Zo Summer Mailbag + Spike's Thoughts on the Rickyverse's New Podcast
Coming soon: Ricky/MCU crossover pods.
[Frank Costanza voice] I got a lot of answers for you people!!
1. How would you put the top 5 in the East post July feeding frenzy?
I think as currently constituted I would say: Celtics, Knicks, Sixers, Cavs, Bucks, in that specific order. I’m not dumb enough to ever count out Giannis, but Doc Rivers stinks, and I like Donovan Mitchell and what he brings to the Cavs just a bit more. The defending champs rightfully deserve the top spot, Knicks to me are closer to Sixers but get the edge because of the playoff series that never was (in my mind at least), and the Sixers are No. 1 in my heart but No 3 here post-PG/Drummond/Caleb Martin.
2. Are we closer to this being Maxey’s team? Some days it really feels like it already is.
I know we joke a lot — or at least I do, but there’s no shortage of superlatives to describe how fucked they’d be if Tyrese Maxey hadn’t turned into literally an All-Star. Joel Embiid is still the best player on the team but we’re closer to the days of that being not so much of a forgone conclusion than we are to the days where we hoped Maxey could take the next step.
3. What do you make of Olympic Jo?
This whole Embiid olympic experience has been weird. Add to it the super-unlike-him media circuit — and then as he usually does, offering way more info as it relates to his knee, and then generally just being lost in the sauce for the first game — and I have officially resolved myself to just enjoy the games and not care how he does or if he plays. (Lying >>>>>)
4. Do you want to take a shot at the 2028 Hoops team?
Very good one, I’ll go top 5 again and say, Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Maxey, Tyrese Haliburton, Jayson Tatum, and Paolo Banchero.
5. How hype are you — or are you hype at all — for what Nick Nurse can do with this new roster?
Every time I want to be pessimistic I remind myself that it’s Nick Nurse and not Doc Rivers who’s steering the ship now. That being said, there’s obviously the dreaded two words — adjustment period — and Paul George said himself that he really doesn’t know much about Nick Nurse outside of what Kawhi has told him. So there’s that, and the fact that (again) there’s been almost 100% turnover this offseason.
Plenty of reasons to expect things to look clunky at first, and for them to beat teams off pure talent. But nonetheless I think Nick Nurse has earned the right for folks to be excited about how creative he can possibly get.
SPIKE’S CORNER - A FEW WORDS ABOUT OUR NEW PODCAST
In case you’ve missed it, we announced on Tuesday’s pod that the Ricky has a new tentacle. The Draft Council, an NBA Draft podcast hosted by our own Dan “The Danny” Olinger and (newly) our own Ahmed Jama. The first full episode is out today. You can subscribe here.
I am incredibly proud of its existence, even though I’ll likely rarely listen to it other than to produce it for the guys. I do not love basketball the way they love basketball. They’re great at it, and as the podcast evolves, they’ll get better and better. Take my word for it that it’ll happen, then I’ll take your word for it that it did.
It’s not that I don’t love basketball as much, I just don’t love it in the same way. They love it in that obsessive, fanatical, attention to minutiae way that I cannot understand. Dan is like “once again Nick Nurse ran a zip willie three pistol, LOL he’s gonna keep running it till they stop it! Here’s six videos showing each angle!” I am like “that guy can’t shoot or dribble. He stinks!”
I am proud of it because Dan had an idea, I challenged him to develop that idea, find a co-host, and prove it could be executed well. In my years of doing my best to help people grow, I’ve found that challenges like this are a good litmus test for how much someone really wants to do something and its chances of succeeding. I am excited for Dan and Ahmed not because they think doing a good podcast is easy, but because they know it’s not and they want to do it anyway.
I’m proud of it because I’m proud every time we grow. When we add a CJ or a new writer, I am proud. When we hit another anniversary, I am proud. When we do a live show or simply just do a podcast I think is funny, I am proud. When we have someone working for us so long that he doesn’t think “time for me to go,” but “time for me to do more,” like AU has done over the last year, I am proud.
As a podcast, we have been around for 11 years. But as an entity as we are now with a full staff of lunatics, we’ve been around since AU joined in 2018. If we just stayed a podcast, we would not still be here. But with The Ricky as an idea, we could be around forever.
The Ricky is me and Mike. The Ricky is CJ. The Ricky is AU, Tanner, Cap The Danny, Mutlu and MOC and Alonzo and Abbie. It’s Amos and Daryl. The Ricky is you. And now the Ricky is The Draft Council.
Thank you for supporting what we do.