Chris Ryan on Team USA, ‘Presumed Innocent,’ ‘The Bear,’ Philly, and Mail-It-in Summer Questions - FOGOLF - FOLLOW GOLF (2024)

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on today’s episode we’re going to take a look at USA’s win over Team Canada and Hoops the good and the bad we’ve also got Chris Ryan on that embiid what’s going on in TV and then mail it in summer topics with Cudi which player would everyone be the happiest about if he retired and who’s got the toughest job in the NBA playerwise and Kyle is back a little life advice with our guy back in the Crown Jewel of the Americas it’s good to watch some hoops last night and I I almost missed it a little bit uh USB team came in last night a672 it was a bad start I mean really bad so I don’t know how many of you watch the game uh it’s not a shock as they try to sort things out but always try to remind ourselves like it’s not like team Canada has been together for years and years and years working on their three-man weave Leo DiCaprio style so it’s 11-1 to start the game uh Canada’s up we got just bad turnovers I I don’t know if it’s the ball or what it was or how hard it was for a lot of the American players hanging on to the basketball LeBron had a great cut and then I don’t know if he bobbled it or if somebody got a hand in there he threw it out of bounds uh on a play of Steph that he even mentioned after the game Booker had a turnover ant come comes in and I’m like okay I wonder if ant is going to change the momentum of this game and he ended up having a good overall game but first possession he gets it it gets into his feet loses the basketball you’re like this is a mess and it really dawned on me like how many times have you ever seen this many talented players play this poorly collectively for 10 straight minutes and it just felt like everybody was playing poorly to start this game um and look guys ended up playing a little bit better later on Tatum was aggressive there’s some good stuff there a ended up playing well Drew had some awesome defensive moments as well I really like the Anthony Davis and Bam pairing which brings us to another question because embiid had a really rough night fouled out in 12 minutes he was playing practice speed defense and he got a nice elbow in a Dwight Powell to kind of round things out which is the Olympic or I’d say international version of a of a hostile act because then pal hit some free throws pal even went up to him was like what that and I and when big guys have guys cutting towards the basket especially if they’re little guys like the old school thing as always if you’re a big guy just make them feel you and know just run around in that area of the court so a lot of that stuff can happen and it can look really bad um so I don’t know if it was intentional by embiid or if he just got up high and missed him but it ended up kind of looking a little nasty there which is a little bit of a carryover from what we saw during that Nick Series where it’s like is embi just really dirty now all of a sudden so I think the issue after the awful start 0 a six from the floor eight turnovers in the first quarter I’m telling you like the turnovers weren’t just oh hey he lost the ball or whatever just it looked like a very disjointed group for such a long time but they get it to 7054 they end up winning the game as we know uh and I went through some of the positives there a little bit earlier I do wonder about the defense because I think the best overall thing that I saw in trying to project what they’re going to look like moving forward was Davis and Bam playing together and I’ve always thought this about bam I just wondered it’s a bit like Al Horford who Horford he would tell you um because I’ve asked him about this and as the game evolved it made more sense for him to be a center but all those years in Atlanta I think the best version of Horford would have been as a power forward I think he came into the league as a power forward well he did and I know Philly toyed with the plan but the spacing within be like it just wasn’t a really good fit it didn’t work out for Horford there and then Horford’s had this um this Resurgence as as an impactful player who I’m still amazed at how well he’s played the last couple years going deep into the year uh with these Celtics runs but bam is so good and I wonder and it doesn’t matter because the roster is not designed this way unless you want to include uh the draft pick who’s a big but would bam be better even better playing alongside like a more traditional Center I mean because Davis was a power forward coming in but the best version of the Lakers going back to when they won the title was that okay Davis you may want to play power forward I think the Lakers even try to massage a little bit being like Oh yeah we’re gonna have Dwight Howard we’re gonna have these other centers like don’t worry about it you’re going to be the power fourward then you start watching the closing groups and the bigger possessions it’s like it just doesn’t make any sense to have you not play center in today’s game especially in a time even though Davis like the best version of him was somebody who could really stretch the floor and we know that we’ve looked at some of the shooting stuff with him and going like is that part of his game gone but he just had an incredible Year and I love that pairing it made me think about bam in theory with a bigger guy because bam can initiate a lot of your offense um but he’s not really somebody who stretches the floor so I don’t know if you could ever play in today’s game even though I was loving what I saw last night could you play bam with a traditional Center is there enough spacing from bam probably not the you would need it to be even though he’s I think really good in the face up he’s good at passing again he initiates a lot of that offense from the elbow and all that kind of stuff but you probably need some kind of Center or somebody else if you want to play a bigger player with him to have some other element of spacing because then it starts to Pivot back to this Cleveland thing we’ve been talking about forever as much as we all like Jared Allen I think that we saw a more unlocked version of Evan Mobley in that series against the Celtics because Allen wasn’t available to play with a rib injury so so just kind of one of those little things I’m thinking about but at least for this part of it and it it’s one game I’m not getting too carried away with it I did think the first quarter was so bad it was worth commenting on because I didn’t think like oh hey now they’re just going to be terrible it was just a very terrible disjointed first quarter and they’ll I think there will be a defensive question there for Kerr where it’s like is AD and this bam combo actually give him a better closing Group which then leads to like who actually is going to be the power forward so that’s really all I was able to take out of that kind of looking forward to the whole thing um the concerns about the team as it doesn’t really mean anything right just the commentary around the beginning and the bad start uh it leads to two very predictable things that they don’t have a point guard if they have Steph and they have drew holiday and they have halberton and they have Booker who’s played a ton of point in his career and they have LeBron they should be good if they were to not win the goal don’t want to hear about it not being a point guard like oh they don’t have a point guard they have plenty of guys that actually are the primary ball handler and initiate all the offense for their teams in the NBA and these are some of the best players in the world I think they’ll figure it out or if it doesn’t work that won’t be the thing that I would blame and then on the other side too whenever it’s International play much like soccer uh the coach gets the blame so there was a little Steve Kerr stuff going on with that last night too he’s not the one throwing the ball out of bounds he’s not the one dribbling it off his feet he’s not the guy that can’t catch she’s not the guy out there missing open shots uh but ultimately they turned things around and the rebounding Edge although the numbers wouldn’t tell you that it was that significant it felt like a real challenge for this front line for Canada where if you look at it this way as you start thinking about the Olympics and the title chances here for Team USA uh Canada is playing Dwight pal and Kelly oen at Center Pal’s not even the rotation for his NBA team and he’s the starting center for Team Canada so this push of talent from Canada is a real thing there’s some great players coming out of there but when you look at the talent Gap how many players from Team Canada would even make the Team USA roster clearly SJ would it’s one of the best players in the league you could potentially start depending on kind of how you wanted to do things the next player is Jamal Murray is Jamal Murray better than say Derek white who’s now replacing Kawhi Leonard I think he’s a better player but then you can get into fit and how comfortable Derek white is playing off the ball and if you needed him play on the ball he could do that and if his his defensive versatility is an advantage for him so he’s probably a better role fit even if you just redrafted the entire league Jamaal Murray goes higher than Derek white does all right that’s that’s the right way to look at it so if you wanted to say that Murray’s better than Derek white and that he would make Team USA but that’s what I’m talking about here when we look at the talent Gap the second best player for Team Canada it’s not a lock that on Team USA so we all know the talent disparity throughout the world and what this should still be and despite the international guys winning MVPs and all this stuff and I think the longer term concern of how the European game raises their basketball children uh in comparison to how we do it here in the States you know I’m not plugged into the high school thing I’m not the AE thing I hear everybody [ __ ] about it all the time I certainly see these physically gifted players that are incredible that can score at at the high school level and these showcase stuff and then you can see him get to college and go hey how come all this stuff isn’t working and they haven’t really ever developed a counter but in the talent world right in the in the world of finding these special human beings walking around it’s like okay well if he’s 68 and has that kind of body control and doesn’t have the counter yet that’s okay I’ll I’ll work with that and that’s why we have the draft and recruiting and that’s that’s why we prioritize some of these guys that that we look at then there’s Perry Jones you’re just like what happened so when I think about like the concern when they have this bad start uh again it was bad the talent part of like the momentum of of where American basketball is in comparison to the depth it’s it’s still just not even close like look at the rest of the rosters and the funny thing is is if you look at Team USA they’re minus 390 to win the gold right now on fandu I believe the number two team like with the next best odds is Team Canada plus 900 that’s by the betting world that that team you saw last night has the second best odds to win the gold and if you run through the RO like I said we go through their entire roster like wait that team has the second best chance I mean I was looking up South Sudan stuff apparently the newest country I don’t know I’ve got into a deep dive on that started looking up age of countries a lot of debate there a lot of timelines I don’t feel comfortable sharing that information with you because I’d have to do more research on the whole thing when I saw L alang connected to I like he’s playing no he is not playing his cousin is playing uh and Wan