The Pistons Are Badass, LeBron Returns, and Early Eye-Opening Teams | Group Chat| Ringer NBA
Justin, Rob, and J. Kyle Mann are back together, and they’re here to take a look at some of the most surprising teams from around the league.
(00:00) Intro
(3:23) FanDuel ad break
(4:18) Lakers
(20:52) Pistons
(34:05) Hawks
(46:54) Raptors
(1:01:03) Suns
https://www.theringer.com/2025/11/19/nba/lebron-james-return-injury-los-angeles-lakers-luka-doncic
The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available.
Hosts: Justin Verrier, Rob Mahoney, and J. Kyle Mann
Producers: Ben Cruz, Isaiah Blakely, and Victoria Valencia
Check out the Bill Simmons YouTube channel: youtube.com/billsimmons
CONNECT
Shop: https://theringer.com/shop
Website: http://theringer.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ringer
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ringer
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ringer
31 Comments
Ayton's best year was with Chris Paul as point guard. I expect he will do well with LeBron.
Thanks for showing up, Rob
Pistons haven’t had a super tough schedule since a lot of the teams aren’t as good as originally thought but their entire starting lineup was out for 2-3 games. Ivey has been out all season. Harris for more than half. Pistons could legit have the deepest team in the East.
Thunder officially have more wins than any other Franchise over the past 16 seasons.
I gotta say, while I do miss Wos, Kyle Mann is easily one of my favorite guys at the ringer and I'm loving the podcast
Justin takes the collective basketball IQ of the podcast down by several points.
Rob really had the Pistons ranked 22nd on his league pass rankings, thats crazy
Scottie Barnes has been playing all nba defence this year and I think the underrated part of the Ingram deal is that now Scottie can put more energy into defence, his DBPM is near 2020 AD.
Paramore is a shit show of a band
Do you think these guys actually watch the Raptors😅😅😅
Y'all can eat a Gradey for your preseason takes on the Raptors. No chance they actually watch them. The Raptors bench is coming in and smoking other teams benches.
Here in Australia, we love the late starts, Suns vs Blazers s5arted about 3 pm in Victoria and its fkn great to be able to watch an NBA game in the late afternoon with a few beers
Duren pops off the screen. Hes a beast.
It nice to see a team go from rebuild to contender. Rockets and Pistons did it right. Wizards and Kings are doing it wrong.
hawks orlando houston are good but u didnt mention that because u have a narrative 11 teams have winning record goofy.
Stats riddle for ya'll:
Raptors are by far the highest percent transition team.
Also lowest percent halfcourt team.
And………
12th in pace.
Riddle me that batpersons.
ausar is averaging 14ppg beef stew is starting because tobias is out not ausar. yall have 0 idea what u are talkin abt. make sure to cook this channel in a vid.
What is never talked about.
IQ's defensive
IQ.
As an offball defender the data has always shown IQ to be one of the most impactful guard defenders in the league. He does it by seeing the errors that his teammates are making and adroitly filling the holes. Darko is leaning into it.
Missing that zesty energy Big Wos used to give out.
Jokic to Jokic on the pick'n'roll…c'mon
Stew is starting cause Tobias is out Ausar is on a minutes restriction off injury
Idk why people think LeBron was just gonna come in and try to average 30 like bro they’re was never no concern of course it would be fine he’s gonna conserve everything for the playoffs and bc Luka and Austin can handle the regular strain bc they are younger in the playoffs LeBron will be able to fully turn up with them. Its that simple.
Okay, one thing I won't accept is any Paramore slander lol
“Stew is starting cause Ausar can’t play offense” ???? no stew is starting in place of Tobias and Ausar was on a minutes restriction coming off injury and JB wanted to maximize his 4th quarter minutes….. just spewing misinformation lol😂
Bro. seeing three goofy white dudes who have never touched rim talk about the details and athletic feats of pro basketball players is so cringe!
One thing to note about this Daniss Jenkins stretch: Cade and Duren were not in multiple of those games. The chicago game in particular, Jenkins ran the show, and was essentially the primary vessel for Detroit's offense. They didn't trail once that night.
Watch your mouth about Paramore boomer
Where are Groupchat guys on the band “Beach House”? Anybody got any real estate on their dreamy, spacey island??
Rob playing tennis is the crossover pod that I need in my life.
6:03 what are you trying to get at brother 😂
I looked at the who the Thunder, Nuggets Pistons and Knicks played and guess what the schedule shows the pistons aren't playing nobodies. There are 17 teams with a positive net rating right now (11/20) and the Pistons have played 7 games against them and won 6 (2 against the top 10 both Ws). Knicks have played 7 also and won 4 (2 against the top 2 both Ws), Nuggets had 6 won 5 (3 against the top 10 all Ws).
Finally Thunder have only played 4 of the top 17 teams and have won all 4 and also only 1 in the top 10. If you want to say who the hell are these teams playing start with the Thunder.
Also how many games have the other teams played with literally no starters that were thought of in the preseason. Pistons have played 2 and 5 with less than half their starters. All wins
I haven’t been here in a while. Is Rob in heaven?