The Deep 3 Podcast - 5 NBA Stars That NEED To Win The Finals NOW (Ft. KOT4Q) | Ep. 85

Episode Date: April 19, 2024

These NBA stars are under pressure and need to win this playoffs. Check out the TD3 merch: https://the-deep-3-shop.fourthwall.com/ Join the TD3 discord!: https://discord.gg/RUkjpMPp7E 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- Bulls vs Hawks 9:27- Warriors are cooked 22:25- Lakers vs Pelicans 33:32- 76ers vs Heat 43:10- Stars Under Pressure Intro 43:30- James Harden Talk 50:25- Jayson Tatum Talk 53:53- KD/Suns Talk 56:15- Cavs Talk 1:04:27- Luka Doncic Talk 1:07:00- Giannis & Lillard Talk 1:12:12- TikTok Time Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All right, Kenny. You want to start off by giving us a 15-minute rant about how Kobe White and how he's better than Anthony Edwards? 15? I was thinking 2030, but I can, I can look into 15, I guess. Yeah, contain yourself for once. The cranium is crazy. Oh, my God. I mean, I don't know what to say. Rejoice. Welcome back to the show, Kenny. Third time you've been on.

Appreciate you having you coming back on. Of course, of course. As you guys see by the title, we are going to talk about the NBA stars that have the most approve under the most pressure, you know, the guys that got to win a championship for narrative reasons,

team success reasons, whatever may be. But first, we obviously got to talk about the NBA playing tournament. Up to now, we're recording this on Thursday night. There's been four games played, one of which, like I just said, featured the Chicago Bulls beating the shit out of Mo's Atlanta Hawks,

and specifically Kobe White going absolutely berserk. Let me hear your thoughts. This is a, I try not to be hyperbolic and try not to exaggerate. But this is the greatest performance in NBA history. Easily. A one on four fast break didn't matter. Spin move lay up.

Get into the basket at will. I had turned this season off basically as a Bulls fan. I'm right back. I'm right back here. No Jimmy Butler, we're here. I've seen an HC go to the NBA finals before. Well, baby, we're here. You know what I'm saying?

But if I'm being honest, though, that was the best significant performance in the last 10 years for the Bulls. We talk about, like, playoff situation type. Like, that was the best one since Mike Dunleavy dropped 30 against the Washington Wizards 10 years ago. Like, that's how down bad we've been, that this game that the stats are getting lost and nobody cares about was the best performance of the last 10 years. And as a guy that never sold his Kobe White stock, this was my day to talk shit on Twitter. in the group chats to people that gave up on Kobe White. And it feels good. It feels good.

Even though, again, even if we beat Miami, we're losing in four to the Boston Celtics, I'm kind of here for it. And Mo, as a Tray Young fan, how did it feel to watch Kobe White give him back shots? Oh, okay. That was the craziest way to transition to me. But listen, I'm happy that some NBA fan could feel joy, even it's for like two weeks or so. Congratulations. I'm also happy that my pain, misery and all that could come to an end. I'm sick. Sat to my stomach that I had to come to an end in that way. But now I can focus on better

and bigger things in life other than watching Hawks basketball. Donovan, how'd you feel? Listen, Mo gave me this pillow for a reason. You know what I'm saying? Listen, I'm a hitter to my core. I loved seeing the Hawks get blown out. It was amazing. It was the best thing. Because I had to hear for like a year and a half, two years. And I don't care what you guys said. You guys try to gaslight me into thinking that the Hawks were going to be better than the Knicks.

That's the only- How many times are going to bring this up? That's the only investment I had in last night's game. Because like Kenny said, whoever plays the Celtics, like to be honest, the Celtics might give up one game, right? They've been known to do that from time of time. So I think it actually might be a five-game series, but I did not. I didn't I care. I was just happy seeing the Hawksome.

I was obviously very impressed by Kobe White was looking like a shiftiest player in the world. The best player on the court against two former all-star guards, it was incredible. But also just like having Kobe White, I would assumeu and Caruso all in the court at the same time, I was like, this is so interesting. And I would love to watch this trio of young-ish guards for kind of Caruso. play together and dominate on the perimeter. They completely punked Trey Young, made his life hell. Would be amazing to watch if they weren't the Chicago Bulls and they weren't playing alongside the mid-three.

I would love them in any other circumstance. Yeah. No, that's the fact. The good thing is the Bulls signed Kobe White to three years, $31 million. They signed Ayur da Sumu to two years, or three years, 21 million. So we got two of the better contracts in basketball and expiring and DeMarta Rosen. Who knows what's going to happen there? We did already extend Vutz, so he's probably going to be here

because he's got no, no value. And then Zach Levine is already one foot out of the door. So I'm invested in our back court right now. They're both, what, 23 and younger? The future could be bright, depending on what happens with tomorrow this offseason. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know if I'd go that far, but it's cool. It's cool.

It's great for today. This is what Hawks basketball does to be over. Any, you put the Hawks on the court against anybody. You, Kenny beats him, can drop a cool 12 points. Maybe on six, four, maybe two for six, five for eight shooting, whatever it is, you yourself can go ahead and score against us, bro. Now, not to say, not to discredit, Kobe White. He should be MIP's like top two, worst case scenario three in those conversations if you ask me.

But yeah, like, of course, cool group of players, a group of players that you could, that a lot of teams would be super happy to have a part of their core that's like building and trying to find some somewhat a direction. But, you know, like, for the Hawks, this is just like, routine, you make anybody, everybody look good, bro. You know, like, this is just what the season has been, not only like over the past year, but over the past, like, few years. We don't do anything.

We don't have no damn defense. We don't have no backbone. Anybody can just run through us and we ain't going to do a goddamn thing about it. It's just straight pain. It's just straight pain. But I'm happy someone was able to be happy. Do you think you're over the, last five years, which one of us, Hawks fans, Bulls fans have had it worse? Last five, 10 years.

Let's stretch it to 10 years. Ten years. So we did have that 2016, 2015 Hawks team. 2015 Hawks team. You know? We were called. But the Bulls have three months of Lanzo ball. That team existed, but were you happy? Tomorrow, girl, let's go. Like, they won a bunch of games, but like that was the least marketable one seat in the history of basketball. Like, the most. boring in a good way like I mean wins or wins but like are you in a good way eight years ago you were you sitting at the TV like let's go Jeff Teague Damari Carol and was Tavo Cephalozo on that team I felt like he was on that team yeah so Cephalosia was a part of those teams as well um

I was that was me like three four years into my basketball fandom and you know I don't know what it is about me but I can fake I can smell fake from like a mile away and I was just appreciative of the moment. Was I happy? Yeah, because we're getting publicity or we were one of the like final four teams in the, uh, left in the NBA by the time June and May came around. But, you know, like, did I have any real expectations? No, was I happy? Yeah, because it's like, my team is up there. Is it fake? Maybe, but who cares? Is that the month where everybody was player of the month for y'all? Like, yeah. Yes. Yeah. Participation as a war. That's crazy looking back.

Do you think they never do that again? Is that even possible? No way. No. No way. They never do. There's enough good players in the league to where you don't have to give it to one starting lineup. Like unless they didn't even do that for like the Warriors.

Like you could have done that in 2017 and been like, all right, guys. Like here you go. You guys have been amazing this month. But no, that's never going to happen. We joke a lot about the Miami Heat having the power of friendship. That was the ultimate power of friendship. That's over. That's over.

acknowledged it oh we'll get there we'll get there there there's only been a few times in history where they gave the award to more than one player the other times was cow lorry and demar de rosen in 2016 i don't know what the hell they did that month buddies and then the month before that you saw kevin derrant and russell west forget it so they're they definitely buddy buddy this thing it's literally just friendship like if you guys if you guys are friends if you guys do press conferences together you can be you know player of the week player of the month that's that's all it takes it's crazy To answer your question, Kenny, we could pile on. Your life is harder, has been harder for the last 10 years, for sure as a Bulls fan.

I'll say that. Okay, I'll take that. I waited like a badge of honor. Like, they weren't with us. Eventually, when I'm like 46 and the Bulls are not the 6, 7, 8C, but one of the top four, I would be like, remember in 2018 when we won 22 games? Like, y'all weren't here for that. Y'all weren't here to watch Chris Dunn. Was that the Shaquille Harrison era?

Yes. Chris Dunn and Jack Harrison Combining for 30% from three And taking all the shots And me being optimistic about Chris Dunn's future Y'all weren't here for that You just weren't here Tough

I love that we caught you on the exact day The one day in the last six months Of the Bulls are interesting It's so perfect Like it wasn't planned that way at all It was destiny Soke it in You're not going to be able to talk like this

For the next 12 months Facts You know we could pile on For the next 10 minutes And talk about how the Hawks are doomed how Dejante Murray-Tray was a disaster how Troy Young's going to play with Victor Wemadjama next year, all this stuff.

We could just make Moe's life terrible for the next two hours. But I think we've talked about that enough. We're going to talk about it plenty once the season ends. I want to talk about the other thing that made Moe's life terrible. The Warriors have been blown out.

They have been destroyed by the Sacramento Kings. Your Lord and Savior Moe, T.J.D. was a non-factor. You put all your eggs into the Golden State Warriors basket. We did a power rankings episode last week and you ranked them as a top 10 team while you had the Knicks at 15. and then they got decimated

by the mediocre ass Sacramento Kings tell me how you feel you know TJD is a rookie I mean you're expecting to play like you know like the warriors there's so many things going against them

you know like they just weren't prepared Keon Ellis was out here I talked I spoke about Keon Ellis plenty of times before I said he's not a big name but if there's one thing about him he's a fucking impact player and players like him matter He came out, I would have never guessed that he would have, like, outperformed Clay Thompson on both ends of the court by far.

So, you know, like, as for, you know, how the Warriors played, I can't be too upset. Yes, I did rank them a top 10 team towards the end of the season. They quite literally were that. I'm just statistically speaking. And also how they were playing on the court as well. They were just clicking, you know. Clay Thompson was playing a hell of a lot better if I would have saw him play, like, if I knew he was going to shoot 0 for 10, in a playing game, then of course, you know, like I would have had him now, but it was just

one of those Clay Thompson moments. But what matters most is that the Warriors lost, and this is great for the 15-year-old me. I literally poured out some goddamn Sorok and champagne when I saw them boys lose because this put an official end to the terror that they put across all of our lives. I made this a you thing for some reason. We need to make this a Donovan thing because this is your Lord and Savior, Stefan Curry. It's cooked. The dynasty's over.

How are you feeling about this? Listen, I was not happy. I was, I was not happy. We were talking about the power of friendship. If I was that, I would never pick up another Clay Thompson phone call again. For two years, for two years, when it is time for you to show up,

you have not shown up. And he has been surrounded by bricklayers and aggressive delinquents for the last two years, and they've ruined the last chance that he has to actually, like, compete for a championship. And you've seen the moments this year where you're like, oh, dang, like, Steph might kind of be slipping. Like, he's not shooting the same way that he was a year ago, two years ago when they

won the title. And he's in that LeBron phase where you want to capitalize and you want to maximize every single option. And they are running lineups where literally Warriors fans were in Twitter spaces saying, if T.J.D. got more minutes. We could have done something. right like that is how down bad they were and it was awful over 10 in a winner go home game is crazy oh like it's it's it's one thing to be outplayed by keon ellis it's another thing to not

get on the board at all and it's no man I have no idea like I've been thinking for the last couple days how the war is going to you know save stuff I don't know like he's he might have to leave if you if he wants to compete he might have to leave because I don't know what they can do to to fix this situation. Kenny, how are you feeling about this? I'm sure you put lots of thought into this dynasty being over. First off, were you, were you pro warriors throughout the reign and terror? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You have to be crazy to be pro warriors. It was just like us. Yeah. You know, I tried my hardest to appreciate

the basketball because it was so elite, but I also was a hater when they were doing their things. I had a similar arc with LeBron James where he was dominating the Eastern Conference. I hated him until we got back to Cleveland the second time and then I started to become a fan. I kind of did the same thing with Steph Curry over the last couple years where they just dominated the league for so long and then Kevin the rank came along. It's like, this is a juggernaut team and I want to see them lose. But the other night, I think the best thing about it is what, I think it was Donovan just mentioned it, that spaces of Nick Wright fighting war, not even fighting because he wasn't

raising his voice. He's saying like he was tired and everything, but he was bodying the entire. entire fan base. The one clip, because I was there for a live, and this was the moment I had to tune out, when they asked him how many games he watched, he said, 14 or so, and then 40 on league pass when we used flipping through. And they asked, don't you think our opinion is worth more because we've watched all 82? He said, that's valid.

Well, with the same logic, shouldn't you say the same thing about the front office and the coach and staff? And they looked this, well, they just said, no. And I was like, just laughed. They were like, hell not. They didn't even say no. They were like, fuck, no. They're too far off.

They're too far off the deep end. And I don't know what happens, man. I don't know what happens. I had always been critical with Steph Curry, especially over these last couple years, because he's one of the few superstars that refused to put pressure on his front office, especially with all the stuff, Draymond punching people and stomping on people's chests and kicking people in the nuts over the last decade. There's never been a time where Steph Curry was like, well, I need a little bit more help.

He just let the power of friendship basically have these last two. years of him being great, just not matter. But after that game, he was asked about Clay Thompson and Draymond. He said, I just want to win. And that is enough pressure. That is the most pressure we've ever seen Steph Curry put on the front office. And they have to do something. Clay Thompson might be going to China, according to that tweet, or the Orlando Magic or something. I don't know. But they need some help because. Same thing. Orlando, Wongdong. What's a good? That's crazy. I've been to Orlando. It's not great. I also pick the Warriors to win that game, though. I thought they were playing great basketball leading into that one. The Kings didn't have

Kevin Herder or Malik Monk, so I'm like, yeah, they don't have the firepower. And Kegan Murray looked like what Clay Thompson used to look like. And it was overweight from the very beginning. Yeah, we all picked them as well. We're all wrong. And immediately after the game ended, people rushed to the comments of our last stream where we're like, ha ha, now this part's cringe. They love Len is here about it when we're wrong. So, you know, we got to do everyone. I got to take that to the face. It is what it is. Hey, yo, my bad. But, uh, I think the reason that we saw the Warriors lose was like so predictable. I think Mo especially and me, halfway through the season, I was like, I think the Warriors might be good now. They put

Dremont at center. Everything is coming together now. Kavanaugh isn't starting. We're seeing the offensive divots both pick up. Everything changes in a playoff setting, as we know, when you can really game plan for them. And the lack of shot making around Steph Curry has made his life hell all year. It makes stuff Curry look like he's taking a step back like he's cooked, like he's not even a top 10 player anymore. People on Twitter were like, the days of him being the best player on a championship team, they're done. He needs to go be a second. an option somewhere. Dramatic as hell. This team made his life so difficult with the system they ran. It works perfection and it has for a decade, but only when you have the requisite

shotmaking around you. We saw it in 22 when you have Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins being legit go-to shotmakers who can do stuff for you. Those guys, those skill sets are gone. Incomes, geriatric Chris Paul, in comes a couple young players that can do their best. But without those release fouls around him, he just can't be 2021 step anymore, putting the team on his shoulders going insane every night. It's too much to ask of him. Yeah. I mean, they, they, they made Wiggins turn into a playmaker. Like, that was part of the plan for Mike Brown on the short row, make Wiggins make the decision.

