#001 - Debut

In this episode of G'day MBA, the hosts introduce themselves and talk about their friendship and their love for basketball. They discuss the recent NBA Summer League and highlight some impressive rookies. They also mention the off-season trades and discuss their predictions for the upcoming season. The hosts mention some Australian players who performed well in the Summer League and express their hopes for Ben Simmons' success. They end the episode by sharing their top teams and their expectations for the playoffs. Hello and welcome to the first ever episode of G'day MBA, the debut, we are the home of the triple dribble, where there is constant banter and we take ill-advised shots. Before we start today's first podcast, we'll give a shout out to our sponsor, Boxed Out Breaks. Boxed Out Breaks is a reputable card breaking company here in Australia. Run and owned by a Celtics diehard, Aiden breaks Monday to Fridays nightly at a very reasonable price. Card breaking is an affordable way of collecting basketball cards with a chance of hitting rookie autos, veteran autos, game worn jersey patch cards and many more cool inserts. Be sure to check out Aiden on Facebook and don't forget to box out. Anyways, on with the show, I am your main co-host, Pat, I'm a Celtics fan with very little to no basketball playing experience, so take what I say with a grain of salt and joining me today is one of our few co-hosts that we have, Sean the Pigeon Donnan, myself and Sean, alright? How are you brother? Good brother, good, how are you going? Yeah good brahs, me and Sean have been best mates since we were about 10 years old, from back in the day of playing Wizards and Dragons in his dodge and yeah, nothing's really changed for you has it brother? Nah, bloody not at all mate, I'm just happy to be out here in sunny Belmont and yeah, who would have thought, 18 years of friendship and we wind up here shooting our first podcast together but fuck man, you couldn't do it better, best mate and yeah, let's see what happens, let's have a laugh along the way and yeah, let's do it. And listeners, we won't hold it against him but he is a Lakers fan, I'm a Celtics man, there's always banter in our group chats and that's another reason why we are starting this podcast, it's really bringing our group chats to life because there is plenty of banter, plenty of laughs and giggles from those group chats isn't there? I could hope Pidgey. Yeah, from the run that you boys actually went on, the Lakers, from being absolute dead shits, say mid-season, when you did make those deadline trades to tidy up the roster when you brought on Rui Hachimorra and who else did you bring on mid-year? Vanderbilt and then we got, who was the other fella that we shipped across too, good three point shoot up but dude, we honestly looked down and out, like if it wasn't for Rob Polinka doing his magic thing, yeah, who knows but I don't know, if you're not first, you're last in my opinion, so we got close baby but yeah, we couldn't get there, Nuggets are too good man, they're truly just freakish what they were able to do and Jokic, he looks like he's a bloody, a bin cleaner and he's just a freakish fastball player so, yeah dude. You're a local garbage man putting up triple doubles. Yeah, freak, freak. Yeah, so alright Shorno, it is the off-season in the NBA but we've just had the Summer League come and go which is a great opportunity for this year's rookies along with a few other fringe players looking to get those contracts to impress their new coaches, show what they have to offer really, try and grab a regular rotation spot. Just quickly, like the whole Summer League was based around the hottest prospects since LeBron James, Victor Wembenyama, you would have felt the weight of the world on his shoulders going into that first NBA Summer League game. 100%, so much pressure but yeah, let's see, let's see if he can live up to the hype, like yeah, as I was just mentioning before dude, he's a big bony man so let's hope he's not a Zion 2.0 and he can stay on the court but yeah, we'll wait to see what happens but yeah, he was impressive for sure. That's yeah, that's my only concern, in the first game he was really good defensively, he did like, you know, he was about 9 rebounds he got with 5 blocks but offensively 2 from 13 from the field. Quickly turned it around in the second game though where in 27 minutes he put up 27 points and 12 rebounds along with 3 blocks. Just nerves man, that first game I dare say, it's just nerves so, he's just going to get better and what a coach to be doing it under in pop like. Yeah, I think for any young rookie if there is a coach to be coached under, one on the list is pop. Then I'd be probably looking at Steve Kerr. So yeah, outside of the French freak, there were some other impressive rookies that took the stage. In Scoot Henderson, I'm pretty sure he only played the one game before he did have that shoulder injury but in the minutes that he did play, yeah, he was impressive and he can show that he can have that Portland team if, sorry, if not, it's not an if, it's when Dames does get traded. Yeah, yeah, that's right. But dude, he's athleticism like he's, yeah, the world's his oyster really. There's no ceiling on what he could become but yeah, again, just as long as he can stay fit and stay healthy, man, that's the whole game now in NBA. It's taking care of your body and your mind. It's not just how good you can be on the court. If you're not doing the right things outside of the game, then your career can be shortened. 