The Deep 3 Podcast - 1 Take Every NBA Fan Needs To Hear About Their Team | Ep. 110

Episode Date: October 11, 2024

1 interesting takeaway about every NBA team! Come watch us live in Boston on opening night: https://nbaontntopeningnight.com/ 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 Muhamed's twitter: https://twitter.com/Mojo99_ Donnavan's twitter: https://twitter.com/Dsmoot3D 0:00- Intro & ANNOUNCEMENT! 2:35- Suns 12:10- Timberwolves 18:40- Nets 22:55- Magic 30:22- hornets 33:30- pacers 37:12- grizzlies 41:00- hawks 47:30- 76ers 50:30- lakers 56:05- clippers 1:00:09- thunder 1:09:10- bulls 1:11:40- nuggets 1:17:40- Jazz and trailblazers and spurs 1:23:12- wizards and pistons 1:26:50- rockets 1:29:30- mavericks 1:31:50- pelicans 1:33:40- bucks and warriors 1:37:25- Celtics and raptors 1:40:21- Knicks 1:43:15- Cavs 1:47:50- heat 1:49:50- kings 1:52:10- tiktok time Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

So I heard that you guys are going to go ahead and put in Zachary Riesis to say for your rookie of the year pick. Number one, I love that for y'all. See, this is why we don't let you start this. This is what? This is why. Could you come on here and you start the podcast with nonsense? I'm not lying, bro. I'm not lying.

One between the legs passed and you're ready to Hall of Fame. I'm unbelievable. Oh, my goodness. We're here. I never not believed you, Riza. We're here. We tell Mo, go ahead. Start the episode.

Give us a cold open. He comes out with nonsense. Straight propaganda. Welcome back to another episode. As you guys see about the title, today we're continuing our NBA season preview, you know, portion of the season. Where we have four episodes leading up to the season. We're really going to go over the landscape of the league and preview everything. And as you get in, see by the title, we're going to give you guys one thing about every single NBA team that we think you need to know.

And, you know, two weeks ago, we gave one big question that will define every NBA team season. So, you know, that we talked about essentially the biggest storyline for each year. year. It's pretty much what that comes out to for each team. This is going to be a little bit different. This is going to be more like a very specific fun fact or a very specific team quirk about each team. So hopefully it's intriguing deal. Corky. If you guys are watching on YouTube, do us a favor, drop a like and subscribe, check out the merch, check out all of our socials, different audio platforms, do a five-star review, all of that. Anyway, let's talk about every single team in the NBA. We move.

quick, before we get to the episode, I got to come in to record this and tell you guys something that we forgot to mention earlier when we recorded this episode. But on opening night of the NBA season, we're going to be at the NBA T&T Road Show. We're going to be doing a live show in person for you guys in Boston. It's a whole big thing with the T&T where they have a big launch for the NBA season. That's what the road show is. And we're going to have a part of it where it's going to be us. The NBA on TNT guys are recording their show in the same lot. And it's a whole big festival that you guys can come up to at 4 o'clock on October 22nd. Our show is going to start recording at 4.45.

So no tickets required. I'll put the link in the description. You guys can go there and look at everything and see the full lineup of what's going on that day. Yeah, man. All you got to do is be in Boston and show up. And if you can't come, obviously we're going to upload it. It's going to be part of that week's episode. So no big deal.

Don't worry. You won't miss anything regardless. But if you're in Boston, come hang out with us. crazy oh my god i mean i don't know don't know what to say pray on eaters rejoice every time we do this i typically tell you guys to start

so i'm gonna start this time one of my yeah call the is so yeah i'm taking the fucking rains pick something interesting okay we're gonna start all talking about the los angeles lakers god damn again i'm just kidding I'm just kidding We're going to stay In the West Coast though

Or the Pacific Division I want to start off Talking about the Phoenix Suns I have I've been thinking a lot About our upcoming season preview episode Which is next week

Be sure to tune in for that It's gonna be a good one Where you know We're gonna inevitably Rank every single team And kind of like predict the standings And the Suns have given me

A lot of pause Because over the off season I think I kind of Toss them to the side And was like listen They're running it back They still got the same Big Three that didn't work

Yon and I think it's kind of been the prevailing sentiment is kind of that they're uninteresting and are who they are. I no longer think that. I'm actually quite excited about the Phoenix Suns. Please tell me, right? Because I understand that basketball games

have been going on for the last like two weeks. Please tell me preseason basketball is not moving you this much. I wish I could tell you that, but it is. No, not really. I think preseason basketball is in large part of relevance. I don't watch full. gains most of time. But I've been watching like the first halves of a lot of these games to kind

of see what the starters look like because I think you can gain a lot play style-wise from the preseason because these teams have just started training camp and they're implementing new styles, especially when you have new coaches like the Phoenix Sun to do with Mike Boonholzer and you can learn a lot about what they're going in and what they're focusing on. It kind of tells you what they're going to be focusing on to start the season. So with that being said, I've been watching the Phoenix Suns a lot. And my one thing that you need to know about the Phoenix Suns is that they did not run it back. This team is entirely different. And the one big thing is their bench is going to be a major strength of this team now. And I think last year

the bench was potentially one of the worst in the league. I know there's bench stats that kind of tell you that. All that does is add up points per game on the bench, which I think is completely irrelevant because maybe they had a high points for game off the bench. I don't remember. But their bench was ass. They had no backup bigs, no backup point guards, just a bunch of backup wings who could kind of shoot and could kind of defend. Nazir Little, all these other guys, I'm blanking right now. A bunch of Nazir Littles were on their bench last year. And it wasn't exciting. Now under Mike Boodenholzer, I think their bench is going to be extremely strong, actually, and they're going to be a very good team. Because, you know, in the questions episode,

I said, what's a three point volume going to look like? That's my biggest concern. It was terrible last year. That's been answered, I think. And through the first two preseason games, they are getting up threes like crazy. Mike Boodenholzer has installed a lot of movement that is really generating these threes. He's not going out to like Framing Vogo did last year and just telling them shoot threes. He's putting in offensive systems that, you know, promote that. And with that being the case and that no longer being concerned, you look at their bench, they have a legit backup big now in Mason Plumley. They have another backup big in their rookie second round pick that I think is going to surprise a lot of people. Oh, so I don't know I say his last name. I've only

read it. I haven't heard it said it out loud. I think it's Ogadooro. I don't want to butcher that. They have two good backup bigs. They obviously have Monty Morris and the starting Ty Jones. They have a backup point guard now. Grace and Allen's coming up the bench. They have a great shooter off the bench. Royce O'Neill. Maybe Bowl bowl gives you interesting things. They have the ability to employ a lot of lineups with one or two of the their star ball handlers and always having a good big on the court always having a good playmaker always having a good shooter next to them they're not going to have to deploy terrible lineups anymore do you sound sound very high on the phoenix sense you know i am i still think

they might be like a 60 because the west is so crazy that's that's nice yeah no i like where you're going i'm surprised also like a part of that bench someone who i think is going to get a lot of playing time their rookie ryan done who's and ryan done yeah he looked good he looked good he was smacking threes in the last season game if he smacking threes that like carry on and continuously happens and add him to that shit pull up transition threes yeah that's that's that's that's completely different than like than what they had off the bench last season yeah it's entirely different like it's crazy and they were obviously a big mix back last season dealt with their injuries but if you look at their lineup data last year with bradley beill and grace and allen on

the court while devon booker and katy are on the bench which i think would be a big like end the first quarter type of thing for them or maybe say start the second quarter Katie likes to play the whole first quarters so maybe they kind of in their first bench platoon they take out Kevin Durant bring in take out Devon Booker and they bring in Grayson Allen and keep Bradley Bill out there at the bench I think that would be the core of their bench they had a 121 offensive rating with those with that out there which was a plus 7.3 net rating those were a good line of last year and now you're going to have a good big all the time now you can put Monti Morris out there as well so Bradley Bill isn't the

point guard Ryan Dunn can be the four like they have a lot to play with with. Okay. Sounds like they have optionality and due to all the sets and how much no, it's preseason. Seeing a ton of movement does not mean too much. But nonetheless, it is encouraging that it is at least that conversation

has at least like entered the room. And I believe, I thoroughly believe in a coach like Mike Boonehoser because of his track record. Sounds like and it looks like they're starting to form a whole new identity. Yeah, exactly. Like they were

straight up not a good deep team last year. Like I think Donovan, you'd probably say that they were one of the least deep teams in the league last year, right? 100%. And that shouldn't be the case when you have three star ball handlers. The reason you make a trade like that is because you could always have one of them on the court and you should theoretically have a high ass floor because you never have to have any lineups that don't have somebody who can create with the ball in their hands. And yet that wasn't an advantage of theirs last year because the roster was so stupid and Frank Vogel's offense was so unimaginative. I think both those things will be fixed now and I think you're looking at one of the deeper

teams in the league. Yeah. I think like when you look at, I think like having having depth for the sons, there's a lot of teams that like obviously every team wants to have depth and it means a lot to be able to play a bunch of different lineups, especially early on when you have a new coaching and you're trying to figure stuff out. But I think also like for me, the one, you guys know me. The one thing that I'm always looking at is like are these guys actually playing games? And like for the sons who have, who have guys who do go in and out the lineup, being able to have serviceable NBA players around two stars or, you know, worst case scenario around one of your stars, that goes a long way to help you survive, you know, a 10-game span. And especially when

you talk about the Western Conference and how deep it is, that 100% like is, it's a superpower for a lot of teams. And so if that can be a strength for the sons, then can they, can they get up to, you know, to 55 games? Bradley B. was talking a lot of noise. And he was like, listen, well, if I had played, you know, half the games that I missed, we would have been the one team. 55 is ridiculous, but I know your point. I don't, like, I don't know about that. But he is right.

Like, yes, if Bradley Beale played in more games, they probably would have been in position to win more games. So they, they, even as, like, bad as they were, quote unquote, bad as they were, they won 49 games last season. This could sneak, you know, into the three seed with 52 games. And it's hard to make a big jump. Yeah. Big jump.

It's hard to make a jump like that in the West with how competitive is and two more teams, you know, trying to be competitive this season and trying to win. But I do think, I am with you. I'm not fully moved by the Sons to automatically like stamp them in into like top three in terms of preseason. But you, yeah, but you do see the foundation for where they're going to be at. So shout out, shout out, bud, man. Some of these guys just know how to come in and like make you competent.

and that's what they needed. Yeah. Like you said, the West is stacked. I don't know who's going to come on top. The top six or seven is crazy deep. Really the top nine. We'll get to that next week. But a lot of it's going to be war of attrition.

Last year we saw the grizzlies drop off because all their players fell apart. In some part, the sun fell off because the players fell apart. The Kings fell off because they had injury issues. And this team is so much more equipped now to deal with those issues. If Bradbiel misses games, great.

Start Grayson Allen. If Devin Booker misses games, start Grayson Allen. If KD misses games, start Royce O'Neill. Like they have so many options to just immediately slide guys up and maintain competency

because you still have two star players there. I like them. Now, with all that being said, they still have one big issue. And this big issue is literally the biggest player on their team. Yusuf Nurgents.

Probably one of the three or four worst starting centers in the entire NBA. And... Is he? Yeah. I mean, we... Bottom half.

So bottom 10, probably, regardless. in like, you know, the bottom 20, bottom 25 when we did our center's rankings. Yeah, no, I get it. He's definitely not strong suit. So I get your point. Yeah. So I would feel so much better about them if the helm of their defense or just in traditional basketball conversation, the helmet of your defense lies in your center. I'll feel so much better if he wasn't there.

And they had someone, some other like regular basic room protecting big. But. And I can't have everything. Yeah. You can't have everything. But I think because of him, their ceiling is truly limited. If they had another guy or if they were able to find some other random, like, diamond in the rough through the G-League or whatever it might be.

Oh, so you couldora. He's the diamond in the rough. He's nice. It looks good. Then we'll have, I'll, like, look at them as an entirely different team because they have someone in the paint who instills fear in Defender's Heart. But instead, you got use of Narcich. Okay.

Mo, who's your first team? We're doing what we always do. We're sharding off at a lot of time on the first team. Let's bring us home to the second team. What are you going with? I just love to yap about basketball, man. Okay, so first team that we're going to go with is the Minnesota Timberwolves. So, when this trade happened, everyone had mixed feelings.

I think eventually you came around to it, Isaac, when you looked at the finances and all that, and you actually thought about the basketball fit. This team, I believe, will take, not only take another step forward defensively, they're already, I think, the best defense in the NBA last year. They're going to continue to hold that title. And actually, like, Julius Randall is not as much of a cone compared to CAD at times. But I also think now looking at it, they're probably going to take another step offensively, even though you lose one of the more elite offensive players in the entire NBA,

centers in the entire NBA. Now, listen, the Minnesota term rules in terms of percentage or one of the more efficient three-point shooting teams over the last few years. But, well, at that, they didn't take it. I think they took like maybe 30, 31 per game last year. They, I believe with this Dante de Ventino trade, they now have three of the best wide open three-point shooters in the NBA. Mike Conley, well, they have three of the eight. Mike Conley, Dante da Vincizo, and Nas Reid.

One of the bigger issues for them offensively is that, of course, they don't take enough threes, but none of the looks were generated to take threes. meaning someone who can go ahead and penetrate inside and just draw like two, three looks whenever you're like going downhill to the rim. One of the only guys of that team to do that last year was Mike Conley here and there, but mainly Anthony Edwards. They now add another guy. They now add another three point shooter who could get you 40% from the field from three point line on like eight attempts per game.

Naturally, this offense has to improve with the Julius Randall there. Now, again. Has to improve. Okay. Yeah, because they're going to be more looks for a few of those guys to go ahead and get their attempts up. Now, just because Julius Randall there do, I think that they'll magically be a better three-point shooting team. Statistic, like percentage-wise, probably not. But in terms of those looks being there, I think they will be because the volume will be.

Gotcha. So you're one thing that people have to know about Timberwolves is you expect a higher three-point volume this year with Julius Randall? Yes, which will in turn make them better offensively. That makes sense. They were 20th and 3 point in terms of percentage of their shots coming from 3. Not super high. And I know Kat is a big stretch big. So people might think, oh, the shooting's going to be worse now because you take out the best shooter as a position in the league.

But Kat's the best shooter at his position in the league when he's playing the 5 because that's a big advantage being the 5 man. When he's at the 4, his volume is more normal. It's not as standout. He's still a great shooter. But it's not like a game-breaking thing, you know, when you're getting that next to another big. what makes it special is when the five men on defense has to come out to him. Exactly. It's not as game-breaking as a four.

So you add in Julius Randos' playmaking ability. I see your vision. I see your vision a lot, actually. Just a couple of years ago, the Minnesota term rules were back in 2020, 2020, 2021 when they had Daniel Russell. They were the number one, they were like top five, I believe, in three-pointed attempts. It took like 41, 42 a game.

Obviously, Rudy Gobert is not there at that time. And your offense looks completely different like you alluded to. And now they have someone who. have multiple penetrators at this point in time who can just allow the defense or the offense to have more layers to it and they're not so predictable anymore yeah yeah i saw i saw a tweet after one of the the first preseason games where like dante had walked into into like a three from like 25 26 feet and like a world's fan was like oh my god like have we ever had a player who legitimate like who did this consistently and i think like his aggression

is going to be key and then like you said like anthony edwards is obviously part of part of like his playmaking growth will come from a lot of you know driving kick and doing all that we'll see you how big of an impact rob diddenham has because if he if he can be you know shifting enough and get downhill our our team our team's going to have to you know be forced to collapse on something that i think is very underrated about julius randall not appreciated enough it's not like enough of a main selling point it's talking point for him is his passing and just how much of an upgrade they took or how much of upgrade on that aspect that he is compared to car anthony towns it's night and day damn near how much of a

better passer facilitator and how he drive how many looks he drives because simply he just has a better handle he's you know more crypts to get down ill that's his game you know and i think that will be the bit it's probably one of the bigger sell of points of like my argument in terms the T. Wool's offense being stronger. That makes sense, yeah. Yeah, there's still, there's still a big part of people who still think of Julius Randall as like 2020, 2020, 2021 Julius Randall where he's playing with like Alfred Payton and like a younger RJ Bear who still can't shoot and like Reggie Bullock is the is the main guy.

