see it last night, but this morning I saw video of him in the tunnel walking to the locker room. Like, you know, you know, that the classic sort of like untucking your jersey from your shorts walking to the tunnel. He goes, what do you expect me to do? You drafted me to Detroit. I was just like it was like it was like a script. He was just kind of like, yeah, I'm a piston. I'm getting fights. All right. So we're doing 10 questions about the league on this episode. And so we are starting with the most important question. So we saw the Pistons last night versus the Hornets. And then we had this mini melee. it's fair to say the Pistons are the team you would not want to fight in the NBA. If we're doing this Royal Rumble style, so we'll make it like that. We're not doing like a real fist fight, right? We're doing this Royal Rumble style. So you've got to find the best equipped team to beat the Pistons Royal Rumble style. it's embarrassing how much time and effort I spent I don't have answers for any other question that you prepared for me today outside of this one perfect now I spent a lot of time on this and I have landed the Pistons at the number one spot because of Dern and Stewart right because you look at the front court first now I have well hold on time out paul reed uh paul reed's a strong sure and and ron holland is a certified crash out as well absolutely duncan duncan robinson standing in the corner duncan robinson just being like you guys go ahead i'll be over here it was one of my favorite things too because he's like this is an nba fight like what's really gonna happen you know what i mean like what's really gonna happen the uh so i started here right i was like i want steven adams involved So when you start going through the Rockets roster, it's just the rotation. The bench isn't that deep when it comes to Royal Rumble action. But Steven Adams was someone who I wanted involved, but I cannot put the Rockets over the Pistons. And then I have a question for you. If I get the Nuggets, do I get the Jokic brothers? Do I get Stranja involved? No, no, no, no. I don't get the Jokic brothers. No, no. We're not doing friends and family. I just wanted to. bring strania back in our lives because we went on a month run there where it was like our the main thing that we covered in the nba was trying to jokic and i did a little uh you know a little bit of research on him and there's nothing new in the world of strania jokic to report on um unfortunately we don't have an update there but i after an exhaustive research i've tried so many things and it just you just end up with the fisting you just you just do um i toyed with the Timberwolves, but like Gobert is just, I can't have him involved. It's, it's the Pistons is the answer. They're the number one seed in the Royal Rumble. I know who's the best competition. I tried everything. I've tried every, I have no idea how much time I spent on this. You have to have an answer. I don't get the Yogurt brothers. No, you don't get the Yogurt brothers. And, and, and, and James Johnson's not in the league anymore. Right. He's like a ninja. So that was obviously always, he was like a real wild card. Yeah. If you throw him in there. Interesting. Interestingly enough, I think that there's some crash outs on that Kings team. Cause you got, you, you would get to bring Westbrook and DeRozan, Sabonis, like, you know, and they're all pissed off. You see DeRozan throw that water bottle down like a hundred miles an hour. Yeah. They're done. So you, they, they have the anger thing going for them. I guess. But you need like ultimate size. And that's where the Adams thing comes in, right? And you want an Eastern Euro. Like I was toying a little bit with the Nuggets because you've got those big sort of Eastern Euros to sort of anchor your team. So go Nuggets. And Jokic is hard to like turn over the – and Gordon too is a pretty tough guy. I'm going Nuggets. If we're talking about flipping over the rope, Jokic is like he's like the you know like when like five guys used to like try to flip like Yokozuna or somebody you know over the roads like it takes it takes a couple of guys to pull it off just because of sheer size and yeah he grew up look you don't get the brothers but he did grow up around the brothers yeah and and we also have seen his temper flare when he went and tried to body check the Morris brother and her. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Every once in a while, the algorithm just feeds me that. They're like, the cheapest shot in the history of the NBA. And it'll show me that. I'm like, I'm sure there's been cheaper shots in the history of the NBA. Next question. Next question we got here. All right, so last night, the Jazz did it again. They're beating the Heat in the fourth quarter. They sit your guy, Jaron Jackson Jr. They sit Markkinen. They sit everybody, try to lose the game, and they don't lose the game to the Heat, right? They do not lose. But the tanking has started earlier. It has been more obvious, and it is a real problem. This season in particular, it is worse than I have seen. The sort of intentional losing of games. And it feels like there's nine or ten teams that have no interest in winning basketball games. What can the league do to address this? In my opinion something needs to be done because every night just like everybody listening to this podcast I look at league pass and I look at the matchups and every night there three games I have no interest in because it feels like the results are already in before the jump ball. It's in. All right. To your point, I was watching this