NBA Draft and Offseason Recap with James Green from Sky Sports and talkSPORT

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Skylar Smith and Brian Bosche are joined by James Green, Sports Journalist for Sky Sports and talkSport, to discuss the NBA Draft and offseason. For the NBA Draft, they discuss the top three picks, which teams were the biggest winners, steals of the draft, and best family moments. For the NBA offseason, they discuss which teams have become contenders, challengers, and up and comers with their trades and signings. There is a lot to cover from the last week so get ready for a rapid fire show!

Full Transcript:

Brian Bosche:
Hi everyone, welcome back to High Tea Hoops. This is Brian Bosche at the Duke of Hoops. And as always, I am joined by Skylar Smith. What's up Skylar?

Skylar Smith:
Hi, Brian. So, excited to talk about free agency today.

Brian Bosche:
Absolutely. Man, a lot happened. And we are joined by a special guest, James Green, sports journalist, who is on Sky Sports, talkSPORT. James, welcome to the High Tea Hoops podcast. How's it going?

James Green:
It's going well. Thank you for meeting. And I'm just going to apologize to you, Brian for slating you in a previous podcast last year. Yeah, which is-

Brian Bosche:
Yeah. Anytime NBA. I did my Nugget segment as a Nuggets fan where I lived in Denver for a long time. You lived in LA, so you were the Lakers fan. It was early in the series. I still had hope and you slanted the Nuggets a bit and then it turned out to be true, which was a little depressing. So, I'm not-

James Green:
Truthfully, I apologize. I was just in the moment. You know what it's like, you're in the moment, you're in the zone.

Brian Bosche:
You're fired up.

James Green:
Get too excited. Yeah, that was it.

Brian Bosche:
I love to see it. For our audience who doesn't know you, do you want to give a little bit of your background?

James Green:
Absolutely. I'm a sports reports here in the UK. Been working with Sky Sports for a year now. Do some work with talkSPORT, BT Sport recently. Sports just been my life ever since I was young. I studied it at university as well, found whatever sports to grip, could possibly study because that's all I was interested in. Have traveled the world a bit. Loved my time in LA. Became a humongous Lakers fan and-

Brian Bosche:
Yeah. You didn't pick the Clippers?

James Green:
Definitely didn't pick the clippers. Do you know what, my friend group in LA just wouldn't be allowed to be a Clippers fan. It was-

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, almost no one is.

James Green:
Almost no one is anyway, but I've met these people literally on the second day I was there and all they talked about was the Lakers and that was it. I was drawn into it. And now I'm just an obsessive. People hate me because of it probably, but I do apologize because I'm really smoke because [inaudible 00:01:55]. No, look, I love sports and that's what I do. And that's what I like to do. Come on podcasts like this and talk basketball, talk sport, super-

Brian Bosche:
Amazing. What we're going to try to make sense of the draft, free agency moves, trades-off season. Just constantly refreshing shams and you know, the Woj bombs coming through over the last week, it's been insane. We're going to fly through this a little bit. We're going to start with the NBA draft, move on to free agency and off season moves. And then we're doing a little tradition that we have here in the States called Thanksgiving. We're just going to talk about what we're thankful for, for British basketball, basketball in general, which Skylar will see at, which I'm excited for later on. To start with, NBA draft. Let's go through the top 10 picks just to put everything in context here. Number one, Anthony Edwards goes to the Timberwolves. Two, James Wiseman, Golden State Warriors. Three, LaMelo Ball, Charlotte Hornets. Patrick Williams, number four, to the Chicago Bulls.

Brian Bosche:
Isaac Okoro to the Cleveland Cavaliers, number five. Onyeka Okongwu going to the Atlanta Hawks at number six. Killian Hayes going to the Detroit Pistons. Skylar, good pickup there at number seven.

Skylar Smith:
Thank you, thank you.

Brian Bosche:
Obi Toppin going to the New York Knicks at number eight. Deni Avdija, hopefully I'm pronouncing that right, Washington Wizards at number nine. And Jalen Smith going to the Suns at number 10. As we've talked about before, this is not one of the most exciting drafts we've had over the last few decades, but there were still some fun throughout the draft. What do you think about these top three picks, James? Let's focus in on just the top three picks because I think those, it was a three-pick draft. What are some of your initial thoughts there?

James Green:
Yeah, absolutely. I think here in the UK, first of all, you don't hear as much about the college game or high school game, like it is in the States. It's a shame. I'd love to see that come over here more because college basketball is so good. It's such a high quality.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, it's so fun.

James Green:
It's unbelievable. And it's so much fun. Last year we were excited by Zion and obviously Ja Morant just lit it up. He's literally one of my favorite players in the NBA right now as well. This year, look, Anthony Edwards. Now, my first thoughts, talented, raw. And then I watched his interview on ESPN and it just made me question things, like-

Brian Bosche:
I love where this is going.

James Green:
First of all, he needs some new advisors. Second of all, he's not really a basketball fan.

Skylar Smith:
He hates it.

James Green:
Who comes out and says, just before the draft, “Yeah. I'm not really a fan of basketball.” At first, you're the number one draft pick. It was a staggering statement. And one that if I was say, a Timberwolves fan right now, I'd be a little bit concerned about. I hope it was just maybe a slip of the tongue and it wasn't anything too serious, but there's been a couple of little questions about him about whether he switched on at times and he switches off. To me, that shows that he's not actually overly interested in what he's doing. Look, whether that will change being part of an NBA setup, I don't know. He is raw. He is young. I don't think we should be expecting a season like Ja Morant in the first season. I don't think that's ever going to happen, but he could be one to watch, but there's a lot of question marks in my opinion.

Brian Bosche:
Concerning. I'm going to throw it to Skylar because she had some pretty hot Anthony Edwards takes on draft night. Skylar, what do you think of the number one pick?

Skylar Smith:
I think there are so many red flags with Anthony Edwards and I'm obsessed with him. I think it's so funny.

Brian Bosche:
Skylar just lives for the drama.

Skylar Smith:
I do.

Brian Bosche:
She wants him to be like, “I'm really trying to be an NFL player and my path there is through the NBA.”

James Green:
[crosstalk 00:05:33].

Skylar Smith:
And he truly, he loves football. He truly like-

Brian Bosche:
American football.