You got Tadj Gibson running around. It's like, who do you want him to pass it out to? Like he's he's going to go down. He's going to get doubled. He's going to take and make, you know, tough shots. but now like you've seen whenever you do have shooters he is like willing he's not like a this black hole that people have kind of put on him for the last you know and cat's a good passer too war's position but he's much more of a secondary passer like if you kick it to him he'll make

the right play moving around the perimeter he can make some stuff happen hitting cutters of a high passing hub situation which is cool very impactful when he's a five his type of passing isn't as important as a foreman whereas julius randall can really function in kind of similar ways Anthony Edwards, like, their style of playmaking and driving kick is sort of similar. Obviously, ants a lot faster, creates more advantages and Julius Randall's more attack you in the post than kick. But Julius Randall's good at drawing in attention at the post. Like, that's a legit skill of his. And people still respect him as a shooter. He's not a guy you leave open under any circumstance. Maybe in a playoff setting that will change with his team, we'll see. But he definitely

brings a functional playmaking advantage more than Kat does. Definitely, definitely. For sure. I like that. That's a good one. Three point volume for the, Timberwolves. I'd never really thought about that. I'm Donald, what's your first team? All right. You guys started off with two really good teams. I'm starting off with teams. Here we go. Let's talk about ass. We're going to get in my way. I love it. We are going

we're going to talk about the Brooklyn. The hottest of ass. Let's do it. Because the thing that I want everybody to to know and to grasp and it's really two things. One at the start of this season they will they will have their fourth head coach in the last that's nuts and and they will if everything goes right right all the protections play out whatever there's a situation there's a scenario where they have four first round picks in this

upcoming draft in the in the 2020 i wasn't where that which is all which which is all to say they are in full rebuild mode and in a draft where everyone has already said like we we know right how people classify last year's draft this year's draft is supposed to be much much better. The Nets, low-key, could be in a situation where they get really good, really quickly after this. And I think, like, if you're talking about them in two years or three years and having a lot more hope than what you're going through right now, they are at the absolute lowest in terms of foundation and building towards a championship team. And so obviously, we've talked about Cam Thomas and him being a chucker or all this. I think that the bones in terms of, like, a front

office, from a front office perspective, the bones are there for the Nets to go out and make things happen because you still have, you still have guys like Cam Johnson, you still have guys like Dorian Finney Smith on the team that can be flipped at the deadline for more picks. They might be able to get five first round picks, you know, again, like if everything works out perfectly, they might, they might have five or six first round picks in this upcoming draft. They have, they loki have a lot of flexibility. And so they are, they're really, really, really set up. And like, in terms of on the basketball court, I really don't think that they are that interesting. We kind of kind of all know, right, what is about to happen

for the next eight months in Brooklyn. But moving forward, Nets fans should have a lot of that. That's a good thing to point out. I wasn't even aware that their picks were that stack that fast. I know they obviously got their picks back in the big trade at sent McKell Bridges to the Knicks, which is exciting as hell, obviously, for a Nets fan. You have something to live for. But also keep in mind, they're going to be one of the few teams that have Caps faced in coming years. And obviously free agency hasn't been what it once was. Really the last major year free agency where stars moved around was when the Nets got Kyrie and KD. And I don't know what's the lasting impact of how that team went down is going to be to their reputation with free agents.

You know, it didn't go well on the Kyrie Irving end or on the James Hardin end. I don't think the PR was necessarily fantastic for Josai. But also at the day, if you're one of the only teams I can offer somebody $50 million a year, those guys are going to fucking take it. So you add in a high traffic this year. Maybe Cooper Flagg, if that can be that case. You keep Nick Claxton, maybe you keep Cam Johnson, you tear everything else down, bring in at least two more rookies and have a legit core with some competent veterans that can elevate them in Claxon and Cam Johnson.

You got the money to get your own Fred Van Vleet, get your own Dylan Brooks, do the Rockets thing in a couple years. I could definitely see this rebuild being fashion than people think, because I think people definitely think it's going to be a long dreadful five years for them right now. Yeah. And they still have two second round picks this season that they can, you know, take a hit on. we're going to be hearing the net's name a lot and if you think like like if you get your pick in this year and let's say that between let's say that they do end up getting the number one pick in the draft

and so you're like okay the nets are going to get Cooper flagged you still might have three other first round picks that you can then trade and maybe you know get a get a little bit spicy and bring in bringing somebody else to pair alongside Cooper flag like they have a lot of a lot of ways where obviously we're you know eight nine months out, a lot of stuff can happen, but it's, it's not too, too bad. This is not one, this is not one of the worst positions that Nets fans or that the Nets could be in, that you could be in worse. Basically, if you're a Nets fan, punt the season, don't pay attention and just start running the Tengathon Duras simulators now because your life is going to be better 12 months from now. Close your eyes. Do not watch actual full games of your team at all. Hang out with your family.

Touch grass. Pick up some new hobbies. All right, man. We'll move on to my second team. We've been very positive thus far. I'm going to be a tad bit negative. Okay. Not extremely negative. This isn't a team I hate,

but this team is the Orlando Magic. And my one thing I think people should know about the Orlando Magic is don't expect too much too fast. I think we need to be very patient with the magic this year. I think they had a playoff run last year where Palo Bancaro hit all of his mid-range jumpers and looked amazing. It was like, oh my God. If he's going to be this guy,

next season we have a superstar already a large part of that was shot variance he's great he's going to continue to get better be patient with him because the issues that they had in the regular season last year with the no spacing and the no playmaking around him that led to a great defense but a very gross offense that really held him back in a lot of ways I don't think it's going to be fixed this year right away as many people think because they got kCP and you know outside of that they just retain their talent but I think a lot of people are viewing like the kCP fit was so perfect and that's true that I think it made a lot of people in their brain go well there we go now we got spacing for palo now he's going to eat and kCP's very good he is not step

curry he is not prime play thompson he's not walking those doors and saving their spacing and more importantly he's not saving their playmaking which i think was just as big of an issue they're really committing to palo ban caro franz bogner and jane the sugs being their lead playmakers of the future yeah which is cool i think it's a perfectly fine strategy if you want to be patient and take that long-game approach and groom them to be these high-level two-way type of players that can create with the ball in their hands, that'll pay off dividends in the future. But in the current time, it's going to lead to their offense being essentially the same as last year, but KCP is a little bit better for shooting than Gary Harris, obviously, so it's going to be

better, but it's not going to be fixed. And I think they're still going to be around the same quality of team as they were last year, which is fine. They don't need to be in a rush by any means. But I think I've sensed some need for fans to kind of propel. them into being like a top four or five seat already when we need to let them let them do their thing and develop further this is what happens with a lot of young teams is that a lot of young teams or a lot of teams are trash for a long long time and then you have the one season where everything

pops everything goes well you make it to you know you make it to the playoffs and then the and everyone's like okay well you know next year you take the next step the one thing in like pro sports that people really, really need to understand is that progress is not linear. It is not, okay, you make the first round this year, second round next year, third round, then the finals. It is you make the playoffs, then, hey, maybe you do make a jump and you make the conference finals. The next year could be the year from hell, and you might miss the playoffs because somebody gets

hurt. Like, stuff is so wild and so random. And I'm very, very high on Palo, but I've been watching a lot, a lot of magic tape. And I still am kind of hesitant on the playmaking front. Yeah, it takes time, right? He's going to be a third-year player. That's not a lot. Jalen Sugg, still very young.

Franz Vacher still very young. They can be their playmakers of the future, but it's going to take some time. Like last year, they were 24th in turnover percentage. Yeah. And 21st and half-court offense. I don't anticipate that being a ton better to where we completely transform them, make them a top four seed. Yeah.

I'm not sure. And you said earlier that, like, you're kind of cool with that strategy. I don't think I am. I don't think I liked the... Neither do I. Yeah. I think I would much rather them go out and try to find a point guard. And to their credit, they've drafted guards, right?

They try to bring in guards who can try and, you know, be full-time point guards. It's not 100% working out. But if we can, if they were a team that went out and got, you know, 17 minutes a night from Chris Paul, Like, I think that could have done a lot for them. And I, so yeah, they are not going to explode and be the second seat in the east this year. I'm with you on that. The only reason I'm okay with it is because I understand it because you want to start Jalen Suggs long term. Because he's such a just game-breaking defensive player that you want to give him the chance to develop into lead point guard and let him be that.

So I'm okay with him playing the long game and not rushing things. But like, I watch this team and I also say they, I wish they had a point guard that can shoot and pass the ball very much so. Yeah. So I was watching a press conference or some type of interview, maybe last week or two weeks ago or so. And Jamal Molesy was just talking about how much time that they were investing into jail and Suggs being the full-time point guard and elevating. And eventually, you know, being that dude alongside Palo and relieving that, all the stress of the playmaking abilities. I don't necessarily know if that's a great idea. I think sometimes you'd be real and look at a player for what he is and put him in the best situation to be possible.

Don't try to form them or force them to be something that they're not. But he's young. You never know what can happen. Exactly. You don't know yet. At all. And I agree with you guys. Like, progress is not linear at all.

I think two years ago, the Atlanta Magic got better compared to the previous year by like 10 games. And last year that got even better again. We saw them get better by like 10 to 12 games. And I'm not over here expecting them to be a third seat or a fourth seed or anything like that. I definitely do see like, uh, slight decrease in win percentage happening simply because it's just the way understanding

of the, this is the way development goes. I think also like a litmus test that I'm thinking about when it comes to teams that are fresh off of a rebuild is seeing how they operate once they get a taste of success. Do they continue, do they just like run it back or do they like build on

their strengths or are they like taking their time and really like being super picky when it comes to who they add on the roster or or are they just like being a dead horse? And I think in this instance right here, they're just like beating a dead horse compared to someone like,

okay, see who they really took their time, could have like spazzed out, traded Josh Giddy in the middle of the season for a large market or whatever. But we're talking about like the elite L of the elite DMs and they just wait until the right guys are available. Yeah.

And I will say they currently don't have enough playmaking on the roster still, but could use a little more shooting. But they're so proud to make a trade. I don't know if people realized this summer they had like three big. who were free agents, and they re-signed all of them. They now have Window Carter, Goga, Mo Wagner, and Jonathan Isaac all getting minutes at the five.

And obviously, some of those guys can play some minutes of the four together. Mo Wagner can shoot a little bit, and Jonathan Isaac can play the four. But that's a lot of big men on this team when you already have Palo who's going to get all those minutes at the four. You're not really playing him with the three. They're perfectly primed to make a trade for another guard at some point. Like, Goga Patzai is not going to be on this team long term, I don't think. Yeah, he's too good to be on this team long term.

as a fourth string center or third string center is insane. I think he's backup center. It's like him and John Isaac are going to be the backup court and like Mo Wagner is the one gathering dust, which is cool. It's a nice safety blanket, but they're probably going to kind of shovel things around and allocate some of those resources to the front court. Mo Wagner, you already signed. They recently just signed Bullet Carter Jr.

to an extension a few days ago. John Isaac, of course. And they go, but it's four players deep. One of them should be in a Nick. that's nasty but anyways i still have they're going to be good long term just let's be patient with them yeah okay i agree what's your next team well uh for my next team we can stay in the eastern conference and talk about the charlotte hornets um to me donovan i think a couple days ago or maybe it was last week you said that you were kind of sold on them and you expect them to make somewhat

of a leap and i agree now i don't know how far that leap is going to be but I do envision them getting better. Why? Because hopefully, really it all depends on the middle ball's health. Nothing that I say after this matters if he's not healthy. I want that to be noted. But I sit down and I realize, I'm like, whoa, like they got a train man out there, Swaggers, OD on the court, but also like he is like, their version, their new version

of Terros a year can do a lot of like cool on the ball stuff. stuff can be mass as a point guard and shooting guard at the same time, release a lot of tension. Mark Williams, hopefully, he's actually healthy. T. John Salon, the rookie that they added, after watching him in preseason and a little bit of way stuff that he didn't summer the game, though he looked terrible. He is actually like a serviceable player. And I don't expect him to be like, you know, getting 30 minutes a game or 25 minutes a game, but you can rely on him for easy 15 to 17 minutes because of how good and patient of a shooter that he's proven to be so far. So I see that. I see depth forming and I'm like, yo, this might be a cool night scene.

So what's your one thing? Do you think they're going to be the plan? I think they're going to be the plan. They're going to be better than a lot of people think. I agree. I am, I have such a hard time deciding both playing races right now because I'm so high and so many of these mid-tier teams and the hornets are one of them. They're going to, they're going to be legitimately good. I believe in Charles Lee as their coach. I believe in La Mello Ball. I think he might be maybe right now the most underrated star in the league because of all his injuries, people kind of, they don't watch him a lot because he's not available a lot. So they just have the impression in their mind of this young, spunky guard who's flashy but doesn't have the substance. And that's not the case at all.

I think he's one of the most talented on ball creators in the entire league. And if he plays for an entire 82 games, he's going to prove that because when he's healthy, they win games. He's had four seasons of his career, two of which healthy, two of which injured, two of which the playing tournament and two of which terrible they are just completely live and die by his health yeah so over the last what's the line over the last two years i think he played the same amount of games as ben simmons bro that's that's insane embarrassing so so what's what's the line to where you guys feel like it's a it's a healthy season and like if if lamello plays 60 games are we still in on the hornets making the playing i'm fully yeah yeah 60s 60s enough because i think 50 that's a bit

annoying 50s I'm like oh come on that to me that's an injury riddle season that's where I'm like okay he's still doing him because that means he probably missed like a 20 game stretch and that's that's backbreaking for a team in a play in race got too yeah 64 is I'm like okay they can still do it yeah Randy Miller can carry the load Mark Williams can carry the load they'll be fine yeah but like that short and sweet be higher on the hornets we'll talk about them more next week we do a preview episode I have many thoughts on them and them compare to their contemporaries episode will be four hours long it is I'm so

excited man i'm so excited donovan who's your next team all right the next team we're going to the indiana pacer's and listen they had a lineup this is my one thing they had a lineup last year of tyrese nemhart knee smith siakum and turner that lineup was 74th was in the 74th percentile in defensive rating that is massive for the indiana pacer because this is a team that everybody came to know and just believed it's like okay this is a team that just runs up and down they're going to score a lot of points, but they can't defend anybody. For that main lineup to actually take a step forward and to be competent on the defensive side of the ball, there's room for them to make a legitimate jump this year, right?

I understand we just got done talking about how progress isn't linear and how, you know, sometimes young teams who get their first taste of success, they don't always take the next step. The Pacers are kind of still in line, though. like they're they're kind of set up for that because during that stretch like whenever you got see off and back, Tyree still isn't healthy. Now just because he's healthy, is he going to be a great defender? Absolutely not. But he's still going to be able to move around. Like you might be able to get him on some, you know, some deflections. He still is a very like long player at the one at the at the point guard position. So I think them having a competent defense for a majority of

of the game or having their closing lineup be solid on both ends is there is there a world that i see where the indiana pacers might be the four seed in the east yeah i do like they might they might be able to get home court advantage and it's in a range of possibilities for sure i i'm actually kind of high on indiana coming into this year okay so your one thing is there can be better defensively than people think yes interesting yeah i'm currently watching his highlights in last preseason game james wiseman is a back of five right now about Again, again, I'm not, again, I'm talking about the, that one specific line, the James Wiseman, if he's your starting center, hey, listen, we have. Let me make sure, maybe I'm forgetting somebody, but what's that line of beginning?

It was, it was Tyrese, Nemhart, Neesmith, Seaccom, Miles Turner. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. That's their best five defensive players. And this all comes down to what we talked about on the questions episode of can they build around Seacom with the full season there. And he's a good defensive player If they can really get him comfortable And maximize the

The impact of him and Neesmith together on the perimeter That can be a good defensive unit And they kind of hide Tyrese's flaws And obviously Jarrett Walker, you know This is a very pro Jarris Walker podcast I think he could be a good defender One day he isn't that good of a defender at this point He's terrible fighting over screens

We actually just showed a highlight As I'm talking where he got burnt on the screen But reached around, use his length to rip the ball Maybe he can do a lot of that We'll see if he's in being in the rotation he's a swing factor because his defense is frustrating to some patient's fans. That's kind of why he didn't play last year. Yeah.

But they have the they have the pieces. Like the team that we saw at the start of the season where they were like far and away the best offensive team. Like if you look at their offensive rating from the start of the season to the end season tournament final, they were, their offensive rating was like over, over 123 points for 100 possessions. And they were like two and a half points better than the second, than the second. and best team they were clicking they're obviously not going to be like as explosive as that

because that is you know that's like peak peak of your offensive powers so when that comes down a little bit are you going to have something else to fall back on and I think that they will okay yeah I like that their defense being better makes total sense yeah okay next team I want to talk about the Memphis Grizzlies this is a team that obviously all all offseason talking about the demon the draft all all off season since the day the draft happened since the draft stream or react to the picks I said Zach Eadie is going to be

the steal of one of the steals of the draft I'm not saying these because I love me some Reed Shepard as I'll find out later in this episode but I said Zach Eadie on the Grizzlies is going to be exactly what they need and make them fantastic I still believe that

so I'm not going to go with that as the one thing people need to know because if you listen to the show consistently you've been knew that you know I love Zach Eadie and I think he's going to be with exactly what they need that's fine

what the thing I think people really need to pay attention to is Gigi Jackson and what he looks like when he returns some injury, because I think Zach E.D. is the player that's going to make them back to being a top three team in the West, or top five. It's a pretty stack conference. But top five team in the West, because Zach Ead fills the gap needed at the five. But the player who's going to decide if they're going to be fifth or like up to a second or so is going to be

G.G. Jackson decides their ceiling. Last year, he was an interesting wing. Still the rookie, he didn't shoot super well at the rim, got there a decent amount, used athleticism, but didn't finish well, didn't shoot well from mid-range, stuff like that. Started off shooting really well from three that I tapered off towards the end of the season, as you'd expect from a rookie. But I think he showed the signs and had enough flashes in a team that was an absolute dumpster fire or no creation around him that I think if you put him on a team with competent star-level players back there with John Moran, keeping the offensive flow, driving offense and getting open shots for his teammates, Gigi Jackson can thrive. He averaged 1.6 points of possession on cuts

and 1.5 points in possession on role man plays and shot 49% from the corner three. That's all he's going to need to do. Spot up in the corner, set good screens, use your size, go to the rim, hit backdoor cuts, do all the small stuff, be like a, I don't want to say Aaron Gordon type, because that's such a hard player to replicate,

especially defensively. But offensively, do what Aaron Gordon does, use your size down low and hit corner threes, and he can really elevate these lineups they have. Sure, he can do that and thence them with his shock grading. So bare minimum, like I think that you're, description of like him being the swing factor from becoming either like a

two seat to those like a five seat is fairly accurate. Yeah. Unfortunately he's already injured. So that's not great. The injury bug is back. That's why I've cooled down. I'm saying Memphis is a lot for a top three team. God doesn't like them. They're always injured. And they do not have anybody on their side up above.