100%. I'm sure Shard are kicking themselves over not picking him. Like, they want Brendan Miller number two and I'm still trying to work out why. His summer league was quite up and down, so yeah, we'll see what he's got to offer. Other special mentions, going out to the MVP of the summer league, Cam Whitmore, I'm pretty sure he was picked down at 14th from the Houston Rockets. I'm very interested to see what the Rockets are going to do this year. They spent a lot of money on Fred Van Fleet, getting him across and also Dylan Brooks. I think with basketball at the moment, dude, it's so hard because there's so many big numbers getting thrown and so many contracts that yeah, I'm the same. I'm always like, oh, what did that dude sign on for again? But yeah, it would be a huge amount. That's the NBA for you. Who else did we have? Oh yeah, shout out to the Cleveland Cavaliers who did take it out. Heavily led by Isaiah Mobley, brother of Evan. Yeah, he was incredible this summer league just gone. Their pick, I think it was the 49th pick in the draft, second round, Amoni Bates. Dude, he was incredible. Again, I know it's only the summer league, so yeah, you can't take much from it, but that's the only chance he's had to perform and so far he's showed out, that's for sure. He proved to be the steel of the draft. Yeah, 49th he went, wow. Yeah, 49th. Freakish. And what, did he get in the first team of the summer league? I think he might have, yeah. Yeah, right, wow. Yeah, I'm not going to lie, dude, I'm severely unprepared for this. I didn't watch bugger all summer league. I've been in the midst of moving back to Newcastle from a small country town and some other things in life has been taking my attention away, but yeah, you're all over it, so I'm just keen for the season to get kick-started, but we've got to wait until fucking October. I know, bro, I know. It's a bit of a tease, isn't it? It is, it is. There is plenty to talk about, though, which we'll get onto later. We'll talk about a few of the ins and outs and trades of the summer, but I will just quickly touch on the Aussie boys that were out in the summer league. Second year, New Orleans, Pelican, Dyson Daniels, he had a very impressive summer league, actually. One of the games he featured 17 points, 15 rebounds and 8 assists, so just short of that triple-double against the Warriors team. And then there was Xavier Cooks who did post a double-double for the Wizards, which I reckon he's a really good chance of getting solid rotational minutes this year for the Wizards. The fact they've lost Chris Stapps, they're really in a rebuilding period now for the Wizards. Yeah, yeah. Losing, like, Trading Beal, Paul Zingas as well. Yeah, yeah. He seems like such a well-rounded player. He's got it all. So, yeah, if he can get some minutes. Because who was he playing for? He was playing for Sydney Kings a couple of months ago. Yeah, Sydney Kings. Yeah, Sydney Kings, like, just recently. Wow. And he's, what, he'd be getting on like late 20s? Yeah, yeah, late 20s. Probably our age, mate. We're all getting on. We're not getting younger. So he's probably earned more in this last 12 months than he has in his whole career. Easily, yeah. You know what those contracts are like. 10-day contracts are fucking ridiculous. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah. Yeah, shout-out to him. And shout-out to the Aussie that won a Summer League ring, Luke Travers. Impressed in a number of games for the Cavs. Yeah, incredible. It's so good to see so many Aussies in the league now. Interested to see what Ben Simmons can do this year, whether he can turn it around after the last, say, 24 months, 18 to 24 months. Surely there's some head noise there. So, obviously, being an Aussie, yeah, it's been disappointing the way he's reacted to all the controversy in the last couple of years. But, yeah, you want to see him do well and find his feet again and get back to what he does best. But, yeah, that's just one to hope and see, I suppose. Yeah, yeah, of course. Alright, Shauna, we'll have a little look at the year ahead. But before we do, just give us your top team, your surprise packet and your disappointing... the team that you think that are expected to make the playoffs and they'll fall short. Give us your team from both the east and the west. So, from the west, dude, I think Nuggets are going to be hard to beat again. I do think losing Bruce Brown's massive, I think that's a huge, huge loss. Obviously, stoked for him to get a nice contract. But I just think they'll fine-tune what they've already been doing. And I think Joker's getting better and better. And I think those role players will just continue to do what they're doing. Jamal Murray back healthy. Let's see if he can play 80% of the games next year. If he can, dude, what type of team can they become? Agree, bro. From the east, that's a funny one. Obviously, I know you're a big Celtic supporter, so I can't bring them into the equation. Look, I think they'll do well. I think Jalen Brown's contract is fucking ridiculous. I don't know if you could say well-deserved, maybe, but this is a real test. He really needs to stand up and start doing something now. And who knows, he might not have to be the second fielder anymore. He could really take over that team and start running the show. But, yeah, Tatum's going to improve once again. I don't know. Honestly, I'm not going to give my opinion on the east because I'm not sure who will take it out. Obviously, Bucs were very disappointing. I think they'll bounce back. Middleton's obviously got to prove himself. Philly, who knows? They've been disappointing as well. Plus, you've got Harden talking about wanting a release to the Clippers. I don't know. Look, we're still two months out before the season starts. Three months nearly. So, yeah, they can still blow it up, maybe. Yeah, well, that's red flags if he's asking for that already. Surprising team, was it? Is that who you were going to say? Yeah, it's a surprising team. So maybe someone that was on the fringe of the playoffs last season, maybe played in the play-in, or maybe someone right down the bottom that you might