Kristaps Porzingis making his season debut last night, he had 16 points in 21 minutes.

Dallas six and four Right now.

So, Richard, are we about to see the Mavs really take off here?

Well, I hope so.

Again, you have to be super cautious with an individual that has a history.

Now it's starting to become a longer history of injuries.

But yeah, if he's 100% healthy because people forget not only offensively, he's very good defensively also.

So I think it's a great combination of him and Luca.

He's a very skilled big man.

He's a poor man, Dirk on that team.

He could do everything dirt could do but play a little bit better defense.

And he needs to stay healthy in order to help his team out.

Because he's not healthy, they could be back last year.

It changes and they still have that salary slot for a third person.

That third person, there was hopes of it being on a sense to Campo.

It will not be honest that so it is interesting now to see what they end up doing with it.

But obviously Porzingis is such a huge part of that equation.

I want to head out to Philly.

They were right on the brink of making a deal for James Harden yesterday.

Ben Simmons name mentioned in trade reports, right?

Just I mean, really, as recently as within 20 minutes of when the actual trade was announced at four Eastern.

So according to Marc Spears from the undefeated Simmons, is quote pretty ecstatic after not being Delta Houston.

Robert, do you think he should just be glad it worked out the way it worked out?

Or do you think he should feel some type of way that they were clearly ready to deal him?

Been there, done that.

I got traded to Detroit, was in the uniformed, get rid of walk on the court, and it's a way showing them pass his physical.

And I came back to Houston in a whole different mindset.

I'm coming out being the best player I could be and not worry about anything, and I think he needs to understand that it is a business you're gonna get mentioning trade all the time.

That's a compliment.

That means somebody wants you.

If nobody wants you.

Your name is not gonna be mentioning trade.

So he should just go out and use this opportunity to motivate him and show this organization while I was the number one pick in the draft.

Why, you should be happy you kept me because he is a remarkable player.

And if I was using this is the guy I would have wanted.

Yeah.

And look, at the end of the day, the key thing here is who They're mentioning you in a trade for right there, mentioning you in a trade for James Harden.

Never like, Hey, there's a conversation between you know, Anthony Davis for Ben Simmons.

You're like, Okay, I get it.

Right.

So it's, like, you know, understand that.

Like, a lot of times when these top 10 players start to shift and things start to happen big names, they're gonna come up because big names are available.

And so, uh, yeah, this is thing.

And now, look, Philly was already playing well, Philly was playing well.

I know they hit a couple of bumps on road, but they got off to a great start.

So now you could take a little bit of that pressure off and just go and know that you're on this roster.

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, Robert, that story is pretty incredible.

I mean, it's one thing to hear your name in trade talks.

It's another thing to actually be traded, put on the uniform of your quote new team and then have a good enough attitude upon being shipped back that you went on to win a title that year.

Yes, it was 94 i e.

Listen, I'm from Alabama.

I do not like the cold.

Get to Detroit and it is cold.

And I'm sitting there when I don't I'm not able to play.

I'm sitting in the stands and my mom called me that night.

She says, Baby, you okay?

I said, Why?

She said, You look miserable in the stands.

I didn't even know they had a shot at me on TV.

But I realized that, you know you have to take advantage of your opportunities.

Houston situation was perfect for me playing along.

Holla!

Juwan Vernon Maxwell can't spend these guys and oldest or three, man.

That's the original stretch forwards, Ladies and gentlemen, that was a personal stretch and not be traded to Detroit.

I I love the city of Detroit.

Got family there, but being back in Houston, open eyes.

It made me a better player.

Because if you look at my average, I went up by four points, which is a lot of play on that, too.

And my rebounds and steals went up.

I was when I became one of the 1st 100 100 guys on in NBA history playing with this team, so I was happy he was motivated.

Hey, listen, I'm gonna show y'all got yeah, you know, and you gotta have somebody in your ear.

I know Danny Green is gonna be in his oldest thought was in my ear saying, Just be You do what got you draft here and just don't worry about it.

Doc Rivers has reportedly been that for Simmons to as much as Duck has gone out of his way to feature Joel Embiid in the offense.

There's definitely been a lot of reporting about how Doc has been super supportive of Simmons just asking him to be who he is, not trying to turn him into someone else.

So it's possible, as Marc Spears reported, that that feeling of being very relieved can pan out into something bigger.

Our league pass game in the night Pacers at Blazers Portland a three point favorite despite being on a back to back, is also gonna be our first look at the Pacers since they traded away.

Oladipo!

Richard, are you optimistic about life after Oladipo for the Pacers?

Caris.

Levert coming in there.

Look, Caris Levert!

And you look at his numbers.

They've been outstanding.

He played well in the bubble.

He's done so much against a couple of injuries.

But ultimately, like Caris, Levert is one of those guys that you could see make a huge jump into potential all stars.

And they've done that in Indiana.

Victor Oladipo had his first All Star, uh Sabonis had his first all Star game.

So young players have made jumps in Indiana.

So I think he should be excited about this opportunity.

In the end is a great organization.

You've got a great big manage.

The bonus if you have a big that could draw in that defense, and that's gonna be grateful avert.

So it's gonna open it up.

I think this team just got more athletic with him, so they're gonna be exciting team to watch in the East, and they're gonna be a sneaky team because they're in the playoffs last year.

People not talking about him so they have to get back in the playoffs.

Yeah, absolutely.

I'm very interested in that team.

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