Dirty Thirties, Choosing Violence and a Guy Named Javaris Crittenton

Dive into the latest High and Low Basketball Show as Ike Amaechi is joined by Mitch Orsatti, Sean Khan and Ugo the Sheik to sprint through all things NBA with a rapid-fire question-and-answer segment. High and Low briefly slides back into Grinch Mode when Ugo, Mitch and Sean share what they hate most about the NBA in addition to reacting to the High and Low Contributor rankings. It's a can't-miss episode full of surprises and crude insights. Listen in on the fun on this week's instalment of High and Low Basketball Show.

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Music featured on the episode is brought to you by Lyve of the Enjoy Music Group and Sonny Rocwell of The Goodness. Edited by Vonn August. Executive Producer is Ikenna Agu. Follow High and Low on Instagram and TikTok/Twitter @morehighandlow.

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Transcript

When you're on fire, you're on fire.  Gilbert Arena said that and I'm saying this. Welcome to High and Low. 

Good day and good night. Welcome to the High and Low Basketball Show. This is episode number 100 and Conley AKA episode number 187  Timberwolves Point Guard Mike Conley, floor General for the number one team in the Western Conference.  Never thought I'd say that in the year 2023, uh, but Mike Conley was born in 87, 1987, and is most likely the best player born in that year, the king of 87, let's call him that.

He's up against the likes of Danny Green, Joe Ingles, Indiana's newest pacer and goon. James Johnson.  Those happen to be the only active players left in the league that were born in 1987. You have other notable former players born in 87 like Andrew Bynum.  O. J. Mayo, who was banished from the NBA in 2016 for using performance enhancers.

Actually, I think he, he needed those because apparently  O. J. Mayo was a lot older than reported.  And he needed to find a way to beat father time and keep up the roost. That's what I heard. Um, another former player born in 87.  The infamous Javaris Crittenton. Probably one of the most compelling and saddest stories in NBA history.

Javaris  Crittenton. Same player involved. Uh, in the wizard's locker room incident with Gilbert Arenas.  More on that in our NBA history moment later in the show. Uh, he was, uh, he was drafted by the Lakers in 07. And then joined the Crips. Yes, in that order.  As a Laker, this man signed a 2. 6 million contract to play professional basketball for the Lakers of Los Angeles.

Arguably one of the greatest franchises in professional sports. And then he becomes a gangbanger. That's,  and not just in title. This man was literally involved  in violent incidents,  gun violence, which culminated in a 1 8 7.  AKA a murder that he was convicted of in 2015. So apologies for the red herring.

This is actually not episode number 100 Conley. This is episode number one, eight, seven, not one 87, but Mr. One, eight, seven, Javaris Crittenton. His story needs to be a Netflix movie or. Series or something like that. Not that I want to glorify that kind of behavior, but Snoop will be in it.  Oh, yeah. I got crips got one, eight, seven, all kinds of alignment.

One, eight, seven on the, okay. Wow. Uh, I won't, I won't finish that one  anyway. Uh, welcome to the show. My name is Ike Amaechi. I'm here with Sir Mitch of House Orsatti, or you can call him Mitch Orsatti.  Ugo the Sheik and Sean Khan, AKA Sean Khan-troversy. Around here. We live by principle governed by the high and low lives to the world, which means we talk about basketball, especially in specifically the NBA.

And we talk about it at any time, anywhere in North, South, East, West, high and low.  This week on the show,  we have a full house  and, uh, you know, we can get grinchy again,  but only for a moment, only for a moment, uh, last week's Grinch mode episode made such an impact that we got pulled right back into it, courtesy of a listening question.

Uh, we're also diving back into our 2020 format, which you go on Steven enjoyed so much a couple of episodes back. Uh, this time I added a few more than 20, but, uh, we're still sprinting through these ones. I love that format, it's nice, it's concise. Uh, last time it felt like a, a fulsome  episode, it felt fulsome, even though Steven and Ugo had to, to run through topics like they were on an episode of American Ninja Warrior. 

You know, both had their doubts that Mitch and Sean could, uh, could handle the format. Remember that? Remember that, Ugo? At the end?  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.  Anyway, today we'll find out. Yeah, I'm listening. Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Uh, lots of topics. Stay tuned for that. Before we lock in, let me check in.

Oh, hi. Thanks for checking in. I'm still a piece of garbage.  Gentlemen, welcome back to the table.  Uh, I think we talked about this off air briefly,  but, um, in case you missed the last episode, there was a listener who, uh, ranked you guys.  So, Sean, you made top six.  Goodness gracious.  You go, you made top 5. What? 

