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Oops. They did it again. They lost to the Hawks, got lost on a switch. Oh, baby, baby, oops, Mazula's so weird. His quotes are so wild. He's not that brilliant.

That's the song of the year.

Sui 2025, baby. How? How does this happen twice in a week? How does it happen twice in a week?

You're just informing me right now. It happened again? Did they blow a big lead again?

It's even better. Even better. So Dejante Murray dropped 44 points last night. Let's not talk about how many shots it took. He dropped 44 points, including the game winner, Jeremy Tasche. What defensive scheme did the Celtics run on that game winner for Dejante Murray?

The Celtics decided to switch Chris Stapps-Borzengis onto Dejante Murray, Which they never do.

They never do that. Why would they... Surely that was just a mistake, right? And it got caught up, and that's what happened, right?

Yeah, you would think so, except Joe Mazula said that it was good practice for the Celtics. He meant to do it.

He's a step ahead of us, ladies and gentlemen. The man is a modern day Newt Rockne. He's just got all the moves, all the plays, all the schemes, and anything that happened was by design, not by accident.

Of course, that's how it works when you're Joe Mizzula. Switching one through five is something the Celtics almost never do. So he decided now against the Hawks, who they already lost to a week ago, now is the time to do so with DeJante Murray, who had taken 44 shots to get those 44 points?

To be fair, the Boston Celtics have clinched almost everything. It's a matter of math for them to clinch the overall number one seat. But it's highly unlikely. The Nuggets would have to win every game out, and the Celtics would have to go on a miraculous losing streak in order for them not to have the number one overall seat. So unlike every other team in the play-off and/play-in mix, the Celtics legitimately have nothing to play for. They have nothing to play for. And so he's right, theoretically, you can use this time for trying shit out. I would argue that there's nothing that you're going to try shit out on in last 10 games of the season that's going to make you better for the playoffs. Habits are not built that easily and that quickly.

Well, just like you'd be shocked to see a team all of a sudden throwing some zone defense in there. The heat have been playing zone defense all year. If they decided to play some zone defense in the playoffs, it wouldn't be shocking. But if the Celtics all of a sudden decided to do that and we're getting beat late in games, we'd be surprised by it. I don't really understand this idea. I guess maybe match-up dependent in the playoffs, they might I want to do some of that, but I don't understand why, if you're running away with the top of the conference, why you would be changing your game plan defensively now. Why not?

And if you're going to experiment in a one-in-five switch, wouldn't you start doing it at the beginning of the game, not the very last play of the game?

Again, that's one of those things- Because if we're going to experiment and play with our food and try to figure out what we like and what we don't like and how things are going to happen defensively, let's start it from the rip, right?

Point guard, switched with the center. All right, how are we going to defend this? But the last play of the game, not great.

Yeah. Again, you know what it reminds me of? It reminds me of teams that start the season saying, This is it. We're going to make the playoffs. We feel like we're going to be competitive in the conference, and then they're terrible, and then they start tanking. At the end of the year, they get a great lottery pick. They're like, Oh, yeah, we meant to do that. No, you didn't. No, you didn't. You thought you were going to be good. You thought this was going to work. It didn't. So now you're playing the results as opposed to being honest with yourself.

They're just bored, right? Sure. This is nothing to read into. It's funny that it's the Hawks. It's funny in the fashion that you've described these losses happening in. But this is... I mean, they have literally almost nothing to play for at this moment outside of just professional pride.

And I mean, outside of that, they might end up playing the Hawks, theoretically, in the first round. And so now you've had back-to-back games against them. So I could understand how in that second game, you could look at what happened in the first one and say, Hey, you know what? Maybe it would have been better for our defense if we were capable of switching against some of these players. And so why not practice it now while we have back-to-back games against this team who potentially we could see in the first round?

Can we do a very sports radio topic Here's a topic here, and it's not Celtics-related. So everyone in Boston, you can calm down now. Are the Hawks better without Trey Young? Are the Hawks better without Trey Young? I got the records in front of me here. Prior to the Trey Young injury, Atlanta was 25 and 32, seven games under 500, with a net rating of minus 2.1. After Trey Young's injury, basically it's DeJante Murray and Dem boys, 10 and 7, plus 3.2 net rating.

