Hour 2: Top 5 Things to Do At a Baseball Game (feat. Jessica Smetana)
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We will dork out on baseball 6 p.m. tonight on the YouTube channel. Tim Kirkson and Friends is what we'll call it, an evening with Tim Kirkson where someone will talk to me about Chase Burns striking out the first five Yankees that he faced yesterday and will care about it, unlike the people in this room, none of whom care about any baseball topic. Billy, I'd love to have you tonight. Do you care about Chase Burns? I don't know what you do. Oh, yeah, you and me, CB, big guy. Big guy.

Big CB guy. Can I talk about... Can I break the fourth wall of something I've been concerned about? You're good. So baseball's leaving ESPN at the end of the year. They're not going to have baseball anymore. I've been worried about Tim. Like...

are they still going to cover baseball as often? Because you would assume if they lose the sport, what is the baseball coverage going to look like at ESPN? He'll be the last one there. I'm not totally informed on this, but I've heard enough of the sporting class with Samson and Skipper to feel like the

Manfred and baseball don't have much use for how it is that ESPN cares about baseball. And Tim Kirchhen's one of the few people still there fighting to care about baseball. Is that not obvious to everyone that baseball has shrunk to a very small size on ESPN? Yeah, but that doesn't answer. But they still have. Tim Good? I'm worried about it. They have analysts for sports that they don't have rights to. I mean, doesn't it feel like he'll be Barry

Melrose all those years before in between the NHL. There forever. Just there for as long as he'd like to be. Bring him out to sports centers when the World Series is going on. I thought that of Peter Gammons. Why'd you say that that way? Because then Peter Gammons was just off of ESPN. Oh, he left on his own volition. Well, that's what you always say. Billy, would you like to partake in Tim Kirchhan night tonight? You're really pressing for a commitment here.

I'm not really just asking if you'd like to be a part of it. We'll find out at 6 o'clock. Yeah, what time? It starts at 6? It starts at 6. What time is it until? It doesn't matter. No, no. I'm telling you as we were discussing. 6 is really bad parent time at this age. It's feeding time, bath time. So I'm not saying...

I can hop on at some point. We'll be on for a few hours. Yeah, I think later arriving. Man, you better get that parent thing on lock like me. I can't. Dude, I was telling Jeremy before, I was like, I don't know the age of your children. You have multiple children.

I don't know how old they are. 13 and 16. They're teenagers, and he's got it on lock. Got them on lock. I told Jeremy, once you get to like 10 and 8, you're good. I feel like then you've experienced everything you've done parenting. Yeah, you definitely can't ruin your kids past that age. No, by that point, you have it on lock.

I want to stop all you guys for a second because I want to talk to Jessica about a couple of different things, but I also want to tell everybody that Zaslow again has to leave early today because this man right here featured earlier in the show doing this in the streets of Miami will anchor ESPN Radio's NBA draft coverage tonight. Jess's face reaction to that. You got something to say? Looks like you're shooting a t-shirt cannon.

Is that what it is? It is the first time Zazz has ever opened champagne, and he was bragging about it, even though he shook it poorly. Yeah, and can I tell you something? Oklahoma City Thunder players, you can't figure out how to pop open that cork? Idiots. Zazzlo showed you it's the first time he's ever done it, clearly, from looking at him, but he will anchor ESPN Radio's NBA draft coverage tonight.

i wanted to ask jessica and the rest of you though before we just skip past the rest of this story involving the arizona diamondbacks uh second uh basement calo

Oh my God, I'm blanking on his name. Marte. I'm sorry, yes, Marte. Almost made him Khalil Ware. Yeah, that was what was happening. I got confused. Thank you. Is that home or on the road? He was sobbing during the game and the game was interrupted while a fan heckled him about his late mother who passed in a car accident in 2017. I am reading that the White Sox have banned that fan, but I don't know what

ban means. That's not a lifetime ban. And I do wonder what the penalty for something like that should be. I mean, you think the guy who's checking the tickets? I'm sorry, Jess. Do you think the guy, Jess, who's checking the tickets got a photo of this guy? Hey, keep this guy out! I do think they use, like, some stadiums use facial recognition technology now. They say that. Or they don't let you buy tickets. I don't know. They block you from buying the ticket. I don't know exactly how they do the ban, but I do think that

One of the punishments when someone does something like this should be that the people in your section get to heckle you out of the stadium, like Steve Bartman style. Like, I wish that we still lived in a society where if I'm sitting next to a guy and they say something really shitty to a player, I can, like, boo in their face and scream at them until they leave. Well, they have that code that you got to text, right? Text 60555. Unruly fans. Yeah, and then it's kind of like silence. That's not good enough. Do you guys ever send a text? You ever text it? No.