Wait a minute, how am I not top 1?  Uh, Mitch made top 3.  I made top 4, I believe.  Who's ahead of you?  Uh, Stephen, King, and Sirius.  That's right.  Wait, who made this list? I have objections. I have  serious objections. Might take six outta six 

Yo, wait a minute. What? Who made this list? I'm gonna, I'm gonna rank our We're the bottom. We're the bottom three. Gents. I'm gonna rank our list, I'm gonna rank our listeners next.  We're gonna flip that list. I gonna that right now. Better flip it. Bigham Bigham. Iss number one.  Yeah. Bingham's. Bigg's number one.

Exactly. Shago. Shago. Close Second.  Oh, we Grinchy. We are Grinchy. Okay.  Um, sorry, man. Sorry. You guys are all number one in my book. Yeah, sure. Sure.  Uh, all right. Anyway, Mitch, Sean, Hugo, appreciate your time this week. Thank you for joining me and always, always checking in with you listeners of our show, regardless of where we rank you.

We appreciate you all high and low lives to the world. I hope you're having a great week. Thank you for joining me. Thank you for joining  the guys, even though they're a little upset, they're a little upset, you know, but hey, it happens. But hey, thank you for joining us for another installment of the show.

Wanted you to know that we did it. We're in. Welcome to the show. Another week, another episode, more NBA. So, of course, more high and low.  Things are certainly happening in the NBA. Things are certainly happening. In the background at Sean's house. Uh, but hey,  you might have questions about that, but just keep them strictly NBA questions and uh, we'll see if we have answers.

So let's talk about it. Let's talk about something important.  Okay. This question is from Justin C in Dearborn, Michigan.  His question is this.  I enjoyed Grinch mode, and it was interesting to hear comments from NBA fans about what they hate. So what are your thoughts? What do you hate about the NBA?  I've, um, I've waxed on and off about,  you know, how I hate the media, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I want to go a different tack here. I'll go somewhere new. I really hated the red courts, uh, for the in season tournament. What a horrible viewing experience that was. Mm hmm. Hated, hated every moment I had to watch any of that. That's what I hate. Hurt the eyes.  Awful.  You don't realize how some of the color combinations on these teams  clash until you see them on a massive court.

And then they chose for the finals to have a red and blue court. Like that's, that's the final court. There were so many better courts that could have done so much better. Like, I get it. The NBA logo, red and blue,  right? Well, have more white. There's also white. Yeah. Yeah, have more white. Have way more white. 

And white, a white court is actually interesting. We've never seen that. That's true. Yeah. Um, no, I don't think so. No, I don't think so. Light, light, light Brown, but not, yeah. And even like the Timberwolves had that like light, light blue, like ice blue. Yeah. Um, but still, yeah, more white  accents of blue and red. 

I don't know how light would look on TV too. It's the first year, they'll figure it out. Ice, hockey, I'm sure it'll look fine. Yeah, it'll be better next year for sure. This was a lot of like, feeling it out.  And apparently that idea to have the courts switched up just for, just for the tournament. Apparently that, that just came about  just weeks before the tournament even started.

Or weeks before the season started. Mhmm. Yeah, ESPN had a great article on it.  Pretty good for a last minute pivot.  Yeah.  But I'm still, I'm in Grinch mode. Let me have that. Hey, Grinch mode. What do you guys say about the NBA?  Sean?  I was going to say, uh, the referees are getting back to. Being in the stories again, he's right though.

He's right. We had some characters before and I listened, I haven't railed on the referees for a good time, but this year,  man, they're, they're trying to get an Olympic gold medal or something like this. There's anyway, there's just some travesties that are going on on a daily, nightly basis, man. I don't know what's up with these guys. 

So, so you go, would you say that  the refs  are just making you sick?  Well, there's enough foolishness that happens in an NBA game. I'm just saying sometimes these refs make these calls to these things. And like, okay, so we can all attest like. There's times where the referee honestly, truly just misses a call and you see the quote unquote makeup call, right?

Yeah. It's like they've, yeah, it's like they've completely abandoned that now. And now they're just like doubling, tripling down on, on the bad calls that they make. And you just like, like what, or the farthest referee is making the call. I'm like, Oh yeah, he has the best view. I'm like, what are you talking about?

Like, how are you, how are you seeing anything where you are? So I, anyway, I just, don't get me started on those guys, man. I went to a couple weeks ago, I wasn't happy. I think the sensitivity, too, has like, been,  like, multiplied. Like, they're calling techs for smallest things now.  Yeah, Tim Hardaway? The Tim Hardaway the worst I've ever seen.

