Digital Social Hour - | The UGLY Truth About Today's NBA: Why It’s Losing Fans | Dev In The Lab DSH #595

Episode Date: August 2, 2024

🔥 The UGLY Truth About Today's NBA: Why It’s Losing Fans! 🔥   Tune in NOW to dive deep into the hard-hitting realities facing the NBA today! 🏀 Sean Kelly, host of the Digital Social Hour, sits down with the legendary Devin "Kakashi" Williams to uncover why the NBA is losing its magic and its fans. From the pitfalls of All-Star Weekend to the rising stars from Europe overshadowing American players, this episode is packed with valuable insights you won't want to miss. 😱   Discover how social media, endless fouls, and business decisions are reshaping the game we love. Are the best days of the NBA behind us? Why do the ratings keep dropping despite the incredible talent? Join the conversation and find out what needs to change to bring the excitement back! 🚀   Watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets. 📺 Hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more eye-opening stories on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 🚀 Don't miss out on this candid, controversial, and captivating discussion! 🗣   #DigitalSocialHour #SeanKelly #NBA #UglyTruth #Basketball #Podcast #DevinWilliams #NBAFans #AllStarWeekend #BasketballEvolution #NBAProblems #BasketballInsights   #MarchMadness #BasketballAnalytics #AnimeVsBasketball #BasketballCulture #NbaFanExperience   CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 00:42 - Devin in the Lab 02:38 - Anime Influence in Sports 05:54 - Basketball Overview 10:28 - Future of Basketball 14:57 - NBA Scoring Trends 18:11 - All Star Game Highlights 23:21 - NBA Traveling Violations 25:20 - Unguardable NBA Players 27:24 - Klay Thompson's Role 28:46 - NBA Playoff Predictions 31:18 - Doc Rivers Analysis 32:53 - Patrick Beverley Insights 34:17 - Outro   APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail]   GUEST: Dev In The Lab https://www.instagram.com/devinthelab https://www.instagram.com/inthelab https://inthelab.tv/collections/boruto-collection https://plus.inthelab.tv/   SPONSORS: Deposyt Payment Processing: https://www.deposyt.com/seankelly   LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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and showcase themselves. Wherever you guys are watching this show, I would truly appreciate it if you follow or subscribe. It helps a lot with the algorithm. It helps us get bigger and better guests, and it helps us grow the team. It truly means a lot. Thank you guys for supporting, and here's the episode. Guys, we got Devin the Lab, a.k.a. Devin Kakashi Williams. What a nickname, man. Kakashi. Yeah.

A lot of people know I'm a Naruto fan, so they gave me that nickname, and I loved it. Yeah, that's the guy, man. He was in my top three for sure. Who was your top three? We're getting right to it early. So Naruto or Shippuden? Because it changed. Naruto.

Okay, so OG Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi. Was Itachi in that one? No, he wasn't. Nope. Okay, so I don't even know. I hate to say Naruto because it's so basic. But oh, Rock Lee. I like him versus Gara.

Yeah. Who was your top three? Naruto is my favorite. No, no, no. You know what? In Naruto, Rock Lee was my favorite because it's fight versus Gara. Yeah. And then we're going to go.

Man, we're really geeking out early. Dude, I still watch that fight on YouTube. It's nasty. Once a year. I'm not even kidding. Gar is third. Sasuke is second. Okay.

OG Gar, I feel like they nerfed him in Shippuden. They did. I feel like he was so OP. It was weak. Well, he was in Shippuden. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. He was nasty.

Yeah, Naruto, he was unbeatable. Yeah. He was nuts. That tournament arc in Naruto. Loved it. Best. Loved it. Like I said, like you, I still go back and look at that fight too.

Bro, when I'm bored at home, I watch old anime fights. That shit gets me riled up. Come on, bro. Did you watch Bleach too? You love Bleach. Bleach is hot. And you know what's funny? I missed the end of it.

But I end up watching the new arc. I didn't see it yet. It's nice. It's nasty. Dude, I got to check that out. It's nasty. You got to watch it. I actually...

So I don't read manga, but for that one I did because they stopped the show because of the tsunami, I think. Just started. And yeah, I got to check that out. It's nasty. You got to watch it. I actually, so I don't read manga, but for that one I did because they stopped the show because of the tsunami. Just started. And yeah, I got to watch that. Just started reading manga. Yeah? Yeah, just started. Because of Jujutsu Kaisen.