I did one time when someone in my section was room for the other team, and I text so-and-so room for other team. Really? Did they kick the person out? Wait, was this Mike Ryan in the Golden Canes box at a Miami game? You're allowed. Why would you tell on somebody rooting for the other team? To me, that shit was unruly. Yeah. Did they get the person? I don't think they took it seriously. Wow.

What should the penalty be, though? When she says public shame, okay, there's that. You're allowed to sort of do some 1700s throwing of tomatoes metaphorically. Oh, that's a good idea. How about physically? Oh, metaphorically. Ketchup packets.

As they leave them in their face. How long should that penalty be like that? If you've made the because we've talked before about the idea that a penalty should be for the action, not the reaction. But this is in reaction to the second baseman breaking down sobbing. And so if that is what happens, because you've crossed the line that thoroughly, what should the penalty actually be for that fan? I'm asking the question seriously.

I mean, I think you have to ask that person, list all your dead relatives, you give it to the section and they heckle you about your dead relatives. An eye for an eye, like Uncle Mike used to say. Did you hear about that, Jess? I did.

Of course, that would be her reaction. She's just a nice person. She might just say that if she just hears about a late uncle. I had a dog without an eye. Really? Fun. What happened? Champagne bottle? He did not drink champagne, but he did have some sort of infection. So we had to get his eyeball removed and then they sewed it shut. So he always looked like he was winking.

With dogs, it's cute, though, because you can call the dog Cyclops, and then people aren't like, wow, you're making fun of a disabled dog. It's like, oh, what a cute name. It wasn't that cute with Uncle Mike. Hold on for a second. We've got to ask this question. You said the dog's name is Eli? Yeah. Was his name Eli before he lost an eye? No.

Yes, he was a rescue. We didn't name him. I think he might have been named after Eli Manning. What a crazy coincidence that is. Book of Eli. Two I's didn't work there. Did you just say fun, Chris, when she said the dog had a glass eye? Was fun what you said? Wait, no, the dog did not have a glass eye. Peter Falk had a glass eye, Dan. Really? Columbo, famously glass eye. The dog just didn't have an eye.

There is something endearing and I would say fun. You see a dog with a little deformity, it's like "Oh that's so adorable!" What? Thank you! You see a dog hopping with three legs? I'm like that is an adorable thing right there. That is so adorable. I'm not trying to get one of those dogs. Would you return it? They love you just the same as dogs with two eyes and four legs. Yes.

Did you say, would I return it? Yeah, like if you adopted a dog and all of a sudden you lost a leg, you go and sing out. Dan seems like he would. Return it? I think you're right. I mean, there's definitely a receipt, right, on like in the first 30 days if it doesn't work out. I don't think that people generally look at the specific deformity of three legs and say, oh, adorable, as opposed to that's a difficult way to go through life. You think adorable?

Adorables the reaction people have to three-legged dogs. I admit the noise that Jess made when we brought up uncle Mike That's what I do. Yeah, I agree legs two legs now I'm thinking about how difficult it might be but three legs. That's how cute now two legs you got a wheels Well, it depends on the two I suppose also like guys wheels We got to stop making light of this drive

This isn't funny. These are things that happen to people. Peter Falk lost his eye to cancer as a child. Like, I don't know what these jokes are all about. We're no better than that person that was at the game picking up Quintel Marte. I believe that Jessica's sound wasn't just because Uncle Mike had a glass eye. I believe that awe was also because he couldn't find one that was the color of the other eye. No, the awe was because you were all making fun of Uncle Mike, and now I feel bad because he...

God rest his soul, is being talked about and made fun of on a radio show years after passing. Shout out to Uncle Mike. Uncle Richard. Devil praise his soul. Coincidence here is that my dad is named Eli, and he also almost lost his eye when he was in the ninth grade at Miami Beach High School. Aye, aye, aye.