weekend, the jazz magic game because feature two of my favorites, Jaron Jackson, Jr. And Desmond Payne game. And it was going to be Jared's first game with the, with the Utah jazz. And so I was locked into that. And what they did in that game was truly disgusting. Like truly. They had that one like locked up. They did the same thing last night. Yeah. And, you know, you're watching Isaiah Collier and Cody Williams and the rest of them trying to close that game out. And it's like, come on, guys. Like this is gross. Anyway, to your point, this morning, this morning, this is now not just on the front of mind of Jacoby. This is on the front of mind of everybody that cares about the NBA. There is a article at USA Today, the NBA's tanking crisis and why Adam Silver can't ignore it. There is a headline on Yahoo. The NBA has a serious tanking problem. Adam Silver needs to step in. So that's just two. And those are two very big outlets. This is going to be everywhere. Right. Because now the focus is about how these teams are purposely being non-competitive, and we've got a lot of the season left. And so product-wise, obviously, when you're tuning in, you're like, this is not on the up and up. on december 23rd there was an espn article that said the uh sources nba looking into new ways to prevent teams from tanking now this was in the aftermath of the gambling scandals they were saying hey we need to fix this not because teams were being necessarily purposely non-competitive down the stretch, but because you've had the Terry Rozier thing, you've had the Johnson Phillips thing, you've had these, right? The fact that you've showed up in federal documents and that this was, that people were able to manipulate lineups that news got out, were losing on purpose, you know, giving the heads up. And so this was like on the gambling front, like in order to have integrity on the gambling front, this needs to stop. So now you, it's twofold. When you say, will the NBA do something about it? The answer is a million percent yes, because number one, you have this non-competitive thing, which is a big, big problem. And number two, you have that whole gambling angle to this as well. And so you already had a list of options that have been brought up. You have the prohibiting teams from drafting in the top four two years in a row. That's an easy one, right? That's an easy one. You have locking in draft positions. March 1st has been floated within the NBA, which would then prevent the last part of the season. Teams, you have no reason. Your draft position is locked in. You also have flattening the odds even more, right? They tried this back in 2019. Obviously, it has not been a big enough deterrent. It hasn't quelled it enough for teams to not lose on purpose. And so I'm sorry to interrupt, but one thing that needs to be brought up is the trade deadline had influence over this as well, because you're looking at stars like name stars. Anthony Davis, Trey Young, Jaron Jackson, Jr. Zubach, Zubach isn't a huge star, but like they're all going to teams that aren't trying to win. So it's like bad teams collecting good players and then sitting them for the season and being like that. Maybe we'll try again next next fall. Well, I'll give you a real fascinating one, too, because one of the things that has been brought up when the NBA has talked about this is the problem with pick protection and that maybe they should make it. You can only protect a pick top four or you can only protect a pick top 14. But what we can't do is have all of these. So Utah, that's a perfect instance, right? Utah had a top 10 protected pick two years in a row. They kept it both of those years. They didn't want to lose their pick. The same thing goes this year, right, where they don't want to lose their pick. Their pick is going to go elsewhere if they don't ensure that they are going to be able to keep said pick. And interestingly enough, it was just a year ago. I went back and found this article. So last year, we had the Philadelphia 76ers who had, you know, their team went to hell. And then they had that top six protected pick. And then they went on to lose 29 of their last 37 games. And then it worked out for them where they ended up getting VJ Edgecombe with the third pick in the draft. The Jazz actually last year were fined $100,000 in March for holding out Laurie Markkinen out of multiple games because they went on to lose 21 of their last 23 games to end the season. And at an introductory news conference, Utah's president of basketball operations, Austin Ainge, said, you won't see that this year when asked about tanking via manipulating minutes and player performance. And that is literally the team that you brought up. We see it this year. I do see it, Mr. Ainge. I'm seeing it right now, last night. But I'm saying they already got fined last year. The thing is, the thing about fines and about any sort of punishment in any walk of life is it has to be substantial enough to deter the behavior. And if it cost me $100,000 to get a high pick, it's like, oh, okay. Well, and this is the tricky one. This is the tricky one, right? If you're the league office and you call Utah and you say, give me a good reason why your best players didn't play in the fourth quarter. we want to hire drafted what i'm saying that's the sticky situation it's like they are they're trying to massage it they are playing their guys they're just happen to be sitting them when it matters most what if you're the heat what if you're the heat like the other team did you bam had a quote after the game he's like we need to beat teams that are trying to