Me and his basketball at Q, basically the same thing, and he's been in the NBA, so he couldn't make that extra pass. He couldn't do nothing. And that was, yeah, I agree with you 100%. And they just have a bunch of young players that look really solid. Jonathan Kamega, they were completely okay with letting Kaminga be the shot maker, what he shoot six for 15 or something like that. He tried.

He was getting them bucks up. He tried. Yeah. But at the end of the day. If you're supposed it's second to third best player don't show up on the offense side of the ball, it makes it so much easier to stop a Steph Curry-Lat team. Tragic, man.

This sucks. We're really going to see the end of Steph's prime, just wasted. And I hate this. I really do because there's not like, like it's very rare. And I'm very curious to see how like the new age of superstars do it. but we've seen this like older guard still be able to like get buckets and like who at a very very high level towards the end of their career so like kd is like 36 37 he still

can average 27 in his sleep and he has even as for all the faults that the sons have he still has devon booker and and bradley beale you know alongside of like it it it's crazy to see what other stars around the league have kawai's aging pa george is also agent they have each other like I want to see if Steph Curry can get to a situation where he can have one other guy that's, what, in the top 25, top 30 in the league. That's an interesting part because I don't know if that's even possible with their current Russia and tracks. Like, how does that even happen with the Warriors?

If you guys were the Warriors GM for a week, two weeks, what would you guys do to move on from the situation right now? I do what Bob Myers did and I'd quit. I quit before it was my time to make a decision there's nothing you can do like they don't have any draft picks this year the main people that they have like in terms of name value is draymond who's aging who you need to keep around is clay Thompson who's shooting over 10 like it's Chris Paul that's on an expiring contract at you know 38 like there's not a lot of value or flexibility that you have so I don't know like you're you're going to have to hit some some

crazy like minimums you know you're you're gonna have to hope that some guys that you pick up for a million two million dollars just come out and start hooping like crazy the under talk about thing i'll go ahead is the good thing is the good thing is clay thompson's gonna be very cheap now he's not going to be commanding anywhere near he was before so they'll probably keep him around but it won't be on like a significant money that hurts you team building wise but i don't know what the biggest thing they could do is because Andrew wiggins would be a possible trade piece he's not to be a salary dump at this point no one's giving up anything of value for him same thing

and Chris Paul only real thing you can do was trade Moody and Cominga which on one hand that's your young piece

that can give you a potential ceiling and take a big jump or it's the piece that can get you something short turn

and make you decent with Steph Curry like either way it's a losing hand yeah the under

talked about thing about the amount of parity in the playing tournament is that teams aren't

necessarily selling as much as they used to so like the things that you might be

interested to trade in the Kamingo or Moses Moody is like okay we have

these two valuable young pieces but if no team is part in ways that they're star players or secondary players then we're just kind of stuck with it the only person we can really offer is like do they want to lightly use Zach Levine exactly is very generous uh he he won a dunk contest back of the day a few of them you know that's that's almost 10 years ago it was hoverboards were still huge he did a hoverboard dunk that was enough um but like a like the trailblaze got nothing the spurs got nothing to Grizzies are going to try to compete again next year.

Larry Market and the Jazz are probably going to sign an extension. So it's like what star players are available? You're going to call for McKell Bridges? They were asking for four and a half first round picks plus young players. So it's like we just got to run it back and hope something works this time around. And I don't think that's likely. Damn. The real answer is they should have won Hart for Pascal Seaccombe.

That was the one piece I think made sense. That could have been a short and long-term play. That could have really like facilitated the next generation. Now that he's off the board, OG's probably off the board. you know, they pursued him last year before he actually got traded. Obviously, there's always surprise people that become available, and there is something that'll be done. But nothing that will make them a true contender again, I think. I think we can all say that's dead. And everyone always says dynasties. They never go out in like a good fashion. It always

is over and you just realize that yesterday it wasn't today it is. That's what we're looking at with them. It's just done. And I think they're kind of just writing out the days until Steph Curry either retires or decides to move on. It's kind of at that point now where they're going to be like in stage dark where they're just mid around him. But he's a legend, so he's there. The only, like, sell, like, if I'm a Warriors fan, I have, like, a little bit of optimism because, damn, we almost won 50 games when we missed out on, like, 15 to 20 games of Dremont Green

due to non-basketball reasons. That has to be somewhat encouraging. Yes, like, you miss out on guys, like a Pascal Seacum and Odeanovi. But then there's, like, someone like Mikhail Bridges, who's up to absolutely nothing in Brooklyn. Maybe a trade, something can be made there. random stars pop up all the time and if you're a horrors fan you know as much as i said like you you have to have optimism at the same time you have you look at the other side of the coin you might

be cooked because you only have a certain amount of like time to strike iron when it's hot you know and right now i don't know how hot it is considering how good every single team in the league is especially in the western conference for sure so they're cooked yeah man they're cooked it's over it's fine. We can move on to the more interesting team in the state of California. The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Pelicans. Tell me who's going to win the Pelicans. I mean, the Nuggets versus Lakers series. And why is it the Lakers in seven? You've done it. Let me hear it. You've got to let yourself to believe in that. You told me you told me last week that you were like on the verge of it. And I've seen as time is as time is past. You've done it. Good job.

I will say, Nuggets and sick. It's not going to be a sweep again. I said that on Twitter and people were like, you're so generous that your Lakers fandom showing. For one, I'm saying they're going to certainly lose. I don't know how much fandom that is. But I think it'll be a respectable loss. I think they'll get one or two games off them. Yeah, I think Nuggets and Six is fair. The most competitive sweep in the history of basketball last year in the conference finals, right?

So they might be able to turn it a little bit, I guess. I guess. But you know what, Isaac? I'm optimistic about the Lakers, too. I'm optimistic. Tell me what? It's based in nothing. thing, though. It's really, I don't have anything. Let's spread the delusion.

Strictly off the vibes at his Lakers team right now. I love that. I love Beijing shit on nothing. Let's go. I'm optimistic that they might be able to force a seventh game. Woo! You know, successful season. Let's go. Successful season. You get to seven with the defendant champions. That just means you were better than last year. You just happen to run into them at the wrong time. Step by step. Success is an overnight thing. It's a marathon, not a sprint. It's a match for it. Exactly. Yeah, but obviously we'll talk about that series plenty in the coming weeks.

How'd you guys feel about the game where Zion Williamson fulfilled the prophecy of Zion Williamson in every way you could imagine was unstoppable going to the rim, finally he was able to score on LeBron James for two games this season in big situations. We saw LeBron lock his ass down, not anymore, and then he also fulfilled the prophecy by getting hurt the last second, so none of it mattered anymore. Damn. If you're a Pelican fan, you have to be happy that you finally like saw the light and you see a world in where Yale is Zion Williams and it's fully back. And if he can be healthy,

this version of this dude right here, the absolute dog in him, how he just had, he looked like he had so much fire and just animosity in his eyes when he was flying up the court here and there. He wanted it. Blocking LeBron James, late in the third or fourth quarter, making all these smart witty plays and the top athleticism that he has, this quick jumping that he, the quick leaps that he's able to make like this dude can be a top 10 player and if you're a pelicans fan of course you're sad that he went out but let's be real they never had a real chance to begin with yeah don't this just gives you the what what do you mean that they never had a real chance like to do something in the playoffs and just to like get that game playoffs not not in the game

playoffs yeah they could have won the game but donovan we've had a lot of debates about this I've obviously never sold my Zion stock I'm part the biggest island fan here you have been the biggest doubter for many understandable reasons. What are you feeling like now seeing the good and the bad just in one single game? I mean, I'm kind of right. Like, it's not like a long-term thing, but it sucks that like at every turn when you think that you are about to get the full Zion Williams, Williamson experience. Something happens, right? And granted, this isn't one of those things where it was like before where everyone was like, he's fat.

Like he needs to lose 30 pounds. Like, it's not like that. It's a hamstring. It happens to everybody. But sometimes things just happen to some people more often than others, right? So, like, I don't, I, but at the same time, I think that the Pelicans did get clarity. We've talked a lot about how we think that the pals are fundamentally flawed in the way that they're, in the way that they are built. And I think that if you are New Orleans moving forward, I kind of think you feel good about like, hey, we can build around Zion.

And we can, and we will be okay and you will tell yourself that it's, you know, some freak accident and he had 40 points. It was taking it straight to Anthony Davis's chest. You can feel good going into next season about he's going to be the centerpiece, right? We gave him the contract. He's going to be the middle. And we will adjust everything around him as needed. But I feel kind of decent about, you know, Zion stock. I might have to buy some more.

But it's still, it is kind of, it is kind of kind of. you know, scary that at every single turn, it just feels like some injury thing feels like it's inevitable with Zion. Yeah. Kenny, you got a question for you. Oh, yeah, go ahead. Long term, like Donovan said, we all kind of feel that they are fundamentally broken, that Yonis is a bad fit there. The him and Brandon Ingram can coexist and have been better on the court together this year than when Ingram's not there, but not the best ideal long term fit. Do you feel like they need to get rid of Ingram, get rid of Yonis? What do you think is the next step for them? Because assuming they lose this game without Zion.

I think that's the most unfortunate part about all of this. Obviously, I want to see Zion play real playoff minutes, but a playoff scenario, we haven't seen all these guys play together. Like, Zion has zero playoff minutes. The last time they made the playoffs, Brandon Ingram took over, but there was no Z. And I always try to look at the playoffs, especially for a team like this,

that have so many pieces, but none of them are interlocking. It's like, this is the time to try to figure out who's the guys that were keeping around, and we won't be able to be able to do that necessarily. With the three guys on the core, I just looked it up here in the 740 minutes, they have a negative 2.35 net rating. Majority of good teams,

because we're talking about a 50-win team practically. If we're a 50-win team, and our three best players on the court together have a negative net rating, something is really wrong here. And I feel like Z is the one that you keep around. He made it very apparent. I'm also with you, Isaac,

even when all the Instagram shit was going on, I never sold my stock. When I was last on this show, we were doing, would we trade him for? And it was like Scotty Barnes and somebody else for Zion. And I was like, no, because if Zion just gets in shape and do this and do that, we can see that he can be a top 10 player. And I remember that TikTok got a lot of comments because Scotty Barnes is good now. But I don't know what they potentially could do.

With Trey Murray for the Third being as good as he is and what he could be, it feels like a Brandon Ingram Trey might be inevitable because you have to open up minutes for the dude because he's so good already and only is going to get better. The no true point guard thing, I've had, like, different opinions throughout the course of the season. When they started to play more point Zion, I was like, oh, it's okay that C.J. McCullum is here. And then other times, it's like, I wish they did have somebody that can set the table and make it easier for Z or make it easier for Brandon because those two guys, at least Z, when he gets the ball, it's like, I'm going to the basket. And then when Brandon Ingram, it's like, get out of my way, let me cook for 12 seconds. And it's no, like, fluidity in a lot of cases. So. 100%.

We'll see. That's like my biggest. pet peeve and like general basketball rules, I fucking hate watching teams. I have no passers. It just like grinds my gears. That's why I've never loved the Celtics over this regime of Tatum and Jalen Brown, why I've had issues with whatever team you want to name it, the Clippers before they got James Harden. Having your big wings be your lead playmakers is cool in theory until you realize your main option is people whose biggest strengths aren't passing, them having a pass. You're so much more dangerous when that can be a secondary option and they can have a good

mix of being set up and setting up for others. You're just way more dynamic. There's way less situations like what we saw last night switching games real quick with the heat and 76ers where the zone in the first half completely just befuddled the 76ers because they had a lineup full of zero good passers out there. That type of stuff won't happen if you have a true point guard next to Zion Williams and whoever they may be. And it's not even necessarily just a true point guard. It's just more capable passers. And when you have Herb Jones and train Murphy next to them, those are great players, not passers. Ingram is a better passer. Shouldn't be the best pass on your team. We know CJ's fine in that regard. But like,

Just in totality, your average passing level needs to be high with your starting lineup. Yeah. Yeah. This is, these are the hard conversations that the Pelicans will have to figure out how to answer over the course of the next three, four months. Ingram is easy to X out because of, you know, not only like the on the court questions that you guys alluded to, but also his contract ends like, I think he's a free agent after next season. So if he decides to leave or whatever, just in general, it's always smart to test. the waters in general to see what type of value you could get for him. And if you get pieces that could compliment Zion and whoever else you decide to build around, that's a smart move

to make. And also, C.J. McCollum, he was playing as if he was like on real J. T. Porter type timing, shooting 415. There's no other reason to explain that. Like, you have to have some money under the table, bro. He was playing. He looked like a different. player different play he was hurting him so bad to the point to where he was unplayable in the late stretches and if i see that you if it's hard to talk about it because like at the same time you know he's a sniper shot like 42 41% from three throughout the entire course of the season on eight attempts but at the same time it's like bro you don't set the table for me like like ix said and also again paid a huge bag just to not be the perfect fit and it's not worth it when you

have such a small timetable with a talent legs on because you don't know how long he's going to last. How, Mo, how would you feel about trading one of your point guards for Brandon Ingram? If I'm the Pelicans, wait, which one? Give me the Hawks fan in you first. The Hawks fan in me? I'll give you DeZontay Murray for sure. I'll give you what.

