The Deep 3 Podcast - Cam Johnson Gets Honest About His NBA Career & Almost Being Traded AGAIN | Ep. 133

Episode Date: March 21, 2025

Today we interview Nets forward Cam Johnson to talk all things NBA! #nba Check out the TD3 merch: https://the-deep-3-shop.fourthwall.com/ Listen on Spotify!: https://open.spotify.com/show/3elbbqVumwqz8wlIdknsLW Listen on Apple Podcasts!: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-deep-3-podcast/id1657940794 Follow us on TikTok!: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedeepthree Follow us on Instagram!: https://www.instagram.com/thedeep3podcast/ Isaac's twitter: https://twitter.com/byisaacg Mo's twitter: https://twitter.com/Mojo99_ Donnavan's twitter: https://twitter.com/Dsmoot3D 0:00- Intro 3:27- Cam Johnson Interview 44:12- and we're back 48:16- Timberwolves are back? 1:09:25- Warriors are back? 1:25:28- Is Austin Reaves unstoppable now? 1:37:15- The Bucks are mid 1:53:40- Grimes is amazing but the 76ers are cooked 2:06:00- tiktok time Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This time around, it's like, I'm in every single trade scenario from June until February 1st. Yeah. Then all of a sudden, it's like, not traded. Like, yeah, go back to it. So if you would have told us that, like, this group will be, will be dismantled next season and we'll never have a chance, then it would be way more emotional. Well, let me guess. Are you a big J. Cole fan? I am a big J. Cole fan.

Honestly, I kind of found myself looking at it the same way y'all were, like, what are they going to get for? What is he going to get traded for? Looking at myself. Are you surprised you didn't get traded? The cranium is crazy. Oh my God. I mean, I don't know what to say. Pray on eaters rejoice.

Isaac Donovan, I have bad news for you. And also all the viewers watching right now. 10 seconds in, you got bad news? Bad news already. But I also have good news, maybe 20 seconds. after this. This is the end of an era. I've been on a dominant rain.

Historic, LeBron, Jordan type of rain. Okay. Curry type rain. Oh. The iPad Mo era is done for. Oof. You've had it for like two weeks. It's been two weeks already and it's just done for.

So my PEDs, my boost is gone. No, no, no, no. Tell them how. Tell them how. tell them how it broke um the concrete just got the best of it that's all i can say there's an investigation going on all right it's going as you speak just know that whenever it did this shit i'll find you and you'll be had donovan lost one draft he sent his shooters out he sent polly and tony out with some monkey wrenches you y'all know i'm a sore loser

i don't handle losing well i don't like it well what's the good news outside of the iPad era being done. What's the good news? Good news is we have another interview in the tuck right now with another NBA player. Great NBA player, bro. We talked to Cam Johnson. You did and you did. Stop back to surprise. As you guys see about the intro of this episode, you taught a little montage before we started. We are sitting down today with Cam Johnson. That'll be the first part of the episode. Real fun conversation. We're supposed to talk to him at All Star Break with the other batch interviews you saw the schedule only came up we had to postpone it we got to talk to him last week here in chicago very fun conversation he is so candid on camera and so it's such a natural that it was

like far the easiest one you ever done because like he said he just loves to yapp so we sat back and listened it was great he's the definition of a chill guy like he really is just like handing his pocket just like yeah man you know we just we just out here bobbing chilling like yeah that was that was that was for sure one of our and i mean we've only done what like five at this one six at this point. I think it's up there. It's in the top half. If we're doing, you know,

keep three, cut three, the camdotsy interviews game game. Keep it, keep it down. Yeah. Yeah, that was a good one. And yeah, so we're going to start this episode off. We can send you off to that. We have the interview there.

But as always, you know, just because you do an interview doesn't mean you're going to lose out on any other amount of content from us. When we come back, we're going to talk about all the biggest news stories this week. We're going to talk about March basketball,

what's real, what isn't. Then we're going to do TikTok time. Full show for you guys. Bam, man, let's get started. with cam johnson we are here with a very special guest very fun conversation we're supposed to have you back at all-star but we're glad we finally get a chance to talk to you man we're here with cam johnson how you doing man i'm doing well man thank you for having me of course appreciate you coming on how you enjoy in chicago i know you're here for an off day after a tough back-to-back how you

you feel you know i don't feel good um can't complain man the weather's holding up pretty nice for us today i was able to get outside you duck the freezing parts you came here just in time yeah city. How does it feel to play a back-to-back? You really like, hate those? They're more difficult when there's a flight in between them. But, you know, they're followed by an off day. So you know that, like, you lock in 48 hours, play two games, compete. It's a real good feeling when you win both. But overall, man, it's definitely, you feel them on the body a little bit, but I feel really good today. I feel like I could have played today, too, if we had to. Come on, let's go.

so we can make some shit happen man how are you feeling overall just with your season what's going on you know you're coming off of a year yeah where you're having a great year personally you know you're getting more opportunity you've ever gotten your life yeah you have the rare circumstance where you have the highest usage and your highest efficiency you did both in the same time which is obviously a real difficult thing to scale up and stay at a certain level

how are you feeling overall about your season how it's going for you um learning huge learning experience obviously there's a lot of uncertainty early throughout the summer into the beginning parts of the season with trades and stuff. But I think we have a great coaching staff and Jordy and everybody that he's brought on to the staff. And when you have that in place and kind of a belief and trust and what's going on and what you're building, then it makes it really easy to just compete at a bottom level. Now, the season hasn't gone, you know, perfect according to plan. We always wish, you know, we always want to win.

That's what we want to do. Bottom line in the league, we want to win. But there's been so much learning experience that I've taken from the season. year. And like you said, higher usage, being in more action, seeing different defenses, having kind of a different involvement level in the offense and learning how to manage playing with different personnel and the shuffle that comes along with that. I'm able to go back and watch and learn so much that I think will benefit me for the rest of my career, honestly. What's the biggest thing that you've learned this year? It's hard to put into words,

but I would just say this the I think steps in reading defenses reading defenses one and then two kind of like where these shots are coming from so where my threes are coming from where I can get them off I think the biggest thing that I've added this year is a lot more threes off the dribble and movement threes which I have always loved but this year I have more opportunities to do them at first they were a little bit easier because I hadn't done them as much in the past, which I, you know, just a factor the offense, probably more of a stationary shooter. So early in the season, they were easier to get, but now that teams kind of understand that

they make those where I'm flying off a pin downs, flying off a handoff, flying off of kind of away screens, the defenses are kind of fighting through those, and you can tell us just a little bit more high alert. Yeah. So then I'm learning the counters off of that, or maybe how to get more open off of those things, which are all just so valuable in terms of kind of building, you know, what you want in your scoring repertoire and how you process the game, which, like I said, I think is going to really help me in the long run.

Oh, definitely. You definitely see a lot of players who are, you know, early in their career, 3 and D, and you get an opportunity like this. And even if you were to have been traded and you go to a team where you're once again a more minimized role, you're going to have all these reps of being able to attack closeouts and do that stuff with the ball in your hands. Is that what you're focusing on? Is being able to, like, right now you're the ball in your hands.

Who knows what's going to be in the future? Do you feel like you've gotten specifically better at the stuff that's going to translate to whatever role? Yeah, I think it always translates back. You know, I definitely made a way for myself, especially early in my career, as being a 3-and-D role player. I called the corners my real estate. Like, I own real estate in these corners. I'm a sprint to those corners in transition. I'm going to work out of there.

I'm going to catch an attack from, you know, playing out of those positions. I think having the ability to play in the middle third of the court, having the ability to read out of pick and rolls, to read out of offball actions is something that once you start to develop, it can add dimensions to your offensive game that any team can implement. So it's not even that you need to be a primary ball handler. It's not that you need every action to be called for you. But the more capability that you show in like, okay, I can call this play,

I can call this action, and this player can do X, Y, Z, the more opportunities like that you'll have. So I personally feel like whatever role I have on this Brooklyn Nets team, on whatever team I may be on going forward is I can use these opportunities to then make myself, you know, a more significant option in the offense or just be able to be more efficient in whatever role that I'm in. You're one of the most, like, self-aware NBA players ever. Like, you understand.

what sticks on the court and how to stay on the court? Where does that self-awareness come from? I think it's just intrinsic, man. Like, it's just, it's just, I think it's just, I think it's just, I think it's just, I think it's just in, I think it's just how I am as a human being. Okay. Like, I think it's just how I was built, how I was wired, just, self-aware in that regard that, like, it could even be to a fault where it's just like, I, I, I, I really try to be very, you. realistic with myself mm-hmm I try to be very realistic with myself to give me a clear path of what I need to get better on to give me you know it just makes it

just brings clarity yeah I try not to live in that la-la land so with that being the case you know you're currently very aware of your situation you're 29 years old right your second contract right you are the old head of your team you are one of the veteran second oldest and only by a week yeah how does that feel to be in that like two years ago 18 months ago you were not in that situation I just had this conversation yesterday yeah yeah I'm looking at Dilo, I'm like, Yeah, we're old.

Yeah. Like, I might be the old on your team, and I'm like four years younger than you. For real, though. For real though. How does that feel? Like, do you feel that sense of responsibility for the team? Absolutely. You're really playing into it?

Yes, I think this is the year for me personally, where I have felt a much larger sense of a leadership role and responsibility of everything that goes on. So, like, wins, losses, you know, all those results, they weigh a little heavier. I feel like, you know, I have. a little just just a more impact on the way the team responds to adversity the way the team responds to runs and it's an area that I really want to improve on I'm 29 um but I feel like I feel like I have so

many good years of basketball ahead of me that it's just kind of funny to me that I'm on the older side but I always felt like I'm I'm on kind of like a Benjamin button art yeah yeah exactly hearing that you're like 29 your birthday happy belated it was like a couple weeks ago right it feels like you're you're like 25 24 for whatever reason I don't know if it's like genetic skin whatever cool so you're looking at it's like I ain't saying bro you're shining I'm he said what is your skincare routine please drop the serum I've always been told I look I can look kind of young I don't know baby face I say I just hope that when I'm 50 I look like I'm 35 yeah that's my hope yeah but um I came in a league late

man like i was 23 when i got drafted i spent five years in college so that's kind of where the you know that's where the yeah you know so de lo and i are a week apart birthdays but he's been in the league what this is his 10th is like his ninth year yeah ninth year damn which is crazy yeah i think it might be his 10th was he 2014 draft 2015 2015 yeah so this is my six he's plus four yeah yeah it's a lot of years yeah so like the one and done's from my point bottom line is one and done's from my class are on their 10th year you know um so that's kind of where that that discrepancy comes into play but like i said man i think i really think i'm on my benjamin button art yeah in the in the locker room has there been a moment where the younger dudes

have done something and you're like oh yeah you guys every day what what do you choose choice music choice is why i'm saying that what is camp thomas listen to you you're like young boy young boy all day every day. I kid you not, 99.9% of minutes on his Spotify is going to be young boy. And if that point on one was probably just a mistake. God will play Drake. He's like, turn that off. And so for you, for you, what are you playing? I'm playing like, so when we had like, for example, Doe, Dorian Finney Smith, like, you, are you a big J. Cole fan?

I am a big J. Cole fan. No, I play a lot of everything. I play a lot of everything and I can span a lot of different genres. It's just like, I think the younger guys like had the little this, baby that. And these, these, like, these rappers, you know, like that's crazy. That's like you sound like, oh, for a rock now. You know what it is, baby that? You can't know, listen, man.

Like, we were talking about this the other day. Like somebody played. Somebody, it's not, I'm not even saying all that. I'm just saying somebody played this, this, this rapper that like, I couldn't even, like, I couldn't even tell you what his name was. This is a combination of words and numbers. the names are crazy now the names are like it's like post irony with this new generation some of the bars that be there was one in the locker I'm not even going to repeat it but I was like

please repeat this no who put this on but it's funny like we were sitting in the locker room yesterday and like Keon Johnson his birthday was the other day and he was he's 23 yeah it's his fourth year yeah he's talking like he old bro you're 23 years old bro like chill But you feel like on our team, he's one of the old guys. He's hilarious. I was in the tournament back then, shit. No, no, it's hilarious. I'm like, bro, you're 23, like you're like you turned 23.

Yeah. So came on the topic of self-awareness, you've talked a lot about your team's current situation and how annoying fans are about expecting you guys to want to take your stuff. We don't got to re-litigate that. On the topic of the trade deadline that passed, obviously, you're well aware you were in rumors and stuff. How do you take that in, you know, with that self-awareness? Is there, because I feel like there's two paths, I would probably think.

think of us in your shoes one you're seeing people talk about you a commodity that's got to be annoying that they're like maximize this asset and stuff but also you're kind of in demand people want you on their team like is there a certain level of validation that comes to that too yeah yeah i'd say so um you know one thing about being traded is that you realize that the other the team that traded for you like for example the phoenix to brooklyn trade it's like okay they were willing to part ways with kevin to rant and take on mackale myself and picks like that they put value in us as assets yeah your asset um i think honestly i kind of found myself looking at it the same way y'all were like damn like i'm looking at it like from

the third person view like yeah what are they going to get for him yeah what is he going to get traded for looking at myself are you surprised you didn't get traded no no so you is that how is that communicated to you like with you know you have your age and your team and everything do you have any type of like conversations more minimally than you think yes i was thinking like are you just in the dark and everybody else no i the one thing i asked is like it to just have an inkling of what goes on and maybe some forewarning or even a little input if that's possible to the workings of what's going on if something is really brewing um just so i'm a little bit prepared and so that was all i asked for i was like you know i'm not going to bug you about it like you i'm sure you're not

going to come to me and be like hey he goes who called you know yeah he goes to the front office so it's like I just wanted to have a little bit of awareness but at the same time like I tried to detach from that process where I'm not invested in the outcome because it's too much setting yourself up too much for disappointment yeah you know like if you get like I'm not I wasn't going to ride that remote emotional roller coaster that like just be in the present I'm telling you man it's super anticlimactic it was like you spend all this I was just talking about this when i got traded from phoenix to brooklyn it was like you you know i don't i don't could get traded

but it's not like oh i'm tossed around in every trade and boom all of a sudden traded this time around it's like i'm in every single trade scenario from june until february first yeah then all of a sudden it's like not traded like okay yeah go back to yeah one week at your pacer one week or warrior right exactly so it's like it's like it's fine in the end it's like i i'm i was invested in playing in brooklyn like i said before i really appreciate our coaching side and the effort they give them on a daily basis. So I had no problem just putting my head down and working and just being where my feet work and continuing to be where our feet are.

Yeah. And obviously the other part of that conversation you mentioned that fans are being annoying with the whole tanking conversation. Obviously, you guys are just more capable than they thought. And Jory Fernandez is initially starting like an amazing culture that is just we're going to win games. Yeah. What makes him so good of a coach?

Because obviously he's a first year coach. People aren't super familiar yet. You know, a lot of times people's reputation for coaches come in the playoffs typically. and so people will just see him as a blank slate. Yeah. Why is he so good and like starting you guys at a point of being above expectations? I think it starts with his kind of communication strategy, the balance between pushing, demanding, criticizing, and supporting and like loving on his players,

you know, where like he takes a very developed approach to those things that I think to management of our personalities and stuff to maximize what he gets from us and to maximize what he can get out of the group um i think offensively defensively he's he's gifted but a lot of people are i think he combines the human element with the actual exes and o's where he does a good job and you know like i i don't like to let him down in games you know i think that's the mark of a good coach is when you mess up and you know like it hurts you're like man i don't want to let coach down And I, you know, and so I think, and it's only his first season as an NBA head coach. He has head coaching experience in Canada and all that stuff.