just think finished, say, top six. Maybe even someone that was top eight, that might really push for a title run this year. I don't know if we're going to talk about it later, but I'll mention it now. CP3 to the Warriors. Dude, that excites the shit out of me. Yeah, we'll talk about that later for sure. Yeah, another fringy... I don't really know, man. I'd like to see some of these bottom-tier teams start stepping up. Charlotte Hornets. The Rockets aren't going to do fuck all. But, yeah, I don't know. Even LaMelo Ball, I'd like to see him get some good role players, a good big man around him and see what he can do. But, yeah, I might leave that one too. Alright. So I should have mentioned my tops of each division too. I do agree with the Nuggets. I think they'll build strength to strength. Even losing Bruce Brown, they do have a deep, deep roster. Like a full year of Jamal Murray being fit. Yeah. You've seen what he's done in the playoffs too. Like, yeah, he's clearly that number two. And what they can... Like Aaron Gordon, you know, before getting to the Nuggets, he really wasn't anything with the magic. Although he didn't have the roster to play with. In the East, I do have the Bucs. Yeah. Well and truly. I found the firing of Budenhauser. Sorry if I've got that wrong. The coach. When they lost in the first round. Try spelling it, let alone pronouncing it. Mike Budenhauser. Yeah, I think the sacking of him was a bit harsh. Griffin, that's now taken over. Yeah. Anyway. Moving on to my surprise packets. Bro, my big surprise packet is the Pacers. I think they've managed to recruit really well around Tyrese Halliburton and Myles Turner. I talk only last season of Turner going to the Lakers, which would have been a huge pick up for the Lakers in my opinion. But the fact that they've got those two, they've got Halliburton and Turner who are genuine superstars. Yeah, the depth they've got in adding Bruce Brown. Benedict Mather in his second year, he was really good in his rookie year. Yeah. And Obi Toppin is the, I reckon it's the steal. Like all they gave up to the Knicks was, was two second round picks for Obi Toppin. Yeah. And the only reason he wasn't getting game time in New York was Thibodeau didn't favor him. Yeah, right. So he just simply couldn't get, yeah, couldn't get regular rotation minutes. Yeah, that adds a lot of depth for sure. Yeah, it really does. And yeah, the East isn't as strong as what it was this year in my opinion. So I reckon they are the surprise packet. Will they ever get back to like the all-star game East versus West? Like do you think it's starting to balance back out with the superstars? I'd like to. You mean how it's like team LeBron versus team Giannis or whatever. Yeah. They just pick. Yeah. I'd like to go back to the original format of East versus West. Dude, wouldn't it be gnarly to see, obviously, like with the state of origin, how that's played to the most intensity of a rugby league game. Wouldn't you like to see those superstars in the NBA going at it and actually fucking having a crack, actually truly wanting to win the game, play pure defense? Like wouldn't that be a spectacle? Shouldn't that be something prioritized for the NBA? Like why does it need to be so relaxed? And like, yeah, it's fun and it's a great watch, but imagine seeing them go ham on a basketball court for 48 minutes, all those superstars, dude. Yeah. They just don't have the passion of, like it's not their actual state that they're playing for, like the state of origin. That's the only reason I reckon they don't. And do you think injury, are they too careful, too worried about injury? 100%. That's exactly what it is. Because you can imagine the backlash over an all-star game as such. Yeah. But it's the same, yeah, I know you're right, with the passion for the New South Wales and Queensland, but they're taking a risk at the end of the day. 100%. They're taking a risk that it could go pear-shaped and they've fucked it for their club team, you know what I mean? Yeah. Exactly right. And my surprise packet in the West, it's going to be a bit of an odd take as such and it's going to be after Joel Marriott's suspension. So with him being out, I think it's for about the first 30 games, which is pretty close to a third of the season. Yeah. I think they're going to be sitting down around 10th to 12th. So they're going to have to make a huge playoff run at the back end. That's a big out, but I reckon their depth and their defensive team now with the inclusion of Marcus Smart, you've got Steven Adams, who was out during the back end of the year, which people are forgetting, and Jaron Jackson Jr., that's going to be a proper defensive team this year. Dude, some of those games, I think it was round two, did Lakers play Memphis? It was round one. It was first round. Yeah, it was the first round. If you watch a few of those games closely, the defence set, Jaron Jackson Jr., the job that he'd done on AD, man, was phenomenal. Huge man. Yeah. So that's my surprise packet. I reckon I'll be around 10th until Jargot's back, and I think he'll just be that missing piece that will open a lot of... You know, it will spread the floor a lot more because he can drive so well. And I reckon I'll be a top three, top four finish in the West. Being a Celtic supporter, Paddy, are you upset about letting Marcus Smart go? Yeah, bro. Not just purely on the fact for the player that he was, but he was the heart and soul of that team. 100%. Everyone fucking knows that. 100%. Yeah, it goes without saying. It'll be interesting to see if the culture changes a little bit there. Yeah. Playing a hard worker like him. Yeah. A battler. So, yeah, that'll be... 100%. So we'll move on to the disappointing team. So a team that should expect to play playoffs or, you know, should be really up there and competing and for whatever reason they can't