That was really, really bad. Look at Chris Paul, just talking.  But that was Scott Fosser. That's, uh, there's history there.  But still. Yeah, ref stay invisible, Sean, what about you, what do you hate?  Well, for me, it's, it's the coverage still like, you know, for a guy that doesn't have a lot of free time to watch sports.

When I sit down and watch sports, I don't want to see commercials. Uh, just give me some version of course, surfing back in my life, please. I need that. If it's once a week, I can sit down and watch basketball for a few hours and catch multiple teams, just make more, better use of my basketball watching time.

That's, that's all I, that's all I asked for.  By the way, uh, Sean,  6th, uh, 6th ranked,  it was mentioned. Do you even like basketball? Do you? Oh, no.  Listen, I, I, I am actually, I do like it almost again this year. And, and, and it's almost. Do you like it almost? But there's, there's more, I mean, the last few years It's the parody has grown and it seems like it's more competitive and there's newer teams like up and coming teams that we'll get into later in this episode that are making it funner for me to watch now.

And there is passing of porches all over the place.  So there is a bit of excitement from, you know, my, myself being a.  high end casual, I guess, but like, wow, and casual, but I think, but I think, I, I think there is interest and it is, and it is because of the things I just mentioned. And  I just want to be able to watch more teams at once.

Like right now I have the Dallas, um,  the Dallas game on whoever I just turned it off, Dallas and Minnesota. And that's, that's, that's a great matchup. And yes, um, commercials came on and I lost interest and I turned it off.  Yeah. Court surfing. It was one of the greatest inventions in sports media. Yep. And it was an absolute travesty when it disappeared,  uh, because it just kept the action going.

Honestly, that's the way I want to watch basketball. I just want to go from one game to the next and put me at the most pivotal moments. There's a timeout in one game, boom, throw me to the next. I will watch Sacramento and Orlando. Oh, actually Sacramento and Orlando are pretty good this year.  I'll watch Detroit and San Antonio. 

You know, for three minutes before we bounce right back over to  Denver and Boston.  Turn that off right away. Well, it's better than commercials. That's your commercial right there. Exactly. I'd rather watch that as my commercial. Yeah. Well, there we have it. Hey, that was Grinch Mode for these fellas. And Justin.

C. Thank you for your question. Shout out to you and your, and your folk in Dearborn. I appreciate you. Actually. Hey, when I, when I went to school out there,  we used to drive to, um, Fairlane mall,  Fairlane mall. It was out in Dearborn. Dearborn is a suburb of Detroit. We used to drive out to the mall every weekend, um, especially in my first year. 

Always make a stop at Rally's for some food. Let's get some burgers, fries, maybe hit up Dr. J's for a deal. It's where you can find like basketball jerseys for like next to nothing and it's like stitched. It's like, look, it's just,  oh, anyway, memories, memories in the 313. Justin, thank you for that. Shout out to all my, uh,  Brothers and sisters in Dearborn. 

So that's a large Arab community.  I didn't even know that. Reminds me of London, Ontario. Cause like, so I grew up in London and there's a large Arab community there. So they all had family in Dearborn. And then Robert Sala, who's the coach of the New York jets is from Dearborn.  Lebanese descent, I believe.

Nice. No, see the guy. See, we got us, uh, in memory mode. Uh, reminding us of, uh, of Dearborn.  Uh, anyway, speaking of reminders, quick reminder to high and low lives. If you want to leave a question for us to answer on the show, send your DM to us on Tik TOK and more high and low, or you can send it to us on Instagram and get high and low, I always leave those links in the show notes, you know, where to find me  anyway, it's time for us to take a quick break.

When we come back, we're going to get quick,  going to get concise.  It's rapid fire lightning. These guys are going to run these guys through the gamut, through the American Ninja warrior.  Obstacle that is high and low 2020 find out what that is. When we come back, this is high and low basketball. 

This week in NBA history, they chose violence. On December 21st, 2009, the Washington Wizards made headlines for all the wrong reasons when teammates Javaris Crittenton and Gilbert Arenas were embroiled in a disturbing locker room altercation involving guns stemming from a game of cards on a team flight days earlier.

Crittenton, Arenas, and JaVale McGee were playing a game of Bouret where McGee won a hand and took a pile of Crittenton's money, which had Arenas talking trash on the side. Javaris approached McGee later about the money, surprised to see JaVale walking away without giving him a chance to win his money back, and said, That's the type of shit that gets you effed up in the streets, which prompted Arenas to jump with more trash talk for Crittenton.