But I think he's only going to get better from here on out. And I think he's going to be a coach that sticks around for a very long time. I has a lot of success in our league. How do you think he taps into these individual personalities on the court? I know it must be hard to, like, manage and think about each and every single player's, like, best interests. well he has a developed educational background when it comes to this stuff so he's not just shooting in the dark

I think he has a very scientific type approach to it and he pays attention he pays attention to people's personalities and you know I just think it's I think it is the mark of a good coach and how he can speak to his players you know you hear a lot of times

and anybody's been on a team team you know any team sport it's like man coach this man coach that yeah coach this man everybody always got something to say about coach yeah but like he it's not really you know he pushes us he does this he does that but um he doesn't really like cross that boundary where you're just like man coach bugging coach tripping like what is he doing you know what i mean he you have that respect as a player so he he has done a good job especially as a first year coach of like earning the respect of his players along along with that there's always, like, when a new coach comes in, there's some level of, like,

buying that has to happen. Was there a moment for you or for the team, like, specifically where it was, like, a very clear, like, yes, like, we're bought into everything that he does? Yeah. You know, initially, you know, one big thing that he emphasized, and the whole staff emphasized was that we're going to pressure the ball, pick up full court. And, like, you know, that's going to be, like, against a lot of people's natures, but you just got to do it.

So all training camp, we're picking up full court, passing each other, found the heck out of each other. Um, and so that was kind of like you could tell, like he's going to try to instill some characteristics in us early, maybe break some habits and stuff like that, um, but I think it was a conscious effort too amongst the veterans and stuff that's like we want, we want to make, want to make it work like, you know, the veterans at the time were me, Dorian Finney Smith, Dennis Schroeder, Ben Simmons, where like across the board like the older guys on the team, Boyan Bogdanovich, although he wasn't playing, he was still around. I was like, we're going to buy in and set kind of a good example for the younger guys.

And I think, you know, that definitely helped that transition. Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that because I was going to say my impression of Jordan's first year was more, because obviously I'm not in the locker room. I don't know how he's like with you guys. But on the X's and O side, he seems like a really, really, really strong defensive coach specifically. Like even just watching this game the other day against the Lakers, you guys gave Lucas some trouble by just throwing super aggressive of disguise coverages in him and he's not afraid to do that right like he's not afraid to just throw some like wrinkles in the game plan yeah and it's like super well executed well like i said disguised coverages that are not simple we're going to run drop every play we're going to trap every

play like it's really really a lot of depth who is ex and o's so to hear you say he's also like peak buying guy the personality side is elite i feel like not many coaches cross both those you know i feel like most people are known as either tactician exes and o's or we're going to establish a culture but maybe i'm old school and don't have the sharpest pen with the new stuff so you feel like he's a good combination of both yeah and staff as a whole it's like a cohesive staff that that kind of is all operating on a on a very similar accord which is very helpful yeah it comes to that shout out shout out the crew man real quick before we change this the next topic I'll play a little game obviously you are an elite shooter for your

position especially I want to name well what position are you saying that I am stretch for really you think that oh I saw you play more your minutes at the three this year yeah I'll say three it's just so funny to me it's such a place what do you think you are yeah how would you categorize yourself a three i think the four like when i'm listed as a power forward it cracks myself up my fan my whole life my whole entire basketball life i was the furthest thing from a power forward really yeah and my entire basketball life i had never even touched the four until my senior year at carolina when we had nassir little yeah we wanted to run the linus with myself and nassir and just because i had

like to ease his transition into college basketball like he kind of learned the three and i went to uh roy williams coach and i was like coach listen like i'll i know the four so like i'll just slide over to the four when we have these specific packages but that even then it was like wow it's the whole world i got a rebound so then i get to the NBA and they're calling me a four yeah i'm like okay it's just so funny i'm going to be six nine in the modern NBA you get Get ready to learn by her flow. Let you on the court. Yeah.

And I did. What do you think is the best shooter at every position in the league? So point guard through center. We'll start with these ones. Very easy. Yeah, it was there. Two. I have a lot of options.

It depends on who you count as two. What do you think? What comes to your mind first? For me, Anthony Edwards. Yeah. Historically. Isn't that crazy? A year ago, that would have sounded in that.

Yeah, you would have never thought that. I said, like, you would have never thought that Anthony Edwards, one of the most athletic guys is just going to take one summer come back. And now he's one of the best. no he did that shooting mechanics that is true he does have always had he's always shown potential to be a very very high little shooter but they go from potential to oh he's just like the best in one summer in one summer it's amazing so he works on his game so we give to him over clay uh that's

yeah i mean clay like prime clay's yeah let's go this year that we can go up to aunt three yeah small forward now i need to hear some names oh oh i mean so you consider yourself Number three, you want to put yourself in? Yeah, you Cooper just, you're sniping. I'm going to say myself out of the conversation because I'm saying I'm one through five number one. Humble, humble, man. You've got to have that belief in yourself as a shooter, man. Anybody who shot threes at any level knows that like if you don't have belief in yourself

and your own abilities, you're toast. Yeah, you hear that. Why are you pointing at me? That's crazy. That's crazy. That's wild. I don't know who's, I don't know who's doing percentage this year. Let's just go back from the five.

Okay, five. I would initially say, say cat. Yeah, I would say, I mean, if Yoke is four or five, five, five, yeah. You would say cat? The way, the way Yoko is shooting this year is wild. Yeah, he's shooting 43, but he's also very, like, picky choosing on his shots. You would think, though. He's, like, close to four attempts of game, though.

It's not that big a difference anymore. Yeah, but I think, like, the urgency to a closeout between Yokch and Kat, like, if you leave Kat open on three point line, like, coaches are panicking. Yeah, it might not shoot it because he just might be thinking about making the trailing threes and come off a pin down and stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think cap is a little bit more of a pure shooter. We'll go shot versus the cat. That makes sense.

Power forward and three. There's just a lot of options. I need some Chris Otrusineas. No. I actually consider more of a five. Yeah, definitely. Oh, yeah. Okay, at this point, that's fair.

I'm trying to think in terms of percentage versus who. I mean, like someone like Dean Wade, I think is always shot a crazy percentage. If I want, yeah, not like, but the role is a little different. So I don't know. Are we biased towards people to have a higher shot difficulty? Yes. Okay, we're going there. Do we go Jason Tatum?

You know, in terms of the stepbacks? You could. But what? The three or the four? Does KD count? Yeah. We want to go both of them? Yeah.

You can go both of them. Yeah, Jason Tatum and Kevin Durant. I think Kevin Durant is pretty much a power four these days. He really doesn't play three anymore. Yeah. At least because he has a thousand cards on his team. So maybe in a different team you'll be three, but we can go Tatum three, KD4. Yeah.

I think it's, I think it's interesting because, like, everybody looks at the NBA and, one of the big like topics is like positionless basketball but the way you're describing is like there's still a very big transition from like playing three or playing four no that's what I'm saying there's not there's my exact point is that if you call me a four I have there is nothing on my offense on my team that would differentiate me from anybody else even like it's really like okay so I really think the proper tournament is you have a point guard right but you have guards wings and bigs and I fall into the wing category okay so a team is compromised of any combination of Guards, wings, bigs.

You can play one guard, three wings, one big. You can have a team like Cleveland who plays two guards, one wing, two bigs. You know what I mean? So it's just, that's more of the positions of the NBA today. You get on the right team, you might play some center. You know, if you're in the Lakers right now, we got Chioras Morris playing center for the same. For you guys in the two, but you know, a lot threat. Jared Breddieffles playing center.

Like, that's how it goes these days. You know, speaking of Kevin Durant, you know, on the Suns, traded for you. How does it feel, I feel like, you know, by the time your career ends, you'll probably have played for a handful of teams, you won't feel, at least I would assume, super strong connection to each individual one. But right now, you're still pretty close to the team that drafted you in terms of years removed from it. Yeah. How does that feel looking back at the team? Do you, like, keep up with how they're doing and feel any type of relationship to the organization still? I keep up with everybody, how everybody's doing.

So naturally, yes, I keep up with Phoenix. But the organization has changed. so much since I left. True. You know, ownership was in during going through change when I, when I came in and there's been management changes. There's been complete player changes, complete coaching staff changes multiple times over, performance, training, all that stuff. So it naturally removes you a little bit. Whereas if all those same exact people were still there from when I played, then I'd be, you know, just, just, it's, it's an era in the past. It happened. We had our team. We, you know, put a lot into it, almost came out of

championship didn't you move on and you try to get one wherever you are next how was it playing in the NBA finals specifically as a second year player was that like to be thrusted into that like what's the pressure of that like where I didn't feel any you didn't feel any at all no I felt um I think the way we were operating at that point I think we're clicking and it wasn't like man I got to do this I got to it was I got to do my role I got to do my job I got to do my job I got to do what's expecting me I got to do what's in the sky and report and and just have effort and energy and let the results take care of themselves. And it was a lot of fun, man.

I obviously wish we could have won. Huge. It teaches you a lot. You know, being up to and losing four, you realize the kind of how just fragile it is. You know, these are close, four close games. But at the end of the day, it's like, how'd you lose four in a row? Yeah, then you see Yonis blocking shots, catching loves, closing out. And then it's like two, three point games.

It's, you know, so we're up 20 in a row. game they come back and win you know do you when you look back at that now and you see like how the situation went down do you like view that and you see like the yannistat lines a crazy moment that team had are you like no that's what i thought both but that's what i thought in the moment i remember in i want to say it was game six the last game it was like 98 to 96 with like two minutes left something of the sort and i look up and he got 50 points he got 17 free throws yeah exactly you made them all i'm like 50 or not 50 points of 98 like just you know and that's the mark of an all-time NBA player MVP you know but all you want is just another crack at it another shot at it and i thought

our phoenix team was close and you know the next job so we have the the the mav series which punches you right in the gut but then like you don't you just not funny right it feels like you I remember basically every game for NBA crew. So walk me through the second quarter of that game when you guys were down 45 points. What was going to do you want to know? It was like, try your best not to go outside. That's what happens in the huddles? Like it was, it was just, it was as gut wrenching of a sports moment as you can imagine.

Because we're down 30 in the first half and it's like you can fight. Like it's just like, I can feel the sorrow through his world. The vibe shifted. The air is cold. I remember, I remember the halftime. of it i remember it's just like at halftime what is what is said yeah what is like what's the vibe of the locker room obviously sad this is like so it was kind of brought back to like a life perspective honestly in the moment where it's not like we're not talking about winning the game

we're not talking it's not even like that we're talking about as competitors with pride go out there and compete every play don't hang your head don't quit don't walk away fight the game out with your heads held high and sometimes in life you take losses you take punches and we move on and we rally to whatever maybe next which is all you can do in that situation but you just don't think that that's going to be your last chance at it yeah which is so if you would have told us that like this group will be will be dismantled next season and we'll never have a chance then it would be way more emotional yeah but in that moment it's like I'm not going to give up like we're going to go right back at it and try again next year you mentioned the competitive aspect of it

that sounds to me like chris paul culture from the start you know chris paul is obviously one of the greatest competitors the league's ever seen yeah and you know you're in the position now of being a veteran on your team you came to the league second year he's your veteran does there anything you feel like you learn from him in those years that you like you still hold on to that maybe is in how you're a veteran now yeah the way he approaches the game the way he he don't when he watches when he's not like people are playing basketball he's not playing the same game we just play a middle day in san antonio and you know he can getting older and he's not the biggest fastest you know he's becoming more and more physically disadvantaged by the year but he's just

so much he has such a mental advantage on how the game operates that he can you know he's still playing and he's still effective um i think the pace at which he plays the game and processes the game and the way he's able to complement that by his understanding of every team so for example But when we played them, he knew our pick and roll coverage. And our picking roll coverage had been pretty successful to that point. But of course, as always, he's probably watched it, you know, all of our last five games and knows exactly how we're going to guard. And you can tell he had their team operating on a high level.

And they were just kind of like clockwork attacking our coverages and finding advantages and then put us behind. I know a lot of NBA players in the past have said, like, whenever, since they're are so entrenched in the NBA season, it's hard to step outside of what you do and watch other teams. How is that process for you? Are you watching basketball consistently? Yeah. It's a balance. Sometimes you just need to get away. I like to liken it to you, if you say the same word too many times, it starts to sound ridiculous. Sometimes if you don't have the correct mental balance and you just like kind of just go so deep into basketball that like it just starts to look strange. Yeah. we're drooling this round ball

and we're throwing into a hole and doing everything we can and our life around your life and balls around that ball it's crazy and there's 15, 16 20,000 people watching it's just like huh?

What are we doing? Right, right. Right. And we're throwing it from all around a place celebrating this and it's just like and people hate me if I miss it people love me if I make it, what the hell?

The gamblers on top of that that are on your every move. So it's just like I know some people hate you if you make it too much. You have to have that balance. You have to have that balance where, you know, I like to throw the games on in the back and just watch. But some days I do just need to get away, put a show on, take a nap, take a walk, spend time with family and friends. So there's that balance.

But I think the one thing that always helps is perspective and just having an appreciation for the situation, having an appreciation for being in the league, knowing that these opportunities are finite, you know, eventually I'll be done. And when I'm done, there's a high likelihood that I'm never going to be able to play an NBA level again. Yeah. If you weren't in the league, what would you be doing for a job? Because I know you have a communication major, and obviously we all do too. So my education is tailored around basketball, if I'm being completely honest. You weren't studying for all your exams? What?

You're in the labs? No, I had a really, I was a 3-9 in college. I had a great, you know, I got one B and one B plus in my undergrad. In work classes. Be in microeconomics, my freshman year because we went to Maui Invitational. Listen, I was fine in the class. We went to Maui for a week. I was in Hawaii, and our final was one or two days when I got back from the trip.

I wasn't looking over it. So I was walking to the final, like, I'm not prepared. Trying to be in that class. I got a B plus and public law and moral reasoning, which was actually a little bit more of a... Yeah, that was actually a little more challenging. It was a good class. Very good class, though, cool class. Moral reasoning sounds challenging.

that's like it's not quite easy yeah yeah yeah yeah so you know as like I think that I was over time a capable student you know and high school and stuff so if you were to ask me that I have to ask at what point did I put down to hoop dreams let's say your second year at Pitt oh hmm so if it was my second year at Pitt that I actually put down my professional aspirations then I would already been on route to my communication degree so then I would probably had two years, which I did, have two years to play to pursue a master's. Yeah. And at that point, I probably would have stayed at Pitt and pursued a master's in business.

I would have got my MBA and gone from there. If we're saying at that point, if we take it even further back, it would have influenced my college decision on where I played. I might have gone to an Ivy League school or something. If we take it even further back, then I probably would have, um, there's layers to this. This is a great answer. Yeah. Every time we ask this question so much.

We asked, like, at the Combine last year, we asked like Rob Dillingham or some other rookie is just getting drafted and they're like, probably a coach. So I'll give this just as just to kind of tie it together. My senior year of high school, my junior year of high school, even, both those two years, I altered my class schedule based on what I was going to take. So I think originally my junior high school I might have signed up for an AP cam class in a CHS physics class. my senior year at high school I was in and calc bc and smart guy aller lit but I'm like what am I

doing I'm about to um it's decisions decisions it's like I'm like oh this lit class I got so much writing this calc class like I'm I'll just do it in college like I'm going to scale these two classes down or three whatever it was at the time and focus a little more on the hoop so these are decisions that I made consciously going throughout which is like I tried to have the bounce I'm not going to put all my eggs in one basket there's no guarantee oh he's been awoke since birth what the hell that's my parents yeah they made sure that how was that what's their background that makes that so obvious to you immediately they're serious parents first of all yeah I see your Facebook up you say so

for as a lot of people will call them strict for as strict as they were they're also pretty real you know I'm I'll give you some real examples where On my SATs, I didn't get quite the score out. My older brother was really smart, like crazy smart. So all these things academically, I'm trying to trace him. So on my SATs, I was like, oh, man, like I could have got a higher score. I'm going to take it again. My dad looked at me, said, why are you going to waste your money?

Your score is perfectly fine between the college. So real. It's real. Like, what is that going to prove? Okay, like, okay, pop myself on the back. I'm like, dang, you're right. Do you remember what your score was? 1960.