Okay. I'm sick of waiting. Yeah, I heard that's a good show. I haven't started it. Oh my God. All the characters are in Fortnite and I see everyone using them. Oh my God. It's an excellent show.

I will not tolerate any slander. You've been in anime for a minute, your whole life? I always tell people I'm the first black person to ever have watched anime. Of course, it's not true, but obviously it started off with what I didn't even know, Pokemon. I didn't even know it was anime when I was watching. It was coming out with Cartoon Network or something. Obviously, that transferred over to Dragon Ball Z,

but I hate to tell people this because I'm almost ashamed of it, but I used to watch Sailor Moon. Random stuff. I'm 35, so I've had my fair share of anime. I had my fair share. You got a top three all-time anime? It's too hard. It changes up of anime. Yeah, I've had my fair share. You got a top three all-time anime?

No, it's too hard. It's too hard to pick. Because it changes up. Because now the anime, I feel like it's better. Jujutsu has moved all the way up. Naruto. The whole thing. Naruto is good to me.

But there's just too many really, really good animes. Some solid ones. Full Metal Alchemist. Excellent Brotherhood. Yeah. I don't like One Piece, to be honest. I got into it. It's too long.

That's what turned me off to it. And I stopped. I didn't want to watch it. And then quarantine happened. And then I had that time. I feel that. So I watched everything. Damn, you watched all-

I'm caught up. Bro. I had all that time. It was quarantine. So you're just- I'm going to be honest with you. Listen, I can say what I want right here, right? Yeah.

No, I don't want to get anybody canceled, so I'm not. But I'm going to be very honest. I was just smoking and drinking during quarantine. That's all I was doing. I had time to play Call of Duty. We were jumping out the plane every day. And I had about three hours to watch an anime. So you do the math.

20 minutes of episode. Yeah. I had a good amount of time. And you're skipping fillers. So how long did the quarantine last? A year or two or whatever? Two years. For some people-

We were in the house for a minute and some people were still in there. Some people are still in quarantine. I still see people wearing masks right now. Yeah, so, you know, I'm off that phase, but you know, I was catching up all the good shows and it was tough. Well, one piece is just so long.

So it's going to take up most of your time. But if you remember during that time, they weren't coming out with a lot of shows. You weren't able to film. I even remember, what was it? It was a movie with, what's Thor? The guy that plays Thor. Oh, I forget his name. Extraction or something?

And I was like, what the heck is this doing on Netflix? You know, because it was very well produced. They had a lot of money towards it. So I was catching up on all that stuff. I'm big into TV. I'm big into anime. I'm big into all that. Hey, Prime members.

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the team you trust. That stuff, so that's what kind of led me to edit in and doing a lot of stuff. That's dope. What do you think of One Punch, man?

One Punch, oh man, I was going to wear the shirt. I forgot because I just came from the gym, but we got a license. Oh yeah? We got a license

to do their clothing. That's tough, dude. That and boards, so I'm very excited. No way. Yeah, so we're just coming up with a whole big collection. I'm an idiot for not bringing that shirt. Say Tom is the GOAT, bro.

Love it. Love it. Aaron, did you see? No, I didn't see it. You never watched One Punch? No, I saw the first season. No, no. The trailer came out today for the third season.

Yeah, I need to watch the second. Yeah. The second season. Was the second good? Yeah. It builds up a different character, though. So it's not about the guy with the- It is. One Punch Man? Yeah. I mean, yeah, say Tom. Yeah Yeah. It builds up a different character, though. So it's not about the guy with the – It is.

One Punch Man? Yeah. I mean, yeah, Saitama. But it builds up – the third season is another character. Our second season is another character that kind of like low-key focus on also. Okay. He's dope. He's nasty.

Nice. Watch one – season two, watch season two. Oh, yeah. You watch a lot of hoops right now? I'm big into basketball, man. Sometimes, though, I will say I can't name some of the players off the bench because I'm getting to that age where it's sad because some

of the players are getting older. LeBron is probably going to play for the next 45, but when he retires, it's going to be weird. It's going to be weird. Who's the next face? Yeah.