Arenas said something to the effect of, I'll burn your car while you're in it, to which Crittenton simply said, Well, I'll just shoot you. Willing to play the possible bluff, Arenas offered to bring the guns for Crittenton to shoot him with.  And he did. In fact, he brought four guns to the Wizards locker room and presented them to his teammate.

Crittenton didn't need them because he pulled out his own and pointed it at Arenas. And a reminder, this happened in the locker room of the Washington Wizards, an NBA franchise. The incident reached its legal climax on January 25th, 2010, when Crittenton pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor gun possession charge, receiving a year of probation.

In the aftermath, NBA Commissioner David Stern took decisive action suspending both crittenton and arenas for the remainder of the season. Following the suspension, Crittenton was released by the Wizards while arenas eventually returned to the team marking a somber chapter in NBA history  that was a little something for the NBA history nerds.

Now let's get back to the high and low NBA show. 

And we are back. I'm Ike Imechi and this is High and Low. I'm joined by Hugo the Sheik, Sir Mitch of House Warsadi, and Sean Controversy. Hugo, first question is for you.  Here we go, giddy up.  Uh, should the NBA relegate bad NBA teams like the Detroit Pistons? Speaking of Detroit,  should they relegate them to the G League? 

No, it's way too complex and  messy to do that, uh, in the NBA. So no,  don't do it. Good idea though, but don't do it. Okay.  All right, Mitch. Would the Clippers have been better  if they kept Shea and Gilchrist Alexander? Hmm. Uh, they'd have a top 10 player in the league and wouldn't be saddled with a cobbled it together sunk cost roster?

Hell yes. Oh look, all their draft picks back too. Sure.  All right. Yes.  Hard. Yes. Hard. Yes. Sean,  is Zion Williamson destined to fall short of the hype?  I think the only acceptable answer to this question is yes. I mean, they're just. Yes. Yes. Way too many factors not working in his favor. Um, you know, he came into the league with health issues already.

He can't get in shape. And at this young an age, that's a, that's a major, major red flag.  And then now there's little off the court issues, that insane situation with an adult film actress. You can't say the word lackadaisical. Uh, you know, he, he even sounds different, like he's,  he's coming off like bitter and negative in his press conferences, I feel like, and it seems like he's, his mindset or his attitude is changing.

Um, I just don't see him carrying himself the same way anymore. So  I think he's destined to definitely not reach the expectations and, and maybe even worse.  Okay. I would've simply accepted the answer. He's fat. Let's move on. Damn.  Alright, Hugo, I got a question for you. Is LeBron James still a top 5 NBA player? 

Sometimes.  Nice. Okay. Good, great, great answer actually. Perfect answer. Yeah. It's accurate.  Just like AD is sometimes a star. And the rest of the time, garbage. Mitch, question  for you. Will Ja Morant's return make a difference for the Memphis Grizzlies? Absolutely. The Grizzlies are the worst offensive team in the league, and Ja put up 27 a game last year.

Thousand percent yes. Nice. Nice. He's gonna help them smack some teams. Yeah, he's gonna help them, like, just miss the playoffs. He's gonna come and shoot.  Oh, okay. Sean,  can the Minnesota Timberwolves remain a top four team in the West?  Well, considering the Thunder and the Mavericks are the second and third place team, why not?

Um, I feel like all the other  teams that are going to compete don't care about regular season standings. Um, Minnesota being a young, up and coming team is something to prove. They're going to want that number one seed, so they will definitely finish in the top four.  Okay. Nice.  You go.  Should the Golden State Warriors move on from Klay Thompson and Draymond D?

Yeah, you gotta. I'm sorry. I mean, you're holding on to them like your nostalgic simp, thinking of his ex. Like, let him go. Let him go. Let him go. Curry, another ring, man. This is, this is Hall of Fame,  uh, superstar career defining moment for, for Curry. That's, that's your guy. Get him at least one or two more chips. 

All right. Mitch. Mm.  New, strange, all star game formats aside, if you had to pick today, who is your starting five for the East?  For the East, um,  okay, uh, two guards, three forwards still, is that right? Yeah. Or did they change that? Okay, good. Two guards, uh, Halliburton and Maxie are my two guards. Ooh. And, uh, Tatum, Giannis, and Embiid are the three forward.