I should have done it. And that was on the 2,400 scale? On the 24th. That's great. I took it on the 6th and 100s. I don't even know how good it is. And then the ACT was the same way. I tried to chase my brother.

He had a 34. I think I had a 32. And I was like, should I try again and try to beat him? Should I try again and try to beat him again? Same thing. What's the point? That's just competitive. Yeah, exactly.

It's just dog, bro. I'm sitting there like, there's another example. And I don't think I've ever shared any of these stories. I'm sitting there. I was seeing him I go into Penn. And I was like, maybe, you know, Wharton, I had a neighbor that went to Wharton, he was a great student, has still doing great to this day. And I was like, man, maybe that should just be the path for me. And my mom was like, are you sure?

Twink him, say, are you sure? Don't you complain about school? They're like, know yourself a little. So just those funny moments like that. Like, they're strict and they're serious and they push us to be our absolute best and do not settle for anything less than that. but they're also real along the path and they've helped guide me and make sure that

you know I was not a top 100 player in high school I was not a McDonald's All-American I was not the most highly recruited guy so there's not you know you can never put all your bags in being in the NBA but I've chased that dream I chased that dream so it was kind of like scaled

like you know it's like okay maybe I'm gonna put a little I'm not gonna put all my eggs in that best I'm gonna put a little more you know put a little more and so all my academic decisions were kind of resolved that and I've recently thought about what I might do if I went back to school after playing. And what's that? I have a couple of interests.

I'm going to, uh, we'll see, stay tuned. Okay. My vote is you'll be a counselor for college students, bro. You know exactly what you're talking about specifically students who are like up there. You think basketball wise. Interesting. Absolutely. So actually, um, I had an advisor in undergrad that actually put me on this path,

which is really important to my. career. So I was just going to get up, I was going to, uh, major in something in the business school and undergrad. But I had some credit transfer over from high school. When I was in there early, I enrolled early at Pitt. I did all the summer sessions before my freshman year. So I just gathered a lot of credits quickly. And so, um, kind of maybe second semester of my second year, I was planning to declare my major. Okay, what do I need? What I need? My advisor sat me down. I was like, hey, listen, you were halfway through to, two. a to an arts and sciences degree if we give you if we you know declare communication as your

major you only got 60 credits to go you can nail that square in three years and then you'll have two years to do your master's you can do your master's in business which on scholarship as a student athlete which would be even better than you know an undergrad when whatever and whatever you know undergrad business program I chose in four years and then maybe one year to start a master's some sort so I took that home to my parents and everybody was on board with that but what it actually ended up doing was I graduated after that third year which allowed me to be a graduate transfer not have to sit out and and go to Carolina for those last two years that worked out of that counselor put you on this path yeah Babs her name was Babs shout out of

babs everybody needs a babs in their life bro we're almost out of time with you so I want to do one last thing before I get you out of here and onto your next part of your day I want to name two NBA players I want you tell me who's more difficult to guard okay you know you're playing that three four the mix like you said yeah so you probably have a lot experience guarding these guys palo ban caro or zion williamson it feels like it feels like guarding zion is just trying to guard like just a bowling ball every single thing that seems harder than a little bit like just physically harder than palo yeah he kind of kind of kind of shout out

if I was a little taller but Zion is quick and very like heavy and strong like you know you try to put all this effort in holding them up

and he can kind of wiggle him around that's his own he's been so insane lately now he's healthy again's crazy Kauai Leonard or Kevin Durant

two impossible tasks but which one for you say for you your perspective I think Katie's height and maybe just like Kauai's stronger yes but Katie you might have

just a little bit more wiggle and a little bit more. I think trying to guard Katie is like hopeless. It feels hopeless. That's actually kind of, right. Not that it's hopeless. I can see you remember in time. My point is with Katie, you can play great defense and he'll still make a shot. So it's not going to, I guess maybe on one hand you're less likely to be, look crazy.

Like if you're guarding somebody like a Kai or like James Hardin, especially, you know, in his prime. Oh, yeah. They have the propensity. They can make you look silly. You better make sure your feet are planted on the ground. Katie, they're like, oh, it was a good contest. It wasn't. So, Katie, I mean, just he's one of the best scores ever played a game.

I get Katie. Okay. Tatum versus Shea. So different. These are tough questions. It is. Yeah. Very good scores, both of them, very good scores.

At this point right now. And you can do from your perspective on, like, your body type, who, you know, what's harder? Yeah. Like, I would rather guard the taller guy. so she but the you know leverage and angles that he's really really really good at that's a she is it harder like generally is a harder guarding guys who are shorter than you um in terms of containing yes but in terms of contesting then it becomes easier okay you know like that's the whole point with like kd is that like you maybe it's slightly easier to contain him and not get blown by but then you suffer

a little bit on the contest a smaller guy you know if you force him to shoot a shot maybe um that you were a little more comfortable with you can might be able to get a better contest so you might be able to you might be stronger and be able to kind of move them off their spot a little bit more so there's balances and in the NBA a lot of the times guys can score from any spot so it's also kind of like trying to get them to shoot the shot that they don't want to shoot you know this year was what shot did they not want to shoot yeah so these are tough questions man these are tough questions and these guys are all NBA players for a reason for sure oh that's all the time we got we appreciate you coming through. It's a great conversation. Thank you. Shout out

Babs. Shout out everything we talked about. Shout out the Babs. A word to Babs. Appreciate you coming through, man. Thank you guys. We're back. What was y'all's favorite part of that interview? You know, I was always got to have a little debrief afterwards. What was the favorite thing he talked about? Man, he gave so much depth into what he was talking about, whether it be like the trade stuff, what gets him going on. an NBA court, the growth that he's made, offensive me, and shit like that. I think what was the most insightful thing was when he was talking about the trade stuff probably, because obviously I'm like when he comes to basketball, all the like techniques

and all that and his decision process when it comes to college and shit like out of everything, like I can someone relate to everything except being traded. I will never be traded my entire life. It's impossible. At least I hope so. You better do better with some drafts. You have to start winning some drafts. I'm like, shit if I get spooky.

I got a no trade clause. I'm on my brandy built tight shit. Not happening, bro. So I think his feelings and emotions towards that and the realness and awareness of it, like was very, very humanizing in a sense. Yeah, yeah. My favorite part is whenever I accidentally correctly guessed

that Cam Thomas loves him be a young boy. That was the funniest part to me. That's a lot. live you could like I know you can you can you can say that about probably like 85% of NBA plays I just knew it just it just felt right and it was absolutely yeah great great talk I love that interview one of my favorite ones you've done let's talk about some NBA news let's keep going with this episode as I mentioned in the intro we are in March and as you guys both know there's nothing in this world less real than March basketball it's just the the place the

land before time. It is outside of the realm of what is reality for us. It's just nonsense. So many teams are tanking. So many teams are resting stars. So many players are getting opportunities they wouldn't normally. So there's crazy performances every year. We call this the Jalen Green time a year. Every year, you know, he goes berserk in March and convinced everybody he's going to be a star the next year that he gets back to regular Jalen Green. So we're going to talk about the biggest headlines right now of March basketball. And you guys are going to tell me what's real and what's nice. Let's go through it. If there was ever an argument to shorten the season, it would be March basketball.

March basketball. Like you can pick any game from March 1st to March 31st and be like, are you watching this? Like we don't, we don't need like 16 of these games in March. You just don't have to have it. With that being said, though, half the league is currently playing fake basketball tanking. It's just, this year especially, it is a just nasty tank race right now for Cooper Flag. The bottom half the league is all doing it. It's pretty crazy compared to like the best couple years where we had this like brief era where

most teams are trying to make the play in. She's dead this year But after that though I got, listen Yeah I kind of like it right You're restoring the feeling of a good tank race

We have the thunder Listen the thunder and the calves Are both 56 and 12 They are fighting for the top seat I'm on tankathon daily Yep Looking at who lost Looking at who is really out here

Putting out the most disgusting lineups In order to try and capture the flag And at this point Because you don't get The best odds if you're the worst team You're doing this for the love of the game right like you're doing that just because you love the process half the league is doing that love of the game tanking but the other half especially out west there's a lot of seeding implications

going on right now so while the eastern conference is borderline unwashable on the bottom half there's a lot going on the west a lot of teams peeking at the right time so it's not all bullshit there's going to be some stuff you see here that is real and does matter a lot for the coming playoffs so should be good mixed bag we'll decide which parts of this are worth paying i'm still stuck up on donovan saying that he's checking tankathon like it's the goddamn weather app like you have nothing you should be detached out of all of us backside maybe isaac you should be the most detached when he comes to the tank athon shit i know me personally i'm avoiding the fuck out of it for reasons that don't need to be

discussed once again oh they will be though they will be we'll talk about that first story i think we'll talk about the one that i find most interesting the minnesota timber wolves have figured it out this right now over the last 15 games or so since Julius Randall has returned. They've only lost twice. Oh, I actually only lost once, I think, this most recent game. Yes. They have completely figured out the Julius Randall fit.

They are currently playing like the most dangerous team in the NBA that nobody's talking about. Everything is going well for the Timberwolves after going so wrong to start the year after the catch rate in which we all said, you did it. You destroyed the Anthony Edwards era before it started. Doom and Gloom was at an all-time high. A lot of reactionary takes because it looked really bad after looking really good. last year. They've seemingly normalized, and I think over this stretch in which they're 13

and 1 with Julius Randall, they look like the team that we thought they'd be to start the year when we like decide to look at it positively and convince ourselves that they'd be like the four or five seed. I think I had them four. You guys had them around the same range. We said, while we don't like it long term, Julius brings some skills that offensive will give them a different look, the playmaking, the extra spacing and Don Steven Chenzo, all this stuff. That wasn't there to start the year. It is now. And I think we're kind of seeing the vision that Tim Conley had when you put the team together. Two things. One, I do want to point out before I get into the Timberl's stuff, it is very funny how Moe has shown us that his iPad is dead and cooked,

and he is still holding it like it works. I think that's very funny. I think that's very funny. It's with me in my heart. Two, shout out to Julius Randall for like a 100%. Because I think early on in the season, we were coming up here all the time. And I was saying like, oh yeah, I'm back out. Like, I'm out on the Timberwolves. And a lot of that was, because we were talking about Julius Randall's attitude, his effort on the defensive end, and there was times where it just looked so clear. Like he just wasn't trying. The offense was very, it felt like Anthony Edwards was there.

And then you didn't get the 20, 23 or 2024 version of Julius Randall. You were getting 2020 Julius Randall, like the, or 2021 Julius Randall. The version of him with the Knicks where he had is all NBA season, and he's just going straight bully ball. I'm going to the post. I'm getting mine. I'm not passing the ball to anybody. If it comes to me, I'm going to try to work. And you've seen, you've seen the chemistry just blossom and grow exponentially over the last 15, 20 games where, like, their two-man game is legit dangerous.

And it feels like his effort has gone up. And also, just a recognition. This is Anthony Edwards team. Let me do the stuff to help Anthony Edwards be in a good position. And because of that, I'm going to eat for free. Like, I don't have to, I don't have to work as hard because if Anthony Evans is going off and he's getting all the easy touches, he's, you know, he's going downhill. Defenses have to adjust to that. And then Julius Randall can then go to work and get his buckets from an easy perspective.

You, uh, you focus there on Julius Randall and like his attitude and stuff. I know what you're saying. That was a common talking for early in the year. The body language on the whole team was quite terrible. You know, Anthony Edwards complained to the media every other day. The vibes were not good all around the locker room. I don't really blame it on Julius Randall's attitude. I think that part is a little overblown.

I think the basketball fit was just terrible to start at the year. They needed a lot of adjusting to figure out how to play Julius Randall, the slashing guard, who plays an entirely different way than Carlton Towers, shoots with an entirely different rhythm. He's not quite the space the floor, quick twitch. I'm going to pull these threes in a second's notice. It altered the space and completely. Gobert took a step back that made him less effective

in both ends start the year so like you combine that with Jamie Daniels not playing well everything was just kind of wonky and I think it was a lot more the basketball fit was terrible and they've just figured out really smart ways to deploy him now

that I don't even know if he's like necessarily more bought in or a better spirit in the locker room whatever I don't know but like they've just done some clear ways that they're playing better and how they utilize him and I think the main thing is

they don't have him space in the corner nearly as much in the beginning of the year it was like Aunt Gobert pick and rolls Randall you space the floor attack when you can And now they're doing a lot more Julius Randall you be the pick and roll guy With aunt like you said the two man game is special

And Gobert is posted up in the dunker spot And Randall's got a lot better at finding those reeds hitting him there Even outside the Gober thing They've been really they really were thriving the best When Gobert is missing those games And they started Nosreid Center Because they had five out lineups

Where Randall was rolling down hills A roll man with full five out spacing Nasreee, Jay McDaniels in the corner Donson even Chenzel on the wing with Ant the spacing was crazy and Julius Randall just has all the space in the world to attack the paint at times it's felt like Russell Westbrook on the rockets when they had the space out line to really accommodate him that's kind of how it is now so maybe Julius Randall is a better teammate now and all that stuff but I think they just figured out a lot of better ways to

deploy him to give him a better chance yes I 110% agree when it comes to out of all of us when it comes to this trade I was the highest because I tried to be optimistic through the Julius Randall experience, which is like there's highs and there's those, he's the most high and low, like, NBA player there is. But a part of the reasons why I was like kind of high on this whole entire situation was because I'm like, oh shit, like you get one of the best three-point shooters in the league last year, one of the three best shooters in the league last year in Dante de Ventinozo. And he's been back throughout this stretch as well. And he's been absolutely bawling out of his mind. And he's been the normal, the normal Dante de Ventino

finally after, I don't know, 50 games. And he just came back through his injury. around the same time as um jesus randals so that has helped a lot but i agree with you 100% the pacing the pacing the pacing and spacing feel like there's so much better and they feel like there's so much and then on top of that too like through the absence of julius randall and dante de vincenzo like you have to give dish out some more offensive responsibility and we're seeing a mid-season leap through guys like jada mcdaners i pointed to it i believe a couple podcast episodes ago and he's been nothing but kept on going kept on kept that level of growth steady and he's been great as of late too now i will say they are on this list of teams for a reason when it comes to

figuring out whether this is fake basketball or not because if we take a look at their schedule okay specifically they've played a whole lot of nothing okay he's on the iPad we'll look at the phone the ipad gives me powers bro i think it's it's presence it's kind of like never mind I mean not say that. Phoenix, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Miami, Spurs, Denver O'Kee-Koole, Orlando, Utah, Indiana. That's not a whole lot of real basketball teams that you're playing right now. So much fugasiness is happening right now. But regardless of the fact, they're doing their job.