Is DeJante Murray shooting 44 shots a night?

No, not every night.

Not in this hypothetical?

Not in this hypothetical, but I'm talking about They're 10 and 7. Ten and seven. They're three games above 500 as opposed to seven games under. They're outscoring their opponents per 100 possessions as opposed to being at a deficit. Is this team better without Trey Young, or is it better without either Trey Young or DeJante Murray? Meaning those two guys together, probably not a great mix, but one or the other might work.

So you were watching pro basketball last night, not college. There was a big upset. One UNC goes down. What started as- Two offsets. What looked to be a continuation of a very strong tournament for the ACC unravels with UNC going down Alabama.

But raveled with Clemson beating Arizona. Yeah, no. Unraveled and raveled.

Exactly right. No. The story headed into the sweet 16 was, once again, ACC, totally undervalued. People just hate on it all season long. Then, like always, they deliver in the tournament. Clemson, proving a lot of people right. Arizona, again, chokes it away. I thought if anybody had an opportunity because there hasn't been a team on the West Coast to win the men's basketball tournament since 1997. All the stars were aligning for Arizona. They had a really good season. The final four was in Phoenix this year, and they bifted Somehow it's still Sean Miller's fault, right?

I don't know how, I don't know why, but it is Sean Miller's fault that Arizona still can't make it to a final four.

But then UNC takes away all the ACC feel good, and it really shouldn't be that way. Alabama is a really good team. One-four isn't a crazy matchup in terms of an upset, but you weren't watching any of that?

I tried to watch. I tried to watch UNC Alabama. I tried to watch Iowa State and Illinois, and it's whouf, man. I can't imagine how people watch this and are entertained by it. I just can't.

It is a tough watch. The games, it was a lot better last year for reasons I haven't quite been able to put my finger on. The tournament was just spectacular.

I think I have some fixes for college basketball. That has nothing to look. The level of play is the level of play. Bigger balls? Not bigger balls, no. Although we'll get to that in a second. I think the level of play, you have to understand. When you're watching an NBA basketball, everybody on the court was somebody somewhere else. They were the man somewhere else. They were the best of the best somewhere else. So you're watching the creme de la creme. When you're watching college basketball, you're watching a couple of guys who might play in the NBA, a couple of guys who might play professionally somewhere, and then you're watching a couple of guys who are going to be accountants or working as managers of an enterprise in a car.

You'd think the game would start improving some because the average age in men's college basketball is going up. With NIL, people aren't rushing their professional careers because they have them already. I know Nigel PAC is coming back to Miami. He's part of that class. It is the last of its kind, the COVID year, the extra COVID year that these people have. Some of these players are in their mid-20s.

Armando Baykott played for like 100 years.

Yeah, he started playing before Patrick Mahomes had won a Super Bowl.

Who's the guy? He went to Harvard, and then he transferred to Howard, and he's literally in his eighth year of eligibility. He's been playing forever.

You would think that would make for a more appealing game, but the game is- That just means you're not good enough to play in the NBA. They're just fortifying clarifying bad habits.

I think it just goes back to the talent levels. The talent level, you're going to have to accept it, right? But I've got some structural changes for college basketball, right? Number one, 24 seconds shot clock. This isn't an NBA thing. Everywhere around the world, when these kids, the best college basketball players, get to play for Team USA's under-21 team, Under-16, they're playing with a 24-second shot clock over there. Every stage of basketball across the world College is supposed to prepare you for your next stage in life, and they have these pretty archaic rules. They had to fight to get a change to 30. They had to fight.

That's a great change because the finish to college basketball, oftentimes, is Laborius because because of that 30-second shot clock and the fact that they're not as good from the free throw line, you have the one-on-ones. It's just not a great watch down the stretch.

Laborious deal. Number two, quarters. Again, all across the world, including women's college basketball-Yeah, they figured this out.we played quarters. Why are we still doing halves?

