The Deep 3 Podcast - 1 Question Every NBA Playoff Team Must Answer To Win | Ep. 137

Episode Date: April 18, 2025

NBA first round playoff preview! #nba Check out the TD3 merch: https://the-deep-3-shop.fourthwall.com/ Listen on Spotify!: https://open.spotify.com/show/3elbbqVumwqz8wlIdknsLW Listen on Apple Podcasts!: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-deep-3-podcast/id1657940794 Follow us on TikTok!: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedeepthree Follow us on Instagram!: https://www.instagram.com/thedeep3podcast/ Isaac's twitter: https://twitter.com/byisaacg Mo's twitter: https://twitter.com/Mojo99_ Donnavan's twitter: https://twitter.com/Dsmoot3D 0:00- Intro 1:25- Celtics vs Magic 15:18- Lakers vs TWolves 34:12- Warriors vs Rockets 48:50- Knicks vs Pistons 1:00:25- Pacers vs Bucks 1:15:57- Nuggets vs Clippers 1:28:42- OKC vs 8 seed 1:37:30- Cavs vs 8 seed 1:44:10- tiktok time Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

this time last year we came up here first round the playoffs we're going to start we all came up here we gave our first round predictions and my god did we do a goddamn terrible job you have the record no i didn't i didn't bother to look but there was a lot of doubting of teams that made it quite far on the playoffs today we're going to do a little bit better we're going to do a first round predictions for every single NBA playoff series that's starting tomorrow today this comes out but we're going to do that by talking about each series via a series of questions that each team has to answer that will not only define their ability to win this first round series, but really their playoff run at large, right?

It's like your number one question that defines, can they win a championship? Can they meet whatever expectations they have? I got ready to improve. Listen, we're not going to miss a game. Like, we're going game by game, series by series, by a series 100%. Let's lock it.

I got it. All I do is win. All I do is win. I never lost. And if you've seen a video of me losing, it's fake. And if I happen to have the worst record of all three of us last year, it's fake. Oh, do I actually? No, I made that up. I don't know.

I probably don't. I did a terrible job, so who knows? Yeah, man. Every single first-on playoff series is time. Playoff basketball is finally here. We got big questions. Every NBA team needs to answer. Yeah, man, let's get right into it.

The cranium is crazy. Oh, my God. I mean, I don't know what to say. Prayon eaters rejoice. What series do you guys want to start with? I think we set it up. we go we'll go series by series we all have a variety of teams i think we have like six each so for each series i'll have one team you'll have the other or some combination of us all so

my you pick what series you want to start with um let's talk about the boston celtics for the versus the yolando magic specifically the team that i i have is your own own magic that's the worst one to start with ever start with another one it's just quick and easy get it out of the way i have bigger questions for lando magic than basketball because quite frankly with you like the exes and those ain't going to save them you know it will faith power in prayer

sermon that's right Easter's next week you know what I'm saying exactly that's the only thing that's going to save this team from the behemoth that the Boston Celtics currently are right now they're hitting on all cylinders and I love what I'm seeing

from Orlando I like I love what I love seeing the game the other night versus the Atlanta Hawks obviously I'm a hawks fan but that aside like Did you see what Gary Payton was, I said Gary Payton, my bad. Gary Harris was looking like. You see what fucking Cole Anthony was doing over there, over there. Being the perfect point guard for them, plain and simple candy, they had shots.

I don't know if they're capable of that over the last few years, fuck it, not a few years, 10 years. They've been showing us that they aren't that level of a three point shooting team and they've consistently been trashed on that end. And that's just like one question. That's my question for them. How strong is their pair? because there's no other answer.

Yeah, so starting with the least interesting series on here, this is, I think we're all going to say probably a sweep, maybe gentleman's sweep if we get a crazy Palo-Bankero game and he does what we did last year and he shoots 52% from mid-range. I could do it against the cabs. Maybe there's a world in which the Celtics get a cold shooting night and magic get one, but I think we're all expecting this

to be the easiest series to predict here, right? I agree. Well, there's a couple sweeps. But this is like the cleanest sweeper. This is very obvious. There's no room for interpretation, I think. This is obviously going to be a Celtics victory. So to me, the question is,

you're making jokes about prayer. The only thing I'm looking forward for the Atlanta Magic is, like, long-term reasons to be optimistic. Which really, the only thing that boils down to is, can we get playoff rising performances from Palo Ben Carroll and Franz Wagner? Really, Palo Ben Carroll. Can we see him continue to meet that expectation that people have for him after last year in the playoffs?

Because they're not going to stand a chance against a team that is the best combination of perimeter defense, shooting, creation. that we've seen the last like five years. The Celtics are a damn near perfect team. If you're going to beat them, you have to have a high, high-powered offense to keep up with them.

No one's going to accuse Dearlandomatic of having any type of offense, let alone high powers. So that's not going to happen. What would you need to see to feel optimistic with them going to next year in the series? I need Palo to average at least 27.

And like 27, 28, it's going to have to be on good efficiency. And honestly, the numbers are going to be what they are. Right? And, like, they're offensively, they're not set up in a position to where anybody on that offense is going to, is going to have, like, a great, great series. You just have to see, like, because the whole thing about Palo coming into this year, all the optimism was like, oh, my goodness, he's a dog. Like, they had absolutely nobody, no help last year against Cleveland, but Palo came through, he was scoring, he was getting buckets in the mid range, he was doing all that stuff. And now we feel good about him being 1A and Mr. Bucket getter, right, leader of the offense as.

for this team going forward and so like like i said you just want to feel optimistic about it going going into it and there's going to be there's going to be opportunity at least for palo now are those shots going to be hard probably but there's going to be opportunity for him to have a lot of one-on-one a lot of isolation and he's going to have to go and show that he can make those tough shots especially because those are the shots he likes to take whether you like that or not like moving forward those shots are always going to be part of his diet so okay you want to do that, cool. You're going to have to make those at a high clip. That's where I need to see. Yeah. I think this playing game was really the story of Palo Pankero. The first half,

he didn't shoot well from the field, but he had a really effective performance as a passer and specifically getting to the line. None of those Atlanta Hawks defenders could do anything to stay in front of him. He was drawing fouls left and right, being truly dumb. That's been like his saving grace as a score this year has been his development into being probably one of the best foul draws in the league. I think he was top five in free throw rate, and especially in the second half of the season that you saw that really developed he had stretches where he average 10 free throws per game for extended periods of time that's a real skill and it's not it's very little grifting like he is just strong as hell and hard to stay in front of that really

shot in the first half he was giving them guys trouble second half you saw the bad habits come out you saw a little bit of disappearing act in the third quarter where the stat line got real real ugly you know he had a good run the fourth quarter with like five minutes left in garbage time to accumulate some stuff to make it look less ugly but you saw the good good habits and bad habits that really have, like, made the conundrum that is what is current day Palo Ben Caro versus what he's going to be when he's a star. If we see four games of really good palette where he looks more like that first half, he really imposes his physicality. He switches on to Derek White in these actions and really gets to the line pushing him against

a smaller defender there, has his way against the tougher defenders like Jason Tatum or whatnot and shows you he can do that against top tier defensive talent. That's all I want to see. I just want to see him be able to take those lumps that's going to come. with playing a defense like this and led to be something that we say, okay, he trial by fire

as a first option two years in a row against good defenses. We see him continue to get better. That's literally all I care about. For me personally, I can understand that perspective

and point of view. I feel a lot better about Paolo's since the turn of the all-star break. Oh yeah, he's way better. I divert my intention in the playoff

specifically towards someone like Franz because I'm like, okay, like if something, if Orlando's ever in a predicament where they're going to have to pick and choose, we know which way they're leaning is it the right way i don't know but it's a clear decision that

probably that 90% of the league will make and i need to see how he's going to coincide with someone like paolo with or without him on the court really and over the last i don't know but a few years two years ago they weren't they weren't in the playoffs but just last year i believe he was heard as well no it was in the playoffs for his cleveland yeah he performed well i need to see him solidify himself a part of this core and also Yeah, France Well, he's definitely part of the core

But he needs to shoot well That's what I mean I need them to solidify himself This postseason Against the Celtics Specifically in terms of the shooting That's the biggest thing Yeah, he's like

The phrase like he's part of the core for sure They're not going to choose Between either room But he needs to show that he can be a second option And actually They're going to help off him They're going to be put in a position To possibly choose

If they got in an absolute sad way Okay Yeah, but either way He has to, the Southwicks are going to leave him open. They're going to help off of him on drives. They're going to make him be able to be a competent shooter. I mean, he better. That little hitch jump shot he has right now, that little slope.

He needs to make those shots because they're going to, if he doesn't make that, it's going to be two years in a row of glaring lack of offball play from Franz that, yeah, I don't know if I'm going to go as harsh as you're implying, but it's going to be a question for sure. If it's two years in row, that it's a clear weakness. Yeah. And I think like going into this series, it really is about about like process and just how things like feel and how things look because don't let this playing game for you neither of these

teams shot over 30% from three yeah if you shoot like that against the boston southics you're gonna lose by 2025 right like just because of one how talented they are but also of course just like the math the amount of threes that they get up the percentage that they that they uh not knock it in at so all of those questions about team and all that team what team right this team is still very much under construction yeah i need to know that my foundation and my building blocks are good. So yes, Franz needs to show up and Palo needs to show up as well. Those are the two things that we're focusing on for them. And do you have the Celtics? What's your one question for the Celtics? How, how jacked up

is Jalen Brown's need? That's the right question. Right. That's that's it because obviously for the Celtics, the big question for them is can they repeat as champions, right? Can they get out the east? Are they going to beat the Cavaliers? Are they going to beat the thunder if they get there all that stuff their strength is we have one of the best you know the best and most talented starting fives in the league that hasn't been necessarily the case because jalen brown hasn't been amazing this year and you see it in those you see it in stretches even in the winds but you see it a lot of a lot of times in their losses like when they when they lose a lot of times you can look at the box going you can look at the numbers and one of the key things that you see

consistently is, oh, Jaylon Brown had a bad game again in these losses where, again, against a majority of the league, that can work because Tatum is at another level. Derek White is so good, Drew Holiday is awesome. Alford for your king guard, anybody, all that stuff. But as you progress further into the playoffs and you're playing better and better teams, a lot of people have great five-man units, right? I need my five-man unit to be clicking on all cylinders. Yeah. And so Jalen Brown, like in losses, he's shooting like 30% from three. His, even his free. through percentage drops into into the 60s when they're when they're losing games he has again he has not been great i need to know that he's going to be there and he's going to be you know

the all-nbay version of jaylon brown that's where i want to see this year honestly that's like one of the most underrated under-talked about stories of the league towards the end of the year yeah it's very quiet yeah like he's it's been kind of kept under under under the raps and the celtics themselves not the organization haven't made any made major disclosures about the injury, and he's been in several interviews talking about, like, yeah, this is, like, the first time in his entire NBA career where he's had, like, actual neat issues, and he genuinely feels discomfort when he's playing. And to see him, like, not sit out as much towards the end of the season, this may honestly,

like, catch up to them. And like you said, as time goes on in the playoffs, you're going to need to have him hitting at all cylinders. You can get passed by the first in the second round, but once the each conference finals comes in, who knows who will come out of that. He needs to leave him cavaliers. And if so, I would feel a whole lot better

about the bottom of Celtics with someone like Jalen Brown. So I genuinely think his health is the biggest question here. Yeah, and the magicer, like if you're going to need to see something good at Janeline Brown to encourage you that he's going to be healthy enough, performing well enough to, like you said, beat the Cavs, beat the Thunder. The magic are a pretty good test for that. Obviously, they have Franz Wagner, who I imagine is going to start off

with his primary assignment being Jalen Brown, I'm guessing, and they'll have Palo Ben-Curo on Jason Tatum, you know, give him the bigger guy, or maybe vice versa, actually. Maybe they will put Franz on the primary ball handler. Whoever may be, there's going to be some good big wings

for Jalen Brown to have to show that he has the burst coming off that knee injury. I know they gave him injections to allow him to deal with the pain. You know, that's always a big question mark. He can play, but is he going to look 100%. Dealing with these big wings is a really good test for that. The Orlando Magic are 10th.

in rim defense, that's going to be a big thing to pay attention to do. Can Jaylen Brown consistently get to the rim and create pressure? Because last year, part of what made him so amazing and why he won't final as MVP. He was an automatic mismatch with that spacing, especially against Dallas. You know, he was constantly blowing by Luca Donchette's constantly creating an advantage, even if he's shooting well from the field. His burst has a big part of giving them enough creation that they don't have anywhere you can hide a weak defender out there because if you're doubling off of Jason Tatum, the ball's going to find its way to Jaylon Brown who's and create advantage every play, if he's a step slow, that's a big difference in being those two

elite teams. Yeah. And I think for the Celtics, again, it's not even about beating the magic. It's honestly not even about beating the Knicks or the Pissons in the next round. It really is. We're preparing ourselves for Cleveland, for OKC. And one of the cool things that I think if Jalen Brown isn't necessarily there is going to be cool to see is like how powerful Boston's two big lineup is. Because, like, when you, like, well, one, across the league, you're seeing a lot of teams really

go to these two big lineups in a more, like, traditional sense. Yeah. And, like, Boston, they played a decent amount where, you know, where they have Porzingis and Cornett or Cornett and Horford. And those lineups are really good in terms of, you know, generating offensive rebounds and getting second chances and stuff like that. I think that is something to where Jalen Brown isn't necessarily 100% right. Boston is okay playing with, you know, playing with three wings and then two big.

and going that route. And so maybe by game three, you know, they're already up, 20, 3.0. And it's like, all, listen, we got some time, right? And now we can start fine-tuning these other lineups to where in two, three weeks when we have to start playing Evan Mobley and Jared Allen or Chet Hungren and Isaiah Hartensai. That's going to be something that you can look back on and you have actual playoff live reps of that.

Yep. There are lineups with Chris Haas Porzingis and Al Horford on the court at the same time, plus 11.4, they have the best defensive free throw rate in the NBA 100th percentile, 97th percentile, not giving up offensive rebounds, they are a force. You know, it's a too big lineup plus shooting. That's definitely something that's going to be a big difference

to them this year. Like that's going to be, you look at the calves and they have those two bigs. If you can get that really sharp and be able to have that as something that's looking good, firing all cylinders before the conference finals, it's going to be big. Yeah.

Yeah, right, man, that's the easiest series to predict in the NBA this year, That is going to be four or five. It's the second easiest because whoever the calves are playing in the AT, they're also watching them as well. Let's go out west now. Let's talk about an interesting series that's actually worth talking about. And we have, I'm sure, many thoughts to talk about here. We got to talk about the Lakers versus Timberwolves.

The most talked about series right now, obviously, because it's the Lakers. But also, it is such a clash of styles. I love it. This is such a good litmus test for both of these teams, honestly. And do I have the Lakers on my list? Yeah, I think you do. I have the wolves. My question for the Lakers in this series,

how far can small ball take them? Because obviously, one of the biggest talking points is the other team across from you, has Julius Randall, has Rudy Gobert, has Jay McDaniels, who's goddamn 611. He grew, since he joined the NBA, Anthony Edwards, 6-6 shooting guard, large guy, they can play lineups

where they have DFS or Nekylla, not DFS, Dante de Vincenzo or Nikila Alexander Walker out there and have really big lineups. They can take off Julius Randall and put Nasredo over there so they have two center-sized guys A ton of size and depth.

So much size and depth. And the Lakers are obviously the complete opposite. They're going to win with a three-headed attack of guards with small ball lineups that have Rui Hachamora and DFS out there together. And that's been a big thing for them is the small ball look that they have that's small in name, but they have like fucking four power forward-sized guys out there. So it's a unique style of small ball.

I guess the biggest question for me that they're going to learn this round is is that a strong enough look that has enough advantage is that it can be the, not just something you can get away with against big teams, but something that's like a legit advantage against big teams that you can make them really uncomfortable because you have a good mix of size and skill. Yeah. And I think a key thing that they're going to have to figure out

which is my question for the wolves is how loud is the green goblin mask going to call out to Jimenez random? And specifically because that green goblin mask is going to be controlled by JJ Reddick. Yeah. Like he's going to be the one. that's calling out to Julius Randall. And so I think, like, as big and as dominant that the wolves can be, the one problem

that we've seen from them throughout a lot, I guess this season, last season, and even before, is decision-making, decision-making, decision-making from their ball handlers. Yep. And if the Lakers are able to create enough confusion and force these guys into enough tough situations to where you can make them hesitate, you can make them, you know, make the wrong read, that is going to be extremely key for a defense where as soon as the trade happened, the first thing everybody says, in the playoffs, how is it going to work with the defense of Luca, LeBron, and Reeves, right? This is our first chance. Everyone expected them to be like

25th in defensive rating, but they've been top 10 for most of the time with Luca. It wavored off a little bit in total stats since the trade because LeBron missed so much time in defense. The defense is really reliant on LeBron, which maybe is a red flag, as we can talk about. But it is very reliant on LeBron. And I'm glad you mentioned that with the wolves. Because listen, the wolves have a top 10 offense and top 10 defense for the year. Undeniable, they have extremely versatile lineups that are really good on both ends. It's all about late game decision making with them in a playoff setting.