Skylar Smith:
American football, sorry. He is truly just so incredibly athletic. And it's going to take a lot of work for him to get, to be like an all-star A, a really contributing player in the NBA. And so we'll see if he even wants to put in that work, but I am honestly instituting an Anthony Edwards beef watch with Damian Lillard. Did you guys see he dissed Dame's rap? He dissed his rap game.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah. He's like, “I'm a real rapper.” Yeah. He's like, “I'm the real rapper.”

Skylar Smith:
Yeah. He said, “I'm a real rapper. I rap like Lil Baby.” Which for people over the age of 25, I'm sure hated that statement because Lil Baby is very, I think he's very age specific for like Gen Zers, maybe young [crosstalk 00:06:26].

Brian Bosche:
Or if you're on TikTok. I know Lil Baby.

Skylar Smith:
I'm not saying you don't know him, Brian. I think he's a very-

Brian Bosche:
Don't call me old.

Skylar Smith:
It's a younger rap, but yeah. I think we might see a Dame-Anthony Edwards beef, and I'd love it. I'd love to see them get into, they are dropping dis tracks back and forth. I'd love that.

James Green:
Why is it always beef around Damian Lillard?

Skylar Smith:
Honestly, I feel like-

Brian Bosche:
That's a great question.

Skylar Smith:
I feel like Dame and I are like kindred spirits in that he also just loves the drama, but he doesn't actually take it seriously. He was just on Twitter saying like, “You guys blew up that Russell Westbrook beef, there's not actually any beef. We just both like to compete really hard against each other.”

Brian Bosche:
I think there is beef.

Skylar Smith:
I think he plays into it and he uses it as motivation, but he's like pretty chill about it.

James Green:
Do you think Damian Lillard is like a giant spoon just like stir in it and-

Skylar Smith:
Yeah, exactly.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah.

James Green:
We've thrown it from the bowl. We're just watching it all happen.

Skylar Smith:
Yeah.

Brian Bosche:
He is a under six foot point guard star in the league that was not at a top D1 school top program. He's going to have a chip on his shoulder, his whole career. And I love that.

Skylar Smith:
Small market.

Brian Bosche:
He has had to have that the whole time. Small market, well it's just everything's stacked against them. Also, just think of yourself, like your photo when you're in 17, 18 and then just compare that to Anthony Edwards. It's just not fair. These people are not humans. They're literally the monsters. He's got like a 60 inch vertical. He's 215 pounds of muscle. That's just a side note. Let's move on to James Wiseman. He was my favorite pick of the draft. I think he is a steal at the Warriors. I think he's such a good fit there. They are able to take a little bit more risk, but they lost Klay Thompson to a season ending injury, which is just, I love Klay. I don't think you'll find anyone who hates Klay that's an NBA fan and just such a loss, but I think Wiseman fits in really well. James, what did you think of the Wiseman pick?

James Green:
Yeah, no, I agree with you. I think it's a great pickup by the Warriors. I think it just fits what they need right now. To me is a real talent, 7'1. He's quick. He's fast.

Brian Bosche:
Seven, six wingspan.

Skylar Smith:
Insane.

James Green:
It's just insane. These players have been built completely different nowadays, aren't they? He looks a real, real talent. He'll learn so much from what the Warriors have got the experience they've got around the side. Klay Thompson's a huge miss. I felt the same as you. I was absolutely devastated. I love watching him play. As an NBA fan to watch somebody who can shoot a ball so smoothly so quickly like he does. He's just a good guy, isn't he? He's a nice guy. And the last we saw of him play, he goes off the field with what was an ACL injury. And then come back on just to actually hit a couple of free throws, so he had to go back off again. He's just a nice guy who wants to play ball.

James Green:
It's just so unfortunate. Life's not fair sometimes, is it? We really want to see the best players compete. Look, the Warriors be happy, I think a Wiseman is a really good pick for them. I think he's going to be a real talent as long as he's nurtured through as he should be. Yeah. I think it's a good steal for the Warriors. Ultimately the Timberwolves were never going to pick him up because-

Brian Bosche:
No, not a good fit there.

James Green:
It's not a good fit for there. For the Warriors, yeah, they've done really well. I love that.

Brian Bosche:
And think of being Wiseman, you know you're a little bit more raw. You're obviously physically gifted and athletic, but you still need to improve on your actual skillset. And then you just drop to the Warriors at number two, into a system that is just there to support. You have the best shooters in the world. You have all of the technology. God, he must've been thrilled. What did you think of this pick, Skylar?

Skylar Smith:
Yeah. I agree with everything you both have already said. This one made a lot of sense to me, just because of the kind of culture fit. Obviously he makes a lot of sense within the team, they could use him, but I think of the Golden State Warriors as a really culture-oriented team. It seems like they really want to foster a culture where their teammates really care about each other and the coaches really care about all the players and they really trust each other. You can tell that it's just, Steve Kerr's a good guy, and Steph Curry's a good guy and Klay Thompson is a good guy. You can tell with them. And James Wiseman was one of the people in this draft that was considered a sure thing personality-wise. He's a good kid, he's got good grades. He's got a good head on his shoulders. Yeah, this pick makes a lot of sense to me.

Brian Bosche:
I'm excited too.

James Green:
I love that fact that you were talking there, me and Brian were just nodding away, nodding away.

Brian Bosche:
YouTube video, like good point, good point.

James Green:
It literally was, wasn't it?

Brian Bosche:
And let's go to LaMelo.

Skylar Smith:
I love it. Hype me up.

Brian Bosche:
Hype Skylar up, the Duchess of Hoops. LaMelo Ball, I'm going to say this now, he is not mellow. He does not deserve it. He has not earned it. Carmelo Anthony James, if you don't know this, Carmelo's my favorite player. He dropped to us at the Nuggets when I was at my formative years and I couldn't have been more thrilled. Thank you, Skylar, for the Pistons taking not Carmelo at number two.

Skylar Smith:
You are so welcome.

Brian Bosche:
Love that draft. LaMelo Ball going to the Hornets. My theory is that Michael Jordan wanted to put a big Air Jordan logo on him just to big fuck you to Big Baller Brand and to Puma who had just signed him for like $100 million. James, what do you think about this pick other than the branding opportunity?

James Green:
First of all, I think he's the type of character that will be really annoyed. He'll be so annoyed. His whole family will be annoyed. LaVar will be annoyed. He's number three and not number one. I think that will actually put a chip on his shoulder. Look, this kid and that family, they're must watch TV. They're like the basketballs equivalent of the Kardashians, aren't they?