I don't know. Luka? Maybe. And it's interesting, man, because as I'm looking at the NBA, so like part of what I do is because I wanted to see the basketball world get that much more competitive and not even to jump too much into this. But I really want to see the Olympics be the best version of basketball that there is. You know the Tournament of Power?

Tournament of Power? The Tournament of Power. No. You watch Dragon Ball Z behind your chest? Yeah, but not the new ones. Long story short, they have all these different universes coming together, and it's the biggest tournament that you could find, right? They come from all over, not just Earth, not just their universe,

all other universes. So I want to see that with basketball, with Europe having a crazy squad that can compete with the USA and the Philippines, and they're, like, number three in the world. That's what I want to see. Because I really value, obviously, the NBA, but it's just something about people coming from all different sides of the world that interests me so that's why I go around training everywhere because I want to

be a part of building that um that system in a long run and you got to think about it too so like it's kind of happening right now yeah I watched Luka when he was like 15 damn yeah and then when I got another chance to see him when I went to the EuroLeague. And I didn't know. I didn't even know it was Luka. But Final Four, I saw him when he was about 17, 18. He may have scored four points in two games, but everybody was telling him, like, that's the guy. Like, he's going to be really good.

Saw him the next year. He's the MVP of the EuroLeague. Damn. And so, but you're seeing Luka, who might be the MVP this year. You're seeing Shea, who's from Canada. You're seeing MB, who's not from America. Where is he from? Cameroon.

Cameroon. Jokic, who's from Serbia. Yeah. You got, who else is there? That's one of them. Giannis. Giannis. Greece.

You know, you got people from all over, and there's, like, an issue right now, right? So, like, are we teaching people the right things here? Because all of the best players are coming from all over and there's like an issue right now right so like are we teaching people the right things here because all of the best players are coming from all over and then on top of that the people who are playing who are you able to plug in the systems a little bit faster are not from the usa so you know you always wonder where basketball is going and i keep track of all that stuff yes we might not be the best anymore. It's looking like it's trending in that direction, but I want it to get to the point where it goes back and forth.

Nobody knows. And you saw what happened with the USA. The third team, right? Right. Was it FIBA? Yeah, FIBA. Yeah. And so, obviously, KD and Steph and those guys weren't there,

but I want it to be to where they have to play. Yeah. And then you still don't know. You know, I see it going in that direction because I believe that basketball is just the culture that it becomes, right? So, like, if it becomes more of a culture thing like how it is in the USA all over, then you're going to start seeing better players. Yeah. And I think that they're doing some things in Europe better. When I go over there, I'm seeing all the, you know, the EuroLeague. I'm sorry.

Real Madrid has the 15 U, 16 U. I think that their system is a little bit better opposed to what we're doing in the USA where we're just running kids in the ground with a tournament every weekend. And now you're seeing them get injured because they're just playing so much. Everybody's getting injured. Zion and all those guys. There's too much.

There's too much basketball and not enough is, I like the fact that they did the 65 game rule, but I think that it's going to force everybody to have to be in shape. And if you're like a person who's in, you know, helping people with movement and being injury-free. You should be making a killing right now because people are going to need those people in order to make that 65. I think it's a 65.

Yeah, 65 to get paid. It's a lot. Yeah. And you're going to miss out on millions from what I understand. I'm not all the way educated on all that type of stuff. But I know you miss out on money if you're not an all-star, if you're not an mvp or you're not first team or yeah whatever so i remember when that happened to clay he was pissed right he missed out on like a max contract right right and so um now it's just like where is basketball going you have so many different leagues in the uh in america you have um the nba

well no no no even before that you have the high school route the traditional high school that you could take you can go to a prep school if you're a senior or whatever you can go to play for the ignite yeah uh you can go to college uh you can go to i'm already had the lavar ball league oh yeah they got the overtime they have the overtime league so there's so many different routes that you or you can decide to go play overseas. Yeah. So it's just like, where is all this going? I don't know.

I know athletes are getting paid, which I was worried about. Right. Because some of the people I know and I've trained, I'm afraid what happens if you have $100,000. No, I'm serious. Because it's just like, they're just going to blow it. Yeah. Or they're going to do something stupid. And, you know, I just don't know how all that is set up, but I'm just, I'm just kind of afraid.