Gabriel’s on the team but Lu Al dang was put in charge of putting this team together putting the roster together and they’re in the group with Team USA Canada didn’t shoot the ball well it was a mess form the entire time and I think it’s worth remembering also when we see Team USA struggle it was if they’ve only had two practices Steve Kerr said it LeBron had said it um kind of throwing this group together you can see them trying to figure out the hierarchy of how this is all going to work um last night was clearly just an exhibition but it was also an exhibition for Team Canada too so on the broadcast when Gus Johnson saying hey Team Canada really thought they had a chance to win this this game tonight okay but the talent Gap is massive and you’re in the same boat as everybody else so we can from a very like it’s not even an American Pride type of thing it’s just what you’re concerned about like oh Team USA hasn’t really had that many practice they just kind of threw this team together there are concerns that I have a bit of you have this older guard of these incredible players with these massive resumees whether it’s Curry LeBron Durant and and then you have some of these younger guys that are like we’re going to have this next wave feel like they’re going to replace these older guys really quickly like this transition I don’t know if it’s it’s just the the bias of what’s happening right now feel like have we had it like this before but it seemed significant and this passing of the torch type of roster at both extremes like all these guys that are younger that are going to be on this on this team moving forward and then what they’re going to do in the NBA and how we’re going to talk about the face of the league uh well I guess from an American standpoint we’re not sure we’re even going to get there yet with the absolute domination for the MVP award from the international guys but it’s not like Team Canada is out there running a ton of practices it’s not like some of these other guys have been playing together for years and years and years I think we’ve run into that in the past and maybe you understand Serbia’s International history better than I do he probably do but when you go through all the rosters this would be a massive disappointment and it was should always be a massive disappointment because uh basketball depth in the states there is no comparison Chris Ryan Elder Statesman at the ringer us how’s it going what’s up with you man it’s great to see you I was gonna ask you to be on the watch soon to see what what Ryan’s watching so it’s thank you so much for having me I’d love to come on okay it’s a date it’s a date have you been watching stuff or has it just been too much Sports too much too much NBA it’s been too much travel and it’s been too many hotel rooms and so now that I’ve been back uh in La for a few days I jumped Deep dive because I do appreciate like this this time although I’ve I’ve dipped my toes in some of the WNBA world uh I love the international soccer I don’t plan my day around it but when it’s on I I can’t stop watching it uh and then I was excited for Team USA last night I was I was kind of like all right I got to make sure I’m ready to go it was weird to have a game you know because it’s usually such a part of the routine for so much of the Year for me to go okay you got to make sure you’re back be back by 7 o’clock then that first quarter happened which I touched on here in the open but tvwise like we can get into it now if you want Presumed Innocent all talk about it all in it is it I don’t know if it was Cudi that said this to me or somebody else that said it to me Apple puts out some incredible stuff and yet it doesn’t seem to like live in the daily Consciousness the way say the bear does or some of the FX Hulu stuff yeah I think it’s partially the kinds of shows that they make so they they aren’t making with the exception of something like presumed Dennison uh hey did you see that last night like you have to watch it the night it drops and even for a lot of people I think it’s kind of like unclear what time the shows are available like maybe you’ll get a push notification but it’s like oh wow they they got another two of these are up there now but I think that uh this is one of the first ones where I feel like you see people being like yeah I’m not going out tonight because I want to see what happens to Rusty I’m in I I think it’s terrific and I remember the movie the movie was like a really big deal um I don’t know was the research on this right that Harrison Ford was told not to do it because it was going to make him unlikable that sounds right I mean like I think that those guys were very conscientious about like hey you know you’re you’re here now if you do if you mess with this too much I mean people think of you as Han Solo but he was always really good at doing like edgier roles like he worked you know he did frantic he did witness he did presumed innocent like I think he liked to screw around with his image a little bit in a way that I wish more big actors today did yeah he was I think for him you’d have to go like okay Han Solo Star Wars you know Indiana Jones I’ve got it but I think anybody that gets into acting at some point especially if you’re his status and his level when he was just dominating that that time and depends on how old you are to really like understand that he’s the biggest star in Hollywood yeah that I imagine those guys do want to get back to kind of some of that stuff like witness was was a different kind of movie but there’s just so many people that are told like don’t bother like don’t screw up the formula and I don’t know if that happens more now or maybe you know a lot of times I don’t think the audience is blamed enough for some of the stuff that we have available to us but it’s it’s a dark role and then Jake Gyllenhaal seems like the perfect modern-day version of this because Gyllenhaal is not someone that’s played it safe Nightcrawler he’s an absolute lunatic yeah um and maybe we are more accepting of people showing more range now but back then if you were this huge huge movie star and there was a formula and it worked and your approval rating was through the roof I can imagine people being afraid of like giving the audience a version of them that they’re not going to like and derailing wherever their career is yeah but I think they were more gutsy than the guys are now I mean Gyllenhaal is a good example of somebody who’s probably leaned so far into his actorly predels his tastes that he’s you know with the exception of Roadhouse doesn’t make a ton of like Hollywood Blockbuster Affair but this would be to imagine like what it would be like for Harrison Ford to be doing presumed innocent and frantic and and witness at like this would be like if the rock or Ryan Reynolds or somebody like Chris Pratt was like Hey I’m going to do a a movie where I’m accused of killing my uh my mistress you know like the that these guys all kind of treat acting as a plank in their celebrity now but like this we we kind of came up more at a time when Tom Cruz was like I’m gonna do eyes wide shut you know that sounds like a good idea and it’s like you’re really gambling with a lot there I wonder if Cruz would do those anymore uh he says he’s going to because he you know he’s been making Mission Impossible movies and and blockbusters for so long on this run and he seems to be suggesting that he wants to get back into working with Big Time directors I mean like he sign deal I don’t know if he lives through the next mission impossible maybe we’ll see him do a really like considered character piece uh my favorite character in presum inis is Peter sarsgard yeah Tommy who would be my number one draft pick for an actor if if the category was okay you have to draft the character who says he’s fine when he’s absolutely not fine who does it better than anybody and it’s like you know every the entire room would just be like who are we taking number two after sarsgard yeah right right uh he is it seems like a role he was born to play as this stepped on and stepped over uh prosecutor um I needed to ask you cuz like him and Bill cemp and and all the sort of character actors that are in it definitely see seem a part of the world that they’re in and then Gyllenhaal is clearly it’s his Roadhouse body like they must have been shooting these things back to back in some way where either he was coming off of Roadhouse or going into roadh house do you understand rust being this jacked from swimming and running on a treadmill like what’s going on no but when he takes his shirt off when he’s swimming I imagine somebody’s like maybe Gyllenhaal said it which I would respect the hell out of like let’s not let this six-pack go to waste like can we get a couple shots can I take my shirt off sooner maybe we do an underwater thing because he is so ripped and you’re right it has to be because it was also Happ or maybe he just decided like Tom Hardy post Warrior yeah was like I am gonna become a badass I am gonna learn how to fight like I’m I’m super into this which has happened to actors before but I just imagine whether it was gyllen hall or the producers like if we’ve got a six-pack to work with let’s get it in a shot yeah I but with all we see of his workouts are these sort of like cardio like exercises and it’s like are you pulling a boat when you’re doing laps like what’s going on what’s going on with this um Bill Camp’s role as the defense attorney for gyllen Hall’s character here I don’t know what they did with his makeup um I think I think these guys are incredible because let’s face it they’re not the hottest actors uh in Hollywood but I love guys like this that are just like I can’t imagine when they told their friends like I actually want to be an actor yeah they’re like seriously dude but he is so good he is exhausted he’s emotionally worn out I mean everything that you would think he it feels like this is the highest compliment you can pay anybody but it feels like a lawyer who’s great at acting yeah yeah he uh I feel like the first time I really was like who the hell is this guy is um did you ever watch the night of when it was on HBO years ago so he was he was a cop in that um he’s just so great he feels like he’s like an old piece of furniture in one of these like offices like you’re just like oh my God like this guy seems to have like emerged fully formed from this from this world and like they’re did they have to give this guy a single note you know when he was acting uh no I I mean I I think I’d be embarrassed I I think he would just look at you and be like you don’t think have this figured out by now like the expression that he wears on his face throughout this because you know I started watching Mir Kingstown finally and our our Booker Allison is like thank I mean she’d be on me for years and with a Taylor shared thing it’s an auto like I’ll give it a chance um but rener and I’ve only watched the first season but rener is so important to that because there’s some other Yellowstone guys they just kind of popping up all over the place and you’re thinking okay fish and wildlife to now lead detective and it it should be an easy transition but I think you noticed the gaps at times with just how amazing rener is at this stressed out almost like everyday version of The Punisher where he doesn’t have the van and he hasn’t like Gone full arsenal and you know the Absurd storyline that that takes for anybody that read the comic books or watch the series on Netflix which I thought was really well done with your guy yeah do you want to give us a little let’s warm up to it let’s warm up yeah we’ll get there we’ll get there when we talk embiid yeah maybe embiid and Team USA stuff but I there’s just not a lot of gaps in this show right now presume inocent and if you’re