This ain't soccer. Tradition.

Tradition to whomst.

Yeah, I don't know.

Not to this sport because this sport all across the world has accepted-I don't know.

You don't want the Raval Rousers tobacco road to start raising a fist.

Well, number three, the international three-point line. Why have a random ass three-point It's not the high school one that it used to be.

Man, I don't. It's not the NBA line. That's the first one I'm going to push back on.

You don't like the international three-point line?

I don't think they should move the three-point line. The sport's bad enough as it is, so Why make it more difficult for these guys that are on the court that already have limited range?

Play basketball. You don't have to shoot three.

Work out more. You can get better.

Play basketball. Or you could do other things. It's There's not a magnet on it. Is it? Not that I know. There's not a magnet on it. If they just standardize the rules to international basketball, to where everybody plays, I think the game would be better.

Can you get it off the rim like an international basketball?

What about smaller balls? Even smaller balls.

As I can attest, smaller balls, not a good thing.

For Bridget Christ, the road to love was not so straightforward. Bridget, I forbid you for marrying that spendthrift youth, Miles car.

What the devil is that?

I'm setting up an M50 video account on my mobile cellular telephone, thus procuring a discount on the M50 highway tow path.

Very prudent, Mr. Carr. It seems I've misjudged you. Eflow presents accounts and accountability. Pay your tolls automatically and get a discount with a free M50 video tolling account at eFlow. Ie.

Don Lebatard.

Number three, Chick-fil-A Waffle fries. Yeah, we can get mine. Love it. What's that mean?

No, I think it's an overrated- You guys go ketchup or Chick-fil-A sauce when you have the Chick-fil-A-Chick-fil-A.

Polynesian sauce.

Polynesian? Polynesian? That's my brother right there. Good call.

You're my brother. Stugatz. Oh, my God. What a weird interaction. White guys.

This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugats. It's hard.

Let me just say that. Number four, and this one's big. This one's big, guys. You ready for this? Get this possession arrow the F away out of my life.They're not nine years old.I hate that.They can jump.I hate that.They tied it up. Let's jump. What's it like?Jump ball. I do like how it... What's the call, Tony? The call is? We're going that way. No, but what do they call the call when it happens? Two guys-They call it jump ball. They call it a jump ball.

Some people just refer to it as a possession arrow.

No, the possession arrow tells us where we're going. But in the moment when it's tied up, the ref call is...

Jump ball. He doesn't go.

He goes, Two thumbs up, which means jump. We're jumping it up.

You can make an argument for that because it does play into the strategy defensively. No, it doesn't. More people go for tie-ups than-Yes. Than stop because the weird possession arrow thing.

How about play defense?

I really hate to push back on one of your suggestions, Amin, but I believe college basketball a couple of years ago changed their three-point line to the international three-point line.Oh.

There you go.So.

You're already there.

There you go. See? Affecting change already.

We I didn't even notice.

Already doing it.

That's a bad look for a blue blood.

Oh, you're the blue blood.

But you have to keep in mind, college basketball only started mattering in this country last year. Oh, that's right.

You know what?

Well, two years ago, the Elite 8 run.

You know what I love about this take, Mike? It's very similar to my... I stand by this, I guarantee it. I'm going to look right in the camera. Vanessa Carleton, 1,000 Miles, was popularized by the movie White Chicks.

100%.

Nobody was checking for it. Yes, it came out a few years earlier. Nobody was checking for it. Then White Chicks comes out, and guess what? International phenomenon.

Terry Cruise, most specifically him. Yes.

My people were checking for it.

Not really. That was like your deep cut. I got some shit for you.

You put it on and people at the party are like, okay, all right. Can you imagine playing 1,000 Miles as a deep cut? Yes.

Really, truly? You know why I can imagine it? Because I remember I remember it as a deep cut. They used to play 1,000 Miles in the movie theater. You go to an AMC movie theater? Before the movies, before the previews, there were commercials. You get a Coke commercial, you get a commercial for progressive insurance.