Ooh. Love it. Embiid, god damn.  Come on now. And Sean, who do you got in the West? Who are your five in the West?  Um,  I think I, so, I didn't really do that same format, but I, I'm, I'm picking three point cards. I'm going, I'm going, I'm going SGA, Steph and Luka, uh, and then I'm going to round it out with KD and Jokic with LeBron and AD coming off the bench. 

To be fair, you can put Luka at, you can put Luka at a forward spot. That's still work. Yeah, exactly. I could put SGA at a two or, or Steph at a two as well.  All right. No,  no, no, no, no, nope, that's an additional question. Sorry. That is an additional question. Sorry. My bad. Sorry. Sorry. No, I said, I said KD and Jokic.

Ugo, this question is for you. Was the NBA's in season tournament a success?  I'll say yes.  Okay. You go play this game so well. Alright, Mitch,  do you think Scoot Henderson will be a bust?  It's too early. Uh, 19 years old, still learning. Way too early to say bust. For now, I'll say no. Yeah, he's, but he's, he's a bum right now.

No lie. He's, uh, he's pulling it together a little bit. He's had a couple good games of late.  Uh, Sean.  Ooh, I like this one. Pick a player and tell us what gifts you would get them for Christmas.  I'm getting a lamella ball, some human growth hormone. What did you say? Now way too young and easy to get to be getting injured this frequently.

His last eight games before he got injured, he was on an absolute tear. It's a tragedy that he cannot say.  Might be genetic. Yeah, good way to extend his career. Here's some HGH. Juice up, boy, juice up.  Uh, hey, he should hang out with Victor Weminyama, who can apparently, um, bend like an elastic man  and not get injured.

Hey.  I've never seen, I've never seen that. That's impress in NB in my life. His ankle bounce right back up full over and he's just like, no problem. Might be his best highlight of the year.  his legs can do that.  He'll be in the league forever. Oh damn.  He's young though too. Okay. Lemme see him do that at 25. 

Yeah. That's pure athleticism,  . Alright, you go. Who are your top five MVP candidates today? Uh, Giannis.  Uh, Luca Yoic. 

Just say his name.  Say his name. I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say name. He deserves to be there. I'm not gonna say his name. Halliburton, uh, you know what, I'll give LeBron some kudos 'cause he's doing, doing some good things right now. No SGA 'cause I don't wanna say another name. I don't wanna say another name.

And, uh,  yeah, let's throw SGA in there. Okay.  Just because I don't wanna say the other guys' names. I'll have to listen back for what you said. 'cause I forgot the first three.  No, first year was like Giannis, uh,  Giannis, Luca, Jokic, yeah, I just don't want to say a certain person's name. I'm not going to say it.

Don't care what anybody says. I'm not going to say it. Okay. All right.  Uh, Mitch, Toronto Raptors or the Indiana Pacers?  This version of the Raptors can burn in hell. Uh, I loathe watching them idle. They're terrible. Give me the Pacers. They're at least fun. Beautiful. Love it.  And Sean,  who's the league's most over hyped player? 

I like this question. That's a good one. 

I wanted to say  Um,  and I also wanted to say Damon Lillard, but I'm going to stick with Embiid. Okay. You just can't win the playoffs. Yes.  All right.  Well, hey, love this pace. It's brisk. It's vigorous.  It's energetic. It's concise.  Uh, with some exceptions,  we get to cover so much ground, man. Just enough to wet the palette.

I like it. It's invigorating. Love it. Okay. Let's keep it going.  This is high and low. All 

right, you guys. What's next? And we are back. I'm Micah Machen. They are Hugo, Mitch, and Sean. This is high and low. Let's keep it moving. And Hugo, are the Milwaukee Bucks better or worse with Damien Lillard on the roster? Uh, yeah, they're better. I mean,  uh, we're in that weird cycle with Middleton where he's middling. 

Uh, Damien Lillard will definitely pick up that, uh, that slack when they gel and they figure out how to make it work.  We'll be afraid of them come playoff time.  Okay. Sorry, did you say we'll be afraid of them? We'll. Yeah. You go suit now. Plural. Plural. We'll be afraid. All right.  Mitch.  LeBron James get a chance to play alongside or against his son.

Bronny.  Little Bron Bron.  Lil Bron Bron, Lil Bronny Bron Bron, uh, at this rate Bron is going to play with Bryce. Sure. That's a lock.  It's going to be like 49 years old in the league still, 25, 5 and 5. I mean, hey, the man refuses to slow down, but I guess when you have,  when you have that type of medicine, it's, it's a given.