lose like It's just like they're trying to lose. Bryce Sensible had different ideas. Yeah, he sure did. He has a couple of eaters this year. Bryce Sensible had different ideas. So, look, your original question is, are they going to step in? Look, we're now getting to critical mass where there's headlines everywhere. There was already headlines because of the gambling stuff. Now there's headlines because of the losing on purpose for draft stuff. I promise you there will be reform after we get done with this because it's going to be so bad. Yeah. And I like the idea of even before March 1st, February 1st, lock it in. And then there's the idea that you can, that sort of wins after February 1st count as losses in draft order. Does that make sense? So you get rewarded for winning games instead of losing games. Imagine that. Imagine being rewarded for winning games. Well, look, there's a third of the league that's involved in this, right? Because there's five in each of the conferences. Okay, so go look at the bottom five in the East and the bottom five in the West without knowing the draft order. So just as of today, which team would you want to be going forward with in each conference? I found this to be really easy. Okay. I found this to be easy. In my mind, it's the Mavericks and the Pacers. And it's pretty clear why. Let's start with the Mavericks. You have the guy, right? You've got the franchise guy. So you, you've got that immediately gives you direction. Cause you, you say, all right, what does Cooper flag do? What are his strengths? What are his weaknesses? What are the best players to put around Cooper flag? So you have, you've got a North star. You've got, you've got the, the, the architect has drawn up the plans for your next five, 10 years of, you know, creating a basketball team. that level of direction and like clarity i think is really helpful for an organization and then i have the pace because because because well and and obviously you have incredible amount of faith in them building around one of the greatest players ever if cooper flag is to become that because they did it so well yeah and then they'll trade them and then they'll trade i mean that is that is perfect complimentary pieces for cooper flag and they're gonna end up trading did that Does it not come into your mind, though? Should I trust this ownership and management to be able to? First of all, we have to mention that the news story came out yesterday. Like Mark Cuban is trying to get some rich homies together to buy the team back. I was like, this is – I mean, I don't know. I don't know what's going on there. I don't know how billionaires work, but I don't think you can just like hostily take over a basketball team. The owner doesn't want to sell, but whatever you say, Mark Cuban. but I think like if you look at some of the other teams with like interesting young players, if you're looking at like the, the wizards or the nets or whatever, like they all have interesting young players that can turn into something, but the Mavericks have Cooper flat. So it's just very clear what they want to do. And the paces is, is I'm not as high on the paces. It's sort of like everyone is, but you know, they were in game seven of the finals last year and they've added some pieces and they're going to have a high draft pick this year. so who's to say that they can't make another run yeah fair enough all right those are the two those are the two that i had what do you have you any different ones no no no i think i think that's fair i think that's fair right like the indiana this is a gap year yeah this is again i mean we're obviously gonna have to see how halliburton looks post achilles but like this is a gap year that we think they would be involved and they still have good players on their team and they added zubat And as you said, they get lucky. They're going to get a really high pick in this draft. And so you could be right back competing for Easter conference finals next year. That is not true of any of the others. No. And this happened with the Warriors. Like remember that the Steph year when he was out and they ended up with the Wiseman pick. And again, like it's so easy now to be like, oh, they shouldn't have picked Wiseman. But at the time, I would have picked Wiseman if I was the Warriors. They had the need. you know, you're in Memphis and, and Wiseman was this touted basketball player, future of the league. It was a COVID year. We didn't even see him at me. He only played a couple of games at Memphis. Yeah. He didn't play at all. And it was a weird year. Yeah, it was, but I would have picked him, but this is, I, but I, I see a lot of sort of parallels between that year with the Warriors and this year with the Pacers. And I think they're handling it well. So those are the two teams that came to mind when, when you pose that question. Here's a question. I can't honestly figure this out myself. So I look to you, Bruno, one of the greatest basketball minds in the world. Don't be flippant. Are the Timberwolves a good basketball team? I can't even. Why are you even asking this? Because they lose. They lost to the Pelicans. They lose to the Kings. Sometimes they beat the Thunder, and you're just like, oh, this is a championship contenders. They're in the West Finals all the time. And then they just put out absolute stinkers. They're just like this Jekyll and Hyde weird team. You are an advanced level NBA watcher. Come on. You know, I can't even believe this is a question. Like this is a team that's been, that has got their playoff bona fides. It's the regular season. We're heading into