Let's do try. Let's be realistic. Let's be serious. Be realistic. Be serious. Now, you have so many picks on that team, and that's another thing that a lot of people don't talk about when it comes to talking about the Pelicans future. They have picks on picks on picks still, all their own picks. And then they still have picks left from the Drew Holiday trade and also the Anthony Davis trade.

Still fucking loaded and there's a big ass move to be made. And if they want to do it, sure. Give me all your picks. Along with all your picks, go ahead and give me all the fucking free smoothies in the world. Smoothie King Arena, I need it. And then on top of that, sure, I'll take like a Brandon Ingram. We tried to go ahead and swindle Herb Jones. I don't know how they'll fuck those conversations even started.

But, you know, like give me all assets possible. I would, I would entertain it as long as the assets were there and it made sense because the Atlanta Hawks don't have any picks of their own outside of this year until the year 2028, bro. And that's very, very bleak. So I'd entertain it for sure. Okay. They're so interesting because, like, they're very good and have a good baseline with all

talent they have so much length, so much shooting around Zion that like they're going to be a decent team like we saw this year. But if you want to be a great team, you're going to have to make something change. And most teams, especially in a small market, aren't necessarily trying to run away from just being good. You know, it's not necessarily a bad outcome for them. It's a tough place to be. Yeah. It is tough, it is tough. Let's talk about another team that's to make some changes, most likely, or maybe. Well, actually, let me not even make that assumption. I want to hear what you guys think. The Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Miami Heat last night in a very interesting game

because in the first half it looked like the heat power of friendship voodoo magic was back and better than ever they ran out his own defense against the Philadelphia 76ers and had them looking like

third graders none of them knew what to do against it looked like they never broken his own defense a day in their fucking lives they were down horrendous it looked like we're adding

a vintage Joel and bead shitter performance then second half Nick Nurse made some adjustments they were like why are we trying to do the same thing every single time let's run fast and actually

get some easy buckets Jimmy got hurt so we slowed down the second half all these things happened that the 76ers ended up inching out the win. How did this game leave you guys feeling about both teams? Because there's definitely a lot of interesting thoughts on both sides here.

Okay. You forgot to mention the most valuable player in the entire game, baby, Nicholas, but I forgot. Woo! Yeah, so the free chicken, free chicken changed the game. It's crazy. It really did. It really did.

Like, the crowd was, the crowd was very quiet. They were told that they got some free chicken and they were like, okay, it's time to turn up. Like, it's time. We came here for what we got, but we came. came here for now let's get this win and i think for from from miami i mean obviously like jimmy gets hurt and that that kind of changes everything hero had a like shooting wise was very very like if he made he made some some big shots but he was also iffy i just the thing that has been

plaguing miami a lot hurt them also down the stretch which is who's going to make shots like who's going to create shots right like down the stretch and that's why you went and got you know Terry Rozier, you thought he was going to be a shot creator. He wasn't there last night. Like, you didn't have anybody who can help play off Jimmy or help Jimmy ease into that. And now you just look it around and it's like, yo, this offense sucks. It is so, like the half court offense is so slow. It's so in the mud. If they are going to do anything this off season, they need to try and take whatever voodoo magic, Pat Riley, you know, cachet, all of it, see if you can go get Donovan Mitchell if the Cavs flame out.

Like, you just need another, you need another scoring punch because as good as here it was, really at the end of the game, making shots, as good as you think Jimmy Butler can elevate in the playoffs, we've seen it's a lot of pressure to put on him and even for himself to say, hey, once the calendar turns April, I need you to go from averaging 21 points a game to average in 32. And I need you to flip that switch and really put the team on our back. And it's just impossible. And so I, Jimmy is hurt.

They're probably going to lose to the Bulls. And I hope that that's the wake-up call for them. Because I felt like after last year, them not making a run at Dame was kind of, you know, arrogant because they felt like they could just turn it on and off whenever they wanted. I hope now they can look at their team in the off-season and say, no, we need something more. We need another punch. So, yeah, I don't feel bad for them. Can you tell me about Nick Batum.

Nick Nick Toom is one Like no bull and this is crazy He is one of my favorite players of all time And I'm being A hundred percent I'm crazy I respect it How did he start? When did you know you were a Nick Batum

Superfair? Late Portland Now I'll be honest with you Once he got that back to Charlotte My fandom kind of went away Because he was ass But after that And he started to get back in a

So he ended up in with the Clippers And I think the thing that I love the most about him right now is a no dip threes. I can't stop talking about it. I don't think he hit, I think he had won last night, maybe, but it wasn't a huge part of his game,

but I just, I love players that can contribute when the team feels like they need some extra umph. Nicholas Batum averages two points per game this season, y'all. He had 20 last night. He's him. Like, we saw this, we saw him do,

not something that is extreme from two points to 20 points, but in one of the run, with the Portland Trailblazers, he had a game very similar to this on a higher point, higher points. But there is a big discrepancy between his averages and this one specific game where they really, really needed him. And he's 35, 36 years old now, so he don't move the same defensively. But like when he was in his prime, like he got all over the place.

You saw a little bit of it yesterday when he caused the back court violation against Tyler Hero. And then when Tyler Hero took that stupid ass shot with 28 seconds left, Nicholas Baton blocked it. Like, that's, that's Nicholas Baton. It's just so cool to see some of his passing stuff. You know, the French players come in with a little extra umph on their passes. He's just everything I could imagine in a role player. It's just unfortunate that he's, they're getting a 35-year-old version of him

and not the 28-year-old version of him. But to get to the Miami Heat, that offense was some of the worst I have ever seen in a high-leverage game. Like this, the defense. was crazy, right? They made the 76ers turn the ball over so many times. They looked like like me and my homies freshman year high school playing against the best defensive team in the country. They could not make a pass. And Kevin Love is front in Joel and Bede and it feels like Joel and Bede don't even care that he's in the middle of a basketball game in this moment of time. And then I thought that that was enough. Like Philly fans are booing. They booed. They booed

two different times in this game. If I, if you would have told me that Joy of him was going to have for them to boo. That's true. That is true, too. That is true. But you would have told me, Joyland B would have had an all-time stinker until the last three minutes,

that the fans would be booing. And they'd win the basketball game? Like, I would have told you you were crazy. And that's how bad the Miami Heat offensive is, where Jimmy was, basically, I know he was in a huddle like, Tyler, you got to take us home. And it ended up Tyler taking 100 heavily contested

off the bounce jump shots. And that is the guy that if you ask if they're going to make the team back, matter. That's the focal point of the trade. If I'm trading away Donovan Mitchell, I don't give a damn about Tyler Hero. I just don't. And I feel like most teams are going to feel that exact same way if he gets put in trade markets again.

I'd be so fucking mad if I was a Cavs fan. And next year I'm watching Tyler Hero wear Donovan's jersey. I'd be irate. I'd be so pissed. He has to win a 45 if he gets straight in there, too. Just to rub it in. Make his ass for 54. Give him that ugly ass number.

Oh, 50-4 girls. Like you mentioned, Joel and B was having a stinker until the last three minutes. I was very impressed with, you know, listen, he was having a stinker. No, he made it very clear to all of us. He was tired. Every single time down the court,

hands on the knees, hands on the knees. He was letting us know, I'm tired, I'm not in good condition. And that's no surprise because he looked decent over the last eight games. But when you have the Miami heat ridiculously active zone defense, he has to work a lot harder than he did before.

That was exhausting team down. had buddy healed having an aneurysman trying to throw a freaking a past name in the post he was squiggling around i can see away he got tired but the way he was able to use his playmaking for the last three minutes and really turned on when it was necessary to come make that comeback that impressed me you don't really see that from droll and be too awesome before this year where he can be effective when his shot isn't falling when he's not being an effective score at all so that's at least a good sign the past that kelly ubrae down low was one of the best passes of his career and that right there is like the extra wrinkle of that's like the nick nurse effect in my mind that's yeah passes like

that plays like that and just like basketball philosophies fed into the mind of joeline beat over the last over the course of the entire season that's the type of play that he hasn't made well he's obviously made plays like that throughout his life or whatever but in moments like that specifically that's the work of nick nurse and i see the fruits of his labor finally paning off and i predicted that this is the first time in joel and b's career like i think we're going to see a run now like of course he looked like the regular joel and b that we normally see in the playoffs not that great but having an extra layer of your game that element of surprise dishing it to kelly ubrae like that while you also have like another three point thread on the left side of the arc that's a

very special play and that just gives you it's just another option offensive that he just didn't have at all, you know. And so having that alongside the Tyrese Max is the world who's developed, of course, and Nick Batum, who's the world's, he's like the ultimate unc in my opinion, so fucking reliable. He knows how to get the job done when necessary. The no dip three, like you said, Kenny, he's one of the top, he's one of the three, four best players at that, such a skill that's not valued enough by certain players. He's fantastic. I love, I think the Philadelphia semi-six is going into this series. against the New York Knicks is going to be very interesting.

Well, I guess we can yap about that when that time comes. Yeah, I'm very interested to hear predictions for that. I need some more time to digest it and think about it, but that's going to be probably my favorite series of the first round. Besides Mavs, Clippers, that's obviously number one. You talk about like Miami Heat Defense, tables, ladders, and chairs type defense. Tibbs will do that to the core.

It's going to be amazing. Yoke and Joe Star had a tweet where he quoted Donovan's tweet or he said, Joelle Embed when he just wants to play basketball and showed Isaiah Hardinstein and Mitchell Robinson with like pipes and bats ready to beat the shit at him that's what it's going to be like you got Tony Soprano with their freaking monkey wrench

ready to knock the knees out I don't know if he's going to survive it'll be great like you said we have a lot of time to talk about these series in the future I think we just transition real quick to the main topic of this episode or main topic the title of this episode let's look forward to the first round and talk about

the star players specifically that most need to make a finals issue to win a finals, whatever may be. Which stars do you guys think are under the most pressure? Let's you go first, Kenny. Which stars under the most pressure? How loosely are we using the word star? Hey, whatever you want to take it, we can take it.

James Hardin needs... That's a loose, loose definition. James Hardin needs a deep playoff run. The Clippers in general, everybody outside of Kawhi Leonard needs a deep playoff run and championship, not even a run. A run is, like, if they get to the conference, finals. I'm not patting them on the back. This team have been together for five years. They need a championship ASAP. And with Kauai Leonard, we're not knowing exactly if he's going

play. Who knows what the odds look like for that? But they're on the right side of the bracket, if you ask me, for a run. They just have to get through that first round, in my opinion. But James, obviously, I don't want to beat a dead horse. Everybody knows his woes come playoff time. They just need him, especially if Kauai Leonard is not going to play the first game or two games or so. They need him to be the all-star version of himself. And he came into the playoffs. having some of his worst games of the season. So hopefully he can turn it up for his own sake. I don't really give a damn whether or not he won a championship.

But he does and his fans do. You said, let it be known. I don't really care like that. Not my guy. Donovan, how do you feel? Do you give it damn? What is your thoughts? Do you think it's possible?

Is it possible? No. Do I give a damn? No. I don't. We don't care. I just, yeah, it's like we're past a point in James Hardin's career where if the Clippers made a deep playoff run, I don't think unless he like legitimately was the driving

force and he's averaging like, you know, 30 and 39, 30 and 10, something like that, we're going to look at that run and we're going to say, oh, Kauai's doing that or Paul George is doing that. You can go down the list of guys on that team or I guess really just too, but there's other stars on that team before you get to James Hardin. Nor Bell. Listen, before, we ought to talk about it right now, but before you end up saying James Harden did this, James Hardin led the Clippers here.

So, I mean, we, even if he has good games, the same way that he did last year in Philly, I think I said this before. He had two 40-point games in the series against the Celtics and still averaged like 22 points for games like in a seven in a seven game in a seven game sample size you had two 40 point games he so had a kind of low average i don't know if the ceiling's that high for james hard and i don't know if anybody's looking at him at this point in his career and saying no he still has to do it i think the pressure's off because i don't think anybody expects him to do anything so it's just icing on the cake you can do it yeah if he wins a title i think it'll just be like jason kid on the mavs

nobody's in there really bring it up when talking about his career i fuck the story's kind of written with him sadly as a big James Hardin fan yeah it'll just be like oh nice he won one anyways on to the next part of the conversation like that's how it would be if James Hardin would win a conversation you're absolutely right I agree I feel like you know like and the reason why because that's like if he does win of course like it it'll have Kawhi written colla Kauai Leonard written all over it now we're unsure about like his status they're probably going to inject like vibranium into his knees in order for him to be like fully Kawhi Leonard that we know he can be And if that's the case, and, you know, like, sure, they might have a deep run.

I'm not sure how deep it could be considering who they'd have to face next and what they'd have to go through. Facing Kyrie and Luke is obviously a hell of a task. But if James Hardin were to, like, somehow miraculously have a run, I'm not sure how much it would do for his legacy. I don't know. Yeah. At the point where it's not even, it's not even like those stupid-ass 2021 yonnas convos, we're like, is he Batman? Is he Robin? we're past that with James Hardin.

It's like, is he Alfred? Like, we're just whatever the next lowest rung is. That's a great analogy. Look, yeah, he's definitely Alfred. Yeah, he's a bradyiac behind this shit, but it's just makes sure shit is like straight in the background. I think, I think I mostly say it in a sense that, um, the entirety of James Harding's career outside of his first, his stint in OKC, we've seen him have to play basketball

his brand. and with the clippers this is not that you know can he evolve to the next version of himself which might be just being a really good point guard on a championship quality team could we see him going to the playoffs and not have to do his traditional dribble jubber jibble step back three and be successful um i think those are the biggest questions for james in this 30s but um i completely agree with what y'all say yeah i don't think they win a championship and he's the finals MVP. Hell no. He's not getting a good point now. But I'm just thinking about the evolution. Like I always think about how do we talk about a player outside of their prime and how

do we remember them outside of their prime? And this right now is like the first one of the first steps to trying to figure out how we will talk about James Hardin. You make a good point because if this doesn't work out and let's say flames out, he leaves a team for the fifth time five years. What is he, what team does he go to after this? If he can't be this third guy next to two-star wings, what do you even view as the archetype for how James Harden go in? Is he going to be in Russell Westrick mode where he's just like a bench guy and is really quickly, quickly falls down the rungs of the NBA atmosphere or whatever? Like, if not here, where?