younger and you don’t know the movie it works if you’re older and watch the movie you probably forgot everything that happened but they’re doing a great job with this and it stayed consistantly and it is it’s kind of that old design of cliffhanger too they are they are ending with cliffhanger like just huge Cliffhangers every time which maybe makes people more frustrated because we’re so catered to now where you can just watch the next episode and apple doesn’t want to do it that way which I kind of respect a little bit because I do think binging like binging is um I’m I’m stopping you here just to make the point binging a show gives you a different relationship with the characters than getting to take a week off from them it’s the whole discovery of Pam actually being terrible in the office week to week over the years you never picked up on on it it’s like you were hooking up with her and then you married her when you binged and you went whoa this is a tough hang and I like that Apple does kind of push back on that by Design because there’s an anticipation but I imagine most people are just annoyed that they can’t watch everything they want to watch exactly when they want to because that’s usually what happens now yeah you know so the guy who’s sort of in charge of this show David Kelly who has roots he goes back to LA law like he’s one of the five or six most successful television producers of all time and it’s interesting to see his kind of sense of structure and his old TV bones in the new house that is streaming and Prestige kind of like expensive movie stars in your show uh when you have like those kinds of movie stars and when you have like the pressures of streaming there are definitely going to be different things that you have to do versus say hey like we’re just we’re just making a 22 or a 12 episode show and it’s hopefully going to get renewed renewed renewed um he actually like I think is really good at building out these B and C plots um to keep the show kind of like afloat so that you’re so that you’re basically like being satisfied on it on an episode to episode basis and then still in the last 10 minutes something crazy happens you’re like I can’t wait for the next thing to start I found the most the easiest way to watch Presumed Innocent is basically to watch like two two at a time um where it’s basically you get the satisfaction of seeing what happens after one Cliffhanger but you’re not like burning through the entire thing I mean I think that the bear is something that people were probably like I’m just going to watch us over the course of a weekend um if not like two nights in in in the middle of the week and this is a little bit more of a fun like you you’ll remember like oh yeah summer summer 24 that was like presumed innocent like that that lasted for two months that was great like I think we need more of those shows the bear can be uh binge wise like it’s that feeling when you’re watching uncut gems where you go okay like I’m the anxiety level like the goal is to have the audience have this anxiety level throughout and I’m not in a season three yet of the bear I still have a few episodes to go with season two but when you watch a bunch of those in a row it’s shot so well it has this tone to it that is I think what everybody would hope to have because it just feels a little different but the hectic nature the chaotic nature of a kitchen which is well done for anybody that’s working in kitchen it really is crazy like the people turn into lunatics like some of the craziest people I’ve ever known I spent a couple years working at the black dog in the kitchen started washing dishes uh when I was in high school and then prep cook and I never even made it to the line because you know it wasn’t I wasn’t going to be a lifelong cook but like when you’re younger and you’re impressionable and and these guys were like I couldn’t tell I was like did these guys have it figured out and then when I got older I was like nope yep like they don’t have it figured out yeah I remember with the holiday parties especially it be a little different to be on Martha’s Vineyard in the winter and it would be a holiday party with the people that were still there and guys would just out of their [ __ ] minds and then I remember this one Chef just started throwing plates started throwing plates up in the air and they were smashing them and it was like towards the end of the party but it wasn’t like it was 3 in the morning it was still like the party and he just started taking all of these plates going what’s going on and he started smashing them and then the head Chef who just was really good at having like the line ready at all times and I’m not talking about the line in terms of the kitchen he just always your nicknames he just destroyed you immediately he was like he was made to give everybody derogatory nicknames like that was if there was a way to make millions on it he would that used to be a real talent in this country you know I’ve never come across anyone in my life that’s better at giving derogatory nicknames than this guy he just would nail it immediately and that guy that was throwing the plates was called Norman Bates for the next two years that he worked there I forget his real name I was like this guy’s really smart but he hung on for two years that’s great yeah he hung on for two more years but that’s probably because he would be willing to live on Martha’s Vineyard year round as an adult right so there’s a bit of like what is that line I don’t know I don’t know if it’s about Vegas or whatever but like I think there’s probably a bunch of places in the states that would say this like if you moved here something went wrong yeah if you were living on Martha Vineyard year round 30 years ago on purpose and you weren’t from there and you weren’t independently wealthy and you just like the quiet you actually were just a part of the working force and trying to survive and he was really smart he was a friend and then he had this disastrous holiday party where he started just smashing [ __ ] and giving some sort of speech like he thought he was doing some sort of improv theater thing except for destroying the restaurant’s property he was Norman Bates the rest he’s a psycho from that on yeah yeah uh you know I think that the resturant business now has like a much different kind of like reputation where the bear has done a lot towards this I think Bourdain kind of like charted The Arc of this where when he wrote Kitchen Confidential it was about the guys you’re were talking about where it’s like this is where people work when they really can’t work anywhere else like they’re not fit for wearing a button-up shirt and sitting down at a cubicle every day like this is like you can get a job in a restaurant if you have charges against you you can get a job at the restaurant if you’ve got a drug problem you can get a job at the restaurant if you’re living out of your car or whatever and it’s like an underground economy where a lot of this stuff is through cash and then over the years now it’s become like Renee rppi looking at a radish and being like yes like I can I can make this so many different ways and it’s much more um I think touchy feely and in and for better for better and for worse but yeah the bad the bad old days of guys like Norman Bates throwing plates around because he he’s just willing to live in the vineyard in December is pretty funny I remember too the chefs would all make make fun of the owners they make fun of the owner’s son so I came up through their side of it and I thought yeah these guys are right like the owner’s terrible and the sons are idiots and these guys are dicks and then years removed from that I ended up becoming friends with the Suns and they were all like the greatest guys the owner was a terrific human being yeah like they were all really good people despite having this wealth that they were really grounded and were kind of about the right thing and it was funny because I remember being like it it’s funny when I worked there everybody hated you because they were jealous and that’s just what they did they were going to talk down the people that owned it and yet all the hours they put in and he was like yeah he’s like they’re actually it was really it’s his own story so I’m not going to go too into the whole thing all right speaking of preparation in the kitchen the Sixers have been cooking this off seon hey uh you made a great Point did I yeah you made a great point we’ll get to that later no it was about the construction where you get everything you want I mean for free agency to go this well for an NBA franchise planning out cap space is actually really rare so I think my deserves all the credit in the world for actually pulling this off because there is a long list of teams and fan bases that go into a summer like this with all this wish list dream scenario and it doesn’t happen and it’s mission accomplished but then once the roster gets put together you start to see like wait who’s the power forward going to be can this team pass which you brought up are you now post the the mini Elation of of a plan executed to now nitpicking what the roster actually is yeah definitely uh definitely yeah it was it’s mostly like a depth concerns you know it’s just like I think that they’ve got five certified players and then a bunch of guys who it’s like maybe that maybe maybe the Jared’s going to be good maybe the UCLA kid is going to be good and we’ll have enough like Firepower Off the Bench to like field an NBA team but uh I think that it’s a it’s a complicated thing with the Sixers because of the ceiling that they’ve imposed on themselves in the second round of the playoffs so that you’re basically like the entire question facing this team is like can you get out of the second round and almost anything that happens over the course of the season is irrelevant it doesn’t M like embiid’s won the MVP this team has been up at the top of the Eastern Conference and in the middle of the Eastern Conference and still going to the playoffs and every every playoffs is exactly the same so it’s really like is this Paul George thing The Twist of the combination lock that unlocks it I’m just so happy that like this what worked out I there there’s there there was definitely a time with darl M where it was like Hey man so is the Harden thing that’s your party trick like that’s it like is there another is there another idea somewhere in the in the clouds and the Paul George like master plan I was very skeptical that this was going to get pulled off I definitely just was like it seems like he’s just going to go to the Warriors if they can get this trade together so for him to just nail it and for it to like just be like no it was always Philly is pretty amazing yeah it is I mean it’s two reasons right it’s the Golden State one that you brought up and then bill and I talked at this at length is that we just always assume Paul George gets the fourth year even if you have a bunch of arguments of why you don’t want to do it and if you wanted to get critical of Philly which would be unfair and I think just wrong of like well if the Clippers didn’t want to be in the fourth year why did you get well it doesn’t matter not really in that position it’s can we get the Paul George first year and then figure out the rest of it yeah uh do you think there I know your answer so I’m not going to ask it that way not equal to Boston but like what do you think it is how do you see the hierarchy in the East I think that they’re they’re on their night is if everything is going their way in terms of health I think they’re just as good as the Knicks like I think the Knicks thing got is is like a great story but I don’t know if they have like an interior answer for in beanis and maybe even porzingis um so I think that