Someone threw, there was a substitute teacher and someone threw one of the, you know like the dry eraser, the chalkboard eraser? Yeah, yeah. Someone threw it across the classroom and it literally flew all the way and hit him in the corner of the eye and he had to go get surgery immediately. Classic hijinks. Terrible, terrible reaction time from your dad. Awful, right? He just didn't even know it was coming and then all of a sudden there it was.

I wanted to talk to Pablo about this and I failed, but the mayor of New York thing was a little bit surprising in that Cuomo has the family name that he is now disgraced. And Cuomo had all of the fundraising advantages, the incumbent advantages, every advantage you can have and got swamped, got got totally crushed. And I don't know if people saw that coming, but did you see it coming, Jessica?

No, because as recently as like a week ago, I think Cuomo is still polling ahead of the second place candidate. This is just for the Democratic primary, which was yesterday in New York City. The election is in November, but normally the Democratic primary

primary winner wins the election because New York tends to vote Democrat for mayor. But Eric Adams is obviously still in office and decided he's going to run as an independent now after he was indicted. So the race was sort of wide open on the Democratic side.

And, yeah, Zoran Mamdani, who is an assemblyman, sort of came from behind in this race. He was pulling really low at the beginning of the year. And then turns out if you run a campaign based on a vision for the future of New York and getting young people mobilized about a city that they may actually want to live in versus Florida.

fear mongering and just sort of presenting the same tired ideas of, you know, the New York City that Cuomo was running to lead, then, yeah, I guess people get mobilized and they want to vote for the young, hot, exciting candidate. Cuomo had all the institutional endorsements. He had the polling lead and to get swamped. He also had a bunch of scandals.

Yes. I mean, and it should be disqualifying. I mean, I read a really great op-ed in The Guardian about how Cuomo is just basically the Democratic version of Donald Trump running for mayor amid sexual harassment scandals. He resigned in disgrace. He lied about nursing home numbers during COVID and the death toll and that he didn't apologize.

apologize for any of this during his campaign. He was just like, yeah, I don't I'm going to be the mayor. And he saw a real opportunity to get back in the fold in New York City politics and New York politics obviously comes from a long family of of politicians. His dad was the governor of New York for four decades. So, yes, it

absolutely should be something that is disqualifying. And so I think the lesson, what the lesson should be, I guess, and again, I'm not like a political expert. I'm just like a person who is following this. I'm a sports idiot with a phone. You live in New York. Your qualifications are you live in New York and you're coming to it broadcasting live from New York. I like New York and I want New York to be an affordable place to live. That's my qualification. The takeaway should be that like if you want an alternative to Donald Trump as a Democrat, then don't just like

find a cheap Democratic version of him, maybe find someone that people are excited about voting for. So, yeah, when the establishment was all back in Cuomo, it seemed like it would be tough to overcome that. But people were really excited to vote for someone new. And so, yeah, Mamdani

won the primary and Cuomo succeeded or appears to have won the primary. It's ranked choice, so they're still counting votes, obviously. But Cuomo conceded at 10 o'clock on Tuesday night while I was watching the Fever Storm game. But Jessica, you brought up the most important point, which is he didn't concede as in, man, you got it. Wow, you really ran a great campaign. It's like, I want to be a Democrat anyway, is basically how he conceded. Yeah, he might still

run as an independent he's he's sort of left the door open and it's very but again like it it should be the kind of thing where democrats want to claim like you have the moral superiority in high ground compared to what the republicans have been doing in in elections for the last

decade, then I don't know, find a candidate who actually has ideas and not just someone who runs on power and represents power. Um, Mamdani's ideas are like free buses and like freeze on rent, freeze on, uh, you know, rent stable apartments, things like that. And it's like, well, is he even going to be able to do that? I don't know, but at least he has an idea. At least like his ideas sound like things that would help everyday people.

So, yeah, I mean, maybe he's not gonna be able to do any of that. But I think it's at least something that people that live in New York City are like, oh, that would be great if I, you know, had a free bus ride instead of having to pay for it. We're going to get to Jessica's top five things to do at a baseball game in a second. But Zaslow's got to go because, again, this is anchoring today's ESPN Radio podcast.