It's got Lamellos HGH. Oof. Oof. Or O. J. Mayo's. Who knows? Um.  Sean, who are your top five up and coming teams?  You can define up and coming any way you want. Yeah, I think, I think Minnesota still can be defined as up and coming. I mean, they definitely can be, even though they're first in the West. Uh, so they're on that list.

OKC is on that list as well. Even though they're second in the West. Um, Indiana Pacers, Halliburton is playing like an MVP right now. Um, and how can I not put the 16 7 Magic in there?  That's a crazy record, yeah. And for me to round it out, I'm going to take the Rockets. Uh, that kid playing center seems like the real deal.

And they're quietly a competitive team, so I think they belong in this discussion as  well. Shang Goon. What was he drafted?  Oh, good question. He was 16th overall. 16th, yeah. 16th overall. Drafted by? Guess. OKC? Yep. First Thunder.  Uh.  All right, you go. Yes, sir. Can the Orlando Magic, speaking of the magic, can the Orlando Magic remain a top four team in the East? 

No,  this is a mirage. It looks good, sounds good,  but like all young men, they lack stamina. Whoa, whoa, whoa. What did you just say to me? Wow. Wow.  Hey, yo.  Hey, yo.  Moving on quickly.  Mitch.  Let's remember that for the end of the episode, okay? Oh, it's  Denver. Wow. Is Denver a better?  Let me just, let me just get myself together.

Hold on one second. Compose yourself. Hard as it may be. Pause. That is rough.  Damn, man. You go. That's some nasty work. Okay. Um, is Denver a better team with SGA playing next to Nikola Jokic instead of Jamal Murray?  So what if you switch out the Canadians? Yeah. On paper, sure. But Jokic and Murray are basically like one brain out there and you can't do anything with that.

That just comes with time and playing together for eight years. So I'll say no, but SGA  is a better player than Murray, but I don't think it makes Denver a better team. But next to Nikola Jokic, Jamal's the perfect pack. It's perfect. It's perfect.  All right, Sean,  Lakers of Los Angeles or the LA Clippers.  So, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Kwai has missed a game yet this year.

Uh, so I think that the Clippers, just based on his health, have a higher ceiling. Uh, but, you know, how can you really count out the Lakers, considering they went to the conference final last year and then won the in season tournament, you know, a week ago?  This is a tough one. Sweet! Both teams are trending, um, but  I'm still gonna, I'm gonna take the Clippers just because Lakers beat my Sacramento Kings in Portland Trailblazers back in the day. 

Okay,  love it. You go.  You go. You get a chance to talk now. It's okay, man. It's your question. You got it. The floor is yours. What player does the media give too much attention to? Can 

I pick two?  Okay, so if you say it really fast. Yeah, I'm gonna pick two. One is Ja. The guy's not playing. Stop talking about him. We don't care. And, uh, Draymond Green. It's like almost nightly you're looking for some form of goonery, buffoonery from this guy.  Don't give him that, that space. Don't give him that light.

Okay. Okay. Draymond  and Ja and Mitch,  what team  does the media give too much attention to?  What's purple and gold and just won the first meaningless ribbon? I  feel like that's a great question for Steven.  New banner too.  No, it's a ribbon.  Yeah.  Charles Barkley loves that, by the way. Loves it.  Um,  okay.  Sean. 

Worst run franchise in the NBA. For this year, I might have said the Timberwolves, but they're currently sitting in first in the West, so I think they get a pass for being the worst run franchise. But I think in terms of expectations and results, I'm going with the Bulls. Uh, their, their, their two star players are on their trading block, they, they both seem disgruntled.

Um, they're a really bad team and, and they're in desperate need of a complete roster overhaul.  Which I hope they do, because I would love to see Rose and Levine on good teams to finish the year.  Mitch, I know you and I are thinking the same thing. Please, let us, let us, let us comment on this one. I bet you and I think it's guilty.

You can say Detroit because of the worst team. That's an easy answer, but  I don't know. I'm just talking about expectations and results. Big.  It's Sean's answer. That's it. That's all that matters. I'm not going to.  Okay, well Sean, let's stay with you. Best run franchise in the NBA.  Yeah. I mean, so much of determining the best and worst run franchises depends on the players.

Like no one is going to say that the Spurs are currently the best run franchise, but they were the consensus best run franchise for. 20 years or so during their championship core, you know, Duncan, Parker and Ginobili, um, and pop looked like the greatest coach of all time, but he's currently at three and 20.