Is Anthony Edwards ready to be a primary playmaker passing out those double teams driving offense and not falling to bad habits himself? And you set the Green Goblin mask for Julius Randall. He every year he has to exercise demons of ghosts of Julius Randall playoff pass. He is the worst playoff performer that we've seen over the last. for years whether it would be like obviously just normal blunder and then on top of that too he's always hurt so yeah i have no idea what to expect out of someone like julius ran out of fine and if i'm all timbrewolds fans i understand why they'd walk into this series feeling comfortable

because it's a new style of play that they rekindled they've been so much better over the last like 20 to 17 games but this lakers team is like just genuinely their kryptonite which is just big brain lebron and luca at the end of the day and that and when it comes to that three through 10 I love the depth but at the end of the day the shoulders rely on like Anthony Edwards and also Julius Randall's smart and ability I don't know I can't tell if Julius Randall has too bad of the playoff performer reputation or if it's accurate like because like you said he's always hurt so I can't tell if people are too harsh on him or if it's like going to be another year where we're like oh yep Julius Randall fell apart in the

playoffs like I struggle with that because I want to defend him but I'm like damn you look at the numbers, it's not great. But I like you mentioned, beginning, JJ Reddick. Part of why the defense has been so good despite the lack of, you know, interior talent, especially. They're the best, like,

help and recover team besides the elite defense of the world, besides like Orlando and the Thunder. The Lakers are exceptional at frenzied help defense in the paint. I don't think that they need to worry about teams beating them up in the post with size. We've seen them defend

in Colio Hocatwell in the marquee game sooner after the trade. We've seen them defend fan Alprin San Gounwell in late game when they beat the Rockets a couple games ago before the season ended. I don't really have an issue with that. So like the idea of Rudy Gobert and Julius Randall being too big to stop them. People were like, oh, Gobert's six inches taller than the biggest defender on the Lakers. I think that is an on paper understandable thought because

the Lakers are quote unquote small. Remember who Gober? Rudy Gober. That's exactly. Yeah. And like, well, Rudy Gober has been playing some of the best offensive basketball of his life over the last 10 games. So I get it. It's not a high more. No, no, he's been playing really well Like he's been lighting up as a score Low-key But if that comes to being And they really dominate the offensive boards

And show the Lakers are too small Sure, that'll be a big advantage The Wool's probably win if that's the case If they beat them up on the boards like that I don't really fucking fear that at all As a Lakers fan I think I fear a lot more Anthony Edwards

This team of the Lakers Zero zero permanent defenders I can stay in front of fast guards The Bigs don't worry me whatsoever DFS is a good big defender. LeBron's fantastic in the paint right now. Luca is good against Biggs in the post. Jackson Hayes has been a very good defender despite his reputation.

I'm not worried about that whatsoever. I think they're going to have a great game plan to make Julie's friend to look bad again. I'm fully expecting him to not look great as a score. I'm kind of worried about his playmaking because he's been playmaking really well since they moved to him being the screener with Rudy Gaubert in like the dunker spot. His playmaking has been exceptional. Not really worried about his scoring. Not really worried about Rudy Gaubert,

beating them up off of offensive rebuts and putbacks. Anthony Edwards with spacing scares me a little bit. That's the reason, spoiler, but I even said it. I'm going Lakers in six. But if you tell me it goes seven, anything can happen in seven games when you have Ant Man and a lot of shooting and the Lakers' whole defensive approach is we're going to allow you to shoot corner threes and really just destroy the paint. They have the shooters that they can get hot.

It wouldn't shock me at all if this is seven games. And in those seven games, J. J. McDaniels makes goddamn four threes. Nicole Alexander Walker is firing. Don't Devincento is doing his thing. This can really go either way. I'm kind of confident in the Lakers, but it's not super confident. Yeah, I agree.

Seven games would be shocking to me. I kind of lean more towards six. But again, like, I try to take that back. Seven games wouldn't be shocking whatsoever because this team is legit when it comes to their size and how I can see them interfering with all types of lanes within the interior. And so, I don't know, like when I think about this Lakers team, and the Jackson Hases of the world and damn that's your only center

this tough scene I was trying to run through a list but god damn Rui Hachie Moore and DFS one No, Trey Jim is in love tough scene He can't play, he's not two way Yeah

Yeah tough So Alex Lennon is a backup center by the way But he's not gonna play Yeah exactly no way in hell He's gonna get those minutes But yeah Me personally My biggest question for the Minnesota Timberwolves

Is seeing how The other guys react And if they're able to like take advantage of the natural weaker unit that the Lakers have, which are the gay benches of the world. Are you going to be able to out shoot those guys? That's another huge question. I think they're genuinely more talented than what the Lakers have.

And if they're able to show up on a consistent basis, plus whatever the fuck, Andy Edwards and Julius Reynolds able to give you, this is probably going seven. But if they're not able to do that, then the series is absolutely right. But they have to be able to do that. It comes down to the shooters to me

because the Lakers are going to double the shit out of Anthony Edwards. They're going to pressure the hell out of Julius Randall. I think they're going to try to bait him into attacking mismatches a lot. I think they're going to switch Luca Dachan him a lot and say, hey, Luca's a weak link, right? We're not going to give you switches onto Anthony Edwards that easily, but we're going to switch Luca onto Julius Randall every time and beg you to attack Luca in the post because that motherfucker is stout and strong and better than you think.

You're going to get some buckets off on him. But if your ideal offense is Julius Randall paint mashing every time against Luca with LeBron coming to help, DFS coming to help, and really frenzying Julius Randall. making him make quick reads that's going to work occasionally it's not going to out shoot our offense with luca dants doing his demon time shit against mcdaniels being too big for him lebron lebron on the short role austin reves attacking mike connell if that's where they want to hide him if they can even play him you're not going to go ban for ban with them if you're too focused on attacking mismatches with julius randle and i think j j jreddick is going to beg julius rand

rand to do that and yeah it's really going to come down to when we double these guys can your shooters out shoot us because if you can you can beat the lickers but if those guys the lights are too bright, it's going to get ugly fast. And for this reason, I think you guys are a little bit too confident in Minnesota. I think the Lakers are winning in five. Oh, five. It's kind of a disresistrate. I think they win in five.

I think that first thing, we've seen, I think that the Lakers have a clear coaching mismatch, like, or they have the clear coaching advantage. Okay. I think JJ has shown this year that he is one of the premier coaches in the lead. especially at game plans he's really good at game plans you you give him not first round scheduling which is like hey we're going to play one day two to three days in between it's not it's not second round conference finals where it's game every other day you're traveling in between you're they have home court advantage he's going to be at the crib they do all that jj redick has time

lebron has time to recover from each individual game there's not there's not going to be crazy um amount of like traveling and moving around stuff like that so he's going to have that time for him for himself so again coaching i think the lakers have it i i think that i everybody has already said it yes they're going to they're going to bliss they're going to pressure uh and i truly truly think that julius randall is going to have to beat the lakers and i don't think that i don't think that that that's that's going to have those words because and you you tweeted this out the other day during the during the during the playing where where you were like the the the grizzlies ended up playing through

Zach Edie for a little bit, right? Tough scene. And it's like, yes, I'm going to let you think that you have this mismatch, but that's actually what we want. Correct. The worst thing that we want

is Anthony Edwards having the ball one-on-one. Now he's going crazy. If Julius Randall is trying to be a bull in a china shop and he's trying to go downhill all the time, fine. Fine.

We will let that happen. If Rudy Gaubert wants to attack missmatches, fine. We will let that happen, but I'm not letting, but I'm not letting it go crazy. And then also, you mentioned Mike Connolly, is he going to be able to stay out on the floor? If he's, if he's not, that's a, that's another smart decision maker that's not on the floor. And we're talking about their, their weaknesses being decision making.

You get an actual decision maker off the floor. That's a win for you. You talk about Rudy Gober being there. Luca licks his fingers if he sees Rudy Gober out there. Yeah, that's a bit exaggerated. But yeah, it's definitely not a big deterrence. But it's not, and I'm not saying that Rudy Gaubert is going to be unplayable. But that definitely in a, if he gets that switch, that's a matchup that Luca likes and he's exploited before.

And so I do think like that, like, whether if it's marginal or it's just something that Luca feels comfortable with, that is a point for the Lakers, having Luca be comfortable, having LeBron be comfortable against all these switches. So I do think that the Lakers have a lot of offensive advantages in this series. The biggest one for sure. Yeah, and I think that that ends up winning out. I think the number one thing, okay, so the question I have for Lakers, right, how far small ball take you? With Ruey and DFS and Braun all on the court, those three forwards, they're plus 16.5, have a 126 offensive rating and 109 defensive rating.

Their opponent offensive rebound percentage is 67th percentile. So they're pretty good at not allowing offensive rebounds. Not amazing, but 67th percentile above average. They're only 25th percentile in their own offensive rebound percentage, so they don't, they're not getting offensive boards with those guys. out there, as you'd expect, right? And they're the best 100th percentile in transition defense

because, you know, it's a mobile small ball defense they can run. All that screams to me, I'm not super worried about them being out bigged. But the wolves have a really good look when they put Nasreid and Julius Randall out there as a two bigs with Anthony Edwards, call it Don Steven Chenzo and he kill Alexander Walker.

That lineup, that five out, stretch you out, let Julius Randall attack downhill with five out spacing. That's kind of filthy. So I think the biggest question mark would be when the team goes small for small with the Lakers can they defend well because their biggest advantage

is going small against Biggs and really stifling them with mobility we saw that game against the Warriors the Warriors out smallballed them with Dremont out there that's fucking Draymond I'm talking about Nazar

and Julius Randall so it's a little different but that offense is going to be potent and I think we'll enter shootouts in those minutes I am going towards the Lakers in that situation because you're talking about

Luke is comfortable against Rudy Gaubert which you know he's not He's comfortable against all of them Correct but that's definitely part of it he's super comfortable cooking gnaz fucking Reed and Julius Randall he's gonna dice him to death. In the conference finals

last year, everyone, coming into that series, everyone's like, oh, you know, McDaniels, he's a, you know, all-MBA level defender. He's great. He's too light for Luca. He's too skinny. There's a reason why Lou Dort is somebody who can frustrate Luca more. I'm not saying he can be successful, but he can at least get

under his skin just because he is a he is a linebacker where like McDaniels is more of a you know prototypical NBA type body where he's lanky he's long but Luca can get him on his hip he could throw him around he could throw his body into McDaniels and he can create space and advantages and all the angles that he want so I'm not worried about that and if that is your best answer defensively is to put him on Luca he's eating like so I really think that Luca is set up to have a very very good series and we've seen as of late especially in that Dallas game we've seen Luca start to get going and start to look like, right? Start to look like Luca again.

If he, if game one comes out and Luca is out here firing, cursing at everybody in the, in the stands and stuff like that, the wolves are, they're in trouble. And I don't think that they have a great, a great answer for Luca. And obviously nobody does, but that's a, that's a really, really big problem. You know else you haven't mentioned it all as a fucking problem? LeBron is a week of rest. who do they have for brawn i imagine they're going to have julie's round will be the lebron defender a lot okay yeah you got it you got it sounds so cooked if it's like post ankle injury lebron like how he's been playing sure julie fan don't go hold his own like one-on-one but lebron is a week off and two or three games

nights off between each game he's going to look revitalized in those fourth quarters you have these two guys blitzing these two guys like again i don't want to i feel better about the wolves and you do they have real advantages that just they can't be looked at over as an easy lick. So I think all these games will be close. But the clear, clear, clear difference in late game decision-making that the Lakers have over the two main ball handles you're talking about with the Timberwolves and over the, as good as the best defenders are on the Timberwolves, they have a lot of defenders that aren't

the best when tasked with defending Luca LeBron specifically. Not great match matches for those guys, the reasons you said, I think the Lakers win fairly easily in very close games six very close games the leakers won four but they'll all be really close i don't see that's the thing with me like for the timber rules they if they want to have to have a chance to win this series all these games first quarter second quarter you have to be firing on all cylinders yeah and the game has to be like within seven to ten points in reach yeah they got they got to be comfortable you know they have to be up you can't let me hang around if you get a shootout it's not going to be good for you yeah shootout it's going to be horrendous for you and then if you get to

point to where it's like three, four minutes down the clock and it's like, oh, shit, that seven point lead just turns into a five point lead. It's cucked in. At that point in time, that's where you have, in my mind, two of the three best decision makers that the game has to offer, Luke and LeBron, just dismantling your defense in the worst way possible. I think the next factor is Rudy Gobert. But obviously Julius Randall is an X factor.

He has to play well. That goes out saying. But if Rudy Gober can truly dominate them on the boards, you have a lot of second chance points to Timberwolves. And not just be able to hold his own with Luca, but really, really stifle the paint, really make it so it's hard for LeBrogue's one-on-one game off and really be that DPOI and change the game there,

that's their chance to win. Because I don't think a shootout was going to go their way. As high-powered offense is, the Lakers, I'll be the first sight, the Lakers' offense is largely overrated in terms of, like, these three ball handlers must be so unstoppable. It's really not. They just are extremely clutched because of those guys. But if you have a higher-powered offense,

you can beat them by the time to get the fourth quarter, you can be up a lot and it's hard for them to come back. So that might happen. But I think if they win, it's because they just stifle them with the size and that proves to work. I don't think it will, but it's possible. Yeah.

That's what happened last year too in the conference finals where the wolves were up in a lot of those games down the stretch. And time after time, you saw them make, make bad decisions, make, have costly late game turnovers. And you leave that door open for Luca. He's going to take advantage of those opportunities. So yeah, I'm going with the Lakers in five.

I mean, I'm actually very confident about it. Damn. It's a confident sixth, but I think it's going to be so many close games that the Wolves will probably get a couple. So I'm probably equally as confident as you, but I think the margins are small. Six sounds fair to me. I want to say seven, but I just don't envision a world in where. And to me, if I was to select an X factor on the wool side of things,

it wouldn't be someone like Rudy O'Bare. I think you play the, like, world-class defense. At the end of the day, like, you're still facing some of the, the greatest of all time in Luke and LeBron. And I feel like in order for your team to really, like, shine in a new way, a way that we haven't seen, not seen before, because we've seen towards the end of this season, but Julius Rainel has to be clicking on all cylinders for the first time.

And that's something we've never seen before. So I'm going to lean towards the Lakers in six. Okay, there you go. It's tough. A lot of confidence over here. We know how that goes. We'll see. Let's move over to another extremely close series that is insanely,

hard to call. I don't know how to feel about this one. Rockets versus Warriors. The question I have for the Houston Rockets, they're on my list. Okay. Can they get a Jalen Green heater? Because I think that's what's going to be necessary to beat the savvy veteran team. They are 13 and 1 when Jalen Green scores 30 or more this season. They need Jalen Green to give them Donovan Mitchell production because they have so many advantages, so many. They're so much bigger, so much faster, had the perfect set of primitive talent to stay in front of Jimmy stay in front of stuff

really getting in trouble I think their offensive rebounding is going to translate very well against a small ball unit that the Warriors are going to use I think they have translatable skill sets from the regular season

that make them incredibly hard to just neutralize everything they do well despite the late game offense concerns I think this is going seven either way but I think the only way I'm going to pick this Rockets team to be able to out-execute the Warriors

the Warriors in late game situations and a game seven is it to get star production from Jalen Green which to me someone's gonna hear that and be like oh they're cooked it's fucking Jalen Green he's a bum he's a bust whatever I understand the sentiment

he has really really hot streaks like he's not a bust he is just inconsistent he has stretches where he goes crazy for weeks at a time and it goes really cold to me it's a flip of a coin if they get that necessary star production from him that gives them enough scoring

boost, I think Rock isn't seven. But if it's a regular Jaylen Green performance, I'm going to do the just traditional thinking that everybody else is doing. We're going to trust the late game execution of the Warriors system over all these years, trust Jimmy Butler and clutch time. I think it's going seven either way, and the performance of Jaylen Green really decided to me. Yeah, that's the best way to put it.

I don't think anything less than seven to me just seems screams wrong. Just a couple weeks ago, maybe two weeks, so we saw this team face off against each other. and it's tough for a lot of the reasons like you said and obviously one of the biggest reasons is fucking amend thompson seeing how he's just like so in key so interesting like keyed in and stuff curry and he has like a very special ability just to take away looks not even like allowing him to like running around freely and divert his attention as we usually like normally see him do and for me personally i agree with you but also Man, oh man, I don't, I see Jimmy Buller and we saw him have a heroic performance, but he has to do that against like the toughest, I don't know, I'm just going to say that says out on the limb, probably the toughest defense wing wise that he has to face off throughout the end up. Yeah, easily. So I'm like, he's like, wing defenders in the NBA. Yeah, so I'm like, can you genuinely give me like 30 every single night? because that's what it's probably going to have to take from someone like,

it's not 30, 25, something like that, some of that nature. And I don't know if he has it in him. And if he doesn't, I'm probably going to lean towards Eastern Rockets and a crazy, I don't want to say crazy upset because that sounds disrespectful. It's not crazy. But it feels, it would feel like an upset. Yeah, I think Jimmy Butler isn't to have his work cut out for him. But he's Jimmy Butler.

He could very well come out and go crazy. I think he's going to get his free throw game off for sure. You know, the Rockets are a very physical team. Jimmy's the best of drawing free throws. That's going to be, that's going to work because they're, going to be all up in his face, he's going to catch him slipping. But outside of that, I don't know. Like, they have so much ability to put two on the ball on these Steph Curry actions and

completely stifle him, just switch it. They can go from Tarysen defending him to immense switching on to him. And in that instance, you know, that's kind of what the warriors want because they wanted to be able to swing the ball to Draymond, swing the ball to Jimmy Butler and attack in four and three situations and do the stuff that they've done for a decade, right? With the Steph Curry gravity creating four on three and they had the smart decision makers make you find it. The Rockets are so uniquely talented and having fast defenders that rotate insanely quick. I think they're going to be in a good spot to make the

Warriors role players beat them. Listen, Kaminga's glued to the bench. So that's one less dynamic player, which I don't think Kamika's that great. But, you know, he's going to give us against the Rockets. Maybe he catches fire. That's not going to happen because he's a good athlete on the bench which works into the Rock. He's going to be a non-factor. They're going to make most moody make a lot of jump shots because he's not going to be a guy tagging off the dribble. He better make his corner threes. Quentin Post, you better shoot that shit out of of the ball, Guy Santos, she better make good decisions. Gary Payton's going to be left open nonstop.

If you're right, it's because they just completely sell out on stopping the stars and the Warriors role players just don't have it. But also, do you feel good about Sanguin and Jay and the Green be able to execute against Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler in the fourth quarters? Yeah. That's actually, so I have the Warriors. That's actually one of my questions for them is honestly, I've had a lot of questions about the Rockets late game execution.

Of course. kind of have the same thing about about the warriors yeah because you you've seen it in the playing you've seen it throughout the season throughout the entire step era and and you saw it in the clippers game they turned the ball over at very inopportune times and that is obviously not good going going into a playoff series and so like they were up big on on Memphis couldn't close it out right like they couldn't put their foot on on the Grizzlies neck and really, really keep them from coming back in that game against the clippers. Same thing. They were up big. Curry has turnovers at the end of the game. Dremont has the

mislay-up. Jimmy Butler has a turnover as well. And so I'm looking at all this stuff and it's like the Warriors have been able to get away with all of this stuff because they've had prime, prime Steph Curry, prime Clint Thompson, Kevin Iran, all these guys. Iggy, right? You've had very, very smart and the most talent in the NBA. So, yeah. Yeah, it's okay if you have 20 turnovers. You have three of the best shooters to ever play the game. You're going to be up 20 by the time you get to 22 turnovers. It's fine.