Draft coverage for the next few hours. Very serious coverage, right, Zaslow? It's not just going to be Cooper Flack. What about this would tell you it's not serious and confident? Okay, ESPN Radio, go ahead. I know you have to go. I'm looking good. You are looking good. Thanks, Jess. You're looking very confident as well. Look at Jeremy. Big smile on his face. Look how happy he is. I just love him. Zaslow's leaving, and there's more room to talk.

Wow. Oh, the wedding singer. I can't even be excited. Jeremy will be partaking in the 6 p.m. coverage that Billy may or may not partake in. Yeah, you're going to hear all about the recently acquired Colby Martin, a former Division three second baseman who was an All-American. A board or something. And now is a Marlins pitching prospect. Trade it for today. I likely will not.

be joining us. Do we want to play friend or co-worker with Jess before we get to her top five things to do at a baseball game? Because who's hosting this game? I want to get back to it. Who's the game show host on friend or co-worker Pablo Torre? Who the fuck is the

What? It's you. Okay. Hello! Hey, Billy! Hello, Billy! The host! Welcome to another edition of Friend or Coworker! Now, this is a special celebrity edition of Friend or Coworker. In the past, as you all know, this game is reserved for Greg Cody. Does Greg Cody consider someone a friend or a coworker? But now...

on the celebrity edition we're going to bring in jessica welcome celebrity jessica

You can check out Jessica on Vice sometimes. Oh, yeah. Vice TV. Yeah. I don't have all the details on that. So I just thought. Watch your back, Amin. Watch your back, Amin. The guest is threatening you. So. All right. Chris and Dan are the participants as usual. But this, again, is a celebrity edition. So does Jessica consider Pablo a friend or a co-worker? Now, Dan, you have to.

say friend or co-worker and then Chris says friend or co-worker and then I get an answer from Jessica. Does she consider Pablo a friend or co-worker? Thank you. And so far we've all had ties in this game so far? Nothing but ties? The history of this game, we've had two games and both times have ended in a tie, oddly.

Before we ask Jessica, though, did we not want to go around the room into what you guys consider Pablo a friend or a co-worker? That's not the game. That's not the game we're playing. We could have done that, but that's a different game. Okay, that's a different game. That's called around the room. I'm going to say that Jessica thinks of Pablo as a friend.

I'm going to say co-worker. Whoa. This isn't going to be a tie, man. I think she hates Pablo. Whoa. This is not going to be a tie. Now you're making it a thing. She's going to have to say friend. She doesn't hate Pablo. It doesn't have to be hate. It can just be a co-worker. It can just be a co-worker. You can hate your friend, too. Now, quickly, before we go on, Amin, would you like to describe to the audience who have just joined us what you would consider a friend and what you would consider a co-worker? A co-worker is someone that I interact with only within the confines of work.

A friend is someone that I would actually hang out with without needing a work pretense. But that is why I thought that Greg Cody thought of Roy as a co-worker, because I thought he was being polite when he called him a friend, because he wouldn't hang out with him anywhere but at work. That's the past. The birthday. Now, is there a thing of, I haven't done it yet, but I would? No, but he wouldn't. Your father would not hang out with Roy. He did. He would not go somewhere to just hang out and have lunch with Roy. Yeah.

Yes, he would. If Roy wanted. The question should have been, does Roy consider him a friend or co-worker? Well, Roy went on a boat for Greg, but also it was an open bar. So open bar is kind of disqualifying sometimes. Was it a free lunch? It was a free meal. Is it a free lunch? It was a buffet. No, I'm just saying, he's saying he'd never go to lunch with us. Is it a free lunch? I mean, just out of curiosity, would you consider Pablo a friend or co-worker? Well, I'm not playing. I'm not a contestant. Okay, good. Very good. All right. So, Jessica. We ran out of music.

On this edition of Celebrity, friend or co-worker, do you consider Pablo Torre a friend or co-worker? Friend. Liar. Question mark. I'm not sure. Everyone's afraid to play this game. We just need David Sampson. Foe worker. He's the only one that can play these games. Foe worker is good. Foe worker is good middle ground. David Sampson can play this game because he has no friends. Right. They're all co-workers. Really?