they’re the second best team in in the conference um but it’s it’s not like super clear and maybe at this point actually like is do you feel like Milwaukee’s almost being like underrated at this point because of their they didn’t do anything I do but I understand it they’re older Dame has hurt a lot I still just have so much work out this summer he didn’t do it last summer yeah I said it to Bill after I heard that ation with Doc where Dame was like Hey I knew I was going to get traded so I didn’t really work out like so you did nothing yeah if I were a Heat fan I would have gone maybe um maybe this wasn’t that big of a deal but I think the heat would still if you could just go back in time and say okay would you still say yes to this but again it wasn’t a yes or no on the heat side of it despite the way that it was covered for such a long time what’s the approval rating right now of maybe I don’t even know if we do Philly athletes where is embiid right now his approval rating in comparison to other athletes in the city so as far as Sixers goes as far as far as I can tell and certainly in my personal Power Rankings it Maxi has has left left the Earth’s atmosphere like Maxi is just like the he’s just everybody’s [ __ ] favorite party guest like the the video of him signing his contract has been like the is probably the most watched thing in my house this week is just like every one of my Philly friends is like oh my God did you see this with with Dr J giving him the the black Jersey and then bead’s there and Daryl’s getting choked up and calip Perry’s calling in it’s like this is this one feels very homegrown and and and natural uh I think emb’s got a lot to prove I I think there’s there’s a tone there Little Tone well no I mean it’s also like you know we’re coming up on Red October people are freaking out about the Phillies like you know and Eagles are the Eagles are emerging so it’s just like I I think that you’re asking me at a weird time because of last night with embiid okay give me your last night takes then God damn it couldn’t he got on kawai’s flight just be like me too man can I get on that one so it’s not what you saw last night it’s the fact that he’s out there last night uh well first of all it’s like the idea of him aggravating a knee in Team USA Basketball is just like my greatest nightmare the second thing is just bill always talks about how like guys who into Team USA are part of like this Brotherhood that changes them and like revolutionizes like their competitive spirit and everything and I’m like does that that does like that wouldn’t happen yet though right like that that still might happen because last night it just looked like a guy who never watched international basketball before yeah it was ugly and I’m touching on it but not like okay now I look at embiid entirely different but I it’s been a growing thing and I think I was on part of my take when it came up because they were making fun of Tatum like trying to see if they could get to 10 players before they could rank Tatum and obviously they were just messing with me knowing that that that makes me really upset because I get so emotionally worked up about Tatum’s ranking yeah but it was something that Zack looh had said where he was like here are the four players that are unimpeachable and he put embiid in the group and I was like you know I think I’ve been almost like I think I’ve been really nice about embiid for a long long time and it it feels like we’re we’re finally at that point of if they don’t get out of this but it’s a little like the Chris Paul thing where I get defensive about Chris Paul it’s like look at all these playoff losses it’s like well because look how many times he wasn’t like they blew that series he wasn’t even playing it’s like okay but that’s part of it all right fine you got me and when I look at some of the embiid stuff about how patient he’s been like everybody generally in Philly is in a great mood because this was such a awesome offseason but that’s been then turned into embiid stayed the course he did it the right you know it’s like now you’re just making up [ __ ] to feel even better about the entire offseason because he has been the primary reason other than look I’ll give you Ben Simmons just emotionally mentally falling apart in that Atlanta series it still makes no sense whatsoever that they lost that Hawks team at all but embiid has been the constant which is also another reason why approval ratings for Maxi are through the roof because Maxi can draft off the attention that embiid gets the real face of the franchise so it’s not because he elbowed Dwight Powell it’s not because he was up and down in the Knicks series I think there were closing moments against the Nick Series where I went I know who he is I know how talented he is I even like his personality but I’m starting to have closer questions with him and don’t throw me fourth quarter stats because that’s just not I’m looking at those moments I’m looking at those moments and I do think unfortunately for him because he’s this old school player with these futuristic abilities for somebody his size and the mobility and everything he still needs a bit of assistance getting into what he needs as opposed to the wings that are already going to have the basketball so some of that’s just the design of the way the game is played and how his game fits in and all that but I think it’s going to get ugly for him if it’s another second round exit I think that ugly year that I’ve wondered about is if it’s finally gonna get to like Harden Westbrook levels for him I wonder if that will happen yeah and I I I think it’ll probably I think the MVP works against him in that way uh I think specifically that MVP race and I think for a certain sector of of basketball fandom the perception that he was gunning for the MVP award and and maybe you know trying to inflate stats at certain points I mean he certainly like I know Bill never will forget the embiid playing against Wy and scoring 70 against the Spurs and and then taking the night off against jic like he doesn’t Doom himself any favors when it comes to regular season stuff like that I do think that for as much as he suffered for his uh health issues over the course of the years and and conditioning issues as well it shouldn’t be underrated how he has had to get used to eight new guys every year and I’ve thinking about this a lot because listening to you and Bill talk about it on Sunday and Bill was obviously like you know the the Celtics like aren’t going to be able to keep this team together and like this is this is bad for the league if we can’t do dynasties and I think that it’s been weird as a Sixers fan over these years because just as soon as you’re like you know what I kind of like these guys you know and you start to get into the the seventh guy off the bench or whatever it just feels like the season ends and like they’ve completely turned over because Daryl and even GMS before him were very Savvy about keeping guys on these sort of One twoyear team-friendly deals that they could package to try and go for a star or or clear cap space but that kind of there’s an attrition in terms of your connection with the team when that happens and I think for embiid he’s often been very candid about like yeah I really liked playing with JJ cuz after a few years JJ and I figured out exactly how like he’s going to go here and I’m going to go here and then I’m going to look him off but dribble hand off and all that stuff that’s kind of boring it’s like he has to get used to new guys every season he’s already talking about Maxi is his favorite teammate ever he’s played with maxi for like three seasons it’s like and so he hasn’t he doesn’t have like this sort of institutional hey it’s you and me and these three other guys we’re going to do it together because he’s always got the entire deck is getting shuffled every every 18 months or so it’s a really good point because if you go through all the title winners know the Celtics this group has been together with adjustments um so are we giving them too much credit because Tatum and brown have both been there without realizing that porzingis was new that Drew is new and that white is not exactly homegrown Horford’s had two different runs with him so how consistent is that really or is it just so important that the two guys the top two guys are consistently together Denver probably together I mean we could get into every single transaction here which is going to be a waste of time like well they added this guy and he was kind of new but Jamal joic and mpj has been like the the the trio and Gordon yeah yeah Golden State don’t have to get into that Milwaukee it felt like the one and two pretty consistently together there the Lakers thing was relatively new if you think about it it it’s just the second year with Anthony Davis um I think it’s a good point and I think you would want to you know what’s great is we’ve grown into this together and now we’re kind of ready but that’s just not what the standard is going to be for Philadelphia uh and I’m not going to say like they have the most pressure on them to win a title when they haven’t gotten out of the second round I don’t think that that’s fair I thought it was very clear Boston had the most pressure on them to win a title considering Den we already gotten one Oklahoma City’s going to be young Minnesota’s probably going to be a little bit better may not play out that way in the regular season I’d imagine the scars from the playoffs are going to make all those guys better I think there’s another level for ant has a chance to maybe be better but I worry about the perer defense with those three different guys so it sounds tough to go oh Philly has to win but if you’re not picking them as the best team in the East you can’t then say they have to win or it’s some massive disappointment they could lose to Boston in an awesome Series in the second round you’ll feel better about the team but it’s technically not going to be any different if they make it to the Eastern Conference Finals and lose in six or seven and it’s really good and embiid has maybe some better moments than these closing M moments where like some people must think I’m insane with this and I know that I’m not do you agree with me on some of those passive moments from embiid late or it’s almost uh it’s almost more descript I would be like my description of it is that the things that work for him earlier in the game like that feeling like he’s this enormous guy who can play like a pinball in a pinball machine where he’s like bouncing off of guys who are getting into him and kind of drawing contact and then on one leg finishing or kind of going up and under and finishing and all this stuff that’s like it’s very loose limed somehow at the end of games that feels like a liability and it feels like the ball protection the ball security is not there the decision making is slower and it’s like a heavyweight fighter who’s taken too many shots over the course of the game and then in the last round it’s like I would love to find the like guy who’s just like the fourth quarter is where I come alive and that is regardless of the statistics is not what embiid is you’re never like here comes be in the fourth quarter are you well he’s still very capable of of getting all the numbers that you need because he’s he’s just so good at drawing fouls like he you know he’s taken four to six free throws in that closing stretch like he’s he’s just going to but um I know some people who would it usually just comes down to Sixers stand being upset about the national guys saying something about their favorite dude but I just see hesitation in a way um with certain players that I always always kind of look for I I’ll look for it and like okay who’s really comfortable out there right now