Like a local dentist we get in there.

Yeah, a local dentists. Hey, by the way, you can rent out this theater for parties.

Have you seen the Reddit thread that A Thousand Miles is about Dennis from Zoe Sunny?

Yes, I have. I don't believe it. Not my Glenn Howard. I want to believe it. Not my Glenn Howard.

I mean, I want to believe it. The case that they lay out, it's one of those theories that is just so good. Like, go ahead, let's run with it.

They narrow it down. If you don't know, Glenn Howard, the actor who plays Dennis on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. A lot of people don't know this. He's Juilliard-trained. This isn't just some funny guy who does some silly shtick on the show. He is a classically trained, the best among us. When they identify you, Jeremy, your dream was- Watch Blackberry and you can find out what a great actor he is.

Watch It's Always Sunny.

Well, yeah, of course. But if you're looking for the classically trained actor range element, oh my God.

Although the podcast has revealed that Dennis is just who he is. Absolutely. He is 100% Dennis.

But he always talks about, I'm so different from my character on the podcast. Not at all. But then he gets irritated about the weirdest things.

It's perfect. The Reddit theory puts out a couple suspects, most notably among them that aren't Dennis Ferm. It's Always Sunny, is Anthony Macky.

I believe that one. I believe that one a lot more. Anthony Macky sounds like the guy who might break a girl's heart to the point where she has to write a song like that.

So the Dennis system doesn't mean anything to you?

The Dennis system means everything to me. It's in there. I have a Dennis system.

Is it? The Dennis system, that would be a byproduct of the Dennis system right there.

Does he talk about engaging physically?

Interesting note. She wrote the initial piano rift for this song at her parents house in Philadelphia. Philadelphia.

Okay, hold on. Wait a second. Hold on. Let me put some pimping in this. Hold on. Vanessa Carleton goes to Juilliard. Glenn Howardon goes to Juilliard. Glenn Howardton, good-looking dude, golden God, according to some people, employs the dent system on her. He demonstrates value, he engages physically, he nurtures, et cetera, all the way, and then it separates entirely at the end. Vanessa Carleton is heartbroken. She's playing this little ditty that she's played all her life since she was back in Philadelphia at her parents house. And then the words start tumbling out of her, pouring. I said, I got to write this down. She's writing down, I could walk to the sky. Do you think time would pass me by? Because you know I walk a thousand miles if I could just see you tonight. And she's like, Oh, my God. Rushes to the studio, records it. She's like, Guys, I think I have a hit. Label manager comes in. He's like, Okay, he's at the recording studio. Hit it at the session. And she's, She sings a song, and the guy's like, Oh, my God. We've got it. We've got a banger. Immediately gets on the phone.

We got to print out zillions of copies, send it to every Sam Goodie across the country. This is going to light the world on fire. They put it out.

I think Sam Goodies were still around when this song came out.

They seed it to all the DJs. This is the newest, hottest song. This girl is a Juilliard.

They were on their last legs, though.

They thought, right? They thought. And then DJs were like, That's cool.

No, it made TRL. It had a moment.

It reached number six on the billboard charts in 2002, and then White Chicks came out in 2004 in a research. No, no, no. I'm sorry to burst your bubble. This is like the international three-point You went to the strip club and the DJ will put it on and then everyone look at him like, Who requested that?

I'm like, Okay, my bad.

Dude, it's still getting a rotation top 40. If White Chicks is being filmed, it's probably charting at the time White Chicks is being filmed.

No way. It was like, No one, Everyone was like, I've heard it. I'm not really that crazy about that song. And then it disappears and Vanessa Carlos is like, My life is ruined. I put my heart and soul into this.

This timeline does not work out.

I thought this was going to be the biggest hit. I was going to be rich. I was going to be like Mariah Carey, just hit after hit after. Instead of Mike- She did have two hits. Instead of Mike Snow. I have this one-hit wonder. I wrote a pop song that people forgot.

Mike Snow isn't a one-hit wonder.

It reached number one on the billboard top 40 in 2002.