Every one of them. And David Sampson being friends with Pablo puts Pablo more in the co-worker category for me, I think. Wow. For David Sampson, it would be called co-worker or employee.

And that'll do it for another edition of Friend or Coworker. We get to the top five things to do at a baseball game with Jess. And tonight, you can watch all of them with us, with Tim Kirkson. An evening with Tim Kirkson begins 6 p.m. tonight on YouTube. Jess, you want to stop by? Which of his friends and coworkers we have stopped by. Jessica, you're invited. Everyone's invited. Maybe I will. Enough of this big dumper guy, by the way. I'm sick of him. He rocks.

Do we have any O-L-I or is it just going straight to the top five? O-L-I. Take a picture with your co-worker and his girlfriend that people online will think is evidence that you're dating him. That's something to do? It is something that may have happened at the Cubs game on Friday with Taylor. Number five. Sounds like a cover-up. Best things to do at a business.

At a baseball game. Five. Watch baseball. Really? I did not think that would crack the top five. Should have been lower. Number four. Do a lap around the concourse looking for food. Make it back to your seat empty-handed. Do it again an inning later, having settled on whichever option had the shortest line. Always.

Now, is there not such a thing as great baseball ballpark food anymore? Are you guys saying that you can't find good food at the ballpark? It's not about not finding good food. It's about which line is the shortest. Exactly. It's about you wander around and you're like, do I want nachos? Do I want a hot dog? Do I want Italian beef? I don't know. I don't know.

I'm going to go back to my seat. And then you get up again and you're like, screw it. I'm just going to get this one because there's no one in line. Not a problem at the Marlins. We had Flanagan's at the Marlins games the other day. And there's no lines because no one's there, Jeremy. Gator dogs. I thought, though, that if you're choosing to go to the ballpark and the ballpark food experience is good,

No line would suggest I don't want to be eating that food. There's good food. That's the reason there are lines for it. It's the worst ballpark food you're saying is worth eating, even if you're there for part of the culinary experience. I mean, I don't know if anyone that goes to Cubs games is there for the culinary experience. You for sure don't say it that way, if you are.

She said, I want a hot dog. Hello, I'm here for the culinary experience. Here's my ticket. I believe, and I may have this wrong, but I don't think I'm among baseball fans. Now, Wrigley Field, maybe it's been modernized. It did not have good food. I'm going to say half the ballparks in America, people are there, at least in part, because the food's really good. It's not okay. It's really good. Wait a second.

Time out. Half the people? Are going to baseball games. Hey, where you going? Baseball game. Who's playing? Don't know. Just go for the television. I'm saying half the ballparks. I'm guessing the 10 to 14 of the ballparks are ballparks that people enjoy eating there. I'm going to say San Francisco is one of them. I think so.

I think you have this wrong. I think it's not that they're there to eat at them. I think it's like this is a special treat that I associate with being at the ball game. Like I'm not going to the game to get a big hot dog. But like when I'm there, I am also entertained by the big hot dog. Like 50% of the people at Marlins games didn't have the conversation before. So prime 112 or centerfield Marlin concession stand tonight?

Marlins is a bad example. They've gone cheap on food. The Marlins have gone cheap on food. I know what he's talking about. I've been to Oracle where the Giants play. They do have great food for a ballpark. What I'm saying to you is there is not a soul in that park who's there for the food. They're there for the game, and now that they're a game, let's have some good food. But they're not there for the food. They could have just gone to a restaurant. Number three.

Number three, start filling out a scorecard and then give up by the third inning. Do you guys do that? Never. They still have that in the program? Oh, yeah. Number two. Number two. Sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game. You guys singers? Do you guys sing it?

Then I will. What do you think? Root, root, root. And then you scream, Cubby! Wrigley Field does it better than most. I'd say better than all. Number one. I would also say that. The number one thing to do at a baseball game, get a buzz on, go to the team store. Oh my God.

The time of your life. Saw that on her Instagram story. Everything looks cute when you're a little buzzed at the Cubs game. Jessica, thank you. Except Taylor. Why are people so weird about that? Put it on the poll. Nice cover up. At Levitard Show. Put it on the poll. Do you like to get buzzed at the merch store? Also notice, you called Taylor a coworker, not a friend. True. Once again, trying to throw you off the scent. David Sampson, friend or coworker?