Okay. I don't know to answer that. Yeah, I don't know exactly where. But I do think that, I mean, even if they don't win here, one, I'm not expecting them to, but I honestly wouldn't fault them that much. they are the clippers like it's and like they what do you mean by that they have a curse on their friends so i'm being 100% for real like they're the clippers are not a franchise to where you look at them or their history and they have two star wings and for some reason

you look at them in this first round matchup i think all of us here Kenny well yeah Kenny i don't know where you stand but like Isaac and mo we feel very very good about the Dallas mavericks going into this series right And so if the MAVs won, nobody would be shot. So if it was the first shot on exit for the Clippers, it wouldn't be crazy. I do think that there are other situations where if you pair James Hardin with another star wing, that could be something. In the offseason, right, and it's probably not possible now, but like in the offseason

we're talking about potential James Hardin trades. I was very interested in seeing what James Hardin would look like alongside like an Anthony Edwards or even if it's not two star wings, but just another one, that might be able to work, but I don't think that the clippers aren't capable of putting it all together. And it might be because of forces beyond them. Forces beyond them. It might be something spiritual. It's not their fault.

All right, let's cut the brass tacks. Let's cut to brass tacks. How much pressure is Jason Tatum under? Who? Does he have the most pressure out of everybody in the playoffs? It has to be, I think. He has the best team by far. The best team of his career, probably the best team will ever have, honestly.

It's the best team most people would whatever. ever have. Legitimately one of the 10 most dominant regular student teams you've ever seen, maybe in the history of the NBA, certainly in the last few decades, against one of the weaker Eastern conferences we've ever seen with the second best player in the conference, or I guess the best player, Yannis, the second best team theoretically, being bad. Third best player or third best team, whatever, 76 years, being injured. He, not a factor. Whoever you go down the list of whoever you think is a threat, not a big threat this year. They have to win this year. If they don't, I don't even know what we can even say about them

anymore the youth will never be an excuse again nothing else will be an excuse how much more could you ask for if you're adjacent if you're jason tatum like they already re-signed drew holiday michael jordan michael jordan like exactly like there's nothing else that this team could realistically do i mean could you the only thing imaginable was like oh like we need a big a rebounding big off the bench or whatever that's even like okay i get it but at the same time it's not like an andro german s player is not really moving needles like that for this team So I would agree, like, I think Jason Tatum would be number one on my, like, most pressure board because it's like, this is the clear cut statistically, even in NBA history, like one of the best teams formed that we've seen in a long time. And the schematics on the court checks out, the offense, the defense checks out.

Now, everything else lies on your best player and how far he could take you whenever your team does have those moments of them, like looking lost, looking like they're in the slums. and all that. So I would say he definitely ranks under one. Yeah, I would agree. I guess I didn't think about it too much, but you guys making amazing points because this is the best team that could be constructed for a player slash team.

I mean, they have two all-NBA defenders on their team. They have two all-N-Ba players potentially on their team, and then they have a seven-foot-one unicorn, too. So it's like, how much more can you ask for? and goddamn Peyton Pritcher can get dropped 30 and 10 if you need them to. So it's a ton of pressure, man. But I always just think about the fact that Jason Tatum's only 19. So if we like there's only so much pressure that you can have on a 19 year.

No, yeah, this is year number seven, I think, for Jason Taylor. And we've seen to make it to the finals, the conference finals, a hundred different times it feels like, and this is the year. It's wide open. Not only should they win the Eastern Conference, they should win it. and every series should go no they shouldn't see a six game series that's how much better they should be

than their competition I agree yeah it's really it's really clear it's just so like there's not a lot to talk about just because it like for everything that you guys have said like it is literally now or never you guys are about to be the most expensive

like one of the top three most expensive teams in the league what more do you want what more do you need like it's it's either you do it or you don't and if you don't then we'll have conversations and unfortunately people will look at you and be like okay well i guess you just aren't who he thought you were and that's just that's just what it's going to be there's not a lot of nuance here or there it really is win or lose it's that simple yeah do you guys feel like anybody at the top of the west has pressure because like obviously yokeet just stamped she's young

aunt is young all the veterans are kind of like towards the bottom right like Like, does KD have pressure? You know, the sons have an immense amount of pressure, given the fact they won so all in and have been so not great, like you would hope they'd be? But does, like, KD or Devin Booker individually have pressure on them, you think? I don't feel like they,

I think it's a more collective thing. The organization traded everything imaginable. But I don't look at Kevin and Devin individually. Yeah. Do you guys think? We have in the past, we, Donovan especially, we mean Donald talk about us a lot

with, like, Kevin Durant, you know, great player, top 15. all time maybe top 10 if you're that type of guy not me but it could be outside of Steph Curry it hasn't worked right we saw the Nets be the biggest what if disappointment team of the last however many decades again another team with a lot of

star power hasn't quite worked he's older not really his fault but do you feel like there's some pressure there to win again or at least make a deep push for Kevin Rance you know all time status to really push himself up those rankings hmm I just don't be looking at the game that way honestly

yeah yeah I like you said, even with his current resume, he could be, he's arguable for top 10. I personally, again, wouldn't put him top 10, but you can argue top 10 with the current resume. And there's how many players have come through this association and can't even sniff top 10. So I just, I don't really look at legacies like that too much. I don't know how he feels. Obviously, we got to find his other accounts to figure out exactly how he feels, but it's not,

it's not really for me. Yeah. It's usually not for me either, but with him, I understand it. I get a little first tech coated in my brain with it when I think about that because it really is interesting that it's such a huge shift between non-staff Curry years and Steph Curry years that like even as great as we've seen him. And granted, to be fair, 2021, he could have made it if not for some really unlucky factors. But like it very much is interesting how it's been nothing but turmoil for the last five years.

If it wasn't for Patrick Beverly trying to steal their ball from Russell Westbro, they would have won that championship and he never goes. Maybe. Maybe. Yeah. I look at KD at this point in time of his career, similar to LeBron is just like, bro, it's already written. I don't know if there's much else that he can do to prop up his career. But there is a team in my mind that has like an immense amount of pressure. And it's just like the team as a collective unit, not necessarily a specific player, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Do you know how down bad and how embarrassing it would be for them to lose? to a team that was outside of the play-in last year in the Orlando Magic. Do you know how many awkward conversations would have to be had about Evan Mowgli and Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland? I would hate to be a fan of the Cleveland Cavaliers if they lost this first round series. Yeah.

I got some bad news for you. I'm so glad you said this, though. Real talk about it. I'm very glad you said this because I see think that this is honestly the most interesting series in the first round because I think that. the the ripples that come from from this series are going to like could potentially affect the NBA more than than anything else just because I think that like that again if the Cavs lose this series either Darius Garland or Donovan Mitchell is going to get traded one of one of those

guys is out of that you have to switch it up J. Bricerstaff is losing his job so there's that either Evan Mowgli or or Jared Allen they're also you know potentially going to be moving so now you're going to have probably two or three all-stars being traded across the league. You're going to have Palo in year two leading a team that has absolutely no offense to a playoff series win. And that's going to be massive for him and how people talk about him. I think that there's just like there's so much that you can do. And for the magic, if they win this, do they look at themselves in the offseason once they get

eliminated and say, oh, we actually can speed up our timeline. We can go be a little bit, you know, impatient or go, you know, try and get the next unhappy star and really ramp this thing into gear. Like, I think a lot of stuff can happen based on the outcome of this series. I want to remind y'all that they, they lost the last game on purpose because they preferred this matchup. And the fourth quarter, they were playing a lineup of Tristan Thompson, Isaiah Mobley, Pete Nance, and Imani Bates.

and Damien Jones. They played four centers. And Imani Bates in the fourth quarter against the Hornets so they could lose. Now, they had every other Eastern Conference games wrapped up. So we knew every other seating. If they win this game, they end up being a three seed.

But they took their chances to go against the Young Orlando Magic. So if they lose this when they plotted their way to end up here, then everybody getting fired. Everybody should get fired. Who the fuck is Pete Nance?

I watch a lot of basketball. I don't know who Pete Nance is. Pete Nance's place. Eight games in his NBA career, his average is 0.4 points per game. Shout out to Pete Nance. You got a new fan in me. That's what I thought.

And I thought Tristan Thompson had a big suspension is. Whoa, wait a minute. The game, when he played the entire fourth quarter that I'm referring to, he scored his first NBA bucket in that game. So shout out to Pete Nance, man. Shout out to Pete Nance. Listen, how are you doing it? I love to see him win.

So, okay, let's assume we did our predictions episode, and I think we agreed at least two or the three of us that I think we picked the magic to win the series. At least I did, I don't know if you guys. I think it's going to be hard fought, but, okay, either way, let's assume they win. And, you know, Donald Mitchell is no guarantee to want to be the long term,

maybe even closer to a guarantee to not want to be the long term, given everything we know about him and his leaked desires, and what we can read between the tea leaves, what do you do for the Cavs then? Do you want to just rip the bandit off and go back to the original timeline? Do you try to convince him to stay and move Garland,

you know, point guard D. Mitch? Like, what's the best option there? Peace, you send somebody to his apartment and you help him pack and you tell him yes to that. Because honestly, like even as much and as talented as Donovan Mitchell is, if you don't want to be here, you don't have to be here.

right if you but he has act like he wants to be there every time he's on an interview he he clearly wants to be there at least plays the part that plays the part and then what a week later we get some report and it's like ah like he's he's unhappy like there was something that came out today they're saying like he's linked to like the nets again or whatever it's so obvious he wants to be either in new york or miami and you could say whatever you want people have gone in front of the media and said i want to retire here i love the city and then a month later they request to trade. So I don't, I don't think that he wants to wants to be there. And if you don't want to, by all means, go somewhere else. Because I'd rather, I'd rather have a core

that wants to be here and then we can all be invested rather than every single offseason have to be concerned about convincing you to stay here and convincing you to be a part of this timeline, especially if we have back-to-back first round losses. Like, why am I begging for this? I'm not going to do it. Okay, well, let's say that happens. And you trade him to, I don't know what team. What team would do out of the top of our head real quick would say it would be a destination for him? Miami, Brooklyn.

Sure, let's say Miami. And you get Tyler Hero in the door, you get Jaime Hakez and some picks. Do you feel confident going forward with Garland, insert, decent, but not star player, Mowgli, and Allen? Do you feel like that's still a path forward after you already did the detour or D-Mitch for a couple of years? Like, can you really go back to that and view it as a long-term successful plan? I think that's a great. Go ahead, Denny. This is a lot of pressure on Evan Mobley, really.

I think that's what it boils down to. I mean, the people drafted around him. Kay Cunningham was on a really, really bad team. But we saw this year him take steps. We've seen after a really rough sophomore year, Scotty Barnes, take a huge step. And it's like, when is Evan Mobley going to do it? Defensively is not a lot of people I would take over Evan Mobley. But on a team like this, you need him to evolve offensively.

And I think part of it is because when you added Donovan Mitchell, the amount of opportunity that Evan Mobley has to play through his mistakes or try to spread his wings is kind of limited. We've gone from a team that can make the playoffs to a team that's trying to win a championship, just like that. And for a young player, that's a huge shift. And like Cade or Scotty Barnes, haven't had that shift where they can be confident. Like, Scotty Barnes was running point guard majority of the season.

If they were trying to compete for a championship, there's no world with Scotty Barnes gets the opportunity to be the lead playmaker. I'm not saying that's what they should do in Cleveland, but maybe there's a world where we play more five with Evan Mobley because we're not worried about us losing the game because he's thin, but we have to play him with Jared Allen because he's too thin to guard the Yokochists of the World 101 and so on. I agree.

The next pathway has to 110% be on like Evan Mobley's back and what he is. I said to these guys on our stream 8 p.m. Monday, Eastern time. Tap in. I was like, y'all was listened to, I think, a Zach Lowe podcast. And his co-host, I think it was Tim Bontentz. He was like, yo, like Evan Mobley, long story short, he was like, Evan Mobley's looking real Derek favorses-ish. That's super tough conversation in, like, comparisons to, you know, be tied to if you're something like Evan Mobley. And, you know, like, we see the skills, the talent, the frame and all that. But in order for him, or this team to reach that next level, it has to be behind Evan Mowby ascension, you know? And for a young player is just hard.

Everything is just so situational when you're young in the NBA to ping around and find your true identity. And it will be awkward for him to do it after being relegated to a specific role on this team, put 110% of your focus on defense and whatever happens on offense. what like it happens but it has to be it has to be behind him and there's immense pressure behind him if that's the case yeah

do you guys feel like Luca Donters is under pressure kind of first year he's had a legitimately great team around him for previous years there's always he's one of the best players of all time potentially

on that roadmap to being that one of the best starts to career I've ever seen we give him credit for losing in a really cool fashion to the Clippers but nobody's ever held it against him truly

because the team wasn't quite good enough now they're very much good enough and even favored I think betting wise to beat this team in the first round you know it's not like a thing where he has to win or he's a fraud but for the conversations he's in as being an all-time great talent people are trying to say he might be better than dirk already all this stuff whatever context you want to frame it does he have to win to really keep those type of conversations going not in you not at all but make a run not in year one of the team being good I don't think I think we typically give a player

a season or two with a good roster around them before we start throwing the fraud allegations around. And I think Luca has a little, just a little bit more time. I think he also, it also helps that in those series that they lost in the Clippers, he was averaging 38 points per game and hidden game winners and stuff. So at least we've already seen him be a top-in player in the playoffs, while some of the other younger guys that if they were replaced with Luca without that resume, we might be thinking about it.