the all-star break. They, they let go of the rope for a span of three or four games. They got it back on track. And when they look awesome, they look awesome. And they walloped. Who was it? The Hawks last night. The Bulls. Oh, the Bulls. They got a top 10 offense. They've got a top 10 defense. And how many teams have seven players you like really, really like? Right? Like, I mean, they're built for playoff basketball. They've got the wings. If the Sunmu thing takes like we think it's going to take, it gives them another ball handler. It kind of, there was a gap there with Conley getting too old to participate on most occasions and losing Alexander Walker. They did play the Hawks because they gave him this huge ovation. Yeah, it was Alexander Walker. They had a couple of skirmishes in that game too, but they were just overshadowed by the distance. Right. But they gave him that huge ovation, which he deserved. But they kind of missed that other ball handler at the guard position, which is another thing to assume who could fill in. Yes, the answer is unequivocally yes. I understand you go through spans throughout the season, but you know when playoff time comes around, they are going to be an absolute bitch to play against. They got big defensive wings. They've got a guy that can be the best player on the floor any given night. And I did love the Desunmu acquisition. I did. So, yes, they're good. It's just they have these head-scratching losses. I got it. And every once in a while, you're just like, what? You know, like you won't be paying attention. You look over, like they're losing by 20 to the Pelicans. I still think there's only two that you would pick against them. In the West? Yeah, I think Oklahoma City and Denver, and I know they beat Denver, but I mean, I think those are the two that the majority of people would pick to beat them. And I think that's where the list ends. I'm trying to think. The Spurs? I think that's where the list ends. I said what I said. Just for the sake of conversation. I said what I said. I'm just trying to add some more teams. I said what I said. You can add them. I said what I said. It's like talking to my wife. This is ridiculous. She actually sent me cliff notes on how to deal with you Okay So shouts to her Yeah Yeah Those are the only two I think those are the only two Speaking of teams and who you would pick, there's a report of Jason Tatum going through practice with the G league team, which is now called the main Celtics, which by the way, I'm totally against. They used to be the red claws. It's a way better name. I know. Red Claws is way better. Maine Celtics. Come on. And they're Maine. Maine is known for one thing and one thing only. It's lobster. What else is Maine known for? I don't know. Hockey. I guess. That's where Paul Correa played. When I was a little kid, I used to get all these hockey magazines. And I remember it being a huge deal that Paul Correa played for Maine. And they were like, they're unbelievable at hockey. it's the only thing L.L. Bean L.L. Bean the L.L. Bean store and lobsters they're main yeah they're main there's a big L.L. Bean store yeah that's like the main attraction in Maine shout out to L.L. Bean store anyway Jason Tatum's practicing with them maybe a comeback is on the horizon if Jason Tatum comes back are the Celtics the favorite no no they're they're in third right now favorites to win the east yeah they're in third i like bucci main i like bucci main on the team i think that was important um i would not pick them in a seven game series i mean it obviously depends how tatum looks but we have to assume that team's going to be on a minister restriction we have to assume that tatum's not going to be a hundred percent jason tatum right safe assumptions. Isn't it fair to say, yo, they're third without him. What would they be with him? You think they're going to be worse? It's hard for me because there is a little bit of recency bias here because on Super Bowl Sunday, I watched the Knicks and the Celtics and the Knicks look great against them. You know? And Brunson had a great game. But I don't know. I just don't see it. As a Knicks guy, you do not fear the Celtics even with a Tatum return. In a seven-game series currently, and I've reserved the right to change my mind later, I would put not just the Pistons and the Knicks over them in a seven-game series. I would put the Cavs over them in a seven-game series, too. Wow. All right. Well, that leads into our next question, does it not? Yes, it does. This is recency bias. This is – I happen to love the way James Harden looks on these Cavs. I just happen to love it. They beat the Nuggets last night. I was watching the game. What teams in the East would you pick over the Cavs in a seven-game series? Detroit and New York. You wouldn't pick the Celtics. What about your Celtics? Those are 100 percenters. You just asked me if they were the favorites to come out of the East. You would not put them over the Cavs in a seven-game series. And the Celtics. And the Celtics. No chance. Those three. And Philly. Am I? And Philly. Oh, wow. and Philly so I'm already to four and Philly over the caps no no hold on now a quick 20 second time we're assuming health everybody's healthy so I get Joel Embiid yes okay yes he would destroy Jared Allen oh my god if he's healthy and then you got the two little guards that can match up with their guards and like i yeah i i feel like uh yeah and i do not trust james hard you again we're talking about playoffs right i don't trust james harden in the playoffs bro oh no he'll be he'll have some good games in seven game