And then now, you know, at the transfer portal, there's so many kids in the transfer portal. Everybody's all over the place. It's hectic. Yeah. Basketball is in a weird state and it's just, where are people going to go? And are people watching college games anymore? Do they wait till March? I don't watch college anymore.

You see what I'm talking about? Because don't watch college anymore, to be honest. Because you can't really keep up with a player. There's so many. Well, it's not even so much that. They're going to play for North Carolina. Then they're going to this school. Then they're going to that school. So it's like, what are you even supporting? Is it just the colors of the school? Or are you supporting

a player? Opposing when guys went two, three years? Even the one and don done's but they're known for just that school and it's kind of trickle or I think it's a trickle down effect from the NBA right I I feel like that because and I'm not here to talk about the whole LeBron thing and you know how he went from this team and went to the other because lots of teams get traded, but people are watching that. When he did the decision, people are watching that. So now I'm seeing, like, it really feels like there's no loyalty to that team

and vice versa, right? They'll get rid of you just no problem. Like, the management, you know, you got guys that have been bouncing around the league their whole life and can't stay with one team. And, you know, you got to feel for the other side of that too. Yeah, it's become such a business at this point right they just see it as like numbers on a paper what's your stats if you don't meet this then we're trading you right and that's unfortunate right because i value what got me into basketball is kobe now even before i go over this kobe wanted

to get out la at one point because they weren't making the right moves. That's what I, you know, videos that I've watched and stuff that I've read. But at the same time, he never left. He was with LA the whole time, right? And so, like, me always valued that loyalty and just sticking with it and becoming known for, like, Kobe is LA, right? Jordan is Chicago, even though he, where'd he go? To Wizards? No, Wizards at the, I don't count that. That doesn't count. He's Chicago, right? Jordan is Chicago, even though he, where'd he go? To Wizards? No,

Wizards at the, I don't count that. He's Chicago, right? There's a lot, Allen Iverson, for a long time, he was Philadelphia.

He ended up going to Denver, but he was Philadelphia. You attach these people to these cities and it just becomes so like, that's what I love. I love Magic. He's the Lakers, you know? So, There is a flip side to that though, and it just becomes so like, that's what I love. I love Magic.

He's the Lakers, you know? There is a flip side to that, though, to play devil's advocate because you saw what happened with Lillard. He spent so many years at the Blazers. A lot of time there. And people say that was a waste. Right. So there's, yeah, there is a flip side. Like I said, I can go to the management route.

I can go to the player route. But that's just what I've come to know basketball as a kid, not really understanding the business side. And I just kind of miss feeling like that, that feeling of not seeing a guy bounce around. But I miss, you know, one of the best matchups I've ever seen was when LeBron and Wade matched up. LeBron was with the Cavs and Wade was with the Heat.

And they had like 30 in the first half. But I'm big into video games. I'm big in anime, right? So like boss battles. Like that guy against that guy, not the team ups. That's just what I like. Kobe versus T-Mac or versus Vince Carter or Chris Paul versus CP3. That was a time we didn't even know who was better

out of CP3, I'm sorry, Darren Williams and CP3. There was a time we didn't even know who was better out of CP3. I'm sorry, Darren Williams and CP3. There was a time we didn't even know who was better. So I missed those matchups that we used to get. But now it's just like, you know, three guys, three all-stars versus two or, you know. Yeah. There's no team where it's just one all-star anymore. You need two or three these days. I miss it. I think the skill level has gotten so good. There are a lot of really good players. So's a lot that you gotta pour into this because there's just the level of basketball everybody's like oh just bring back hand checking or do this and do that it's no simple fix because the strategy has gone up why does everybody think

that everything in the world can evolve besides basketball it is absolutely evolved have you watched some of those one-on-ones that they were playing during the All-Star, right? They were doing, it was Julius Irvin versus Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. They did a one-on-one. And I'm not sure if they were retired. I think they may have been. But they did that matchup. If you look at that matchup, it looked like some of these players nowadays would kill them.

I'm serious because they can dribble better nowadays. They can shoot better. And they can pass better. Just straight up. Like me looking at it. I value. I'm an old school guy, right? I think that just as well as Magic Johnson played well,

he can adjust to how basketball is played nowadays. I feel that. Right? That's what I personally think. I can see that with him. Certain players, you just put them in that era. Right. Where do you see the game evolving to now? Because right now it's three points. Right. That's like the big thing. that high in the NBA or, you know, way higher in the NBA. I think that, you know, there are certain rules that they're doing in the EuroLeague that allow a lot more defense. Like, you can sit in the paint.