Skylar Smith:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

James Green:
You can't get your eyes off them, you never know what's happening next, but break it down. This kid's a talent. He's very, very good. The one thing they're going to be so excited to watch because you're just going to want to watch and see what he does. This is a player that, let's be honest doesn't really care about the defensive end, which he's going to have to change if he wants to succeed in the NBA. Attacking-wise, he's just fearless. He's scary. And he's 6'7. He's 6'7.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah. I didn't realize he was so tall. When did he get that tall?

James Green:
I'm sure he said when he was a freshman or maybe a sophomore in high school or something, he's 5'10 and then just lept up-

Brian Bosche:
He just blew up.

James Green:
… a year later or something, but 6'7. He's tall. He is talented. He's super confident. Look, it's just going to be an interesting, what I like about him, I like he's taken a very unique journey into the NBA. I like the fact he went out and played in Lithuania, really, really tough European basketball. He then goes over and plays adult basketball, proper men's basketball in Australia. So, he's not going to be afraid of anything. I think one thing though, he's going to be just great to watch, but maybe the good-

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, super fun.

James Green:
… and maybe the bad as well.

Brian Bosche:
I can't wait for these turnovers. It's going to be so fun [crosstalk 00:13:27] for context that he played against the Lions, I think a couple of years ago, the London Lions in the BBL, and he put up like 46 points on the London Lions or something. He's going to be really talented.

James Green:
He said as a sophomore he put up 92 points in one game.

Brian Bosche:
Did you see that though? I hated those highlights so much.

Skylar Smith:
How is that even possible?

Brian Bosche:
It's a shot every time. You're right, most people can't score 92 points, even if they score every time. That's incredible.

James Green:
I'm still trying.

Brian Bosche:
Skylar, what'd you think of this LaMelo pick? I almost slipped up and [inaudible 00:13:59].

Skylar Smith:
You always did it yourself. I had a feeling LaMelo was going to come to Detroit for some reason. I was a little nervous about it. He has a lot of connections to Detroit. He like Jermaine Jackson was his trainer and he has all these connections to Detroit. I'm very happy that he went to the Hornets. I didn't want all that drama, to be honest, even though it would have been great for the Pistons. What can you say about LaMelo ball that hasn't already been said? Honestly, I feel like [crosstalk 00:14:32] so much truly.

Brian Bosche:
He's one of the most covered picks of all time. Yeah.

Skylar Smith:
I am excited. To your point, James, I am excited that we're going to start seeing all these different players taking different paths to the NBA. It's not just going to be college anymore. It's really exciting to see like the G League developing and having that become an option. And we talked a lot last, during the Bubble about how players like Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson just looked terrified in that final series. You can tell that it was their first series and all of a sudden they're playing against LeBron. And I think LaMelo is going to be a lot more prepared for situations like that because he has been in those leagues. It'll be really cool to see. I'm very excited to see how LaVar Ball fucks with Gordon Hayward from the sidelines.

Brian Bosche:
All right. Let's dive into other parts of the draft. We're going to do, who made the best pick. I'm going to throw out some of the nominees. You guys can tell me who you think it is, or you can bring in a new nominee if you want. These are my nominees that I came up with; Wiseman to the Warriors, Okongwu to the Hawks, Obi Toppin to the Knicks, [Bertans 00:15:45] to the Spurs. And I'm also going to throw Skylar all up here and say Killian Hayes to the Pistons.

Skylar Smith:
If you weren't going to put it in, I was going to.

Brian Bosche:
Was that your pick, Skylar?

Skylar Smith:
That's my pick.

Brian Bosche:
Best pick? Killian Hayes to the Pistons?

Skylar Smith:
We made a good pick.

Brian Bosche:
It was a competent pick, which is impressive for the Pistons.

Skylar Smith:
Yeah, so satisfied with this draft for the Pistons.

Brian Bosche:
What do you think, James?

James Green:
Are you satisfied because he's a guard and you haven't got any [inaudible 00:16:11]?

Brian Bosche:
Wait, you can win with five centers.

James Green:
We might see-

Brian Bosche:
We'll get into that later.

Skylar Smith:
We'll get into that later.

James Green:
I think it's a good pickup. Honestly, I really do. It's hard to look past James Wiseman really. I just really struggled. I was looking, I was researching. Like I said, here in the UK we don't get to see these players as regularly. For me, as for my background, I just love reading and researching and reading different articles, reading journalist, reading experts. What are they saying? What's everybody saying? And trying to piece everything together, as best as I can. Wiseman though looks the real pick. Obi Toppin looks a good fit. And what I like about Obi Toppin is that, what we're seeing now, so many players coming into the NBA as a freshmen coming in 19. One year in college and that's it. They go straight into the draft. Obi Toppin hasn't done that. I think, didn't he sit to waive the draft last year or he thought about it and didn't get much?

Skylar Smith:
Yeah, I think so.

James Green:
There wasn't anything going on, so he decided to wait a year. He waited a year, worked on his game. He's big, he's strong, he's athletic. What I like about him is, I feel like he's NBA-ready. Do you know what I mean? I think some of these other players are going to take-

Brian Bosche:
[inaudible 00:17:26].

James Green:
Absolutely. I think some of these other players are going to take a little bit of time, a little bit of patience to get going. This is a player to me who, all intents and purposes will be able to just play minute straightaway away, big minutes as well and it won't affect him at all. I think he's got real potential, it could be a good pick.

Brian Bosche:
Obi Toppin good. And did you see in the interview, he couldn't dunk until he was at sophomore junior in high school? It was like a really slow development, which he's known for his dunking. He was a slower developer. On your point on, there's not much data on these players. You're absolutely right. Most of us in the States, we wait until March Madness in that tournament to see who really stands out. We didn't get March Madness this year. We didn't get any workout videos with anyone. It was a real mystery and we didn't get to see the players, unfortunately. And it took away the opportunity for a lot of them to go on that national stage at March Madness.

James Green:
Which means it's going to be a bit of a mystery come this season. And that's where it's exciting because we can make our predictions, but we really don't know who's going to take it by the scarf of the neck and really start to perform out there, which is exciting.