series yeah game two games five none of them that matters and then it'll be two for nine when it matters the concert uh concert date line oh man i just kind of like no i i kind of like it with they look good without mobley no and jared allen is just sort of like he's been a tear the last couple weeks they look good mitchell's mitchell and hard seem to be working together really well hard hit that three last night like i don't know i like it i like i like the hard and fit it's a weird trade where i feel like it's gonna work out for both teams in it. The Garland and Harden trade. Okay. Look, I know that, look, the second guy is Harden, right? That's the other guy you're counting on. I know what that looks like when it comes to playoff time, bro. I know what it looks like to count on James Harden when it comes to the playoffs. Okay. All right. Counterpoint. Most of your experience is watching James Harden in the playoffs. It has been a James Harden operation. Remember when he said that he is the system? No. But can you not say that in this scenario, with Donovan Mitchell being on the ball, with two great bigs playing defense, that this is not a we go as James goes type of a situation? I just saw it with the Clippers. He wasn't the best player on the Clippers. And he didn't even look at the rim. that's fair he didn't even look at the rim he wasn't the guy that they were depending on Kawhi's the guy he didn't even look at the rim you can have him you can have him I like it no I like it you can have him there's four of them that's four teams I would pick against the Cavs sorry Cavs fans I love you but like I can't the the hardened playoff thing is you can have that we've only been doing it for 15 years i'm gonna i need to see more i need a bigger sample size yeah yeah we uh we have discussed uh oh hold on let's get to the next one um travis scott oh no no let's go back to this one the team that you can see yourself liking more than you do now come playoff time? This is an interesting question. I thought about this a lot because it really is, it's sort of a, the question is twofold. It's like, what team do you not like that much right now that you do see improving later, right? So it is sort of like double-sided. I struggled with that a bit. We just discussed the Cavs. That was sort of like one of my Eastern Conference teams. But again, this is just me watching them beat the Nuggets and loving James Harden and really thinking this is going to work. But like, you know, we've been down this road before. It's sort of like the health of the Sixers and Joel and Bean. You know what I mean? It's like we know how this is going to play out. But I am going to answer this one with a team that you probably don't expect. All right. Denver Nuggets. They're one of the two best teams in the NBA. They have one of the best records. They have one of the best records in the NBA. Terrible, terrible answer. But they're starting like Spencer Jones. No. Struthers out here. This is the worst answer in the history of the mismatch. That's terrible. That's saying a lot. That hurt my feelings. Now you hurt my feelings. Now I'm pouting. I'm doing the rest of the pod pouting. Well, I probably had number one, But I'm just saying you defeated whatever my heart. Where? New answer. New answer. That is worse. That is worse than the Thunder need to take scars by me. So you have defeated that. You know who I think I'm going to like when it comes playoff time? The best player in the world's team. Shut up. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. They've been hurt the entire year. They're never healthy. They're playing all these guys like two ways. and second-year guys you've never heard of. And then they're going to get it together for the playoffs. I believe in the Nuggets. You're welcome, Denver. The answer is somebody like Orlando or somebody like that, right? I just don't. I'm saying they get all their guys. Suggs is playing all the time. They get on track. They kind of find something. They look like last year's Orlando. Like somebody like that, right? You got to find somebody like that. Hey, you know who I kind of fancy? The best player in the last decade. Maybe ever. Maybe the best player ever. I like his team. You know, I think they got a chance. I try to convince myself that the Rockets are the answer to this, but without Steven Adams, man, like, it's so hard. Oh, that's actually a fair one, though. Like, that if they, you know. If Van Vliet comes back, it's so hard without Steven Adams, though. Like, I get that he only plays, like, 17 minutes, but he's just so impactful. And you're as high on Phoenix as you're going to be. Golden State is like. No, I've never been high on Golden State all season. All right. So then your only other option is the Lakers, I guess. Nope. I watched them last night. Do you like what you saw? No. No. I didn't like it. I did not. You did not enjoy watching that. I did not. All right. What's your next question? Here we go. My next question is. We've talked about Harden. I'm high on Harden in the trade. Now it's sort of like one of the bigger names outside of Anthony Davis is a big name, but he's not going to be impactful on this season and the results. But what is a smaller trade that doesn't get discussed a lot that is going to be very impactful this postseason? Okay. So because you and I talked about it at the trade deadline episode, and because I've already mentioned it today, I'm going to set Desunmu aside. That's fair. We have said our piece, and we think that this is a very good playoff acquisition that could really reap benefits when it comes