work it out or somebody gets injured. Who's your team for the East and the West in that one? Probably the Bucs. I think if Giannis or Chris Middleton go down, then they're up shit creek, really. I don't think they have enough depth there. I mean, Drew Holliday can step up and do a job, but I don't think he can do it for a long period of time. And then from the West, I think my Lakers are on rocky grounds. All it takes is... Really? Yeah, well, all it takes, man, is you've seen in the past seasons if AD's not playing sort of 60% to 80% of the games, what happens there? And LeBron's getting older, his body's getting older, his son just had a heart attack. Like, that's got to be playing on his mind. So we'll see where they're at. What was the question again? The beers are starting to talk, ladies and gentlemen, that's for sure. We're planning on just having a couple of beers to ease into the first episode. But sure knows he is, though. Sure knows he hasn't seen him in a while. The question was, who is the disappointing team from... Yeah, so you've answered the East, but from the West you had the Lakers. Yeah, right. Well, no, backtrack on that, then. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm not cutting this out of the episode. Well, Memphis, man, potentially. I think Memphis and Ja Marant, well, that'll hurt them a lot. I don't know if they'll... Is he going to be able to find form in the back end of his career? You need those first 30, 40 games... Career of the season. Of the season, sorry, to fine-tune your game come play-off time. So, dude, him missing that amount of games, that's detrimental for them. So, yeah, I think... I don't know, they might be able to scrape in, but it'll be hard. Hopefully your Marcus Smart might be able to do a job for them. Yeah, he's going to... Yeah, his attitude... I think Memphis is a great fit for him, too. Because that's what they're about, they're defensively focused. Which is his game to the teeth. Some of those young players over there, they need a bit of guidance, you know what I mean? So hopefully Marcus Smart can bring that. Yeah, 100%. My disappointing teams are, from the East, is Chicago Bulls. I thought that would have been a move made, because they didn't really do much last year. I get it, Lonzo is out. I don't know if he will be coming back any time soon. Which sucks, because they were killing it at the start of last season, when he was fit and healthy. They were in and around the top four at the Eastern Conference. When he went out, it just all went to shit. I thought there would have been a move made around Levine. But yeah, it just didn't happen. They're just re-running it. Yeah, look, they're probably expected to make playoffs. They didn't make it this year. They made the plane and got bounced out. So I wouldn't be surprised if it happens again. And if they even drop to about 12th, and then maybe 10th. And do they blow that up? Because to Rosen, near in the end is his career. He wants to be on a winning team. 100%. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, in terms of Lonzo, man. I think what they miss is having that 6'6 guard who can defend 1-3. He's so lanky, man. So yeah, I think that's going to be huge for him. So he's done for the season. Lonzo? Yeah. Not done for the season, but there's no give and return date. Yeah, right. Which is concerning. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So my team in the West, which is going to be very controversial, considering how well they've just signed. It is the Phoenix Suns. So they're expected to top two in the West. They're expected. Too many Chiefs, not enough Indians. That's exactly what it is, bro. It's heavily focused on the offense. Yeah. With no focus on the defense. If those threes aren't falling, they're not winning games. Yeah. It's as simple as that. And if you come up against good defensive basketball teams that can shut down the perimeter. Obviously, you think Durant's your number one guy, but also Bradley and Dee Book need that ball in their hands. Like you said, bro. Yeah. There's too many players that want that ball in their hands. That's going to be interesting to see how that plays out. And Aiton stayed. Yeah, he stayed. I was bullish on him at the start of the year, but he just doesn't have that mongrel. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He just hasn't got that real. He has those games where he's an absolute monster and puts up big numbers against other bigs, good bigs. He's not consistent. Who's running their point guard then? Cameron Payne? Is Cameron Payne even still there? Yeah, Cameron Payne did get re-signed, I think. We'll have to come back to that one. Yeah, that'll be interesting to see. Yeah, anyway. We'll have to look into that. But yeah, I just think their expectations are to make, obviously, at least the Western Conference Finals. So, we'll see. And I just think, yeah, when you were talking about Aiton, how he has been dominating some games, he went missing in the Nugget series. And like a lot of players do against Joker, it's as simple as that. Not that they go missing, but they just can't compete with Joker. That's that little segment wrapped up, Pidgey. We'll move on now to just a few ins and outs and a quick look at the big moves that have been made this summer. So, we'll start off with one of the ones that was first. I think it was the first big one, and that was Bradley Beal to the Suns. What do you make of that move? Yeah, I'm stoked for him, really. He's been, I don't know, dude. He's been stuck at Washington. Ten years, bro. Yeah. Ten years. Getting absolutely nothing. I remember years back when him and John Wall were absolutely killing it, and that actually went to a seven-game series against the Celtics. Yeah, you're right. And Isaiah Thomas dropped 50 that game. John Wall dropped 50, but you guys won