It's tragic. But listen, man, when he's back, he's going to be nice. What happened to him again? What was it? I forget. It was a lower body injury. I forget what exactly was. I think the hamstring or something like that. Yeah, he's out for a couple months. A couple of months?

It's a meaningful injury. I think he's out to like December, I think. Let me see you. Oh, I missed that. Oh, that's so fried. I did not see months. I saw, I saw Jai had a little, you know, ankle thing that he was dealing with. Yeah.

I did not know it was months. It was surgery on his foot. He had to repair the fifth metatarsal on his right foot. So not great. None of those words sound appealing. Oh, God damn. After Christmas, hey, the Grizzlies are in go mode. I like that.

He'll be re-evaled in three months. That was September. So, yeah, about two more months. Oh, man, that's sick. Okay, that's sick. But Christmas, they're making a run. And I think Jared Jackson Jr. is out too, like, had some hamstring. I think he's one of that hamstring issues or something like that.

He'll be fine. Vince Williams, though, is also going to miss some time. So they are getting bit early. Oh, my God. Bubblewrap this thing. Let's see if they can just sustain, you know. If they can just hang around the four or five seed in the west and not drop too low. that they'll be all right i just got to stop talking about them the more i heightened the more

injured they get so i got to just shut my fucking mouth mo what's your next time i like the sound of that do that more often oh my god what's your fucking team so it's about the land of hawks one thing that people need to learn about the lana hawks this year is that this is the most versatile that this team has ever been at least since the year 2021 back in 2021 we saw them have the most success due to them having guys like Kevin Herder, you know, Donella Gallinari, DeAndi Hunter was still there. But Kevin Herder and Delanooga Gallagallari are people who really let this team breathe and they gave them like shooting versatility, ball handling versatility.

And at times with Kevin Hurter specifically, defense and versatility. Go ahead. Can I cut you off? Can you stop beating around the fucking Bush? Don't tell us that the one thing people didn't know is versatility. Be honest. The one thing they didn't know is how you feel about Zachary, Riesisichet. Go ahead.

Tell us you think he's the one. Tell us if he's the versatility. Say his name. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Now, the Atlanta Hawks, I see they like to dibble and dabble, and they went into this lightskin factory. Not only did they get Zachary Richardson, they got Dyson, damn Daniels. And they already had Jalen Johnson.

And they already had Jalen Johnson, too. I could go ahead and sit here and talk about Jalen and how he could be, like, low-key, an all-star if the Hawks were to sneak into the sixth-fifteen or whatever the case may be. alongside with Trey we got two of them on our team we're looking at your two less six seven six nine yeah yeah six seven six eight six nine this is the first time the alana hawks had multiple dudes who have connected features to their game which is the perfect way to build around Trey god damn like a fucking bars I love the buzzwords so yeah I think we'll see not Trey not Rich to say, not Clint, but Quinn Snyder specifically be fully unlocked in his time as an Atlanta

Hawk. This team is built towards his catering. Jalen Johnson is primed to have a full out breakout season, a real breakout season, hopefully goes in and steals that MIP award because he's now has that responsibility of being the actual number two option. Something a lot of Hawks fans complained about last year. Me specifically, I would see the difference between Trey and DeJante in terms of trusting your teammates. I think Dezante did a lot better job doing that. There would be minor things like inbounding the ball. Can we both can too.

Another light skin. I forgot about him. Sorry. Eh, just too many. Kind of like that. Yeah, you're kind of like that. But something I'll say is that. Seeing Tray having trust in his teammates go such a long way. Little things that I would notice in peep is that

once Dylan Johnson would inbound the ball, something like Dejante Murray would throw him back, throw it back and be like motherfucker, go cook. Go do your thing. And bring it up, start the offense. Look at this play. We've been watching research a cook in transition. We've seen him, his bottom threes.

Look at him as this role man. Look at this tough finish. That game is so versatile. So versatile. Dude, let me finish my point. Let me finish my point. Let me finish my point. So, Trey Young, I almost at all times last year.

As soon as Jones doesn't have the ball, right here. I need it. Right here. Like, I'm taking it up for it. It doesn't do that anymore. He's like, yeah, go ahead. I saw him, at least in preseason. Go ahead and give the ball to him.

Let him start offense. Let him in need. some things on his own. Try Young touching his teammates will go a long way. And then also, Zachary Richasei, my sunshine, my reason to get up in the morning, my why and life, my savior. How assertive he's been and how polished his game looks, how quick his three-point trigger is, moves mountains for us, bro.

You talking about Harrison Barnes? I'm talking about you right there with that stupid hockey jersey right there. Look at me in the eyes. You just called me a Frenchman Harrison. Let it be known that's. Let him another two days after the draft. I told you you should like him. And you were still pissed about Alex Arr.

No, no, no, no, no, no. You called him Harrison Barnes. You called him Harrison Barnes. You went viral and House of Highlights for hating him. Liars. Pull up the proof, put up the footage. It is so fake. We can.

What do you mean? Chad GPT. It wasn't me. It's AI. It wasn't me. It wasn't crazy these days. A.I. is crazy these days. Literally, it's me.

But no, I'm with you. Risa being this polish moves so much for us. I'm with you. I hate the fact that you're calling him Riza. Dyson, Daniels, Risa Shea, and Jalen Johnson might be the most versatile two through four in the conference. That is crazy.

The amount of dribble, pass, shoot, and defend you have from those three players of all similar size that can switch and completely high tray size. That's incredible. It's not going to be like a top five team in the conference or anything. They're far from that yet. But it gives them. a crazy fun floor that's just like a good recipe for winning basketball games and it allows

tray to do what trade can do and show how much he can elevate them that's not listen they traded away and this yeah all star level player and they got better they're gonna be back in the playing which is better than you could have said last year like this is that's successful they were in the playing last year they've been in the playing every year that's been available I think they fell out of it last year they got back into the end I can't remember yeah last year why did I think they felt like the 12 seat last year no no no They were in it. Okay, well, they'll be more second.

Oh, no, they were in it, but weren't they like a good amount of games back? Weren't they like far back from the nine though? They were three games behind Chicago. Yeah, they were in it because somebody had to be in it. And Chicago was seven games behind Miami for the 8th. Yeah, they were in it because somebody had to be in it. Neither of them should have been allowed. But I will save that rent for a different day.

But yes. They'll be much closer to the 80. They'll be with the pack in the middle tier. Crazy fun floor. 10 or 11 seed. Get ready. Now. You can be saying this one quick

You're right You're right But the league is loaded right now I'm making these lists That 8 through 11 in both conferences Is tough Like being the 9 seed Is nothing to sneeze at this year

Yeah Now something I'm going to say also As a Hawks fan I'm just happy that we're actually Building towards productive basketball And we're not wasting And just watching away to use Now we're actually building something

You said that last year So I'm not listening to you man You were wrong. You said that would happen in June. I was in June crossing my hands. I did. Waited for it. It didn't happen.

It's not happening. Nobody wanted him. What do you want from us? It's not that nobody wanted him. He was happy in Atlanta. What are you talking about? That's not the issue. His happiness was never the issue.

All right, Don, what's your next team? All right. I'm going to the Philadelphia 76ers. I'm going to tell you guys why. Their biggest signing of the off season wasn't Paul George. It was Andre Drummond. Ew. And I'm going to tell you.

tell you why Andre Drummond is going to be so key to this team. You're ridiculous. It has been known for years that when Joelle Embed is on the floor, listen, they cook and they are a really, really good team. But the moment he goes to the bench, it doesn't matter if it's for 10 seconds, for three minutes, that lead will be blown, right? They have shuffled in a whole bunch of backup fives. And Andre Drummond, obviously, is not an MVP level player. He's still good. And he's competent and he will he will be able to look at him look at them look at that look looking at finishing with a five seven guard of the breakers yes I'm the breakers yeah running the floor catching the seat that's what I'm New Zealand breakers that's so small

look at them no what are they doing the biggest look at the guy in their team is like six five that's that's amazing but yeah look at a big man basketball I get that board Andre Drummond providing competent um competent competent center minutes when Joel Embed is off the floor is it's actually going to be massive because even if even if they still like lose the minutes I don't think that they will lose them by as much of a margin as they have before and having obviously like having Paul George there it I'm playing like it obviously is massive and then having Tyrese and Paul George there is is great to you know take the load off of Joel's not so much pressure on him to build up a massively before he goes out but like Paul

Reed was awful. Like, you know, like, Paul, Paul, he wasn't great. And Drummond is going to step into this role, and he's going to provide a very, very nice floor for this team and for this bench. And I think that that's crucial because it's solving a problem

that the Sixers have had for years, and that Sixers fans have talked about for years. And now this team is actually, like, if they can put it together, like if Paul George can, you know, mesh and everything goes, goes flying, which his game lends very well to that. this team is extremely

it's set up very well for success this year no for sure I love this signing he might be one of the most premier backup centers in the league like outside of Nas Reed and some of the other ones that should be starters true backup guys who aren't good at the start but are great for the backup Andre Drummond is in the top of that list I desperately wanted him as a backup center on the Lakers

yeah you had him a couple years ago I didn't get it yeah and I wanted it again didn't get it though and I was like with Jackson Hayes I would love to be the six years and have on the Drummond behind my star center but instead I have Jackson Hayes who I'm neither here nor that. Shout out to the Sixers.

You finally got a backup big to help Joe up. Kudos to you guys because that's going to be big. I like that. Nice to sync. They got to upgrade at a key position on their bench. I love that. What's next for you, Isaac? We're going to go to Los Angeles Lakers.

It's about time we talk about them. And my number one thing that you need to know about the Lakers, something you probably already know about. You need to hear about it some more. J.J. Reddick is not Darvinham. He's not even close He could not be more different And I think that is going to be the story of their season

You know, all season Everybody expected big moves They're chasing Clay Thompson They're chasing Elvis Valenzhenius All these different names that were on the market We heard rumors with the Lakers Trying to make it happen Trying to make a big move

They swung a lot And they missed a lot And ended up running back Essentially the same roster They added Dalton Connect and Brony James And write it back So people kind of view them as

Same old Lakers I've been talking on Twitter a lot about the standings and my predictions, and every time I mentioned in passing that I had the Lakers as like the seven seed, people are like, oh, you're so disrespectful to all the other teams in the West. The Lakers suck. They're the same. Keep in mind, they were the 17th seed last year, so I think they are the same. But J.J. Reddick has shown that I think it's okay. They didn't make moves. I think he's going to add an element to this team that is going to fix a lot of the weaknesses without needing a talent injection because Darbinham was more incompetent than we realized, I think. I think this whole preseason, And the way everybody's talking about J.J. Reddick, it feels like he's a godsend, like he invented coaching because his team is so down bad after the Darwin Ham experience that just seeing a good coach that's like kind of smart and kind of understands how modern basketball should be played and how modern organization should be ran. He's doing basic stuff. He mentioned that they're tracking their vitals and having like these devices on them in practice, which is something like every college team has done for the last decade. But the Lakers are broke and don't have an infrastructure in place. So JJ Reddick bring in these basic ideas. is to the team, is blowing their minds. It's blowing their minds. It's ridiculous. And I think it would be a good coach. But the point isn't that he'll be great or anything. We'll see. He's a rookie head coach we don't know yet. But he is so confident and Darvin Ham was so terrible that this team is going to be better this year. Their offense last year, stagnant as hell. If you watch his first few preseason games, what JJ Redick is bringing to their offense,

it's just like everything you want to see in the old man LeBron era. LeBron's being used as a screener. He's being used as an offball mover using his gravity to get downhill and create. shots for others. All their other guards are getting the ball and giving, given more chances with the ball in their hands, but not how we did last year where we just told Austin Readers go cook and pick and roll and be the point guard. We're running him off the screens, getting him into weak side action and getting him going downhill, where the scheme creates advantages for him. Last year, Darwin Ham just said our scheme is going to be the star players creating for others. They're going to make the scheme. We're going vice versa now. We're putting Anthony Davis

in positions to succeed. We're giving him the ball in the high post. We're making it so he has to touch the ball. So he can't go five minutes with being phased out because he just stands there while Darvinham tells Austin Reeves to go cook. We're forcing the action and you're really elevating the offensive players, I mean the star players with the scheme so that can spread to others instead of vice versa. It's going to be night and day. I'll say that. Expect to look a very different Lakers offense. And I guess if I had to say one thing about that, I said a lot of things. The one thing you know is they're going to be a top 10 offense this year. Okay. Side question that'll eventually lead back to your main point or one of your main points at Darvoham being

sell trash. Did you guys see any of the starting five yet on Netflix I just released? Yeah, I'm like three episodes in. The starting five. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm three episodes in. I haven't seen Darvinham once. All I've seen is LeBron criticize him and say this minister shit is fucking stupid. Yes. Like, he's frying him every opportunity that he has. And like you said, day by day, the more that you talk about, JJ Redick, just doing like the most basic things ever makes us know that he, everyone really, really, really fucking hated him. Yeah. And like, JJ Redick is talking. nonstop about screening, about having good discipline switching, all the buzzwords that are a key

part of every modern X's and O scheme. Every good coach in the NBA right now, whether it be Tailu, Mark Dagnall, Chris Finch, all these offenses are built on realizing that the game is about motion now and you have to get people on advantage to succeed, don't just have your star players dribble the ball, and watch everybody look at them. And that's all the Lakers did last year. They were 24th in screen assists. There were 28th in frequency of off-screen plays, and 26 Sixth in dribble handoff plays. Just a low-ass, low-activity-ass offense. And that's going to be completely different this year.

Cement offense, cement-feet offense. That's what I call it. That's exactly what it was. And it's going to be entirely different. I don't know if defensively they're going to be great or anything. Jackson-Hays is still the back of five. They still got a bunch of small guards. I can't tell you anything about that end of the court yet.

But I can tell you the offense will be very, very good. Yeah. It makes sense. I'm down with that. I'm with you that. I think that the Lakers are going to be better than a lot of people are expect. Yeah, I agree. Just naturally having LeBron and AD alongside competent shooters and DeLo, Austin Reeves, and whoever else last year just walked them into the 15th best offense in the

NBA. And I think just absolutely doing nothing too. They ain't got to do them but breathe because you have Bronon and AD with a little bit of space. But now that you have some like JJ Reddick who can actually like put in real principles and emphasize on screening and off the ball movement and also the stuff that you mentioned, Isaac, they're going to walk in. to like the seventh, eighth, best offense in the NBA, in my opinion. Exactly. And the defense, time will tell. They have a lot of young wings, so I think are very exciting.

I'm excited to see what Dalton Connect can do. Max Christie is finally going to play. We'll see what Jay and the Hitchapino can do. There's a lot of potential there that'll decide the defense aside the ball. But like you mentioned, the floor offensively is already decent with a just ridiculous coach. Add in a good one and the floor is very high. Okay. What's your next team, Mo?

I like where we're going. I like where we're going. Okay. So my next team. you said the Lakers less than actually just flip to the Clippers one thing

that you have to I'm going to keep this short too one thing that you must know about the Los Angeles Clippers is that they are

one James Harden hamstring away from being absolutely fried this season so go further into that obviously a couple years ago they made

a trade that humongous Shagos Alexander trade for Paul George and they have no control of any of picks up until the year

2030. That's five years away from now. And James Harden's shouldering all that load. You know, he's 34, 35 years old at this point in time. I believe he has a lot of good stuff in him. But to ask a 34, 35 year old to be and to have

the same capabilities of raising an offensive ceiling, turning offence that should be like 17th to like top five or top 10 is tough. And if anything happens to him, this offense is fried because then you have a Norman Powell-led offense. Evangis Zubos-led offense, which is disgusting work.

So, yeah. Yeah. They're so weird because I think they're going to be good, and they're a little bit underrated because they have a good coach and two really good stars. So I think when they're all healthy, they're going to be as good as all these other middle-tier teams. But every year, somebody falls out of this plane race because they get hurt, and an injury sinks them. And I've never seen a team more perfectly set up to get fucked by injuries from the Clippers.

They have two players that matter, and they're. both old and injury prone. If one of them gets hurt, they are screwed. Like, there's no way in hell I'm going to expect them to make the play in race just because there's so many good teams and somebody has to be on the odd end out and they have such a good chance of it being taken out of their hands. They're screwed, I think. Yeah, they are. If they're healthy, they're great. But how can you possibly expect good health? Yeah, they're going to be bad. Something interesting about the clippers. Now, something interesting about the clippers. We may be wrong because history over the last 13 years says that, hey, this team hasn't been trashed for 13 years.

They've just somehow- If they're healthy, we're wrong. Yeah, consistently end up being one of the better teams in the Western Conference because, you know, offensive schemes, somewhat talented players, and just like, they're never fully incompetent. But I think this may be the year that they go ahead and fall off super hard because of who's at the helm of their team. Again, Clippers fans, hear this. Keep in mind, we are not saying they have bad players.

If they're healthy, they will be good. Hard to expect them to be healthy. It really just comes down to that. Look at the track record of the league. Every single year, health defines the playing race. The Kings last year went from the three seed to the nine seed. Pretty much because of injuries. They didn't really get worse.