Mike Snow was a one-hit wonder, and then he wrote A Pill and a Biza because he was a one-hit wonder. That's Mike Posner. Mike Posner, my bad.

Mike Snow is fronted. It's a collective. All the Mikes are collective. Great producer. All the mics are collective. Andrew Wyde has won several Oscars for his work.

Mike Posner, One Hit Wonder, until he wrote A Pill and a Biza.

Andrew Wyatt, by the way, kicked a speaker at my wife at a Mike Snow show. Really? It was at Fina. It was like the first show at Faina. I went to go see Mike Snow, and we were sitting in the front. During one of the songs, he goes to do a front man thing and step up on the speaker, kick the speaker out from underneath them. It goes flying at my wife's knees. We got free cocktails.

I thought you were going to say, he was at... Wyatt was playing in. He was like, Lady, I said, move.

No, he was feeling it. And then the speaker flew out from underneath, and he was very nice and kind about it, checked on her, but it was awkward.

Back to my Vanessa Carleton story. She's bereft. She's got bills.

Who's Mike Snow?

Mike Snow is a band. It's a band, yeah.

There's no one named Mike Snow. It's not a person. No.

It's like Pearl Jam.

It's like Alice Cooper.

It's like Pearl Jam. There's no lady named Pearl.

I know, but if Mike Snow kicked a speaker at you-No, I said Andrew Wyatt.

Andrew Wyatt.

I don't know what the hell you guys are talking about at all today. I know.

I can tell.

The Dennis system.

I don't know who the hell Dennis is.

Dennis from It's Always Sunny.

I've seen that guy. That guy seems like an arrogant fellow.

Yeah, that's who he is. He really is that person.

No, that's just a character.

Vanessa Carleton had two jams. No, hold on. Ordinary day. Don't bismerge.

How does it sing? I don't know.

Just a day, just an ordinary day.

Never heard of her. Maybe if she gets into White Chicks, too, then I'll know that song.

So anyway. They came to White Chicks, too.

That will not happen. She's bereft. She's got bills to pay. She bought all this stuff thinking she's a big star. She's not. On credit. Yeah.

And now it's like- The timeline does not support this.

She's got the pink envelopes that come in when you're really late on your bills. And then in 2004, all of a sudden, she starts getting royalty checks. What's this? Another one? Wait, I could keep the house? What's happening? She calls her agent like, What's going on? Why is this happening all of a sudden? Haven't you heard? Your song is a massive hit. Wait, I thought it failed. No. Some movie with the Wayne Brothers put it in there, and because of that seating, now we're rich. And she starts crying and sobbing. And she says, Thank you, Sean. Thank you, Marlin. Thank you so much. Thank you, Terry Cruise. And the rest is history.

Actually, she helped Terry Cruz out just as much as he helped her.

Ridiculous. What?

We're not for that scene. And Terry- The longest yard? Terry nails the assignment. Yeah, but he got all those roles after Whitechicks. It was the guy from Whitechicks that was pulling all those roles.

Training Day?

I think Terry Cruz would even tell you, and it's probably been on record, that the role in Whitechicks changed his life.

Prove it.

I'll find an interview. You're just throwing out his career improved drastically after White Chicks.

I don't know about that.

Look it up. You don't know that his career after White Chicks is better than his career before White Chicks?

The only theory that has actually held water was the one that you didn't want to believe with Dennis.

I You don't even understand this argument.

You want to believe it's Anthony Mack?

Oh, he was in Friday After Next as Damon. Come on, man. Making his pecs jump.

Was he hosting America's Got Talent before White Chicks?

Did White Chicks do that for him? Yeah. He says it did. Or did Soul Plane do that for him?

Don't forget the longest yard.

Yeah, well, don't forget to say Martin also.

Get out of here. My bad.

Yeah, but I don't understand. You can just fold. That's a losing hand.

I'm right. History will prove me right.

I mean, even your basketball takes on how to fix it, one of them was wrong. Which one? The three-point.

No, it wasn't right. It was right. It was just they did it.

You can't lose an argument if you never stop arguing. Yeah, but- The argument hasn't ended.