it. But since that, I think John Wall hurt himself the year after, and they've done absolutely nothing. So, yeah, dude, stoked for him. He obviously gets a chance to be at a decent organization with good players. So, I think it's unreal for him, and hopefully we can see the best of his basketball come to show. 100%, bro. And he has had a few injury concerns, but one thing he can't knock is his loyalty towards the team because he has had a lot of rotten years with shit plays in Washington. So, it's good to see him on a decent roster, give him that chance to compete. As much as I don't rate him, I don't see him doing anything. Yeah, I wish him all the best. He's Tatum's boy. They're St. Louis boys, and I want to see all Tatum's boys do well. Yeah. Well, speaking of the Celtics, we will move on. Chris taps to the Celtics. Another big move that was made this year. What do you make of that one? Yeah, I don't know. I haven't seen him do enough for me to get excited about it. He's so injury-prone. If he can get back to some type of form, great. He's gone to the Celtics, though, so fuck you. But, yeah, let's wait and see what happens there. But, yeah, it's not a bad signing. You've got him for unders as well, I think. He didn't pay you. We gave up Smart, and we gave up Daniello Gallinari, who did miss all of last year. Who else did we give up? Mike Mascala, so, yeah. Nothing much, but what concerns me, there's pros and cons to it both. My concerns to start with is having Robert Williams and Chris Tapps causing us in the same line-up. In terms of what? Injuries? Injuries, bro, yeah. They both had, yeah. Like, Chris Tapps had his most solid year just gone, but before that, yeah, consistent injuries. And then same with Rob Williams. They're just two big dudes that, yeah, again, this is what we probably worry about. Won't be Nyarna as well. But the positives, yeah, we didn't get him for much. We got a big guy who can 3 and D, where Rob doesn't have that 3 in his game. Al's getting on, so, yeah. Look, it probably is a good fit. Was it the right fit in terms of getting rid of Smart? The right move, sorry, in terms of getting rid of Smart? I thought something was going to be done around Jalen, and as we talked about before, he signed that monster contract, so he looks to be staying. I reckon give the Celtics one or two years if that doesn't work. Trade season's on. Is Tatum jealous of that huge contract, do you think? Nah, he'll be due for... I put an Instagram story up the other day talking about the guys that are looking at extensions coming up, and he's one of those ones on the board. He'll be looking at a five-year, $330 million deal. Because I think Brown's last year of that five-year contract, he's up to like $67 million. $67 million, dude. Dude, that's... That's fucking ridiculous money. For a player that's not proven, like... Yeah, but then you talk about basketball money and then you talk about soccer money, that's two different... Bro, did you see the Mbappe contract that he got off of? Yeah, yeah. I don't know the full T's and C's of it all. To him personally, it was like $776 million, and they had to pay a transfer fee, which rounded up to a billion dollars. That's fucking oil money, man. For one year, bro, yeah. Did you see Giannis on Instagram come out and be like, I look like Mbappe, I'll sign, I'll sign. Just a little bit taller, I think, dude. Yeah, just a little bit. But yeah, another one, Marcus Might to Memphis, which we did talk about before, so we might skip that one. The one that you wanted to talk about, you think, might really increase the Warriors' chances this year after looking a bit flat last year. They couldn't win on the road, but yeah, CP3 to the Warriors. Yeah, that excites me a lot. I just think it frees up Curry and Klay so much, dude. They're not going to have to, like, short creation. They don't have to do it anymore. Obviously, Curry still will, but dude, can you just imagine where Klay Thompson's going to be on the field and that ball is going to be perfectly in his chest on the three-point line. I wouldn't be surprised if Klay, yeah, he gets back to the original Klay. I think he's going to be averaging 25 points a night. I think Curry's going to be able to get a rest. He won't be playing as big a minute. Yeah, it excites me. I think they'll be back to their best, honestly. I think they'll be top of the West, and I think they'll be hard to beat in the playoffs. There's some good value around teams in terms of winning the chip this year, and they are one of them. And the Lakers, I think they're both sitting around the $15 mark, and it's just... Who's come in as favourites? Nuggets and Celtics are both around the $5 mark, which is probably right for the Nuggets. I don't like the Celtics at that price. What's Heat doing? Where are they? No idea. They're probably around the $20 mark. They're always underdogs. If they can get Dame, who knows what happens there? Well, that's it. Dame and Jimmy, dude. Can't imagine that. We'll see. Yeah, I'd like a CP3. I'd like to see CP3 get a ring before he retires. Oh, for sure. Moving on, we'll talk about your Lakers. You've had a really good off-season, in my opinion, in terms of signing. You've got Gabe Vincent, sneakily underrated, and I reckon he'll be a great pick-up for you guys in terms of working with LeBron and AD. Yeah, I completely agree. I think they've nailed that. I don't know how Miami let him go, to be honest. I thought he played great in the playoffs. But, yeah, I think we've just added extra depth to the organisation, really. Yeah, I'm excited to see what he can do. Obviously, Austin Reeves, we got him for unders. Steel, bro. Fucking steel. Yeah, that's... I don't know if... Four-year 56 million or four-year 60... I can't remember. Is he just paying his respects to the Lakers because they've given him an opportunity to do