and who isn’t and at the furthest end of the spectrum you have Ben Simmons I gets Atlanta like he is not comfortable he is not comfortable right now yeah in this spot to the great players who sometimes we probably give a little too much credit for looking comfortable because they take awful shots and they don’t go in we’re like well at least he was comfortable though yeah right so it’s it’s not something I can usually I would have to just go through and like point out clips and go okay this is a possession where I don’t think he was really excited to have the ball here when you’re an MVP you can’t have those you just can’t uh which leads me to this and we’re going to bring Cudi in here because we now going to title this part of it the mail it in topic segment of the summer does embiid have the toughest job in the NBA and somebody on Twitter started this so it’s not me I thought it was an awesome question which individual right now going into this year currently has the toughest job in the ba I wish I could remember who did it I forgot but credit to you whoever it is mb’s a good shout uh I mean Steph Curry’s job is difficult because his team’s not very [Laughter] good but I don’t know that the expectation is there no he already has all the built-in whatever and it doesn’t really matter but I don’t know if he’s never in the finals again nobody’s nobody’s gonna get mad about it they might miss the playoffs though that be serious like asking him asking him to drag that team to the playoffs is actually a pretty big accomplishment so if you’re just saying the X ation aside like his I just think his team’s not very good I think embiid’s job is hard because it doesn’t the evaluation for it isn’t going to start for such a long time until the until we get to the postseason like it really doesn’t matter if if if he plays 55 games or 60 games this next season and he’s just because he’s managing his workload and he’s trying to be in like the best possible shape for the playoffs no one’s really going to care about that he’s not going to get the same kind of heat that I think like say kawhai and Paul George get on the Clippers going to be like that whatever it takes man don’t go out there and play on a sprain knee you know that’s my opinion but when it gets to the playoffs it’s just going to be like if they if those guys even go out in a seven game series against the Celtics I think people are going to be slamming their head against the wall um so that is a tough job because in some ways it’s like the entire season leads up to a moment that you might not even be physically available for I’m trying it’s not going to matter right it’s not going to matter nationally I mean the the start that embiid got off to last year was off the charts okay and then you’re thinking as an MVP voter at least for me like okay after he won it and what you think is a clear separation between who the better player is between joic and embiid I’m surprised anybody would even debate that anymore but there’s still some people hanging on like the war’s over no it isn’t uh I thought that was going to be a really tough vote vote because of the statistical profile and the Sixers with a health embiid are winning 50 plus so they’re going to be a good basketball team it was going to be tough it was going to be a really tough vote because I felt like after the finals when yic won it and all the stuff that went into that that year I was like just remember kind of like my basic thing unless somebody so it’s off the chart statistically which again embiid was kind of like yeah he kind swingshot out it was unbelievable you go back and look at the start and you go how are you voting against this guy even though you just don’t think you’re he’s as good is I would still say you know a few guys yeah and also like the way that that team was constructed in the beginning of last season with like the kind of like especially with Batum and a couple of guys who they had some decent passers on the team so I think he was getting service in a way that he hadn’t been necessarily Maxi got off to this rip Waring start and it just felt like very balanced where it’s like and be Maxi are the clear one and two here and everybody else is like on any given night can get 15 or 16 like UB had a really great start to the season um until that weird like traffic thing but like um it was like it was like that was like a very well balanced team and he was really thriving because of it until he got hurt I feel like the thing about MB as a non- Philly guy and who’s not invested in it is I like I want to like embiid like I think he gives a [ __ ] and I like that I like that you know I think there are a lot of players that are above a lot of things in the NBA they’re just like too cool for school and I I kind of don’t think that’s the case but like what was the what was the um was it the the Oklahoman when the guy wrote the the piece about Kevin Durant being Mr unrel iable yeah I feel like that’s like and I don’t like it CU I I like I I want to I want to like him like I think I I like that he cares strange to be saying that statistically he’s like unimpeachable like it’s not like you go oh Mr unreliable you didn’t show up tonight it’s like it’s not it’s not in the numbers it’s something about like it’s in specific spots of typically the playoffs there where it’s like oh right he doesn’t just he just doesn’t feel like he’s the galvanizing Force for victory it’s feel it feels more like he’s like man you got your numbers you got you did it you at 24 and and 12 well I know that’s why people lose their mind against me because you just can hit me over the head with so many different stats and I I just always wonder like do you do people want to be this simple like hey is this guy better than that guy well he has two rings he has one yes so all right we can all pack it up and go home then like we don’t have to do any of this stuff then we’re just G to count stuff and it doesn’t matter what you watch or what you see and uh all right so embiid I think is at least in the conversation for it somebody this specifically for players isn’t for like the Hornets parking attendant or something like that right like that was good I did wonder if lamelo ball was in this conversation but then I was thinking about like the coaching staff so yeah let’s keep it to players okay because you’re right you’re right it could get a little dicey uh is Kade Cunningham on the list is he a first team all most difficult jobs in the NBA so I was curious you mentioned this that I was wondering like why why Cade is it just because like he’s got now like an extremely well-paid uh like pain cave where he’s just like it on Coach whatever it is for of of like his third of his third season and now is like I’m just stuck here this is what where I’m going to be like why him more than Scotty Barnes or something like that I guess okay uh that’s a good question I feel like to answer that question though I feel like I feel like because I think Kade is his I just think his ceiling is higher than Scotty Barnes like I think I expect more from Kade like I think Kate could be a legi uh maybe it was because he went one and maybe I just there’s too much bias in that I personally if you were telling me like I could have one guy I would take Cade um and I know that there’s a lot of evidence that suggest that’s not the right case uh but I I’m like a cade believer and I think Monty Williams like I just think not being around Monty Williams is like was that five wins I don’t know maybe more who knows his roster is a disaster they have no Direction so I’m I’m just making excuse after excuse for Kade but I also kind of think like he’s got lost in the like former number one I feel like people don’t talk about him anymore people don’t talk about Kate so I almost don’t even think he’s on the radar of this list yeah he’s on the ra well I I get your what you’re saying but it shouldn’t be about radar not on the radar it should be going into the year the responsibilities you have and being a number one pick means responsibilities the contract means responsibilities I like Cudi love his talent I love like whatever the best version of his game is maybe he’s a second Team all NBA toughest job because Monty isn’t there because Monty made it a lot tougher last year he would have won this award if they added this to it hey toughest job in the NBA this year which actually I’d find more interesting to vote on than clutch performer this this got demonstrably better because Monty isn’t there so maybe maybe that’s how we should look at it uh what about I don’t want to change this because then these things can turn into just listing guys what about shenon yeah that’s a really good one because it’s like the sort of cult fascination with the Rockets started with his majesty like with him him being like yic Jor but then they got real good when he went out yeah and Jaylen green became the J green you hope to see Jabari at the five Jabari at the five he shouldn’t Play Still Holding On yeah yeah they got too many guys too many guys Houston from Team stinks to too many guys that was like me on the magic last year like we got too many guys too many good players also you know what the other hard part is that with seon is and I’m sure if I like thought about it thought about it I’d be able to fix this but like it’s kind of hard to see where to send him right like because if the deal is like you buy the system not just the player how many teams are like yeah sure like we’re we’re we’re a blank canvas man come in we’ll run everything through you it’ll just be guys cutting off of you uh don’t worry about it hold the ball at the high post like I don’t there I mean like yeah he could go to like the basem*nt and he could go play for the Hornets or whatever but like how many other teams like competitively would be like sure let’s like we want to sign up for the whole program yeah it’d have to be like a Chicago where they just have nothing else going for him it’s like yeah we’ll give you we’ll give you this many touches you know sure he’s so talented though like I don’t think he’s this Mirage of a guy me neither we need to to be fair to him I think we would need to kind of see how it all plays out but this is the part of the roster construction of hey we’ve got this big guy that can do all these things it’s like that’s awesome like he’s also in the way and it minimizes especially that team with all this athleticism on the perimeter um not so much with Brooks and Van vle but you get and then Reed Shepard although Reed Shepard is fill in the blank better too many guys too many guys too many guys too many guys team is awesome that’d be a good tier just too many guys don’t know if they’re good don’t know if they’re bad they went 41 and 41 last year but I think that stretch is going to make it weird for uh for shenon anyone else here not Bradley Beal I think he’s got a good gig I think he does but he’s gonna get hammered if they’re if whatever happens it’s like Beal Beal has no trade clause right yeah so I mean look he could still come to you and say all right but that that’s going to be weird to salvage I mean Durant has to be Durant again yeah and he was enough to be all NBA so that part of it is fine but I mean they got stomped by Minnesota and that was just a it’s not so much the talent Gap but God I mean that was that was horrifying to watch I think chat would be on this list if hartenstein hadn’t been signed just because of asking him to survive a full NBA regular season and then the specific big matchups where I think all of us really likeed Chad and when especially when you were watching this year’s draft and prepping those guys in The Bigs you’re like oh my God like this is why chett was so enticing because he can still potentially do all these great things at his size with