This team is also very, very close. And I think the last time that we saw the Warriors in a position like this was in the title year where they play, you know, they end up playing Memphis. And Memphis, that team, with a young, with the young job, right, a very hungry grizzlies team, very athletic, very high on the dog mentality on the dog scale. The Rockets are the same. The Rockets have insanely high amounts of dog inside of them. Yo, the clip farming that we're going to see from this goddamn series is going to be immaculate. It's crazy. The level of athlete, the level of tenacious is that their defense can put out.

I think that my question for the Warriors is like, can you also be disciplined in your late game execution? And if they can't, then they will lose the series. The two games that the Rockets have won against the Warriors this year, they've been in like the 90, fourth percentile in terms of turnover percentage. They've been able to turn them over and really put a lot of pressure on them. And I need to see that. So I think that over the course of a series, I think the Warriors will do that more often than not.

And I still do have major questions about the Rockets ability to do that. So I'm going to take the Warriors in six. However, the Warriors in Six is crazy. The difference between 60. No, but I'm looking at Rockets in seven. Like, I don't, I'll say, I'll say, if I pick the Rockets, I just, think it is I think if the Rockets win

they blow the Warriors out I think I think this is one of those situations where the Rockets athleticism and their defense completely overwhelms that's very possible Warriors and so if they if they beat them I think the Rockets like kill them you officially you know kill the dynasty all that type of stuff

and that is that's what we see but if the Warriors like I don't think the Warriors have it in them to to beat the Rockets you know in five games it's not this is such a class just like battle the styles and generations like the warriors defense is so high level post jimmy brother acquisition because they're just smart as hell veteran savvy they're not the most athletic they're damn sure they're not the biggest or most defensively talented top to bottom but draymond

and jimmy are so incredible at diagnosing offenses and stifling out advantages you create and being able to help and recover that that will work really well against a young team that struggles with late game decision making and late game advantage creation Alprins and Goon post offense only gets you so far in the fourth quarter you can really make him frenzied Lord knows you can make Jimmy I mean Jalen Green frenzied like that high IQ defense should translate well to them but everything you said everything that the rockets do well

defensively should also translate to the Warriors they should stifle the shit out of them and really shut down everything they want to do like I find it hard to believe the Warriors will be able to get into consistent offense as well I'm with you there I'm just going off of like I'm going to if they're both going to be super well suited for each other I'm going to go towards the guys we can trust I guess but I don't feel good about it like I very much can see the Rockets just being too much for them yeah I agree I think out of the three of us

consistently over the last over the course of the season I've always been low on the Houston Rockets and I've always been like yeah but you're asking me to trust on jailing green and I understand the defense is great but look at their like all star and Alfred Singoon and he just isn't that guy. He doesn't need to fucking be that guy in order for the Rockets to like advance all the way into the fucking Western Conference finals they want to. That's not their strength. That's not what they lean towards whatsoever.

It's the hellacious defense, whether it be the Dillon Brooks, Jabari Smiths of the world, who we're just now mentioning, which is absolutely insane, bro. Like their death chart is ridiculous. And seeing the warriors have to answer for that, buddy healed. Gary Payton, Jr. I don't, is Kavana Lee? Kavana's gonna get some minutes this series. Yeah.

He has to get minutes of series. As time goes on, I want to lean towards, my brain tells me that he's the Rockets, but in my heart just like, distrust of veterans in the Golda Se Warriors. And I'm a fool. Give me the Warriors in seven games. Yeah, I honestly don't feel good either way.

It's going to be a seven game of war, I think. This is going to be insane. So, like, that can truly go either way. If you get to a game seven, like, you don't know what's going to happen. I think, so the Rockets are the best offensive rebounding team in the goddamn league. The reason that they have a top 12 offense in the league despite the half court offense being so mediocre to bad, they get so many second chance points.

They destroy you there. They're first by a mile. The Warriors are going to sell it to stop that. Because if you can make it so the Rockets don't get second chance points, their offense stands zero chance. So that's eliminated. They're cooked. Barring, ridiculous shooting, absolutely easy lick if you can stop the offense rebounding. Problem is you just like can't.

That's incredibly difficult. and if the Warriors decide to do that and settle out on offensive rebounds, that means they're crashing the boards, obviously, to clean the defensive glass. You would think that slows down their transition offense. So if that's the case,

you have to attack the Rockets defense in the half court, which is incredible with those athletes, and you can't get out and run and take advantage of easy looks. So if you're going to stop their advantage, you got to play into their strength. That is a tough, tough puzzle piece

to deal with. You play your own game and let the Rockets eat on the boards, and you say, we're going to get our own back and it's going to be fine or you take away their best trait and now you're getting cooked by their best strength. I don't know.

That's why this series, and we talked about X factors a couple weeks ago, pods is going to be the X factor for a Golden State because you mentioned Buddy Heel. Buddy Heel was unplayable last year in the playoffs. Wouldn't surprise me if he's unplayable again. The game winner for him in the playoffs. I'm sorry.

I can't, you know, like those types of things in the in the last game where a men shut step curry down pods had you know one of his best games of of the year and so if you are going to slow your offense down you know that you know they're going to be waiting on the step curry back cut you know that the jimmy's is going to be there you understand that draymond while he's been taking more threes and knocking some down at crucial times he's not necessarily the shooter who's going to be out there spacing the floor especially if you're not like if kaming is not not going to be out there and again that's another body that's just not going to be on the court

who are your spacers who are your shooters pods is going to have to be that for them he's going to have to really really step up and give them that look and that outlet so that when the ball finds him after they've done covered option one two and three who's left and it's going to be pods and can the rockets run this sangoon

steven adams lineup that's on the screen right now which whenever they're on the court together stevenatoms is rebounding over half the team's misses that's such a ridiculous lineup that's worked so goddamn well because they're just massive and beating up people on the board you would think the Warriors have the necessary personnel

to be able to stifle that. No, sir. So that'll be the deciding factor. I'm sure they're going to put Stephen Adams on Jimmy Butler, just like the Grizzlies put Zach Edy on him, and we'll see if Jimmy Butler can just make it so that that lineup is a non-option.

I have a feeling that they're going to not be able to do that. That lineup's going to work decently well, despite what you would think from the warrior system. The more we talk about it, the more I want to lean towards rockets. I know. The more I want to go. But again, it's a seven-game war.

I don't have a strong feeling either way, but I'm feeling like 55% Rockets, 45% Warriors. But that 45% is like my brain telling me, no, go towards this side. It's obviously the Warriors. I'm not picking against Steph. I'm not going to do it. But again, if the Rockets do win the series, I fully believe that it's going to be sooner rather than later. I don't know. It's going to be.

That's a fun one. It's a fun one. I agree with you. It's a fun one. for sure it's truly going to be a war like in the most truest of sense whoever comes out of this series is going to be exhausted

the Lakers better hope that they can take quick care of the Tim Wolves because if they can win in five and then the Warriors let's say the Warriors do get past Houston and they have to deal with seven games with that grueling physicality and then they got to turn it around and go face a rest of the

broken rib God man it's gonna be it's gonna be tough it's a tough matchup for either of these team whoever comes out of it yeah I'll take dubbs in six. Six is too soon.

That's great. Six can only happen if they literally get nothing from someone like Jammer Green or anybody else. I understand that. I'm worried about because I've seen it over and over. I am worried about the Warriors' offense.

I'm super, super worried about the Rocket's ability to execute in a lay game playoff situation. So that's why I'm going with the Warriors. Okay. Let's move over to the Eastern Conference now. We did two Good West Series. Let's talk about one. This is the only one

that I feel good about my opinion on in these middle series. Pistons versus Knicks. My question for the Pistons are one of my teams. Can Kate Cunningham go ban for ban

and late game offense with Jalen Brunson and Knicks? It is truly all going to be decided to me on his level of star power in a playoff setting because it doesn't get talked about a lot.

Their offense has a little bit of a little bit of Houston Rockets-esque half-court problems. It's very, similar. In these games that we saw the Pistons walked down the Knicks twice as you remember. It's because Cade was going crazy. Cade

was dicing up, cat drop and pick and roll, getting into his mid-range buckets, giving it to everybody up and down the roster. He was giving him the kale problems. He was giving cat problems. He looked like a true late-game superstar that you could rely on. He has to do that again. Because there are so many stylistic things that I think work in the Knicks

favor in the series. He needs to do what Jalen Brunson did last year, to will his team to victory in the late game offense. I don't know what other big advantages of Pistons have outside of that to me. They don't. Like, they, the, there's been two games where, like, the NICs have had absolutely everybody

on the squad. And they're one-on-one in those games. The first game that they played, they blew the Pistons out. The second one is the one where Kaye walked him down in the garden. He had 36, right? 36, 37.

Something like that. That's, like you said, that's going to be the formula for them. He's going to have to score 36, 37 because I, while I, I am a little bit nervous just because the pistons are like very physical, they're very fun. I don't want to get too too caught up in how high the vibes are because it's like, wow, you lost, like you lost 30 straight games last year. Now you're the 60.

Like the turnaround is amazing. Yeah. It's awesome. But they, I feel like the indexing on the pistons might be a little bit more than what they are right now. Yeah, I can agree too. And yes, the Knicks can't, they haven't beat the Cavs. They haven't beat the Thunder. They haven't beat the Celtics, all that.

They can beat the other 25 teams in the league, right? Against everybody else, they are pretty damn good. And so I think that offensively, if Brunton, you know what he does in the playoffs, he's awesome. Kat, all I need you to do is space the floor and be good. He's done that all year. The run that OG and Nobie has been on to close the season, he's been hooping offensively. He looks like such a different player, bro. Shout out of Simile.

He's playing so good. And so it's like, if you have those three guys on top of Josh Hart's offensive rebounding and then Mikhail Bridges just like, if you get a decent Mikhail game, I don't think Detroit has enough offense, enough firepower to carry them through an entire series. Cade is going to have to average like 35, but Leake Beasley is going to have to average 24. That shit is not hard against a defense like the New York Dix, though. I'm sorry, man.

It's not hard for someone like Kate of Malik. If he can expose cap for sure. but their defense is like it's not good for the standards they're set because they're expected after this all in trade to be one of the best teams

in the goddamn NBA but the defense is like 12th or 13th in the league it's not like it's 25th you know it's probably we act like it's worse than it is

because we think about it through the lens of defending the Celtics in which they stand zero fucking chance they stand a chance against the Pistons 19th rank half one offense

is not quite so terrible but that being said if K'd just kills Kat it's very possible it could go the other way but it's not the easy it do have good perimeter guys like we make fun of

I'm a kill and OG for not being like such a dominant force that can hide the cat thing like the Knicks hoped you're asking it's a good wing duo you're asking them what we were asking them to do literally it's like hey I need you guys both to be as good as Herb Jones last year yeah I need you guys to be DPOY first team all all defense which I mean let's OG shout out to you but like but I don't far from it but you needed that level of defense for both of them to cover up Brunson and cat and that's it's a very very high tall ass of that but it's i feel like what the type of player that kate cunningham is this playoff series is going to be very telling in terms of his playoff legitimacy i agree and i think

for the just archetype general archetypal that he is in terms of how he likes to get his buckets off and how he's six seven six or whatever it is and has the ability to dime it up all across everywhere on the floor i feel like this series is set up for him to put up the craziest averages on pretty good efficiency. So I'll ask you right now, does Kate average 30 points in this series? I think you average is 30. Nope.

I'm going to say you average 30. Well, maybe average 30. I don't know. Yeah. Average 30 is a lot. What do you think is the Pistons record in clutch games this year? Which Clutch that is of NBA.com is defined by games that are within five points with, I think, less than five minutes to go?

Yeah, at the five minute mark. Yeah. What do you think is a record in clutch games? They played 37. I'm going to go 15 and 10. 22. 15 and 22 17 and 20

Not great. What do you think Kay Cunningham shoots from the field and from three in collect situations this year? 29% From the field?

God damn. You think he's killing A's? What is it? 34% for the field, 23% from three. Wow. Okay. I was baffled by those numbers.

And again, maybe it's small sample. It's 37 games. I almost felt like I was looking at an error. That sounds so weird. I was like, I feel like he's been killing

in late games because I remember these games against the Knicks and stuff. And granted, you know, he did do well against the Knicks because they have a specific matchup, but year over year it was not, that's not the best numbers. Granted, that's not everything. It's just NBA.com's version of clutch points.

I don't feel great about their clutch offense. Their 19th and half-quarter efficiency, like I said, like I said, K'd will have to be a superhero if he's just regular or, God forbid, bad. They stand no chance. And my bigger question is the Pistons Defense. Yes. Been elite second half of the year.

They've been fantastic. they are number one in points per play off of steals they rely entirely on a sarah thompson in the lineup and them flying around forcing steals forcing blocks running in transition their fourth in transition frequency as an offense that's their game plan be athletic make you mess up run on the other end and supplement our lack of half-court offense with speed and scoring transition right i wonder who was one of the best point guards in the NBA at late game execution and not turning the ball over and reliably creating his own shot

without putting it in harm's way. Don't do that. I wonder who that may be. I wonder which team is the sixth best in the league and not giving up turnovers and being fantastic at that and will be even more indexed to those guys in the playoffs

in which Jaylon Brunson plays 48 minutes a game. Who's the clutch player of the ear eyes? Jaylon motherfucking Brunson. So if the Knicks are able to play Knicks basketball and not turn it over and not give that outlet to the Pistons defense,

it can get scared. Hey, I never said that the Pitsons were going to win. I just envisioned Kate Cunningham having the series of his life. To all that being said, to sum it up, I'm pretty easily leaning towards the Nixon six games. I think it's going to be hard fought. I think this is going to be easier than people think. I might be wrong, obviously, so I'm not like,

the Pistons are good, but I don't think this matchup works as well for them as people might think from those regular season games that Kate did so well. We're not even getting into the Jalen Dern of it all. His ability to defend in space is going to be a big thing. He's a bit better second half of the year They're gonna attack him mercilessly I imagine they'll probably hide him on Josh Hart And not get him into the spread pick and roll game with Kat

We'll see if Tom Tibido can figure out a good solve for that That's a common thing You see a lot of teams hide their Slow-footed bigs on the least threatening wing Because if you put Jalen Dern on Carlin Towns And make him defend these pick and pops That's free eats I think That's either going to give up a lot of buckets to Jalen Brunson

Or we're going to close out hard on Kat And give up easy threes or him blow by you and get the defense rotating. So I think they're not even going to try and do that. And if they can figure out a way to make Josh Hart punish them as a screener and use the mobility against Jalen Duren, I think they'll struggle to keep him on the court. Oh, no.

That's exactly what Josh Hart wants to do. Like Josh Hart, Josh Hart just being a mobile artillery unit in terms of being the glue guy on everywhere on the floor, that's fine. Like play off Josh Hart, if you put Jalen Duren on him, right, if you're not body to body on Josh Hart, he's running past you. He's jumping.

He's getting offensive rebounds. He's creating second-chance opportunities. This is what he does. So, like, that's fine. You're just going to give him a runway to do what he does. And if, like, maybe the Knicks don't need Hart's offense the way that they needed it last year. But you have seen at times, like, when Josh Hart needs to shoot the ball, he will, right? Like, at the, listen, at the end of shot clocks, Josh Hart is a bucket.

If playoff Josh Hart comes back and he starts shooting 35, 36 percent from three, something just respectable. That is another mismatch that I don't think Detroit has an answer for. Again, even if it's just the offensive rebounds, purely getting second chance points from Josh Hart and him, you know, running into the lane, jumping over everybody, getting those boards, that's really all you need. The only thing that can change this equation to me is if Jaylon Brunson doesn't look good because of the injury. If he's rusty, which the last three games when he came back weren't, like, beautiful. But, you know, they've had time off. I assume he's closer to full health. We'll see what the rhythm's like

if he's the type of guy that can just wake up fucking knock the dust off his pants and go give you 40 in a playoff series with very little rhythm accumulator over weeks. TBD, I kind of trust him.

He's shown me no reason not to trust him. So assuming he plays like Jalen Brunson, I think this will be relatively easy. It's the only one of these series you're predicting today that I feel like I can say

it will be easy. So what you got? Nixon 5? Yeah, Nixon 5. Okay. I'm just giving Kay Cunningham credit to get at least one. Maybe it gets two,

but I don't think it'll be super. difficult if the nicks play well obviously if they just don't fucking make shots and play poorly that changes things but assuming things about a plan i think the nick should win handedly this guy doesn't believe in the second best three-point shooter in the NBA malik beasley yeah yeah famously a great playoff performer team hardaway junior malik beasley on the wings famously great playoff performer tobias harris i've always said that specialist three-point shooters do great in the playoffs they really they really translate to playoff basketball

it's it always works great for them when they're not good defenders and can only shoot stationary shots yeah at the end of the day regardless of what the fuck happens with the pistons this is a fucking plus season no one care if kate has a shitter complete shitter of a series it doesn't hamper or injure how anyone should look at him in my mind i'm just hoping that he's able to go ahead and get too off and i think if he's able to do that then that doubles down my perspective on him when it comes to just how high he can reach in terms of like NBA hierarchy yeah it'll be a good either it'll be oh shit

Kay Cunningham's a top player in the world already yeah or it'll be a good learning experience for him in his first time in the playoffs either way it's gonna be very important for his development

true if this series does drag out longer though and somehow there is some crazy ass upset no tips is getting fired oh easily the fastest fucking way

if they lose he needs to get fired because this is a very winnable series yeah very winnable this is like not the pissing they're a good team this is one of the best matches

for the Knicks I think I think stylistically this is the best they could have hoped for you don't got to see yannis you don't got to see the pacer's offense like if they can't beat the goddamn pissings they can't beat anybody in this conference yeah and if that happens i will call mike malone personally and i will offer him the job for next year speaking of pacer's versus bucks another very very difficult one to predict because before we started recording this we got news that as of today april 17th damien lured has been cleared from his blood caught issues he will return

at some point he's been ruled out for game one but game two and then force is going to be defined by his recovery his conditioning when he becomes available but the doors open so we all plan for this before this changed what do you now we got go off the cuff my whole shit is busted bro how are you guys feeling about this now who has these teams for your questions i got both of these teams actually oh that's a fuck up okay just realized that as well what's a question for the paces first then we'll get to the books of it all so when it comes to the pacer's i feel really set and saw it when it comes to what Tyrus Halburn is going to be given you. Since he's, he started off the year super, super slow.