Brian Bosche:
It is, yeah. Let's do that. Let's do steal of the draft. I think you'll see some of these lower first round picks, second round picks be like, “Oh wow, they're an actual contributor. They're going to be a good NBA player.” And we just didn't know because we didn't have that time to assess. I'm going to pull out some more nominees here. Again, Okongwu to the Hawks, Killian Hayes to the Pistons, Tyrese Haliburton to the Kings who fell a lot further than a lot of people thought. And then I'm just going to throw one in for me, R.J Hampton to the Nuggets, who was previously, top five draft pick and then went to the Breakers in New Zealand and didn't perform as well. So, dropped. What do we think? Skylar, what do you think the steal of the draft was? You can't say Killian Hayes.

Skylar Smith:
Yeah. What if I just said I'm again?

Brian Bosche:
We're not allowing it.

Skylar Smith:
I personally don't think like, can it be a steal at number seven?

Brian Bosche:
It can, yeah.

Skylar Smith:
I don't know if that's possible.

Brian Bosche:
Micheal Jordan dropped to seven, that's a steal.

Skylar Smith:
Sure. I guess that's fair. Tyrese Haliburton was pretty shocking to me that he dropped so far. Going into that draft, I had talked myself into wanting the Pistons to pick him. And so when we got to him and we took Killian, I was like, “Okay, happy with that.” And then figured he was going next at nine or at 10, and then he just kept dropping. I think that Kings got a real steal with Tyrese Haliburton. Although the fact that he dropped that far, may mean that there's something that we aren't seeing, that they are seeing. Who knows, could be the steal, but maybe not. And shout out, R.J Hampton. Brian, you really picked up a good one there.

Brian Bosche:
The Nuggets, we get a lot of good ones. That's my pick, R.J Hampton. We get Ball, Ball. We get Michael Porter Jr., regardless of his belief in masks and politics. We get a lot of steals in the drafts. I think we got another steal here. What do you think, James?

James Green:
I've gone for again, pronunciation apologies, Deni Avdija.

Brian Bosche:
Is that Avdija, Avdija?

Skylar Smith:
You nailed it.

Brian Bosche:
I think it's Avdi. I think you're right.

James Green:
Avdija, we'll say that anyway, a European player, first Israeli to be drafted as high as that as well into the NBA. Fantastic. He's looks a real player. Again, I'm going on my research. I'll go in on what I've read, what I've watched, everything like that, but I really like him. He looks a real talent. 6'10, really fiery. And what I like about these young lads coming through that they've got that competitiveness about them and that's what you need in the NBA. And he's really got that. He looks a real good prospect for the Wizards. I could see it somewhere else afterwards. I might see him at the Lakers at some point. He's got that about him. And I really liked that. I think he's going to be a really good pick actually. I think he's going to be one to watch. I think he'll make a real big difference over there.

Brian Bosche:
Are the Pistons-

Skylar Smith:
[crosstalk 00:200:12:17] iconic backdrop.

Brian Bosche:
Oh my gosh. The wine bottles.

Skylar Smith:
Just so much wine.

Brian Bosche:
Just a wall full of wine.

James Green:
Beautiful, goodness, which is what [crosstalk 00:21:26]-

Brian Bosche:
I also love that he has the basketball pedigree with his dad being a top Israeli player. The Pistons and Wizards being competent in a draft? What year is it?

Skylar Smith:
Shocking.

Brian Bosche:
It's 2020.

Skylar Smith:
It's 2020.

Brian Bosche:
All right. Those are some good steals. Like I said, I think we'll see a lot of the first round or second rounders come out and show that they are NBA-ready where in past years, we get a lot of them dropping off. Let's go to worst pick. My nominee, Patrick Williams in Chicago. That's all I got.

Skylar Smith:
That's your sole nominee?

Brian Bosche:
That's my sole nominee. What a crazy pick. I don't think he even started in college.

James Green:
He's a sick man.

Skylar Smith:
It's weird. Very weird.

Brian Bosche:
Fourth overall.

Skylar Smith:
Seems like a lovely lad, by the way. I think whenever you've mention a worst pick, not just, I'm going to be Mr. Nice here, but I'm going to be Mr. Nice. It doesn't mean they're not bad kids. It means that franchises are either picking or a bit of a strange one. Look, it is a strange pick. I'm really surprised. I feel I had an opportunity to get somebody who's a bit more ready and a bigger impact, who's a bit more of a franchise player. Just these bizarre. Like I said, lovely lad. I hope he proves us all wrong and he's going to come up flying, but I don't know. Number four pick and don't know, not sure.

Brian Bosche:
I say bad pick because if you're the bowls, you don't have to grab him at four trade down. He will still be on the board. Just from the logistics standpoint, you don't have to go up and get. If you know that's your guy and you believe it, that's great. He could be a great player. Like you said, he could be a great person, but you don't have to spend your fourth pick on it. Try to get some assets from it. You can take advantage of that because you know he's going to fall. No one's going to move up the draft to pick him. That was my definition of bad picks. Did you have anyone else, Skylar?

Skylar Smith:
No, I think that's it. I'm with you.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah. That was wild. Was he the … I think, yeah, his mom owns the flower shop and he was the driver.

Skylar Smith:
Was that him?

Brian Bosche:
Yeah. And he was [crosstalk 00:23:25]-

Skylar Smith:
Oh my God. That was … Can we move on to best family moment?

Brian Bosche:
Yes, we can.

Skylar Smith:
Because I'm really excited for that.

Brian Bosche:
Okay. Here's best family moment. I have a bunch of nominees. It's Patrick Williams driving around with his mom's flowers from the mom flower shop. I had the wall of wine with Deni Avdija. I loved that. Tyrese Haliburton and his dad making adorable TikTok videos together. I thought that was great.

James Green:
What a suit he had on [crosstalk 00:23:52].

Skylar Smith:
Incredible suit.

James Green:
Unbelievable.

Brian Bosche:
Seriously. Cole Anthony to the Magic. His mom made a film about him in 2013. His mom's a filmmaker, incredible story. And he rose over the last seven years to be a draft pick. That one was amazing. And then this is just a fun one. Bruce Pearl just stranded on the side of the highway, talking about Isaac Okoro going to the Cavs, that was hilarious. Not a family moment, but a coach is kind of in your family. And why is he on the side of the highway? So, those are my nominees. Skylar, what was your favorite one?