what he's now doing, or does he have a special bond with LeBron and he wants to stay there? Because you'd think he would have got some money thrown at him, like the way he played in those playoff series. Like, white and amber, dude. He's a serial killer on the field. I think he's the real deal. I think he can be your third star next season behind LeBron and AD. 100%. I think he can be that guy. As much as it pains me to say this, yeah, the Lakers probably had the best off-season in terms of signing. I think Gabe's a really good pick-up. Austin Reeves a really good pick-up. The key to you guys winning is just keeping everyone on the floor. Healthy. And it's those big two. If you can't get those big two on the floor, you get it. Yeah. Yeah, so we've actually talked about the Jalen Brown massive extension, the five-year $303 million deal, which is just... yeah. Anyway, I don't want to talk about it. I fucking don't want to talk about it. Everyone has their own opinion. That's mine. Yeah. So that's that segment in terms of looking at the off-season moves in the summer. We'll move on now. We'll have a quick rundown of a few overs and unders that we like. So this is just the futures. And just a quick message, please game responsibly. Do you want to touch on maybe the three teams that you like for this season? Actually, I'll go first because I've got them fresh here on my mind. Black and Indian. I'll start off with the Wizards going. The line that they were given for wins over and under was 24.5. I'm going the unders. I think it's going to be a full tank year for the Wizards this year. Jordan Poole and Kuzma. You telling me they're winning over 24 and a half games this year? Yeah, dude, no. No. Nah. So I think it's a full rebuild. Yeah, that's where they're at. I'll leave it at that. I won't shit on them too much. The surprise packet that I talked about was the paces. I've got them finishing in the top eight. So if that's the case, you've pretty much got to be over 0.500 percentage wins for the year. So that being the case, 82 games. Their line's at 37 and a half. Do your maths. I've got them winning about 44 games in my opinion. I think they'll just be over the 0.500 mark. I think their home record last year was all right too. I think they go all right at home. Dude, Halliburton, he's going to, who knows. He signed the bag, baby. He got that five years. Same as Lamello. They're pretty much the same contract, hand in hand. Same as Ant-Man. Between the three of them, I pick Halliburton hands down without even thinking about it. Yeah, I think his trajectory is, yeah. I think with him being locked in, like Turner being there long term. Yeah, I think they're going to have a really good year. So I think that's one. And I actually went Lakers over 47.5, which I was umming and ahhing for a very long time. It's in the hands of the gods of the glass man, not just rebounds. His knees being glass AD, managing to stay on the court. Along with LeBron, I think they cover 47.5 quite easily. I see them being a top four team heading into the playoffs. Yep. So that's my three. You put those three together, I think you get about $7. So yeah, please, again, we're responsible. But yeah, I think that's just a bit of jam. I'll back you up there, man. I obviously, being a Lakers supporter, I went Lakers the overs. I also went GSW the overs, purely for the fact that I think they'll be disappointed with the year that they had. I think adding CP3 in, yeah. Longevity wise, minutes wise for Curry, I think that's going to help them for their season. I think they'll have a tip-top season. And I actually went Celtics, just as a little, fuck you, pigeon hay. What was their line? I did look at it from memory, and I think it was a high 40s or low 50s. Where were you at? Was it mid-50s? I looked at it and I just... Yeah, 54. Yeah, I really just want to see the whole Chris Stapps thing go to plan. And I don't like it. See if the Lakers was at that, I'd leave it alone as well, just simply due to injury and rest, which... Yeah, interesting one. Let's see how Pizingas goes. Hopefully he can do something, 100%. All right, we're just going to have a quick Sports News That Matters. Yeah, so we're here in Newcastle, and as we're recording, we've just watched the Knights pull down the Canberra Raiders' pants in Canberra. Apologies if you're not an NRL fan. We're just going to have a quick little talk about it, because 28-6, what a win on the road for the boys, hey, Pidge? Yeah, dude. Backed up that performance last week against the Storm. But, yeah, I thought it was going to be a tight one, to be honest. I thought it could have gone either way, but, yeah, Knights come out of the blocks pretty fast, and they just hung on to a strong lead. So, yeah, they're on the way up. They've got a great run home to the finals. So, yeah, fingers crossed, dude. But the town's buzzing. Like, there was 20,000 over there last Saturday at McDonald Jones. So, yeah, the more that the Knights win, the feeling around the town's good, you know what I mean? Sorry, Pidge, I'm just going to pull you up there. And the AFL fans out there that are also NBA fans will get an absolute giggle out of you saying, the town's buzzing with 20,000 in it. And you've got blokes in Melbourne going to the MCG every week, packing out 80,000. But I know what you mean in terms of crowds. Yeah, it's a good, healthy town in the Steel City, that's for sure. Ever since Ponger said, yeah, I'm just going to concentrate on the Knights and not worry about state of origin, it's been ever since then that they've managed to go on this run. Well, it just shows something to the club and to the fans that he's prioritising them. So, yeah, and you can see he's locked in. Like, and he had a cracker of a game again today. Yeah, he played unreal. Yeah. Alright, well, have a quick look at the Matildas as well. I