A lot of the teams got better, so that's part of it, but they got fucked by injuries. It happens every single year. The Grizzlies, obviously. The sons, obviously. Like, it's going to happen. And they are not built to withstand it at all. Yeah, exactly. Now, if you still had Paul George on this,

team and other start who could hold things down bare minimum if anything happened to kawai or james hardin then i'm not coming here coming here on this injury and on this spot and saying like yeah like they're absolutely cooked if anything happens because they have some guy who can attract a lot of attention start offense and all this stuff but they don't have those guys anymore at all yeah relying on that's a difference that's a difference the sixers have joelan beat and paul george who are also injury prone and getting up there in age they could also be proud to get messed up but they have Tyrese there to help supplement it

so you have another extra guy who do the Clippers have to supplement it nobody and even if they are healthy you're putting a lot of faith in James Harden

to just turn it back on and be able to carry more of a load that he hasn't shown in several years I do have the faith that can happen but you combine that

with the injury issues it's not exciting by the means yeah I agree the sad stuff I say the thunder about to get a top 10

pick in the draft via the Clippers get ready for the get motherfucking richer you know what fucking let's double down knew what, let me just go ahead and get it out the way. The Oklahoma City Thunder, sorry, Donovan,

let me just get this out the way. The Oklahoma City Thunder are the new fucking it team in my mind. I sit down, ironically enough, I didn't even see your tweet yesterday, Isaac. I think you said something like the Oklahoma City Thunder were going to have a similar season to the 2015 Warriors. And my notes, I wrote down the Thunder are it simply as that. They're so, they're leagues ahead of almost every team. in the NBA right now in terms of how they're set up now and considering all the assets that

they have in the future. A couple years ago, like three, four years ago, I made a YouTube video on my personal channel saying like, yeah, this is the greatest rebuild of all time that we're witnessing and everything is finally coming into fruition. This team is leagues ahead of everyone, simply because of how dynamic they can play in the versatility in which they dominate. They can dominate in every single angle of the game and adding guys like Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hardinstein, some of the most versatile role players in the NBA did nothing but enhance the crack that this team is already already is bro. This team is it. Just know that they're that. If you're not on the bandwagon yet, get on. If you're a betting man and you

haven't better. There's no more room. There's no more room on the bandwagon, but double lap. Fuck it. If you've made predictions and you didn't say the Thunder are going to win 65 games, change that. If you don't have Chad Holmgren stock,

change that. If you don't have Jaylen Williams stock, change that. This team is going to get the story of the year. Then you are going to be a rich man. Your year's going to be great.

You're going to have a fantastic year. Greedy. Everybody knows they're good. Everybody knows they're the one seed last year. I said this on Twitter issue. Like you mentioned, you alluded to.

I said they're going to have a 2015 Warriors type season that changes the dynamic of the NBA. And people saw that, and Thunder fans got a hold of it, so it reached an audience that's not my own and led to a lot of haters

because a lot of people had in the Thunder. So I was getting ratioed a little bit. Not, not ratioed. But, you know, I was hearing the haters and what they think. And people think it's dramatic. People think we're already overrated in the thunder.

And I think that's so far from the truth. I think there's so much better than people realize. People don't understand yet what Isaiah Hardensinstein is going to do for this team, the fact that they can start him and some games start chat at the five

and have both looks and every game gives you both looks of going big with two passing hub centers or going small with all these perimeter players they're going to be so unguarded

and if they're healthy even if they're not healthy because they're so deep they can stand to lose a guy or two and still be fine I think they are going to blitz the Western Conference

and we're going to look up and we're going to say oh my God for the next five years this is the team we've got to build to beat in the same way we said that about the Warriors

in 2015. Brother, I saw a clip of Isaiah Hartenstein taking corner threes that they're going to have two stretch fives It's going to be ridiculous.

Like, if that, if that does become, you know, a part of his game and... Look at this play. Real quick. It's ridiculous. So bring the ball up. She throws it into the high post of Hardinstein. He's a great passing hub. Look what happens.

He gets a corner three to check right. But look how it happens. Shea obviously has a lot of gravity. He goes into for a post up and the corner man Dylan Brooks comes down to defend him because he doesn't want to even mend Thompson one-on-one with Shea because it's scary. And Isaiah Hardinstein, the play was to give it to Shay. She looks dejected after he doesn't get it. He's a little disappointed.

He walks away. But Isaiah Hardinstein is a great passer. And he just kicks us the corner because he sees my other big man friend is right there wide open and Chad home grin nails a three. All you had to do is pretend to give the ball to Shea and you get a wide open three. And this is going to happen all the time while they're also surrounded with the best defensive core in the NBA. I'm sick.

I'm sick. I'm sick. And I love it. Because I already miss Hartinstein. I already miss it. Look at this spacing. You have five out spacing with Hardinstein because he's such a good passer. Hardinstein serves as the point guard.

so his lack of spacing doesn't matter. Look how high Sangoon is guarding on him. You can't sag off him at all. I think it's nerding out on this film study. I love it. This is one clip. I know. This is mundane three.

Someone, someone going to cut off his internet, but we've said this since last season. And like the only, literally the only flaw that anybody had about the Thunder was like, oh yeah, they're too young. And like ultimately,

like for a couple of their players, like for J-Dub and for Chet. Yeah, like they were. They needed to go through some stuff. They needed to add some stuff to their, their bag that you can only get through experience. But you understand that whenever you look at this team on paper and you look at the roster,

they are, they are broke. Oh my God. This guy. Look at this. Look at this. Look at this. How do you guard this team? They're doing a, Caruso sets a screen for Dort who did cuts back door and you have to defend

Dork coming around for the three and then Caruso Darts for the dunk. Why do I understand Dorts like a good shooter? We don't need two. He's a 40% three-point shooter. We don't need two, though. Like how fast Caruso rolls. That's a point guard. You have your point guard's screen rolling like this on the go screen?

Like, oh my God. Like, yeah. It's positioning. If Dorot wants to take the three. It's positioning, bro. Like, we should be fine with that. Yeah, my second young team, you shouldn't give that up. But like, it's hard because you have to think about a lot every play.

It's hard to not instinctively jump out at the three. Yeah. Yeah. I think what the Thunder are doing now is that they're empowering or eventually other teams will have to catch up to them in terms of the new recipe, the new thing as being as versatile as possible and not having any players who put a cap to your offense or your defense. 100%. We saw it last year, but now we're seeing to an even greater extent because we got Hartenside

Caruso in there, who are some more versatile role players. What makes the Thunder scary last year is their guards can do big men things and their big men can do guard things. Lou Dort and now Alex Caruso and Jalen Williams, all these guys, are great screensetters and can roll to the rim and create passing out of the short. role. That's what made Draymond so amazing because he could be a big man that could pass when he sets a screen and catches the ball down low, he can kick it to shooters. They can do that too because they put their guards there who are already good passers into those positions to kick out

the shooters. And then now you have big men like Isaiah Hardinstein who can be the passers when traditionally have that be a point guard. So not only do you have a little guy setting a screen when his defender is small and isn't used to defending screens, you have a big on the passes when his defender is big and isn't used to defending those type of passes. It just flips the game on its head and when you have that type of versatility with elite shot making, with elite defense,

you cannot guard it. It's ridiculous. Bro, a dream for Isaac. You know what? For your birthday, Isaac, come in March, I'm going to try to lock you up in a room with Mark Dagnall and I want you to be present for a film session. You're going to explode

of joy. It would be an happiness. That'd be an amazing interview to talk to Mark Dagnall. It would be crazy. Yeah, no. The schematics are going to be insane. That guy is ridiculous. He's so slept on.

He's, yeah, exactly. I agree. I agree. Right, man. So, TLDR, the Thunder are going to be the team of the year. Please, I pray they stay healthy. Because if we say all this shit and then we come out and Chet's footfalls off again,

I'm going to scream. Yeah, if Chet full, like, Chet is the most important dynamic of this entire thing because he is what single. They have hard to feel unguarded. I mean, yeah, you're right. This is, this is why they'll be a 3C instead. This is why we're so high on them is that like, oh yeah, we're, yes, we're going to miss out on like Chahongren and if he gets hurt.

Unless you have another, another like seven footer who can pass and be a and be a hub. Like they're, they're, they're going to be in no matter what happens. They might have the MVP on their team this year and they might go over 500 in games he misses. They might still be a positive team in game she misses. because you have they're good they're fine yeah what they feel like to me is like a way more advanced version of a team like the boston celtics in terms of like youth doesn't it didn't take them that long to find out their identity to have a similar not a similar format as a boston's because the offense looks completely different but in terms of like the advancement that i'm

talking about is just way more integral like the celtics aren't running the same they're just like limitations to some things that jaylin brown can do versus jaydub and chet hung remand and stuff like that. So these are the two teams. Don't be surprised of how much they kill the league, bro. Yeah, this is going to be a year kind of like those years

when it was just like, oh yeah, the Warriors and the Cavs are going to be in the finals. Penciled in. And we're not viewing it that way yet because the Thunder haven't done it yet, so the public is time to get behind that.

But I feel nearly a certain. Yeah, I agree. Last year you were fully sold on the team like the Oklahoma City Thunder and I liked them a lot, but I was like they need time and also you need someone to go ahead and reasserts at Hongrum. That was my main sign point.

But guess what? News for you all. Time has passed. They have earned their stripes, just a little bit, and they have now battle scars. War wounds. And they added two Swaggy White Boys and Caruso and Hardinstein,

so now they're going to go crazy. And they got rid of their one terrible white boy. They're up. They're up. They're going to be more up. Wow, man. It's going to be great. Donovan, what's the next team?

All right. Short and sweet. We're going to talk about the Chicago. Bulls really, really quickly. Oh, fuck. Because, listen, we've known, we've known the Bulls to be this mid-team for, like, the last, like, three, four years. They're offensive.

That's too many words. It's, no, it's going to be disgusting. It's like, I actually think that the Bulls are going to be really, really bad. Because, like, like, not in the way of, like, yes, they're not fun to watch, but somehow they're going to, like, luck into 41 wins. Like, they're not going to win a lot of games. and their offense is going to be bad. And like last year, if you look at the team, like one of the, you know, bright spots

is that offensively, they were top five in offensive turnover percentage. They actually didn't turn the ball over too, too much, right? Because they didn't fucking pass. That's what I was saying. Like, it wasn't there. But now you bring in Josh Giddy and Josh Giddy turns the ball over a lot. And like, granted people who have the ball in their hands a lot and try to make a lot of plays and are aggressive, you normally have that, like, boomer, that boom or bust, right?

Josh Giddy is not that level of passer that, that, to where you can accept a high turnover percentage. He's just, like, he has, he has the ball a lot. And if you give him the keys, it's going to be disgusting. And now you have this, like, rotation where Kobe White excelled last year. Now you put Josh Giddy in there. Are you, Yulane Josh Giddy, run your offense for, all right. That is 90 seconds.

I timed you. That's 90 seconds on the bulls. Your time is up. Your time is up. That's terrible. So, yes. They're going to be very, very bad. You're not going to like watching one's a ball.

Damn. I would love to watch on the ball. I'm not confident we're going to be able to. This is like, wait. Yeah, actually, fun fact. For how long?

He is, like, the first, like, professional athlete to actually have, like, a whole entire brand new knee. Like, a brand new knee with brand new cartilage. It's insane. Yeah. So I expect him to be a completely different player. I have no idea how.

effective he's going to be it's pretty scary it's crazy that they I saw a tweet that said in a rare age of smart front offices they have the one lone dumb GM in the league and it's crazy how true that is they didn't have the one dumb guy that's stuck in an old age yeah there's multiple dumb guys around the league there's a few that I said David Griffin erasure but even he has some defined some redeeming qualities yeah I don't know what the Bulls front office has is a redeeming quality they're sad for now anyways my next team is a Denver Nuggets. The Denver Nuggets are my next team.

Let's get back to a team that matters. I think the one thing you know about the Denver Nuggets is relax. They're going to be completely fine. And I know we are no better than the average NBA fan in this regard because the NBA free agency happened. KCP became a member of the Orlando Magic. And none of us were happy about it because they were perfectly capable of retaining him. And we were just mad in principle that they decided to cheap out, do the second apron and not retain him and deal with the side. effects later when you have the best player in the league in the middle of his prime in the

middle of his team championship window they squandered that to some extent and that that carried us in our in our it colored our lens of how we viewed this team all summer we didn't say anything positive about them because we were annoyed as hell and we were valid but also they still have nikola yokish on their team and kCP is just kCP if you were projecting them to be like the fourth or fifth seed because they lost cantavius Caldwell pope you have completely been misguided on what makes this team special. If Nicola Yokic plays 75 games a year, they're going to be a top three seed

like they always are. They are going to be just fine. And while it's annoying, KCP's gone for stupid reasons, it's going to marginally affect their team. They're going to be just as good as they were last year. Yeah, I completely agree. Last year, with Nicole Yokic and Jamal Murray

on the court and KCP off the court, they had a plus 23 net rating. Completely incredible. And in those lineups, the main lineup that didn't have him was with Christian Braun, which is going to be the starting lineup this year, plus 16 net rating last year, which was a small sample size. It'll go down some because most lineups that play huge minutes do. But when they had Peyton Watson in there, again, terribly small sample size. They were like plus 60 net rating, which is unsustainable.

They have had zero instances where KCP went off the court and they sunk. They'll be fine. Now, however you feel about their bench could be a different conversation, but the absence of KCP plays very little part in that and I know it makes the back half thinner which can be a thing but listen KCP was getting hunted in the playoffs even defensively and was taking his fucking lunch he's not a defensive stopper he's a good shooter not one of the best in the league a great player you want on your team but he's not sinking or swimming any team to that regard to that regard you said it was like a marginal loss and I agree with that but it's the culmination of the marginal losses and it's the fact that it's the fact that you lost Bruce Brown the year prior

And you're like, you know what, that's fine. Like he's a bench player. We still have our starting five together. Come, you know, next season plays out. KCP's gone. Okay, that's fine. We still have our core four together. But at the same time, none of that stuff has been replenished.

You still haven't replaced Bruce Brough. Now you have to go and figure out who's going to replace KCP. And so after a while, you're going to get to a point where all these small little things start to add up. So, and you said it, like we're still valid. I still have some concerns. I don't think that the nuggets are going to be a like a very very strong like I wouldn't be surprised if they if they weren't a top three seed in in the West this year now if they are sure because it's stacked yeah and if they are and Yokic just you know has one of one of those seasons by all means like he is right now he's the best player in the world you got it and that's what that's what you're that's what the best player in the world is supposed to do I should be able to take KCP off of your team and you should still be able to be a top three team. team in. Exactly. Exactly. Yes. I can see a world where that happens. When you say like relax or we'll be fine, I think we're at the point with the Nuggets, especially because they won a title two

years ago. We are competing for championships. We don't care about the regular season. So in the playoffs, I do think not having KCP. If somebody else doesn't step up, we'll come back to bite them. I care more. Honestly, I care more about the regular season than do the playoffs for KCP, I don't give a fuck that KCP's not there for the playoff setting. In terms, again, I would like them to be there. It'd be better if they had more good players in their roster. Like, that would be ideal. But in terms of predicting who's going to win a series, there's no matchup in the West that I'm going to decide if I think they win or lose based on KCP's presence. Like, I think they can't beat the thunder for all the reasons you mentioned.

They couldn't beat the thunder with KCP. I think they can be, I don't know, call it the Mavs, whatever else, the Grizzlies. I think they'll probably beat the Grizzlies. With or without KCP, that's the case. I think Christian Brown. can do just enough completely fine job for what they needed to do defensively compared to what KCP would bring them. Yeah, we'll see. Yeah, as long as they don't have to.

And I say they are on watch. They are on watch and they are on alert. Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. are on watch because they make max contracts. And last year, Jamal Murray was hurt. And MPJ couldn't shoot. They are what matters in the playoff setting, not who plays two guard next to these guys.

Yeah, exactly. But I agree. The last, since we've been in this Nicola Yokic era that I might as well call it, The only time in the regular season that Nicole Yokic hasn't won like 50 games or whatever so far or whatever is when Jamal Murray is like hurt or just out of the picture like a couple years ago when he tore his ACL. I think it was like 2021 or something like that.

That's when Yoke's one of his first MVP. Yeah. instances like that is where it's like, okay, like things might get scary. But as long as Yokic has some other star level player like Jamal Murray, they're completely fine. Yeah, Jamal and Aaron Gordon are there, they'll be fine. I in terms of playoff series and like having max level versatility and just like not having to put too much on MPJ's shoulder or Aaron Gordon's shoulder which will happen now because you know KCP's gone I understand you on that front honestly MPJ needs the fire lid under him he needs to take a more recreation load so like I think we can see a world where like this forces them to put more pressure on him to carry his weight and if not maybe he has to be traded one day like it will kind of force her hand to realize. if he's the one there.

I don't know. And obviously, you know, having less players, they have less margin for error for injuries, which, of course, is going to be a thing, and I recognize that. But when they're healthy, it's going to be exactly the same way it's always been. Westbrook's going to be more than happy

to just pound the air out of the ball and set MPJ up. So I don't know. Oh, my gosh. He just might just be okay with just standing there waiting for the ball. God damn. What's your next team?

How many teams do we have left? Do we still have, like, half the league to go to? Yeah, we need to, yeah, it's starting. Okay, so let's go ahead. Utah Jazz. They're going. going to suck. Some team has to suck. You need to learn that the Utah Jazz are not going to be halfway taking like last year. They're not going to be semi good. Nope. Trash. I don't. That's very

interesting because I don't believe that. And like I think the jazz are going to be solid. Like they're they're probably going to do the same thing that they've done over the last three years. They have, they have good players and a good coach. Like something that I will say, you're right. But someone has to be absolutely terrible. Like usually two, three teams. That's what they're Clippers are four. They're not going to be as bad as the Utah Jazz. That's why they're here. They're not going to be as bad as Utah Jazz

because they have better players and a better head coach. So just not. Someone has to be trash. It's going to be them. Keep in mind. The Trailblazers are going to win like six games a year.