his handle and his pull-up and getting into a shot and like none of these guys are even close to this this is this is like the gap between him and and re aay based on how they impacted games because cck when he was a Gonzaga he wasn’t asked to do everything because it was a really good basketball team on everything else but you just saw these moments of what he was capable of doing and that’s probably still where he’s floating uh just a year into his career playing in the league but it was so hard for what I think they were asking of him the entire time by not having another guy other than the backup Jaylen Williams who really played more like a stretch big what about some of the coaches because I was gonna say maybe bud has one of the toughest jobs definitely definitely lowkey I was thinking about Kenny ainson because it’s an interesting uh match between his sort of skill set of at least what his reputation is which is this developer of young talent and a roster that’s like pretty good largely unchanged and has like ceilinged out where they’ve ceilinged out so it’s like if they wind up for instance just going out in the second round again uh it it’s like was it bigger staff or is it is it the players or whatever but like ainson it’s like the gains ainson can make on that roster are like kind of invisible I don’t really know what they could he could do with that I I think there’s some there’s some probably tactical stuff that I don’t know that he can mess around with and he can try to get Mo to sort of another level but that’s such like a strange uh situation to be going into as Kenny ainson plus added to which just I can’t believe that team still together after the here’s what really happened notebook dump pieces that came out after the season so it’s like Garland and Mitchell the first day like hey man how’s it going yeah haven’t seen you in a minute and and like where does that like where does that land on Kenny I think Garland was going to be somebody that was even going to bring up when we were doing the player part of it uh but I can’t help but there’s like two things from two years ago with Cleveland the defense was off the charts it’s the same team it was exposed in that Nick series because of the lack of offensive players you had to worry about which I brought up already too many times but bringing them all back like I still don’t give up hope on that team having a decent record and a decent seed and if they’re healthier than the other ones and when you think about some of the runs that they went on they have their own kind of shenon deal where they went what 17 in one yeah over a stretch and Mitchell’s just Unstoppable but then you start asking the Garland questions with all this stuff and I still like all four of those players a lot Mitchell is a perfect example of okay you want perfect fine you can wait around for perfect forever but what he is capable of doing from a scoring standpoint in playoff games that we’ve seen multiple times and as much as I hated that Nick series for them two years ago like the stuff he did against Orlando the stuff that he had going on against Phoenix years ago all right I get it he can he can be a little hyper he’s not a great defensive player but get us a bucket he’s on a very short list of hey get me a playoff bucket he’s not lower than 10 in the league not I don’t even think it’s you know I’m not going to say it’s not even close because there’s other players that are certainly better than Mitchell but there’s a ton of value especially at his age with all of that so I me if you’re Cleveland I mean who knows maybe we just Kick the Can on all the rumors for him another year with the construction of this contract and the way it’s really set up for him to sign in 2027 and the W’s projection I think it was like a $380 million deal based on what the cap is going to be at that point but I still stubbornly like this team even if I probably convinced myself that I don’t know Moy and Allen as much as I like what the defensive numbers tell me yeah I just I don’t know if in today’s game that that’s really what you want to do unless Moy all of a sudden became the stretch guy and don’t hit me with three-point percentage increases because it’s the volume with that percentage not hey he makes one a game and now the numbers look really good that he’s improved his outside shooting because it’s still pretty rare that he’s even going into that yeah they just feel like a trade away to me I garin’s the guy I’ve had in the trade machine to Orlando for the last like two years and I’m just waiting for but if you’re Cleveland you’re like I can’t I can’t trade that guy if I know that the other guy might leave and want you know ask out in a year two so like you’re kind of I don’t know I just feel like this team is in like a three-year holding pattern where it’s like we we kind of know what we have to do but we don’t know if we could do it um you know I notoriously was not as high on Moy as some others were but I think the playoff Stu was good without presented there’s a little feeling of like I was not as high as if you were right that’s what I think I am right I think I well I mean I mean listen we all I think when he’s being compared to Kevin Garnett I think I I feel like I’m right you know Tim dun the off not there but I but to your point earlier like he was he was good in the Celtics series when when Allen didn’t play and you’re like is that kind of the future of your franchise but then that’s the most exciting thing about ainson is like everything he said is like I’m there’s just like a whole other chapter for Moy like we’re like what was he going to say though like yeah it’s going to be disappointing this just kind of fin great Kenny ains was like I was famously not as high no no you have to say the way said it I was not as famously high on Mo okay last one here if this player retired it would make the most people happy I I love this question so much and it can be any anything from sports right yeah I mean if you hit me with tennis I’m going to push back a little bit but right I’ll throw Cristiano Ronaldo out there after for that Euro performance tough scene overall good need hang Steve got his Killer’s mustache today ready to go like that did you see Steve breaking news CL rejected the usmnt uh yes I did I did which you know the bar is so low that I’m just happy we got the ask out there I guess so there go he took the call yeah maybe he didn’t he just texted him back actually not pass I was gonna say if for for Sports wide if this had been like maybe a year and a half two years ago uh Bryson Des Shambo would have been up there but I feel like he’s really kind of done some some important work behind the scenes you know on YouTube to like reconstruct His Image and rebuild his fan base minute there where I was like I need this guy to get ejected off of the face of the Earth uh I think right when Liv started that was happening but um Ryan what’s yours Patrick Mahomes I wasn’t going to say it but I did think it I’m saying go the other way not the person that has the lowest approval rating but if we look at the inherent nature of sports fans and the selfishness that everybody actually has and there’s probably a conversation they wouldn’t share publicly that privately like you know who you are but when the other team has a guy in an NBA playoff series and he gets hurt you’re not like oh I wish they had everybody you know just see what would happen you don’t actually believe that I mean podcasters have to say it like you know I just wish everybody were kind of just healthy and you know yes not as fun give us your best and we’ll give you our best you’re like [ __ ] he’s hurt yes yes that looks like oh that’s a knee that’s that’s a bad band it’s not supposed to go that way [ __ ] right I don’t mean to sound uh sociopathic but I have considered like the extent like what time of the season I would want the momes injury to take place let’s not say injury though because he’s still active all right let’s let’s try to let’s try to avoid this getting picked up by like Chiefs daggers. net what I’m talking about is not being hurt I’m re retiring because back to that point good note play baseball you know he maybe wants to play Paul his son’s his dad’s footsteps momes retiring changes the conversation for the entire like guys are texting each other on their text threads that are Bill’s fans that are Ravens fans you know maybe some Chargers guys out there being like dude you see Mahomes is out for the year all right but in this case if it’s like he retires so now the Mahomes blockade is removed from all of your hopes and dreams as an NFL fan that might be the right answer yes that’s actually the perfect answer it’s pandemonium if that happens season tickets go through the roof League wide it’s like this is it it’s on the Raiders are like we’re killing renewals yeah oh my God so there’s nobody else in the NFL is there anyone in the NBA is LeBron in the conversation is he at Mahomes level where people that just be like they’re just glad it’s over I think of that as a sports media thing but I don’t even think we’ll be that lucky you know like I I think of it as like if he’s just like that’s it that’s a WAP it you you know there’s still going to be another like 12 months of like of of LeBron stuff on ESPN it’s but I I do I think during the like Lakers coaching thing becoming a bigger story than than the NBA Finals run I was like this this is really starting to get to me in a weird way like and if he retired I do think at least it would like remove that remove that focal point for a lot of sports media I wonder how the split would go if you would ask non- Lakers fans and Lakers fans who would be happier if LeBron retired because you think some Lakers fans would be like I’m I’m ready for this to be over some is accurate I just wonder how many what that number really is and how many of those guys uh go to sleep in Kobe jerseys I was G say they we the number 8 24s yeah I I’m so glad that I moved to LA only for that reason to I would have never understood it unless I had lived here and I don’t even live in LA but I’m arounded enough to to understand something I would not have understood if you explained it to me I’d be like they don’t like LeBron because they still like Kobe like he just showed up he won a title there like he’s the reason they got Anthony Davis this is a team that was Irrelevant for a really long time not irrelevant but you want to look at how bad the records were combined during all those years like it’s atrocious like the standard that that franchise has so I mean he did a lot and it worked and you got him at the end and he’s extended the end in a way that nobody’s ever even thought was possible he looked awesome last night I don’t know who else is in this I don’t think there’s a baseball one or they’re like oh that guy oh how about um I was gonna say goar maybe American podcasters former players they’d be happy yeah yeah it doesn’t feel like he’s got like a ton of is there are there any Rudy fans the Jazz fans were very passionate about him because we know they’ve moved on well the analytics they num people yeah they’re they’re still they’re still comfortable their goar position heated debates screen assist rates off the charts okay I think we did it thank you Chris what do you have to promote uh nothing much the watch still cranking it out uh I’m on um Talk the Thrones where we talk about House of the Dragon you up on House of the dragon and all Ryan no I’m behind but I did jump in based on Cudi’s recommendation and it is really good yeah so uh House of the Dragon we go on YouTube and Spotify every Sunday right after the episode so that’s on the ringer verse YouTube channel and the house of our how are the dragon numbers compared to the throne one problem we’re running into right