So, um, you know, three and 10 years, three, three and 20. What's the answer, man, for me, for me and you guys are going to hate this. It's Boston.  Uh, you know, they, they've been the most consistent franchise in the last 10 years or so. Um, and they always seem like they have competitive. Team on the court and this was even before Tatum and Brown like they went to the conference finals with Isaiah Thomas as their best player  They're doing something right over there.

It's not a sexy destination I know they have history and whatever but I don't think it's  a desirable destination for a majority of NBA players But they seem to always have the competitive team on the floor and it's been like that for a long time So for me, it's Boston.  All right teacher Okay, well you go Well, how much of Denver is Jokic being amazing? 

Right? Anyway, I'll stop. See? Yeah. Yeah. You go. Stop it, man. Wait for your question.  You go. Should the Wizards be renamed when they move to Alexandria, Virginia? Oh, heck yeah. Heck yeah, man. Come on, man. Heck yeah.  I understand why he got rid of the bullets, but there is no wizardry going on there. Not one iota of wizardry, man.

That bullets jersey was so sick. Listen, I get it. But, you know, Washington was a gun capital of the United States. They had to change it. I get it. Now, I don't know who's watching a. Uh, Washington Bullets game and say, go on, go, go buy a gun and start shooting it off. But whatever  I do, Gilbert arenas,  um,  but Andrew was going to,  uh, Hey,  but actually, by the way, Alexandria, Virginia,  am I the only one who thinks? 

It's like two sisters who make TikTok videos in their backyard. Anything is better than what you got right now, bro. Anything is better.  Obviously, Hugo's not picking up what I'm throwing down. Trying to think of the genre of that TikTok video, but there you go. I'm not going anywhere good. Well, you know, let's, uh, well, two sisters who, I don't know, present their Christmas wish list to their parents on a 90 inch Samsung TV and a PowerPoint.

It's a much better, much better, wholesome place than I went. That's not what I was thinking, but okay. Alexandria, Virginia. Like, imagine living there. It's like, well, anyway, uh, Mitch.  Oklahoma City Thunder  or Minnesota Timberwolves.  Kind of wish they had a third name in there just to round out the question.

Um, this is a tough one.  I think, honestly, it's so close that it just comes to, like, flexibility for me. OKC can make, like, five massive trades tomorrow and still have a war chest. Minnesota's, like, tapped. So I'll take OKC.  Nice.  And Sean, who's your pick to win the NBA title in 2024?  I'm going to go with your, uh, Los Angeles Clippers.

Listen,  that's like a super dark horse team. Obviously Denver is a team to beat. Um, but you know, Murray's seems like he's got some injury issues. It's fine. He's fine. He's back. Denver's probably going to win, but just, just to be different, I'm going to say the Clippers.  Wow. Okay. So many better ways. Let's, let's let that, let that sit, let that sit and settle, let that sit and settle.

Mitch. Mm hmm. Both sides healthy.  Could the Boston Celtics beat the Denver Nuggets in the seven game series?  Um, like, like the finals. Like KG said, anything is possible. Do I think they will if they faced off? Absolutely not. So sure, they could.  Good. Could. But will they?  Will they? Probably not. Nah.  All right.

You go. What team  has fallen furthest from grace since last season? Yeah, it's a pretty easy layup here, it'd be the Memphis Grizzlies. I mean, they were talked about in numerous stats for scoring defense,  you know, tickling the, uh, the ceiling of, you know, becoming that legit team that we were going to watch and enjoy for the next couple of years.

And  Jah got thrown out and now I don't even know if that's an NBA team anymore. They're starting to look like Vancouver.  Wow. Tickling  the ceiling. Never afraid. No, it's not a real thing. It is now. It is now.  Imagine you putting your hand up on the ceiling and tickling it.  Some egregious stuff coming out from right there.

Man,  the visuals, man. Okay.  It's not over yet. I got bonus questions for each of you. Bonus questions for each of you. Let me go into the Christmas bag and pull this one out for you, Goh.  Is this suspension the end of Draymond Green?  This version of him? Yes.  This version of him? Interesting. I know exactly what that means.

He's a coach, right? Interesting. Yeah. So he's going to get some help. Listen, he can't come back the same. He's going to be, uh, and he can't come back. Yeah. They're going to throw something. No, he'll come back. He's going to be medicated. And he's going to be, yeah. Yeah. He's going to be like a zombie version or something like he, listen, he can't keep doing this now.