God damn. It's going to be horrendous. They're going to be legendary trash. Dude, they're going to be so fucking piss. It's unbelievable. They might win 12 games. They're going to be awful. The West is going to just dogwalk them.

rattled off another team. Portland Troblasers they have great trade pieces like you said but just everything something that everyone needs to know you need to learn that they're going to get dog walked okay another thing you need to know is that they're also going to have probably a lot of trades

happen for them this season. Jeremy Grants of the world, the DeAndre Ains of the world and Matisse Stibles of the world. They have a lot of pieces to unload. Let's just Don I think it's your team. Let's add the Spurs into this. The Spurs Jazz and Trailblazers are going to be only three teams in the Western Conference that are not competitive in the playing race.

To you. What? No, you're sleeping on the Spurs. To you. Dude, there's like fucking 13 teams. I like the Spurs a lot. Be serious. Not everybody can be in the race.

They're going to be like the 13C. There's no. Look at who's above them. You think the Rockets are going to be worse? They could be. We will talk in more detail next week. But I'm saying this right now. And this is one of my points for the Spurs.

Last year, they would trash on defense. in almost every single way, except for one, right? Their rim defense was just outside the top 10. They were 11th in room defense, and it's because they have the avatar. They have Wembe right there. Having him and Castle and Castle there, you beef up your defense a little bit,

you get a full offseason in terms of being in the NBA, him being bigger, and the fact that he's not going to be on like a minute's restriction for some of these games. like you're going to be able to to get a much better defense i do think that they are going to be i think that his elevation and his growth they're going to be in the race i don't know if they're going to get to 10 dude but they will they will be in the race do who's in fall out then the race can't be seven you never know you can't sit down and assume so like none of these teams are

going to fall out some team always has sure like major instry stuff or like just yeah beef or whatever the case maybe you know what even then even with that happening we'll just do a little preview for next week. For 7 through 10, for 7 and 8, I think the competition will be the Lakers, the Kings, the Pelicans. That makes sense right. For 7 and 8, two of those three teams will probably get it. Okay. Probably. Yeah. Then after that, next tier, we have the Rockets, we have the Clippers, and we have the Warriors. That, but now at 16 for four slots. I got some bad news for you. I get it. I get it. I don't like the Clippers of Warriors either, but that's 16 and four spots. Regardless, they're not going to, Kauai is not going to miss 80

games, I hope not. If that happens, you're sure, they're going to be gone. You never know. You never know. He missed amazing all the time. Yeah. Obviously, you never know, but we have to assume that like, you know, if things are regular, the clippers. You do know with Kauai. That's the thing. That's the thing is like you, Kauai had one of his healthiest seasons. If you think that at this stage in his career, Kauai Lennon is going to have back to back of his healthiest seasons of his life, I can't, I can't see that happening. We are going to witness a lot of James Hart and And I'm not, again, I'm not saying they're going to get to 10, but I'm saying that they will be in the race and it will be competitive. Sure. And here's the thing. They have the fingers at the bottom of that tier. Okay, okay. We're getting way too much into the season previews right now. We got to save it. We got to save it. There's just no room. They got to tap in. They got to tap in. They got to tap in next. They got to tap in next. Y'all are giving them too much. Y'all gave me too much. You're just, be fucking realistic. There's so many teams in the West. There's just no room unless three. Unless three of the six teams above them fall off, which I guess is possible. How can you predict that to be the case of that?

That's just all that means is you want to be doing it next week. Come back next week and why be predicted. Straight confirmation bites. Why do you think they'll be better than the Warriors? I think stuff will miss 70 games. All right. You never fucking know, bro. But next team, trash team.

I can say anything at this point in the season. At this point in the calendar where no basketball has been played, I can say whatever I want and say, hey man, crazy stuff happens all the time. I, okay, I will say whatever. LeBrono fucking move to Mars and you ever know. The Lakers are out of it. It's getting kind of hot in California. Maybe he doesn't want to be there anymore.

Oh, my God. Who's the next team? Don't know who are you next to you? Okay, we're going to talk about the Washington Wizards. They got Malcolm Brogden. Listen, they got Malcolm Brogden in the building this season. However, Malcolm Brogden is going to be Malcolm Brogden and he's going to be hurt. he just got surgery like two days ago and so once yeah and so once again once again

the wizards are going to be in this rebuild we have no idea how it's going to go so bocarrington shout out to you i want to see every move in your bag that's all like i want to see that i want to see i want to see what belah has been doing in the offseason alix sar i already know it's going to be rough for you in year one you're playing for that team it's going to be tough So, like, things aren't starting off great, but hey, the Wizards, in prime contention for Cooper Flag already. Exactly. Be excited. One thing you know about the Wizards, they are the worst team in the Eastern Conference.

They are Trailblazers East. And it's not going to, it's going to be easy unless the Nets sell off all their competent players. 100%. And then my next team that we're going to go really quick on, we're going to go to the Detroit Pistons. And the second worst team in the conference. Listen, y'all, y'all gave me some thinkers. This is the bottom feeder section of the pod. I love it.

The one thing that you need to know as a Pistons fan, it's not really no, but it's one thing to rejoice about it. Be happy that Monty Williams is not on the sideline, because already this offseason, this preseason, listen, Jaden Ivy, he looks pretty good. Cade Cunningham, I've seen some clips. I have seen very little people next to him while he's trying to do a move. That's good. He had a horrible game the other day, by the way. He was atrocious. Yeah. But guess what? There weren't five people surrounding him. He wasn't getting jumped as he tried to make a crossover he was atrocious on his own merit not because of spacing yeah that's all you can ask for give him a chance to be asked on his own that's a step in

the right direction if you're a pistons fan and so now you have now you have jaded iv who's looking a little bit better and maybe a situation where you can actually legitimately evaluate k kuttingham going forward and saying like these these are the building blocks it this is not like the worst spacing that you've ever seen in your life and you can you can make some move so On an individual development level, this should be one of the best years Pistons fans have had in a while. Because it seems like J.B. Bickerstaff has come in and made whatever they're doing competent, you know.

Again, they still suck. But competent development, that's all you can ask for a rebuilding team. It's a good trash, bro. Yeah, exactly. It'll be a good trash team. It'll be the year where you can finally learn something about this young court and figure out who stays and who goes. yeah definition of a fun team we'll learn by these young players we'll know who to ship off

who's going to be the building blocks it'll finally be a non-wasted year at least in some way yeah and i think fans will actually have sit down and have some enjoyment like when i sit down and think about like trash teams in the NBA i sit down and think about like food for example it's so disappointing sometimes you go out to eat at a restaurant and you order something you're like this place is so overwhelming trash but if you're going at McDonald's or going to burger king or whatever it might be. It's trash food, but it's good trash. You're having fun.

It's just like, it's experimental a little bit because you don't eat there often. You know it's trash, it's tearing up your insides, but it's good. You enjoy it for the moment. Oh, okay, Dr. Trashman. I was like, okay.

I was like that back around. Yeah, okay, okay. Good job. It's good trash. It's a big mat. It's trash, but you like it. You have a good time despite the downsides. Exactly.

Look at you. Let's get another young team. More trash? Use and rockets. No. They're not trash. They're not trash. Yeah.

A team that's expected to make a leap. 12 C. We'll talk about next year what that leap looks like and how much we believe in it because they're going to be a very common team to be predicted to be like this year's thunder. Everybody's going to want a new thunder for quite a while now. And I get it. The Rockets are prime to be in that position. They will only be good if they're, if their most important players prioritize and given the chance.

You know who that is? It's Reed Motherfucking Shepherd. I'm banging the drum. I've been banging all off season. Reed Shepherd is the most important player on his roster. That's one thing you didn't know. No. I watched their preseason games. I watched the one yesterday. This one we're watching right now. Them versus the Thunder. I watched them for the whole game because I knew they're

on my list and I wanted to learn a thing or two about how they're deploying these players. The second that Reed Shepard touches the court, everything begins to click and makes so much more sense. He is so clearly their most talented guard on this team. When this team becomes good, if it's this year or if it's next year, whatever may be, it's going to be because their offense is Sangoon and Reed Shepard, being the creators of the ball in their hands and they're surrounded by length and defensive versatility around them. That's what we have to get to. We got to give the white boys the keys.

That's the answer to their season. Because Reed Shepherd is going to be so good. He is the one. He is the one who will decide their ceiling. Are you ready to give up on Jalen Green? Sounds like you are. When have I ever been on Jailing Green? Jailen Green is Jailen Green.

I hope that he can be good because his team could use that skill set next to Reed Shepard very well. It would be great if that's their back corner of the future. I've never been one that's hopeful about that outcome. Look at Lou Geithor. Hit him reverse layups. Good for him. Wait, man.

Reed's touch in the mid-range is so good. We know he was one of the best three-point, he was like the best three-point shooter in the nation in college, so that should translate. He's a very good passer. He's a small defensively, so that would be a weakness. Yeah, he has this whole cop look going on with like the haircut and the mustache.

That is not being a county and I met. What you mean? Houston changed him, bro. What you mean? He looks like Travis Kelsey. He is going to be the best playmaker him and Sanguna are going to be the best playmaking talents in the team. We'll see what a man Thompson could be like with his two-point shooting

if that could ever come around and let him be a passer. But, you know, those will be the lead playmakers and you surround them with length. And that's going to be the winning formula by the end of the season. Okay. I love it. He's the heir apparent to Fred Van Vleet. That's going to be the guy who gets his job by the end of the year. Wow.

Shout out to Fred Van Ville. And you're getting 40Ms a year for two years. Frederico. So basically, if you don't want to bet on Zach Eadie, be rookie of the year, bet on Reed Sheper to be rookie in the year. Those are going to be the two guys. Zachary Rishishay has another word or two to say to you. But we'll say he'll be first team, but he's not a rookie at the year.

Says who? Me. Not you. All right, I got to give a second team. The Dallas Mavericks. Okay. One thing I know about them is I think they're still going to have an elite defense despite starting Clay Thompson.

I think I'm over being worried about that. And I think expect them to be just as good as they wore the back half last season, which if that translates, that means the MAVs are going to be like maybe the second seat in the West. Yeah. And I think that's not crazy to expect at all. I, why do you feel this? Really, that's all. I don't have one thing to point out because they've been so analyzed and we know that Kyrie and Luca are amazing, the best ball handling duo in the league. And we know that Derek Glythe is incredible and has a high ceiling. We know what PJ Washington brings. We know that Najee Marshall is going to replace Derek Jones Jr. And that would probably be fine. I guess that's

the one thing is I think they are not going to really feel the impact of Derek Jones, Jr. being gone. If they do, then that means Jason Kidd is not the defensive coach that we once thought he was. Because if he cannot replace Derek Jones Jr. with Najee Marshall and had them be fine, then they had bigger fish to fry. They had bigger fish to fry. They were never that great defensive than it was a fluke. And I don't think it's the case. I think they have a legit defensive infrastructure. I think they have two bigs that can defend the room well enough and that PJ Washington, who's a very versatile impactful defender at the four, they're going to be completely, completely fine and probably the two seat, I think.

Probably the Tuesday. Okay. All right. Love to see it. So the one thing you got to say is don't worry about the maps. Clay Thompson will be fine. And if he's not fine, if Clay Thompson's washed, it will be irrelevant because they can simply start Najee Marshall. Yeah, who's completely fine and competent on all levels, whether it be offense or defense.

He's good. I like him a lot. Yeah, there's a reason why, like, the New Orleans Pelicans were a pretty good defensive team. Obviously, a lot of that credit goes to Herb Jones way. But having Herb Jones, the Dyson Daniels of the world. And Najee Marshall just like continue to see having those guys in the game throughout all times.

You're gonna see, you're gonna have to sauce, bro. I don't know Donovan feels differently. We're gonna save that for next week in the predictions episode. So don't say a word, Donovan. We'll get to that next week. About the Mavericks. Yeah.

We'll get to that next week. We'll save that argument. But if you're listening right now, just know, the one thing you know is I am not worried about them whatsoever. I cannot say the same for the whole pod. Stay tuned for next week to find out more. Mo, who's your next to you.

Okay, we're on the New Orleans Pelicans. Or I mentioned the Norris Pelicans anyways. Let me just get this out the way. One thing that you need to know about the New Orleans Pelicans, one thing you need to learn is that Branim Hingham-Ingram has bills to pay next year. It's contract here. Hopefully he moves different. That's it.

The other thing you need to learn. One thing you know about him is Shams reported this morning that he hears that they're trying to start Herb Jones at the five. Oh, yeah. So one thing you need to know is they're fucking out of their minds. What are we talking about? Herb Jones is the best perimeter defender in the NBA. He's the only reason they were in elite defense last year because he could shackle the perimeter.

He could fight over screens and nullify them like Drew Holiday. He could switch on the big wings and hold his own like Jada McDaniels, incredibly versatile wing defender. And they want him to be their full-time five. Maybe that's not true. That just can't happen. Maybe it's not true. That's insane.

And I guess the vision is you have him at the five and you can put Dejante Murray, Trey Murphy, Ingram, Zion, Herb Jones and switch one through five That's dope That's an awesome lineup For a bench lineup To give in spurts

For that to be your starting look And tax him To guard fives from the start of the game To post up with a Jonas Valchunis To post up with whoever else in the league God forbid Nicole Yokic

That's an insane way To utilize your talent Yeah I hate the jokes I've done to our community man I hope that Shams is yapping And he's just misheard And that it's not true

Because that is so fucking stupid It just doesn't make any sense It just doesn't make any sense Anybody with a functioning brain Would understand like yeah This cannot be true, bro Yeah, we can't roll with that I hope so you don't

Are you don't with your teams for you got one more I think I got one more Which is the oh two more actually Damn A lot of teams I don't know I got good on teams I got good enough

You probably skip some Donovan I almost forgot Miami Heat Oh actually not my turn You go ahead Donovan or Isaac. Domin, you can go. All right.

We're going to talk about the Milwaukee Bucks. I actually have two things for them. One. Hell yeah. One. Last year, they did not run. They were not a team that got out into transition a lot. I'm very curious to see if Doc Rivers changes that.

I know that like even when they were, when Doc was coaching Philly, that was a thing that like coming into every single year, they would, he would always preach. And we would always hear like, oh, the Sixers, they want to, they want to run. run. They want to be faster. They want to be, you know, they want to get out into transition. I want to see if that's going to be able to happen because I do think that, you know, when you have Janus running the break, that is fantastic. If you have Janus running the break and he can kick out to Dane, that might be a way to get their synergy together, right? And so I think that that for an old team also, we'll see what happens. But that is one,

that is one thing that you need to know and that you, I guess, need to, you know, be watching out for. The second thing, Chris Middleton got posted on their social media today. And that is kind of a good side of a good side. For a guy who has had two ankles, two ankle surgeries over the summer, you just want to see him. And he was smiling and he looked happy. So. Lord Lumpies and good spirits, we need it. Hey, man.

Chris is happy. I'm happy out of Milwaukee right now. And at this point in the offseason, that's all you can ask for. So those are my two things for Milwaukee. And then next team, Golden State Warriors. Isaac talked about this all year last year. And one of the main reasons why he did not believe in the words is because they were lasting rim volume.

They did not get to the rim. They put no pressure offensively on the basket. They went out this offseason. They got Buddy Healed. They got Anthony Melton. They still really don't have guys who can put pressure on the rim. And they are really, really doubling down on that. And their offense is going to be very, very boom or bust

because obviously Buddy Healed is a show. shooter, you have Steph, you have Steph there. Yes, you're going to, you're going to have cutters. You're going to be putting a lot on Kaminga's plate to just be, you know, a downhill demon and use his athleticism and stuff like that. But if that three ball is not falling, it can get ugly. And we, we are going to see the, the Warriors offense look probably as stale as we've ever seen it in stretches. Yeah, it's going to be exactly the same as last year. It's going to be asked. Again, the only way they could create consistent rim volume is empowering Jonathan Kaminga. That's why we talked about two weeks ago on the biggest questions episode. I said,

is he going to be a star? Because they need him to be. And the one thing you got to know is they did nothing to empower him to be that. They do not have a stretch five. They have to play Dremont Green at center for Kaminga to start because Kaminga has to be a four because he can't play the three defensively. Dramong green at center is cool, but it gives you very little punch. And to get a nice size defensively where Dremont can play the four and be his natural position where he can be the best defender in the league, you need a stretch five. And they don't have that. So either they go small and nullify Dremont's impact to a certain extent, but allow Kaminga to cook offensively, or they go big and make Kaminga irrelevant, but Dremont can

defend well, and they have no spacing and no worm attack. They are stuck between two terrible options unless they make a move to get a Kelly Olinic or get a whoever the hell is out there as a stretch five. At this point, they have zero ceiling of being an elite offense, I think. Basketball, hell, that's what I like to call. It's truly terrible. If I'm a Steph Curry fan, I'm not going to have a fun time at all this season. that's me what's your next team Isaac which one do I want to go with next I have

okay I'll do first team is the Boston Celtics what you need to know about them is they will be in the NBA finals again that's really all there is to say they are far and away the best team in the east I love what the Knicks have done I like what the Sixers have done I do have faith in the bucks bouncing back

none of it fucking matters if the Celtics are healthy they're going to walk to the finals just like they did last year all these teams are fighting for second place unless the Celtics get injured, which is always possible. In that case, we'll see something crazy happen. But assuming good health, expect the Celtics to be equally as dominant as it were last year. And I wish I had something better to say for you. I looked for a while to find something unique to say about them.