now is uh we’re down a couple Dragon Riders you know uh we’re starting it’s starting to become uh kind of kind of a a cold labor market there so what’s that like post up players yeah exactly we just don’t they just don’t make them like that anymore so we’ll see Jefferson’s out there season three on top of one of those guys yeah Greg Monroe is like I can still give you 10 minutes but yeah how’s the dragon a couple more episodes of that and uh Andy and I really excited about industry coming back so oh that’s right industry’s coming back I am I too excited yeah be talking can I just peel the curtain a little bit so this was what last night or two nights ago I was like all right hey we’re having Chris on like I was like you know the house house of the dragon’s been good it’s been better than I expected like episode four was electric it was like the closest thing I felt to like Prime Game of Thrones since it happened I was like and Ryan’s like all right like I could probably get four episodes in you know in two days or whatever and then he texts me and goes wait this is season two started the show he had even started the show yet so I was like all right probably gonna be tough to pack in you know 12 15 episodes or whatever yeah was kind of on me a little bit I was like I have 36 hours to watch 4 hours of TV that I didn’t have plan in my normal routine of all I’m trying to get done if you only had the four then it was worth it yeah yeah but then I actually did go back and watch a couple of the episodes because I just can’t do it I can’t do it and too complicated like I’m blown away but I’m almost offended does the approval rating of the person in the room next to me go down when there’ll be a show on and I’ll be like I’m just going to jump into this but if you haven’t watched any of it we don’t have to watch or I’d watch the pilot over again and the person not it’s cool you just throw it on like what’s wrong with you do you not respect story arc we had people that that that many shows anymore that people can do that with that used to be like it it was like you could skip a whole season of 24 and just be like I got it hour hour turn out those those those Serbian guys like they were bad news we had people in college who when we got to college didn’t watch Lost and they like started like season 4 I’m like what are you guys doing like how are you doing this they just jumped right in they didn’t know what the black smoke was they anything yeah still not sure if I know what the black smoke is to be honest anybody does yeah yeah like there’s a couple loose ends that were not tied up but a couple yeah yeah one or two all right thanks man talk to you soon thanks for having me you want details bye I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet what’s up I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork I have every toy you can possibly imagine and best of all kids I am liquid so now you know what’s possible let me tell you what’s required Kyle’s back he’s back in a big way I don’t know if he’s better than ever he’s look tan little Sun kiss we have oh dude I’m sunburned I’m bloated I got uh I got an ear infection and swimmers here it’s a true white boy summer here in the crowd J yeah but you got you got a little product in there no this is straight water dude you got wow salt water are you serious you’re like boy band hot right now though you’ve got some in sync Vibes to you thanks feel very in the best possible oh did you frost the tips I feel like got a guy down here if I’m feeling crazy okay yeah that was one of Kyle Kyle yeah you had to have frosted right uh well I I had a flip like sort not unlike this and just a flip so it wasn’t like all it wasn’t a SP I wasn’t a spiky hair guy but I did do the flip and the flip was uh was definitely like peroxide bleached yeah I remember I wanted to do it in middle school and my mom was like no she just straight up told me no and honestly I thanked her for that 10 15 years later yeah there’s evidence of me out there looking crazy look terrible your dark features ol of skin not sure the email address is lifeadvice rrmail.com okay let’s get to it we have a couple family Dynamic ones here hey guys uh first come in and comment on the guy ranking his buddies in a bachelor party I’m only sharing this because I think it might help strength and all the groups out there completely tear them apart but either way it’s worthwhile our Core group of guys about 15 been doing this since 18 we have an annual golfing trip over a long weekend and a member has drawn at random to do a preor a pre-weekend I was thinking pre-workout pre-weekend outlook for another member in three categories skills drinking game Sports ladies Etc okay drinking good hang or not basically intangibles nobody knows but you know when you see it yeah I can see that uh I would attach an example of one I wrote for this past one all rankings are between one and five of five being the best this is predictably shared with the group beforehand in the weeks leading up to the weekend so it’s almost like a preview of the upcoming season I like that on the Sunday before everyone leaves we all meet for the local dive bar with an easel and a power rank uh everyone based on how they perform that weekend Le the say discussion is very spirited spirited and ultimately we Crown one gentleman is the champion of the weekend with our annual trophy would’ love to see this Incorporated throughout the country or maybe everybody’s already doing this world party everybody else is not doing this kind of sick though I like it you lost you lost me at the trophy yeah once you cross over into like we’re doing too much it’s like actually this was cool and now it seems like the geekiest [ __ ] ever once you cross that line and like you said it’s intangible you don’t exactly know where it is but the once the dudes around you figure it out they’re like I’m out on actually all of it now because this seems like for losers so I’m not out on all of it I like that part agree but I think when you cross the line these guys are having a good time right yeah okay oh wa that’s not even the email so 61210 with no significant gym chats in the pickup game of Glen Davis but with significantly worse footwork I’m looking for some of your surprisingly helpful and OnPoint advice thanks wife 34 and I 38 been married for almost three years and everything is wonderful we met several years ago while I was dating another girl and unfortunately for all involved except for perhaps me at the time I started dating both of them whoa I ended the relationship with the other girl in 18 and began dating my wife exclusively in 19 some serious over in there after we were engaged in 21 my younger sister 29 who I was very close with reached out to the ex-girlfriend had her text me with the intention of breaking up my wife and I I won’t go into any specifics but it involved fake phone numbers and screenshots of scandalous fake text messages it took some doing but I was finally able to convince my wife that none of the messages were real and that I’d been faithful ever since we dated exclusively the betral was shocking to me as I thought my sister liked my fiance wife and we all hung out regularly I couldn’t believe what she tried to do and immediately blocked her and everything and cut off all communication this was in May of 21 so we’re talking three years now my sisters Tred to reach out several times via new cell numbers and multiple email addresses in the years since but I haven’t responded and frankly haven’t really wanted to she’s never apologized and only offered excuses as to why she did what she did perhaps I would consider opening the door to mending the relationship if there were apologies and remorse but so far none of that has transpired my question to you and the dream team is this how long is too long to hold a gudge against a family member should I be more open to amending this relationship I am I obnoxiously stubborn for wanting her to show more remorse how would you handle a similar situation my wife and I’ve have agreed to follow the sage advice that is offered wow that sucks man that’s like a massive betrayal I don’t I don’t blame you at all for going like think about that your sister is involved with your ex trying to frame You for Cheating on your current wife to then break you guys up you that’s you you know we can get into the dynamic that the sister’s supposed to have your back more but we realize that’s not always the case okay nasty work by the sister here uh I do not blame you for being really upset and I usually default to like it’s family and we’ll get to that a little bit later but just to recap here you get together with what yours your now wife and the ex with your sister coordinates something that’s so [ __ ] like be mad be mad about the overlap be mad you picked her be mad about all those things but when you’re lying okay it’d be one thing if they were true but if you’re actually making these things up and your sister’s helping this person that is a that’s a tough betrayal to get over I think it should be forever you’re a bad person it sounds like you’re even yeah it would suck did you find out just one of your siblings you go and it happens I mean Dad people have to have brothers and sisters but let’s go with you it was like I’m not a betrayer uh family’s been pretty good to me no betrayals um but you almost wish there was like some sort of like drug problem or like something you could point to like all right that’s why you weren’t yourself undiagnosed whatever but it sounds like it’s none of that my one of my best friends had this where his sister like just sided with the ex-girlfriend of you know many years and there’s kids involved it was like he’s like I can’t believe this I really can’t believe this and it was like four four years and I think he was eventually just like all right you’re my sister and it’s it is what it is and you know I think you forgive you don’t forget sort of deal but it’s it’s I I felt sick to my stomach for him like he was just he really couldn’t believe like you switch sides and like we’re you’re like testifying in court for uh like it wasn’t like a bad thing just like you know whatever it is when they try to figure out well it’s like family court custody stuff and she was like on the Mom’s behalf and he was like wait a second what the [ __ ] so um I F he he was like sick to his stomach I was sick to my stomach for him but event my my whole thing was eventually he just was like how long can I really keep this up I think you keep it up as long as you feel like you want to keep it up I think you’re intitled to that um as long as you know it’s probably not forever yeah I um I come from a big Italian family on both sides my dad’s one of seven my mom’s one of five you know there’s a lot of hotheaded stuff that happens but you just kind of like family parties sometimes are interesting depends on the moods of of everybody and you know when alcohol is involved it’s always kind of complicated too but we’ve kind of got we nobody’s ever been shot not been shot which is which is good but you know it’s those things like hey you know somebody so and so does this and it kind of pisses everybody else off and then you know then you give it a couple months and it just kind of goes now nothing has really been done to this extent I mean this is like straight up betrayal like this is again I don’t blame you for being this mad the the thing that bothers me is like I would get over it but I need an apology like I need you to acknowledge that you are at fault and you screwed up and I still love you and like I just it was a moment of of you I know I just had a lapse in judgment then here we are but if she’s unwilling to even admit that to you I kind of think you stand your ground I mean I I I’m not advocating like don’t talk to