Yeah. It's just interesting because he definitely won't be a fraud. But I think if he wants to stay on this trajectory, people were saying in their minds of like, you know, he's the most dominant, players since LeBron, like this could be a top 15 player of all time when it's all said and done, you, it might, that narrative might quickly flip if he flames out in the first round. Yeah. I think, I think some of it depends on how healthy Kauai is. Because if, if Kauai's there and he's healthy and they, and the Mavs end up losing, then I think a lot of people can

look at that series and say, okay, well, you know, even though that the Clippers weren't playing well going into the playoffs, they were still, they still had Kauai and Paul George and James tardy and there's enough star power name recognition on the other side to where you can kind of you know hold that off for a little bit I think what Kenny said is right like if they lose this year in the first round and then bring the team back go through next year and then losing the first round again then we'll have serious conversations of like okay what's what's going on here because you went to the conference finals in 22 right yeah in 22 haven't been back since missed the play in one year like what's what's going on it doesn't seem like after the restart

we progress so it's really like a two two and a half year sample size and the team has only been together for half a season so yeah exactly you stand that okay then okay if that was not a big thing then who has more pressure yonis or damian lillard that's that organization bro i don't i don't know if it's either than because yonis is her and i mean dame is dame or whatever but me personally i would point towards all the people in the front office because just seven six seven eight months ago yonis a lot of you don't remember this but he hopped on one of his like favorite reporter friends or whatever podcast on youtube and he was talking about how much he wanted to fucking win this was prior to the damela trade we all know yonnes in his

tendencies he just likes applying pressure to these guys next and um i kind of sounded crazy but anyways um we i was even thinking about that we see him make it known that he's constant just wants to win and he's just not satisfied with the result on the court. And if they do have another upsetting round against the Pacers, then, you know, like, they're going to be really put in an awkward spot because how much else can they do? And at this point in time, they're going to, like, completely have to deconstruct and reconstruct their identity as a team. Yeah. I think a lot of the Janus pressure is dimmed down now that he's injured to start off with, at least um but there's pressure going to it like man you you were the agent griffiths spokesperson

we brought him in and he was ass so now we have doc rivers like like you know what i'm saying he was ass right uh there's a certain level of um responsibility you have as a superstar caliber player that I feel like it keeps getting higher and higher and higher where I personally don't give a damn who Yannis wants to coach the team who is the best candidate and that's how we get to the point where Doc Rivers is our coach for the next three years um and we know Doc's track record so but because Yonis is injured I can't really add him especially if he's going to miss a game or two in this series the last time he missed a game or two they lost to the eight seat so anything can really happen. Yeah. Yeah. I think, I think a lot of, I actually do think that a lot of pressure is on

Dame because we've seen this year, we've seen him be very inconsistent. But when Janus has been out, we've seen Dame kind of rise, you know, to the occasion and he's been able to play well and play more in a style that he's comfortable with. That's probably going to be the case for games one and two. And the Pacers, although they are better, they're still not great defensively. Can you go against a not great defense and score and maybe even, you know, have the series tied 1-1, be up 2-0? Can you? Yeah, this team is crazy.

This doctor's montage is hilarious. But, yeah, for Dame, I think it's a lot of pressure because not only do you have to keep the bucks in the series for this year, you have to show that going into next year, you are still able to be relied upon night in and night out as a legitimate number two option and this is the first time that we've seen you in a team that we coming into the season thought that you had a championship ceiling i want to see what that looks like after after this season this video how long is this video bro this might be the funniest

tweet i've ever seen bro i'm i have tears forming in my eyes because it's too you're just silently dying over there this is crazy I didn't even see this on that. This is so good. Dude, they're in for three years of Doc Rivers. Like, when it happened, I rationalize it. And I was like, listen, I get it. You need consistency.

You need a baseline. How many coaches are they going to pay at once? A lot. Good God. A lot. If Yonis, if they flame out, right? Let's say the Yonis comes back and they're down O2 for some reason. And you end up losing the series in six or seven, whatever.

You go into next season. Dame doesn't, feel the same way, you don't win a championship, even if they make the conference finals or whatever, you don't win a championship. How is Janice, who like Mo says, has consistently applied pressure and at every turn looked upstairs and been like, I might leave, right? Like, just know, I might be out of here if you don't do your job. Like, they feel impatient. And the fact that they fired Adrian Griffin, you know, midway through the season kind of shows their impatience. the fact that they went after after dame which i guess you can't really blame them for making that

trade but you shook up a lot of things on top of firing bud and doing all this other stuff they seem kind of impatient within the last 15 months because it feels like they are trying to appease janus at everything so if that's the case i don't know if i can trust them to actually look back and tell yonis no this is what we're doing this is our plan that this is how we're going to move forward so i can see them firing doc rivers within the next three years That would be so embarrassing to do, bro. So embarrassing. Yeah, man.

I think as most of the teams we got to talk about for having a lot of pressure. I left my watch at home. Mo, do you know what time it is? Oh, man. What a glorious Thursday evening, bro. The Warriors lost. I see folks over here rejoicing over crowns. They're all over there.

We have to give it to them, bro. It is TikTok time. Let's fucking do this, man. Oh, my. my goodness what a day new era what is that you keep grabbing these are roses I got a little he's garnishing they're dying too this is supposed to be symbolic of this new era that we're in right now bro our 10 years of calm is finally over welcome on TikTok time we got a bunch of TikToks for you guys today

we got Kenny with us for a couple of them before he has to go so let's do the funny ones right away. The first thing we're going to talk about. We have a tier list for you guys to start with today of the funniest moments of the NBA season. You know, it's not last year where we had potentially the funniest season of NBA history. It was ridiculous. But we got some gems this year. There's there's some moments to talk about. It should be good. Let's go. Let's go. Tier listing is our thing. We've never made a bad one. Yeah, never. I don't know about it. Yeah, especially. Yeah, it's going to be a Reddit and we never made a good one.

Yeah, man. As you guys know, I have, I think this is like 11 moments pulled up. Real simple. We're going to put them in a tier list, S through F, based on how funny they were. And I think it's really right. We start with Jimmy Butler getting the emo haircut. Start the season off with a bang. Where are we putting this?

This has to be. This is the S tier. We got 5 million views off of this borough right here. I must say this is the best tier. I was singing on camera for the first time, bro, for my entire life. Got me recalding Randy Orden lines. S-tier like a motherfucker, peak troll. Isn't in terms of content, there's never been a funnier moment in this, I don't think.

This is peak. It got to be S-tier. Yeah, the fact that it was so unexpected, that he just showed up that way he makes it S-tier. Yeah. And we should have expected it, given his track record of interesting hairstyles. but we never did and that's what makes it so great I agree

next year I need to see him with the complete shiny ball hit a gym would be crazy yeah I need him on a spiking

bohawk type timing bro all right next up Janis and his game ball fiasco against the Pacers listen

this is this is this is Esther to me I've never seen a grown man freak out like this I've never seen anybody you must not hoop

at LA Fitness often. I'll tell you that. I think you freak out like this. Exactly. He does for sure. No, no, no. Not like, not like this. This is a different level. This is a different level. Running back and forth. Yonis freaked out so bad that the Pacers were like,

we need to hire a black belt to defend Tyre's Hallibur. They hired a professional fighter to protect them against Yonis. That's how crazy he was. This is Estier. Facts. They had to hire John Wick to come protect Aliburton. That's what you did. Inside that man, the next day, that was crazy, bro.

Is it going to S-tier or A-tier? I think it should be S-R-Roh. The repercussions of it is hilarious. And it was proved he was wrong. He was wrong. Like, they had the right ball the whole time. Yeah, I think that's what makes it a S-tier. That he went through this for 30 minutes for them and just like, bro, what are you doing?

We gave you the ball already. It's loud and wrong. Yeah, S-tier is the right way. Realize. Next up, Kenny, what do you think about this one? Draymond choking out Rudy Gobert? Can we, can everything be S-tier? I mean, this is a 7-foot-1 player that was getting choked out,

but it looked like he did not care at all. He's looking at the ref pointing at Draymond like the ref can't see that Draymond is choking him right now. It is the best thing because we know that Drayman has hated Rudy Goldberg for a long time. and Draymond's eyes lit up when he saw an opportunity to choke this man now

it's S-tier Graham was spamming buttons and fatalities on him it was ridiculous yeah Rudy Gaubert could have smelled the wrong way bro or just breathe the wrong way

and Dremont would have done the same exact shit he was looking for any reason any excuse to do that that's an S-tier moment you know what's funny if that was if that was Nause Reed

in that kerfuffle instead of Rudy Gaubert Dremont wouldn't have done a damn thing not saying he picks and cheeses for sure okay well what about two weeks later draymond green punching the shit at i use of nurkitch and getting indefinitely suspended all right that's not it's not it's not it's more a for like annoying because it's like it's just crazy because he got suspended and then came right back did the same thing it's like do you not learn anything

like bro two weeks later come on have some discipline like like No, this is the time where it turned, it was the opposite of funny. I was thinking, like, does bro really need to hit to therapists? Like, it's funny choking a man out. I say beef for better help, bro. But the other stuff, two weeks later, we like, get bro help, please. This is not funny at all to me. I was like, damn, is he going to ruin his legacy?

One punch at a time? We can go A tier for annoying. I like that. Listen, a pattern is a pattern. We can't ignore it. I agree. All right. Next up, how about when

Dremon Green put out a documentary after the second punch painting himself as the victim? How many documentaries is he going to make after a violent act? Right? Because he did the same thing

after the Jordan Pool thing. They're not working, Dremont, right? The documentaries are not helping people get on your side. Why do you keep doing this? The only thing I... This is a PR disaster class.

I picture him picking up his phone calling his aide and saying, how much is a production team? I need something to get. off the chest It's like when people call into a radio station under a rap beast

to get some shit off the chest he calls up some studio in L.A. He's like, I got our narrative change. Academics, where you at? He goes, on Vlad TV. What are you going to

be for this? I guess progressively less funny every time. Yeah, because it's serious it's like, why I'm really worried for this man. We can go B.

Yeah. Cut it out. All right. All right. Next up. What about Draymond? What about Andre Drummond trying to dunk Torrey Craig's self-oop? This was funny to y'all?

I was watching this and I just, I couldn't, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The last five years of Bulls fandom, this is, this is the moment. this shows us exactly what we've been through every single night. Is this one of the top five dumbest plays y'all have ever seen in the NBA? Maybe top three. And I watched Javelle McGee's entire career. I was going to say.

That's why I said top five. That's why I said top five. I respect greatness. I respect what Javelle McGee has done in the Shackton of Pool game. He has moments. So I don't want to disrespect. that. I was to say, if we got a Mount Rushmore or bad plays, we got drumming

up there, and then Javel will give it three different expressions. Drumming is not even a problem. Why is Torrey Craig trying to self-lock? There is no explanation for that. He doesn't deserve to have that type of life. He thinks he's playing park. It was so

out of pocket. That's why Drummond jumped because he had never seen Torrey Craig try to act like this before. It must be for me because I've never seen him dunk. I've never seen him. This gotta be eight-tier. This is ridiculous. Yeah.

And the drummond hurt himself doing this. That's ridiculous, too. That is hilarious, right. He was out for like four days. He had to go home and rest his foot because Tori Craig wanted to be stupid. Oh, my God, that's hilarious. All right, next up, we got James Hardin, contesting Kauai Leonard's three-point shot.

And Kauai getting mad at him about it. It's funny. It's funny because it's James Harding. Because, like, LeBron did this a couple years ago. Like, he faked Block, Rondo shot. And everyone was like, look at the team chemistry. They're sold together. And Kauai Laird is like, bro, get out of my way.

Like, what are you doing? Leave. Like, it's hilarious. Like, I'm close to 50, 40, 90, and this is what you're doing to me? No fact. That's true. he said you have playoff ride allegations and this is how you want to build chemistry ridiculous you know this is so funny because that's that's such a clear difference between

lebron james and kawai lindered as players lebron's like ha ha it's one random player we're all good kawai it's like every play i must dominate every play i must murder get out of the way and they kind of needed that three point or two bro like when lebron did it it was just a layup and rondo made it or whatever but this is the corner three and like an important game because they're fighting for playoff seating. James Harder. You don't deserve to do that when you're fighting for your life here.

That's the best part. Like, what compel James Hardin to do that? It wasn't a layup where it was going in regardless. He had serious impact on the shots. What was going through Kawhis mind? Like, as he's loaded up, he's just like, he's getting closer. He's getting closer.

He's getting closer. Why is he here? I need to hear his point of view. This is just like an intrusive ADHD thought. He's like contest. Like, he just has to do it. It's 18. At least.

Hey, here it is. I'll put a C because I'm still mad for Kauai. He missed. We got Steph Curry going up for a jump ball with Victor Women Yama. I'm not going to lie. This is not funny. This is like the video of Kelsey Plum, like eating popcorn where she's trying to be quirky. And she's just like, ah, like, no, it's not, it's not funny.

It's not funny. Steph Curry wants to go viral so fucking bad Every time he touches the court Every time he can he's doing his little taunts He's playing to the crowd Trying to get viral clips like this This is hilarious because he's so shameless About wanting to be on every Instagram page there is

I'm gonna make HOH with this one Oh my god That's the highlights broke NBA players bro I'm not doing this That's not real's gonna love this Yeah This is a deep man.

Yeah, he's hilarious. My goodness, never mind. You're right. Steph, get a grip. Last one at least, we got Zion Williamson smirking when he got asked what he's going to do in Vegas

during the in-season tournament. No, this is a nasty guy. This is a nasty guy. He knows it. What do you think? He's embraced his personality. And I love that. Yeah, getting asked

what you're going to do with money and looking so. menacing is always a recipe for disaster and not only did he do that Brandon Ingram looked at him knowing that he does some crazy stuff like Brandon was like we've seen the Twitter threads we know what goes on there's not help the narrative bro facts I'm familiar with your game that's team chemistry right there

yeah that is true Would be? B, yeah, B's fine. B, yeah. Love it. I'll just rock with it. And those are the funniest moments the NBA season.

Does anybody else have any honorable mentions that I forgot about? Because it's hard to remember all the funny moments. Yesterday, Twitter thought, the Twitter AI thought Clay Thompson was actually

throwing bricks and they wrote a fake an AI news story about him throwing bricks in public. That was funny. That was embarrassing, bro. Elon, what have you done to my favorite app?

I don't even want to get into that kind of worms All right That's all the funny moments I can think of Let's move on to the next video Let's do it We got one more video We'll quick with Kenny Before you got to get you out of here

Kenny This one I think Makes sense to do with you Last week we started a series Of making Mount Rushmore Of NBA things We made the Mount Rushmore of NBA teams

We're gonna make the Mount Rushmore of NBA point guards So basically the top four point guards Of all time But Mount Rushmore can mean A lot of different things you can factor in whatever you think needs to be factored into that. Maybe not necessarily who's the best.

We'll see where we go with it. Real simple. Let's make the Mount Rushmore of NBA point guards. Who are the locks to be there immediately? Magic Johnson is an absolute lock. Steph Curry is an absolute lock. I agree. Okay.

So one and two, right off the board. Real simple. Third is pretty contentious. I don't know who comes right after that. You can say a lot of names. Hmm. Okay. We go with an Isaiah Thomas.