to playoff time. the two most logical choices when i think about this are who could i see have 28 in a game five that like swings the series is there anybody like that and the answer is Vucevic. Vucevic is the one that like you could see have like knocking down six, three, like having the big playoff game. He's the one that stretched out. He's knocking down threes, trying to pull the big away. He just gets on a heater. He's getting these open top of the key threes. He's getting less attention because the Jays are doing what, and white are doing what they're doing on the wings. And so Vucevic to me is the most likely guy to have a big playoff game that swings things. I tried to go through all the trade deadline acquisitions. And if you're looking for like, who could you see having a big playoff game? Cause we didn't have as many, we didn't really have the, the PJ Washington, Daniel Gafford level guys, right? Like then that, and that did end up reaping massive benefits when it came playoff time. them. You didn't really have those kind of acquisitions in mass this year at the trade deadline. So I would say the boost of each one. And then the long shot is Porzingis. It is the long shot. If, if he does come back and he is healthy, you know what I'm saying? And he's playing with Curry. He, but you, you, you freely admit he is the kind of guy that could be the leading scorer in a playoff game. He has that talent level is what I'm Yes. You could see a scenario where he has a huge playoff game. You could. Yes. I could see a scenario. I haven't, I have trouble wrapping my head around him outscoring Stephen Curry. I understand. But like, but yes, he could, he could have a very impactful scoring thing that can swing a series, especially sort of like when one on the road or win the game to, when you're headed back home, I can see something like that. But like, I think Voochie man is a really good answer because I'm looking at it through like a Knicks prism. And I could totally see a scenario in which Joe Mazzullo is like, we're going to give the ball to Vucevic and he's going to get three fouls on Carly T. That was the first five minutes of the game. I could totally see that happening. I could also see another scenario where they're switching Mitch onto somebody and then you've got Josh Hart covering Vucevic and they just dump it to him in the post. He does some stupid turnaround hook shot and makes it look easy. I could see him swinging a series. I could. I could see it. And I don't think that that is – I don't think there's many like that. Obviously, we talked about the Dasumu thing. We like that. Obviously – I like your KP answer, though, because I didn't really consider that. He's just been such a sunk cost for so long. Right. You know? He's just been sort of like a sunk cost since the Mavericks. And you're just thinking of like, okay, now he's the guy that's getting way less attention. He's playing with Curry. So he's getting way less attention. And like, you know, look, during their playoff slash championship run, he had some really impactful games. Really. Was the Celtics one? Yeah. He's also unavailable a lot, too. I'm aware. I'm just saying, look, the list is not deep in terms of guys that I think could like actually swing playoff games. You know? No, that's fair. This just was not that kind of trade. Keon Ellis is not going to score 30. You know? If he did, it would be unbelievable. It would probably be for the main red claws if he did. This actually happened, this next question, this happened in the Cleveland game when Harden, who is big buddies with Travis Scott. Travis Scott crashed James Harden and Donovan Mitchell's postgame interview and started screaming in the background. So obviously a big fan of the Cleveland Cavaliers now, Certainly a hardened guy till he dies, Travis Scott. But he crashed that interview and started screaming into the microphone The best celebrity that could crash an interview for a team would be well this is a subjective answer right i not saying this is like the objective truth that this celebrity this would be personally for me i've got a few answers okay one that we learned who it's not it's not kevin hart we learned that at the all-star game last too much kevin hart okay i've got number one hilarious hold on hold on let me just set this up you are two players are doing the interview this person runs in starts yelling into the microphone maybe not yelling not everyone's a yell at some people are more subtle with their sort of their presence including my first my first answer to this um this gentleman this performer is something that i consider like hot sauce it just makes everything a little bit better uh he's weird he's known to be quirky he's funny bill murray is my answer for number one spot bill murray i just love bill murray he's hilarious what the hell is bill murray doing here he'd be wearing something crazy security wouldn't even like know who he is the players probably wouldn't even know who he was they wouldn't like does It's like, does Donovan Mitchell know who Bill Murray is? I don't know. Are they big crowd hog day people? What about Bob? God, I love what about Bob. Bill Murray's number one. Number two, I'm going with Cat Williams. He's just another wild card. Like Cat Williams is liable to do anything and say anything at any time. I bet I could get him to do it. You got Cat Williams plug? Bro, he's at our games and no one recognizes him. really he lives in mississippi he lives like so he goes to grizzlies game yes and he he's at him and just sits in the stands and you'll be walking by like is that cat williams