Thank you, Jessica. I thought we were done playing that game. Faux worker, ladies and gentlemen. No, she just labeled him a faux. Just faux. That concludes Falk.

Fuck. Bye. You, David Sampson, is what it feels like that game has become. Amin, before we get to oddball and the serious draft coverage that you and Izzy are about to provide, what is funny about the draft tonight? What's funny is Ace Bailey, what he's doing. I don't know what he's doing, but I kind of feel like it's genius, whatever it is. He went from the number three pick to, like, who knows where he's going to go now. Like, you can't draft him. He didn't work out for anybody. What do we do?

Oddball breaks it down better than that next. If you're anything like me, when you were a kid, you were a big dreamer. Maybe you dreamed of being an astronaut. Maybe the president of the United States. Maybe you wanted to be the shortstop for the Yankees. But now we're dreaming of something else, like owning our own businesses. But let's be honest, launching it, it's total chaos. Websites, shipping, your cousin wanting to collab. It

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The Dan Lebitard Show with Stu Gatz is sponsored by BetterHelp. So we mess around a lot on this show. Look, I know that. But let me be serious for a second. Men's mental health is a big deal. And honestly, for a long time, I thought, you have to tough everything out. Like, I'm supposed to be the strong one, right? No cracks. No help. Just keep going. No, that's not real life. Everyone, me, you, all of us, need support sometimes.

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Don Levitard. Mr. Mr. Shirt, if I may say for a second. Miami, they were simulating the snap count the entire game, and they were clapping at the line of scrimmage. And the only thing I want to see clapping are them cheeks on Mrs. Met in my face, Mike Shirt. All right? So that's one thing. Stoogatz. They're a bunch of cheaters, Dan. And you know who should be cheating? Mrs. Met on Mr. Met. And he can watch if he wants. This is the Don Levitard Show with the Stoogatz.

Hey guys, NBA draft is today, right? Are you interested? Are you excited for that? Is he? You know when I get excited for the NBA draft? On NBA draft day. Oh, well today's NBA draft day! So yes, I'm excited. Get excited!

Get excited. And you know, Sean Sharani went on Pat McAfee show almost a month ago, and he predicted that this is going to be the craziest off season ever. The team executives have been anticipating this and everybody's so excited. Now, obviously a lot has happened since May 27th. Izzy, you have a new champion.

are runner up. They lost their key contributor. And there've been a couple of big deals that have happened, right? With Kevin Durant and, and Desmond Bain and the off season impact kind of picked up his option. Let's not forget that one. Right. So,

What we decided to do is the producers have devised this grid. It's a draft grid, right? Where it's a gradient to preview which teams are going to be the big players tonight. So left to right on the X axis, we have inactive, meaning they're just going to take their pick and use it. And that's it versus very active. I mean, Hey, wheeling and dealing. And then on the Y axis, we have care a lot like, Oh yeah, like this is going to be something that makes people start talking to, uh,

Nobody gives a shit. Don't care. All the way at the bottom. Sacramento Kings neighborhood. Well, let's see. We'll see where it goes. Let's see what teams they have for us. So first up, we have the Dallas Mavericks. They have the number one overall pick. It's all reports that it's going to be Cooper Flagg. Is that I mean, to me, that means they're inactive, right? Like they're just. Yeah, this is the whole difficulty with the Dallas Mavericks is what do they believe? Like, where do they believe they are in their pursuit of a championship or

Are they on a big pause because of the Kyrie Irving injury? Are they saying, hey, we are just getting started and we're going to hit the track running because we've got Anthony Davis, a defensive player potentially of the year. We've got another potential number one overall pick in Cooper Flagg and we've got Kyrie coming back.

If they are thinking that they want to win right now still, I think there might be some thought of activity. Like they might, oh, by the way, sorry. They might be wanting to go to the active route, right? Yeah, active. Yeah, I'm with you. I agree. I think, but look, one of the names that have been attached to them because of the Kyrie injury is Chris Paul.