That's like a deep dive into something. And I just couldn't think of a goddamn thing because they're just so good and we all know everything about them. And it's going to be the same. All right. You got it. They're bound for the finals. Yeah, it's really like not interesting.

like they're just the best team in the conference and it's not remotely close another not interesting team are the toronto raptors they have very little storylines very little things to dive deep into and when it comes to where they are as a team scottie barnes to developing and manual quickly trying to see if he can be a long-term partner same for r j barrett i guess so far one thing you need to learn is that a true swing factor for this team they're not going to make any noise no matter what they're not going to be playing bound playoff bound at all but if brady dick can show signs of furthering his steps in development and looking like actual due to compare alongside scotty warren's long term actually hit shots i think during the last 15 20 games the last

season he averaged a cool 15 points on damn near 40% from three that's a great guy and that's another building block to the team that'll help make them play series basketball next year i think I think the Raptors have my least favorite team in the league right now. Why? Besides like the nets or something. I just find them so uninteresting. I said least favorite. Not worse.

They're not piss. I just find them so uninteresting. And I think it's because they're running it back with no first on pick because they made that fucking God awful tray for Yacopodal and gave up their pick this year. Yeah, I agree. They're severely lacking like brute young talent who has, who have like super interesting elements. Now they did go ahead and suck the dude.

I forget. He's a guard. and um dreads we do uh something walker something walker something walker yeah jacobi walk yeah oh yeah we'll take the 17th pick yeah yeah yeah exactly he is cool cool but more so if i'm them i'm looking for the big of the future and that's something that they need in order to jolt all of our interests back if not we and we and pain don't know if they had their pick they could have picked hell out where they could have picked zag yee because they could have had the eighth pick they could have something interesting they yeah

Hey, Yaku Poto, shout out. He's going to get traded. One thing you know is they will be trading Yacopoto at some point this season. Like I get a first roundbook. That I can promise you. They certainly will not. They will not get the athra pick overall. I guarantee that.

Donovan, what's your next team. I'm going to put my hat to the forward because we mean business right now. Oh, my God. We're talking about the new next. And the one thing, don't act like you didn't spew propaganda for like 20 minutes earlier. The one thing that I want everybody to know. is that this season you guys will enjoy wingstop

which is what we are calling our perimeter demons O.D. and O.D. and O.D. and O.N.O.B. and Mekyllis. They are so dominant, man. And I, and I I want everybody to understand what this duo is going to be able to do because after seeing, after seeing McHale and O.G. and Josh Hart just switch on the, on the perimeter and keep people in front of them, I feel a little bit better. about having cat at the five.

And like when you have really, really good, you know, defensive fives, you're able to be like, hey, you know what, you handle everything. We'll just try to, you know, funnel everybody into it. You can get your, you can get your blocks and everything like that. But when you have cat at the five and you have brunch at the one, somebody's going to have to be hidden. And on a night-to-night basis in the regular season, I feel very, very confident that this team is going to be able to put teams

in a lot of uncomfortable positions because of their versatility and the switchability on the perimeter. And seeing O.G. and McHale just being such sync brought a tear to my eye in preseason basketball. And I'm so excited to watch these guys just terrorized players for 36 minutes a night. And so, yes,

understand this perimeter defense is real. And so some of my concerns have been alleviated. Okay. look at that. No, I feel very good about this team, too. We obviously had our episode, but we made Night of the Trade. We weren't super high on it. I don't think we eviscerated it, but we were like, I don't fully understand it. I understand it more now, especially with the news today that Shams came out with and said that

Mitchell Robinson is not going to be better until 2025. He will not be available on this team until the next calendar year. They couldn't go into the season with no centers at all, starting Jericho Sims. So they had to make a move fast and Kat ended up being that move. Campaign. Thank God. Thank God they did that. man because if they had that team they had before with no match of Robinson for a whole year, it would have been ugly. Hidious. We're going to be so good. I love this.

Also, I guess one thing you know is McKill Bridges was definitely fucking phoning in defensively on the Nets. He looks so much better defensively already in the preseason. He did not lose a step defensively at all. His ass was not trying in Brooklyn. Would you try if your Murray Cowbridges in Brooklyn? What are you playing? Probably not.

Not if they make me run dirty pick and rolls a game. They were money laundering. We've known this. And now He's happy. I love this. Him and O's going to be crazy. No, it is. Yeah.

Okay. Something's better to be scared. My next team. Fear, Time sent Maria. 150. Shaking. I have the Cleveland Cavaliers.

They're strange, man. I don't know how to feel about them. At first I wrote down, expect Evan Moby Leap is coming. And I still do believe that. As one thing you should know, Evan Moby is going to be a lot better. I think in the preseason and in the playoffs last year,

we're seeing more aggression from him. The jump shot isn't going to come along, I don't think. I think it's dead in the water. But I think his pose scoring is getting a lot better. He's getting to the rim using his body and using his length more, despite not having the strongest build. He's getting good at knocking people up their spots and using his length to finish over people.

So I think he'll be in the all-star running this year. Ooh. All-star running. I don't know that he'll make it. I don't know that he'll make it. But he'll be in the running. He'll be in the conversation, which is never great. We've never had that convoy of him old before.

and I think he'll be like on the fringes because I think he'll once again be one of the five best defensive players in the world probably in the conference at least he's going to be in that running for DPOI like he was two years ago when he was third the last time they had a healthy season I think he'll be in that level again

and I think the scoring is going to be up there I think he's in a surpassed 20 points per game if that's the case then the Cavs are a lot to be one of the top four seats in the Eastern Conference no they are not because that conference is good at the top too I think they can be five If Moby's an all-star and is averaging

like 20 points a game no they'll be Or just averaging 20 a game, they have to be top four. Keep in mind, it doesn't matter if he's an all-star because they still have a non-shooting big next to him and we still don't know if Dary's Garland and D. Mitch can work together. So, like, it's no guarantee. If he's giving me 20 a game, Jared Allen, love your game, but you can go to hell.

Okay, I'm prioritized. All right. Evan Mobley is aggressive. We were just calling him Derek favors just four months ago. He scored like 17 last year. It's not like he averaged 11. It's not that big of a joke. 20?

Think you and your logos and your Star Wars out of here. Fuck that. More of the stories, it will continue to be frustrating. I think they'll be a good team. I think they'll be closer to what they were two years ago

when they were healthy because DeMitch isn't going to lose, I mean, Daris Garland isn't going to lose 15 pounds of muscle mid-season because of a jaw injury. So I think they'll be back. They'll be good again.

And expect Evan Moby continue to get better. But also, I said I was going to say that. That wasn't my primary thing in the end of the day. My primary thing is why are we forgetting that Rich Paul said if Donovan Mitchell resigns, he wants to request a trade for Darius Garland?

Why are you forgetting that Darius Garland does not want to be there? I completely forgot that was the thing. Me too, because that was reported that if DeMitch isn't traded, D.Macon wants to trade. And then after it happened, Rich Paul did an interview and they asked him about it. And he said, I have nothing to say about that right now. Obviously as an agent, I want my guys to be in the best position to put up numbers so they can attract value and be able to prove themselves in the league. But he didn't want to say, I'm requesting a trade because it was already done, and there was no, that wasn't the right time to do that.

If these go south, I don't think that they just forgot that they were unhappy with his role. So keep that in your mind come trade deadline that we've heard expressed written concern by Darius Garland and his agent for his role in this team. Because they can't trade Evan Mobley, they can't trade Demetch. Somebody said in the comments that Jared Allen got his extension and isn't eligible to be traded all this season. I thought it was January 15th he couldn't be traded to. I haven't fact checked that. but if he can't be traded all year because that extension

there's one less thing so if they're struggling again just keep in mind that there's going that's already not kind of happy god damn Darius you don't fucking Cleveland no more okay

if he's not allowed to cook he has to make his money so I mean it it'll be understandable but if everybody's cooking they're gonna win games so Darius can just be happy and win games

like he'll be fine if they win games for sure if they don't win games then I think no more deemit trade convos we're shifting to Darius Garland if it doesn't work. Just out of curiosity, what teams you think would be interested

in someone like Darrys Garland? If I'm the Orlando Magic, I am hopping on that as fast as possible because he fixed him in all your issues. If I'm the magic I'm doing it, if I'm the Lakers, I'm banging on the phone, but here's two first-on picks, here's Dalton Connect,

and here's fucking Bronny James if you want him. Like, we're going all in. Like, so many teams could use that point guard that he would have a rich market. They would get at least two good first-on-picks, maybe three. Two good first-on-picks. Look at this T.J. McConnell clone on the screen, man. He's hooping.

Okay. Anyways, my next team are... I forgot to turn this game off. I've just been watching the highlights. That's why he's been zoned out. I'm like, man, this is great. We're going to be so good. All right.

My next team and my last team are the Miami Heat. I kind of alluded to the same to the same thing last episode, I believe. I think I told you all, like, no one is signed under contract. after next season at all so this is the last verse pretty much the last version and you know yeah this is the last version of the miami heat that we're going to be witnessing led by jimmy bowler tyler hero and bam out of bio nothing's going to happen to bam not sure it's going to happen to tyler hero but i am damn near 90% sure that jimmy boller is not going to man on this team donovan let us know a couple months ago whatever that um him and pat riley was you know having a little

bit back and forth. Pat Riley more so saying like, yeah, you can't play like somebody, you can't play games. You're not healthy. And to me, seems like the Miami Heat have just simply missed out on their championship window, had opportunities to make moves for Bradleyville, guys like Zach Levine or whatever, guys like Donovan Mitchell and the last guy being Daniel. Now, they still have all their picks and if something last minute was to happen, an opportunity can be made and a push can be made. But I believe that they're probably getting ready to move on from this chapter of Jimmy Buller, get over this era,

and find the next thing to make them somewhat respectable as a team. Unless, play out Jimmy comes again and we get into the miraculous finals run. Oh my God. Let's dead this, please. It's over. It's not impossible. We've been here, done that twice now.

Who's to say what happened for the third time? That was like three years ago. You see what I'm saying? You see what I'm saying? At this point in the year, you can say whatever you want. And be like, hey, you never know. It might have.

Hey, 2020, 2022, I'm 2023, that's 2025. There's a pattern here. They go up and down, up and down. They're due for an up year. That's all I'm saying. That man is 35 years old. And listen, shout out to starting five because on the show, I am remembering. I'm like, yo, I actually do rock with Jimmy Butler a lot.

Like, he is cool. I'm still having a very hard time believing that at this point in his career, flipping the switch like that. is a luxury that's available to him. I don't think that's going to happen. Me either. Is that the last team? Donovan, do you have any teams left?

No, I'm good. You sure? Because last time we had two teams we didn't cover last time. They weren't my teams. They weren't my teams. Yeah, exactly. Are you done? I have the Sacramento Kings, actually,

which you gave me last second. Okay. I don't have anything to say about the Kings. I was looking and I was like, I don't know what you should know. I guess I'll say what you should know about the Kings is. I think they'll be pretty, they'll be very good in regular season.

I think they'll get back to what they were two years ago when they were the three seed. They won't be the three seed, but they'll look closer to that. Due to the conference strengthening, they won't be that high. But they're going to be like a top offense again, I think. It'll translate to the regular season greatly. Damar is going to make them better in the regular season. But I also call me a hater. Kings fans hate me on Twitter.

I don't care. I have zero affecting them in a playoff setting. So get ready for a very fun regular season that I personally do not believe will translate to anything in the playoffs at all. That's how you can ask for as a Kings fan. I think they would like more, but I cannot tell you I believe you will get more. I can't give you that right now. I can't give you a damn thing.

I can give you. You'll be in the playing race. You'll be in the playing race, but you'll be in the top half and you'll be looking real good to get one of those seven or eight seeds, which is a strong thing to be in the conference this year. That's not a slight.

I'm sorry, I can't give you that. Oh my God. Listen, I didn't get it. They'll just be in that race. They'll play the seven rate game. Tune in next week. So I can elaborate. on that point but right now

looking kind of scared I think you guys would be good at least in my mom at I think they'll be good I would say something that was very interesting for me entering this season until like news came out like a couple months ago

like two months here or whatever Devin Carter the recent 22 and 4 graphic which is very tantalizing to me or at least he was toward his shoulder and he's going to be missing out you're very tantalizing to me yeah he moved me for show but seeing that

Saying that he torn his labrium and his shoulder out, yeah, there's pretty much nothing to be learned. Yeah, tough. Okay, TikTok time now. Woo! Welcome to TikTok time. My favorite words. Yep, once again, we're beginning with a draft.

For a while now, we've been doing these drafts on the stream. We're once again bringing one back to the main pod. you know keep on your toes a little bit you don't know what to expect all these people talking with some where the draft said where the draft set come to the streams td3 tuesdays you've been there where you at it's here that that's what the live streams are like a third of you that watch the main pods weekly watch the streams some of you guys are missing out those are essentially second episodes with tictox in them so if you click to this time sam first because you're a creator and want to see ticotks hit the live streams let's do it let's lock in so today's draft

we're doing a draft of NBA journeyman to qualify as a journeyman you have to play for at least five NBA teams which it's kind of tough that's a lot of teams like more than you would think five NBA teams is a lot dude that's a lot of themes but also

some guys be ring chasing some dudes just you know they get passed around at the end of their careers this is true yeah so the order for the draft is me first most second Donovan third you guys know how this works

we're going to draw full NBA lineups with only players who played for at least five NBA teams. Okay. With that being said, the first pick in the draft, give me Shaquille O'Neal. Ah. Damn it. I'm glad I had the first picking this one. I'll say that.

As soon as I thought about like journeymen, I immediately thought about the Shaquille O'Neal memes. Yeah. Rainbow jerseys. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Okay. For the sake of strategy, I don't think he's the second best player in this draft.

But I need a big giving me Dwight Howard. It's not a bad pick, okay. Okay. Not a lot of dreaming and bigs, not a lot of great ones. Back-to-back Superman off the board. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. My bad, my bad. He's not Superman.

First pick overall. I will take Christopher Emmanuel Paul as my point guard. Ah, okay. I knew he wasn't coming back to me, but I had some hope. Yeah. Yeah, nah, no, no, no, no, never going to happen. Then at my three, I, I would love nothing more than if Tracy McGrady was my small forward. Mm, okay.

Okay. Interesting. All right, so as my small forward, Seattle, O KC, the Brooklyn Nets, the Phoenix Suns. Nope. Damn, he doesn't count. Nope. Damn. Wait.

Seattle and okay, C doesn't count to you. That's cheating. Wait, how does that count? That's the different team. That's changed your name. It's a different team. They changed your name and they changed the city.

It's the same. Get the fuck out of my face. Either way, he didn't play for five, so whatever. No, he played for five. What? No. No. Okay, anyways, I'm not even making that pick.

Regardless of the fact, go ahead and give me. You don't know. You weren't prepared. Oh, you're going old school. Let me go old school two Give me Vince Carter Oh okay

You're two or three Yeah I'm taking it Putting Vince at my three Okay Him and Dwight Some high flyers See I knew you

Yeah Athleticism See the thing is You guys didn't do your research Give me James Hard I'm at my point guard I was hoping That you didn't do your research

And he'll fall back to me Okay I was tempted to go hard and won Yeah Thunder Rockets Nets Sixes Sixers, yeah

I don't need a guy like that in my franchise anyways How are you defending a hardened shack pick and roll Kraft is done Co-bars That's how Distractors

And to go with them That's the only way to do it Who do I want to go with next You know what I'm a power for Give me Chris Weber That's good That's good work

That's cool Amazing passing talent On this roster Chris Weber, okay Hmm So I can either select a two or four You know what

Let me make Donovan hurt some more Just a little bit Give me Dante de Vincenzo My two guard Dante DeVincenzo Made your all-time journeyman list Okay He's hot, hot topic man

He's hot, all right Come on now I knew you were to say that. See, this is what I'm saying. This is why you should draft for yourself, right? For your own team instead of trying to, you know, mess up what I have going off. Focus on yourself. At my center, give me to Kimbe Metumbo.

Classic. You could have picked him later because we'll have you the goats. Well, listen, I don't know. I don't know what Mo's going to do. I don't know. You might go two settings and ever know. Exactly. So I have to get.

so I had to give my time by the center well most of the player in kamikaze is old too and there's a bullshit it's my center at my power forward I have to go

with the homie give me Carmelo Anthony he put for five teams yeah he definitely did Denver the Knicks the Lakers pulling trailblazers

some other team and thunder and thunder or Rockets, yeah. Laker. Wow, I forgot. Melo was a journeyman. Wow.

He slipped through the cracks. I completely forgot. Okay. Listen, he didn't show up on my list of research. That's some defortunate, but okay. So yeah. Those are my two picks. Okay.

So. I like that my team is showing up. All right. This is good. It's so good. Okay. Damn. Hold on.

A last minute player just popped into my head. I got to see if he actually pay for five teams. Okay, do some mental math. I'm thinking about the years. Nah, I don't think he made it. Tough. Damn, he didn't make it. Okay, whatever. Tough. Say a name.

At my point guard, give me Mo Williams. That is an absolutely horrible pick for who you could have had. How's a horrible pick? Don't tell me. There's a lot of good point guards left. It's too late. Anyways. Show me.

I'm gonna move hard into my shooting guard. Give me Chauncy Billis in my point guard. Ah! Oh, okay, that was okay. Need that. You put hard and toys. That's okay. Oh, no, there you go.

That's okay. To me, Chauncey Billups, and to round it out, I need a perimeter defender. Give me wrong our test. See, that's great. He was a dream. That's good stuff. What are the teams that did you play for? All of them.

He played for Chicago. He played for Philly. He played for the Lakers. He played for the Knicks, and he played for Houston, and he played for Sacramento. And he played for the Pacers. I do not remember Sacramento in the slightest. He played for three years from 2006 to 2008 before he went to Houston than the Lakers.