There's no defensive three seconds. There's all sorts of things. Can you hand check in Euro? Yeah, you can get a lot more physical. I haven't seen some wild stuff in the EuroLeague, but it's no doubt more physical. But this is a whole conversation because, you know, the EuroLeague is – there's so many different things from the rivalries to everything that make, in my opinion, some parts of it better.

But when you go to the NBA, why are they scoring so much more? There are a lot of fouls that they got to get rid of. I mean, when a player drives and throws himself into a defender and then just flails up and the the players are good at drawing those fouls and they only learn the rules so that they can take advantage of them why wouldn't you but we do we do the same thing in business we learn how how certain things work and we take advantage of how things work out on the outside of basketball. So why wouldn't we do that in basketball? Right.

So I'm looking and it's just like they're going to have to make some adjustments in order for them to get the product that they want. But at the same time, social media has created a monster because you have so many people out there that think that they know what they're watching, but they don't. And these are what the so-called fans, right? And the fans, as they're commenting on social media, because you gave everybody a voice with that, it's really only like 5%, 10% of the basketball world. But it seems so loud when you look at the comment section because of what the world is, right?

It's so easy. And it's crazy because I can comment, and an NBA player will see that you know so that plays in the whole psyche of things and um but yeah you give all these people a voice that don't know anything about basketball but just want to be heard and seem knowledgeable and i think it's not helping the game at all yeah the scoring's so high the all-star game was what like 200 oh that was pissing me off the all-starStar game sucked. Now, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that all the All-Star games

that I've watched have been competitive. Are you interested in coming on the Digital Social Hour podcast as a guest? Well, click the application link below in the description of this video. We are always looking for cool stories, cool entrepreneurs to talk to about business and life.

Click the application link below and here's the episode, guys. But they will play in the fourth quarter. Right. Now, when you get to 200 points like it did this year, everybody's just laughing and just throwing up, you know, goofy shots and shooting with the left hand. I like these players, but it sucks.

Why don't you just get rid of it if you're going to do that? What's the point of watching? Which is weird because I was looking at the ratings. There was something that came out of the ratings. It was one of the best games ever. It was crazy. I couldn't believe it. What?

And, you know, as I'm looking at how they're playing defense, maybe there's one guy playing defense. That was Kevin Durant. I'm thinking this. Everybody wants a one-on-one or a king of the court during All-Star weekend. But just imagine the king of the court and they're playing like that. They're just letting each other blow by each other, go for a dunk. It's trash.

They wouldn't try. You know, I don't think they would try. My thing, my answer for that, why don't you just go, yeah, we can add the king of the court, but why don't you go add, you know, some of the guys that didn't make it, that got handles, that got one-on-one packages, and, like, then you have those guys compete that want to, you know, some of the guys that didn't make it, that got handles, that got one-on-one packages. And like, then you have those guys compete that want to, you know, build a brand and showcase themselves.

There's a lot of things like, you know, think about it. The three-point contest is probably my favorite event. The dunk contest is slowly going down by the three-point. I think they're a genius for adding Sabrina and stuff. Yeah, that was cool. But it's fun because you're going off a score

and everybody's competing. Everybody wants to win. But the main thing though I'm learning is they don't have a chance to get embarrassed. And that's why I think that in the five on five, they don't play that hard because nobody wants to get shown up, crossed to the floor. And a big part of that too, and I don't really

you know, maybe you might disagree, but you know who Ky kairi kairi and brandon knight when kairi crossed brandon knight to the floor i always had to think back on that because you could see that and google that so quick it's a staple and it didn't happen in the actual game happened in all-star or like a rookie like it was all-star weekend interesting yeah and so like seeing those those guys get crossed up to the floor like that, I don't want to be seen like that when I'm trying to be on a vacation. It's supposed to be my vacation, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I don't want to be seen like that. But at the same time, where's the competitiveness? It makes sense. They got to find that middle ground somehow. It sucks. But I will say, I think it's genius, the three-point contest. I do like the dunk contest, but I think it would be cool if they added,

like, I think Venice Beach did a good job with adding, like, a vert test. So, like, just seeing how high people could go touch on the glass or, you know, like they have this little bill and people run up at Venice Beach and they run up and touch the bill. Oh, yeah. It's just cool seeing how high people could jump. Dude, that's crazy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's a lot of guys that could jump really high. So I think that if they add some of those different parts, they could. Mack McLung, man. Yeah, Mack McLung. And this is funny because he's not even a guy that wins. That's not even playing in the league actively right now. I don't agree with that.