Skylar Smith:
My favorite was Patrick Williams and the flower shop, his mom's flower shop. I think I just loved all of the moms' stories this year, in general. I just want more interviews with moms and more moms stories and less just insane trauma to these players. I was getting so sick of hearing like, “This player just got drafted here. This is the best day of his life.” Okay. Your brother got hit by a bus 12 years ago. Then two years later, your dad died. Tell us about that. This was supposed to be the best day of their lives and they just make them talk about their worst traumas. And I never understand it. I guess it's the romanticism of their overcoming this, but I feel like in general it just makes everyone feel like shit. And so I just don't really know why they do it.

Brian Bosche:
James, you've been in TV. Why do they do this? You might have a good perspective on this.

James Green:
I think they do it because it pulls with your emotional strengths. And that's it.

Brian Bosche:
[crosstalk 00:25:20] try to find it?

James Green:
To be honest, I'm watching those videos and I'm going as soon as I talk about what are the places brother died is skateboard accident, you just go.

Skylar Smith:
That one was broad.

Brian Bosche:
That was brutal.

Skylar Smith:
Yeah.

James Green:
I understand. Yes. Maybe we should be focusing on different stuff, but it's all about storytelling. You know reality TV, you know what it's like in America. It's probably more different levels of what it is like in the UK, but it's about pulling on heartstrings. It's grabbing their attention, making us really emotionally invested in these stories and in these players. And that's why they do it. Look, I like it personally. I like to get that emotion. I like to feel that emotion. I like to feel right. I really want them to do well because they've had something challenging in their lives .

Brian Bosche:
Trauma in their past.

James Green:
I'll tell you, maybe I'm a softie. All right. And anybody who knows me will tell me I'm a softie. For me the story for me was Cole Anthony. I felt the little bonus video. It's unbelievable how this video could be creative. This young lad who, by the way was at that age so confident. “Yeah. I'll just get into the MBA and spend quite a few years there.” He was so relaxed like that's just going to happen.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, that was amazing.

James Green:
And it has happened. Unbelievable. Really, really cool story. I like that.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, that was a really fun moment. I think my favorite one was, it's tough because the TikTok one really gets me. I'm a big TikTok guy, James, if you don't know that.

James Green:
You've mentioned TikTok about eight times since we started [inaudible 00:26:54]. I'm still struggling to understand what it is, but I'm sure it's my age.

Brian Bosche:
I'm going with the wine wall, Deni Avdija, wine wall. Love to see it. That was probably what we talked about most on Draft Night, Skylar.

Skylar Smith:
Yeah.

Brian Bosche:
I loved it. All right, great draft talk. Let's move on to free agency because there's a lot to cover. We're going to start, we're going to section this out. We're going to go team by team. I'm going to start with the contenders, go into the challengers, go into the up-and-comers and then go into the Pistons who are at the bottom of the [crosstalk 00:27:21].

Skylar Smith:
Brian, you put them in the up-and-comers. Can't go back on it now.

Brian Bosche:
They were just below the up-and-comers. I just didn't subsection, I'm sorry.

Skylar Smith:
We're an up-and-comer. You can't create a new section for us, Brian. It's too mean.

Brian Bosche:
James, we're going to throw you a little softball here. We're going to start with the Lakers because they are the champions, they deserve it. Somehow they got better. I'll run through the moves.

Skylar Smith:
It's so annoying.

Brian Bosche:
It's so annoying. We did a whole NBA teams. If you're watching this YouTube video, James is … I hate James's face right now.

Skylar Smith:
It's so smug.

Brian Bosche:
We did an NBA teams guide leading up to the season and every single team when we were going through the history, their best player left for the Lakers, every single one through history. We just got so annoyed and it's happening again. Let's go through these moves, Marc Gasol, two-year deal, unbelievable signing. You got Trez, KCP is staying. You brought on Dennis Schröder, you brought on Wesley Matthews. You lost your JaVale McGee, Dwight Howard, which were fan favorites. Danny Green is gone. Rondo's gone, but you almost upgraded at every position. James, you can gloat if you want. The floor is yours. What do you think of all these news?

James Green:
One thing I'm happy. I could gloat a lot actually. It's quite surprising actually. First of all, it's surprising. I didn't expect there to be so many moves.You win a championship, a lot of teams rest on what got them there and that's pretty much it. And it's actually quite, it's refreshing to see the Lakers going you know what, “People will catch up to us if we play the same way with the same team, what we're going to do is mix it up and change it.” And change it half there. Oh my God. When Dennis Schröder, when that was announced, I was so excited. I'm such a huge fan of his. I think he's just [crosstalk 00:29:05].

Brian Bosche:
Yes. Amazing last year.

James Green:
He's numbers improved so much last year. He will really take the pressure off LeBron, especially in the regular season. LeBron's minutes can probably drop probably more than it's ever dropped, I would say now, but Schröder can step into that place no problem at all [crosstalk 00:29:21]-

Brian Bosche:
Because he was that six man last year. Just came in as play-maker. He could take over the game.

James Green:
And he's the runner up six man of the year, last year. But how do we bet that? Well, we're going to get the rain [crosstalk 00:29:32]. That was just, I couldn't quite believe that happened.

Brian Bosche:
The Clippers were shocked.

James Green:
The Clippers were shocked. Good. That's a shame, but what a pick up that is. It's a nation player, strong defensively, a winner. The one thing I will say, the only slight negative, I will say, and the smallest negative, which I guess intrigued to see how it's going to work is how the personalities are going to mix together. One thing everybody in the Lakers talked about last season was how they all got on with each other. The atmosphere around the squad was great. You saw him on the sidelines. JaVale, Dwight Howard, even Quinn Cook was a big part of that as well. Those players are gone now. Where does that personality come from? It's going to be interesting, but I'd never expected us to be in this position right now.

Brian Bosche:
It's amazing. Do you think AD is going to re-sign?

James Green:
Absolutely. No doubt whatsoever.

Brian Bosche:
That would be the last domino. Just AD is out to the Nuggets.

James Green:
Imagine if he does, imagine if he doesn't sign, it goes-

Skylar Smith:
AD to the Pistons.

James Green:
AD to the Pistons.

James Green:
Well they need another center. It might work. Yeah, AD will sign, I think it's just.

Brian Bosche:
He's just waiting.

James Green:
He will sign, there's no doubt it. He's got another ring dangling in front of him really. Yeah I'm smug, I am happy. I don't care because I've seen the Lakers in some bad places over the last 10 years, so I'm okay with it. I'm pretty happy.

Brian Bosche:
All right. Cry me a river, James.