What do you do with a three-point line now that you found out that they've already done that? Do you move it closer? Check it off the list. Oh, you think, oh, perfect.

Perfect. We were one step into the mean plan. Look, how many times do I have to prove to you guys that the mean plan works? If you just complain about something long enough, they end up changing it. Look at the All-Star. I fixed All-Star Weekend. You're welcome. Nobody thanked me for that, by the way.

You did 100% and thank you.

Nobody thanked me for that.

No, I'm thanking you right now. You're welcome.

Yes. Billy scoffing back there. But you know what, Billy? Nobody went on any national media platform and argued about All Star Weekend year after year other than me. They'd say it quietly behind the scenes, though.

I'm not scoffing at that. If anything, I'd say that you could be right about Terry Cruise because Soul Plan was before White Chicks. So you could argue that Soul Plan got him White Chicks that got him all the other stuff. So you can say White Chicks changed my life, but had he not been in Soul Plan or Starsky & Hutch, would he have been in White Chicks?

He was in Training Day before all that.

Yes, Training Day, and also the sixth Day.

The sixth Day is really the one that changed his life.Shad out to Arnold.I think we can argue.

That's a banger, by the way. Future xenophobe. Arnold versus the Devil?

I'm in. That's End of Days. You're wrong again. Don Levatard. Are you back on the caffeine? Are you back on the Red Bull? Something's wrong. See, we are. Something's wrong. I mean, it's unbelievable how manic he is, and he just...

He keeps chewing on his bottom teeth in a way that's scaring me a little bit.

Stugatz. I've been up since 5:30 AM producing content. In terms of being able to be on, my body needs a little boost. And that's why I turned to-Cocaine.

This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugatz.

Got an idea and it's the best. Like no one's ever was. Real ballers know that it's too small, enlarging it's my cause. Let it resound throughout the league. Spread it far and Make Adam Silver understand the power that's inside. Bigger balls, let's say basketball. We all agree. They're heading too many three. Bigger Bigger balls. Oh, and this could end a most disturbing trend. Bigger balls. Let's say basketball. You know it's true. Hardware big balls will pull us through. You give me and I'll give you bigger balls. Let's say basketball. Bigger balls.

I love that in the middle of that song, Louis very helpfully whispers in my ear, By the way, this is a Pokémon parody. Like, really? No shit. I have kids. Bigger balls. Tony, you have a I've got a rebuttal to bigger balls.

As Mike was saying it the other day, it made me think, I'm like, bigger balls. I'm like, okay, I go with Amir because I've shot on a women's ball and I've shot on a men's ball.

Thank you for taking it seriously. This has become an internet joke, and that was not my intention. This is a real plausible solution.

I want to rebuttal. Iron sharpens iron, Mike. This is a theory, right? We're trying to figure out how we can make it a little bit better.

Take it in. Chew on these.

My issue is, in the NBA, These guys' hands are so big that I don't think a bigger ball would matter.

No, it's not about the grip. I don't want to eliminate. I just want to make a very imperceptible change to the eye. I'm not taking away dunks or anything like that. It's just three-point percentages will go down with a slightly bigger ball.

Mike's theory is that because the ball is bigger, there's less margin for error in terms of going into the rim. If two balls fit in one rim, then wouldn't a slightly bigger ball just also fit normally.

Well, right. But if you're shooting one at a time, not two.

I'm not trying to make a carnival game here. I'm trying to make a very slight change. I don't appreciate people not taking me seriously just because bigger balls is a catchy little slogan, and it's got a great song right now. But I do think that this is a solution to something that ails the NBA.

I would argue that smaller balls, given my personal experience, smaller balls are the way. You want to make it harder. You want make people completely lose their shooting form, make the ball smaller. Really? Yeah.

Hard. Lighter is terrible.

You feel it just like the wind is carrying it.

Like the AC of the arena blows it off course.

They'll no doubt adjust, and then the percentages will skyrocket with a smaller ball.

Biger and lighter.

You want a beach ball? Like a beach ball?