Does he deserve to be there for what he did in his era? I mean, if we want to be real about it, probably, but that's no fun. That's true. Listen, listen, I'm just asked the question. Does Christopher Emmanuel Paul make the Mount Rushmore? Talk to me. Now we back to real. We can keep it real on this one.

Yeah. Is he on the Mount Rushmore? Should be on the Mount Rushmore. Okay. So who's his competition? Let's say that. Who's the competition? Jason.

Steve Nash, Russell Westbrook maybe, not my cup of team, but some people will say Russell Westbrook. Yeah. Do any of those names deserve to be there immediately over Chris Paul? You could argue the Nash thing just because he's got the two MVP's, but those MVP's don't move me at all. I think I'm just heavily biased

to Chris, so I'm going to always put my vote to Chris Paul, but I don't know what y'all thinking. Fucking Chris Paul's in there. I agree. Over Isaiah Thomas? I think that's I think that's the conversation. Is Chris Paul or Isaiah Thomas? I mean, how much do we value chips here?

I mean, they have to matter. I mean, we should value chips. We should value chips. If we value chips, it's got to be Isaiah Thomas, I think. Both 20 and 10 guys. Yes, it's Isaiah Thomas. Both good defenders. I'm letting my bias show.

It is 100% Isaiah Thomas. I'll be honest with you. Okay, okay. All right. Okay, so if Isaiah Thomas is number three, who is Chris Paul Dukknerd out with for this last spot? Sean Livingston. Oh, my God.

You drive a hard bargain. 100% Sean Livingston Do we want to respect our elders And go Oscar Robertson Bob Coosy You want to see some good hookshots That's a little too old That's a little too old

Does James Harder Does Russell Westbrook have a case Oh James Harder He kind of was a point card He should be remembered as that I never I have never felt good about about like

James Hardin being a point guard even though that like it's true I just see him and I'm like nah you're not a point guard it's never he won his MVP as a as a

wait wouldn't you win it was you win it with Chris Paul yeah he won it he went it towards the end of the rocket since so he was like fully point guard yeah so he won his but he won the MVP with Chris Paul on the team so he was already a shooting guard still yeah

I think I think the real battle I think the real battle would be Chris Paul versus Russell Westberg really i've had this debate many times Kenny i'm on your side if i want to win a game if i want to talk about what a real impact to winning point guard is I'm taking Chris Paul every day of the week

talk that shit talk that shit I like that's the reality of it like listen MVP was great it was awesome him having the coolest succeed of all time put the team on his motherfucking back if you wanted to look me in the eyes and telling me that's a player that could win a championship in an easier way than 2007 Chris Paul i think you're a fucking liar yeah people weren't around man there's a lot of young people on these tictocks

We owe heads, remember 2006, 2006, 2007 now. We remember top three in MVP voted. We were there for that. God damn, 2006, shit. You're a little older than I am, but all right. I'm cool going Chris Paul with the last face on this Mount Rushmore. All right. You got it.

What a list. You got to. I like it. I dig it. Comments are going to hate us for that, but I can't wait. So many interactions are coming. All right, man. Kenny, I think it's just our time to kick you out.

All right. Appreciate you, fellas. Was a blast. We'd love to come back again. I appreciate it, man. When I have more time. Of course, doors always open. Full show.

But I told Mike that I would, he does these 2K tournaments. I told him I would be on his team in this 2K tournament. That's why you got to leave us earlier. It's not even something that's important, really. But I'm a man of my word. I'm a man of my word. So I told him I'll be there and I got to get upstairs. So I appreciate you, fellas.

Y'all don't need anything for me, right? No, we're all good. Appreciate you, man. You're good. All right. Enjoy your rest of the show. All right, let's continue on. One less Kenny in the door.

Let's do, that's something we did a while ago, but we only did it one time. Guess the NBA player by their jersey. So this should be a fun one. I have a lot of, like, random jerseys you wouldn't normally associate with a player to show you. So, like, if I were to pick, I don't know, Ricky Davis, it wouldn't be a Cavalier. Jersey, you know, it's somebody that's some other team to play for it. We'll see, we'll see how deep your guys his bag is. Let's see how disgusting this TikTok time gets, man.

I'm, I'm here for it. I don't know if it would be disgusting, maybe it'll be difficult. Hopefully, last time it was easy as hell and I ran through it. I tried to make it a little bit harder, but still capable of you guys are getting it. We'll see how I did. All right. Let's do it. Let's see.

Real simple. Guess the NBA player, buy their jersey. First player we got, who is this player? Ooh, I know who this is. Do you got it? Immediately? Carrey. I'm a freakazoid.

Is this Cody Zeller to Yeller? Oh no, Tyler Zeller. Tyler Zeller. This is not a Zeller of any sort. No, incorrect. Fuck. Man, was confident. Get out of here.

He was. I'm trying to see. Now, this is where I need the sponsorships, right? I need to know if this is an older player or newer player. I need that little Nike check. This is no logo. So it's definitely. like early 2010s.

What does nothing there tell you? Exactly. This is a very old school 1960s spot. Really? That's just the Celtics. It's just the Celtics all the time. I mean, listen. It has to be a big man.

They've used the same font for 20, 40 years. I don't know. What number did Celtics sack wear? He wore 36. Oh, shit. Okay. It's crazy. This feels like a,

This I know it's not him, but this feels so like Brandon Bass and it's just it's just not him. All right. Think about the white Brandon Bass visually. Oh, wow. The white Brandon Bass. What's that dude who commentates for them now, Donovan? What's his name? Oh, you're right.

This is Brian Scalabrini. This is the white. The team legend Brian Scalabrini. Let's go. See that perfect law? How can I forget? Go, man. That was immaculate teammate chemistry building right there.

He actually wore the same number as Cody Zeller, so I see why you said that. They think they both were 44. I was not wrong. There we go. Damn. Yeah, but it wasn't a jersey. But yeah, close. It was.

All right, next player. Who is this player? This man, loves 44. That's such a coincidence. I didn't tell the kill what Oregon put he's in. That's hilarious. That is hilarious, right. Okay, this is like 20.

This is like 25. 2016. Could this be like Festus Azele or some shit? What's this Festus? I don't think it was Festus. 44 is nasty. I don't want to see irrelevant because Festus was important, but this is a number that's just a relevant number. There's only a scrubbed door 44. There's two players that are coming to my mind right now and one of them I think were 55. So I'm going to guess the other one. Is this Richard Jefferson? Oh, hell not.

This is Richard Jefferson. Oh, my God. Richard, no, he won 44. Yeah. For what? Warriors legend. That 44 is the least impactful number, man. I want to know what that number meant for him done that year.

God damn. Some deeper meaning behind it. Exactly. All right, next player. Whose jersey is this? Oh. Now, this is a real hoops right here. I think I, I think I know this.

I think I got this. This is a guards number for sure, right? Yeah, for sure. You know big man wearing this. Why is it for sure? Mello War 7. KD. War 7. Listen, but you know, but you know, but you know what a guard number looks like whenever you see.

Okay. There's exceptions to every rule, but you know. Mo, is this? Listen, when I see this number, I picture somebody with a crazy. Mohawk and he wore he was a former New York Nick this has to be Jeremy Lynn exactly correct it does have to be Jeremy we're wearing our bag here we go he also had dreads bro I think he was a hornet with dreads that's crazy bro a hornet with dreads yeah yuck I don't I don't know what happens in Charlotte you get down there you get crazy hair styles

for spanish generations yeah no bro Charlotte their training their training came must be different you got to take a spina lean down to the throat immediately since you win they give you perks at the airport

facts facts all right next up whose jersey is this oh this this might hit home wait it's not It's not. It's not.

It's not. Don't know this. You're disgusting if you don't know this. Give me your fucking hoodie, boy, if you don't know this. What the hell? Oh my God. I know this player. Say it.

Don't know. The spotlight is on you. I know. There's several guys. I'm blanking right now. I'm blanking right now. It's not. It's not J.R.

War eight. Is this? I don't think he wore number two. Come on. Is this Jason Kidd? This is Jason Kidd? Jason Kidd. Okay. You live to find another day. Congratulations. Oh my goodness.

That's a great guess. Well, why is this headband so slanted there? Looks like he's sagging with a headband. I've never said. He's a 2000s player to his core. He will never leave that deck of it. Brotherings is Nelly. That's hilarious, right?

All right. Next player. Shout out Nelly. Whose jersey is this? Ew. Ooh. This is nasty. This is. Big old nasty jersey, man.

You know, okay, this is, I think this is Omer Ashik. What a good pull. It's not a Omar Oshik. That was great. I love that guess. Could this just be, did D.Wa's this? I think, I think it's D. Wade, because it's, yeah, it's Adidas. That was like the very last year is that Adidas was making jerseys.

So D. Wade. This is D. Wade. Ew, man. That's so gross. The nastiest year of his career. Please delete this picture. Made the playoffs. The goddamn internet.

You're right. Didn't they make the playoffs winning like 40 games? Yeah. They were about to embarrass the Boston Celtics before Rondo, like, fucked up his elbow. Crazy times. Next player. Whose jersey is this? Damn, 16.

This could be a lot of players. Ugly ass number. 16. But it doesn't look like there's a Nike on it. So I'm gonna say it's a little bit old school. Is this, is this Marco Bellanelli? I was going to get the same thing. It felt like a-

This is not Markle-Vellon-L-A-L-D. Damn. That would be hilarious. Yeah. So it's not Bellanelli. What a role player, pool. Yeah, this is not Boris D.L. Right.

Can't be. Nope. No, Boris were like 45 or something. He wore something high. I know. It was kind of nasty. I mean, is it right now? Is this, this your man, Cedi Osmond?

No, this is not Jenny. No, Jetty's playing now. This is the new era. I love how we said his name is great from pronunciation pronunciations. I know. My bad. I'm sorry. Who's to say who's right?

I don't even know. Probably, Bobby, buddy. Ceti, I don't know, bro. Damn, who the hell is 16? 16. I'll say he's odd man's too easy. What, what he can you? He's above 6.

He's above six, five. It's this all guy. It's not. This fucking Matt Bonner or some shit. No, no, Matt Bonner is 50. Oh. You just knew that like that. Yeah, why do you know that?

No one should know that, Donovan. It's Matt Bonner. He played here in the, he played, who doesn't know him? He played here at the end of his career. Where is he? Oh, like in San Antonio. Yeah. Okay.

At the end of the, at the end of his career, he was a number of. Yeah, one more guess. One more guess. This has to be the most random spurs player ever, bro. Is this Pao Gassau? This is Balgissal with Donovan with the buzzer beater. Wow.

I forgot he played with the Spurs. Carrie. Oh, my goodness. That was clutch. Next player. Who is this player? This could be anybody. 20 with the Nike.

Ah. Yeah, but it's a weak Nike. It's like... It's a bootleg Nike. It's like late 2010s, not late 2000s, but late 2000s, but late 2000s. It feels like late 2000s. I see Lakers 20 and I think Jody Meeks. Exactly.

Is this Bolie Bryant? This is not Jody Meeks. That would be a great pull though. I wish I would have to pay Jody Meeks. Lakers 20. Who's out here wearing that? Yeah. What number...

It's not a play. Listen, your guy from the G-League, Andre Ingram, what number did he wear? That would be a pull. This is not Andre Ingram. I think he wore like 19 or something. Okay. No, no, he wore something like they actually. I don't remember.

Who the hell is this Ryan Kelly? We don't know. 20 in the Nike era. So that's like the last like seven years. So we've gotten some bad Lake and teams. Oh, is this Jordan Hill? This is not Jordan Hill. This is from a previous Nike era, I guess, not the current one.

A previous Nike era. Is this Gary Payton? This is Gary Payton. Wow. This picture is a definition of wash. This is crazy. Nike made the jersey at this point. I guess so.

I don't know. No, that's what I told you. Listen, this is from overseas. This is from Alley Express. Right. That's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, There.

Facts. Ew. Next up. Whose jersey is this? Oh, 37 is disgusting, bro. Nasty number. Who had a nasty? Oh, is this Derek Fisher.

Damn, this is Derek Fisher. Ew. I remember. Donovan, you're in a disgusting jersey. You actually had two numbers there from two different stints. Really? You were six ones and 37 ones. Two of this team.

that's gross bro Joe 90 miles and Matt Barnes exactly this is why Matt Barnes this is why Matt Barnes drove

because he were the number right next player who is this hmm all right zero I think I know this is

off the bat but it could be wildly wrong you got an early shot could this be Maurice Spates oh no damn

Damn. I'm trying to go through quick. So again, this is, this is an old school or an old school, older Warriors jersey. Is this Jared Jack? This is not Jared Jack. I think he wore 55. I'll give you a hint. He was only here for one season.

One year. One season. Okay. Crazy. You remember who Jeremy Evans was, Donovan? Was he ever, uh... Jeremy Evans is the name. Was he a... That's the name, right?

I don't know why I feel like that's one of the NBA players. No, he played for the jazz. Oh, okay. Yeah, he got drafted by the Warriors. He was number 40. Oh, okay. For the jazz. It's not Jeremy Evans.

A forgotten slam dunk. Two-time dunk contest champion, which is wild. Bro, the dunk contest is so bad. He was here for one year in 2019. Oh, man, I was about to say, Patrick Ricard. Nah, can't be him. You can't have for multiple years. It's a multi-champion right there.

You better respect the name. Yeah. Exactly. One of the goats. Never done it before in NBA history. Who's been in and out of this, of this team? In 2019, if you think about that team, you had Steph, Clay, Dre, Iggy, Looney, KD. Who are the random role players surrounding that year?

I think Jordan Bell was number eight? Was it Jordan Bell? You know, I was thinking, come on, y'all. Damn, yeah. You're never going to get there. You're never going to get there. I think we failed. This is DeMarcus cousins.

Oh, man. Wow. That's sick. I hate myself for this. I'm sorry. That throwback is ugly. I'm sorry. What?

This one is fire. I thought that was kind of hard. Why not? Actually, it's not ugly. It's cool. It looks like an old Western. Want to be Texas so bad, Dersie? I understand it.

But I like it. The cover, the front of a saloon. Yeah Listen, it gets popping in the bay It's popping in the bay It's popping to the bay Yeah, yeah, we're yo

Red Don't get Don't get out of it started Bro, that's one of my favorite clips ever of Drake after That's so good It's taking me everything

It's taking everything You got to say it I know Next thing we're going to do Mo, I believe you have some players to talk about in relation to Blake Griffin retiring.