Skylar Smith:
Yeah, Lakers always want us to feel bad for them for the past 10 years. And guess what? We don't. I'm a Pistons fan. I do not feel bad for you.

James Green:
LeBron got injured two years ago, feel bad for us.

Skylar Smith:
Oh, tough.

James Green:
It was awful.

Skylar Smith:
So tough.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, he just that back muscle just really goes in year 15. I was born in Newport Beach, James, so I grew up in Lakers territory. Kobe would fly over in his helicopter to go to games. And so I liked the Lakers, it's just unfair. And I think Pelinka saw he's like what? I'm the seventh. I think he came in seventh in the GM voting best GM of the year. And he's like, “I'm going to win that next year.”

Skylar Smith:
It was insane.

James Green:
By the way, that was ridiculous. It's almost like because that where the Lakers are and everyone comes to the Lakers, it's almost unfair, but you still need a GM to try and put the pieces together and he certainly did. That made no sense to me at all, but I'm not going to cry about that at all.

Brian Bosche:
But this year he is like, “You know what? I'm going to upgrade every position on a championship team.” Skylar.

James Green:
He's not finished yet.

Brian Bosche:
No, there's still more moves. What do you think, Skylar? Terrified?

Skylar Smith:
I'm scared of this team. This is a scary team. I mean, this is what we would expect. After a team wins a championship, you expect the lower guys to go and get more money elsewhere. They suddenly are valued a lot higher. I was expecting a lot of these guys to leave. I was not expecting the Lakers to just upgrade them in every position. That's really scary. I love that Marc Gasol is continuing the Gasol legacy in LA as a Laker. Plus Powell still lives in LA and he just had a newborn baby. Marc can go hang out with his little-

Brian Bosche:
The Gasol family. So cute.

James Green:
[crosstalk 00:32:46] I think it's a nice. That's fun. I am really excited to talk about Trez and the Clippers because I think this is going to be a fun season whenever they play.

Brian Bosche:
That's my next, the Clippers next contender having the Lakers had the off season, the Clippers wanted. They've lost Trez, but they brought on Serge Ibaka, Marcus Morris re-signed, they brought on Patrick Patterson. They've been making some moves. There was a report this morning. This is Monday, November 23rd that they have something up their sleeve. Maybe they're just overcompensating because it hasn't gone well so far. James, what do you think about these Clippers moves?

James Green:
I'd be interested to see what's up their sleeve.

Brian Bosche:
But trading Paul George [crosstalk 00:33:25], I don't know what else they can do.

Skylar Smith:
The Pistons also have something up their sleeves guys.

Brian Bosche:
The Nuggets have something up their sleeve.

James Green:
So did the Lakers too. It's great. Do you know what I love about the Clippers? Because it's proper rivalry and I love that.

Brian Bosche:
[inaudible 00:33:39].

James Green:
I love that in sport. Yeah, nowadays it's great, it's how it should be and I really love it. I love to hate them as well. I hate Patrick Beverley, really hate him. He plays like Clippers. It makes it even better. Look, I think Serge Ibaka is a huge signing for them actually. I've got to say that losing Trez would have been a big shop, but fair play to them for quickly, jumping up and getting Ibaka in]. I've really liked him, I think he's a really talented player, he's good on both ends of the floor. Is it enough for them? The problem is you mentioned Paul George. George just almost declining, he's just going nowhere. Isn't he? He is not really at that level that people what everybody expected. Is there anything to be afraid of? I don't think there is. I don't think they're really better than they were last year, unless they've got something under their sleeve. I don't know.

Brian Bosche:
Skylar is a big Serge Ibaka fan. Not as much as the queen of hoops, my wife, who is obsessed with Serge Ibaka and his cooking channel and his fashion. Skylar, what do you think of this move?

Skylar Smith:
I do love Serge Ibaka. I think this is actually a great move. Last year it just seemed like, I think, okay, this is a very not basketball reason for why I think this is a great move. I think this is a great move because Kawhi literally hated everyone on the Clippers last year. And now he has a friend again.

Brian Bosche:
That is true. The culture building, I forgot about that, that they were good friends.

Skylar Smith:
No, Serge and Kawhi are really good friends. Serge was like one of the ones who would like make Kawhi personality come out in Toronto when everyone was like calling him a robot and whatever. They actually get along really well. And you could tell last year that Kawhi didn't really have a ton of friends that didn't really like that team and there was real team chemistry problems. Maybe that's a start.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, that's a good point.

James Green:
Skylar, nobody liked the Clippers last year, nobody.

Brian Bosche:
Not even the Clippers.

James Green:
Not even themselves.

Skylar Smith:
It's true.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah. That was sad to see. Let's go over to the East because we still have a lot, so many moves. We're going to go Milwaukee Nets. Milwaukee, they got Jrue Holiday. They gave up a ton of assets to get Jrue . They got Bogdanovic for like a half of a second, but didn't get him. And so they've gotten Jrue Holiday, Torrey Craig, DJ Augustin, Bobby Portis. Not the biggest names, but they're still there. They're hanging around. They got Jrue to shore up that point guard spot, especially on the defensive end. And then the Nets brought on Jeff Green, Jeff Green's what, 75th team that he's now on just the Jeff Green carousel. They brought back Joe Harris and it seems like they have a lot more moves to make. But what do you think of this Eastern conference movement? Skylar let's start with you.

Skylar Smith:
It's pretty boring.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, sure. James, over to you.

James Green:
Can't really have more than that. It's very mundane.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah. Jrue gave up a lot. I think that's the story. Milwaukee gave up [crosstalk 00:36:34] Jrue.

James Green:
Let's go back to the West. I think the Bucks, I think I'd be really concerned wouldn't you? You try entice Giannis to sign again. Is that going to make him commit? I don't think so. Yes, he's got to the end of December start mid-December. Not too long to make a decision and make sure. That to me just signals everything, it signals he's off. Don't know where he's going to go. The moves are okay, like you said. There'll be up there in the East no doubt about it, but they improved from last year. Really?

Brian Bosche:
I don't know.

Skylar Smith:
Nye.

James Green:
Just think it's a bit nye. That's a good noise, Skylar. Do that again.

Skylar Smith:
Nye.

James Green:
That's the one.