I do not remember Sacramento in the slightest. The Pacer shipped into Sacramento after he got himself suspended here. Okay, you know what? You got to run our test. I need someone who's with the shit and down for whatever. Go and beat Ronor test ass. Give me James Jones. I know James Jones.

He picked James Jones. No, no, no. You didn't even know who James Jones is. No, no, no. Yeah. No, this is not my job. You announced. That's not my job.

LeBron's not my death. That's not my draft, bro. This is the second time you've done this, same mistake. No, it's not. This is not my draft. Don't you. That is not my draft. I refuse to have my name on here.

Inde, Phoenix, Portland, Miami, Cleveland. Yep, James Jones made five. You got them. No, no. This is not my, this is not my draft. That's bull. David, who's the last pick? My last pick at the two guard.

I want some more defense. Give me Gary Payton. Okay, Gary Payton for five to use? Yeah. That's nice. I thought about that last minute Damn Seattle, Milwaukee

the Lakers Boston and Miami Oh I didn't even realize That tough I would have picked him Over Billups I think

That's who That's what I thought You were You were gonna pick No I forgot Gear Paying I didn't see him I didn't The team was small

But your team was full of hoopers I didn't let out a fake screen That That way you could think That you got Your team is fucking strange I don't think It would really work

but there's some talent there. Who? You got two bucket getters, two point guards and a big. Who are the two bucket getters? Mellow Mellon. T-Mack. Okay.

Exactly. You got a lot of that. But okay. A table setter, a defender, two bucket getters, but tumbo. We're like it.

We're okay. It's going to be nasty to watch. I have Chauncy Billups, James Hardin, Ron Artes, Chris Weber, Shaq. Nice.

I got Mo Williams, Dante, Devin Chenzzo, Vince Carter. I don't know who that for is. and Dwight Howard. It's not James Jones. It's on my team.

You're throwing a fit room. All we did was listen to the words you said. That is true. I put no words in your mouth. It's literally the words you said. It couldn't be closer to it. It couldn't be closer to it. Far from it.

It is the precise two words you said. That's what it is. You've been taken seriously and read literally. All we did was trust you in the words you said. It's not what I said. That's true. Can we go with the six men? Because all I want to do, I want Rashid Wallace on my team as well.

Bet, I want Isaiah Thomas. Give me 5-9 God off my bitch. Let's go. You know what? Who's your six-man, Mo? Give me tattoo man. Give me Chris Anderson. You could have had James Watson.

No. That boat has shipped away. I don't need that. I wanted to pick IT so bad, but Bill's was there. I'm like, he just fits it hard and I got to do it. But I wanted I see really bad. CP3, Gary Payton, T-Mack, Carmelo, Matumbo, Rashid Wallace. Yeah.

I love that team. The bag is a great T. That's a great T-K team. I love my team. Very fun 2K team. We're alive to hate each other. Oh, 100%. It would be awful.

Next thing we're going to do, run back a tier list. Getting back to our roots a little bit. I haven't done a tier list in a while besides the one we did on stream. That was a full episode tier list. besides the one we did three days ago we haven't done it we haven't done a TikTok tier list in quite a while

and with that being said we're going to do a tier list of the oldest players in the NBA I got the 10 oldest active players right now we're going to put me a cheer list

based on where they are in their careers geriatric I geriatric tier list okay so first name LeBron James

ST he's the greatest old man the game is every single the greatest retirement home E in NBA history Yeah exactly The man who seems to I don't want to say not age

But barely age Put him in ass No he's listen I saw a dunk from the other day He's getting not that high Off the ground but I say His eyes are not going past the rim anymore I'll tell you that

But man those shoulders are flying He's In the post using that strength Okay Let's go with a champion Al Horford He could probably be an A Still very service

Yeah we're going off where they are this year He's a backup but he's going to be playing an important role Because he has to start with KP injured So I don't know He's vital to a championship team Yeah Yeah exactly

I think he's super still vital He would get minutes on any team To this day still He'll play 20 minutes on any team And I mean like compared to the other old men on this On this list he is better than a lot of them So yeah we can go A with Al Horford He's a.

Yeah, after LeBron, there's a stark drop-off. I almost feel like maybe there is no A-tier's old men right now. No, a bunch of B and lower and the LeBron is just like God. He is like two tiers level, two tiers above everybody else. So maybe he should be B and he should be the second highest. No, let's stick to the context. Old men, Al-Hawford is A. All right, all right.

Where do you want to go with Jeff Green? He might be C or D. He became that money though. Jeff Green keeps the job. I don't know what team it'll be. I can promise you to be a new one every year, actually. But he'll keep a job. Who is his agent?

God damn. A good one, I'll tell you that. I'll go see. He's a, yeah, either C or D. He's serviceable for like 10, 15 minutes a game. Yeah, Jeff. Yeah, he was six and a half points last year. That's not bad.

That's really good. But that's also, it's also he's one ankle sprained away from being an assistant coach. so I'll say I'll say you see you say that man's on Corey Brewer timing 100% where do we go with PJ Tucker he may don't know what PJ Tucker He may be 39 demanding trades Put him in the last three years

PJ Tucker shows up at what he signs contracts To go play for NBA teams and shows up angry the vibes have been awful around PJ Tucker The only headline about him in the last three years Is when he wants to be at a new team And it happens every nine months He's constantly upset Why are you so angry PJ

The most difficult 39 year old ever Bro he got nice shoes in a in like Makes it over a billion dollars a year I don't understand it Can we go see to with him as well? Isaac you said this last stream But for the people on the podcast This man averaged

1.7 points last year the year before that 3.75 and the year before that 7 put him in F 30 he played 31 games last year he is getting

with the Philadelphia 76 he's getting cardio he's getting paid to do cardio put him in F tier yeah it's a bit dramatic to my one time favorite role player but

your other favorite role player also retired today shout out Danny Green shout out Danny Green shout out Danny Green okay I know he's your favorite Todd

Gibson. Oh, now's his guy. Isaac would fight people about Danny Green. People don't know the value of transition defense. Danny Green was an all-N-A-level defender. Didn't get the recognition because people don't like it. Talk about the time he almost won finals MVP. Talk about it.

You remember those times? Talk about the time he won a championship of my favorite team. The only one I've ever seen in my lifetime to Los Angeles Lakers in 2020. He loved that, man. All right, where we're going with Todd Gibson? Oh, he can't be F because he's always getting a job. He's so reliable. He's Tibbs.

That means a locker room presence. Lockroom presence alone makes him higher than F. He needs to be in like E for emergency. If you are... Every team with a button when you need a big... Todd Gibson. Emergency. If you suffer two or more injuries at your center position,

Todd Gibson is coming into your facility for a 10 day. Is that that that cartoon? The replacements? Yeah. Replacement parents. Todd Gibson is the replacements. When I think about Todd Gibson these days, I just think about old man Todd Gibson back in the...

I think it was a Hawk series or something like that where he abs or Trey Young snatched his ankles and tore him apart. Of course, that's why he only signed Trey Young. That's why he only signed

10 days. He got crossed and he was like, yeah, I can't do this part-time. I can't. I can't be a full-time NBA player. We're going to detour with him. At least he's not difficult.

He's a good lockering presence. That's what you need from the old's. Yeah. Speaking of the replacement button, where do we go with James Johnson? Again, he's like a hitman for hire. Yeah.

We saw the Indiana patients have no guys back up, protect Tyrese Halliborne back when they got in the scuffle with the Milwaukee Bucks last year. The next day later, they re-signed James Johnson, who was unemployed for the mad long, just to simply be ass. He plays an essential role in the NBA. If your team is lacking dog, you call his number. That gets him a deedier. Yeah, I agree.

He's just as useful as Todd Gibson. I'm with it. That's how I knew that the patients were a serious franchise. They knew that they had to protect their first act played, and they called James Johnson. They recognized it like a dog and made something happen. Yes. Some people sat on the hand and had just a puppy team. They weren't okay with that.

They weren't complacent. Yeah. I like that. Good job Indiana. James Johnson bought his ass, his bags is his nunchucks all the way to Indiana. His nunchucks is crazy. Where do we go with Garrett Temple? Who?

No, play. Don't do that. Don't do that. I know my bag. Come on. Bad, my bad. Hey, I'm not going to lie. I can't remember a notable moment of Gary Temple in the last like four years.

He's on the Raptors, but only technically. He has a bag, and he's a good venture presence. Not allowed to him. He has a bag? No, like, now we're just saying. No, no, no, no, not like bag, like, uh-huh, but like he's a bad getter. Like, put him in need. Not like, uh-huh.

Yeah. He gets paid. Exactly. So, he's a constant professional. He's talked a lot. He's talked about a lot. one of the most, like, veteran-ass veterans. Like, he's very good for your young player

locker room. Sounds like another D-tier player to me. Exactly. Let's put him in D. You keep him around to teach the young guys how to tie their ties, how to file taxes. He plays a role. Probably invest money.

Don't employ your first NBA paycheck. Garrett Temple is the guy. Open a 401K, make a Roth IRA. He's essential for these young guys. Think about retirement. The average NBA player's career only lasts for four years. Get your life together.

Everyone needs to care to help in their life. I need to give me a Garrett Temple. I need a mentor. Exactly. Come here. Come here. I got some game for it. I got some game. I think he was in the NBA PA too. He's just buttoned up. He was. Outstanding member of the Union. Good job. Chris Paul. Another outstanding member of the Union. No, no, no. Oh, he is. You're right. Listen, if LeBron's, I thought he wasn't. I was like, oh, no, you're actually right. I see Chris Paul and I see the most

B-tier old man I've ever seen Do you think he's less effective than Al Horford? Name me one important thing Chris Paul has done in the last three years. He threw Wembea Lobb two days ago. In the preseason, fantastic. Exactly.

Building chemistry for the regular season. And he'll do that many times and that's why he's B-tier because if he could throw a lot of still. He's setting up a future goat who you You love for 14 minutes a game. He's basically doing what Garrett Temple is doing off the floor on the court. We've seen the groundworks to build a community up piece by piece.

That's what I'm saying. We've seen Chris Paul over and over again, mentor the youth. You wonder why OKC has an MVP candidate now? Chris Paul. I wonder how does Shagin so good at Griffin for fouls? Chris Paul. James Hardin's best chance for a championship? Chris Ball.

Notices are all achievements done five years ago But I'll take it Chris Ball can be a tier He's been old for a long time Like he's been old as soon as he turned like 32 damn The moment the moment he got traded from the clippers Oh man Washed old All right where do you go with jingles Joe Ingalls

Jingles He'll put him in C because he still plays Yeah he's very much like Jeff Green He has a rotation spot that he will not do a lot for you but he'll fill some minutes he's just the white jeff green that's it you know they they both fill the role i don't want to say it but you're right they they feel they feel they feel they feel the role they got the bald spot on top it's it's it's very similar this is the unc tier let's read name c tier for unc i like unc tier okay cool he's probably

putting palo up on mad game i like that i don't think he's on the magic anymore oh yeah i think he's he's like for somebody is it the bucks he's on who we play for no not the bucks Joe Ingoals, who's he playing for right now? Why am I drawn to Some young team, is it the... Timberwolves. I'm looking at it up. Yeah.

It's Timberwolves. Yeah. Oh, he's giving Anthony Edward all the game. Rob Dendingham, you are in good hands. And that doesn't, everybody needs an uncle locker room. It works.

Jared Dudley kept the job for a while for that reason. That's what I says. This is the Jared Dudley dear. Jared Dudley, too. Okay. And last but not least, Kyle Lowry. He's the perfect.

B-tier player he actually still plays sometimes I don't know how his virtual leadership is that's fair he's more useful than Jeff Green but less useful than Al Horford that feels exactly like B-tier yeah exactly exactly Kyle Lowry's on a team and he will play more than we can say for a lot of olds yeah put some expectations on him he's probably gonna disappoint you but still productive he can still flop you know he gets to throw those hips around yeah exactly He just going to swing that wagon in the way of a nearby guy.

He doesn't nobody say any of that. We're not saying that. He's actually doing it. He can draw an offensive foul. I'll tell you that. Yeah. I'm just observing. Yeah.

Backdoor screens, goad at it. And there we go. This is our tier list of the best olds in the NBA right now. The top 10 oldest players, LeBron S tier, Al Horford and Chris Paul A tier, Kyle Lowry B tier, Jeff Green and Joe Ingalls C tier, Taj Gibson, James Johnson, Garrett Temple D tier and PJ Tucker F tier. Random straight.

It's not a random straight. It's just difficult. It is what it is. Go to therapy, PJ. Why are you so angry? Oh, my God. This might be the easiest cheerlecks who've ever done. This was so clear cut.

There's no disagreement whatsoever besides our. All we do is make perfect tierless, so it makes sense. You say that and I feel like you're lying, but this instance, you are correct. All right, man, next thing we're going to do, I'm going to name some NBA players, and I want you to tell me what it says about somebody if it's their favorite player. Okay. So, this is what your favorite NBA player says about you, assuming it's one of these 10 guys. Okay. First off, LeBron James.

You are a glazer. I think you're a great guy. What? You are a glazer. You say it's in my face then. You are a glazer. I'll say, I'll tell you you. What do you mean?

I'm a truther, not a glazer. No. I just spread word. It's a good gospel. Anybody who has LeBron as their favorite player will go to the ends of the earth to glaze him and to tell you why he is their king, why he is their sunshine. Why he, like you said, why he is their why in the morning. Sometimes there's a grown man that's your sunshine. I think you should acknowledge it.

Exactly. I think they're ball knowers. I don't know. Who's to say? Right here. Glaze and glaze. My point is me. That fucking meme is so funny.

This is a little son. Yeah, sounds like they're on the right side of history to me. Exactly. Sounds like time. Sounds like history will verify you as being correct. How about that? It's hilarious. You know, it's so like a greater topic.

Nah, I never mind. Never mind. Kevin Durant. You're not loyal, but you respect greatness, I will say. Tells me you kind of snakey a little bit. You don't care about your homies like that. You are selfish. You do what's the best for you no matter what.

This is getting crazy. Let's see. If Kevin Durant is your favorite player, you are a contrarian. You like to just be different. Yeah. I think you love a step. aesthetics. Exactly. You think that you're quirky. You think that you're different. You're over here just during lunchtime, shooting the ball like that, always. You definitely like to argue. And you

know Kevin Durant fan is quiet about it. You definitely argue to death or why he's actually been the most talented player in the league. A hundred percent. Like, you're not just a calm Kevin Durant fan. You are a stand. You're either 100 percent there or you don't like him at all. And on top of that, your hair is nappy and you are ashy. is her favorite player you don't know what lotion looks like oh Jesus Christ As she on the elbows in the ankles

God damn Start and fire But you're probably a bucket Absolutely Your hezzy game Right to left cross Probably crazy You got it

You've definitely been watching YouTube videos So replicate his moves I guarantee you that Huh Ha It's always Next one

Dramon Green Anger issues Your teachers hated you You were in medicine school You had the silver teeth You were biting erasers You were just crazy Skipping class going to the gym

Asking for just one shot Proceeding to take five shots Missing them all That is you've always You've always wanted to be part of a food fight I guarantee you've always been like Hey should we start a food fight And nobody's never down

And you've been upset about that Just a loser You are the king of in-school suspension. You've loved with your teacher many times. You've been put in timeout in the silent corner too many times, bro. You calling somebody a loser is so funny.

Your YouTube history, straight young boy. I would hate to be defined as like a loser. It's so like, it's so finite. Being a loser. You can't wear those pants. You wear those skinny pants with the lines on them going all the way down. Oh, the bike. Losers.

That's the word of insult possible. All right. Next one. Kyrie Irving. Oh, you walk around the house, the mall, anywhere that you are, you're on stepping. Really? You can finish on any door frame that you see. You think that jealous.

is the meaning of basketball and you just you hate analytics anytime somebody tweets about a number you're like get the shit out of my face nerd you can't stand it you probably failed math you don't have a firm

grasp on algebra not gonna lie they might as well always just walk around the house with tin floor on their head not even in the house outside tin floor on their head and they're going down a different path you're in touch with yourself spiritually

you definitely watch a lot of highlights and practice them in the mirror yeah yeah okay okay okay okay well I had so many thoughts after you said the 10 14 that I had to restrain myself I'm happy I didn't open those

those gates too much Oh, you did. Okay. Next one. Jordan Poole. Oh. You bite your lips way too often. Entirely too often.

Yeah. You send a lot of IG DMs. You slide up on every single story you see. Not only that. You're a shot taker. Yeah, for sure. He's on a story. I'm trying not to be too disrespectful.

No, no, no, no it is. You're the time. that if you hang out with some girls and you're with your friend you'll start clowning him way too hard to try to impress everybody he might put him in a headlock he might put him in a headlock

exactly he's a y'all think I made too much money I don't think I get too many bands he's on his IG story asking for like to be honest and rates and some more stuff and he's faking those rates to

making burner accounts and just texting himself on these stories. Y'all think I should buy another Mayback? All right, next one. Chris Paul. You are a rule follower.

You have never broken the law in your life and you will switch on anybody. What? You cannot be trusted. Call monitor. No, it is. Note it is. You are in junior ROTC.

That's what it is. you have a good heart that's what I'm saying you are in line you have a good head on your shoulders but it makes you annoying you got like a 3.5

GPA in high school pretty pretty astute if you asked me you are a limit above average there you go you're doing better than most you ain't 4.0

yeah you ain't 4.0 you ain't one of the greatest but you're doing pretty good perpetual line pusher you'll do anything to win our next one devon booker let's see

I just think of that clip when that one documentary was like pretty boy soft a bitch I don't know who they were talking about that clip is hilarious they were talking about Christian Leitner oh Christian Leitner Who said that?