Right? So let me ask you a question. Do you think that he should be in the dunk contest or he should not be in it? I think he should be in it, but I think he should be in the league based off his stats. He's good. He's really good.

He's always top five the past two years. It's probably because of the height. Who knows? 6'2". Yeah, it's not tall enough. But he's good, though. You know, but I don't know. I just, I think more stars should be in it.

And I saw the whole thing with Stephen A, where Stephen A was talking about, oh, there's a, LeBron is to blame for it. But he actually had a point because I watched Kobe in a dunk contest. I watched Vince Carter, T-Mac, Michael Jordan. There's a lot of really good players that will participate. And I always dreamed of LeBron being in the dunk contest

ever since I saw him in the McDonald's All-American Power Raid slam dunk contest. Damn. Yeah, I remember it. And he was in it. And, you know, I kind of know because people don't want to get booed. People don't want to look like they don't have any creativity. But for some of these guys, man, if you just go up and dunk really hard

and jump really hard, fans are going to love it. It's going to live on forever. Especially Bron. Right? Yeah. I'm pretty sure somebody give him one dunk that he can do that would send everybody, you know, make everybody really happy. I don't know.

This sucks, though. I think he's old now. He's missing some dubs now. But he's still got bounce, though. How long can LeBron play? You think 45? He's a machine. He's like nothing we've ever seen before.

Can he play to 45? Heck yeah, he can. He's still dunking. He's 40? 40, yeah. He's done a good job for what we know of just taking care of his body. We've seen the same thing with Tom Brady, somebody who could just last and play for a very long time,

and then he's smart. I always give him credit for being the smartest player out there. Absolutely. Brady, somebody who could just last and play for a very long time. And then he's smart. I always give him credit for being the smartest player out there. Absolutely. Do you think a lot of NBA players are getting along with traveling right now? No, people just know the rules very well. Now, there are people who do travel, but people know the rules very well in terms of what the gather is and different things that you can do. And there's a lot more information about basketball,

which I didn't have when I was, you two came out when I was in a senior high school or going to college. So I didn't have all this access to learning about the game. So people are seeing this stuff and just trying things like, for example, the Euro step, it's called a Euro step. It wasn't made by guys here. So a lot of stuff that people are calling travel here,

I was seeing in the EuroLeague. You know, a lot of things that, you know, a lot of physical play push-offs, I see more of it in the EuroLeague. Like they get away with more stuff there. There are certain things that they call travel there, and they enforce it. But I see people getting like biting their style a lot more nowadays, especially when it comes to the playbook. Yeah.

I see it a lot. So when it comes to the rules, man, you got a lot of people that don't necessarily understand it. But you also got to think about this. When it comes to traveling and different things of that sort, is it really happening more or do we have more cameras around filming everything, putting everything on social media? But that's what I think that it is. I think people have been doing the same move for a long time, like that hardened step back. Yeah.

I just a lot of people doing this a long time ago. I always get on live and people are like, oh, the gather step is just some new thing. I'm like, well, let's get on live and talk about this. I'm going to invite you to my live, and we'll go and I'll show them footage of people doing exactly what they think Giannis is traveling with, but with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen

and John Stockton and people they never knew. Oh, the game has changed. People are just shooting more threes, and the strategy around basketball is a little bit better than having a lot more analytics. Yeah, absolutely. I know you pride yourself on defense.

Do you think there's certain players that are, they throw this term unguardable out there. Do you think that's actually true? With the rules, there's a lot of players that are unguardable. Luca, he is unguardable. Really? What? I haven't seen too many people stop him.

For how he knows how to draw these fouls. One person that they did start policing a little bit better is James Harden because he was a king of drawing fouls. But when you look back at him, he kind of is a foul because people are reaching in and he's swiping up and they're going down. So it's like- CB3 always used to do that to him. Yeah.