Brian Bosche:
Nets, I think have more moves to make. I would love to see Harden there, but we won't cover that on this podcast, but they haven't made that many yet. Joe Harris is a big pickup, but it seems like we'll get some breaking news this week from the Nets. Let's go to the challengers. I have Warriors, Nuggets, Heat, Trail Blazers, Celtics, 76ers. Pretty big mix here. Let's just go through them quickly. Warriors obviously lost Klay for the season, which was tough. They signed Kelly Oubre. Obviously got Wiseman brought back, Kent Bazemore good signing. The Nuggets we lost Jerami Grant and Torrey Craig on the wing. We resigned to Millsap, even though he's 40. We brought in JaMychal Green. We're fine. I don't know we were a contender last year. We'll see what we do. The Heat brought on Maurice Harkless, Meyers Leonard, Dragic. Big pickup was Avery Bradley. They took him from the Lakers.

Brian Bosche:
Trail Blazers had a sneaky good off season bringing in Robert Covington, re-signed Melo, brought on Harry Giles, Rodney Hood, Kanter. Celtics lost Hayward, but kept Tatum for the long-term and brought in Tristan Thompson. 76ers brought on Dwight Howard, but still have a bunch of moves to make. We're just bombarded with all these moves. James, what stands out to you in this group of challenges?

James Green:
Honestly, trying to keep up with everything over the last few days, it's [crosstalk 00:38:28].

Brian Bosche:
Unbelievable.

James Green:
Literally every five minutes, there's something changes someone's going ever. I still don't even know where Trevor Ariza is. Is he on the move? Or has he gone to another country.

Brian Bosche:
Three times in one week.

Skylar Smith:
Pistons have had him for one day.

Brian Bosche:
Three trades in one week.

James Green:
Poor guy. And I really like him as well. Poor lad. And all those, I think there's still stuff to go on. The Heat, Avery Bradley, I think it was a good pickup. The Heat, I feel like are doing enough to just keep themselves in the picture this season, but next year they're waited to go big and that's where I think it's [crosstalk 00:39:01] freak could be a nice destination for him in Miami Sun. He would great over there. Wouldn't he? And that's what I see the Heat doing. Nuggets, I was going to ask you Brian, looked to me, I looked from the outside. I felt like you had a real good opportunity to improve that much more. And I don't know if you've done it.

Brian Bosche:
I think we've. My official position, which is not confirmed by the Nuggets is our team is super young still. We have Ball, Ball prospect, Michael Porter Jr., Jamal Murray, Jokic. We're all still young. Jokic I think it's 25, 26. Jamal Murray is still young.

James Green:
[inaudible 00:39:34] Jokic 25, [crosstalk 00:39:36].

Brian Bosche:
I have no idea. Lied on his birth certificate maybe. But I think we're still we're prepping for the next few years. We're not going all in right now. I think we're going to let LeBron retire and then make our move. I support that decision. Skylar, what stood out to you here?

Skylar Smith:
I think the Trail Blazers honestly had a really sneaky good off season. I am a tiny bit of a Rockets fun. Losing RoCo was really tough for me, but I think he'll be a great fit on this team. I loved that Melo resigned because he wanted to show Portland loyalty after they were the only ones to give him a chance, loved that. Kanter returns. I think the Trail Blazers could be actually sneaky good next season.

James Green:
Yeah. I think they've got some good picks up and they've really like strep for their squad. Their bench has got stronger experienced players in there who have been there. I think they're going to be ones to watch in the Western conference for sure. Really tricky team. I think they've done really well. I think that's a good spot.

Skylar Smith:
Also the 76ers have been interesting just with Daryl Morey there. It's been really interesting to see the moves he's been making.

Brian Bosche:
I'm waiting. He still got things up his sleeve, that's the Nets and the 76ers I'm still waiting on for them to make their big moves. I really like the Celtics bringing on Tristan Thompson. I thought that they haven't had that rim runner yet. I watched a lot of Tristan Thompson with the Cubs, obviously with LeBron there, but also worked for Dan Gilbert in that family of companies. I've spent a lot of time with the Cubs and he was just kind of hiding in Cleveland. And I think that him on the Celtics will unlock and show people how talented he is. I'm excited for that. And doubling down on Tatum, letting Hayward walk after a miserable three years or however long he was there not to his own fault. That injury was one of the most shocking ever.

James Green:
It was awful. Wasn't it? I feel for him. I'm really glad he got the move. I'm really glad he got paid to come back from that is really tough. It's a lot of money for him though.

Brian Bosche:
So much money, 120 million, right? Fully guaranteed.

James Green:
But where's all this money coming? Money coming everywhere at the moment. Let's not talk about what's happened to … Outright, please tell me and correct me if I'm wrong.

Brian Bosche:
Jordan Brad had a great year.

James Green:
Well, De'Aaron Fox. What about De'Aaron Fox?

Brian Bosche:
Yeah.

Skylar Smith:
Yeah.

James Green:
De'Aaron Fox. How has he been paid the max? I do not understand. I don't, I'm sorry. Maybe I'm going crazy here, but I don't understand one tiny little bit.

Brian Bosche:
He's fast, swipe at a fox. Let's go on to up-and-comers where I put them.

James Green:
Changed it. I just went there, I just went there.

Brian Bosche:
That's okay. Let's go there now. Up-and-comers, Atlanta making some moves. Brought on Rondo, Kris Dunn, Gallinari. The Suns, Chris Paul. This feels like old news at this point, but they brought on Chris Paul, Jae Crowder, Dario Saric. They just re-signed. Detroit brought on a bunch of centers; Okafor, Dedmon, Plumlee. I don't know what that strategy is, Skylar. New Orleans brought on Steven Adams. Skylar, is this true? You told me this yesterday. Zion is the oldest Pelican's player now.

Skylar Smith:
Not the oldest, the most tenured.

Brian Bosche:
Sorry, most tenured. Sorry. Oldest is the wrong. He's the most longest tenured. Everyone else was signed after he was drafted, which blew my mind.

James Green:
Wow. That's unbelievable.

Skylar Smith:
Isn't that weird?

James Green:
Yeah.

Brian Bosche:
Very strange.

James Green:
Really strange.

Brian Bosche:
Raptors brought on Fred VanVleet, Chris Boucher, Aron Baynes. We've got an Aron Baynes signing, which was great. The Knicks brought on Austin Rivers and Nerlens Noel, just the graveyard picks. Okay. Sin has everyone's first round picks for the next 10 years. Donovan Mitchell stayed in Utah. Fox stayed with the Kings. A lot happening, anything stand out to you, James with all of these different up-and-comers? Just kind of the bottom table of the league.