And because he started off the year, so naturally the Indiana Pace is going to do the same thing. As a whole, he is the engine. He is the orchestra of this offense through and through. They started the year like 10 and 15, I believe. And they went on a ridiculous, like, I think 40 and 17 run to finish off the year. And that's mainly behind Tyrese Halliburton and the, I don't want to say the ascension, but the straight line path that he's been headed towards when he comes to his NBA progression and him being a Sargarter.

His return to the mean in a positive way. Yeah, exactly. Nothing necessarily super specials happening on that front. But when I see this team right now facing off against some walkie bucks, my biggest question is how big of a threat. will someone like Benedict Matherin be alongside. Only you would bring it to Benedict Matherin as your number one question. He's back, all right?

Listen, listen. Who's that? There's one thing about me. How do you know that? I'm just kidding. Not really. But I'm hanging my hat on some like Pascal Seacquem because last year he was super shaky in the playoffs.

Of course, like they went all the way into the Eastern Conference finals. We know what that series is. he's been playing tremendous basketball one of the best basketball I don't want to say one of the best he's just super underrated in general yeah good year he's having a very good year yeah he's having a very good year and I want to see what he looks like again alongside Janice who's playing like otherworldly basketball so when it comes to the Pacers I don't necessarily have a clear cut question because they just look like the same team as last year okay what about the bucks you have a question for the bucks initially I had a question for the bucks but then this news came out and so I was like I don't I don't have any questions for you guys, bro. I'm so good. I'm going to choose in this series. Literally, bro. You don't have a question for either.

Literally. I have a question for the bugs. 40 or 50. What is John is going to have to average in this series? Right? Like, because even though, even though that dame coming back does make me a little bit more optimistic, he isn't played in three weeks. He's, he's in his mid-30s.

He's coming back from a blood clot. I don't know how much cardio you're allowed to do, right, when that's happening. Like, how you are just going to take some, you're going to take somebody and just drop him in to playoff basketball. We saw last year, right, after Dame didn't work out the entire summer and how it took him a while to, you know, start getting into some type of rhythm, we're just going to do that and drop him into the playoffs against a team like the Pacers and expect him to be fine. I don't know.

So I think that the bucks, if Dame comes back for like game three, game four, I think he's good enough to where he can still have a good game, right? Maybe will them to one game. Yannis is still going to have to average 40, 50, right? 50's ridiculous. I know. I know. But like put, you know what I'm saying?

Put a lot of offensive pressure on, on Indiana's defense and really carry Milwaukee's offense because I'm not trusting KPJ and Kyle Guzman in the playoffs. I'm just not going to do it. Yeah, I mean, it's very clear that there's a big talent discrepancy, whenever Damien Lloyd's not there. And whether he's 100% or not, we'll decide just how big that gap is going to be if he does come back. So it's not a secret.

I think we're all leaning towards Pacers. Naturally. I'll say Pacers in six because Yannis is so good. Question of the Bucks is how important is the best player in the series factor.

You know, it's always a thing talked about in the playoffs. People on Twitter are like, watch out. Yianna's going to have his 2018 LeBron season, put his team on his back. Who did 2018 Bronn playing

in the first round? The Pacers. Like, people are trying to will that into existence. This is not the same. I see no reason to believe that'll be the case. So that'll be the big question is

Is Yonah's 2018 LeBron is the Bucks question? And I think the Pace's biggest question is How How soft is their front court? Wait, what do you mean by that? They're not a physical team. They're the worst offensive rebound team in the league. They're a good interior defense.

Miles Turner, use some football terminology, a little light in the ass. Not exactly a big four. down low, he's beating you with strength. Siakum's good, but, you know, he has a lot to make up for it with the small backward they have too. Yannis would be a good test for them, even if it's Yonis with no help, because it's the most physical goddamn player in NBA history.

So how well are they built defensively to deal with that? And, you know, like, we don't think Yonis is going to be a willing team to victory on his own. If he ever could, it would be against a Miles Turner anchored defense. That should be food for him. So while we think the patience will win regardless, probably. crazy performances, it'll be a good way to test their defense and see how they deal with physicality.

Siakum's uniform is still baggy. You know, you don't know, there's not a lot of meat on that bone. Yannis can definitely get downhill. Yeah. And dominate. Yeah. So, like, they'll need, they're going to put a lot of guys on Yonis and experiment with some stuff.

Build the wall. They'll probably put Aaron Neesmith on, try to beat him with mobility and get under his dribble. They might put Obie Top and Jaris Walker on him in some minutes and power forward size players. I don't know if they'll put Miles Turner on him, but they'll figure it out. We'll see how they treat that pick and pop game with

Brick Lopez, but he's legitimately going to get, he's going to average like 35. You have to put, you have to play most style of defense, which involves bringing a crowbar to the arena and using it. That's what you have to do. I don't, I don't see any way that Indiana can actually slow down, Janus. It really is about everybody else. It's about your secondary ball handlers. It's about can Kyle Kuzma provide enough, enough offense?

Oh, my God. Can everybody else provide enough shooting? It's over. Yeah, well, I mean, if they were to stop Janus, it would be the patients are the best team in the league at preventing transition offense. They're extremely good transition defense. That's mostly because they're guard play. Like someone like Andrew Nemhardt is really, really great transition defender and gets back and blow shit up. It's a little different when you're defending a Janus transition look.

It's a little different. So if it translates and they're really good in transition defense, that could slow down Janus. And it'll be a Bill DeWalt thing, like you said, like a half joke. It'll be Kevin Porter Jr. You're going to have to score this 20 points like you have been in these. these popping games lately, you're going to do it every goddamn game. Kyle Kuzma, you're going to hit your corner threes because we're helping off you every play.

Toy and Prince, get ready to take open shots over and over and over again because we're happy with you trying to beat us. It'll be, if they slow down Yannis, it's because they triple team him every time he touches the paint and the other guys can't make him pay. But even that does happen. How do the Bucks make Tyrese Halliburton uncomfortable? Name me one perimeter defender that can fight over screens, disrupt Tyrese in transition, just apply physicality to make him uncomfortable.

comfortable with this free-flowing style who on the roster is doing that Ryan Rollins maybe Kevin Porter Jr. Fuck no Tartorian Prince he's a he's a good defensive player ish but not that kind of guy he's not as I'm like like you know perimeter stopper in that way the only guy who was like literally their hope in terms of being the dude to be some type of ear to any lead star guard was Andre Jackson he didn't even get no burn no more so that question is just chalked up in the air and at that point in time I'm just like okay bro like there's just no way scientifically that y'all can even have a chance to win the series bro no way in hell and if you can't disrupt tyrie's haliburton you're not going to be have a chance against the pacer's offense because it's so predicated on him creating advantages by being able to just run around the court like a fucking madman and just swing the ball around because he can if he gets by his defender and sees an advantage he's going to hit it your only chance of taking the top off this defense and like stopping it from getting in the chain of events and make it so good

is making him have a lot of pressure on his dribble and him not be able to get any advantages off and he just gets locked up because he can't blow by you one-on-one, this ain't the team for that. This is not the team to do that at all. Yeah, can you make Tyrus Hallibor and hold on to the ball and beat you, like, beat you with seven, eight dribbles rather than, you know, getting by you and two.

I don't think they can't. Yeah, I agree. And again, like we said, the question for the bucks is how much of an advantage is having Yonis on your team when nothing else is going for you? Because maybe he does have a 2018-team bronze series. aren't so good that it's impossible but they've been that good so it feels impossible sure

i mean but they're just they're not the celtics where it's like no stand no chance in hell like we've seen crazier things so i guess if yannis has an out of body experience but that's a lot of hope on like fiction and hoping he can do some heroic anime shit and just fucking will the team to victory i will say the last time we saw yannis healthy throughout an entire playoff series he was doing that right like he was he was he was averaging high 30s 40s against the Celtics two years ago and then Grant Williams does his thing. We've seen Yannis before and

it's been a while because he's been hurt. Who was next to him at that time? Not Kyle Kuzmala and not No, well no, because Chris Middleton had gotten hurt. Drew Holliday was there. Rick Lopez was a lot better. But it was still offensively, Drew was doing the playoff, Drew Holley and stuff

where he was missing three years. But defense, they had a defensive infrastructure. They did. They do not have a good defense right now. They do not have good secondary ball handlers you want to rely on. They are significantly worst. And even a depleted team was then.

Yes. And again, if Dan comes back, this could change it all. If he comes back and he goes crazy and looks 100%. We don't have any information to go off of. So I can only assume he comes back midway through the series and looks rusty. And that's going to be the case. I don't have a lot of hope for them. Me personally, I think I have the Pacers in five.

Five? Sounds. It sounds harsh, but genuinely, I'm just like there's no advantages out on this roster outside of someone like Janus. That's a big advantage, though. big advantage. Yeah, it is a big advantage. It's the biggest advantage imaginable. But at the end of the day, like, unless Janus is literally playing like 48 minutes

to what happened. The last healthy series. Yeah. Right? That series against the Celtics. Janice playing 40 minutes a night. Average 34, 15, 7 assists, one steel, one block. That was one of the greatest individual performances I've seen in my life, though.

That was different. And so that's the, that's the scene that he can get to. and with the team like that Celtics team was set up way better to to guard yonis than this pacer's team like they had they had Al Horford you have you have Tatum you had um uh what's the name time lord right you had you had all those guys to to just throw to just throw bodies at a yannis if you're talking about that infrastructure versus miles turner pascal siakum there there is a real possibility that Janus averages 40 in the series and I think that that can make a difference

I thought that Indiana was going to win in six like two days ago and over last night and over this conversation I think this series goes seven and I'm starting to lean Milwaukee just because I think I'm buying Janus. You haven't said a single thing

that indicated to me you like Milwaukee in the series until just now and now and now I'm just like hey man Janus is like this motherfucker just argued for 20 minutes on why the pace there's so much better. And then he's like, actually, I'm going on. I'm sorry. He saw some disgusting stat.

He saw some disgusting stats from a couple of years ago. Am I crazy? He didn't say a single good thing about the bucks just now. I get it. It's just, it's starting to feel like that. You start, you start feeling about these, about these players who are all-time greats.

And, like, people have these moments. They have these series. And so I don't think, like, I don't think we're going to get a 2018 problem because do I think this Bucks team is going to go to the finals? No. but have we seen all-time great players get to the second round yes we have yeah but the modern NBA like is a little different these days like what's the last time you saw that a underman roster

where one of the best players in the world just beat a good fully healthy team that they weren't favored to beat I feel like it's been a while since we saw like a superhero performance like that 22 Steph Curry against the Celtics you mean okay with the Celtics are big favorites I can't remember what the betting odds were they were okay they were favorites but Curry's team was like fully healthy and like wasn't like that wasn't really backpacking their defense was really good I guess that's the best example and I'm thinking about it but like that's not the best comparison of this series the Celtics were like and according to like ESPN's BPI but like on the on the bed and odds on everything the Celtics were like very clear favorites I remember the Celtics

were like 86% like chance of winning or stuff that was a very that was the prime yeah like this team is better but the words have all have obviously like been here and they can out executing you saw that throughout that series i think that that was like a system that was top that was that was probably the last time that's two in a championship yeah i'm saying first round at that point we'd seen the win three series so we know they're good there's more like i see what you're saying it's probably the best example but it's not not one to one with this situation like when does that time we saw some like this like these days like the better team a lot of times wins like we've seen the best we've done this a lot where like they got the best player and then the

timber wills beat yokech and then lebron loses in the first round like this keeps happening where we have this talking points that feel very rooted in a past era I can't remember the last time this happened we've seen Jimmy Butler raised Maverick last year Mavericks being O KC that's probably the best example

Do you really think so because Kyrie didn't Ah Luca would just Oh yeah no no no look it was hurt by then So I don't even yeah I don't know if that's the best No no no look at the second round

No no look at them out then Against the Timberwolves He was a little more slow But he I guess He was a difference in being no KC When OkC was better That's probably the best example But even then it's not even the strong

They had a healthy team though So like it wasn't quite a That's a new case. That's pretty historic, you're right. So if Yannis does this, then it's truly like one of the most impressive individual performances the last five years. It is, but we've also talked, we've talked a lot about, we've talked a lot about Janus being one of the most, like, underrated all-time players ever.

He really is like that, that dominant. And every time that we talk about the Pacers, yes, we're giving them a lot of credit right now, it also also goes back to, but you know, like, they're just the Pacers. They are a really good team, but they are a team with them. the ceiling. They are a 4C type, you know, like that's kind of, that's kind of the realm that they're in. And it's okay. So if you do tell me that Yannis has a great series and then the bus go in the second round and they get blasted, okay. It's not impossible. If there's ever going to be a storybook like legend beats hardworking regular dudes. It would be this, I guess,

but I'm not going to expect it until it happens. They don't look, they don't make no more LeBron's like that you said. That's what it is. He's one-on-one. I'm sorry, bro. You're looking for that story. I'm sorry. I haven't seen a good fairy tale in quite a well. Yeah. Right, let's go back to the Western Conference. No. Let's do, this might be the hardest series of all these.

And we've had some hard series. Oh, damn, I know what's coming up. Clippers versus Nuggets. Yeah, man. Man, man, man. This feels like a Western Conference finals type of event, bro. Yeah. First round two.

Every first round series in the West feels like that besides 1-8 because it's such a ridiculous amount of parody in the Western Conference. But goddamn, man, we have, what I think is the clear better team in the Los Angeles Clippers you know given what we know about the Denver Nuggets defense and their lack of head coaching experience

considering he's been there for fucking four games and general depletion town over the years versus the Clippers who have been the number one net rating team for the last 25 games of the NBA season one of the best defenses in the NBA for the whole season their offense is clicking at the right time Kauai is healthy Zubash might be the most improved player

and James Hardin looks goddamn good top to bottom of clippers is the better roster. The Nuggets have the best player in basketball and a high-level offense that can go ban for ban with anybody so you don't feel good riding them off and they have home court advantage.

Where do we go? I think, do I have both these teams? I do. Okay. Damn, double homicide. My question for the clippers will go to this eye first. Can they have the best perimeter defense in the NBA? Because that's what's going to take.

I think their path to winning the series, well, they have a lot of paths, but their easiest path. Same thing the Timberwell was did last year. Eliminate Jamal Murray. Put him. in a body bag and make it so you're not going to stop Yokic, but you really clamp down on Jamal Murray.

You make it really hard for him to eat off of these handoffs. He walks into easy buckets. You blow those up, make him at the beat you one-on-one in isolation, and you don't give up easy looks to the other guys and make, you know, the quintessential, make Yokch beat you as a score or thing. You're going to have to do that and have this insane perimeter defense,

blitzing them, just cutting their offense's head off. That's going to be the formula to me because I think it's going to be hard to go beat the nuggets in a shootout, but if your defense can translate and you just slow down, one of the best offenses in the NBA, then I have no... Clippers in seven. And I'm okay.

I'm okay with that. It is kind of scary, though, because if you say, hey, make Yokin's beat us out of score. He can. I'm gonna just go get 61. I'm gonna go get four. And spoiler later, my Nuggets question is,

can you win four series of shootouts? Is that possible in the modern NBA? No, no. They can't win four series. There's absolutely no world. Like, we're talking about fairy tales. The Nuggets winning four series would be an absolute for each other. And if if they did it,

Yokic, welcome to the top five ball time. Yeah. Like, if you win the title this year, you got it. Oh, you might be the go. If you went to this fucking roster, that would be, that would be a very good comparison to LeBron winning the finals of 2018. Yeah. Like, it's that level of shit roster defensively. I can't feel nothing but so, like, scary for the nuggets and their chances because, okay, you're telling me that Jamal Murray has injury, concerns and issues towards the end of the season. Holy fuck, that's scary, of course. But now you're telling where they have to go against like the

probably like the third worst arrangement of wings that he could possibly you could possibly imagine for him in the Chris Duns of the world obviously Kauai is there and then you got guys like fucking Zubotches manning down the paint and making sure shit is all strapped in over there

as well like they have and then I even I didn't even mention Derek Doan's Jr. bro they have guys on guys on guys and so it's so hard for me to imagine Jamal Marie lighting shit up again revving that old ass, dusty ass engine. It's like an old car that's just like

how old is he got some juice in it? Yeah, bro. But it's like we talk about like he's like 32, 33 when it comes to his body and how it consistently breaks down from time to time. He just feels like an unreliable, unconstitutional but really cool car when it motherfucking works. To be fair, he only had one off year when he was hurt last year. So if somebody wants to give Jamal Murray

the benefit of the doubt and say last year he was injured and ever since then, we've seen him be play out Jamal Murray the year before that, now he's healthy. okay, even if he is play out Jamal Murray and that means he's been as good as he has been in the second half of the year when he's been good I don't care I still think the clippers might win in seven the only reason that it's going seven

the only reason is going seven is because Yokic is a god and I think he's by far the best player in the world so I'm giving him seven on paper goddamn everything works in the clippers favor the nuggets are 30th in transition defense the clippers are sixth in transition frequency they're going to run down their throat the Nuggets are the absolutely worst

than the NBA stopping transition attack and James Hardin is going to fucking run. They're going to, Dorm Powell is going to fucking run. They're an athletic team. They're going to kill them in transition. The Nuggets offense is obviously great, right? Fourth in the NBA, a big part of that is because Yokic is a killer

on the offensive glass. Part of what makes him one of the best offensive players of all time, second chance points. He gets him to paint, amazing touch, and if he doesn't make his little bunny hooks or whatever, he's amazing at getting the board,

kicking it out, looks. Guess who's the best defensive rebounder in the NBA and pretty good at defending Yokish one-on-one? Zubach. Zubach. He's not going to lock him down, but I think he can eliminate a lot of the offensive rebounding attack. And if you do that, you take away their second chance points, the offensive peak that they have gets a lot more normal. And the team is second and half-court offense, I mean, half-court defense, the clippers. So if you're not getting second-chance points against them, you're going to struggle mightily to produce in the first look. I don't know how they can go ban for ban with that when the clippers also are playing good offensively

and one team is an amazing defense that has some pretty good strengths that can slow down your best player as much as anybody can slow them down you know and you have absolutely no point of attack defenders to make kawai lennard struggle whatsoever absolutely nobody to make james hard and struggle whatsoever boom i got the answer for that they need to clone erin gordon yeah we need three of them i was thinking four oh fuck yeah and sadly we're in the year 2025 they don't have that ability yet that's why i'm going with the clippers in six yeah and i said nobody to guard kai forgot erin gordon they won't player so there you go you're going to have to hope that kawai doesn't use screens and he attacks erin gordon one-on-one over and over again so you can lock

him up i don't think the clippers would be so stupid to do that so i think they're going to pick on the rest of the defenders on the roster get advantageous switches attack yokitch because they have no primitive defenders to help yok it's going to be kawai and hard attacking him and drops that's not going to go well so you're going to have the trap and get them attacking four on three and Chris Dunn is pretty damn good as the role man in those short role situations Norm Powell can obviously have a strong series against that advantage

what is the reason for the Nuggets to win the series besides Joe which being the best part in the world? That's the only thing that you could hang your hat on and I'm trying my absolute best to not put too much dip on my chip because everything in my body tells me to take the clippers in five games.