don't know if you'd seen them the other night. I saw that, dude. Lost to Nigeria. Did you watch... That chick from Nigeria got belted in the ribs by one of our players from the kick. She was trying to kick the ball away from the goal and, yeah, it rocked her. Yeah, I didn't watch a great deal of it. I did check in, I think I watched a little bit of the first half and then fell asleep. Yeah, nothing against the girls playing. I think it's great what they're doing. Just quickly, just on sport in general at the moment, like, we've obviously got the World Cup on, but this weekend, dude, like, obviously we've got the NRL, the Ashes is on, we've got Bledisloe Cup tonight, UFC 291 tomorrow, which is a stacked card. Bro. So, again, gamble responsibly, but it is a cracking weekend to have a punt. Yeah. Gotta love sport. That's so good. Hopefully the Wallabies can do something tonight. Hopefully we don't get blown off the park. It could either be 50-0 or, yeah, if we can keep it within 20, that's a win, in my opinion. So, yeah, let's see. Very good, Shawno. All right, what we're going to do next, we're going to move on to the listener questions, which we do have a few lined up. Apologies if we already have touched on it. I don't think we have. Let's go in order here. You might need to edit another part out because I need to go and piss in a second. I think I might get one more beer too, yeah. Do you want to hit a little pause? I'm back. I may or may not have pissed on the seat, but I did clean it up. Well, look, worse comes to worse. You just did my old trick. Oh, Lewis. Yeah, it's good having a little one, man. You can just push the blame, hey? Yeah, a lot. All right, so on to the listener questions. We've got our good old pal, my good old pal, your good old brother, the Donphile on tour, as he's known on Instagram. What will LeBron average this year? Ooh. And I think he means, let's just go points, rebounds, assists. 26 and 6. Yeah, I think you're pretty close. I think you're going to drop off a bit point-wise only because Davenham will give the green light to Austin Reeves shooting a little bit more. You've got Gabe Vinson there as well that shoots a fair few threes. I'm going to go 24. Yeah. 24, 7 and 6. I think he's going to hand over the reins a little bit to AD. I think D Russ is going to have the ball in his hands a lot more. So, yeah, I hope so, dude. I hope it's more looking at 24. But I think the less points he's actually scoring, the better the Lakers are going to go because you can focus more on defence. 100%. So let's see, yeah. All right. I've got the next one from Gilbo Graham, who's one of the boys I work with. Do you think the Celtics will blow it up after two games? Hashtag bulls baby. Hashtag take it by the horns. Hashtag boys that squat. So I think Gilbo has had too many beers last night. He's probably 12 beers deep and he's thrown it in. I get where he's coming from because he... Actually, I'll get him to send it in to the podcast, he needed the Lakers to win the chip for 18k. No way. Yeah, bro. He had the Kansas City Chiefs to win the Super Bowl, into Argentina to win the World Cup last year. Might have been one other leg or it could have just been when the Lakers were mid-season, paying, like, 50s, and he's put them in to win. And did he get a cash-out value? Yeah, it was up to about three grand. Yeah, right. He just couldn't take it. You ride or die. You ride or die. You ride or die, yeah. The worst thing about gambling is the cash-out option. Gilbo, mate, I get it, you're salty because your bulls fucking suck at the moment and you turn coded to support the Lakers, apparently. He now rocks an AD jersey. Look, what you're probably asking is, do I rate the Jalen Brown extension and the pick-up of Chris Dapp's Porzingis? I don't. Do the Celtics blow it up after two games? Definitely not. Do they blow it up after two years? There's no chip? Yeah, they do. So, wait, was his question about the Bulls or about the Celtics? About the Celtics. Do you think the Celtics will blow it up after two games? Yeah, right. No, definitely not. All right, the next one's anonymous. After Djokic was robbed, getting three MVPs in a row, do you have him winning MVP this year? Wait, who even won the MVP? Joel. Oh, MVP'd. MVP'd. I peed on the seat, dude. Yeah, surely. I think he can do it. So, they're the first three, and then we've got another one from our good old pal, Alfredo. Ah, Braden Green. Hello, Braden. That's probably the best question he asks them a lot. He wants to know what we think about the rule changes in terms of the coaches' challenge. So, it's like the NRL now, if they win the coaches' challenge, they get to keep their challenge, but it's only for one more challenge. So, that firstly, and then second, the new flopping rule. So, you can potentially get two challenges if your first one is successful, but after that second one, then it's gone. That's it, correct. Right, yeah, I like it, 100%. Well, I think it, I don't know, it doesn't alleviate pressure from the ref, but, yeah, it puts a bit of comfort back in the coaches' hands where they can over... If they would have won, because that was the worry about the end of the game, there were some blatant calls that needed to be overturned. Hey, I know one, and that was Jason Tatum in the last second against the Lakers when he fouled LeBron. Oh, good old... Imagine if the challenge was available then, then, yeah, that's another win for the Lakers and another fuck you to the Celtics, so... Ah, good old Pat Bev going to grab the camera off the ref, I think it was. Yeah, right. Did you see that? No, I missed that. Well, no, so he grabbed off the camera and took it over to the ref to show him the foul. Oh, right. It was fucking hilarious. Yeah, right, yeah, yeah. Fuck, I forgot Pat Bev was even on the Lakers. Yeah. Dude, he's in Philly now. He ended