Now the MBA is like making it an agenda to say, listen, bruh,  like you've gotten, you've gotten enough now put a cork in it.  Okay.  Sean.  Are the Pacers and Bucs the best rivalry in basketball right now?  They're definitely the freshest.  I mean,  um, are they the best though?  Are there any others right now? Are there, I was just going to say, are there any other contenders here?

Like, are they the only one? Like LA, LA, I don't know. Like the California trio. Are they, is it, is it like, Golden State's like dropped off. So,  um,  Just say yes. I'm going to say no.  I'm going to say Minnesota and OKC.  Minnesota and Denver could be something. There's at least competitive balance there.  Okay.  All right, Mitch, last question is for you.

Sirs,  at the time of this recording,  the Spurs have lost 15 in a row, probably looking at 16, maybe 17 by the time this thing comes out. Yep.  Is all this losing going to hurt the development of Victor Wembenyama?  Absolutely not. Um, one more year of a better player into the system.  Load up that war chest, ship them all out for someone who can accelerate that timeline right back to where it needs to be. 

Okay.  Now, FYI,  Jonathan Gavone, who,  for those who know, this guy knows, he knows so much about the draft months and years before any of us even pay attention to the draft. And he's,  as far as he's concerned. The 2024 draft is a very weak one.  Is it? Oh yeah, because it's the next one that's good, right? It's the next, it's the one after that. 

Yeah, exactly, Cooper Flagg. But this one, this one coming up, is like, he's like, no one should be tanking for this, for this upcoming draft. I've been here before though, right? Like, there's been drafts where it's like, oh, weak lottery pick. Like, there's always someone good.  Always.  Especially when you already have a superstar or potential player.

You don't need another superstar.  A good roleplayer. Roleplayer. Good roleplayer.  And apparently this draft will be full of good roleplayers. So maybe, perhaps they can get the best of those good roleplayers. So we'll see.  Alright.  Lightning round is done, man. How'd that feel? How'd that feel? I could go another 20, 30, 40 more.

I'm telling you, man. Felt like it, right?  Yeah,  and you proved Stephen and Hugo wrong. Well, I know kind of Stephen. He's not me though I'm kind of kind of it kind of ish. I was good. That was concise  Sean prove them, right  That's what I mean half half and half  No great insights  Great insights all around. We got to talk about that order. 

It's  still grinching, still grinching over that. Cheryl, what have you done? Cheryl, do another list, revise it, update it. You can't be above me if the person that you picked to win the MVP didn't even win that year. Oh, man. Wow.  Thanks a lot, Cheryl. Look at what you've done. Yeah. Okay. Trash. Why the f k  I can't shoot three point shots? 

You know what, that brings us to the end of this episode of High and Low.  Hope you enjoyed this one. Thank you, Hugo. Thank you, Sean. Thank you, Mitch. Hey, remember to subscribe to Hilo. Anywhere you find podcasts, make this part of your weekly routine. Share the podcast with your friends. Share them with like two or three.

See what, see what kind of difference that makes. Um, hey, you know where to find us. We're on Instagram.  We're on TikTok. We're on X, formerly known as Twitter. And we're on YouTube, of course. Links to those are all in the show notes. So where can listeners find you? Sean,  wow, I forgot about this. Um, you can find me on Instagram at Sean m Square.

Nice and Mitch what can they find you?  I'm just gonna say Sean that was your best answer to the lightning round yet  you can find me over at Raptors HQ and  That's it enough of the X Twitter. Whatever just there fine. So just there  And you go where can they find you?  Uh, you can't find me anywhere because  I'm not impressed man.

I'm not impressed with that list. I'm still not happy about it. It's one listener out of Alright, I'm not happy. You can find him in Cheryl's DMs. Yeah, I'm not happy about that list, man. I'm just not happy about it. Hey man, you said some things today. Yeah, just get better. How about that? 

Okay. Alright.  Okay, copyright. There you go.  So on that note, once again, music is by live and the enjoy music group. You can find live on Twitter. You can find them on X. You know what? Mitch, you're right. Nevermind. You can find them on Instagram at L Y V E. Uh, additional music is by Sonny Rockwell of the goodness.

Sound design is by Vaughn. August, this is a Vaughn Abraham podcast, just in case you didn't know. So on behalf of the man, on behalf of Mitch, on behalf of Sean, on behalf of Hugo, the Grinch, I'm Ike Amaechi. Thank you for listening to High and Low,  and we'll tickle you next week.  Tickling high end casuals over here. 

I could have gone for a couple more rounds.  Oh my goodness. More tickling? But apparently the young boy didn't have enough stamina. Yeah.  I didn't have enough in the lower chest.