Fuck, bro. You all heard the news of Blake Griffin retiring. One of the better power forwards of the 2010s, one of the most entertaining players ever. But him retiring made me ask this question in my head. And it made me want to extend this question to several other players in the league right now. Will this player have their jersey retired?

Okay. First one up. Let's go ahead and see what it is. Blake Griffin. By the Clippers. Listen, will he? I don't know. Should he by the clippers?

Absolutely. What? Absolutely. For what? Listen. They are an irrelevant team that was made relevant by a handful of players

the first time in decades, one of which is him, number one of all pick, lived up to the hype. Listen, he did his time, did that city right, and they dropped him on his motherfucking head. They better do him right

by retiring your jersey. You never made a conference finals. You never made it pass wrong. You lost it. You lost to Josh Smith. No, you are not getting your journey. Respect Josh Smith. Josh Smith.

Hey, J-Smoo was hooping, man. Don't disrespect Houston, Josh Smith. What the hell? Hold on. Exactly. Not Atlanta, Josh Smith. Houston, Josh Smith. Like, let's be real.

Listen, it's the Clippers. Apply Clippers tax. We're not expecting them to make finals. That's not the goal here. I'm not saying he should be inducting the Hall of Fame today. But for Clipper standards, he had a great career with them. A hometown, a homebred star, he needs to be in retirement. Second year, he was an all-star, bro.

You know what I'm saying? Like, I, you got it. Actually, it was his rookie year, right? His rookie year? Yeah. Special. I think he definitely deserves to get his jersey retired by the Clippers. But will it, though?

Him and Steve Balmer have beef. I remember when he made his return back to L.A. He didn't want to acknowledge him at all. He's not getting his jersey. They already put it up in the rafters, took it down. Six months later, stripped him out. It's not going back up. They did him so dirty.

They're on his knees. They're on their knees to fucking get him back on that 2018 Clippers team. Maybe that's what's wrong with the Clippers. Maybe they have bad juju and it won't go away until they write their wrong to Blake Griffin. Facts. Brother did him so dirty. That's the plot to a Disney movie. So like, I guess.

What's next? Ooh, LeBron James. As a Laker? As a Laper. as a Laker, as the Miami Heat, as a Cleveland Cavalier, it's for sure. We don't need to talk about it. Obviously, the Cavs and obviously the heat are both. The heat retired Michael Jordan's number.

They're damn sure you're going to retire LeBron's number. That's such a munch move, bro. Why would they do that? Oh my God. But the Lakers is interesting. They have a high standard, but he did bring him a championship. He did choose to go there without another star right away. He looks like he's going to stay there to maybe to the end of his career.

If he retires there, I think they'll do it. I don't think the heat do it. You're out of your mind. I don't, I don't think as long as Pat Riley is there, I don't know if LeBron's jersey is ever going up in those rafters. It easily does that. Just out of spite for leaving? He's holding that gross to the day he dies.

LeBron's jersey is not getting retired until Pat Riley leaves. Interesting. It deserves if you retire for the- But yeah, listen, stay there for a few more years. I think the Lakers get it. What else does he need? What else needs to be done if, you know, if you're unsure of it, Isaac? Just stay no longer.

Just retire there. Just be there for a while you got the ring just longevity at this point. Yeah, I also made NBA history there too 40k points. We will never see that broken ever again probably I think at this right he might be there for 10 years like he's already was the year six with them like he might be there for a long time it'll happen 10 years six 10 years one ring that's not the Laker way. I'm sorry. Oh my God. People expect chips plural. They're not they're never getting another one. 20 year olds what's next ooh next up is Kevin Durant okay

Oklahoma City should I don't know I don't know if they know exactly I don't know if they will they fucking better I don't know if they will be serious they better

but they should Golden State they already said that they will not at all not at all in Brooklyn not at all in Phoenix Joe Si would rather give

every rookie imaginable that gets drafted by the team his number, then retire it. That is true. Josiah himself might play in Kevin Durant's jersey before he retires it. That's not going up in the Rafters. I don't think that would be retirement. They might ban the number because he doesn't want to be reminded of him. Oh my God. 35 is banned because it just ran.

Or it was seven actually. You're right. Yeah. Seven. I know 11's banned. I'll tell you that. I can promise you that. Pain and turmoil.

God damn it. too far. 13. Two. What number did Paul Millsap wear? Four? That's gone to. Anybody from that era.

Those jerseys are banned. No, just straight trauma. I feel it. All right. Next up, we have Carmet. Oh,

Kauai Leonard. There we go. The Spurs? I don't know. He left with some bad blood in the Spurs. Mm-mm-mm-mm. Not as a very dramatic fashion. Not at all.

could the Raptors do it off with just one singular year? That's so awkward. I would say no, but listen, they don't have a lot of history. They might as well, right? Like, what do they have to lose? Like, it's a great year for them. They're only great year. I'll go, yeah.

I ain't go, why? If the Raptors just to do that, he might not show up for his own Jersey retirement. I don't know. If he stays in the Clippers to retire, I'm sure they will too, just because he's the star that chose them for the first time in a long time. Probably.

his jersey should never hang in the rafters and it's not because he's bad his legacy is a weird in every single place that he goes so I can't do I think the Raptors is probably the most likely just because they made such a big deal of him coming giving him whatever they want it would be the next step of that

please they gave him another contract they have done enough for Kawhi Leonard like they gifted their top 10 player in the league of contract out of you that is hilarious watch and miss another player out front. He could miss every single playoff run, bro. They're still going to retire his jersey just because he showed up for sure. They're so down bad. If that, if that happened, they would be

insanely down bad. Yeah, it would. But it's Slipper's history. What do we expect? Next up, we got Carmelo Anthony. Okay, so what are the Nuggets going to do with him and Yogy's both wearing it? Are they going to co-retire it or just give it to Yokic? They better retire Carmelo's jersey. With the run, Yolich is on? Fuck that. Listen, they gave it to their goat. Yeah, I mean, tough. You shouldn't have left.

Now, Yokich was a second round pick and I'm pretty sure the Nuggets didn't expect it. You know, expect him being this great, so it's really awkward. But at this point in time, with how great he is, bro, you can't refute it. Would it be disrespectful to Yokic to co-retire his number

after what he's done for that city? It's not Yokis' fault. Another franchise great played before him? great I see now we're getting disrespectful see why are we doing this to Carmelow I'm joking why are we doing this

of course his jersey should be retired in Denver it should be retired there I don't know New York maybe but that's the only place you really question it for New York honestly yeah again if we are crowning people for choosing them

in free agency a lot of people shout their jerseys retired They won one playoff series His entire time there wasn't Fantastic Again, not all his fault But that is what happened Tough

No jersey timer for you Kamelo Who's next? Next up We got Chris Paul Who the hell is retiring This man's jersey Kenny? Could it be New Orleans?

Kenny You're right It's just all over on his house Do the Hornets give it to him? I mean, did the Pelicans give it to him? I don't know if his time was that impactful there. I mean, it kind of was, but... It was, you're right.

It was impactful. What? If the Clippers are going to do Blake, they should probably do Chris Paul, too. I agree with that. I think the Clippers is his best chance of getting a Jersey retired. After that, I'm not sure. I mean, after that, it was a carousel team, so after that he's cooked. It's about to be another one.

that he had an O KC. Hey, it helps Shea's development, bro. Off of that year alone, I might consider if I'm O'KC. Put him in the Raptors. Exactly. He taught Shea had to be a star. There you go. What's wrong with that?

Exactly. The greatest accomplishment of his career. Exactly. I agree. Who's next? Paul George. Pacers probably. Why not?

He did it good by them. I mean, it ended kind of bad, though. I think if he goes back, if he ever if he ever goes back i can see that happening at this point i'm just like he might just be a cool star like a nice error that they had but i don't know if they retire his jersey he went through so much to the only conference finals yeah what he took the clippers to their only conference finals oh the clippers oh my bad i thought i thought you're talking about the paces i mean yeah but at the same time what else have you done like it's not it's not like a super impactful time

Again, Clippers tax is not high expectations. We can't, even if you're down bad, you need to have standards for yourself. And so for Steve Ballmer, I hope that you are watching. I hope that you have higher standards for your franchise. You can't do this. Bro. You can't. The inflation over there in the Clippers territory is crazy, bro.

What a conference finals is over there to them is like, equates to like a championship. for any regular thing. That's a three-peat to them. Exactly, bro. It's just like, yeah, we fucking got there, bro. I can't believe it. It's a dynasty in my eyes. This is a season to remember. One of the greatest teams of all time. That's how they're thinking over there. And off that alone, they have to retire his jersey as well. But do we take that back because he hit the side of the backboard?

Oh, shit. Because that's embarrassing. Like, that legitimately, like, blowing the 3-1 lead and hitting the side of the backboard and hearing Mike Brin be like way off. Like that That hurts The starter calls him Way off P, you're right

Oh shit That hurts I don't know If you can do it You're right Ugh That's tough man All right

We got one more Next up We got Jimmy Butler Who is retired This man's jersey This is I thought he'd have to

Right They should They should He embodies He culture And they made such a big deal

About heat culture Being their whole identity he's given them nothing but blood sweat and tears I feel it could be kind of crazy if they didn't

it's like the definition of why you retire a player's jersey do you know what you got you got it you got it two finals appearances I'm okay with that

when you had no business making it there either just straight off of his back I feel like you got to do it he gave them life when they didn't have any life since LeBron left so I think that warrants enough

I think that warrants enough he loves him to skip a rebuild and be a contender with like two late lottery picks in him that's that warrants it with the consistently trash roster two 22 will be up there with along the

greats bro yeah do you retire his before LeBron's oh now that's an interesting conversation fuck no I'm telling you Pat Riley hates LeBron he does not like that now listen one won the chips

one looks really cool losing him give me to me polar that's hilarious I think that's it cool next thing we're going to do we're going to do a deal if you haven't done a while

this time we're going to do a deal or no deal based around Steph Curry which no no do no do no or I'm going to give you guys some trade packages

and you let me know if you were the GM of the team that has the player we're talking about this time being Steph Curry would you accept these trade packages

you know the Warriors went out sad went out pitiful went out horrendous went out shattered went out nasty went out whatever you want to say

PU so listen we're going to frame it as if they were going to rebuild if he requested a trade maybe the type of trade package you would see would you do it would you not

all right let's do it GM hat is on NBA deal or no deal would you accept these Steph Curry trade packages if you were running the Warriors First off, we got Austin Reeves, Rui Hachimora, and two first-round picks. Bro, the Lakers fan and you were so giddy type in this.

E-e-e-ee! Fuck, no. Oh, my God, Austin Reeves and Rihachimura? Oh, my God, that's so disrespectful. Yeah, if I got this call from the Lakers, I would have to pull him at Barnes. I'm driving down the highway. I'm beating up Rob Palinka. Don't you ever disrespect me with a trade request like this again.

This is terrible. You beating them up? We are marching down staples. Don't you ever get on my phone with some foolishness like this. You're going to be like, yeah, I accept that trade. You're going to fucking tell him, meet me at a fucking subway or something. She's just fucking playing a plane to jump his ass with everybody. It's hilarious.

All right. No deal. I understand. I hear you guys. Next up. Chet Holmgren straight up. Listen, chat, welcome to the bay. Welcome to the bay.

Oh, no. Welcome to the bay. I will have E40 show you a round, right? We can put you on the trolley, right? We'll get you a little pass. You can go wherever you want. Come on to the bay. I'm making this trade in a heartbeat.

I'm saying hell no to this trade. Are you crazy? Now, SGA and Curry would be beautiful, but Curry has to retire as a warrior. If he's not, then I need it all you literally all your picks. I'm assuming more. Yeah. Look, we're assuming he wants to leave.

That's the whole point. If Step asked for it. If Steph Curry asked for a trade and the Thunder offered the Warriors this, you have to take it. Steph is 35, 36 years old for a 20, 20, 21 year old. Instant. I'd rather have unhappy stuff than Chet. Just alone, Chet. You're crazy.

I need more. I need more. Dude, that's a star you can build around. This would be a blessing to the Warriors future. Should build around what, though? They got shit. You start with Chet, rebuild. I wouldn't want to do this

Or Dale you're not going anywhere Sorry, bro, be unhappy, pout, don't care Sell me jerseys Next, next deal We got Evan Mowgli and Darius Garland For Steph and Dremont I mean, I feel like you have to take this deal If you're getting the youth

Of Darius Garland and Evan Mowley You kind of have to take this And Dremont You are here because Steph is here If he goes, you go to Everybody's out. out of you, right. Listen, two birds, one stone.

You all offload the Dremont contract and you get new fresh duo to build around. That's a deal to me. Man, you take it. Now you do create a nice safe environment over there in Golden State. No more violence. You lower the crime rate because Dremont contributes a little bit to that as well with what he does just naturally. So I'm like the mayor.

Exactly. That's a spin right there. We're going to save San Francisco one Draymond trade at a time. Exactly. We're not allowing this type of act. We don't condone us in our city, Draymond. You're out of here. I consider it for sure.

I might do it. Nah, I'm not. Nah. All right. Next deal. Brandon Ingram and two first round picks. Oh my goodness. Stefan Zion Williamson with two first round picks.

Sean. I love Steph Curry. I love Steve Curry. I did not realize how easy it was to trade him. I'm taking this deal. You got to go, you got to go. I'm sorry.

If it's Brandon and two first round picks, come on. I don't know how much I'd be excited about building around Brandon in here was like building block though. He's like 28. He's not exactly a young guy anymore. It's the two person on pigs that is that's kind of enticing. Again.

Do you first John picks in the Pelicans when they have Zion and Steph Curry? He's 36. Like, what do you mean? We only get younger. More good years out of him. Zion ain't going to be playing when he's 29. So like, you got a capitalized.

Oh my God. I'm like, good. That's hilarious. Okay. Well, there you go. A bunch of deals. Like the first time we have more deals than we have no deals.

That's surprising. It's so depressing. Now, again, this is only if Steph Curry request a trade. Yeah. If not, if not, I'm with Mo. You better stay here. You better sell these jerseys.