James Green:
Yeah. I'll move away from De'Aaron Fox. I don't know what the Kings are doing if I'm honest [crosstalk 00:43:29].

Brian Bosche:
Because they brought in Haliburton to who could replace Fox, it's puzzling

James Green:
I don't get what's going on there. What are they trying to accomplish? I'm really confused by that. They're almost like a franchiser, who cares.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah, that's how we feel in the States too.

James Green:
Oh, good.

Skylar Smith:
I literally would have never think about them.

Brian Bosche:
Very irrelevant, which is too bad,

James Green:
Yeah, it is. It's a shame, but they're irrelevant and for them to go, “Oh, we've got no other chance of anything else. We'll just give them the marks.” Just utterly bizarre. Okay. See, I'm waiting for it because it's coming. They're going to go one year. I'm not sure what year it's going to be. Maybe 2023 by the sound of it. They're going to go so big, they're going to create super team of everything. They're going to have so much to play with.

Brian Bosche:
So many assets.

James Green:
I'm really excited. When that happens, we're going to sit there in shock because they're going to announce they're going to sign LeBron. Magic Johnson's coming, Jordan's coming over, Larry Bird's coming back from retirement. They're all coming just to make this super team of OKC. Yeah, there's some exciting moves. It just mayhem. Honestly coming from the UK, we're not used to this. We get excited over the football or soccer transfer window when you get the odd player moves and it's oh-oh is a big move one player goes. It's every single year players are going all over the place and it's happening more and more in the NBA. It's so exciting. It's what makes the sport so great that one year this team could be great the next year another team could be great. It's just, it's brilliant. And it's been so exciting to try and keep up with everything exciting. Atlanta, big shout out to Atlanta. I think they've done really well. They needed to do something now. I think they made some solid moves. They're not going to be contenders by any stretch of imagination, but they should [crosstalk 00:45:22]-

Brian Bosche:
They're building.

James Green:
… to the playoff. They are building and they are building with the in my opinion really smart players. I think Gallinari is a solid pick. Rondo was fantastic for us in the playoffs last year. So, yeah to supplement Trae Young, who I still love watching what a great exciting player he is. Fantastic.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah. Good move, Sox. Skylar, anything to add?

Skylar Smith:
Yeah. I was going to say the same thing. I can't wait to see Rondo dressed, training up Trae Young. That's going to be really exciting to see. And I think the Suns are going to be fun this year. The Suns were fun in the bubble last year and they've only added more fun players that are going to really develop this team. I think Chris Paul works really well there, so really excited to see them too.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah. That's going to be a fun season. Let's finish off with Thanksgiving. Skylar, you want to set this one up?

Skylar Smith:
Yes. Okay, this week in the US it's Thanksgiving, even though Thanksgiving has a problematic past, we're still rolling with it. And there's a pandemic, so we can't see our families this year. Everything's fine, but we're still going to go with the spirit of Thanksgiving, which is being thankful for things. We're just going to go round Robin and say the one thing that we are thankful for in the basketball world this year and why. I'll start so that you guys can think about what you're thankful for.

Brian Bosche:
[crosstalk 00:46:44].

Skylar Smith:
I am thankful for the Boston Police checking on me every day.

Brian Bosche:
Skylar.

Skylar Smith:
Just kidding, just kidding.

Brian Bosche:
Why would you bring that up?

Skylar Smith:
Sorry.

Brian Bosche:
Gordon Hayward's wife. James, if you didn't see that.

Skylar Smith:
I'm actually thankful for Blake Griffin this year. I have a feeling-

Brian Bosche:
And every year.

Skylar Smith:
And every year. I have a feeling we're not going to be seeing too much of Blake Griffin in Detroit for too much longer. I have a feeling our time with him is very limited. And when he got traded to Detroit, I think a lot of people made a lot of jokes about he was in LA, he was playing for the Clippers. He's living in California and now he has to go live in Detroit. And that fucking sucks for him. And he's going to try to get out as soon as he can. And Blake Griffin has rejected all of that rhetoric. He has been very kind to Detroit. He's been very kind to Michigan. He always talks about how much he loves Detroit, how much he loves living here, how much he loves the fans and he didn't have to do that stuff. And so I'm just very thankful for him for being so kind to Detroit, giving us some fun times, even though he was injured, literally 90% of the time. And thank you, Blake Griffin. I will miss you, but also we need to get rid of you.

Brian Bosche:
Yeah. I've got a good one, not NBA related.

Skylar Smith:
Great.

Brian Bosche:
I'm thankful for the British basketball league, they just came out with their schedule for the season. I know a tremendous amount of work went into actually allowing them to have a full schedule and bring us the season with the pandemic and the lockdown and the government funding. Thank you BBL. You're giving us a fun season of British basketball, especially while we're waiting for the NBA to restart. I'm looking forward to that season. What about you, James?

James Green:
Both of them are really nice. And I can't believe I found somebody who really likes and respects Blake Griffin. It's amazing. Skylar.

Skylar Smith:
I will defend him.

James Green:
Good. Good for you. You should do as well. He needs defending a lot. I'm thankful for the bubble bringing Lakers success.

Brian Bosche:
I knew you were going to do [crosstalk 00:48:52].

James Green:
It's so easy. The bubble for me, the bubble was we were so fearful about what sport would look like globally last year when the pandemic hit, we didn't know what any sport was going to look like. Whether it was soccer in the UK, football in America, basketball. We just had no idea the bubble at the start, you going, “Oh, is it going to work? Is it not going to work?” The NBA and the players did an unbelievable job. And what I was so pleased to watch is that the level didn't drop, I still was so competitive. The games were so close and exciting and none of it seemed to be affected by the fact there wasn't a proper crowd in there. And I thought they just did an astonishing job to give basketball fans around the world some amazing action to what stuff that we'll never ever forget watching.

James Green:
We saw the unearthing of so many incredible young talent coming through who really got the opportunity to shine in a bubble. And of course, yes, I'm biased. The Lakers success. We were lined up to win a championship last year. They tried to mess us around with the pandemic but we overcame it. And I'm very thankful for that that I saw the Lakers with an NBA championship again.

Brian Bosche:
That's great. All right. Thanks so much for coming on James. We appreciate it.

James Green:
Loved it, guys. I'll speak to you soon.

Brian Bosche:
All right, bye.