Oh, five's crazy. Five's smart. That's crazy. I don't think... I know what's going to be. I don't. don't know i just don't think that denver is together and i don't think that i don't think that this is a series set up for jemal murray i think that he's actually going going to struggle and so while i i i am eternally scared of the sham's tweet that's saying that kawai's not going to play

yeah it's always that right i'm i'm so scared of that but if i'm if i'm going to say hey he's going to be here for for this series and if we get that tweet in the second round whenever i don't know hopefully we don't get it at all but like if he's there the the nuggets aren't beating them and like yes yes erin gordon is is great i've seen kawai dice up defender after defender he's going to get to his spot he's going to raise up he's going to hit his middies at a high clip he's he's going to be fine james hardin it this is like yes james hardin is going to be he's going to have those those games in the playoffs guess what this kind of how he's been playing all year anyway so it's going to be okay

there's never been a chance there's never been a moment in my mind where it's like never been more okay for James Harden to just fuck around and shoot like four to 15 or whatever it is I thought before he doesn't but yeah they're definitely insulated for that to be okay just because like I just think the defense is

so spiky yeah I can't express how different this defense is compared to the nuggets like the gap defensively is so much bigger than the gap offensively even if you get one of the best performance of Yokic's career and their office clicks at the highest level the gap defensively is still bigger that buddy he'll break killing me every time this motherfucker yeah it's crazy um yeah i i just i think that the clippers

and the pressure that they're that they're going to be able to put on everybody else who who's gonna save them like christian brine right pin watson like oh okayish you don't have to do everything offensively and defensive but everybody else is going to is going to be made to look poor and I don't I don't trust them and I think that especially especially now that that Mike Malone is is fired and you have like you know in an interim head coach the clippers definitely have a coaching advantage and so I'm I'm going I'm going with the clippers I'm going to go in six because I'm going to respect yokech yeah I think that he is good enough to give them two games but it's going in my eyes it's going to be a situation where the clippers are going to be up

three one in the series. I'm going seven just because Yokic is so good, and the offense is still good. So, like, you know, we talk a lot about whether the Nuggets are so disappointing and so shitty. You know, we're great on them on a curve, obviously, because we expect them to be a contender. They're still a good team and still have the offensive ceiling, obviously, and play out of Marys. So I think it still goes seven. But I'm being gracious because I think their ceiling are so high, even though they haven't

really shown us consistently that they can play at that ceiling. Yeah. But you still have to give them the credit if we know what can happen. if things go well and there's a good chance things go well you know it's not like it's not like the bucks where you have a depleted roster and you're like if we're talking about best case scenario it's like wishful fucking thinking the markets could get best case scenario and be able to compete you know like it's not impossible it wouldn't be a insane harculine effort if yokech wins it would be okay greatest offensive player play the greatest offensive player and he has his

help did what they should do and it's a competitive series and you never know what happens in the game seven that is a herculean effort though everything that he's done this year has been herculean the coach is fire right but you know he just does herculean shit so it's normal like it's that's what he's been putting on an all-time thing yeah an all-time season so if he keeps doing what he's doing it's like how does he continue to to operate at this level how does he continue to keep carrying this this roster when he's not on the floor this team sucks this team sucks and then they somehow are in a position where they didn't have to play in the in the playing their coach is fired the GM is fired and

And now Yo-Kits is going to have to come in and save everybody. I'm going with the clippers. Low-key. I'm honestly thinking about, dude, I went from way earlier in the season talking about how I had the Nuggets way earlier, okay, as championship favorites. Was that early? Shit, man. And now I'm, like, swaying my vote to, holy fuck, you just mentioned the coaching

advantage, bro. I forget Tylood, who in my mind is, like, one of the three best coaches that the league has to offer. It is staring the Denver the Denver Nuggets right in their eyes and I'm like, you know, Jamal Marie's MPJ and his defense. He's been overall good this year but yeah

you desire more at times. Okay. Then on top of that too, you have to add in the Russell Westbrook factor which is just like predictable as the weather. Who the fuck knows? I was going to say what is it. What is it? I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. I could literally go either way. So I don't even know what to make out of that. It just I kind of want to lean towards the Clippers in five now. What I will say is, of all these series that we're confident in,

if there was going to be one that flips on his head and we're just wrong about, it would be this one. This says, I'm also confident the clipper is, but this has the clear potential to surprise everybody, I think, of all these series. Yeah, I agree. This is my favorite first round series. On paper, the Clipper should win. If there was ever a team is going to overperform,

it's the one Yoker's place for. If there was ever a team that's going to underperform, it's that other one. So this is what we could be wrong about. So Nuggets fans could come back and ratio us. That's within the realm of possibility. But I got to go with just fucking logic. I don't know.

I can't just coast off of the clippers are going to fucking fail because of the clippers. Keeping it safe. I'm leaning towards the clippers in six. They should win. I said the same thing. Damn. How the mighty are you falling. Yeah.

Fuck you, Calvin Booth. And with that's true. I'm going clippers in five. I'm going to go with my, I'm going to go with my gut with my first. instinct, I'm doing that. All right, man, that's all the important series you got to talk about. Now we have the two 1-8 series, which, as I've recorded this, recording this on Thursday, April 17th at 3.47 p.m. Central Time.

Playing games are tomorrow to decide the eight seats. The good thing is, doesn't fucking matter. I think we're going to predict the sweep in both regards. Whoever the Thunder play, brooms. Whoever the Cavs play, probably brooms, right? Yeah, yeah, we'll do that. If Jill and John's walking through those doors I don't know about that because he gives them boys' problem. But regardless of the fact

it should be... I mean, he's going to be there. I feel confident he's going to go on now. He's getting ejected. He's nightmares against the Cleveland Cavaliers. So I guess we'll give the series time of day. We'll just assume for both series that we'll talk about both outcomes. Biggest quote, who is the Thunder

on their list? I believe I do. What is your biggest question for the thunder in the first round? What do you want to see you? Because obviously we think they're going to win the series. That's not really a question. What do you want to see from them in this that encourage you going forward? I think for me particularly, When I think about O'KC, I'm so, like, sold on Shea as the franchisee of the superstar, being one of the greatest players that the league could ever see.

I'm super sold on their defense. I'm super sold on their bench. Right now, what I'm waiting to see. This doesn't need to happen in order for him to win a championship, by the way. It's just like, it'll be nice to see. It's a cherry on top. I wonder how well or how they're going to decide to deploy someone like Chet Hongrim. I'm very confident in their second option

J-Dub like doing what he should do because his job just feels a lot easier but when it comes to Chet specifically my attention to divert towards him because of how different he's being asked to play on a night-to-night basis in terms of him sharing the court with Isaiah Hardinstein I think you've plenty of times

before Isaac have made it loud and clear like yo like he is not the same player offensively when he's playing alongside our heart the team's fucking elite obviously regardless but when it comes to him and his production is just his superpowers are just a little bit muted

because I heart's like he does the team just plays a little bit different just a little bit different Chet's skills are better use attacking centers and they are power forwards Yeah exactly naturally because of his mobility And if he's just like cooling it off the ball Of course he's still going to be insanely productive

Because that's the value to him He's dumb versatile But when it time When time comes where okay they face off against I don't know what team in the second round that you can imagine but when time comes when he is deployed as like okay

you got two three four or five minutes as the lone five out there or maybe you have the shirt minutes with eye heart how is he going to respond to that yeah like so they're either play the grizzlies or the mavericks both of which are probably going to deploy big lineups the grisies will probably start edie and jaron jackson

and the mavericks will start anthony davis and Derek lively right so this will be be a good test for how they wanted to, you know, figure out the best way of using both these bigs, like you said. Like, if it's Edy starting, the natural idea is you put a heart and sign on him because E.D. is a fantastic offensive rebounder, gigantic body. You don't want to throw Chet to the wolves like that.

I kind of think it's kind of food. If you stretch E.D. out with Cheath-Hunger and shooting and I think J-Dub can defend Jaron Jackson and win the, get more boards than Darren Jackson. So that'll be a good way to experiment. Like, that'll be a good way to see what does it look like when Chet is defending a big who is going to beat him on the board.

It's like Edie is going to out rebound the shit out of Chet. Edie's a fantastic rebounder, Chet is not. So you're giving up that advantage. You have room to see what happens when we do that. Do we get more offensively by giving up that rebounding? Because they just cannot stay in front of us. TBD. Or you go big with the Hardinstein thing and see if maybe you just match up size for size.

That'll be a jigsaw thing to mark diagnosis to figure out per each series. Same thing applies to the Mavericks. Do you want to put Chet on AD or do you want to put J-D up on AD? I don't know real questions yeah we'll see they'll do both and that'll be the main thing and take away obviously there's always can Jada be your second option

everyone talks about that but this is more strategically important I think depending on each matchup so I'm still a mark diagonal question to be honest with you yeah what are you going to do man are you a man or a mouse Mark what do you want to do and then if the greasies make playoffs if they're the eighth seed

the biggest question for them is I guess the low key to me now it's how much can we rely on Jaron in big games and it feels like that's a growing thing everyone's noticing that like they lost his playing game to the Golden State Warriors and a lot was made about Zach Edie's performance

in that game he got put in the Draymond Torture Chamber a little bit Draymond was giving him hell as a score ED ate on the rebounds eight as a drop big he looked pretty good there but when he got the ball down low they swarmed him Draymond fouled the shit of him like he always does

Got in his face Edie was missing layups left and right Throwing turnover Zad post He looked overwhelmed bro He did he is a rookie big guy His first playoff game Against the best undersized defender I'll be so pissed if I was if I was Zach

Edy the next morning bro Look at head coach you're like why the fuck would you put me That position like that You know that's on my bag A lot was talked about EDI there Yeah Jared Jackson also didn't perform great And if he plays against the OKC Thunder

And has to deal with Jdub or Chet Or both at the same time Lou Dort switches you're going to perform a lot better than he has been as of late since the coaching change. Either way, it's, I mean, they're getting blasted. I think, like, Jaron, his offensive development is great. I think, I think for me, it's always going to go back to Jha with the Grizzlies and just how high is the playoff ceiling for him.

Because we've seen, we've seen the high highs of Jai in the playoffs. We've seen him score, you know, 30. 45, 40 points. We've seen it when he's been able to drive towards the basket, put a lot of pressure on the rim, do all that stuff. And for a team like OKC, who just has perimeter defender after perimeter defender and just so many different bodies that they can throw at Jock, is he going to be able to not only handle that, but thrive

and still keep this offense on track and be, you know, John Morant? That's going to be the main thing. I'm not necessarily super confident in Jerry Jackson's ability to be. like number two offensive option consistently throughout the playoff series. So that's not really in my mind like that. So I think everything that we've seen with the Grizzlies over the last, what, 25, you know, 30 games since they fired or it probably hasn't even been like that. But really, the entire season since, you know, Taylor Jenkins has firing, all that stuff. It's very much, where is this, where's this team going?

Where do you guys want to be? Is Jai going to be the leader of the squad? And that's why I'm looking at John. And I'm looking at him saying, what are you prepared to do? See, I feel super confident in job because the second that the head coach is fired, we see all these crazy inflated stats, not inflated. I guess that's the wrong way to use it as if it's fake or whatever. But he's been utilized a lot more and we see his production like ticking an uptick.

Yeah. My attention definitely stays on some like Jaron Jackson Jr. Because they need him to win. A lot of Memphis Grays fan would tell you like, you know, he was our best player consistently throughout this the entirety of the year and that's an indictment on who regardless of the fact you are not wrong but there's zero chance they're going to have any type of success long term as a as an organization or franchise if jaron jackson juniors cannot be consistently relied on as that number two guy um him as the best player second best player third best player hell it looked like he was like the fucking fourth last night

with the way guys like dozen bane were playing it's just it's he sticks out like a super sore thumb bro yeah and then for the mavericks if they win the playing game tomorrow i can't be bothered to talk about the mavericks right now i'm sorry it doesn't fucking matter it doesn't it doesn't i honestly them winning that game such an indictment on the sacramento kings it's just like yo it you guys it tells more about them you guys were at you guys were at home got blasted and i understand malik monk Wasn't there, that's fine. There's no reason why you should be going outside.

They're a good defense, man. The Mavs, they're a good defense. Jason Kidd knows how to do a defensive game plan. I'll give them that. There is no reason why that should be happening. And if that is not a, but it's also crazy because that's what you wanted, right? Right? You wanted to win 41 games.

You got to 40. Shout out to you, right? One short. You got to the plane. You got to be competitive and a chance to compete. And now you have, you know, Bulls, Bulls West. So congratulations. All right, fuck them.

Donovan, what is your, do you have the calves? I have the eight seed. Okay, Moe, you have the calves. Yes, I do have the calves. What is your biggest question mark for the calves versus the eight seed that will either be the Atlanta Hawks or the Chicago Bulls? Man, I feel so confident. I mean, Atlanta Hawks are the Miami Heat. Yeah.

I feel so confident in the Cleveland Warriors. You've lied so hard last week on the podcast. I was actually mad for you. First of all, first of all, listen. Somebody adamant that I cannot be asked. I know. I cannot be asked to give a fuck about the Miami Heat versus Bulls. Don't tell me to defend my opinion on the most irrelevant match for the all time.

I don't care. Go back to the cabs, please. First of all. No first of all. They disappointed me so much. And if you would have told me, hey, David O'Mitchell is not going to miss a shot. Like, all right, fine. I guess.

I guess so Tyler here they miss his first nine shots. I'm like, I bet. You got it. Salute. You got it. I don't care. But back to the goddamn cast, someone who we do care about specifically, I'm looking for, Darius guard. He's always, he's been the biggest question for me. If not him, then Evan

Mobley. But when he comes to Evan Mobley, I see his value like sticking through and through no matter what the series, no matter what the player, no matter what the coach or game plan is around him. Just because he might be the defensive player of the year, you know, and honestly, now that I think about it, in motion in my head, more so I might have questions about Donovan Mitchell. You're saying a bunch of players that don't need to have questions. about them like what are you worrying about these players garland mitchell moby she's a bunch of great players that i should be alive i have a question about mobile and i have a question about mobile he is like the most solidified one of the most illified players in the playoffs in my mind more so i'm dicing

between someone like donovan mitchell and darius garb because obviously you've seen darius throughout the uh what's the best two weeks he didn't have a strong close to the season so can he get back to early season play is definitely a question more so yeah throughout the throughout the entire of his career like he things are just always ongoing with him and it seems like a consistent trend and i mean last year because he was hurt yeah exactly exactly it's not necessarily like every year he sucks thing no yeah i know that's the point like something's always going on with him and again it's just trending down as from currently i don't really have any questions for this team because they feel the safest other than okay bro deandre hunter what are you going to do when

someone like Evan Mobley has like somewhat of a stinking night. I have questions for the other guys around them because they're they feel a little bit more spotty than I would like them to the guillardust the world. You don't trust the cat on the whole. No no I do. Specifically specifically it's the Deandre hunters of the world and also the max truces of the world because they are there to be like the fire safety the fire hydrant for whenever some like evan moly can only give you like 12 13 points and whatnot. Those are those two wings. in my mind will help propel. If they're able to give you like 10, 12 points

versus who would they face off against? The Landhawks or the, um, the heat, cool. They're sweeping them and it's going to be like 20 point games every single night. Yeah, the question, the best thing they had to figure out in the first round

is how they wanted to play that ring, wing group like you said. Is it going to be a Koro? Is it going to be Shrewis? Is it going to be a combination of all three? Like, who's going to prove to be the hot hand in every given series? I think this is,

it's going to be kind of like what, we said with the thunder it's going to be a lot of time for experimentation against this first arm matchup because it's going to be kind of an easy lick so i i really want hope a coro's shot is falling because i feel like that's the one that really excites me for later rounds that if he can be a consistent consistent part of high minute rotations yeah i'm hoping that he just is on fire for the playoff series yeah because he's the best defender out of like that entire group and it's kind of not close yeah he's the only good defender of that group yeah i mean hunter's serves a role with his size but oh coro's only plus defender there and you're gonna need that for the south i'll

tell you that. Yeah, exactly. And then if the Hawks make the playoffs, what's your question? What's the Atlanta Hawks? I mean, can, can Tray Young go, go nuclear? That's kind of, that's kind of a bit. Can you give me 40 points to end off this? But like that's also, that's also the thing is like, that's the, that's the question. I think I know the answer to it. No, because Tray Young for the entire year hasn't been a fantastic score. And you saw, you saw it in the playing game. Like Orlando, Alinda has a lot of big bodies and they have a lot of size and length that you can throw at Trayong

and they are very physical. So for a team like, for a team like Cleveland, even though that you have two small guards, going into the lane where you have Eminemobly, you have Jared Allen, and then you have all of those,

all of those wings that you can deploy that is a lot of size that you could throw at Trayon. So I don't think it's going to be easy. And your man just was down 25 and was like, yeah, I'm off this. Like I'm getting kicked out. The attitude stuff.

I was like, yeah. He's plates. You're going to get kicked out in game three. I know how this is going to go. So, like, I'm, I'm off the, I'm off the hot. It's like that you're, you're going to need Tray Young to be 20, 21, Tray Young, and you're actually going to need him to make shots at a very efficient clip. We haven't seen that over the course of the last six to eight months.