Yes. And I think that's, there's, okay, so for like contenders, I think, I'll say this, I'll say this. As teams, when teams start to go on a run in March, I tend to believe that. a little bit more than when players go on a run in March because the teams like even though that they're playing like stinkers you've seen throughout throughout the season you've seen teams have like easy stretches the games and the ones that are at the top you take care of business right like if they were if they were coming out here and they were losing to Utah they were losing to all these bad teams then we would point at this and we would say it's very very real at a at a

baseline level we do have to give them credit for just showing up and beating the teams that are in front of them and also to make that run to get to a position where they can get out of the playing shout out to them i also think that for and for everything that isaic said one of the kind of like underrated things about julius randos game is that whenever he is making quick decisions he's a pretty good playmaker and yeah that's been the best part yeah and so that was one of the that was one of the reasons why we were bought in is because yes you don't get the shooting that that cat does but you get another playmaker and that was something that we needed and to step up as and you needed just more of that on the team especially with Mike Conley

getting older so I think now that you have now that you are putting Julius Randall in a position to where he can be a little bit more of a playmaker have easier reads be quicker with with the ball that in itself I do believe that like I don't care who they're who they're playing I've seen enough of that over the past two, three weeks or whatever to where now I look at them going into the playoffs, like, no, they're dangerous. And if they get to the six seed and they end up playing like a Houston or they play a Memphis, they, for me, they're probably going to be the favorite in that series. Yeah, I think this is fully real. I don't think any of this is unsustainable. You mentioned Jayne McDaniels. Two years ago, a year ago, all on board. Jayne McDaniels is worth the

contract. He is one of these wings we can look at and say we can imagine him making a like close to all sort of a leap, elite role player leap, whatever you want to call it, because we can see him getting more opportunity with the ball in his hands. That didn't go well at all to start the year. It was kind of fucking atrocious the way he was playing. Since then, I got pulled up last 22 games, 17.6 points, 7.9 rebounds. Way more effective on the boards with Gobert out. He needed to really off that little physicality and he has. His two point percentage were from 55 to almost 60. True shooting from 55. to 60. He's shooting 35% and 3, which is perfectly good enough. He has made this big leap

and this efficiency because he's been a mid-range demon. He has had the on-ball chops. He's getting to his mid-range spots. He's really killing it for like Florida range, those short mid-range opportunities. It feels real to me that he's making the leap we finally expected. This would be the part that if any of this is fake, I guess it would be this because we've seen stretches where it's not. But I'm going to choose to believe that Jay McDaniels is real. Everything we talk about with Randall, to me, that is 100% real. That's all stuff. that we were so down on them to start the year because we expected this to happen and it didn't.

We were so pissed at the organization for seemingly fucking this up because we had expectations that even though we don't like the trade, we don't think we would do it. We still expect them to be good enough to contend around Anthony Edwards and not fall off a cliff.

So when they did seemingly fall off a cliff in a way that we didn't expect them to, it was like, oh, now I'm pissed because you just spoil what was an awesome team. Yes. And we thought it would be awesome because we thought this would happen.

We thought the playmaking would look better. We thought him and specifically, would be effective. They find a way to build around his strengths and get the most of his bully ball with Nasriot center and get the spacing around him. So now they're just doing all things we thought they would, I don't feel like any of it is fake, right?

Like, what could happen? Julius Randall can stop shooting well and it could just fall off a cliff in the playoffs like we've seen before. In the last 15 games, he's shooting 27 for 73. So he's already not shooting well. So is that going to happen to playoffs and make them fall off? You're not starting from some hot shooting stretch anyways. So I don't see any way that this

becomes a completely different team come playoff Yeah, and I think I 100% agree. Yeah. And in the past, like his bad playoff runs, he's also like been hurt going into going into playoff run. So I think like this, this playoff run is going to be really interesting because I want to see him on a fully healthy team now they're clicking at the right time. I want to see what that looks like.

And also like we, and I think we always do this where like we forget that there's like a real human element to it, whereas like Julius Randall is going from a. going from a situation where he was on that team for four years and just suddenly traded out of the blue. Now he has to go to a new team, fit in with an ascending superstar again, because Brunson's ascension was kind of the same thing where like he comes in. You'd think that like, yeah, he'll be fine, but he's not going to be Jalen Brunson, you know, King of New York, the captain, all that stuff. So now he has to go through that entire process again. He also, again, not to hate, but he moves from New York to Minneapolis,

which is also kind of crazy. And so there's this whole adjustment period that we probably didn't give him enough, you know, grace through. But even at the end of his Knicks tenure, like the Knicks were good. When the Knicks had, when, because you remember, they went on that run where it was Brunson, O.G. And Julius Randall right after that trade. And they were 15 and 1 and everything was rolling.

And then Randall turns his ankle and all that stuff. So we've seen him have buying with other stars before. It just took way, way more time than we thought it did. And so we probably, not probably, we didn't give him the grace and the time to kind of grow through everything. So I am, I am buying back in on the Timberwolves. I understand that I'm going to have to pay a premium for the stock because I sold, I sold at a very, very down time. But, yeah, everything that they're doing is real. And, like, they could beat several teams out West in the series and it wouldn't surprise me.

I think there's two things about what you just said. But, so one, there's a pattern here. They trade for Rudy Gobert. He plays next to Anthony Edwards, and it takes some adjustment period. The first year is bad, second year is elite. They need a time to figure out how to play with each other, how to occupy the right spots of the court and just, you know, the general rhythm it takes to play with certain players. You developed it over time.

Nothing's overnight. And that proved to be a fit that needed a good amount of time, but they eventually figured it out. Again, they trade for Julius Randall. He plays with Gobert. Right before it can't. right before camp two. It needed time. So clearly this is a pattern, whether it's a general rule that players do any time to figure

out to play each other, that is true. Also, I just feel like Gobert is a player that requires a lot of time. He brings some good strength. It's his fault. It's his fault. It's Gober's fault. No, loki it is. He was really bad to start the year offensively, and he makes it really hard to fit.

I think if he had missed time to start the year and Nasriva started from day one next to Julius Randall, it would have been an easier fit for him. So the pattern here is it takes a while to figure out how to play with Rudy Gobert and Anthony Edwards as a slasher who wants to get downhill it probably takes time to figure out to work with him so we can learn from this that

this will be a common theme right so maybe Tim Connolly is necessarily not as dumb as people made him seem in the beginning of the year and the plan was always worthwhile but also I don't feel that bad about being down on them to start the year is the other half of this like they were playing poorly it didn't make sense on paper for certain reasons

and all you can do is react to what was going on while it's true it like we've learned that they need more time i don't feel that bad about saying no it also looked bad because it didn't look bad yeah we're not playing good i don't feel that bad about it this isn't one i'm i'm happy to be wrong about them but i'm not going to be like oh we were so stupid like they looked horrible and that's fine yeah so it seems like we're in all agreeance that this feels like pretty real everything's happening at the right time for them anti erwards within himself too like we haven't even talked about him but he's been oh yeah going nuclear in his own right, you know? And that, I don't want to say that's like not surprising

or whatever, but he's doing exactly with a young 22, 23 year old superstars should be doing at this point of time. What do you think is averaging for last 20 games? 20 games, 30. 30 points, five assists, 6.2 rebounds, 60% true shooting. This is a top seven player in the world for the last 20 games. And it wasn't that far off before that. The previous 47 games was 26 points. he's definitely leveled up so I'm glad you mentioned that that's why I feel so good about them they have this new versatile look

where they're dominating teams when they have lineups with Julius Randall and five out spacing they have Gobert obviously which we know in the right matchups he's still very good and it's good against Denver specifically very important

Anthony Edwards is ascending their depth is at an all time high with Dante healthy Jamie Daniels is ascending this is all the recipes needed for a team that's pretty hard to deal with a playoff setting a versatile team with top and talent

you have no idea how you were saying I was as like the standalone. Guys, this trade isn't that bad dude on this podcast seeing Dante de Ventja, who I was selling super high, I'm buying he hell of high on. He was shooting like 20% from three. Since he's been

back, it's been up to like 48%. Obviously, that's a little bit out of this earth, but on nine and tens per game. This is the exact guy who helps make this Julius Randle trade, make even more sense considering the lack of firepower in terms of what you lose in car

anti-challels and which you're placing with the Julius Randall and also the playmaking that Julius Randall provides and you guys are right in terms of his processing speeds being a lot quicker and him being him being one of the few players in the league at his size to be able to like dish out certain passes or whatnot ultra valuable to have one of those guys and now I think their ceiling is at a different level how high is it I don't know but it's there If the playoffs start today, they'd play the Rockets. I don't want to disrespect the Rockets too much. They're playing pretty good basketball as of late 2.

They've won seven in a row. They've really gone over that mid-season slump they went through. I don't know who I'd pick to win that series. It would take a lot of consideration. Like, I'm not, there's some matchups I'll say you're clapping the Rockets. Like, I think the Warriors would beat the Rockets. I'd feel good about that. I'm not going to go that far with this.

There's a good chance I would pick the Timber Bulls. A lot more than I would say. I think right now I would go 60-40 Minnesota. right now. It's probably how I'm feeling about that. But it been too. Yeah, I was thinking 5545, but that's fair. You can, you can, you can, you can, you can swing me. And I'm given, obviously, Minnesota the boost just because they have, they have it. You have the best player in the series that always, like, moves me a little bit. So yeah, that's probably the extra, like, 5%. There's a, there's a big gap, though. There's a big gap between, like,

the first, the best part on the series and then, like, whoever might be the best player on the piece of why I review that. There's a big gap. I might go bigger gap. I might go, I might lean even more towards the Tim Bulls because the Rockets, what makes them so special is you're right, they're never going to have the best player in a playoff series in any matchup on this bracket, I don't think, but they're going to have the best like three through 10. The Rocket's depth is incredible. Their defensive talent up and down the roster is amazing. Hey man, they don't have that much of the talent gap at any point in the roster because of Timberwolves. They're deep too. And the Rockets have a coaching advantage, I think. Not a huge one. I don't, I don't know what

the argument is for the Rockets to beat Timberwolves. Now I'm thinking about it. They're both the Rockets and Timberwolves have been a top 10 defense for a long time too. So like it's not like it's going to be a defensive bout that the Rockets are going to bloody their hands and just beat them at this transition offensive rebounding attack. The Timberwolves can't keep up with. They're also a big bruising defense too when they want to be. So like yeah, they've been top 10 in the entire like if there's one thing that's been consistent with the TOTWs outside of the last like or outside of the first 20 games, they've been their defense for the most part of the season and that's remained stale. So when it comes to figuring out advantages for the rockets, you better hope Jalen Green get some magnet balls going, right?

That's one thing that I can say. He has to get those magnet balls flowing. Amen Thompson has to be fully unleashed. I think he's been out over the last few games, but I'm assuming he's going to be back normal healthy for Van Vleet. Bro, everything has to be clicking at all-time high. But I'm the most worried about, like, Alfred Singoon and how he's going to be able to deal with,

Rudy Gobert Jayne McDaniels all these big guys around I don't know how he'll be able to be effective in that matchup And so that's why I'd like It's a good test form The Timbrews, yeah

I like that for Rockets fans And for Singoon Like Rockets fans obviously are higher on Singoon First Option than we are By all means you should be each your team I don't not mad at you for it This is a good test of that

Because this is a team that has Offensive Threats that will test them defensively one of the greatest defensive players of all time in Gobert who's not quite playing at his peak anymore but still incredibly good like this is a very good test to see just how equitable

an opera and synchronhood that audience is yeah I 100% agree I it's just going to take a lot for me to to pick Houston in a series I think I've like that's been one of those things that I've kind of decided in October where like even with their growth

I needed to see like a lot a lot more and we've seen, you know, kind of time after time those, those struggles. But I think, I think for them, like, maybe if, like, if McDaniels, if his, if his hot shooting comes down, like, if you can make him uncomfortable, because obviously, like, aunt is probably at that level now where you are like, okay, we're just going to try and slow him down. He's probably still going to get his and all that. If you can try and make McDaniels uncomfortable, you know, continue to have Julius

Randall shoot poorly from the three point line affect the the quote unquote you know the the margins in this series that's that's where the rockets are going to have to win because you're not because they're not going to come in and blow out the Timberwolves they're probably going to win some close games some gritty games and stuff like that and you're going to have to get wins where you can and the McDaniels matchup is going to be key for them making sure that Mike Connolly doesn't get off making sure that Dante does it have a great series like those are those are the guys that they're probably going to have to key on in order to to really get over that. at home.

Those are too many questions that the I know, which is why. That's why I might lean towards the T-Wools. So the T-Wools have won their 8 and 2 in the last 10 games, but they have not moved up the standings at all. They are still number 7 on this list

because we've got to talk about this other team that is also 8 and 2 in their last 10, also beating the hell out of everybody, also poses a question, is this real? The Golden State Warriors. Since they got Jimmy Butler, they have been outright dominance. They are a top 10 offense, top 10 defense, of course.

They are second in net rating in this time. Well, that was before these last two games. So it was probably changed. I haven't checked. But in the last look, they were second in net rating. Jimmy Butler has completely transformed this team. They have went from being 27th in free throws to like fourth. The rim offense went from like 18th to sixth.

They're generating the most corner threes in the league since getting Jimmy Butler. Steph Curry is playing like Steph Curry again. Now he's not having to do it all. It's pretty much gone exactly as expected. They have had a rather cupcake schedule, but they've been beating the hell out of those cupcakes. They've been eating the shit out of the cupcakes. And the last two games, they lost to the underman Denver Nuggets in a game in which they shot like 12% from 3. It was a nightmare.

Stuff like that happens. I don't care too much. Big picture. And then last night, they beat the bucks without Steph Curry. So there's a lot of good sample size. There's a really bad loss and really good win. Overall, how are you feeling about this new era of the Warriors? They are.

Are they for real? 100% for real. And people, and people should be scared because obviously like the Jimmy insertion on the team like that's that's that's great like in it and for me it's more than I could have because I thought that I thought that like best case scenario you bring Jimmy in you're better you're different but I don't think that you're a championship level do I still think that their championship level like on the same level as okay C in Cleveland and Boston and all that no no no listen it can get scary right like it can it can it can that's what I'm saying

it can get scary and when you start getting deeper into the playoffs I'll turn ankle or bad injury or we're shooting stretch like you can propel forward and you just want to put yourself in in those situations that's all great the biggest thing is just the fact that step curry doesn't have to do everything and you allow step to be freer in the way that he plays and he can beat and he can pick his shots he doesn't have to chuck as many wild threes as as needed because you know jimmy can also create offense for everybody else and to have To have Steph and his gravity and then have a connector like Draymond Green and then also another connector like Jimmy Butler who can, you know, connect everybody else but also make place for

himself, that's all they needed. They're like they've been waiting for honestly like the last three years for somebody else who can dribble and make plays for himself. You got that for a month and a half out of Andrew Wiggins in 2022. You've been missing it for two years. Jimmy Butler is that and that's why they are 100% real. you know what's so interesting if you were to if i was to close my eyes you tell me this way back in the past like december november whatever yeah jimmy bole like ends up getting trade to the

warriors and the warriors they go on like this pretty impressive one on the second half in the second half of the year i would sit down and billy be like damn yo like jimmy boller's fully back he's a top clear his day top 12 10 player or whatever you feel like he is around that time you would i would assume he's fucking hooping out of his mind but he's just average averaging 17 points and he's shooting like 22% from the field that is like from three yeah for yeah for yeah from three that is ridiculous seeing how again he's he's much better than what his stats say i'm not taking away from whatsoever but this is not even like the best version of jimmy bowler who's oh yeah you know so him in for playoff jim bollard come out exactly so him's

and his style that he's like the reserve style that he likes to play at right now has moved mountains and to know that there's probably another gear in him. He is 35, 36 years old or whatever he is or whatever it is. And I understand, like, he may not be the same. Who knows? But I just feel like there's some more juice in there, which makes me believe, like, yo, they got a chance against anyone in the entire NBA if this team was humming at that level. I don't even give a fuck if there's another level of him to get to or not.