Who was like a bitch? Who said that? It was one of the Jawan Howard? I remember it was something like that. It was the fat five doctor And it was one of the Yeah

But let's see If Devin Booker is your favorite player You're a fashion kid for sure You definitely are super high On all the brands Yeah you know what you're doing You're infactionated with the He's probably one of them kids

You just be like I was born in the wrong generation type stuff You wear loafers. Yeah, exactly. You thrifted all your clothes. You were wearing Birkenstocks like six years ago, and now you're off that. That's true.

Are you the definition of misunderstood? Probably. Yeah. Might be. Just standing all weird in pictures? That's not a bull bull fan. What else was my Devon Booker? You're not somebody anybody would ever call tough.

When the going gets tough, you don't know exactly. think I get going. There you go. No, it is. I bet Devin Booker fans are Mama's boys. God damn. I don't know why. I don't know why.

I bet you are a mama's boy. What did you see? To tell you that information. I don't know. Love your mom. Yeah, a lot. A lot. I can't tell you why.

I just feel like you're just very, very close to your mother. other side doesn't got to be a bad thing but it's a thing yeah just an observation exactly okay I actually like them booker a lot which is funny next one joellen bead oh you're a scammer scammer that was charged okay I was going to say tattletale but you took it to a whole new level that feels charged no no no no no that Scambers Cray

You see credit card scams You see credit card scams Oh Hey man Next one I can't focus on Joel anymore Anthony Edwards

You are 16 and if you're not 16 mentally you're 16 exactly you are a kid in an adult's body sound like a real-eyed dude to me you grew up and you don't know how to do laundry because your mother always did it for you that was funny did you see in starting five he said i don't do my laundry ever he had his uncle like packs everything packs for him yeah what really that's late yeah notice when you go to things no Anthony Edwards fans when they go to like Thanksgiving

they love like playing sports with a little cousin that's like dominating him you see a kid you have to destroy him in sports every single time he is sure Duncan on the seven year old on their little

unlike the little Tykes thing he's dunking on him and you're just like want to go see who could throw the football further you just feel the need to flex your athleticism with every chance but once again you are 16

age Oh, you know what it is? You're also the type that if you're a regular dude, you believe you could hold your own with NBA players or with NFL players. You think you could just stand the dick. I can tackle Marshall Lynch one time. He said, bro, what?

Like, if you give me like 10 chances, like you don't think I can get a one time? I'll bring them down one time. I'll trip them. Like, I'm not, like, I'm not small or anything, you know? Like, bro, I played football. Like, I played, I played varsity. I was in the sixth game.

ACL. I didn't blow all my ACL. I'd be there. Like you saw you saw you saw coach didn't like me like me. Like I should have I should have played more. That's always the thing coach didn't like me. Oh my God. That's so accurate. You said this. Kauai Leonard. What? Quay Leonard. I was like I'll tell you off camera. But Mr. Gaines is if I see you is up. I'm telling you right now. I better not see Mr. Gaines. just right now. Furious. This is a crazy last name.

Seventh grade science teacher, doubled as the basketball coach. Man, he didn't know anything. Bro, literally, no, I'm going on. I'm going on.

I'm going to tell you all right now. I'll never forget. I was so furious because, now mind you, I made my game. I was Pat Bev in middle school, right? I was not talented.

But there was one game. I was like, I was trash. Bro. I mean, listen, I hustled. I did all the little things because that's what everybody said

got you on the court. We played like the season opener. I did not get any minutes in the game. I went to Coach Kansas after practice the next day. And I said, coach, not even saying like, oh, you should play me. I said, what do I need to do

to get on the floor? Coach Kansas looked straight at me and say, you're good. Oh my God. What a way to kill dreams. I said, what? Like, I can't do 18,000. so co-cates if i see you is up it's on site

where none of your schools reputable or fixable at all damn that's crazy he said you have no you have nothing you could work on stay on that bench stay on that bench you're good that's crazy I was ridiculous last player back to the topic of the video Kauai Leonard you're quiet

but you're hilarious introvert yeah introvert core you stick to the basics in everything you don't you don't like anything flashy you don't like anything yeah you tuck your shirt in you wear a belt you wear some nice tan slacks yeah jake jake from state farm vibes yeah elite performer at your job though but whenever your co-workers ask you yo bro you're trying to go out link let's go to a club nah he's good he's going to i gotta go home i gotta go go home and do mental math yeah exactly exactly figuring out how to get better at his job when people

washing dishes yeah when people ask you like what do you do for fun you just say i really just be chilling for real you know like yeah that's it chores yeah meanwhile he's taking like oh yeah you have a clean room your bed is made your bed is made all the time okay yeah i see that i see yeah yeah think about that one yeah and that's the end of that I see some things about him do that don't make me think that, but whatever. Maybe I don't have my Kauai Leonard knowledge of. Next thing we're going to do, I'm going to put you guys through some NBA trivia. Oh, man.

I have a slideshow prepared where I have five levels of NBA trivia. You guys are on a team and you guys have to see if you can get through all five. So at least one of you has to get it right to continue to move to the next level. Five levels. Okay. All right, let's go. I don't think it's super hard, but I don't know. you guys suck a trivia so maybe you guys will disappoint me who suck at trivia not me i mean

are the questions actually real or are they like fake trivia questions like no no i'm not doing this like mo where i get them all wrong like we've been fed before we've been set up to fail these are correct answers this trivia is possible i'll tell you that okay put them up so level one who is the fourth pick of the 2021 NBA draft well this is your back okay so who was the faces the 2021 NBA draft. This was Cade, Jalen Green, Evan Mobley, Franz Wagner.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no. No, it was, it was Scotty. Thank God, Donovan knows, it is Scotty Barnes. Moe almost lost on level one. Mo, the draft is your thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm tripping. I'm tripping.

Donovan saved y'all. Please, love. Level two, who has the most DPOIs of all time? Okay, so Rudy has four, Ben has four, the Kimbe has four, is there anybody with five that I'm forgetting? I think there's somebody with five that I'm forgetting and I can't, I can't, I can't remember. I can't remember who. So I'm just going to throw this out. Please say me Bill Russell.

Yes. Mo, do you have an answer? Is Bill Russell. Level two, you guys failed? No. You had it right. It's a three-way tie between Ben to Kim Bay and Rudy Gaubert.

I thought. I thought I remember. I can't even post this because y'all removing the TikTok by losing a level two. Damn. Let's keep on. Let's keep on.

Yeah. You guys suck. Let's keep going. Just make this level five. If you watch the episode, you'll know what happened. If you're on the TikTok, you won't know.

It's fine. You guys are asking. but we're going to keep going. Let's go. Level three. Level two. How many times has LeBron average 10 assists? One.

There we go. One time in 2021. I mean, 2020. Yep. Well, that's a little bounce back. You still suck, but a little bounce back. We're so good. Level four.

What team drafted Kyle Lowry? The Memphis Grizzlies. Okay, look at that. You still suck, but you got level four right. Come on now. We messed up one time. We do this And level five

Can you finish off strong And redeem yourself Who has more triple doubles Hakeem Elijah won or Chris Paul See this is just a fun fact This is a trivia Yeah I'm gonna say Hakeem

I would lean towards I don't know Because I don't think CP3 is getting Rebounds like that He has before In his Slipper days I think I remember

Watching I came vividly When he got one Yeah I'm going to Hakeem I'm going to Hakeem I think he's more logical Because CPs always play with like

Biggs for real Like really What do you think is harder? Do you think it's harder for a CP3 to get rebounds Or for Hakeem to get assists? It's harder for Cp3 to get rebounds But it could be tricky But we go Hakeem logically I would go to Hakeem

But I don't know why I want to say CP3 You guys went out sad once again It is Chris Paul I knew it's like for 21, you're 20 years he has 18 and Hakeem has 14 Oh see this Yeah

At least you got three right Damn That's a majority That's good It's also a failing letter grade We don't care about grades We're not in school Wait when you're in some

Some schools I was made to wear this by some other friends in Georgia 60 is a D Is that correct? Is that accurate? Yeah yeah 60s a D Yeah And that's passing to some schools? Yeah.

In college you can get credit sometimes. But our school, you got credit for this class, but a lot of your major requirements you had to get a C at least. Sounds like we passed. I guess. You got a horse credit. Passed fail.

There you go. That's what got me through senior. Was past fair. Facts. Okay. Next year we're going to do, you know, a couple years ago now on the show, we had some meetings for a lot of times.

This is season three of the show now. We're going at it. We've done, who is the best player in this franchise of history. We've done that for every team. We've done who's the best offensive player for a lot of teams. So we're going to mix it up. Who is the most unguardable player

in this NBA team's history? Okay. It's a little bit different. It's unguaratable. So, you know, that has its own meaning for some players. Some players are better, but the term unguardable can be different. Who can move your ass on 101? Who's undefeated in one-on-one? There you go. So we'll start off with the easy one. The Los Angeles Lakers.

Is it a key? You can't guard Kobe. You're going Kobe. I think it might be Shaq honestly. For unguardable? Come on. Yeah. Kobe's way more likely to miss than someone like that.

Surely your glaze has a limit and you can at least him shack unguardable. Do you want me to call Hakim Elijah want to get him on the phone? Because he'll guard Shaq right now. Hey, that wasn't a liquor shack. That wasn't a liquor shack. He wasn't doing that in the Lakers uniform. He's, listen. Mm-mm.

It's Kobe. When Shaq had them pounds on him? Nah. No, it is so easily, it is so easily 2001, Shaq. No, we got it. Yeah, wait on him. Yeah, it's Shaq. Relax.

Dang. All right, the Hawks. It's Dominique Wilkins. I So Joe was a dangerous man. They called him Iso Joe for a reason. He was, but I'm giving Dominique the nod just because he could also dunk on you in a way that Joe can't. there's a there's a man Bob pettett it Bob pettit had a bag

on the first hook shot stay out of this conversation stay out of the shadow stay out of here go back play basketball the right way he's just stay over there yeah

none of that flashy shit yeah but that many he could jump over people I'm gonna give him that out damn Jamal Crawford is coming into these conversations too that's kind of sad man

the hawks don't have a lot of bucket getters do they like pure bucket getters they don't get buckets they don't Shout out to you wrong The Milwaukee Bucks It's Yonis It's Yonis

Over Kareem It's Yonis Nah, it's got to be Prime Kareem Do you think so? Yeah, I mean The hookshot is a definition of unguardedable Yeah

Karim is why we have this conversation As the most unguarable player Of his time Yeah, I think if you have The unstoppable move You get to be called unguardedable Yeah And if you want to say

honest is a better offensive player overall maybe you have an argument but for unguardable you are not even close yeah okay think of just yeah when it comes to simply putting the ball in the basket yeah go ahead yeah okay the sacramental kings hmm see they do not have a rich history of bucket getters it is a bleak bleak list so the marten rosen might walk in and take that title year one yeah the marter the air fox is on the list easily. No one's calling Dier and Fox

and guardable. No one's calling Sabonis unguardable. Fucking Vladay Dvok, I don't know. Prime Boogie?

I guess. Yeah. Going back to Oscar Robertson. Tiny Nate Archibald? Prime Boogie was a problem. Not name. Not name.

I bet Nate Archibald was unguarded for his time. Let's go with Tiny. Tiny. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, not,

nah, not, not, not, unguardable? Exactly. That was insane for the time period. He said,

oh my God. It's a wizard. Let's go But I like Prime Boogie. I like Prime Boogie. Probably was that motherfucking unguardedable. What are you talking about? We're just saying the most unguardable in the franchise.

Sure, sure. Who fits the criteria the best? Yeah. And I'll say Boogie. Bleak history of the Kings. Okay. The Spurs. The San Antonio Spurs.

Tim Duncan's a hard one because he's obviously like their best. player and I guess I mean pretty hard to guard the post close on guardable but the volume isn't like the same would you see yeah I was gonna say is ice man I'd probably gotta be you can't I think first time you could not stay in front of Georgia for yeah Tim Duncan is using three moves and this I couldn't stop him George Griffin had all George Griffin had to was run straight and nobody could stay in front of him that was pure and guardable this is hard genuinely Tim Duncan has he has everything available to him in his bag within 7

feet. And then, and then at 15 feet, bang shot from everywhere in the floor. George Grover led to the league and scoring her three times. That's fine. Everybody else had a two inch vertical. So he played in like 1980, not 1940. Everybody else was all cracked. So like, what do you want to say? Everybody else was smoking rocks before going out. No No

I guess Whatever Whatever What a way to admit is George Gervyn's legacy I love George The league was on crack Okay

The Clippers Honestly Probably 2021 Kauai Yeah Kauai You all young guys I don't understand

Vintage Bob McAdo. Bob McAdo was a problem. Gross. You couldn't stop him in the post. I'm just telling you. Offensive rebounds, unstoppable. I'm just telling you what I have seen on a game-to-game basis. 2021 Kauai is, he was special.

Is Bob McAdoo see looking Kaui Leonard in the eyes in a 1v1? I do not. Bob McAoolew. I think it has to be Bob McAdu. Buffalo? In what year? Buffalo clippers. In what year?

uh 1975 who we you know exactly what's going on around that time yeah that's the start of the era that's when they first started it's in the pack just touched down yeah just got to be in the hoods

this is a crazy ass segment the Pacers I don't know I mean shout out to Danny Granger Reggie Miller Reggie Miller Might be the answer though

Paul George's course Shout out to you Germain O'Neill You know come on Oh my God You and Germain O'Neal I guess it's Paul George I mean

Reggie Miller didn't He's not like asserted like that As a volume score so I don't know That's kind of sad But like Paul George being unguarded? Yeah, you can't call Paul George unguarded I guess we can go Reggie Because like nobody

Nobody ran the way that Reggie did Yeah, you know, Reggie got to his spots And was uninhibited Maybe he didn't want to shoot as much as everybody else does But when he wanted to shoot, he shot He wanted to stop him from getting his game off Yeah, I'll go Reggie I'll go Reggie, I'll go Reggie.

Yeah Reggie played at his own pace He was in his own flow You couldn't really take him out of it All the buzzwords Okay The Golden State Warriors It's Steph Curry

And it's not It's not close Oh hold on now Ungardable Kevin Durant and Will This is the one time Where Steph isn't the only answer Will and Katie are both unguardedable

It's not Will It might be Will for his time You could not guard Will's For his time Keywork Yes he played with milkmen Nevertheless they couldn't guard him I'm not doing that

I'm not giving him that credit. If you want to say, if you want to say Kevin Durant, you got it, right? And I, and I won't, I won't argue, right? I'm not giving Will Chamberlain the not.

You have so much hate in your heart for this man. We can open the file. What, what talking point of discrediting do you want me to go for? The part-time job, the race relations, those math teachers didn't send a chance

it's not will come on now oh my god I would say Katie though fine Kevin Garterable yeah fine Kevin around some guardable yeah he got it

the Toronto Raptors oh 2019 Kauai Litter literally that's the only answer yeah those nine months of Leonard is by far nine months

out does what everybody else did in their entire career at the Raptors. He was clearly the most incredible player. Damn. What about the years that DeMarta Rosa put on there? Oh, he was very cardinal. Shout out of mid-range jumpers. As soon as the Cleveland Cavaliers walked through those doors, he became guardable.

Does T-Mack stand a chance in these conversations? Not at all. Not even a little bit. Not even a little bit. T-Mack, I just tried to fend for you as a teenager, but never mind. I thought the 18-year-old 19-year- was pretty cool. Kauai was different.

Last but not least, the Phoenix Suns. It's Charles Barkley there? We can't put Steve. I'm Kevin Durant's there now. Oh, fucking for you, Katie's there. He moves around too much. God damn, he's everywhere. How many times you showed up in this conversation?

I know. Every team, Kevin Durant. Sit still, Kevin, dang. Is Devin Booker in the conversation? Who's more guardable? Devin Booker or Charles Barkley? I think Devin Booker's more guardable for so I mean unguardable

It's Charles Barkley then Okay, so we're going to disqualify Kevin Durant For entering his name too many times in the contest And then we've got to go Charles Barkley Yes Charles Barkley The Brown amount of rebound appears again What about the Pelicans

Listen, when Zion's healthy Don't you dare Is In the 15 In the 13 games a year we get peak Zion, is he the most on guard of Luson? No, 2019 Anthony Davis, special. 2018, Anthony Davis, when he was moving like a guard while dunking on your head,

handles of a guard, real handles of a guard, still had his jump shot? Yeah, Zyloves on, but he's not fuck with that person. The amount of spinning middies I've seen 2019 AD hit was crazy. Yeah, no, no, 2019 AD was different. Yeah, I have no idea. He was a gazelle. They don't make them like that no more. these kids literally do not remember prime anthony davis yeah no prime ad was genuinely different

i love zon but no can't compete and you know what the end of our show today that's all we have for y'all we're pushing three hours it's a nice long episode mo what should people comment if they're still here go ahead thank you i'm still missing the kill man i'm still missing the kill i'm got the downs right now bro i can't think straight i can't think straight i can't think straight All right, well, he goes emo Jimmy mode. Donovan, which people comment while they're still going to do. Oh, Nicker. Wait, let me FaceTime Nicker real quick.

See what you're going to answer. Okay. He might not. Anyways, if you're still here, comment, comment, comment. We hate you, Coach, Kansas. We hate you, Coach, Kansas. We hate you, Coach, Kansas. No.

I don't know who Coach Kansas is. She's just ready to be living her life, man. Damn. Hey, fuck, I'm not. She's living her life, coach. And we'll see all next week.