But we have seen it against the Cleveland Cavaliers on a consistent basis. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure. If there's some, I'm not in the playoffs. Yeah, good fucking luck, buddy. Yeah, not in the playoffs. And then, like, if the, if the heat win, obviously, we said, it over and over again like throughout his playoff career but bam is going to just have to play at an all time level and he's he's he's going to have to play there and then tyler hero is

i think hero obviously like his shot making is going to have to be there him as a driver is going to be really key because you're going to have to be able to pull in one one of these bigs create open shots in the corners because Miami when they when they are getting threes above the like above the break and especially like the last time that they played cleveland Tyler hero wasn't there. But Cleveland, they were able to just stay out on the perimeter and really guard them. The times that Miami had a lot of success was whenever they got some kind of penetration, got the ball to the corner, and started to make offense there. Tyler here is going to have to do that. He's going to have to be a very, like, I'm using my scoring to be a facilitator. And it's just,

like, that's fine in theory, but it might not work. On the other side of the coin, is going to have to put down the goddamn parlias, man. That's what we go say And that's the end of our first round Playoff preview Went through every single series Fend's knocking at this door He's so quick

Log out Give you our biggest question For each team That will define their ability To not only win in the first round But win As the playoffs go forward I'm being handed

A large device I can't tell what this is You know what this is? He said today only Taylor 043s On a count of Three crown years. $2 million.

We unite. So good. So good. It's what the fuck I can't breathe. With that being said, that's the end of our first round playoff preview. It's on the TikTok time for the rest of the show. Let's get on serious.

We move. Welcome to TikTok time. Today, we are once again going to begin with draft. today. Okay. We're going to another players from a specific team only draft. Last time, what team we did we do last time? Miami Heat, that it was?

I think so, yeah. Today we're going to do a draft of players from a team that they played in the finals. Only Spurs players. All time Spurs players. Okay, okay. Yep, yep. So Mo is the first pick. Donovan is the second pick.

I have the third pick. Only players to play for the Spurs. At any point in their career, you guys know how this works. Hey, man. We do this blind now, by the way. We don't know the topics of our hands. That's why things change a little bit. everyone's hearing about it the first time you guys ready mo you got the first pick i wonder

where mo's gonna go to the first pick so let us know spurs only players draft point guard through center who are you going with first mo one of my favorite spurs of all time is boris dia but boris i can't select you today and he said the name does i count me tim duncan i said one of my favorite players he said he said the stem come on now okay okay so where you're putting him uh tim duncan i'm gonna put him in my four okay easy first pick no no surprise there fucking top five player of all time now it gets interesting donovan you got some strategy you can play here who it is several options it's it's it's very interesting but you know i'm gonna go with the guy he's already proven okay right already proven give me

See, but this sucks because there's a format that I know he's going to go for and he's going to get it. But I have to play my game. I can't worry about him. David Robinson's center. Damn it. I didn't think you were going to do that. Fuck. David Robinson Center.

Okay. I was sure you're going somewhere else. Okay. Okay. So David at Center, that makes total sense. First and foremost, I'm going Kwai Leonard. That's my easy one, a small forward. Nice.

The question is, we're going to go with the second pick because there's some options with his team. And I think, listen, you guys got too big because I got to match the big man. Give me Victor Women Yama Head Center. I can't let them fall. Good stuff. Good stuff. Not a bad big.

I really didn't want to do that, but I have to. I can't let you guys get, I can't let one of you pair Wemby with those other bigs. That'd be ridiculous. And that is why. The Spurs have some players, man. This is a good draft. They really do. I'm going two guard.

Mondo Genoble. Oh, that's all right. Okay. Okay, cool Well, you better Take this fumble And run with it Um

I go back to back Correct Correct? Cool. Don't I miss somebody So at my Four give me The Ice Man

George Gervin You're four? My bad, three Okay And then at my one naturally Give me Tony Parker

Oh, okay Listen, man Spurs, Legends up and down your roster Tony Two scores To Tim Duncan

It's not a bad start I feel like I'm missing somebody now but Matt Bonner's right there I would have went George Gervin if I was you you said you wouldn't have I would have over Mono oh yeah he said my Bonner right there no no no no I'm actually very confident in that pick I don't yeah I don't think I'm okay um so very confident it's very hard because I feel worse about I wish he was behind me more than more than you with this yeah your team is pretty small you look how big our

teams are it is and I need somebody who's versatile I'll take Dennis Robin at the 4 oh okay negative spacing but you got some dog on you okay interior defense is crazy it is insane it is insane yeah I can't believe I got to steal the drafters now give me prime Chris Paula point guard so there's that okay I that's who I really thought you should have picked over from on you I just tried to lie and then give me a little prime Tracy McGrady at the two that's he prepped for this draft that that's that's That's why I was hoping I was hoping T-Mack was going to come back to me.

I think Donovan, I swore you were going to pick T-Mack. How much do you love T-Mack? I thought he was going to make it back. That's why. Fuck no. That's why. And I swore, how did Chris Paul make it to me? I was prepared to take Derek White.

This is tough. You're fucked. Because I. Rodman over CP3 is crazy. I thought, He was trying to muster up the words to admit this. Because I thought, I thought you were going to take Robin. Because normally you go with, oh, let me go get the two best, like, big defenders.

And I thought that one of them wouldn't make it back. And now- He's imploded your team. Decimation. And now I am in trouble. You better get ready to speak to Jante Murray, buddy. No, no, we won't do that. We'll put it to four now.

But, I mean, I'm going to, I do need a point guard. so I guess we'll take a young Derek White best version of the player so listen Derek White and Manu is a good fit I'll take Derek White at the point card but really what you're saying is Mon is your point guard

but Derek White next to him is not bad okay listen we expand the role for Manu we've always said he could do more than he was asked to do exactly on my team I'm giving him the opportunity Okay I realize I probably should have put Tim Duncan at my five And just scale down a little bit

Naturally Give me your guy Give me your legend Your goat Danny Green at my two guard My goat Okay Okay yeah

Danny Green I need someone who's gonna hold down the perimeter And just simply catch and shoot threes While rocking a Mohawk And no one in NBA history Does it better than him Fair enough Okay, so I got my creation from Tony Parker and Gervin,

and that I got Danny Green, who's just there to be there, simply shoot and play defense. And Tim Dung, who's the center of it all. At my last spot, I can go so many ways. Stalin. But I have favoritism, which is bad, and it's kicking my ass right now. Pick a player. Naturally, I kind of, ah, he's like,

gonna fuck my spacing if I do this he's gonna fuck my spacing but can I fuck over Donovan I would do that any day of the week okay I'm gonna move I don't even know if Donovan's gonna go this way but I think he's the best fit for Donovan oh no he said so many words

not saying a player I have two or three players in my mind right now that's what that's what it is and I don't know if Donovan's gonna go this way okay who you picking fuck pick a player right now put them Dunkin at my five Gervid on my four

And then shout out to Like one of the greatest scores In NBA history Into Marta Rosen Welcome to my three Oh that's a gross pick That's not what I was going to go with at all I have

Okay so I have a choice between two guys And I think that We are just going to lean into a very very 2000s type lineup You're just not going to score Philadelphia Marcus Alders is the three. No, we're going to put Bruce Bowen at the three.

Dude, I was going to pick him. Fuck, you just ruined my plan. We're going to take Bruce Bowen and put him at the three. I don't know who I'm going to pick now. And now, listen, a front quarter of Bruce Bowen, Dennis, Dennis Robin and David Robinson, that's nasty. That's nasty. You kind of got emotion going on over there.

No, he doesn't. He doesn't. I know no fucking shooters. I told you. 2000 brand of basketball. Oh, who do I want to go with now? I don't know what to do. I literally, I did not think there's any chance to picking Bruce Bowen.

so I haven't even thought about another name. I will, listen, Bruce Bowen will die out on the court. Bruce Bowling is kicking people in the face trying to defend. You know what? He has a spot on my team every day of the week. I got plenty of defense. Let's have some fun. Put Boris Dio next to Wemby.

That was my decision. Big to big lobs. Let's do it. French connection, yeah. That was my decision. The French connection is a fire nickname for this duo. I go home and I cry now. Oh, I wish I had Bruce Bowling, but Boris Dio works just fine.

Damn. So audio listeners, I have Chris Paul, Tracy McGrady, Kauai Leonard, Boris D.L, and Victor Women Yama. I'm telling you, Team Mac is not going to be able to play in this team first system. He's going to get mad team chemistry down to Drake. He's the first option. We'll let him cook. I'm going, I have Derek White is my point guard.

Manu at my two, Bruce Bowen at the three, Dennis Rodman at my four, and David Robinson are my father. Straight straps. Holy five. Derek White's the one shooter. Why is strapped today? And finish off, I got Tony Parker, my one, Danny Green, and my two, three, I got DeMarterson, four, I got the Iceman, George Gervin, and five TD. I would like your team a lot more if you pick Boris Dio with DeMardo.

Listen, DeMartreosen is like that's right, bro. He's one of the top 25 scores in NBA history. But you should have kept Iceman at three and put Boris at the floor. You have four mid-range assassins now and then Danny Green. You can never have too much. You talk about 2000-style basketball. I'm right here. Every one of these drafts devolves into someone doing 2000s basketball.

Every time someone doesn't draft shooters, hey, 2000s basketball. Respect it. I know. Or die. I'm a historian. Fair enough. Next thing we're going to do. We're going to do a tier list.

This is going to be a tier list of the most iconic Boston Celtics player of all time. I went through every single era of Boston Celtics basketball and picked their three to four most defining players of that era. So I didn't get to everybody. No, I didn't have Jojo. white on here some other people that Celtics fans are going to be like where are they but this is people that think you go through every decade you can't tell the story of the Boston Celtics without these guys okay I agree I'll put them in the tier list based on whatever it means to you what them into the franchise their peak their accolades whatever let's start off on the top easy

ones Larry Bird is S tier of course obvious set the bar really high Bill Russell also S tier yes mr Celtic yes mr Celtic obviously one championships as a player one championships as a coach bro fucking he fought during a very very tough time one of the ways of all time easy 90% of the Celtics history can be defined by these two men so these are obviously the two S tier who's next now Kevin Garnett does he deserve S tier

or was it not long enough of a career there and he goes to A for Celtics history I don't think he belongs in S tier didn't start his career there didn't finish his career there was only there for a few years of prime but you know we got traded there and immediately want that means something to the common NBA fan what do you think Kevin Garnett is like most known for honestly it's honestly a testament to him because he played so long in minnesota yet he's still

kind of a Celtic like you know and well that's that's a lot to do with them but yeah listen a rod's going to fix that but but i will say those guys won multiple chips and i will put Kevin Garnett at at A because Larry won he won chips and MVP's Bill Russell is doing

the same thing like when they were at their absolute best they were Boston Celtics you still had like greatness whenever KG was there

but not to the same level it's different yeah it's a story greatness like I said how many is that like 16 chips

across the two of those guys up there it's a ridiculous amount of championships that is they deserve their own tier those two alone I think

yeah nobody else on the list it's sniff S tier I think I don't even think cagey's close to us dear there's only one other person that can sniff us too well we'll get to that maybe uh that was jlin brown what do you want to do with him mr finals MVP home bred talent drafted to the team bred into an all-star turning to an all pro turned to a finals MVP did it all

for the organization yeah check every box obviously he's not stiff an s or a can't say no he can't be a i don't think why not be a that's like he's a he's a final MVP He is, but this is, like, all-time great. Like, I think in order to be a, you need to be an all-time great. He's also not good enough. I mean, he's not good enough to be A-tier. And that's a Kevin Garnett. But that finals MVP matters to me and B-tier to me.

That's a great. He's a final MVP. He's made all-N-B-A. He's been there since, like, since he's been drafted. They, they hadn't won a championship in, what, 17, 16, 17 years. Yeah. He is on that team. I think he deserves to be.

You can't look me in the fucking eyes and tell me you think J-Lan. Brown as there's being the same tier of player as Kevin Garnett. As a Celtic, yes. Sure. The baseline is how good are you in the Celtics uniform? Whatever you think about the accolades, they are nowhere close with the golf and talent difference

between Kevin Garnett and Jalen Brown. This guy's finals MVP. This is very interesting. All right, don't make you slander this final MVP. You're begging me to slander. Don't make you slander this. God damn. 39% of the meals. You've been slandering it from the moment he got it. Don't make you do it. You'd love to do this. Don't make you do it in the Celtics parade video.

This is about celebrating, not slandering, and you're going to make me do it. Do Celtics fan really view J.B. that highly next to KG? Fuck the Celtics fans. Do you view Jalen Brown as being the same world as Kevin Garnett? It's Kevin Garnett.

They love Jalen Brown. Yeah, but it's Kevin Garnett as a Celtic. I'm playing both sides right now. You are. Hey, I feel like one side is quite clear. Jaylon Brown is the quintessential B-tier player. Very important for the team, very accomplished, served a lot of years there.

We'll serve a lot more years there. He's not Kevin Brown. regarding it B tier is should beat you should be the Jalen Brown tier. I just don't see NBA fans or Celtics fans specifically sitting down and talk about oh man all them Jalen Brown years and shit like cool great NBA player he's an all time great for Celtic standards or I guess or whatever but when it comes to looking at these players who are an S and A I'm appalled that we said I said B already I just like to drag it out I'm not I'm not voted but the streets love Jane and Brown they

like them. Do they really? Do the streets of Boston? Yes, they do. Yeah, of course they do. B. Tier is the love he deserves. Like that's a lot of love. B.T.R. is nothing small. Yeah, yeah, this is right. Okay. Keep going. Paul Pierce. Is he closer to Jalen Brown or closer to the big ticket? Damn. He's closer to KG. Yeah, I feel like they're kind of like synonymous. He was there for longer drafted by the team. They accomplished what they accomplished together.

And he was also there. He was there for the ups and the downs. They had the full spectrum of his career. And like, even though that they traded him they were both in the trace to help get them get jalen brown and and uh jason tatham so everything good for the last 20 years paul pierce has basically been a part of that and like kevin garnett's a better player on that championship team they were one a one b damn near like they were close at the same like options paul pierce finals MVP you know what i mean you know you love a finals MVP they go in tandem it means something you'll get the finals MVP for that summer that two months best playing the world you got it the hell not you got i will reset it after free agency

Andreiguel was the best player in the world For 60 days he was His free trial ran out But he got it Yeah, but Paul Pierce is an easy A Now If you wanted to say That he's close to the same caliber player

As Jalen Brown, I'd be like All right, I guess you could say He's closer to than he is to Kevin Garnett Who's a top 15 player of all time But the time served Winning the championship there with Kevin Garnett It feels safe to put him next to each other I agree

Yeah, I agree The only way someone could be like No, Paul Pierce versus B is you're just genuinely hating on him and that hate stems off of like post career yeah exactly yeah it's not like in that reputation yeah okay bob coozy we're we go with the 1960s legend ran up the championships of bill russell way ahead of his time important error for his time yeah coozy has to be a tier because everybody in the world slanders bob coozy and the only the only people who still have his back ourselves expands the only

And whenever you want to slander in old school basketball Because Bob Coozy that ran away He didn't even do shit to nobody But appreciate and elevate the game of basketball, bro. Broke barriers. Anytime you want to big up a modern player You'd like put him back there

Bob Coozy's dumbass couldn't dribble I saw a graphic dealer today and said Who's winning a 1V1 Bob Coozy or Bronny James? What the fuck? Hey, hey The one was a love hand I'm not trying to get ran up on So we go, we're going to move on.

Hey, we're not going to Boston time soon. Okay. Rajon Rondo, on that 08 team, won the championship. But I think at least for the championship year, wasn't on the same tier as the top two guys in a tier. No. Crashed out with the team bad. He went and he played for the Lakers.

You won a championship against him. You have to get knocked for that. You have to get knocked for that. So I think that he should probably be around C. Yeah. He was important. that's fair yeah I think I think

for politics reasons you went and you played for the Lakers and won a championship with them I'm putting you at sea So it's like Jalen Brown but was stinking his eye yeah you put him down okay bad reputation Jalen Brown

Roger Rondo welcome to C tier Robert Parrish an important part of those 80s championship teams not I mean I guess the second best player actually no I don't know that's not in mind

but like he's very he's very beloved for everything that he did but I don't think he was Jalen Brown level C tier with Rondo one of the important guys for a dynasty important guy there but not one of the best players okay if we're going if you're using this tierless based off of the best players then sure yeah but in terms of love in my mind I equate him okay this isn't a love tier list you guys said love this is about love I'm going C tier

I'm gonna see T I'm going towards me but he was there for a long time yeah I only I always say C because I think know who I think is B I think John John Havlichick is B, right? I was thinking Havlichick might have to be A. You're right. Is he the leading score in Celtics history? He's up there. I think he is.

If I go A for John Havichick? Got the rings, got the accolades of the longevity? Yeah. He's kind of like the one of the... He's actually the leading score for the Celtics? I think he is, because you know, because Leibaldi's back injuries. I think John Havichick has their most point scored.

Wow. I might be wrong, though. I might be making this shit out of thin air. So maybe that's not true, but I want to say he does. I'm going to do for Havlich. like obviously you think of you think of icons and people who play it is darned out of check by the way you know random southics facts good job i don't know where i got that from okay isaiah thomas i'm sorry you have one year after what he had one year but it was the most inspiring

year of basketball i'm sorry no he's just not on you can't claim to fuck with the short kings if you're not fucking with the main short king he's not he's just not on the level of the other somethings. Why do I just give D-tier, though? It's a moment. He had one year where it was like, no, not only one year. That's disrespectful. Where he was peak? Yeah, like two years. No, it was one year. It was one year. He got hurt

at the end of his one year. Now, I will say for the fight that he showed, we can't move him to D-Tier. He was out here playing on a busted hit. Just to show love? We trained in his ass, bro, for Karee. Yeah, we can put him in D-Tier. Sure, why not? Why not? Just this is D-Tier because we fuck with him. Yeah, he was a two-time All-Star, bro. He had two years. Antoine Walker, four-time All-Star, F-2. At least Isaiah Thomas, who was like MVP candidate on the ballot, right?

Antoine Walker was never a part of that. Four-time All-Star. Four-time All-Star. Nice. Four-time All-Star left, dude. He was good. He was okay, but, like, they're not winning. They're not doing serious winning. And like when no it was the worst era of Celtics history It was not great I put them all here just because like you know 2000s did exist But it was the worst era of Celtics history

It was a very dark time He was there He made all sartes I mean that means something Yeah But it's the only decade Actually know they wanted to 2008 But I think there was a 10 year stretch

They didn't win He smacked them in the middle of that No they went It was 20 like There's like 22 years Yeah yeah And he was smack in the middle of that Ray Allen

What do you want to do with him Ray Allen's better than Rajan Rondo for that championship team but didn't put as many years in of being peak I think Rondo had a little bit more of a stretch within the Ray Allen did because Ray Allen came like and then he left. Exactly. Politics.