He can play like this and I still didn't move by them. Like, he can be a brick and three. I mean, he needs a his and three to some point. but he can be a non-threatening score overall compared to what he used to be and I still think they're extremely good for all the reasons we talked about with Jimmy Butler for years

he is one of the biggest stats don't tell the whole story guy in the entire NBA and you know who's the biggest of all time in that regard the biggest stats don't tell the whole story Draymond Green so now you got both of them you got both the intangible kings and the combined impact of them

is so goddamn massive like I mentioned at the top he brings incredible ability to get to the free throw line something I've never had he's currently getting frowned on 25.5% of his vocal attempt merchant. That's ridiculous

I would say it's unsustainable but it's kind of just what Jimmy Butler does in previous years it's been like 22%. So if it's unsustainable, just barely. And you know, Steph Curry went from 22 points per game on 50% from 2 without Jimmy Butler to since the trade

29 points on 60% from 2 his life is much better much easier. If you're going to be serious. You need Steph Curry to be a top five player in the world. And seemingly, I don't know, maybe it's just correlation, not causation. Seems like getting Jimmy Butler has really enabled Steph Curry to get back to that level of play for all the reasons that's been talked about. That's real. The non-steff minutes, you play Jimmy Butler ball when you're not quite as efficient because you're not playing through the best offensive player every generation,

but you're getting to the line a lot. You're winning the turnover battle. Your defense is really good because you have him and Dremont on the court. That feels sustainable to me. Seems like a nightmare in the playoffs to deal with a Steph Curry offense. he goes to the bench and now you have to guard the 2020 in Miami heat playing through jimmy butler that same way that seems like a nightmare everything just makes sense because you add jimmy butler you fix a lot of weaknesses they had and you also just like slot guys who were asked to do too much you just push them down into the right pecking order none of us liked comminga because warriors fans expected him to be the second star and made his leap with a ball in his hands that was

never going to be him right i like it a lot more now that he can be a just pure slasher play finisher that plays off of Jimmy Butler Gravity and next to Quinn Post to stretch 5 now, which he didn't have before. Yeah. I like it a lot more when he can attack the fourth best defender on the court and just be bigger, faster, stronger than guys

and just be that guy that can be supplementary. That's something also that's under-talked about through this whole, this new era of the Warriors. Like, Quentin Post was not receiving any playing time, wasn't in the tuck or anciently whatsoever earlier in the season, and it just so happened to be around the same time that Jimmy Butler was in the cut as well, that he started to get a good amount of minutes

and now he's like a real actual integral part of their success amazing shit man yeah he's a good fit too him and Jimmy Butler fit perfectly the slasher guy that gets to the rim a stretch five that opens the paint for him it makes total sense they have a plus 13 net rating when Quinn and Post and Jimmy Butler are both in the court

that is a fantastic duo and you know we were our only concern with the trade was Andrew Wiggins's point of attack defense you know that's been talked about a lot and a lot of Warriors fans now that hasn't proved to matter are like, see point of attack defense is fate. It's a stupid buzzword. The modern NBA, you don't defend it.

You don't defend anybody in one-on-one anyway, so it doesn't matter. And to that, I say, go ask you never Nuggets fan, if perimeter defense at the point-of-attack matters. They are desperate to have a guy that can fight over a screen. Andrew Williams is fantastic at that. It matters. But it matters a lot less when one, when you lose that guy and you add a second, Draymond Green out there,

you have Draymond, you have Jimmy Butler, being monsters freelancing, blowing everything up, the two smarts defenders in the court in any given game. That helps. And also what helps is fucking Stephen Kerr deciding to start Moses Moody, who is also a great point of attack defender and has stepped into that role perfectly. He has been a demon fighting over screens. It has been fantastic defensively.

I guess they didn't want to start them before because they wanted more dribbling out there and wanted creation. Now they don't need it because they had Jimmy Butler and they can finally unleash their 3D demon. He has been goddamn exceptional. All of this proves that like, again, hierarchy is so important. It's so important. and making sure that you don't ask people to do stuff that they are not supposed to be doing.

Just do, you know what I'm saying? Do your job. And sometimes people are asked to do multiple jobs. And that's just not sustainable. And a lot of times you see it, especially with teams that have older stars, you start overtaxing the older stars and start asking everybody else to step up.

And like, yes, yes, you do want to see, like, there's in a position where they can grow and they can start, you know, take on more of a role and start to blossom. But also, you're asking people to be, like, the second best player for a team that has, quote, unquote, championship expectations. That's a massive joke to go from, like, hey, we just want you to be a really good role player, you know, you can create a little bit more for yourself, knock down some more shots to be 18 and nine and play some of the best defense that we've ever seen.

Like, that is, again, that's a massive joke and asking these young players who also have not, specifically for Moody, who has not been giving. a lot of opportunity in years past to just be like all right here like just just go with no ramp up over the past couple of years like that's that's a very very big ask and maybe it's a little bit like overstating in this way but like borderline unfair just just in the just in the sense of like you went from like zero to a hundred in terms of like responsibility you know so Yeah, the Jimmy Butler acquisition is massive because now you said he's actually an R NBA player. He's actually a number two.

He can do that. Yeah. The second timeline guys make a lot more sense in this roster when they can be complementary role players that fit next to three star players and not guys who have to be the next star. That's not who you drafted. These guys don't have that ceiling. But they are a perfectly capable supporting cast. Or at least, I mean, I think Camingo will get there. This last game, we will ignore if we're going to be positive

because it was goddamn atrocious against the Bucks. But I think he'll make a lot more sense. Not ignoring it, not ignoring it. Not an intrusion. I mean, in terms of us projecting him to be good next to his brother, I still do believe he'll be good, just given time to come back. I think he'll be good in a very niche specific role because the slashing is real.

We know Moses Boudi can be this low-maintenance, three-indy guy, pause after that atrocious start is looking more like himself. I buy this group fitting well off of Jimmy and Steph, did not buy it as one of these guys have to be the answer long term to be the Jimmy Butler. I 110% agree. And because of that, yo, this is even realer than what I see

compared to the Minnesota Timberwolves, bro, because this just feels like an actual threat to any team in the NBA, no matter like what role players hot or cold or whether Jimmy Butler is giving you like 20 a game versus like a measly 7 a game. I just see this team and I feel the consistency through and through compared to what I see with the Minnesota tournament was.

Okay, so we were caught. We said, okay, let's look at the standings right now. If the season ended today, we would get 3-6 match-up. This would be feisty. We get the Warriors versus the Nuggets. What percentage chance? Okay, so who's winning that series if it starts today?

The momentum both teams are carrying. Who do you pick straight up? One word answer, say a team. No other words Just pick a team This is going seven Holy fuck That's too many words

More than a word Warriors Oh Nuggets I don't know This is going seven This one is close I would say this one

Is closer 50-50 Than the other When we talk about Timber Wolves Putting aside That match specifically I think the Warriors Have a chance

To beat any team In the top half Of the bracket Besides the Thunder They can beat the Rockets potentially They can beat the Grizzies potentially, they can beat the Nuggets potentially.

I don't think they can beat the Thunder. That's too much to ask. But those other three teams, actually, never mind. The Grizes are five, now the Lakers are four. I also don't think they're being the Lakers, but maybe I'm biased.

Maybe. But even then, you have to say they have a chance against the Lakers. Lakers aren't so dominant. You can say there's no chance there. And, you know, in a bunched-up Western Conference

where it's Thunder and that everybody else, you could say it wouldn't be insane to believe the Warriors have the second best odds there to really make a splash. Oh, this is so tough. This is so tough. Is that ridiculous?

no it's not it's not I think well okay I'll say I'll say okay so second second best odds is a bit much because I do think I do think that the Lakers should have me too I do think that the Lakers should have the second best if we're having like that whatever conversation but like you said it wouldn't be crazy

if you said that the Warriors are going to beat the Lakers in a in a playoff series it would it would be like oh wow like that's kind of you know surprising because you still have like LeBron and Luca versus like if you're just going two on two and it's like LeBron and Luca versus Stefan Jimmy, you would probably lean LeBron and Luca. But I mean, hey, like the warriors have their infrastructure and the fact that like they get to play they get they get to play their style of ball. And then also like we've said over and over having Quentin Post and having just a little bit

different of a dynamic than what they've had in years past and being able to throw different looks at at the Lakers who they played a bunch, that would be. a new wrinkle but also the lakers new wrinkle is like yeah we have luka so exactly that's what i'm saying so that it's hard to match up those two teams because the warriors genuinely they they've had their recipe they've been so stubborn about the young core bring get gp bringing back gp2 and all that like they they're deeper and their core rotational players are better but like and they're able to fill in a lot of gaps the best players in the that the entire NBA has to offer fill in all the gaps in the world, and Luca and LeBron.

Also, so they like negates it too. The Lakers supporting gas isn't horrible either. It's not that big of a gap. It's not, shout out GP2, shout out Moody. It's really not that big of a difference. I think like Ruri Hachimora, DFS, Austin Reeves, like these are also high-level role players. So the gap isn't as big as you might make a seem there. But let me make it clear.

I'm not saying the Warriors number two. The Lakers number two. Pretty handily to me. Let's make that very much clear. I just think it's not, if you are a Warriors fan and you want to go into this playoff series believing you're the second most dangerous team in the West, I'm not going to call you stupid. I think that's a respectable hill to die on if you want to. I'm not going there, but it's fine. Well, also with that being said, with how stacked the Western conferences, they have just

as much of a chance as being two as they do six because there's so many good teams. So it's a high variance year and they have high variance just like the rest of these teams. Spend the goddamn ball, right? Can I get to two? I can't think this is only come to these teams. No, I don't mean two and seeding. I don't mean two and like the second best team in terms of how you want to view them. Gotcha. The top seven is the most important than it's ever been in any year

that I've seen in my entire like NBA viewing life in the Western Conference. It's like that every year in the West. Who's more dangerous right now? The Warriors or the Grizzlies? Who do you have more faith in? Because the Warriors are also good. Yeah, easily the Warriors. I think it's more dangerous

because there's like I've never seen so many teams come up out and like look completely different during the second half. Usually there's like one team or whatever cool, two teams, potentially three with the timber was like also being into the folder though with however you view you view them. It's insane. And like, yeah, I lean towards the I lean towards the Warriors though compared to the movies. I'm aligned. Okay. This is going to be a good

ass playoffs, man. There might be three, two or three bottom C teams on the bracket five through eight. That might be favorites if a series starts. So that's going to be one hell of a predictions we have to do to decide who's going to win these insane series. I just need the match. I just need the matchups. Yeah, I agree. We'll keep a, next story that we're going to keep relatively brief because we talk about the team all the time.

In terms of we're talking about, is this real or not? We've got to talk about the white boy wearing yellow and not Luke Donchich. Austin Reeves has scored 28 points in the last four games in LeBron James' absence. He is straight up producing like a star. He's averaged 24 points in the last four games? No, he's, well, the average is a lot higher. In the last four games, he's averaging, uh, okay.

Why is it showing me totals? Okay. Anyways, his last four games, 28 points, 37 points, 20 points, 30 points. Three straight games of 28 points or more. He is looking like an all-star caliber player in the stretch, playing off a Luca Donchage with no LeBron James there when they need that, like, high-end shock creation. He is very much playing up that level.

We have Bill Simmons going on this podcast. A year and a half later, lamenting, being pissed about the fact that no team forced the Lakers to pay him more because he's bringing this production on like $12 million a year. It's wildly like true. Like the fact that nobody even, you know, try to force their hand is the wild part.

But yes, continue. Yeah, I've got Southwis fans crying about it. He is playing an all-star level, which is reigniting this discourse that everybody on TV has to talk about now is Austin Reeves the best third option in the NBA. Whatever, whatever discourse area you want to take it, do you guys buy this like

Austin Reeve should be considered this like high end player in a playoff series it has like high end implications on the Lakers title hopes or whatever you want to go with it are you buying this awesome 100% I 100% agree I 100% agree He was undrafted a couple years ago

A couple years ago I have this post up right now on my phone NBA Central posted one got to go typical one got to go with four players along right next to Austin Reeves you see Jalen Green Jordan Poole and Emmanuel quickly those are that's like the level of like

role player that he was scoring guard defense and all that but he's when he gets a buggy he gets a bucket these are like C C plus level players right now he's bleeped every single one of those guys that I've made in an insane way to the point to where like

yeah like I don't know how possible this is in the Western conference but if the NBA was to change his formats at all one day, he could 110% find himself into an all-star game easily. Yeah, I don't think he'll be an all-star consistently, but if you told me he made one, like, Grand Jodgge made one, Daniel Russell made one.

Like, he could very much be in there in the right situation, especially if he were to leave L.A. in the coming years, like if they were to trade him for an elite big or whatever, which I don't necessarily anticipate. But, you know, it's not impossible if a star center became available and they decided that fits long term. They want to cash in on that deal before they got to pay off. Austin Reeves again. If he got traded to the Cavs or whatever, like for Jared Allen,

whatever, I'm pulling shit on my ass. But if that would have happened and he had a high usage season where he was one of the two lead guards, he could very much sting into an awesome game. He's clearly reached that level of player. My favorite part about this is you mentioned that one got to go graphic. You mentioned Jalen Green. Who else did you say in that list? Jordan Poole and he made you quickly. Yeah. It's so great seeing teams that have players like this and everybody's talking about Austin Reeves is the best third option in the league, which we can get to. you think he's number one or not.

But he's better than a lot of players' favorite guard. And it's so funny seeing teams have to cope with the fact that Lakers have this guy who's just like $12 million a year undrafted, third option, who's just better than like a Jalen Green type, who is the franchise to some degree. People are so mad. Nobody wants to give us credit because it feels so nasty to say officer who's better than your star guard.

But sorry, it's true. This is the last year. That's hilarious. I've never been more disgusted to be on this podcast than right now. Because this whole year, the whole second half of the year has just been Isaac gloating about the Lakers and it's awful. I think...

I feel like I've been quite humble about it. What about it? Question to you guys. What about Austin Reeves? You want to talk about how Jackson Hayes is better than Derek lively? Mo, what's your question? I was going to ask you, Donovan. What about Austin Reeves?

Have you seen in this game that's like taking him to this like new level of like or fresh level of start? I think, well, honestly. it's just been the ability to handle responsibility like that like when the lakers needed him to step up in playmaking he and like handled the ball more he did that do you see no over the recent trust they said awesome we need you to we need you we need you to school more he's he's done that when they've needed austereves to be a shooter and a spacer he's done that his versatility and his ability to fit into really anything that the lakers have asked him to do he's been able to

step up to the plate and be really, really effective for them. So I think, like, over this season, his playmaking has been really, like, like, on, on center stage. And then, obviously now, like, you know, you have LeBron and you have Luca. But even then, like, you still seeing his playmaking chops come, come out. And then his scoring, like, do I think that he is 28 points per game all the time? No, obviously, he's, he's in a higher usage situation because a lot of people are hurt. But the fact that he can do that.

that, that gives you a lot of hope because you know in playoff series, you're always going to need a game from your third option. You're going to need a game. You're going to need a Lonnie Walker game where Lonnie Walker goes crazy for like 17 in the fourth, right? You're going to need these random games. Austin Reeves has fully proven that yes, he can be that guy to give you like the Austin Reeves game, but he's also going to be a guy that throughout the playoffs, you can say, we're going to need 20 points tonight from you and he can do that. And so I think that I do think that he is one of the best third options in, in the league because of that, because he's also, also like just aside from his production, he's clutch, man.

Like, Austin, Austin, Austin is clutch. He's hit big shots time after time after time. And so if the ball ends up finding Austin Reeves with five seconds to go, you don't feel bad with him taking that shot or him taking deep shots. Like, he's just, he's so reliable. And I think that that is extremely valuable, especially for a team that has just remade itself on the fly, is still trying to find itself, has had a lot of injuries. When you have a guy who can be as stable as Austin Reeves, that's, that's awesome.