But to me, I love Chris Paul. I try to take used to do that yeah but but he to me i love chris paul i try to take everything i could from him but he'd be flopping he'd be flopping all the time and there's plenty if you just go youtube cp3 flops yeah you can go youtube a lot of people lebron flops uh luca flops they're all out there you think kobe ever flopped he sold fouls but i didn't see him doing too much of that. And like I said, I grew up on that. So now when we're seeing all this stuff, Michael Jordan going to the Jordan rules with the Pistons. When you see that and now you see what it is nowadays, you see how much things have changed.

And it's just weird. It is, yeah. Like, what's going on? Why are they calling these soft fouls? And I think that it's taken from it. But here's what a lot of people don't remember. I know the ratings were down in the 90s when everybody was fighting and it was the malice of the palace.

So, like, you can't necessarily say that's the fix, more physical play, because when it was at the max and people were getting their heads taken off, the ratings weren't that high. Now, if you go back to the 80s, the rivalries, then you got something like somewhat of a better product because, like I said, Bird, Boston, Magic, Lakers. You had all these rivalries, plus the physical play, and guys that were with teams for a long time, Isaiah, Pistons.

You know, you had all these guys, right? So, like, now you get all that in one bunch, you get a better product, in my opinion. Absolutely. I agree. It's easier to market that, for sure. Right. What do you think of Klay coming off the bench right now? Ooh, Klay.

Accept your role. Make things easy. He can't stop shooting these drifting three-pointers from 35 feet, and I think it's really hurting the team. But if he's making basketball simple, which I think CB3 will help him out with that, then he's still a player that could play for three, five more years, in my opinion. If I'm his teammate, I'm on edge a lot because I never know how emotional he's going to seem in press conferences.

He's very open book, which makes him pretty cool. But at the same time, when you get him saying, oh, well, how do you feel about coming off the bench? It's hard. And he's, like, going into great detail. I'm like, uh-oh. You know, he's being a little emotional. Because if I'm on the other team,

I'm taking advantage of that next time we play against them. And I'm hearing everything he's saying. So I'm, like, you know, really trying to force him to take bad shots. But I will say this, though. He's a huge part of the Warriors. And I don't think that he should ever leave because he's a staple. Where you mention Steph, a lot of times you're going to mention the Splash Brothers and you think of Klay Thompson.

And then you think of the chemistry that they had with Draymond. Then you go Adi Godala. And then somewhere along the line, Kevin Durant. Yeah. So, like, he's in that conversation. Keep him. Figure out a way to play him and let him stay there until he decides to retire. Absolutely.

Predictions for who wins it this year? It's too hard, but Denver. Okay. Denver's just really good. I thought losing Bruce Brown was going to be kind of weird, but it hasn't. Like, they picked up right where they left off. They're not number one. Yeah.

But they're up there, and they're really good still. And I think that when it comes to playoff time, they're going to lock in. Because, you know, Jamal Murray, he's an interesting person. Because I always feel like when – do you remember when the – was it quarantine? I don't know, but Jamal Murray played Donovan Mitchell. Oh, yeah, yeah. That was an – They were both dropping 40s, 50s. That's how you saw how good those dudes were. But he doesn't do it in the season all the time.

He coasts. Right. So if he were to do that all year, they'd still be number one right now. Yeah. And I think when playoff time comes hit or when playoff hits, I mean, they might be in the best position being in the middle of that pack playing some team, like, you know, down there in the play-in. The top two in the West are surprising, man.

Who would have saw that coming? Minnesota and who was number two? Some random team. I got zero faith in Minnesota. Nah. Zero faith. Even though they're the one seed, they don't feel like a one seed. I can't.

When do they win a playoff series? They may have won, but they haven't won many. I haven't seen them in no conference finals, none of that. They have a very, very exciting player, Anthony Edwards.

I think they're young. I love watching him. They're too young, though, for the playoffs. They're too young, but they're not that young. They're not that young. They got Rudy Gobert,

who's a vet. They got Cat, who's technically a vet. Anthony Edwards is, you know, younger, but then they got Mike Conley, who's a vet. They're not young, though, younger, but then they got Mike Conley. Oh, they're not young enough. Yeah, I always want to say that, too.