what it is i i swear to you cat williams was at a game and i was like bro like how many people on earth look like cat williams that's what i'm saying Very distinct looking guy. But he wears like a hat and stuff and like doesn't like cat it up. Right. This happened one other time. I'm going to tell you. So you see some random people because people from Nashville come in as well. So Cat Williams was at a game and I was like, damn, man, that dude looks like Cat Williams. And he's small. And they're like, that is Cat Williams. He comes every once in a while because he's a he lives in like Mississippi. He lives like 20 minutes away from Memphis. Like he has a farm and he like shows up and he's actually performing at FedEx forum next month. Cause I'm trying to get him in my studio to come in and the day of the show, he'll come in. And he'll also probably, if I, I mean, I don't need to say you can only crash interviews if they win. And so that's probably out of the question. Maybe, maybe I can get him to crash the opposing teams or something. I don't know. The coach interview in the third quarter. he is around and that's so crazy because i would somebody was like they were like yeah he lives in mississippi and i was like what what are you talking they're like people see him at the grocery store and stuff and i'm like what is happening what what do you mean that is wait wait wait chris chris chris chris here's how it works shannon's chart does an interview with kat williams on his show next thing you know hundred million dollar offer chris vernon show yeah good idea really i know i know he could save me and then he's gonna start he's gonna start doing what he did on shannon's show he's gonna uncover all of the conspiracy lies about how hollywood works he does it on the chris vernon show next thing you know 100 million dollar acquisition chris vernon show yeah i gotta become best for you're right i gotta become best friends of cat williams i gotta figure this out some way somehow the i will give you one other one So the Cat Williams, I was like, bro, that guy looks like Cat Williams. And somebody was like, that is Cat Williams. Because he wasn't like sitting on the front row like Boosie does when he comes to a game. Or Glorilla does when she goes to a game, right? He wasn't sitting on the front row for everybody to see. You know, if Moneybagg Yo is on the front row, he's got like diamonds that you can see in section 310. This guy was just sitting in the crowd. Another guy that just sat in the crowd like that. And I saw him and I was like, no way. I was like, bro, that dude looks like the lead singer of Creed. And they're like, it is him. And I was like, what? Scott Stipp. They were like, he was there with his teenage son. And I was like, what is, what's a Creed song? Can you take me higher? Come on. Everybody knows Creed. Come on. I know that song. Wait, they got bangers. Yeah. He has bangers. He was just sitting in the crowd. I was like, I'll be damned. Yeah, crazy. We get the big ones. You see, you're too busy in New York with Ben Stiller and Chalamet and Tracy Morgan and Spike Lee. We get Cat Williams and Scott Stapp. To watch Todd Jerome. Todd Jerome's back. Yeah. He's back. I know. He's awesome. I had one more answer. It was Detroit specific. It would be like after a big playoff when Eminem would just be in the background. Detroit, what? Detroit, what? Like after a big win in a Pistons game, a home floor. That would be a big one. That would be a big one. Eminem busting up. And then, oh, no. Eminem grabs it and he starts freestyling over the Pistons win again. The Pistons win again. And he starts freestyling over the Pistons win again song. I'm for it. Yeah, that's good. Those are my answers Okay We have one more question Last one Was it just me or was the Super Bowl super boring Okay So I had a I had an interesting thought On this because there were some people That were like relenting They were like if you don't like defense Like okay enough already I think that this Year's Super Bowl Was 100% contingent Your enjoyment level of the Super Bowl is also falls right in line with whatever your blood alcohol level was. So I was sober, completely sober for this Super Bowl, and it sucked. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I had invited. There's another factor that factors into your enjoyment of the Super Bowl is did your bets pan out? all of my bets panned out but I was still like this sucks oh no my bets did not pan out and in fact they were they were critical losses I had one where I got in on the Travion Henderson uh rushing yards I got on it late and then I have to listen to everybody saying that that was a hit but I got on it late. So I got 19 and a half and the opening line was 17 and a half. How many carries did he get? I don't know. Like four or five to go. Look at how many yards he had. Of course he had 19. Oh yeah. So I did the whole, it's 17 and a half. What I'm like, okay, it's a yard and a half. Right. So everybody else hit that bet. Except for me. I was like, it's all around this thing. No, the game was boring. Drake may play terrible. He was missing open to guys. They couldn't do anything. I mean, I guess there are people that love three and outs and punts and field goals. It was not entertaining, bro. I watched a million NFL games this year. That is so far down at the bottom in terms of entertainment level. No touchdowns. I mean, until the end. But, like, there's just nothing. There's just nothing going. The commercials weren't even interesting. My kids were calling me. They're like, Dad, come home. It was like 6 o'clock. It