That's massive. What's Austin Reeves is his biggest weakness? Defense probably, but. Yeah, that's his biggest is like one-on-one defense. If you're a bigger, stronger, faster player, like a Jason Tatum can attack him. He's not a horrible defender. People act like he is because there was some

key marquey games when he was playing next to the Angela Russell and he had to be the main guard buffer where he was getting attacked by other players so yeah

there were some rough games his defense is like fine especially as of late he's not defending poorly with his smaller usage now so that's not the biggest difference seven three point attempts a game 3.9 from a catch and shoot

35% completely fine 3.1 of them are pull-up attempts for game where he does really high difficult pull-up threes coming off the screens with very small amounts of space

looks real Kyrie-esque in that way 35%. He shoots a wall at the rim, very crafty, gets to the line. Fantastic secondary passer. He can throw good bobs, hit good cutters, kick it out to shooters. Good on ball, good off ball, can defend confidently, good passer,

can scale up when needed when LeBron's out and score 20 at a game, can scale down and focus on the off-ball shooting when LeBron's there. You said reliable, that's the best way to put it. He helps you in goddamn every way. Like, what is, I don't even, there's no glaring flaw here.

he's not some insane liability defensively he can't he's not like he needs the ball in his hands like people were saying when the trade happened i forgot who said that on tv someone had that stupid take like he kind of just fits whatever you want to do it's so interesting to me because like he's been with with how like tumultuous and dysfunctional the lakers have been he's almost been like prepped just like do whatever he's told and be fucking great at it i remember last year or two years ago whenever it was he was asked to like be a six man coming off the bench or six seven man coming off the bench and he was great at that okay the dion and jose stuff happens cool now he's asked to be a third fourth option alongside delo and ad and then things change okay

dlo he's out of the cut awesome means you're fully in power now be the second option alongside be the second third option alongside lebron and a d and whatnot okay cool lebron's out 80's out of the cut too lucca's not playing basketball right now jj reddy goes on stage and he's like yeah i totally Osiris, I need him to drop 40. He proceeds to drop 40. What can you not ask him to do? Yeah, yeah, he fits pretty much whatever role you need from him offensively. As long as you're asking him to be the main wing stopper defensively, he won't sink or swim your defense. He's just fine. I guess you could just say overall net neutral average impact there, which is perfectly fine when you're so skilled offensively. Just simply put one

of the best contracts in the NBA that will make anything better. Yeah, it's going to look a lot different in these playoffs than before because obviously you've had you had lebron and ad and then you had delo taking shots after the game like that's kind of been the look for them the last two years you're you're not going to see the memes of like oh austin reves was taking shots after the game like he's he's going to knock them down and when again when you have lebron and luka there like that's that's a difference and and you can look at those lakers nugget series and it's a pretty like you can look at the box going you can go watch the games it's pretty glaring where some of the flaws were in terms of just straight production and execution and you can say okay we needed more there

Austin Reeves has taken over that spot and he's going to produce and he's doing it for $12 million a year yep nice oh my god shut out man what a look nice what a good player that like at time like we mentioned start the year that um you know there's always a yeah he's top five third options i won't say i won't say one yeah i won't say one because like yeah i would i would i would take garland over him um yeah garland jdub or chet whatever one you want to say probably whatever self took of choice i guess that's fair even though that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's a that's a line the person is and like y'all know how i feel about derrick white so like i would take derrick white but if you

wanted to say that that you would take austin reese i would have hate it but like that's kind of like the area that he's in. That's the range he's in. Him and Derek White are closer than people think. Derek White's obviously a way better defender. And, you know, I don't think he's quite as dominant as he wasn't a little bit younger defensively. Still extremely good defensively, extremely good shotmaker can also scale up when needed.

So I'm fine you going Derek White. He's in that range. He's also one of the best role players in the league. So, like, that's not a crazy comparison. If you're a Lakers fan and you, like, want to say you'll take him over Derek White, I don't think you're bad shit inside. That's not crazy, bro. I think one of the skills for,

Austin Reeves that like stand out to me that shout like holy fuck you can be an all-star because you're generally one of the best in this category there's no metrics there's no stats that you can rely on when I say this but like genuinely when you look at his shot diet and the type of shots that he takes he takes some of the hardest and make some of the hardest shots that the league can offer buddy there is metrics for that I can find that we can look at that i got something for you his contested three more percentage is 29% that's 66 percentile he takes some difficult-ass threes. There you go.

Actually, I think I can see his percentage on contested threes too. I can't find it right now. Not that here or there, but you're right. He's a tough shot maker, and he has an elite handle, which has really developed over time.

Exactly. Good. Listen, we've had three straight stories. Is this real about positivity? And we've all decided it is real that these teams and players are good. Let's talk about some negativity and say, is this real?

The Milwaukee Bucks are 5 and 5 over the last 10 games. they are in this moment's astonishingly mid definition of 500 post all-star break they have been very very mediocre good strengths bad weaknesses it has led to a net neutral impact of just an average ass mediocre playoff team is that real are the bucks just kind of the bucks they're just another team in the east yeah they are and i've i've swung back and forth on on the spectrum pendulum whatever with my thoughts on the bucks all year long i was out of and I could see a little bit. I could see the vision.

I'm kind of back to being out because I, like some of the losses that they've had, especially over over the weekend, it's been kind of bad. Like you have, you have a home game against the Thunder, no, no Ludo, no Jalen Williams, and you get embarrassed. And Dame and Janus are both playing. Then you go on the road last night, you play the Warriors, no Steph Curry. You once again get beat. you like if you are trying to be in the upper echelion of contender those are you have to get

one of those games or you have to start looking more competitive in those games and i right now i think they're going to get first rounded tough most camera died ha ha we're going to keep talking overheated bozo figure that shit out we're going to keep yapping about the books right yeah i think first round it wouldn't surprise me either would a first round win they can win a series still. I'm not so doom and gloom, but they're just a average playoff team, man. And the shout out Dame, shout out Janus. They're two very good players. We've talked to a length over the last year and a half about the top tier equity of them as a duo. They've had stretches where they start off, not making any sense together. Then they got some, you see some

signs of life that, you know, they're making more sense in year two. The two-man game's getting better. Dame is getting better at finding the passes to Yannis where he likes it. Yonis is getting more committed as a screener. It's getting better over time. It just has never for a second reached the point of being as good as was hoped when they made this trade. You know, the idea originally is we all thought this is going to be a nuclear pairing

that is such a monstrous duo that helps show they get better in every way that that will elevate them to being one of the best teams in the league off the nature of this duo working together. We thought it would be like LeBron and A.D. in that way, it just never has been. Even than that is best,

this simply is a disappointing duo. You know, and that's fair to say. It's not necessarily at the fault of either of them. It was a worthwhile experiment. Dame is a player that you can't really throw it to him after a Janus drive and be like, go create a shot. He's a guy that needs a screen, needs structure, needs to attack with his preferred rhythm.

He's not this like create something out of nothing type of guard. That's now he wants to play. And Janus isn't a Marri Stademeyer. He doesn't like the set screens and roll quite as much. That's how he wants to play. The fit just hasn't necessarily been good. And after you make that trade, all the small moves around the margins that have happened since, Chris Middleton falling off and needed to be traded for a middling role player.

Aaron Kyle Kuzma, Brooke Lopez getting old and slow. Everything is kind of just degraded around them in a way that makes it. So those guys have to be amazing or you're not going to have the ceiling as a team. And that's where you are. If you're not going to have that, you just are another team. Yeah. We always talk about, like, and I know most specifically, like, what's your superpower? What are you great at?

And at least in years past, you could look at them and say, yeah, like the offense may not be there, but they are legitimately one of the best defensive teams in the league. For the year over the last 10 games, they're around, you know, 10th or 11. Fine. It's whatever. And honestly, shout out to them because there was a time where the defense was atrocious and it was actually embarrassing so the fact that they can get up up to that level is, okay, cool. But the offense still isn't, and again, with Dame and with the honest, the offense isn't

one of the best in the league, which if you are going to trade Drew Holiday for Dame, you think that you're going to make the switch in that. And you say, okay, it's fine if the defense comes down to. 10, 11, 12, our offense is going to be one of the five best in the league. That's not the case and it's never been there. And so because you don't have that, despite having Yadis, who is having a great season, it's probably going to be an MVP finalist, all that, you're not, you're not scary. You don't, you don't scare, you don't scare anybody because as a team, as a collective, there's nothing that you do that strikes fear in anybody else's

heart. And I, yes, I, like, they're just mid, right? Like you said, they're just another playoff team. And so I don't, I don't think that they have anything, like their ceiling is not massive because in the second round, they're either going to have to play Cleveland or Boston. They are getting destroyed. Yeah.

Good luck. Yeah. No, they're getting cooked by both of them. So I don't see a conference final ceiling for them. And I don't know where they go because you get another disappointing exit. I don't, I don't know how Janus feels,

even though that, you know, he's been hurt the last two. years kind of causing them to lose series, whatever. But it's not going to look great for them going into the offseason. And, you know, two weeks ago, we had our episode where we did one thing we've learned about every team in 2025. And I think Mo had the bucks. And he was saying he's learned that, you know, we doubted the Kyle Kuzza move. We doubted the Kepenport Jr. move and et cetera. And I think Moe was saying that's been better than expected, right? Shout out to them. They've gotten what they wanted from Kaakuzma. And I wasn't going to be like, no, they won a few

games. So I threw some backhand of compliments. I was like, yeah, I guess, you know, shout out they're proving us wrong, I suppose. I guess KPJ is going to be amazing now, whatever. And I didn't believe it for a second. These guys are just who they are. This is still Kyle Kuzma. This is still KPJ. They got something instead of Chris Middleton, who's unreliable, cool. These guys just aren't good enough to move the needle. They never were when the trades happened. They rely way too much on a bunch of guys who should be the eighth or ninth best player on a roster for a good team. That makes up their entire three through 10 at this rate. Just a lot of mid. They're trying to make work collectively.

They probably did the best they could, I guess, with the assets in front of them, being a second apron team during the summer, being a team that had to trade Chris Middleton because you couldn't rely on him. Like, I, in practice, it's probably the best they could do. It's just not good enough. These guys are just not that special. Before this trade happened, I was like, Moly muted.

We can't hear you. Oh, shit. L. Bozo, L. Poc, can hear me. There you go. Before this trade happened, I was talking about how someone like Kyle Kuzma, for whatever a reason. He's supposed to be a shooter. He's not that great of a

shooter, but he gets the respect of being a shooter throughout the entire league. That's how defense's play to play him this year at least. And now that he's been back on the fold with the Milwaukee Bucks, of course, naturally going to get more open looks and he's been exactly as he was when he was in Washington. He's still

not a shooter, and that's been exposed even more. Like, yes, the energy is cool, the rebounding is cool. He's genuinely like helped him on that front. But he hasn't been as much of a needle mover as you expect him to be and you shouldn't expect him to be that. That's the whole issue

like within itself. You're 100% right. Like those guys are those guys. Kyle Kuzma is just simply Kyle Kuzma. You look at him for what he is and same thing for Kevin Porter, Jr. Do you know how incredibly talented or untalented of a coach that you have to be in the year 2020,

25 to have Jan Santagumpo and Day Miller on your team and not be a ferocious offense? at all. Like, that's like real skill. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Doc isn't helping. But again, I also just think there's, I don't know who can help with the roster they have. Like, they just have a lot of players that aren't good enough. Like, I don't know if there's any way out of this mess. Like, I don't, like, I don't, this is one of the

disaster in the league. I think we can cause a disaster. Maybe that's dramatic because they're so decent team, but it's one of the more disappointing teams in a league compared to what you want from the duo. But I don't blame anybody really. Doc Rivers isn't that good of a coach. We know that. I don't blame him for not, for not making a diamond out of this shit. I don't blame Yannis for reasons I said. I don't blame Jan Horace that much because he was in a bad situation because some things didn't work out.

I do think those trades were stupid and didn't work. Like they weren't great players of target. Maybe I shouldn't say stupid. They weren't the best players of target. But overall, I don't blame any individual as being the reason this is terrible. Like some other teams, you can be like, Matt Isbia, you're impatient as fuck and you ruin the sons. Daryl, you shouldn't have gave Paul George that money.

Like, you can point to certain things that is the reason it is. disaster takes place, I don't feel like anybody deserves a ton of blame in this way. It's just an experiment that didn't work. Brother, how many points does this team score against the Golden State Warriors last night? Not enough. Like 93 points in the modern day of the NBA,

bro. They scored 17 points in two different quarters. That's disgusting. I do point a lot of blame. Hey man, listen, that's locked down. That's Jimon Green. Germon Green had Yon's hell. I love, I love Dremon Green. I love Jermon Green.

But when the offense is so disoriented and guys just don't know where to be and Janice and Dame just feel like they're consistently just like figuring things out on their own but again these guys aren't head coaches, they're players and they know how to like uplift teams and offenses of course but doing it as a unit, those things

have those own robots within itself that can't be addressed in this podcast. But what can be is how Doc Rivers is just simply deploying and figuring out how to align his quote unquote troops or whatnot. He has no real fucking game plan is the point. And if he does, it's not effective in the slightest bit.

Why is he over here complaining about the defense in the post-game conference last night? Meanwhile, the main issue was how you were able to get your buckets off and the inability to get them last night. The inability to free up guys like Janus and all that when there's no Steph Curry. Like you can't be outscored by this by Steph Corriless Warriors team. This is like, it's damning. That's why. I mean, that's why. that's why because you're playing a step carry list team and they were still able to like and again

like they didn't score 130 points but like the offense the offense looked fine and also like buddy healed had a really good game positive shooting well like they they just there there were a lot of moments where like the defense wasn't up to par and you had like some some mental lapses and stuff like that so i can i can see that being more of like him talking to his team personally but yeah like the the offense is just not it's just not great it's not spectacular and you need it to be spectacular, especially when you look up and Brooke Lopez is, you know, 36, 37. Like the whole thing that we thought whenever they traded through Holiday was their defensive infrastructure is going to be great. Yannis and Brooke Lopez, all that, ta-da-da-da.

When Brooke Lopez starts to fade a little bit and, you know, Janice, he's still great, but he's also getting older or whatever. Like that is not as strong as it was two years ago and you need your offense to be one of the best in the league. It's just not that. And so you say, you say that it's not anybody's fault. Ultimately, if you go all in, if you make the decision, we're going to break up a championship team. We're going to bring in Damien Lillard and we're going to veer the complete opposite of our strength. I do think that it falls on, on the GM. Was he in a position?

Was he in a position where he had to do it? Yes. But it's also like, that's your job to make those moves, to make those decisions. and you made the wrong one. So it's just on him. He's going to say now. And at end of the day, all this comes back to also

is Chris Milton's body failed to him. And it was supposed to be a big three, not a big two. We're talking about this as a duo. It was never supposed to be a duo. It was a big three because Chris Milton was still an all-star and Brooke Lopez was one of the best centers

in the league. He got old, which he was pretty good last year. So that wasn't necessarily, last year could have been a year. Chris Milton completely fell apart. That changed the entire equation. If he knew Chris Milton was completely fall apart,

oh, maybe he still do it. maybe he used to do it more. But nevertheless, you can't really account for that on the GM. Like, that's just tough. Chris Milton's not 38. It wasn't expected that he falls off in the same way as Brooke. They just got really unlucky there. Yeah. And like the whole Brooke Lopez thing and his he can make a face of that. It's unlucky that Chris Milton fell apart. I mean, no, but like, but we were having conversations even going into that, you know, even going into that season talking about Chris Middleton and is he going to be available? Is he going to be able to get back? So like, I, and I understand you're going to stick with Chris Middleton longer.

than you would anybody else in that position because you won a title because he's been there for a long time because he is like honestly like a franchise great i i do get that point i'm just saying you make a you make an all-in move like that the the buck has to stop somewhere and it's just it's just going to stop with the with the GM because also yeah just because ultimately that is your job that is your call and or you know owners call whatever and if you really want to get to the nitty gritty of it we can say all of this is yonis's fault for putting pressure on the organization to make them make a move so you can go i would go we're we're playing the blame game i'm i'm giving blame to the gm for making that move and i'm putting i'm giving blame to yonis

for like you will also hurt for you were you were hurt for some of these uh playoff lapses and you are now starting to put pressure and you were not there for your team and then you put pressure so then they felt like they had to make a move so it would be on it would be on them too God see my pain

he got hurt what do you what do you mean like see my point he's like oh what we're not doing enough you weren't there not every situation needs a blame game that sometimes shit doesn't work out and you're like no we're going to play that game regardless no that's not I mean that's also

that's also just like not true like there's a cause and effect for everything thing like i'm not saying i'm not saying it's a i'm not saying it's like a it's a mark on his record i'm just saying if we trace it oh my gosh i'm not saying that but i'm saying what i'm saying is you're i'm saying discourse for discourse sake and i understand my fans point that direction and the day sometimes stuff doesn't work out and it's not because of any one factor everything failed a blame game is useless if we go back and we trace steps and say hey where did all this start it kind of started with those two and that's where we're in the position today that's all that's

And this is what you call brain rot. This is what you call perpetual TV brain? No. No. No. This is what I call accountability, right? That's what I call it. For accountability's sake.