Exactly. Simmy. Night night, night, night, night, night. All right, we had two more videos left before we get out of here. Next thing, we're going to play the imposter game again. Been a couple weeks since we did this. fun series and I'll take the TikTok comments love it you guys know how the video works

Nikiel is going to text three of us I mean two of us a name of a player the third person that doesn't get a text will know they're the imposter and the goal of this game is for us to take turns giving very vague descriptions of the player until we can figure out who the imposter is

and whoever the imposter has to pretend they know who it is and try to blend in all right bet yeah so give you and Nikil a chance to send these texts out this game is very fun we have a habit of doing it too fast so we gotta take our time and really let it marinate it should be good i guess the order can go me mo donovan that'll be the order of guessing

so you guys you guys know what's up two of us know the NBA player one of us doesn't we got to figure out who the imposter is first off uh highly regarded draft pick hmm okay let's keep it vague okay uh not a million followers on Instagram. Okay. Not a popular guy. All right.

Loki that's kind of specific, but I don't have time to look up to Instagram followers right now. Good athlete. Okay. Nice. He's an NBA player. This is now skilled offensively. Okay.

Nice. Got a little back to him. Okay. He has a little bag. I see. I see. facial hair great that narrows it down for me

he got it he's every man it's like five NBA players who don't great it's not Richard Jefferson fantastic real hooper interesting interesting adjectives to describe him okay impactful next to stars

Hmm. Okay. Impactful nexus stars. Good handle. You have to. If you're impactful next to stars, unless you're... Let me look at that. Decent shooter. Okay. Uh, that's all. Mo. I got my eye on. Let's cut the ties, bro. What do you guys? I got two guns. Which one of y'all want to get shot? To the office scene? Exactly. Shot blocker.

Ooh. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hold, oh, wait. Okay, no, no, I'm sorry. I tripped out. I thought it was most turned. Oh, no. Nope. Okay, you said shot blocker.

Okay. Um. 6 11 I think okay Donovan hmm high potential

all right y'all mo let's vote donovan's ass out of here no one is everybody got to go you're ready to get tonight put the hands up what I say we stopped talking we stopped talking about potential with this guy like three years ago

don't even is the imposter what I say fake as hell what I say Potential means nothing. This guy has reached his potential. How much better can this dude get, Donovan? Do you want to try to save yourself? He can get a lot better.

He can get a lot better. So who's the name? The guy. So Donovan, are you the imposter? Of course I am. I got his ass. This is Jared Jackson, Jr. There we go.

I'll just do. Nah, they're actually still in the ceiling. I got round two Nikiel sent us another round of names we got one more in this that was good systemically eliminated his ass he's a decent shooter I'm like

it's a pretty good shooter yeah I was worried we made that one too easy that he would have caught on no I thought you guys were most at 611 I thought you guys were talking about Evan Mowgli that's not a bad guess

very similar players okay round two Real simple, you guys understand. We got the text right out. Same order. Me, Mo, Donovan. Tough player.

Defense. Pretty easy to assume when I say tough. Exactly. Nobody tough is bad at defense. Never met a tough, non-good defensive player. Who the hell is that? Mid-shooter. okay um 10 year vet

hmm long okay long career multiple teams again another easy assumption most people do let's go ahead and do it multiple hairstyles another easy assumption most people do I can't say that long hair long hair

interesting black we're full of great assumptions today we are yeah breaded what a great assumption after great assumption breaded

has at least one family member in the NBA at some point that is so specific one family member in the NBA from an NBA

family from an NBA family okay um good wingspan okay okay um

underrated okay I got my eye on both of you underrated don't you mean by that I got my own both do one more round I'm looking at both of you after that last round just now uh what's a good way well how do we know it's not Isaac on a contender

I agree I think he's a little I think he's kind of stunned at us a little bit on a contender on a contender Okay. Reveal yourself. Stocks merchant.

Stocks merchant. Okay. Donovan, what's your next one? Think carefully. Time out. No, it's okay. You know what? I've mercy today. So I'm going. oh you're not helping at all that didn't that didn't help me eliminate you whatsoever let's go ahead and bring them guns out boys i'm looking at mo i'm looking at mo too mo i'm looking at you too

mo mo are you the imposter we're voting you i'm voting mo i'm the imposter i'm the imposter i knew it nobody's ever called drew holiday at stocks merchant Not a day in their fucking lives God damn it Love it That's the end of that We got one more video before we get out of here

I love the imposter game Next thing we're going to do A new segment I want to try out I'm going to give you guys Two NBA players And we're going to go category by category And see which players better at each one The categories are going to be passing

Shooting, finishing defense, and clutch Okay So you remember those old graphics from Jason Tatum's Ricky year where they had Tatum and Kuzma? Oh my God. And they get like four and a five to Kuzma. We're basically going to do that. Straight slobbing. I love it.

Great slobbing. Not me. You know what I mean. Which NBA player is better at each of these categories? First off, we got Jason Tatum versus Kevin Durant. All right. So Kevin Durand is easily the better shooter. Facts.

Got to give him that right at the board. Everywhere, bro, for sure. Defense, listen, Katie's about a great defensive year. Still going Jason Tatum. Easy. Yeah, he has more of their reputation consistently throughout his career, for sure. And listen, Jason Tatum may love him some stepback threes,

still a better finisher than an old man, Kevin Durant. At this point in his career, yeah, he has the finishing. I would kind of give Kevin Durant the passing. I don't know. is are we that's close it is no it is because they're not they're both not like elite passes like that yeah they're both good 6.5 out of 10

but I feel like Kevin the red for his career it hasn't been great but at low key has been underrated like he can he can do some things yeah it's developed it's not a week it's developed for sure he just kind of like his defense where I got a lot better

late in his career okay let's give Kevin the respect yeah yeah let's give Katie the respect for passing he's had a really good passing here clutch who we're going with this it's not a question

this is Kevin Doret Or James should not go on Jason Tatum Not at all Not at all Not to say Jason Tatum isn't like a choker But he certainly doesn't have The most playoff moments

Outside of that one spinning layup To finish the game If Jason Tatum was actually clutch The Celtics We would feel good about picking the Celtics To win the finals Fact It wouldn't be thinking at all

About no Nicole I'll tell you that Yeah no Jason Taylor's going to be texting Kobe a little bit longer, bro, for him to be clutch. It's going to happen. It's going to happen, no. No, it's not. We got clutch,

passing, finish, and shooting go to Kevin Durant, and then finishing a defense go to Jason Dayton. That makes sense. Yeah. Next player. We got Anthony Edwards versus Donovan Mitchell.

Off the bat. Donovan Mitchell is the better shooter, for sure. Yeah, for sure. He's playing forward Anthony Edwards is getting better DeMitch is an elite shooter DeMitch is a better passer That one's easy

Yeah for sure Defishing Listen I know we love Anthony Edwards dunks DeMitch is not a bad finisher himself I'm a very underrated finisher Also ridiculously athletic

This is hard Guys Anthony Edwards Dunk the guy into an injury He has finished We should give him Finish it But Donald Mitchell Off the dunks alone, that's fine.

Posterizes alone, though. I actually can't remember any. I'm trying to think. I feel like I remember seeing him do it, but I can't remember on who. I think he did this to someone on the Nets recently. Don't care. Don't care.

Take it. We're finishing Anthony. Let's do it, whatever. Okay, okay. Respect Mr. Dunk, man. I get it. Defense. Ant has really improved this year.

Got to be him. Anthony Edwards. I think DeMitch's defense is overblown as a huge weakness, but Ant has been legitimately. really good defensively. Where do you go a clutch? If you asked me two years ago,

I would have been like DeMitch as a demon in the playoffs. A couple of years in a row of the demon staying at home. Exactly. But. More of a fairy lately. Has it had those moments though? Kind of. I mean, earlier in the season,

way earlier, the start of the season, he fucking looked Jason Tate him in the eyes and snatched the home game away from him. But that was in November. And we hold, and we hold on to that one game so tightly. Like that, that made his whole season. We might have to lean Deemich. He did it in the, when the lights were the brightest.

He was going band for band with Yolkich and Jamal Murray. Okay. That was also four years ago. Yeah, you're right. That was four years ago. We can go DeMitch, but I feel safe assuming Anthony Edwards is on the same level. Who's hit a game winner more recently? Whoever, I don't, I don't have the numbers off the top of my head,

but who's ever hit one more recently, they have the clutch, G. Listen, if I needed them to take the last shot of the game, I'm going D. Mitch. The shooting makes a difference. I agree. D. Mitch. You clutch, boy.

All right, next step. Luca Donchis versus Shea Gildes Alexander. Top two point guards in the league. Dang. Listen, we don't have to do Shay like this stuff. We don't have to do Shay like this. Finishing? You would want to go, Shea?

that's his thing, but Luca shoots like 75% at the rim. He's kind of ridiculous. It looks prettier when Shea does it, but, bro, Lucas is the answer. He's just way... Lucas shoots just as good as LeBron James at his prime at the rim. It's got to be Luca. Why do we set She up like this, man? Yeah, bro, it's funny.

Shooting has to go to Luca, too. It's kind of nasty. Like, it's already to check off. Finishing. Already, Luke, we talked about that passing. Luca might be one of the best passes we've ever seen in basketball history. Yes, it's atomic bomb versus coughing, baby. Yeah.

But defense, hey, Shay against defense. You're giving that. By a landslide, for sure. Y'all smokes the defense category. Y'all set me up to hate on black man. I'm not doing it today. I'm not doing it. Shea, I stand with you.

We're not doing this today. No more comparison. She ain't do none. He's been pretty clutched out his NBA career for sure. Listen, I've seen Luca stares on people in their eyes and ripped their throats out in the playoff setting.

He didn't win the games, but he hit big shots. That is true. All right, let's go, Luca, for clutch. Damn, this looks so bad. Next up. I see who I'll stand. This is for Stephen A. Smith I'm trying to convince me that's

to head Luke SGA is the MVP. You have to go. Listen, you have to go there to make points and work for Kendrick Perkins It works for Stephen A. Next time, we got John Morant versus Jalen Brunson. Shooting Jalen Brunson.

Easily. Finishing. I'll give Jai that. I got that. You said like, go gift it to him. Like, it's like it's not a fucking blowout. Jada don't know how to pivot off of two feet.

What? He doesn't know the fundamentals of inside the paint work. John could jump over two Jalen Brunson's. And missed a dunk. Passing Jaw Definitely gets it But it's not a huge margin

Jalen's definitely improved He's improved for sure But it goes to Joe Yeah The way John knows how to use His finishing To pass out a shooter's next level What do we want to do a defense

Oh man this is Coffin Baby versus Coffing Baby This is terrible It's kind of a wash No I think Probably Jailin sucks Defensively I think he'll be the person to tell you

I mean The only reason why we say Jaws is because he could fucking send some shit to the moon once in a while. Exactly. That's a difference. That's a difference. Once in a while. Yeah. Neither one of them are defending the best player by any means.

At least Jock can make some place of his fucking verticality. Yeah. Now we're at clutch. This is tough for here. No, it is not. Jalen Brunson is clutch. This is not tough to me. Jalen Brunson for sure earns the spot.

You don't think Joss clutch? Jha. Jah is. Joss is. He is clutch. But it is, it is the same thing as with DeMitch and Anthony Edwards, where if somebody has to make a shot, I'm going with Jalen Brunson. The Knicks are good this year off the back of Jalen Brunson carrying them in leg game

situations and being clutch. J'all can do it, but the Knicks only succeed if Jalen does it and he does it, time in and time out. Talk to him. Damn, Jha. Simple. I tried to fight for you. I agree, though. We respect Jailenl Brunson over here. I agree. All right, next matchup. We got Victor Women, Yombe. versus DeMontis Sabonis. It's going to be the fastest.

Shooting, where do we go? Fassest should ever shooting. Oh no, who is it? Wemba Nama. Finishing. Oh, no, where do we go? Wembe. Wembe.

Passing. Okay, Sabonis goes passing. Don't care. Overrated, Wemby. Defense. Wemby. Clutch. Wembe.

D.H.O. Merchant. So defense is obviously Wemby. We'll give passing to Sabonis. Clutch. Listen, Sabonis went into Denver and ripped the one seat out of the Nugget's hands. You mean Wemby? Clutch. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, did I say Sabonis? Yeah. Yeah. Shit. Listen, end of the season, Sabonis. I keep saying Sabonis. End of the season, Wemby marched into Denver and stole the one seat out of the Nuggets hands. Now, listen, he needs to steal it for his team because his team sucks, but he made sure they didn't get it.

That was pretty clutch. I'm giving it to Wembe. What? Subonis is not the one with the ball in his hands At the end of the game That is the era of Fox It was very clutch Subonis was one of the ones

Who literally put an end to the Warriors dynasty No, that was Keone Ellis and McGee Murray You do want to do anything but give Sabonis credit Samonis did fine But Keegan Murray ripped Clay Thompson's heart out It was brutal

This is Wemby So So yeah listen So bonus you can go ahead Right You can make your little D8 chose you'll your point your point five foot passes go ahead make them so your little bounce passes go ahead next up Tyrese Halliburton versus Zion Williamson all right

this is hilarious shooting shooting is clear's cut Tyrese by a landslide finishing by a Lance life Zion Williamson exactly passing by a landslide By a landslide Tyreezalbert Defense By a mild mudslide Zion Williamson Clutch

Not quite a landslide either way We're not talking about necessarily a great defender over here Yeah Clutch I'm gonna go Tyrese I mean listen If we were going November Tyrese

Sure when he had his crazy run As of late I don't know Zahn was pretty clutch though In that in that Playing game I get it, but that's recently biased, though. Yeah. What's Tyrese's?

Tiret's bias, nostalgia bias? Tiretis has it several late game shots. Okay. It's hard because it's a stepback three merchant versus a rim running merchant. Neither one are super diverse in the late game scenario. This is tough, man. But if I'm down to, I can get a step back three and go for. for the win. Right. If I'm down three, step back three, tie the game. You can't get a

step back dunk. So I'm going to go with Tyree's. Step back done. And I'm going to take him for clutch. Fuck it done. All right. Tyrese holliver and your clutch. The math is mathing. He goes to Tyrese. You're right. Step back dunk. Step back dunks in fact do not exist. I think you win this argument. It can't be done. And that is the end of this episode. If we're still, if people are still here. What should they comment? Comment. Yay Area! I know who's waiting to say that. They're not going to know how to spell that.

Y-A-Y. Area. There's all caps. Yeah. I put like a bunch of Y's at the end of yay. I love that clue. Exactly. I love it. See y'all Monday, 8 p.m. Eastern Time. Streaming. Streaming. Streaming. Let's go. Thank you.