your sister forever but this is that just sucks like she she clearly hasn’t learned from the mistake she really screwed you over I mean could have actually ended your relationship with somebody that you really like screwed your life over so I don’t I don’t think you’re overreacting I just I think you just have to have a talk to her and be like I I still love you like I still want to be in your life but if you’re not going to apologize and take responsibility for what you did then I don’t know how we can see eye to eye on stuff yeah I think you wait until you’re like one day silly and and you clearly don’t feel that yet so just you know keep keep a keep on going but one day I think you’ll look and be like this is a little silly right the the six Thanksgiving or whatever it is like you might just be like I’m not going to let this have power over me anymore and you’ll just be changed for it you know but until then I think you’re fine to just keep on doing what you’re doing because you won’t feel good about it otherwise you can already tell she’s not looking to like double back and say you know what I know I said all this [ __ ] I was wrong blah blah blah it’s not going to happen it’s like the excuse maker and it’s going to make you mad again and you’ll just get fired up so I would just wait until you till you feel like this is silly and you can just move on without really having her apologize because it sounds like she’s not going to okay uh another family Dynamic do I have to go to my brother’s bachelor party jents 510 215 pounds former High School Long Snapper I need an unbiased opinion to the following situation Kyle just jumps right in with a yes Kyle’s like is the invite still out Kyle was I invited to your bachel party I didn’t want you to say no so nobody I got I had a 100% hit rate on my ask so I was like why why do this to myself self did you ask Bill I I mean I gotta like I think you could you could deal with what you would have seen and maybe moved past it I’m not sure if Bill could have so I don’t think Bill could have I I mean look I based on what we were allowed to hear about it I’m not sure would could seen him like making content like it’s 9:00 a.m. day one two one guy just got slapped I don’t know nephew Kyle’s on his third cigarette like I didn’t need that type of [ __ ] so I was I don’t know are you doing a bill right now or you doing a Ry doing s doing bill and it’s just it’s loss in the sauce so but you’re right I can see Bill being like over under 20 and a half today what are we thinking boys yeah cigarettes all the stuff I mean it just would have he probably would have left early and I gotta be honest with you that was a good bill that was a really good bill because it sounded I just thought it sounded like him I I didn’t know you had that in you I was not familiar with your game okay so let’s get back to the bachelor party Kyle jumping with an immediate yes I’m leaning hard yes if you if you just are asking me to respond to the you imagine cudy three yeses okay well let’s explore my brother’s having a bachelor party in California to go on a quote psychedelic backpacking trip still three yeses yes but it uh yeah still yes on fense I’m still yes all right let’s keep digging into the plan the plan is to hike up Friday camp and hike back Sunday the hike is 14 miles each way still three yeses you might want to just injure yourself dude just take one for the team you can just hang out at pay for some dude’s pay for some dude’s x-rays be like I broke my [ __ ] leg man can I take the cart back to the clubhouse to see you guys at the turn uh the hike is 14 miles requires hiking and camping supplies that I do not have nor ever want to have on top of that I do not want to trip on shrooms in the mountains in a tent it should be noted I hate hiking my idea of hiking is staying at the Holiday end because there are no Marriotts around good joke and we aren’t even talking there’s always a litaa around we aren’t even talking about a campground this is the middle of nowhere’s ship no running water no toilets no showers the most recent entry from an online Trail guide says a challenging last 1.5 miles to the lake I love that that’s after 12 yeah 12 and a half miles there’s sleep there a steep terrain disappearing trail with mosquitoes present and caution is advised when crossing the river apparently I also have to forge a river like the Fring Oregon Trail and to top it off because of the remote location of the trip the logistics requiring me to catch a Redeye home Sunday night where I have to go to work Monday morning being the brother or am I required to go or can I graciously bow out because I will be clearly holding back the group’s Vibe who for the most part all want to do this trip a few important pieces of information that need to be considered my brother’s a few years younger than me is my only sibling he recently potentially set the Guinness world record for most burpees in three minutes well we’ll leave out maybe a little late on the right we just uh the entire group is doing an ultramarathon for fun this summer Avid rock climbers I’m talking about Mission Impossible style scaling a cliff during the day pitch a tent on the side of the mountain to sleep and then climb up the summit the following day type of climbers I gotta be honest with you the sleeping on the side of the mountain a lot of you guys are just doing it to do it right or Mountain scaling Tak so long yeah I guess there has to be like some places where you go I’m not going to be able to scale this thing an entire day I’m sure those things exist and then you think okay I’m going to sleep here but uh I’m sure you’re harnessed into it somewhat so it’s not like hey what if I roll over dude check my pH am I waking up falling or is that a dream oh wait all the credit to you guys sleeping in a canopy on the side of a [ __ ] rock face because you’re a badass I I like to do some stuff I don’t think I’ll ever do that um I’m a 39 year old father of from the Midwest whose physical activity for the week consists of Downing a six-pack or a few Bourbons if I’m feeling frisky and playing in my golf league the closest hospital the trail is two hours away and looks to be about the size of my house yeah you’re out you’re out this is such a no you’re out and lie s it I would lie I’d say I really just hurt myself or whatever I would lie you don’t lie I tell the truth lie yeah that they they don’t want you to go by the way if these guys if this is what they’re all about they actually don’t want okay this is a crazy ask so at the beginning when it’s three yes’s do I go to my brother’s bachelor party yes you do is it all these things I don’t want to do with extreme physical tests that I’m am not ready for and I’m not into psychedelics and all these guys are super into all of this stuff you know don’t invite the guy to the orgy that that doesn’t want to be at the orgy like that guy doesn’t find a way to also like go hey you know feeling I’m going to hang over here for a little bit like those guys walk into an ory like ready well they know what’s on the table did this this doesn’t make any sense they I don’t want to say this you’re not the best man right because you didn’t PR plan the bachelor party so they’ve already kind of got it cover maybe he planned it this what wants to do and all his buddies do this but do they know that you can’t do this like or do do they think you’re capable of doing this if they think you’re capable of doing this and they are actual like not experts but they know the field then I don’t know I’m still kind of like not a hard no but well the red ey what about that red eye I don’t know it’s not a one- Day hike if they were coming back to the hotel or the cabin or the lodge or whatever whatever is up there near those Rock faces if they were like we we’ll do we got one hike we’re going to do this Trail this day we’re going to do Trail three the other day and whatever and you’re like yeah I’ll hang back or whatever uh because this is like a continuous Journey uh I think you can you can be out and if you think your brother knows you’re not the guy tell him but I would I could maybe I could maybe just be like dude you won’t believe what I just did to my ankle no that’s what I’m saying so mad I’m like really nervous about this I don’t think I’m physically capable of doing this like I love you but this clearly is your thing not my thing I don’t want to hold you I would just have that tell them everything you said in the email I think that’s totally fair you you might not physically be I don’t I don’t know if I would be able to physically do any of this stuff I’d certainly wouldn’t want to and then you had the drug stuff in there and I’m definitely out but uh I think you got to just talk to him like and just say hey I’m not you know yeah mean mean to make this like a dare situation but I think you just got to talk to him you can’t lie to him I don’t don’t lie to him don’t Cop Out be a man say hey man I don’t think you want me to be there I love you we’ll do something on our own maybe we’ll just do like a road trip to Jamaica Just the Two of Us drink for a weekend and come back if you want to do that but I I don’t think I could physically do this I feel out of place and I don’t want to hold you guys back so that’s not a drug guy though not a drug guy yep three so it’s three no that was a hard hard turn yeah it’s good to be able to change your mind it really is I don’t think they want you there it’s they he can’t not ask you right it would be a he has to ask you so yeah maybe this is just a win-win and everyone can exhale like pH I’m not going he’s like you’re not going so that’s what it that’s what it’s stacking up to be I think yeah uh I think you’re a little dismissive of that return flight because I think at 39 and three kids maybe you’re just not there yet sir but that red eye would be hanging over him mentally he’s like preh hung over yeah hiking mountain climbing and doing drugs for a weekend and then I have to take a red eye the red eye is the least of my concerns of course it is but that red ey is gonna suck so bad it’s gonna S I think I don’t think there’s something that is more flawed than the human pattern of predicting how they’ll feel on return flights that are booked yeah I don’t have that yet and pretend and be like oh that might be that might be a little inconvenient or that might not be great like when I left Italy once I was like okay so I have to go back through Dublin like you know what I’ll do let’s look at what the options are I Go 23 hours in Dublin a layover that’s perfect I think it was ended up being on my birthday like this is going to be awesome when I landed on Dublin I was so [ __ ] pissed at myself I was like when did you think this was going to be a good idea like you left Italy you were there like get out of town and what are you doing like this is the worst this is absolutely the worst idea ever why why did you do this and then uh they wouldn’t let me get my bag because it was technically a 23-hour layover and it wasn’t like a stop so I had to go buy like toiletries I just stayed in the same clothes yeah I walked around checked out the uh the University of Dublin it’s not that’s not what it’s called but it was uh it was gorgeous is it Trinity I think it’s Trinity um so I made the most of it it was fine and had a good time and checking out the music that kind of thing so I made the most of it but when you’re actually like kind of going home but then you’re not going home I have something coming up where I just look the return and go okay 5 hour layover in Amsterdam I know what dudes are saying but five hours like who you think you are all right okay that’ll do it for the Pod thanks to Kyle thanks to Steve thanks to waron check out our YouTube page as well R the podcast ring your Spotify n [Music]