You left to go to the enemy at the time when we're out here beefing, war with them. You have to get dropped. So wherever you guys can decide, but wherever you guys say, he's a tear below. He's a tear below.

So I mean, I just put him next to Rondo. That's just the traitor. They're still continuing to beefing, too. Let's put Robert Parrish up to B tier. Ray Allen goes to C. This is the Traders tier. Then. Rename that.

Okay. That's for the Switch bitches, the Traders. Okay. I know Southern Friends are happy with that one, probably. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, Robert Parrish probably deserves me and B anyway just off of just vibes or being that dude. That's fair. Okay.

Oh, Paul Pierce on here twice back, isn't it? Kevin McHale. Now, the A tier's getting crowded, but he's Kevin McHale. They've had a lot of eight-tier plays. He's the biggest six-man of all time. They've had a lot of success. It would be very, very weird if we put Kevin McHale in B-tier. He has to be in A-Tier.

Yeah, the greatest six-man of all time. And there was years where he elevated past that role and was their second-best player averaging career highs when Larry Bird needed the help there because the back was going. Yeah, A-tier, right? Y'all spoke facts for me. He belongs in A-Tier. This might be one of the greatest organization of all time.

A-tier deserves to look like this. That's a crowded-ass-A-tier. The Celtics, man. This is what happens when you have the most championships. Okay. Al Horford This is an interesting one because two stretches of his career here got the team of champion

get championship probably one of the most important role players for shepherding in this new era and allowing the young guys to really have what they need to win at the highest level I think he might be higher than people think is he next to Jalen Brown he's as a

he's very important to what they do extremely and like when he retire as you look back he'll be looked back of one of the most fond role players, I think. He's definitely If you...

And he's all-star years too, though. He's not just a role player. The early years, he was an all-star. With the Celtics, he was an all-star? Yeah, yeah. He signed with them for the... He was their first all-star acquisition in so long. He gave them new life after that 0-8 team

kind of dispelled and did the little small rebuild. Him coming, like, brought them back to relevancy. He chose them in free agency. We got to go beat you. I'm going to be... He, listen. Some of that Hawks' fandom is getting to me right now He said he told them in free agency

I'm like I'm growling I think he's all intangibles He's the demand of the house for this young team I feel like he deserves beat here If you listen to the way Jason Tatum talks about His relationship with Al Horford It's like now he's one of the most important Celtics He said this motherfucker Tommy had to show him

More important than John Brown Equal to John Brown I think Or he's up there Yeah I think they're both equally integral to last year championship team You can't do without either of them. Last but not least, save the fun one for last. Where do we go with Jason Tatum?

Best player on the championship team, first team all NBA multiple years, drafted by the team, gotten better year by year with the team, took them to a championship as a best player. He belongs in a tier. He's on the podium. He's on podium?

He's top three. He's S. He's S? I think Jason Tatum. I understand. Now listen, I've been weighing the final. No, Donovan said Jason Tatum is the biggest hater in the world? I've been saying that the finals MVP matters.

I understand that Jason Tatum doesn't have that. But for somebody who is homegrown, won a championship with them, as consistent as he as can be, he plays all the time. He has mad first team all NBA. Yeah, well, am I being trolled? I don't even disagree. He's real. Holy fuck.

You are such an outrageous Jason Tatum hater that I wouldn't even argue with you. If you want to give him S, this is a. this is the point of development for you that I'm willing to just let you have this because it's so you changed you've changed you thought a positive thought you got to respect

you got to respect him man you really do his body I don't know oh my god congratulations we thought we never see it clapped up for character development

clap it up for respecting the anomaly okay that's crazy listen I mean sure fuck it fuck it If you want to give him that credit, I'll give him that credit. I think there's a world in which Jason Tatum ends up a top 40 player of all time.

If he keeps rack with the accolades like he has, that's within reach. He might get multiple chips. Might play his whole goddamn career there, give them 10 years of excellency, just being rock steady, being the guy that defines this era. He defines his era more than Kevin Garnett did. Well, Kevin Garnett's a way better player. Wasn't drafted there. It didn't stay quite as long.

So if you want to offset that and say Jason Tatum is that much more integral to the history of the Boston Celtics. Yeah. Sure. You guys would have been left for dead if he didn't come out the way he did. Exactly. And because even after KG's chip, there's still, again, 16 years where you're not getting a title. Jason Tatum is one of the biggest reasons why they have that. And for the Celtics, everything is defined by championships.

Like how, one, can you get a championship and then how many can you get? Jason Tatum is in prime position to do. both of those for multiple years, he has to be S-tiered. He has to be one of, he legit has to be thought of as one of the best outtics of all time. Ooh. Look at that. Don't ever call us Tadem haters.

I think someone called us the Tatum hate 3. I saw that comments a lot. Which is funny. Don't ever call us that again because the biggest one up here. That's kind of hard though. I'm not going to like. I'm just kidding. Now mind you, if Tatum comes out here and shoots 10 to 26, I will be back.

But for now, we're respecting the anomaly. Okay, and there we are This is our full Celtics tier list I like it It's actually not bad I hate that Isaiah Thomas is there But what do you expect man Those two years are special man

He was a two-time all-star Everybody above him has chips Everybody above him has chips So So it's the Celtics There's so many chips to go around He can't have one Exactly

He couldn't get around a single one of those Bro His teammates were Avery Bradley And Jay Carter was his third You spoke very highly about Avery Bradley in the past Jay Crowder was the third best player on the on the Understand that Bossman 99 is

Al Horford's on the team by the way Exactly Different Al Horford Oh way better Al Horford what do you mean He was a star still Yeah but also LeBron was in that conference And he wasn't also sharing a conference with Prime John Wall He knocked those guys off

Prime John Wall Yeah all right Shout out to 1617 They're like here Fuck it Type Type next thing we're going to do.

I'm going to show you two NBA player stat lines from this season. You have to blindly tell me which one is a better player. Just off of their stat lines from this year, who you think is a better player. Making assumptions. Okay, let's do it. I have a feeling you guys would do poorly on this. I don't trust you guys. No, I guarantee I know every single stat.

I'm really not. You guys, we'll see. First up, player A or player B? Player A is a higher volume score. Player B is more efficient. Okay. So player a has 24 points, five boards, five assists, or six boards, five assists. A steal, 30% three points, it was kind of nasty.

Don't care. Don't care, boy, you get buckets? Don't care. He gets buckets. Listen, the play gets more assists. Exactly. It's still playmaking, five, you know, five, six rebounds. Listen, player A doesn't look that bad.

Player B shoots 41% from three, 59% true shooting. Meticulous buckets. Yeah. That's true. However, I think play... Ah, man. However, if you're shooting 41% from three, shout out to you.

But only 22 points for game, I need you to shoot even more. You're kidding. I'm going to play a. Strictly off a points? I'm going to play. I mean, the rebounds are comparable. The rebounds and steals are comparable. Player A has more assists.

And the two shootings are like, they're close enough to where it's like... Wait. Is player B Austin Reeves or some shit? Player B is Kowai's. Leonard and player A is Franz Wagner Yeah man Kill him with hammers Frans over Kauai

I knew I shouldn't have listened to you man I mean Kauai didn't play for like half the year Shit kill him with that damn He didn't play for like half the year God damn Someone shoot that guy by elephants Fuck They both they both miss like

Half the year Jumped by chimpanzees get out of my face The Inglories bastards meme Shoot that guy Yeah, man, listen, man, Franz Wagner's stat line was, he put up some numbers. There was a time, listen, there was a time this season where we were like, hey, he's hooping. He's out here. And then guess what?

Hey, that 30% from three is loud. I'll say that. Very loud, but okay. Man, it's high. Okay. Player A or player B, both around the same scoring levels. One is a lot more efficient. Who are we going with?

Why in this case will we not go with player B? Are we being set up? Is there defense that we're not being? I mean, you know, defense can't be accounted for in these steps of stats. That's what I'm saying, but everything, like, if you are really tripping off the 0.8 points per game. Hey, you say buckets matter. You might be. That's about a bucket again.

Point eight? That's half a bucket. Yeah. Player B shoots better all around. And why are we not taking player? It looks like the better playmaker too. Why are we not going to lean towards player B. You really know sort of lines.

It's clear as day, right? Again, I told you we're being set up, but reveal it. Player B is Austin Reeves. Yeah. Player A is Jalen Green. There we go. Easy, easy. Yeah, we got that.

One of the best shooting guards in the NBA. You're welcome. You're welcome. And Jim and Green. We're pushing your agenda forward. I get it. I know. Let's just keep you short.

All I'm doing is presenting information. Next slide. All I do is present the facts. Player A or player B. Both 24 point per game scores, both the same true shooting. Who is a better player? Listen, you said that 30% from 3 is loud. 28% is obnoxiously loud.

We'll go with player A. Squames. 28 from 3. 20 from 3 is disgusting. Who the hell is this? There's two players putting up in numbers? Listen, 30, that's the limit.

I can't see a 2 next to your 3-point shooting. One of them's A.D. Very similar numbers. Player B is A.D. Player A is Victor Wemianama. Hey, listen. Agendas are being pushed. He's disgusting.

Agendas are being put. Oh, my gosh. The 3.8 blocks gave it away immediately. That was clearly Wemby. Who else in NBA history can get 3.8 blocks and 35% from 3? Nobody. Nobody. okay that was fair it's not that crazy at this point if you want to say especially i mean 80 also

got injured listen we're going to get that dvtie cleared up we're coming for the league we're coming for the league don't this is next up player a or player b oh man player b is a better playmaker a little more efficient only 14.6 points per game you know good shooter but not a volume 14 8 and 7 they'd be doing everything oh yeah eight rebounds i didn't realize that everything they should better they shoot better from 3 have a higher two shooting, Steels I. He stuffs the stat sheet.

Yeah. Dude, everywhere. Damn. I guess we just have to go with Player B. Player B is obviously the better player. Versatile.

All right, Donovan, I guess, take the cake home from me. Leave me to the Promise land. Player B is Josh Gideon. Player A is Paul George. Listen, this year, that is correct. Listen,

the ball's going to get max contract. Which one would you rather give it to? This is trash versus garbage again. Oh, man. It's rough. I guess you were right, though. I was right. This,

this season yeah this year i guess so who's a better asset josh giddy or paul george is podcast p channel a part of the deal nope he's not even doing anymore you're right yeah josh giddy damn damn damn damn how the muddy you're falling next up who was a better player here yes oh i don't don't say nothing 25 verse 18 i don't care give me the points give me the buckets oh my god he's so that was a crazy laugh by the way. You're so nasty. I don't care. He said I don't even care

about 54% true shooting in the 62. Shut up nerd. I'll take care by 9.2 assist the game. I don't care. Give me Tyrese halliburn over K. Cade Cunningham.

Oh, that's Lamello. Oh, yeah. Lamello ball player. Yeah, you're disgusting. That's his brain right there. I'm getting highlights off, man. Give me Tyrese. Yeah, I don't care.

Oh, man. You know you don't. Tyrese is so much. better. Next up, which player is better? Let's see. 28. Two high volume scores, both a little bit above average,

true shooting percentage, both some good passers. 37 from, 37% from three. Pretty solid. Pretty solid. 28 and 6. I think I'm going to go with a 28 and near 8 assists. I think I'm going to go towards. With a better three point percentage.

Yeah. And more steals. I'm not I'm really not tripping off of Is that a gold comb? It's fake I'm not yeah I'm not tripping off of 0.5 rebounds

a game I think I'm gonna go to One of them is Luke you know that Is one of them Luca and LeBron? No it's not around LeBron I was 24 this year You guys on player B Oh true you're right

Yeah player B Is Luca Dantius player A is Jason Tatum Some might say it's Jason Tettin's best year of his career And Luca Dantran's worst year of his career yeah just eat again these don't take into account defense oh they don't want to hear that you pick luke already next one

player a versus player b 40% from the field from three sharpshooter does that move it moves me a lot okay 62% true shooting nine assists on the other side

efficient crazy this is insane 26 and 9 36% engine from the three point line two okay said engine. Is that I missed a beard?

No. No, I can't be missed. There's a lot of engines in the goddamn league these days. It's not. I, though, 40% from 3 and 62% true shooting

moves me a lot, though. Moves me a lot. It's extremely efficient. Yeah, with 6 assists. I'm only towards Player A. I feel confident with him. You've trusted me throughout this process.

I'm going to trust you. We'll take Player A. Oh, you pick Steph Curry over Kay Cunningham. This is what we do, man. This is what we do. That was close though

fuck kate i do that every year in my life by the way okay and that's the end of that i think you guys got a decent percentage I think we did I started a dilemma

a ball pick was bullshit as soon as you saw as soon as all those numbers I was like come on friend the ball pick was bullshit

come on man the next thing we're going to do last week or a week before we did um the most disappointing player in the NBA at every position and we went through

we talked about the guys who we expected more from that disappointed us a little bit point guard through center let's do the opposite let's show love who is the player at every position that was better than you thought

who was surprisingly good this season point guard through center all right who jumps to your mind first okay surprisingly good point guard through center I will say

small forward get that out the way Denny of Diaz dude that's exactly what I wrote down is 100% Denny without a doubt I didn't think he was to be one of the best drivers in the NBA just immediately.

Yeah. Okay. At the five, we got to go Zubach. Zubach, precisely. We got to go Zubach. One of the top five center in the NBA, after being a role player for his whole career, he probably should have got more buzz for most improved player. Honestly, if that was your pick, I would have been like, all right, you got it.

And it would have been 100% deserved. Best defensive rebounder in the NBA, great post score, great rim protector. Cool the way. You, ha, ha, ha, ha. He was on your team. Trade him from Mike New Scholar. Fuck you, Magic Johnson. and point guard to me is quite easy

Austin Reese No I've been done he's a bucket Ty Jerome I did not expect him to be the best Bench point guard in the NBA this year Yeah Ty Jerome comes into games And just flips it on his head

And it doesn't I'm not going to say it doesn't matter But even if Darry's Garland is having a bad game You got insurance D Mitch having a bad game Insurance he's all state You're in good hands with Ty Jerome He's used better from Florida range

he does from the rim Just a crazy shot making season That's touch Tide Jerome just has like a classic game I feel like when I watch Tide Jerome Makes no sense But I see a lot of Adam Sandler in this game Bro you ever seen Adam Seller

What the fuck are you talking about? Brother he's a real bucket Adam Sandler Yeah Out of my face West 4th Tripping right Power forward

My thought was Jdub Just because this guy played God damn center When Isaiah Hardenstein and Chet were hurt He became one of the best defenders In the NBA I always knew who's good offensively I didn't think you could do that

We can go Jadam I was thinking Jabari Smith Jr. Okay For how like Good defensive season Yeah for how important he was to

To Eucin's defense We personally I would lean towards Jalen Johnson 2010 and 5 We've been saying That he's about to George Samp numbers

We've been saying Oh yeah Next year is the year That Jalen Johnson is going to be like Very integral to the Hawks Shoot that guy Shoot that guy

With him Cool So who would want to file Any other names? at the four now I'm good with Archie you're out so who we're going

with J-dub or J-Dub is fine his defensive leave fucking stupid he makes no sense he makes no sense he's like he like could be

in most improved talks off with defense which never gets shine in the award it's an offensive award but he's the most approved defender actually shooting guard

do you want to go Dyson Daniels is that the most improved defender in the league he improved defender I don't know

he genuinely improved all around Yeah, I will go turns Dyson Daniels. Or I also wrote down Jared McCain. Because for those 20 games, he was rookie the year. I didn't expect a late teens pick to be the rookie of the year. He was way better than I thought he'd be immediately. Okay.

I would say that. We could also go. You mean, Tyler Hero. He had like an All-Star. Sure. Yeah, I guess we could go Tyler. He was there. He got a little bit better than what we expected and, like, got into the All-Star game.

But we could put Tray Murphy on that list as well. We've been saying. no we knew if he got the usage he could put up numbers like that okay so Dyson Daniels or Jerry McCain I'm leaning towards Dyson Daniels a surprise fucking surprise yeah give me the defensive player of the year over here bitch yeah we'll go Dyson there we go we go let me give the hawk something there's nothing else going for him in his life assist leader and steal leader oh thank God stamp that 10 seed okay so that's the end of that next thing we're going to do

let's talk about Kevin Durant I think there's been so much reporting around this whole Phoenix Sun saga at this point we know they're going nowhere fast and it's seemingly guaranteed Kevin Kevin Graham will be traded this summer it seems like it's a guarantee Sean supported it but the day the season ended he was like they're going to find a trade partner

for this guy the day of the season ended it's hilarious he wasted no time so shameless so what we're going to do is We're going to look ahead to the offseason while the playoffs start. Let's talk. I'm going to name you some NBA teams. You let me know from 1 to 10 how much you'd want to see them trade for Kevin Durant. Let's do it. How good of a fit is it?

How good is it fit asset-wise, timeline-wise, who they have on the roster right now, everything like that. One to 10. Okay. First off, the Dallas Mavericks. Zero out of 10. I don't want Nico Harrison to have anything good happen to that organization. You shouldn't be allowed to make trades anymore. We should bar them.

Yeah, I think it's- We should tear if Nico Harrison. It's also a zero good because according to Nico Harrison, defense wins championships. And Kevin Ryan is just too much of a bucky getter for Nico Harrison, right? I don't think there's enough defense for Nico Harrison to say, yeah, this is a championship. And yeah, it's not even like that Katie's a bad defender. It's that he's too good offensively, and clearly that's not Nico Harrison's type.

He wants to get it out the mud. Not much mud to go around when you got Katie. Yeah, so I'm, we'll go zero out of ten. Zero out of ten, keep him far away from Dallas. The Denver Nuggets. Who are you giving up? is the big question. Michael Porter Jr.

And whatever else they want. It can be MPJ. I'm looking to give them. They did something. They fired their head coach. I think they might lose in the first round. We'll see if they go outside in the playoffs again, they got to mix something up.

Kevin Durant feels like their version of the Damien Louis trade. And you know what? I'm okay with that. The more that you can say we have Yokic. And as much of a playoff riser as Jamal Murray has been, if you can get some more buffer in between there, in between Yokic and Jamal Murray, yes, I'll take Kevin Durant.