Like I said, it doesn't necessarily mean anything. You have to, you have to be accountable. You have to be accountable. Sure. Sure. Do you know what the New York Knicks and the Milwaukee bus have in common? Going all into no avail because they're not going to beat the top two teams in the conference? They can't beat a top team, elite team for the, for their goddamn.

lies, bro. And guess whose fault that is? Guess whose fault that is on the next side? Leon Rhodes, you shouldn't have made that move. You should have brought in cat. Because now you're in this position. You shouldn't have traded six first-arm picks, knowing that you were going to make this move or not knowing,

knowing whatever your team construction was. Again, it's a, you just have to hold people accountable. It is what it is. Great. You can understand, you can understand the situation that people were in, but also saying, and you could say, fuck that. I don't understand to actually die.

That's what you do. But also say, Dane, that was tough. Like you made the wrong move. But see, I don't think the Dane trade is the wrong move. Not just because everything doesn't work,

doesn't mean it was the wrong move in the moment. Certain factors made it not work outside of that. Like, yeah, a whole lot of different factors. A whole lot of different factors, things that like you wouldn't think or come into question came into question when they were. There's always someone that can have the most blame

if you have to do a pie. chart doesn't mean it's an amount of blame that means anything that it's worth talking about. I'm just saying he has the most blame. That's all that's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. Great. And if you're honest, and if you're asking of somebody that deserves a lot of blame. Do you know, you know where, you know where to go.

Whatever. You know exactly where to go. Oh, God. Speaking of someone who does deserve blame, our last thing we're talking about today, let's, let's pour gasoline and light the fire on Nico Harrison's great. is Quentin Grimes's eruption in the late season for the 76ers real?

The guy who Nico Harrison gave away for Caleb Martin is it real that he's had two 40-point games eight 25 plus games and is averaging 21 points since arriving

at the Philadelphia 76ers they're a tanking team that Paul George's out for the season Joeline B's out for the season Jeremy Kane's out for the season there's a lot opportunity to be had players to prove their worst long term and Quentin Grimes

is snatching some chains right now proven to be a guy they should prioritize bringing back to the summer obviously he's not going to be Kobe he's not going to have a 20 yes now what I'm asking is this level not not level place that's obviously not real to this extent because he'll never have this opportunity again but is quentin grinds becoming somebody that should be prioritized real like do you believe that this is a guy who was a steal of a trade to get for Caleb Martin and like should be prioritized as part of whatever next version of the team there is yeah he should he should be he should be prioritized and while his numbers aren't real

that bag is going to be real that the bag and the brink truck that he will be driving that's real because he's getting paid and I'm going to be happy for him because even like

when he was in New York he was blossoming as a player that could be a very solid rotation player and so like and the fact that he's been traded over and over and over now he's in a position

where the team is basically dead he has to bro over in March in the month of March. I think they play like nine games. He has almost like a 31% usage rate. Like he is going crazy. He's putting up, dude, he's putting up almost 20 shots a game. It's ridiculous. And so somebody got to do it. Exactly. Exactly. So I'm happy for him that he can remind the league. Like,

yes, I'm, I'm good enough to be a role player on a good team and I'm good enough to be a legitimate NBA player. And also showing, yo, if you're a pro, you can hoop. Like, it's so, it's so, like, Queen Grimes has been traded for so many times over the last two years. He's been on four teams, whatever, just a guy that a lot of people started to throw away. You give him the ball. He can score 40 in an NBA game on any given night. Like, these dudes are crazy. Yeah.

I think this, Quinn Grimes has been a good NBA player since he's, since his second year on the New York Knicks. He made a, first year was abysmal rookie, whatever, don't care. Second year, he made somewhat a leap. And I still see him as a pretty valuable NBA player. I like how you, I like how you like framed this as stomping on Nico Harris' grave because this is a still like a stomping. He still made it like a dumbass trade for whatever reason. You traded for an older player in Caleb Barn who's a little bit worse in my mind, too.

Still an L trade. I love that. We're past off on his grave. We're digging up his grave site. We're opening the casket, attaching his shoulders to the back of a truck and driving his corpse around town. We're so far past stomping on the grave. That was crazy. We're taking it much further

I need someone to make a mini movie of that That's a crazy image to want to see I guess the better way to take this conversation is You know They've won three games In their last 10 or whatever how many has been Because Quinn Grimes is going sickle mode And I think it was Kenny

Or somebody tweeted that it seems like Quentin Grimes wants to give this draft pick to the Thunder They almost want a fourth game They're up like 20 against the Rockets who were playing very own series basketball that came back to want an overtime because they just locked in and said what the fuck

we're a playoff team what are we doing and then why that game but they almost won a fourth game off the back but Quentin Grimes 40 bomb and you know it's just real funny

how this came out their winning games at the same time Paul Georgia set down for the year at the same time that Darry went on a

in front of a mic and said I'm using AI models to help make decisions because it's just as good as any other voice in the room and then we got former player Marcus Morris

on a podcast being like Derole Mory is a dumb fuck. I'm like talking about that. There's been so much discourse. It's about the Sixers and how in hell they are. So.

Is it real if the 76ers are an absolute purgatory? Yes, that's an even better question than Quinn Grimes. Dude, who the hell forced Darimori to say that? I hope he... He was dis compelled to be like, yeah, bro.

Chat TPT, man. He's just put onto the game, bro. Look at this cool object, man. That's just the most Daramori thing ever. Look at this cool object. he's just said he's such a tech bro in that way that like it just was completely tone-deaf and why this might sound crazy to players who like their live their livelihoods on the line like yeah i'm asking this spreadsheet to give me an idea because i think that's just as good

as the scout over there listen i can't be over here as a fraud or hypocrite and be like yeah that's done well you use chat gpt yeah yeah i use chat gpt for some of these drafts and it took me to the promise land so i get it but saying something like that at a player you're at a person of your status just outwardly in thinking that players who you're supposed to have great relationships with and you as GM who's had your general general reputation diminished you had James Hart over here in front of a whole bunch of Chinese kids in camps say Darry is a fraud you had James Harden over here consistently his his mission for a whole summer was to tear down your name you decide to just throw out some random mumbo jumbo about yourself a cool tidbit

thinking that it would be like receipts will you know it is I mean so here's the thing every team uses AI models in some regard yeah like they every team uses the tools at their disposal like they don't like these models have been a thing for a long time it just wasn't called AI because

nowadays it's such a marketing term to call everything artificial intelligence when machine learning to some degree has been a thing for a long time it just wasn't as packaged as this new like shiny object there's been a long time where people have had data sets and they've trained computers to tell them takeaways from that

data set. We just call it all AI now. So every team does that besides like the Lakers who are antiquated and old and stupid and poor. But besides like teams like that, every, every front office uses advanced tools, right? Daryl Morey is just uniquely equipped to say the wrong thing and be entirely unrelated to players at every turn. He is a generationally terrible communicator and it's been the case for years since the Daryl Morey is a liar thing with James Hardin. And he's just such a dork every time he talks. it rubs players the wrong way all the time Isaac calls someone a dorkess hilarious

like he's just he has a way to make players think he's a fucking square and like he's just the things he says aren't bad like he's obviously knows how to build the team knows what he's doing he's just really fucking awful at establishing a culture and making players like believe in him and do all and all the all the people skills that are needed

to run an organization he sucks ass at those things he's just so bad at saying things in the wrong way brother the delivery is terrible and also who forced you to say that? You do not have to give us this information whatsoever. Yeah, and it's just the way he says it. Like, it's again, it's not crazy, but he's like,

he said like, yeah, we're using AI. You know, we've got to have another voice in the room. Like, the way he says it makes a sound like, it makes a player hear that and being like, oh, so you're letting them make decisions for you. You're not fucking using your own brain. Like, it's just going to rub people the wrong way. Even if it's not tangibly like an actual bad practice

compared to other people, he's just real good at sounding real bad. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. That's the best way to put it. He's really good. That sounded real bad, bro. Shout to you, Isaac.

I think you put that perfectly. Thank you. Dork. It's just communicating with people skills. Sometimes some people are dorks. And it makes you good at running a basketball team. You need some fucking dorks behind the scenes to be the nerds that do all the computing and do all the smart things needed.

That's not going to be the player that establishes a culture and makes elite athletes buy into his vision. That's not necessarily going to be the voice that communicates well to guys who are the complete opposite in this world. Yeah, exactly. If he was like a random coach, assistant coach, no one would give a fuck about this because you're an assistant coach. Like no one

actually sees you controlling things in the back, whatever. You're in the background. But you're the face of this organization. When people think about the Philadelphia of his 76ers, Joel Embedde, turmoil, oh shit, Darry. You're supposed to be the... He needs more PR

better PR training too is what I'm realizing, bro. He needs to be a PR training like a motherfucker. You know what they used to put the mic down. He used to put the slow cup down. He loves talking about some nerdy shit in front of a mic. He just loves it. It's like his passion. He's put that cup down, please.

You know what's interesting about it, though? As, like, nerdy as Darry is and can be, he is also simultaneously that boy nice. Like at every stop, one of the first things that Darry does is like, oh no, like we just have to go get a star. Like we have to we have to you have to get like the guy and he will go and make whatever trade is necessary to get a guy in there whether it's oh yeah I know like Paul George is a is a start let's go get Paul George let's go get our Russell Westbrook let's go get Dwight Howard let's go let's go get all of these guys like he he recognizes like yes you like yes you do need something that totally slipped my mind through this absolutely hilarious this is the funniest shit ever and this is like peak Paul George you decide to publicly. announce that you're pausing your podcast. You are canceling your podcast

the remainder of this season. So focus on an NBA championship run. We all know the season's long gone, but whatever. He wants to play serious basketball. And then he is listed out for the entirety of the regular season. That is peak Paul George.

Listen, they're not mathematically, and I'm looking at it right now. Because the Eastern Conference is so bad, they're not mathematically eliminated from postseason contention. So I wonder, like, if they can get there in the next, like, week or so, will the podcast come back? Will he run it back up for the 24-25 season?

That is the real question about Paul George and his antics. Yeah, that's so funny. Yeah, I mean, shout out, Darry. I don't think he's bad at his job. I don't think he's washed a building team. I mean, no shout out, but I mean, yeah, whatever. But, like, I'm not saying he's bad. I'm saying he's bad at talking.

And you need both to work well in basketball, I think. To work well on any sport, you need a certain level of appealing to people that are not like you and being able to reach across the aisle and talk to athletes. You need dorks in the building and you need athletes in the building, people that can communicate with them. Sounds like he needs a good assistant GM that can be the translator for him. Yeah, exactly. I agree. I agree.

Good job. He needs to find his, who's it for the Hawks? Who's the former player again? Kyle Corver? Yeah, he needs his Kyle Corver. The guy, like, well, Langefield's also a former player in front of the team, right? So, yeah, he needs to find whoever that is for him, I don't know, Kyle O'Quinn or something like that,

some former six-year-old. Yeah, my Pulik is great at that, bro. He's a super... Hey, shot out Uncle Kyle, man. We were in the trenches, but Kyle O'Cwin was out here hooping for us. He's a voice in the front office? No, no, I'm saying he needs to hire somebody random like that. Oh, okay. Someone used to work for the Hawks, I think. Or no, he was a player-assured-beard, also. Damn.

Oh, Alton Brand's a perfect example. Yeah. You need a player voice in a locker. room. Damn. That team is cooked. That team is cooked. Shut up Queen Grimes though.

I think Quinn Grimes is good. Ben saying he's good. I said I wanted him the Lakers. If they can find a way to get him with the mid-level exception, that shit is not happening. He's going to get paid to some degree. I hope he gets a lot of money this summer because he deserves a real shot. Can you just imagine that they kept Luca and they kept Quentin Grimes? They just let him thrive and play off a Luca Dodget.

Did they give up a first round pick to get or to lose Quinn and Grimes? rhymes? I can't remember what the compensation was. Probably not. No, I don't think it was a first own pick. Paineau. Either way, you get... Nico Harrison's a generational idiot. I don't think to give it first on pick, but either way, bad deal. And that's all the main stories we want to talk about today. It seems like everything's real that we're seeing in March. It seems like that's a takeaway. It's all real, either good or bad. And yeah, man, what, what time is it? I don't have my iPad anymore, so I really don't know. But I got my crayons with me in a TikTok time.

Do you guys hear that? I can't The king without his crown No more iPad I heard it I heard it I'm chumping the fuck out of my teeth

I know The sound Did you bite in that? Yeah It sounded like it hurt It sounded like it hurt Can we take a break? Sure

Go put some ice packs on your jaw Let's go to TikTok time Hey yo Welcome to TikTok time We are once again Gonna begin with the draft Today we're gonna do

Another build a player draft Which you haven't done in a little while we're going to build a fun player so the only objective here is to build the most fun player you possibly can don't care if they're good

don't care if they're bad don't care about anything but pure entertainment value body shooting defense playmaking finishing do whatever you can to build the most entertaining guy you can

okay sounds good draft forward was Donovan me Mojo Donovan where we're going with the first pick in the all entertainment value draft in the all entertainment value draft

first pick overall there are a couple of options however There is nobody that I would want more than Step Curry shooting. Yeah. The most entertaining quality you could possibly have in NBA history. Yeah. The gap when it comes to being so good at a singular skill is pretty large when it comes to the Curry shooting.

He's almost single-handedly carried entertainment value at the NBA for like a decade. Exactly. I am going to go to Anthony Edwards finishing. I just want to dunk on people's heads. That's fair. Today, listen, we're recording this on Wednesday, March 19th. I think it is the one-year anniversary. of him killing John Collins

at the room. Killing John Collins. R-A-P, John. Give me a head man's finishing. Okay. I like it, I like it. He's not even the gray's dunker of all time,

but I feel like he has the most fun posters. Like, it's him or Vince Carter to me. Yeah. All right, so since you got finishing and shooting out the way, for shooting, the second best shooter in the league Damien Lillard. Again

Boring. There's nothing that can compare to Lillard outside of Curry when it comes to the depth of a shooting. Tray Young can? And then? I was that you asked you, Trey Young's the best long-range shooter of all the time. He's said records. There's levels of this. Triang is just not there and his efficiency is not there. You don't know

talk about it. Anyway, playmaking in terms of straight fun. Yo, give me a lamella ball, man. I need the craziest past. Ah, okay. I need creative shit. I need creative shit. definition of fun getting the mellow's big okay yeah give me we don't want to go with this I already have finishing shooting the most fun shooter I can imagine give me J.R. Smith shooting oh confidence pure confidence you didn't need to do that but okay give me J.R. Smith shooting

just throwing shit up the wall your loki just making any other words again bro so entertainment value J.R. Smith is the most entertaining men of all time okay gotcha got you this is not a good combination and jr smith who shit lock his ass up all right

for playmaking for playmaking give me yoke just playmaking okay his passes are crazy ah dang I actually you should have went in a different direction

but it's fine it is okay for finishing I would like hmm give me you know what I have to take Jab Morant. I have to take John Morant's misses are entertaining as well.

So that's why I'm taking a good point. That's a good point. Okay. For passing, give me Dionne Waiter's passing. That shit is not fun. We're not doing it. Oh. This is by entertainment value.

We're not swinging the rock. We're not swinging. I like this side of you. I like that. Double downing on buckets. Okay. There's nothing fun about a skip pass. We're not swinging the rock.