But when I think about going on the list, I'm like, man, that young. But you just, it's Minnesota. You know, you just don't see them winning. Plus the 7-8 seed in the West. I mean, it might be the Lakers, might be the Warriors. And so, like, I had this thing. If they play the Lakers, they're done. I feel like Minnesota's done if they play the Lakers.

And it's weird because you just never know what you're going to get out of Los Angeles Lakers. Yeah, they made a run last season. However, if they match up against the Clippers, it's a wrap. The Timberwolves, it's over. The Timberwolves are going to kill the Clippers. Oh, you think so? Did you see the last time they played and Anthony Edwards was trying to bank threes in? No, I didn't see that. He was like, he banked a three and looked at

the bench because they had made a bet that he was going to... That's how much they were joking around playing against the Clippers. Were the Clippers healthy though? They're too tall. Yeah. Yeah, they're just too tall. They're too big for them. Damn. Clippers are good though, sir. You got Kawhi playing a four. There's not much you can do.

And so I think the NBA is kind of spicy right now in terms of, you know, they got a lot of different situations. You got out there in the East with the Bucs. And a lot of heat is on Doc Rivers right now. And is he going to be able to turn it around? They've been winning lately. But nobody's talking about it. Every time I see Doc in the news, I'm like,

is he still going to be a coach next year? Because it's always like him losing. How does Doc Rivers keep getting a job? That's what I mean. I'm not crazy tapped in. I'm fairly tapped in with the NBA, but I'm not crazy tapped in. But just from a fan standpoint, I don't get it. I don't get it.

I don't get how he keeps getting jobs. Yeah, he won a championship, but after that, it's just like. Nothing. It's been, what, 10 years? And he's just been losing series and losing leads in series. And it's just like, what are we talking about? How come he keeps getting opportunities and a guy that people keep speaking up? Well, I can probably guess, but a guy that people keep speaking up for and Mark Jackson

has never got another opportunity. So, you know, but I'm really confused by the whole Doc Rivers situation. Yeah. And he even had JJ Redick, who was his, who coached him. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That was the first guy to really speak up about it, I think. Right.

Because it seemed like everyone else was defending him. And it was weird. Like, it's weird that he feels like that. And I was like, he played under Doc Rivers. And now it's just, now everybody's on watch now. Like, what is Doc going to do? His championship is robust. You got Dame Lillian and Giannis.

So now you got to make a shot. You know what I mean? He better make it, at least to the finals this year. If you don't make it to the finals, it's over. Yeah, because Sixers are injured. So they're done, right? And they lost Pat Bev. What do you think of that Pat Bev move?

To where'd he go? To Milwaukee? Yeah. For which side? Losing him or gaining him? Yeah, I guess. I was surprised the Sixers got rid of him. Well, when Embiid actually was playing really good, in my opinion.

You know, like some people take for granted like how good some of these NBA players are. Patrick Beverly averaged 40 in high school. You know, and something that nobody can come close to saying that they did. A lot of people NBA players are. Patrick Beverly averaged 40 in high school. You know, and something that nobody can come close to saying that they did. A lot of people can say that. But he averaged 40 in high school, and he comes

to the league, and he turns himself into a defensive player and a catch-and-shoot type of guy, and he's winning. Like, he's winning. So when they put him in there, like, they were good. You know, and not a lot of people pay attention because he's not going from 30 anymore like that. But you put him in a position to score, he can do that.

But he's a leader. Yeah. And he changes environments. And so I think that it wasn't good that they got rid of him because I like seeing him with Embiid. Obviously, he's not flashy, but you need guys like that, like Pat Bale. Yeah. Draymond Green always talks about the stuff that doesn't show up on the stat sheet. Because he does that.

Yeah. He does all that stuff. And sometimes it does in terms of him getting a triple-double and whatnot. But it's leadership. Leadership doesn't show up on the stat book. No. But you got guys like Pat Bitt and Draymond that does it very, very well. And I think it should be valued more.

Absolutely. Tev, it's been fun, man. Anything you want to close off with our promote i know you just sold some sound free basketballs yeah we have our silent basketballs uh they're dropping in uh march and they'll be out throughout the year but um you know i'm really trying to focus on products that could you know blow up in your home in terms of help you get better. And I'm more focused on kids and building an army of handles and shooters. So make sure to go to inthelive.tv to cop that silent ball. Let's go.

We'll link it below. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for watching, guys. See you next time. Appreciate it.