started at 6.30. Dad, come home. Dad, we're going to watch Super Bowl. Super Bowl Sunday. Come home. Come home. Come home. By midway through the first quarter, they were all gone. They were all gone. It was just so boring. And then this Bad Bunny thing is all of a sudden like everything else in this country is the most politicized Super Bowl halftime in the world. Oh, my God. I don't know. You want to know my hot take on Bad Bunny, Chris? it was fine it was cool i didn't understand it but it was cool i don't know what does that mean does that mean i'm a radical lefty i don't know people care so deeply about other people's i was like it's like you're allowed to not like it or you're allowed to like it yeah but all of a sudden now like but there's also this i mean something and now you like there's a i'm not gonna accuse people of something that i can't prove but i just feel like a lot of people are pretending they like the bad bunny of course they are actually did it was fine i thought it looked cool it was cool yeah the falling through the house i mean look yeah sure it's the same thing i can tell if you want to turn on uh you know a spanish-speaking soap opera i can tell you like wow that girl could really act but i don't i don't know what's happening there's just a level to my enjoyment if i can't understand it i'm sorry well i don't know if it's a classical music concert and be like i don't understand the lyrics i don't this sucks like no lyrics well and like look and i and i lived that life because i have a son like every time i grab my son's headphones i can't understand anything what is this well it's also like uh and and and also like do you i have like a serious in the car go flip on octane and they're like like what is pour some sugar on me about from deaf leopard? Like, I don't know. They're like under the bridge from the chili peppers. Like, Oh, it's actually about heroin addiction. Like, is it? Everything means more than what it is. And you and I are both too goofy to get involved. I just want to laugh. I just want to get mad about bad money. I'm just like, guess how I feel. I'm neutral. I don't know. It was all right. Cool. There'll be another one. The world didn't end. It's going to keep spinning. Bad Bunny sang in Spanish. They danced around. That's what it was. The outrage Super Bowl was infinitely more entertaining than the actual Super Bowl. The outrage Super Bowl, which is still carrying on days later. It was like, I guess I have to really love Bad Bunny or really hate Bad Bunny. You have to. That's what I heard. I heard that Durant said told Musa Diabate, he's like, Bad Bunny sucks. He's like, oh yeah. Then they just, that's what caused the melee. It was about Bad Bunny. They were fighting about Bad Bunny. And that's why Duren mushed him in the face. I gotta be honest. The face mush is almost more emasculating than a punch. I think I would rather get punched than like face mush. Face mush is like power ranking. Mush open hand slap backhand slap punch. What's the power ranking of most disrespectful? Open hand slap. But not backhand? Backhand slap I feel like more thought has been put into it. It's just like logistically hard to do. You have to wind up. I don't know. And I've also never seen that. I've never in my life. Outside of a movie, I don't think anyone's ever backhand slapped anybody in the history of mankind. It's like a cartoon. Yeah. Don't you need like a pair of gloves or something? It's not. Like Catherine Hepburn did it. Yeah. Cat Williams did it. Bitch. Yeah, I would rather get, I think, punched than face mush. I'm serious. So I've got to rank that. I would say open hand slap, face mush, punch, backhand slap. Because I'm just not even considering backhand slap because it's so preposterous. But I don't know. I think I would rather like a punch. Like, all right, this guy punched me. The face mush is so, I don't know, man. That just, it's a, it puts you in a tough spot because you can't really do anything while you're getting face mush because your head's going backwards. you're reaching like you know i mean it's just you're just kind of up to it a really bad spot right like if a guy like swung on you i don't i don't know yeah i just some people really don't like their faces being touched and i feel like musa diabate might be one of those people oh there's no question whatever you said that you figured out what set that guy off because he was man on fire he was mad mad well i also think it didn't they're like whoa we never seen moose like he's so fun loving he's so smiley he's got this antler so he's doing and the kids love him he's so goofy and smiley i just i was just shocked by that but i'm really glad we got to the bottom of it all it was about the bad bunny halftime that's what it was yes that's exactly what it was it's exactly what it was also uh we got it was very unfortunate the caulk brenner wasn't out on the because we could have seen him use his inflatable car salesman arms. Those are devastating in his role. When Moose went out and Bridges went out, I was like, well, we're going to get a lot of Cockbredder. This is going to be the Cockbredder game now. Tell me you saw when he threw it three times off the backboard and just kept putting it at the end of the third quarter, and he just kept missing it but catching it and putting it back. I loved it. It was great. I loved it. Unbelievable. Loved everything about it. All right. That does it for another episode of The Mismatch. Thank you to Stefan. Thanks to Jesse. Thanks to Jeff. Thanks to everybody that made it happen. Jacoby, I'll talk to you later this week.