That would make it really difficult to shoot.

You guys keep making... You push this out to extremes. I just want to increase the ball size by a centimeter. And if it doesn't change things all that much, we'll go back to the drawing board. Maybe we'll increase it to centimeters, something crazy like that. This is not going to take away the ability of the basketball player to palm the ball.

Well, it will for some of them.

At a centimeter?

Come on.

Yeah, man. Not in the NBA. Those guys' hands are ridiculous.

Just to clarify, Mike is not talking about a NBA Street cheap code level of a huge humongous ball. You're talking about some swollen like ripe ball, just a little bit bigger than usual.

Yeah, just the circumference increases by a centimeter, and we can take in the data. We're already talking about it, and I can already feel people being annoyed because they think I'm doing a bit, but I do think it would help mitigate what's happening in the game right now because the percentages dictate that you have to take all these threes, also the point value. You could also change the point value. How about this? Two and a half point shot. Oh, my God.

Now we're in the decimals.

Wait, hold on. Let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Where would the two and a half point shot come from?

The same spot. But right now, as I mentioned, the three-point percentages and the point value are dictating that you basically have to attempt all these threes in a game.

So by reducing the value of a three-point shot, you bring more balance to-Right.

You make it a half point more as opposed to a full point more.

Okay, so let me ask you a question because I had this idea a couple of years ago, or maybe Tom Havishaw did, and I just stole it from him. But what if, like in baseball, every home team got to dictate the dimensions of the court? I love that. Milwaukee, I have Yannis, he dunks a million times. I'm going to make the three-point line basically the restricted area.

Was it Tom that actually wrote this article? I think Tom. Yeah, no, I remember this article.

I stole this from Tom. Now I'm pretty sure. If you're Golden State and say, Hey, we got shooters. This is what we do. We move the three-point line to 35 feet.

Why didn't he get laughed out of the room?

Why am I- Because Tom Harris is a serious journalist.

Yeah, but- He's done the math, too, Mike.

I think that's the issue.

And also Tom- He's done the math? Yeah, he's done the math. He's doing just fantasy book stuff. I'm doing math, too. I'm changing point value. But you said centimeter.

We don't know what that means.

I'm going to tell you- You don't know what I'm saying. In terms of a All this is America, Jack.

This is a metric system.

This is America, Jack. Exactly right. You take that over to France. Exactly.

Go across the problem.

What's a centimeter? You tell me inches of a meter.

Look, dude, what Tom Posed, which I'm all in favor of new ideas, what Tom posed was drastically more kookey than what I came up with.

I'm going to tell you why Tom gets to write this and say this, right? Because Tom has a track record of writing things that end up being ahead of their time. Tom once wrote a long time ago that Steph Curry doesn't shoot enough threes. At the time, I think Curry was averaging four, five, three-point attempts a game. He's like, he needs to shoot more. Somewhere around nine or 10. And everyone lost their mind. Ten three-point in his game? What do you think this is, the three-point shootout? No, no one plays basketball like that.

That was forward-thinking. I said podcast. We should concentrate on that.

You know what? Touche.

Touche. And now you're caché.

Question for you guys. How do you balance the difference between vision and flexibility? And this came up-How do you mean? So this came up for me when I was-Are we still talking about the bigger ball thing in range in the game because that is a vision.

That is vision. He didn't totally dismiss my two and a half point shot as opposed to three point shot. I'm intrigued. It's not that hard of a math problem. It's just they make two, you're back to a nice round number.

How about a smaller inside three point line that's two and a half? So the mid-range game has basically disappeared. Nobody's shooting mid-range shots anymore. But what if you make an arc that's basically in the mid-range, you can make two and a half points?

This has actually been tossed around the four-point shot. Do you think the introduction of a four-point shot would would change the game or just make things worse?