Chris Paul, who's probably going to be the odd man out in San Antonio now that when Wemby comes back healthy, you got De'Aaron Fox. I mean, you kind of don't need Chris Paul anymore. Meanwhile, Dallas is like, yeah, we could use a guy like that for maybe the whole season, maybe just most of the season, depending on when Kyrie Irving returns. So if I'm the Dallas Mavericks, I'm going to be active. It may not be around my pick,

the pick still gonna be cooper flag but yeah right right around there is good okay so i like that active just not around the pick so you can still somehow by having a phil stop gap in chris paul still sort of nurture the young uh cooper flag and let him be a part of what could be a championship run start right off the bat yeah i think i think this is a case where he's an understudy they they

They're going to try and compete for a championship. And he's around to learn good habits from good vets. And then one day, kids, kid, the keys are yours. This whole kingdom is yours, but not quite yet. And, you know, there's another conversation for another day of is that the best way to develop someone? But the question is now for us is do we care a lot or do we not care at all?

I think because they have a number one pick, we automatically care. Because if they move it, we want to know, hey, where the heck is that pick moving? If they do move it, we also feel like, hey, wait a second, how crazy is Nico Harrison after all? They're not moving it. No. Okay. Well, I don't care that much to touch the ceiling there because I don't think...

a Cooper flag is going to make that big of a difference. Even if Kyrie Irving does come back at some point, whatever, January, February of next year. And honestly, there's just question marks in terms of what type of player he will be in the league. You've heard like Scottie Pippen comparisons. Like I,

think a lot of times with the one and done, you don't see the whole bag. You don't see the entire resume played out in that first year. So we still need to see how he looks. He could like when he played for Team USA, everybody thought he was great. He was like the most talked about player there. So he could be even better than we think. So maybe they do have championship aspirations if he turns out to be, you know, a 20 point a game rookie. Yeah, I

I like them right there, right where we got it, right in that midpoint. I think we care because the Mavericks, because we're going to care anyway because of the Luka trade is always going to be a spotlight on him. What are y'all up to since you traded your franchise player? So we're going to always care. All right. I mentioned the Spurs and Chris Paul perhaps leaving. Let's talk about the Spurs. They have the second pick and the 14th pick. That's two lottery picks. They're going to make picks at

both spots, you think? That would be, see this one, like they could just fill out the roster. They could talk or look at it like an OKC situation and say, hey, we know we're building around Victor. We've got another all-star there and Foxy. And we can just load up and take both of these draft picks and see what happens. But I think there's enough intrigue around this team to where they can look around and say, hey,

what type of veteran can we get here? Obviously, it's not going to be Kevin Durant anymore, but who can we get here to maybe speed this timeline up a little bit? Because obviously with Victor Wimbenyam, you've got all the time in the world, but with Darren Fox, maybe not. Also with Victor Wimbenyam, you're a little scared because he's got the blood clot in his shoulder. So I think they're probably going to be looking for somebody else in that front court who can carry them if they have to miss some time with Vic. Yeah, I mean, look, first of all,

I hope the blood clot issue is cleared up and he's fine and ready to go. And, and that's just a thing of the past. De'Aaron Fox is in the last year of his deal. So, you know, there is a version of urgency to figure something out here. Maybe it's a replacement. Maybe it's something that pushes them forward. Maybe he's going to sign an extension this summer and all of this is rendered moot. Stefan Castle, obviously unloved.

He had a great year, a rookie of the year. You got Jeremy Sohan, who is in the last year of his deal. You've got Devin Vassell, who's long-term signed, and Kelden Johnson, who's got two more years on his deal. So that's pretty much your core right there if you're the San Antonio Spurs.

I kind of feel like this is one of those ones that they can get a young vet. They'll make a move. Right. But it's kind of like you still kind of in the accumulation. So I'm saying less active, less active. Let's go. Yeah. Maybe towards an active a little bit more.

OK, yeah, I do care a lot, though. Anything with Victor Wimbenyama makes it interesting. I don't care. OK, you care less than the Mavs. I care definitely less than the Mavs because it's a young team. And it's like there still is the birth for, oh, we won 40 games. That's a massive success for us. And you know what? You're right. Bring it down right just under the on the care. Don't care the X axis, because if they would have gotten Kevin Durant,

I'm like, I'm intrigued. I'm intrigued. Now I'm just like, all right, let's see what they can do. Not super interested. I like where we have them. All right. Next up, we have the Philadelphia 76ers. Everyone's favorite punching bag. The Sixers have the third pick of the draft. Are they going to stay? Are they going to go? Let's start with the caring. I think I care a lot. I think I'm all the way to the top. More than average for sure. I would go to the top. You're moving the wrong way. Chance up, up, up, up. There you go.