I'll go like a. six because I don't I think that they might have to give up a little bit too much and you're going to be relying even more on that bench which hasn't really been reliable the only thing that scares me is Katie's injury history when it comes to this outside of that basketball reasons I don't give him flying fuck give me the best player in the wrong in the world alongside katie in a heartbeat I'm reading this like a nine that'd be such a good fit do be disgusting fuck tomorrow Murray like I would want to I would be so eager to trade tomorrow Murray after I get someone like Katie on my team your service now you do you have to have a

point out but yeah I don't know about eager but yeah you could if you had to trade your mom or you could live with it maybe well I don't know we're a full-time starter oh good all right never mind never mind never mind the Minnesota Timberwolves please they need this is what I want bro this is why they traded for car Anthony towns I got I got a theory for you I got a theory for you during during team USA over the past summer of course he was with Katie on all the boys. A lot of things happened during that time. There's a lot of camaraderie building.

Do you really think Anthony Edwards would go to his front office? He'd be like, yo, bro, I got something for you. Katie said he want to be on my team next after Phoenix implodes. Mind you, Devin Booker was also there in the room. And Katie was like, yes, I will request to trade and make it happen. And this is why they traded for Carl Anthony Towns. I traded away Carley Towns. I give this a 10 out of 10.

I need to see it. I love this. Yeah, I'm going 10 out of 10 out of fit. I don't know if your theory is correct. However, I would like to believe it, so I will. But yeah, I'm going to know it. It would be a perfect fit. Yeah.

Kevin Rand just watches his best shooting guard in the league get laughed by this best shooting guard in the league. Jump ship again. Makes sense. It fits everybody's motives. I would love to see it. The basketball fit would be delicious. It would be amazing. Yeah.

He said, when he watches, wow. It would be a great fit. Listen, Julius Randall, get ready to speak Arizona after you often. You and Devin Bowman. are going to go crazy next year. Oh, man. Damn, Devin. He's so in the blender.

Devin, Bradley, Bill, Julius Randall, we're running it up, getting 42 wins. I don't even know if that's possible. We're going to make it happen with their fourth head coach in three years. Oh, that's so disgusting. The Los Angeles Lakers. Stop that, man.

Stop it. This is Tom Foolery. This is the greed that they talk about in the Bible. Exactly. You just got Luca. I don't even want this. Why are you yelling at me? Why are you yelling at me?

I didn't even say I want him. You clearly want this. I don't want this at all. Zero out of ten. I don't even want to see it. Please get it off from my screen. What would you even trade for? LeBron,

everything besides the top three guys. Get the fuck on. This is the issue. Everything besides the top three guys. What the fuck do you expect? What's trade? LeBron? He said,

do you think that Rui and a pig is going to get you Katie? I don't want Kevin Durant. You probably think Gabe Vincent and pig in him, Katie. Why am I being a fat? I don't want Kevin Durrance. The Pacers. Do you want to see Katie play with Halliburton?

This would be fun. I think it will leave them to, again, nowhere. But they'll be taken more seriously as a team. I'll say for sure. It's like, some more tickets. Yeah, exactly. You do, listen, you do have to respect this team. They would get to 53 wins.

However. They might get 60 with Katie. 60 wins. Calm to fuck down. Calm down. I don't know what this thing is. 60 wins. I have to think about what the scene has to give up, though.

You need to relax. What do they give up for Katie? The whole young core, Pascal Ciacom. Damn, if Pascal's gone, never mind. I mean, that's what it would take. 60 wins is ridiculous. No, they get like 5, 52, 53, but... I don't know, man.

Listen, they can steal that three seed. Still that three seed, out of east? I don't want to see this, though. Just imagine Tyre's Halliborne running up the court, looking around, throwing his fake-ass, no-look passes to Kevin Durant. It would be beautiful. Yeah, that would be great. 8 out of 10. I would love to see this.

Zero out of 10. Damn. I'll go four. I don't know what you're going to have to. I think to, if you just put KD on this team without having to give up Pascal, that would be good. Just replace Seacom with Kevin Durant. You're a better team. Next, next, next slide.

The Memphis Grizzlies. Do you want to see Kevin Durant and Jaron Jackson as a forward duo? He is everything that this team needs. You think. You think the last couple teams KD has been on have imploded. That's not on. KD. This team has already imploded. So we're past that step.

Bradley Bill is going to get KD. He's just in there just trying to hoop. You fooled me. That's all he wants. I would love this. Bradley Bill, not walking through those doors. Matt Isbiel, not walking through those doors. James Jones, not walking through those doors. It would go better here.

This is the young team that needs him. It would be a perfect fit. Your team would be huge. It would be long. It would be lengthy. It would be everything that's good. Would he vibe with John? Could he calm down, John?

Calm down. No. Is he going to provide good mentorship to Jop? No. But they did 5. I didn't even to put his arm around, John. Come in, young, fuck.

No. I think that's the last thing Kevin Aaron wants to do. But I think it would work well on court. Just imagine the length if you had Edie, Jaron, and Kevin Durant,

3 through 5. Or all you can think about his length. That's so crazy. They're just lobboxing. I just imagine that. It'd be crazy. A little key.

It's not my favorite destination for one. What do they give up? What do they give up? Salary and... Desmond Bain? Yeah, I think Desmond Bain probably has to be the salary. Dissom Bain's a hooper, though. Oh shit, my mic's on the follow up?

Yeah, it'd be Desmond Bain and then young players like G.G. Jackson. Okay. And picks, you know, they have some picks to trade. Yeah, I just realized the KD trade package is going to be pretty weak. This should be a strong one, though. It would be one of the skinniest teams in the league. Without Desmond Bain, I don't, I don't know. It losing a lot of swollenness.

You are. They have to get into the weight room It don't matter bro Start drinking that mass gainer The amount of aura that this team would just be farming It's insane Imagine seeing KD do the grenades Celebration, bro

Oh Okay Oh easy money sniper They would get on the ground Oh shit Hey Hey Yeah

Perfect He might give Josh Matt happens Adam silver might call helicopters in the arena bro for that one The Miami Heat stop it Hell no

They don't deserve anything good Bro They don't deserve anything good You don't want to see them Save this organization He would not save it Damn He would not save it

This team What? They are the 10 seed Welcome to the 9 seed Damn This is ruined basketball Ruin basketball I'm lying

I just don't want anything Happened It's so crazy that the Dude they're starting Alec Berks in 2020 Like it's wild Don't talk crazy about Alec Berks

Like he ain't saved Yo ass plenty of times before He was hoping He was hoopin He was hoopin I will not tell you Key word. What's the key word? Once. Thank you.

The Houston Rockets, the one everybody wants to see him go to, do you guys like this destination? No, because it will make them too good. Kevin Durant is exactly what they need. All year we've just been talking about. Listen, they don't have anybody who can go get you a bucket, right? When it's crunch time, who are you going to throw the ball to?

Kevin Durant solves that problem effortless. I think Kevin Durant invented late game buckets. That's all he wants. If you're telling me that you can upgrade from Fred Van Bleet, step back threes to win a game to Kevin Durant, hezzy, hesy, tween, pull up jumpers? Oh my goodness. What's the package?

Well, Jalen Green's for sure, like, he's so gone. Yeah, you're out of here, you good. Jalen Green, Cam Wittmore, two first-round picks. What if they ask for him in back? Because obviously, they'll fuck yourself, Phoenix. Get out of my goddamn face. That's not happening. It's not.

Wow. I'm almost like mad at, mad at James Jones because you put that idea in my head. Like the audacity is crazy And whatever it takes Whatever it takes outside of a men Okay They wait don't they Who has the Phoenix Suns pick right now?

Is it them? I don't even know But you know what I do know You might have those sons pick They'd be getting All I know All I know is that Kevin Durant would fit here Perfectly

I'm going 10 out of 10 And Houston has all the pieces To go make a trade And still have a very deep And well-balanced team Okay There we go The Detroit Pistons

This would be crazy This would be crazy K-Kaham and KD It's a lot of aura They've understand It's a deadly one two fun Shout out to Detroit Right

They've played well You're still relying on Malik Beasley And Tim Hardaway Jr. And Tobias Harris Imagine going from those three To Kevin Durant 10 out of 10

See he said this But also Can you imagine going From Devin Booker Bradley Beal to Kevin Durant Is he going to leave an impact like that for real? Yes. What are you talking about?

I'm lying. I want to see it happen 10 out of 10 times. You have that defensive infrastructure with some good wings. Maybe Ron Holman. Maybe Ron Hall would be in the trade. But you have a SAR Thompson to give you some athleticism there next to Kevin Durant. It's getting a little older. You got an athletic big and Jalen Duren, the playmaker and Kay Cunningham.

You kind of fit every single archetype box you want to see next to a score like KD. This is what I need. This is what I need. 10. 10. Yeah, really the scoring duties off a Cade, easy time. Listen, Jaden Ivy, you're going to love it playing next to Devin Booker. Yeah.

It's going to be great. Hey, man. Scottsdale's low-key lips. I forgot JD and Ivy existed, man. That's so crazy. Let's think they make the finals. Start playing that golf out there in Phoenix. The Boston Celtics.

Man. Hell no. You don't want to see them trade Drew Holiday and KP for... Apparently, they almost made this happen a couple years ago. It could be on the table. You know, the luxury tax bill is getting hired. You could shed KP salary, shed Drew Holiday, bringing Kevin Durant. Why would I want to see the bad guys get better?

I don't know, you said, you've been talking about how Kevin Durant doesn't get it done anymore, and maybe that's a way to sabotage him. From the inside out, that's crazy. Ruin their death? Yo, you're cooking. What? This is a different type of evil way. Kind of like that.

Even then, the potential's too much. I can't stand it. Zero to Tateum, Jailen Brown, Kevin around would be the greatest wing trio. The NBA has ever seen and ever will see. You think, Joe Mazzulah, though. He'd be like, yo, coached by Joe Mazzulah, you're tripping. Yeah, he would hate him, bro. Which mean I'm going to die after I'm like, bro, it's just a wall.

Yeah, exactly. Oh my God. God damn. Joe Mazzua was like punching bricks after a loss. He might like that though. He might like that. Katie was crying over how much he loves basketball. I think he would respect that much intensity from Joe Mazzula.

Yeah, but like Katie loves basketball. Joe Mazzula loves the sweet pain of loss. Yeah, he's like tormented. He loves the super too. Yeah, Joe Mazzula loves like the sweet release of death. He likes to like microzula. overdose that every loss. Yeah, bro.

It's a little bit different. I mean, they can both microdose and then, you know, they'll be fine. I'm good. That's the end of that. Last thing we got today, this is a fun one. I'm going to name an NBA lineup today,

a current team, and I'm going to name a past player that used to play for this team. You let me know if that player could start on the team today. Okay. If they came back to their previous team. First off,

could 2012 Rajan Rondo start on today's Celtics? Did 22 of Rondon Rondo? shoot 38% from 3. I fucking doubt it. So he cannot start on this team. All they care about is volume 3 points. He can't do it.

But, I mean, that shit wouldn't make sense for him to start here. So because he relieves all the playmaking duties. Do they want to play like that? I don't know. But it wouldn't hurt the. He can't shoot. You're not starting.

If KP is here. You could be on the team. You can't start. It's not a Joe Missoula player. It's not. Are you sure? Someone like Rondo isn't a Joe Mzula player? Well, mentally,

they're on a. I'm not saying wavelength, but I think Jim was a little loves that five-out spacing. That would be in a locker room head, but each other's. I just imagined it. I'm saying no. Keep starting Derek White? Yeah. I'll start Derek White wouldn't be the one to go.

They wanted to be a champion. They wanted to be a champion. If already, why messed it up? I'm starting Derek White. Okay. 2015 Kevin Love on the Cavs. Listen. This is basically like.

Your spacing fix. Dylan Winler on steroids. That is ridiculous. What the fuck? Am I wrong? This is a star So you're swapping out Jared Allen

Yeah For Kevin Love Put Mobley at the five Yeah maybe Maybe you want to go away From the two non-shooters thing Well no give me the defense Give me the defense

Yeah it's too much It's too many liabilities If you have We have Garland Mitchell Two small guards With Drews right there And Kevin Love

Every Moble is fighting for his life Oh yeah true too He's gonna win He's gonna wait DPOI If he keeps some top 10 defense Kevin Love I love his game One of the greatest

Cats of all time But he got to go Damn That's for sure you're gonna pick him 2011 Amari Stoddemeier on today's Knicks You You don't want to pair A rim roller like that next to cat

No It'll be fun offensively You don't want to replace Josh Hart with Amari I don't think you understand Okay Josh Hart after last year deserves a lifetime contract I never ever want this man to leave my team

He's not going anywhere Okay Hey, okay. It's not happening. Fair enough. So don't ask. All right. Don't bring it up ever again.

All right. Just a TikTok. Shit. 2015 JJ Reddick on the Clippers. This is, I love this pick, bro. Dangerous white man here. Definitely.

So would you bench Norman Powell? At his peak, he was an 18 point per game score, bro. Norman Powell was playing at like all-side levels early. He was getting better. I don't know if you can bench Norman Powell. I don't know if you can bench Norman Powell. Fuck.

Now, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I think JJ's, his ability to play offball and just run around, right? With James Harden being the orchestrator, yeah, I like that. But you lose a sense of creation, though. You're playing James Harden basketball. Kauai's back. He got plenty of creation.

Hey, I'm not going to argue against JJ Redick, bro. That's a fun one. Who's better? J.G. Reddick or Norm Powell? I think he would admittedly say, yeah, Nome Powell got it on this one. Do you think so? Yeah, simply because of the creation. I've seen Norm Powell be able to get some shit off on his own

He's a sniper though He is a sniper but so is Norm Pai soon like He's fucking flamethrower this year I need I need somebody to ask JJ Redding Right now if he would start on the clippers I'm going I'm going with JJ Redding That's what I'm going with I think I really do think that his movement

When you have Kauai and you have James Hardin Yeah You already know what's about to happen Because Kauai isn't crazy off ball James Hardin you know it's not crazy off ball You need somebody who can be out there running around getting helic cardio

and catching the ball off screens and stuff I'm going with JJ Obviously JJ is a better shooter Okay It's one of the rates of all time I can't be mad at that But this dude normal power

I was seen 42% from three On like seven attempts He's also a great shooter Got a great year It's tough Derek Fisher on the Lakers Is Derek Fisher Bringing them jerseys back

Is he 6-4 Incorrect Is he bringing them jerseys back with him Nope Can't play No I'm sorry

You're not allowed in the facility, buddy Get out of here Your wristband Expired don't work Damn no respect for one of the greatest Lakers role players of all time Nah Sorry buddy

He's not He listen Can he be on the team Yes he can You can have Gabe Vince a spot in a heartbeat Absolutely He for sure can do that However

He's not a big Can he Gabe Ben Hey Hey there fish is clutch he is he's clutch that's what I'm saying he could be on the team

I don't think he can start though okay let's see not gonna yeah you're not gonna bench Oster Reeves for him so you're not gonna bench the best white boy in the game so

2010 Andrew Bogget on the bucks they need anybody yes oh my god so you'd rather have his low post scoring his defense

than Brooke Lopez is pacing why I got a pick why I got a big you put the opposite to the three yep he's big kick Cousma out of here, have three big.

I'm putting Yannis at the three, Brooke Lopez at the four, Bogot at the five. We're keeping Torian Prince at the two. You keeping Torian? That is the slowest footspeed two of all time. That's even so slow. We're going to hold hands and you're not going to hold hands.

We're in the Amina zone. You saw what's saying, Guna and Steve Adams are doing? We're doing that. Exactly. Andrew Boggart, you're ready to speak offensive rebound. I love that game.

Keep him. Him and Yonis is interesting. Probably wouldn't be very good. Pre-injury, Andrew Boggett, yeah. Great, the defense would be crazy. Disgusting. 2009, Shack, on the Sons. Yes, he could start over Nick Richards.

Yes, absolutely. No disrespect. But, like, come on. What you mean? No disrespect. I could say anybody, and we would have put them on the Sons. The Sons can need all the help they can get. Even an old Shack would do.

And this is the last version of Shack. That was, like, semi-decent. Yeah, he was actually 18 points per game. My brother, show me Milos, Teletovitch. I'm taking Miro. as well, bro. Sorry. Bro, this says

all the help they can get. You show me Tyler Eulis, he could start. All right. 2018, Karee on the Celtics today. Do you want that scoring punch or the defense all around?

2018 Kari was not one of the best versions of Kairi. I think that was, yes it was. He was defending, he was passing. That's the most all-around version of Kairi. Cover of 2K,

Kyrie Irving? I'm getting to confuse of 2017, Kairi. Whoopsies. Either way. 2017, he was a monster.

Seltis Kairi was good. That was the best passing he's ever had by far. Brad Stevens had him defending. But is it one too many pieces to mess up a good formula? I mean, we saw that before.

It was one too many. We saw him with these two wings that were a little bit younger. But the type of defense that Derek White playing is different. It's a sacrilegious to pick Derek White over Kari.

First of all, I've been trying to tell you all about, I've been trying to tell you about Derek White over Kyrie Irvin for months now. years even. So you're going to stand on it?

2018, Kyrie Irvin, and he'll say this himself. Mentally wasn't in the space to be, you know, Mr. Team Forward, Mr. Rara. No, you're going to mess up a good thing. He can't start here. You want a championship. You can't go home, but you can't be here. You're going to look the camera in the eye and say you're picking Derek White up of Carriven.

I've done it before and I do it again. Give me Derek White. You're disgusting. Jeremy Lynn, but Lynn sanity, Jeremy Lynn on the Knicks. So you get two Jalen Brunson's? Who's he starting over? Don't you ever disrespect Jalen Brunson like that? No!

But his insanity, Jeremy Lynn, for those two weeks. Yeah. Those two weeks are crazy. You want to bench Josh Hart for him? What did I tell you early about Josh Hart? Like, he's not going anywhere. This man would take a bullet for Josh Hart. I'm convinced.

Don't stop it. Stop it. Don't disrespect Jaylon. He's not starting. Jeremy Lynn is not starting over Jaylon. It's not going to happen. No one said Jalen Brunson. Over who?

Josh, no, it's not going to happen. McHall Bridges. No. That's the last one. That's the last one. And that's the end of this episode. People are still here, comment, Donovan would take a bullet for Josh Hart.

And comment would you take a bullet for Josh Hart? Do you love Josh Hart like that? I would. And with that being said, we'll see you all next week as we continue. What should be a crazy season of NBA playoff coverage. Shout out to the roommates. Damn. Storick stuff.

Creators, we out. Creon drop.