up in the Bulls last year, traded mid-season, yeah, he's in Philly now. Yeah, that's that. I also agree. I reckon the coaches' challenge, get another crack at it, is good in case there is a blatant call early on in the game that should be overturned. It can be a pivotal part. If you're down, say, 15, even if it is on... Yeah. Yeah, and if you get that call turnaround and you get two quick baffets. And I feel like they'll be very tactical with when they use it and don't use it, do you know what I mean? And, like, all those sidelining coaches now, they've got so much access to their media with their iPads and things like that, so they're assessing and reassessing the second-by-second plays, so they'll be able to give the coach the heads-up, righto, this is, like, needed to be assessed, do you know what I mean? Yeah. This needs to be reviewed, so... 100%. And the second part of that question was the new flopping rule. I think it's going to be very controversial. The leaders of the flops is the Lakers man himself, LeBron James. Oh, please. First place, silver goes to Marcus Smart, and third, there's a bunch of them lining up. Yeah, what about Harden, mate? Harden. Surely he's got gold, yeah. The old head throwback. I think it's going to be controversial and I think it's going to take more than one season to work this out. I think it is the right call, because the flop, yeah, it's very frustrating to watch. Just play the game. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Get that shit out of it. Yeah. So, we do have one more question here, Seanno. Last but not least. I can't even trust you. Alright, and we do have one last question here, Seanno. It is from... The Notorious Miklic. Oh, bullshit, yeah. And he wants... And he wants... Dude, did he send that today? Yeah, yeah. Because I was on the phone to him this morning. Yeah, right, OK. Hello, Russian, how you going, brother? I don't know what that means, but shout out to the Russian. How many multis has Sean won in his punters' club? Ooh, in the punters' club, I'm going to say zero. So, I bet he shows you his multis that he does win. Yeah, of course I do. I've got a little folder in my photos that's punting wins. There's only six photos over five years. So, this must be a Lakers thing, because Beardy, who will also be one of the co-hosts, cannot hit a single multi for the punters' club that loves sharing his slips. Won't give the tips, but he loves sharing the slips of a good, successful multi or a good horseman. Dude, my personal account's doing all right, but, yeah, my sports bet group with mates, yeah, not so good. Not so good, draining the account, lots of donations. Lots of donations, yeah. All right, Shawno, we'll just end it. Actually, we won't end it there. We'll talk about irrelevant news. You got any irrelevant news? Anything spicy in the world, whether it's love life tips or whether it's, yeah, just any tips at all? Love life tips would be probably to marry a man instead of a woman. Please explain. Irrelevant news would be, I don't know, I listened to this podcast a while ago, Matthew Walker, he's a sleep scientist. Dolphins actually, when they sleep, they actually sleep, they don't fully fall asleep, so they keep half their brain awake, so for like threat detection and things like that. So, yeah, I don't know, is that irrelevant news? It's super random, but, dude, if you can get on Joe Rogan and listen to the Matthew Walker podcast, yeah, he's a sleep scientist. Some of the things that he says blows your mind and actually makes you aware of how important it is and it's so, yeah, the impact that it can have on mental health if you're not doing it properly, even things like eating, the times that you eat can impact your sleep. If you're eating just before bed, you're going to have interrupted sleep, but, yeah, the dolphin one, he expanded more on it than just, yeah, it sleeps with half the brain or whatever, but, yeah, it's cool, give it a listen. Yeah, so this is just for the listeners that, you know, they need a news headline, it's the story that they didn't know they needed. People do need to know that. I actually have heard of something similar with sharks, that they, half their brain sleeps while the other half works, or vice versa. Yeah. But I'm going to take it over to England and it's not sport related, it's not the Ashes like you probably thought of. My partner's sister's partner and they're currently living in England over in Leeds and, you know, he wants to look after himself, wants to look after the rig, keep it in half decent condition and so why not take up swimming, he thought, and, yeah, so the 50 metre pool in Leeds is not a 50 metre pool, they've split it into threes. Right. He's like, right, so I jump in, underwater, one, two, three, breathe, one, two, three, turn, there's the fucking wall. But it's that short? Yeah, about 17 metres, because they've split it into three. Yeah, right. Because the ponds can't swim. So he's like, fuck, right, I'll deal with it, whatever, and they're like, yeah, but you've got to be assessed first. It's a wig out, dude, but they're surrounded, like, just as Australia is, they're surrounded by a lot of water too. You'd think it'd be pretty necessary. Yeah, but they don't go to the beach like we do. Yeah, well. Because it's cold and shit. Yeah, they don't have the, yeah, that's true. That's a wig out. But they're good, like, Olympics, World Championships, they've got, there's definitely swimmers from England, right? Like, they're all right, aren't they? You're thinking of the Yanks? No, I'm not thinking. No, I'm not thinking. I'm not thinking. That's the problem. These beers are starting to talk. All right, ladies and gentlemen, so on that note, we're going to wrap it up. So, yeah, thank you for joining us, and we'll see you again next week. Thank you, bye-bye. See you, guys. Cheerio.