Reason being, I mean, reason being, because it's such a show. How can you not care? How can you not care? Think about the season they had and they had an awful season. We cared though. We cared that the, the, the, Oh, that pick is going Oklahoma city unless it's in the, like they're the real housewives. They're the reality show. Everybody can't help, but keep their eyes on what's going to happen to Joel and bead. What's going to happen to Paul George. All of these questions are going to keep swirling and swirling and swirling. Paul George will keep,

podcasting through it. Bless his heart. Like the third pick, do they use it to the chair? I don't know. I don't, but I know I care. There's also this interesting, like ace Bailey is one of the strangest draft prospects in a while. Like won't work out for the Sixers. It seems to be like very specific about where he would want to go. I don't know about you. I mean, I would love to go to a team that's ready-made for a championship. If everybody stays healthy. Well, no, but see, I wouldn't, if I was ace Bailey, because my thing is, yeah.

My thing is I want to go and play and shoot a million times and, and have freedom to be one of the best players on my team. I don't want to go somewhere where it's like, Oh, I made a mistake. Let me be more specific. I think any franchise or any player coming into a draft would want to go to a franchise that they trust and

that they know will take care of them and whether or not they're in a championship mode. Wow. I just talked to myself out of the 76. Is that what people really think about the 76 years? Cause I thought it was just a Joel Embiid's fault. Like, or is the organization supposed to be strong enough where you should be able to, I don't know, control a player who doesn't really seem to take things as seriously. Look, it's, it's, it was a while ago, but Roy Hibbert was on a podcast and he was talking about coaching and why he,

hated it. It was the worst year of his basketball life working as a coach and he was working for the Sixers. And he was talking about, he never mentioned any specific names, but he said, you couldn't hold anybody accountable. We start practice and a big time player would not be at practice. And we're like, where is he? No one knew. And then he would show up late and he's like, yeah, I don't feel like practicing today. He said, no one held anyone accountable. And so again, that was a different regime and it was a while ago, but it was

So they should be active is what you're saying. Like dangle that number three pick out there. Because if I want Ace Bailey, Ace Bailey doesn't want to come here. I'm not going to deal with that. I'll just go get a vet. Daryl Morey is always, always when you're wondering, he's on the side of activity. Put them right there. There you go. That's good for me for the Sixers. Next one up. What do we got, Izzy? This one's super interesting to me. It's the Oklahoma City Thunder. I don't know if you heard they won the championship this week. And they have the 15th and the 24th picks because of course they have all the draft picks. Um,

And they have 11 firsts overall in the next five years. Okay. So a championship team, a team that's done it with a very flexible salary situation because they have a bunch of young players. Do they keep collecting players and just add them to the back of the train and keep going? Or do they sort of collect and try to improve upon this team and really sort of take that next gear and create championship? I would say almost like dynasty, rather. I would say almost like

the Kevin Durant trade, right? Turn the Warriors from a championship team to, you know, dynasty over a handful of years. Do the Thunder try to package this and maybe a Chet Holmgren and say, hey, Giannis, come on over here. Make us a dynasty or anybody else out there, even a Joel Embiid, somebody else to sort of upgrade in a way that nobody saw coming. You know what? I don't

see that happening. And the reason I don't see that happening is they've got a great kind of cascading salary situation where they've got a bunch of people who are under contract. So Alex Crusoe is under contract long-term. Shea Gillespie Alexander, Aaron Wiggins, like Isaiah Joe. They've got those guys under contract. You got to give an extension to Jalen Williams soon. And you got to give an extension to

to Chet Holmgren soon. And by the way, Lou Dort also has only, I guess, two years left, but he's extension eligible as well. So I think this is one of those things where do I use picks to...

package and get someone with cost certainty, right? Not necessarily like, oh, this massive upgrade to talent, but just a little bit of cost certainty. I don't know. I don't know. If they're inactive, they're down there in the don't care corner. If they're active, I'm intrigued because they're going to be making a move that nobody expected. I'll tell you right now, unless it's like a massive deal, I think it's still don't care. Anything short of Giannis.

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