It would make things worse. It would make people start to... At first, it would be great. Then at some point-It would have great rebound opportunities. People would start really in earnest practicing those four-point shots, and then it would just dominate because everyone was like, Why would you take a three? You take one step back, you take a four, or whatever. I'm not a fan of that. But I asked a question about flexibility and vision, meaning it comes up in a lot of different instances all across sports. The example that came to mind for me was there was a news report that the Rockets had a deal to send Jalen Green to Brooklyn for Mikael Bridges. They were going to send a bunch of pics and Jalen Green to Brooklyn for Mikael Bridges. And ultimately, I think the nets turned it down. And then Jalen Green now has had this most incredible run of his career. And I say, Vision says, Hey, we already didn't believe in this guy. Let's not get seduced by 10, 15 games. Let's still... And now it's even better. He's played his value up. We can get more. Flexibility says, No, the plan has changed.

He's good now. So now we're going to stick with him. So how do you balance those two concepts as a decision maker? Do I keep doing this thing that just started now because it seems to be working? Or do I stick to my overall vision? I had a plan. I should not let this divert my plan.

I think a good example is how the Miami Heat have built their roster and how they've learned from their mistakes. Maybe Tyler Johnson, you can say that that was a mistake. As Son Whiteside, that was a mistake. They decided after getting enough data that we can let Max Truce go because we can develop another Max Truce. It took them a couple of times to realize that they had this developmental power that can really make things easier for them if they don't just knee-jerk and give someone a big contract after career years.

Well, and even to stick with the Miami Heat, Tyler Hero is a great individual example of this, where every year it's our the Miami Heat going to capitalize on what his value is as a young player to trade him for a older veteran player who's already established, or are they going to let him try to maximize his ceiling as an individual player? And so if you look Jalen Green, a young player who seems to be getting better, and you could say, Oh, don't let yourself get fooled by X amount of games. There's a lot of Heat fans, and I wouldn't agree with this, that said, Oh, the Heat got fooled by the bubble right off the bat. He played so well in the bubble that they thought his ceiling was here. And so in turn, they've been waiting for that to happen and haven't been willing to make that move. I would obviously disagree with that and say, Look, this player continues to get better. And so you want your young players to develop and build your core around a couple of young guys.

Is he that much better, though? Oh, yeah. No. Tyler? Yeah, significantly. Amin, your opinion of Tyler Hero? Has he made enough strides? Since his rookie year?

Since his rookie year, I think he's better, yes, for sure. But is he what people thought he was going to be out of the bubble? He's not Devon Booker. Kenneth Crockett said he was going to be an All-Star. People said he's going to be next Devon Booker.

Did he improve from last season?

He's not Tyrese Mathies. If he had been healthy this year, his play in those first 10 to 15 games, statistically, would have put him closer to that conversation of borderline All-Star.

I don't I disagree, but at this point, the injuries are part of his story.

No, that doesn't matter. It's no different than what Jazz Chisholm Jr. Is with the Marlins, where you got to be on the floor to be able to produce and be that guy.

I think on the flip side of that, too, there's a lot of sunk cost fallacy where people, especially in the NFL or in the NBA, where you have a lot invested in a number one pick and a number two pick and a lottery pick, your quarterback, where you're looking at me like, We've sunk so much into this guy already. He's not panning out, but we have so much invested that we need to ride it out just to see if he turns that corner. And I feel like a lot of people get stuck in that.

I think it's the opposite, though, a lot of times. A lot of times, it's not like, Hey, he's bad, but we got to keep sticking with it. It's, Hey, all of a sudden, he started being good. You knew. This happens a lot with coaches. We're like, You knew this guy wasn't the guy. Now, because they're winning, all of a sudden, you're like, Well, I guess he is the guy. No, you know he's not the guy. Just make the move. But how do you balance that with the other thing, which is what you got to give it a chance. You got to give it a chance to play out.

The flip side of that is Shea Gildas-Alexander being traded for Paul where the Clippers seem to know, This guy's going to be great, but we have to make that move right now.

If you want Quye Leonard. That's why they did it. If you want Quye Leonard. All right, let's take a break here. When we come back, the Panthers lost, but it turns out it was good news? Mike Ryan will explain right here on the Dan Levitard show. Bigger balls.

Let's say basketball. Bigger.