That's hilarious. Okay. So for a body, I guess give me Janus. I'm just like insane. And then for finishing, give me Zion Williamson. I'm going to dunk on you regardless, no matter what. Most of my touches, as soon as I get in the paint, just no, two hands will be in the room. Oh, so you're building Janus with elite passing and elite shooting, of course.

Oh, real fun. Who you got next? For defense, give me Isaiah Thomas. Defense is also not fun. We're not doing that shit. Oh. Okay, hey. All heads don't hate watching your ass, but okay. We're not doing it. It's not happening. Don't ask.

Okay. All right. With defense, obviously, there's a lot of great defenders, but I need somebody with some swagger. That's why I want Tony Allen for defense. Every stop, I'm putting that one up. First team all defense. First team all defense. Okay. That's a fun defender. Now, obviously, you have one of the best finishers in the league. One of the best playmakers of all time, first team all defense, the greatest shooter of all time.

I could go Moseway and I could put them in a demigod body. But what you've never seen in your life is the best player in the world at all of these categories in a 5-3 body. I want Mugsy Bogues as my body. Okay. Perfect. That's low-cut what I was going to do. Yeah, see, that's fun. That's a real fun image.

you know what's even more fun image the body of Grayson Allen dunking like an ant man give me the most confident shooter dunkin 360 laps in Grace and Allen's Ted Cruz's body See this that's just

we're just going to Grayson Allen's dreams right like in his mind when he goes to sleep he dunks on people the way that Andy Edwards does oh man this is white man can't jump you see this average looking guy

who is a demon flying through the air all he wants to do is get buckets this guy's built in Mac McClain he's built a Mac McClon on 2K Maca con. That's a good com. Okay. Interesting picks. Mugsy Boggs and Grayson Allen. His name will never be said in an NBA draft before ever again. Never. This is the last and only time. So for defense, talk about entertainment value. So we can play defense on every single level guard. One's two, three, is four, five. And even, like, give you a different level of entertainment. If you're into that, Jermon Green. If you're into that I'm going to inject some assholes I like it

I'm in of that I'm in of that Okay My player is Grayson Allen's body With J.R. Smith shooting Isaiah Thomas' defense Dionne Waiter's playmaking

And Anthony Edwards finishing Correct This is a real NBA player Entertainment value It is Who is this? Who can dunk like Ant-Man while looking like Grayson Allen

Okay, Matt Oh, wow, looking like Grayson Allen. Ooh. That's hard. That's hard. But low key, you kind of just built

like J.R. Smith, but like bad defender. Yeah. I was like white Gerald Green. Yeah, exactly. All right. My player has John Morant finishing,

Nicole Yokes' playmaking, Tony Allen defense, Steph Curry shooting, and all packaged in Mugsy Boggs' body. I know who you made. You made Pat Connington in 2021. That's what it is.

He wasn't a, he wasn't, yeah, you made, he wasn't a NBA dunk contest. He was jumping. Yeah. Crazy. And he, and he, his shot, he was, he was shooting in bitches, bro. He unloaded the club back then. He did have good. I made the white version of Hamadu Diallo from 929.

Hamadoo. He won, he won a dunk contest. Like, he's history. So he did. Solidify he did. Yeah. What happened to the game? He just over somebody, I forget.

He jumped over Shaq and put his elbow in the rim. Yeah. Oh. So for body, I got, Yana, shooting. Lillard. Defense, Dremont Green, playmaking Lamello, and finishing Zion. Boring.

That's just a... I don't read the iPad to win. I do this. Yon. It's a Demi got billed on 2K. Everybody does it. You watch the YouTube video. It's not fun at all.

Yon. Next thing we're going to do, you mentioned Drummond Green at that draft. Of course. If you're into that. Donovan stated. He's into that.

A minute. I'm going to show you some of my favorite NBA trash talk moments. And I want you to be rated from 1 to 10. Let's go. Okay. So just the best on court gaping. Ooh.

Let's start off with Steph Curry. Someone does not know to be a trash talker, but as is a bag, low key, he said, oh, you're not playing tonight to Kendrick Perkins, when Kendrick Perkins tried to trash talk him from the bench. Oh, this happened during the NBA finals, I think, like 2018 or something like that. Like the West of Conference Finals is somewhere around. down there. That's good stuff. That's good stuff. Because it's like, listen, what? You're

hanging from outside the club. You can't even get in. Right? You're not even on the floor. Your team said you lack the qualifications. That's what I'm saying. Tailu's not even looking your way. He's looking past you on the bench. Don't talk to me right now. I like this from said. What's what can you possibly say if you're Kendra Perkins, bro? Can't say nothing. Put hands on him. He tried to. He tried to. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. You said, oh, okay. You just keep yelling. He just got get loud. Because you know he's right. You just got to get louder than him. He hopefully notices. Because he ain't getting no PT, bro. And he fun fact. He did not get no playing time that game either.

That was right. Funny and correct. Funny and correct. This is the nine out of ten. Steph does not talk a lot of shit, but he picks his spots well. Exactly. Okay. You know what? Man, carry the hell on. Like, carry on. Nice. Oh, okay. You're talking. You're talking too fast. You got to slow down a little bit. Okay, Steph Grace, so started off well. We've got to start with the baby face assassin. Next up, let's go to the other side of the locker room.

Infamous, Draymond Green, talking to Paul Pierce, saying you chasing that farewell tour. They don't love you like that. They don't love you like Kobe. Man. You thought you was Kobe? That hurt. It still hurts.

It still hurts. I genuinely think this might be one of the five best trash talking quotes in NBA history. You can say it's the best This is one of the funniest things Anybody's ever said Neither is funny Just mean Scathing

Just outright effective trash talking Because what does Paul Pierce saying to that No I'm Kobe No You can't say that You just got to take it Paul Pierce is over here

I averaging 2.6 points per game Just trying his best To go out on a decent note And Draymond's like Bro you suck You think that you deserve this We're not doing that for you Just go over then

Bro he announces Pharaoh tour Like someone will care He genuinely thought he was Kobe, bro. You guys, before the season that starts, this is my last year to NBA, crickets. No one gave him a damn, you think this single-handedly made people stop announcing farewell tours as much? Absolutely. Maybe. I don't want to go out like Paul Pierce.

People just go out in the shadows these days, which is how it should be. If you're a good player that's not an all-time legend, like if Kyle Lari was going to retire today, he's got to go. He can't announce a farewell tour or every time he plays at the Warriors, his look over his shoulder and feel like Dremont Green's going to scream at him. Yeah, at this point, you have to be like a top 10 player of all time, or you have to be in year 20 and beyond, like Vince Carter, to where you can announce it. Like, you have to be in historic territory of how long you've been playing to announce a tour that you're going to retire. Man, Paul, this hurts, man. This hurts. I promise you, Paul Pierce still thinks about this to this day.

I promise you to saw his mind. Motherfucker. Of course I'm cold. better than COVID And it's so funny because Paul Pierce is like probably disrespected too much probably underrated

one of the more underrated stars of all time doesn't matter it's so funny I don't even care to argue for him ever because this is way funnier than it is like

it's way funier to make fun of him for not being Kobe than it is to defend him for like actually to be underrated this sounds like it's a 10 out of 10

easy 10 at 10 it's not having a conversation that's implied right it's the highlight of grandma's career facts. It really is. This is really his crowning achievement.

Next one. It's quiet as fucking here. Trey Young to Knicks fans. This brings me back to the good old times, man. 2021 NBA playoffs back when everyone picked against the Atlanta Hawks to face off against the Knicks. Man. You know about the maddest of the garden, bro. It's loud as hell. Not that day. It was quiet as fucking there. This is peak.

I'm not going to lie. This is a 10 out of 10. Because mind you, you have to understand the situation. Not only, like most of it were the Hawks, the Underdogs. But everybody had just come outside. Like, the world was all locked down. New York was hype and they were ready to see a playoff team for the first time in like seven, eight years. They were as loud as they could possibly be.

Do I remember that era of TikTok New Yorkers? Y'all would not shut the fuck up. So for it then to be quiet that day, that is a crowning achievement. That is a hard thing to accomplish. That was crazy. All Trey heard throughout the entire game for a second, third quarter was F you, Trey Young. F.U. Trey Young. This is where it started at, bro.

To this day. And since this happens. Crickets. Yeah. Crickets. Crickets, bro. 10 out of 10. He's going to go down in history for this legendary moment.

Like, it's going to be like Reggie Miller during the choke sign. This is going to be part of the Trey Young lore forever. I agree. Mo, I'm not going a lot. I need you guys to get better because I actually do enjoy the. it is robbery. It actually is fun. But you guys aren't holding up your end of the market. We're working on it. Don't worry about it.

We're working on it. So the fuck, I wish your team didn't suck. I wish I wish it could be funny again. Too bad, your team is so goddamn horrible. We're making strides. Don't worry about it. Shout out of Rish's a shame, man. Hope he's a

savior. Next up, we got Zach Randolph saying in my hood bullies get bullied to DeMarcus cousins. That is hard. It's OG talking right now. this is hard this is like entered like the vocabulary forever like I forgot this was I forgot Zach Randolph is the one who said this like this is just a phrase now that people say in my hood bullies good boy this is hard bro this sounds like a movie quote

god damn facts I'm like this is this is off the dough he just said it like that's some poetry and he's definitely said it before like I promise you to mark his cousins was not the first person to that Zach Randolph told bullies get bullied am I like that But that's a staple in his vocabulary. I can promise you that. Nevertheless, it's incredibly hard. Nine out of ten? No, listen, it bangs every time.

He gets that. Sometimes you don't need new moves. Sometimes you can't stop it. Sometimes it's James Harden step back. You can spam that shit over and over and over. 10 out of ten bang. It passes to me. It's so funny.

It's such like, this is also like part of the Zach Randolph lore. This will always be the first thing I think about when I think think about him. I think about like hook shots and like shoulders to the chest and bullies getting bullied. I also think about that sweet lefty jumper, bro. That'll make him like him anymore. Exactly. Ro hoops. Next up, it's the nerds fault. We got Larry Bird saying it's disrespectful to put a white guy on me. And the funniest part is like four former players I've told this story. Larry Bird was spamming his left and right telling everybody he plays against. Don't put that white guy on me.

Isaac, if you're that white guy being guarding him, like, how do you feel about that? It's like, yeah, you're supposed to be on my side. It's like, Steve Curry. He's like, what the fuck? Yo, we're trying to get him out of the league, bro. Like, let me prove my worth. Do what I love? I love that he said this so many times, so many people, because you know this

was like a de-slapper to him. This was like his favorite joke to say. He's playing the crowd. He's, oh, well, that white guy. I mean, he knows this could be hilarious every time. And you wonder why we feel the way about Boston that we do. You brainwashed the white people into being racist against otherwise he's like listen I don't care who it is I'm being racist against you I don't I don't

I don't care I don't care he adapted to his surroundings he had to pick a group to hate that's 1980s Boston exactly he said listen the other guys are cool with me you guys don't guard me oh man this is hilarious 10 out 10 out 10 this is hilarious the fact that you can just be like I know that guy can't defend me don't even try give me an athlete It's hilarious. I know that I know that my dude was Gardnery Larry. Don't put that pasty prints on me. He is not jumping with me.

Give me an athlete. It's crazy. Don't even think about putting it like a guy on me. Mark Price go over there. Oh, man. Larry Bird's hilarious, man. Larry Bird in the modern media ecosystem would be so funny. He would have so many fines out the ass.

Crazy. It'd be great. It would be good for us. Wow. He feels the type of guy that no matter of the era would never be fully PR trained. He's just timeless, bro. His game is, the way he shoots, passes, the way he talks on and off the court, timeless.

Ooh, he's so tough. It is what it is, bro. This is one of the hardest lines. That's drooling over there. All right. Next one, that's your best free throw shooter? Carrie Irving said to LeBron James after you missed a free throw. This is a technical free throw.

shot, too. This is hilarious. That the funniest part is LeBron is not the best free throw shooter shooter. He never has been, and he's still taking it because he wants the extra point. And Gary's probably remembering when he did that to him, and he's like, oh, okay. He's still doing it. Because this is in 2021. This is very well in like those

Western Westbrook era, and he probably was one of their best shoot-dough shooters at that point in time. So, Kyrie was right. And then right after this, LeBron was like, switch a little ass up. And he clanked the free throw, too. It was hilarious. He clanked the free throw. No, I love this. I love this for Kyrie Irvin.

LeBron used to always call him the kids. I always try to son him. Any chance you get to talk mess to LeBron, you take that opportunity, Kyrie. And this is probably, I respect it. There are probably so many years removed from their breakup. This is probably like a friendly jab. That's a funny friendly jab. Like, I'm sure LeBron doesn't get a lot of that. I'm glad somebody did it. Yeah, exactly. I don't know if I can call this a 10 because this Jack was my fucking king. So I give this time. You got to tow the company line, I understand. Exactly. Next one. Go ahead and say it for Remo. You can't guard me, old, that's what he said to Kevin Durant.

I think during the last year's playoffs, bro, when they sweat the Phoenix Suns. Yeah, it's segment's over, man. At the end words, it's simply hilarious anytime he talks. I think that same series. Or wasn't a series against the Denver Nuggets? He told some random old white man to sit tall and ass down. 2023, 24, Anthony Edwards, is one of the most unhinged people in NBA history.

I love it every time. He was moving crazy. Brother, he's speaking to truth. It just, it is what it is. When you're in the heat at a moment, you're looking at one of your goats to Anthony Edwards, which is Kevin Durant. I understand it.

I understand. One thing about Anthony Edwards, too, he lets you know that you're old. he screams and he lets you know that you're old there's nothing like a 22 year old would do except let you know that they think that you're old like that yeah that's like top of their list famously famously something that young people love to remind you old people love

your time's up buddy sticking yeah I think it was hilarious if we're talking a comedic category we're going to give them a high grade no matter what I agree 10 out of 10 next one we got Shaq telling Kobe Bryant, Kobe tell me how my ass tastes. Hey, yo. What are we talking about right now?

So I just want to know. I'm just wondering. How's it taste? So apparently this quote came in a song that Shaq made. We all know Shaq has many endeavors, bro. He didn't say this to Kobe in his face. Did say it like all the core or whatever. But this was apparently over a track that he made, bro.

So he dissed him. So let's see. So it's not to his face, it's indirect. It's juvenile. five out of ten and the song sucked but like three out of ten

three out of ten maybe two out of ten because you're just like Mo you're disrespecting Kobe I can't have that two out of ten oh brother the bar is not good also too

the bar is simply not good what do you mean I'm not I don't know because we did have that story we did have that story about him putting his mouthpiece in his ass with teammates to prank him so maybe

maybe he's living his wraps Maybe he's living his raps. Maybe there's no rapcapping. That's the worst teammate of all time. That's unacceptable. That's not even funny. We should not be laughing about that, man. That's not funny.

That's not funny at all. He's a terrible guy. I can't stand for that. Are he trying to put his ass in someone's face at all times? I don't want him as a teammate, bro. What the fuck? Look again, he's living what he wraps. I got to respect it to some degree.

It's a man walking backwards in a long crew at all times. God. I don't want it today. Shaghan, let me alone. No, not again. Ah. Walking backwards is crazy. What a diabolical human.

It's a great joke. It's a great joke, bro. Next one. You should learn to speak Chinese. You'll play there soon. Dirk said this to a lot of people. This is famously his favorite piece of trash talk. said it to his teammates, said it to opponents.

Honestly, he was ahead of his time. Now people will say all the time, get ready to learn Chinese, buddy, as a joke. Dirk was a trendsetter. He's a pioneer. Honestly, this is threatening yourself to me. If I'm a role player trying to find my way into the league and then you have the face of the franchise,

superstar, top five NBA player, telling you, yeah, bro, learn Chinese sometime soon. That's like a, that's an eviction notice. That's a two-week notice right there. Pick up Rosetta Stone. Just a piece of advice. Damn. Wow.

All right, man. Well, listen, this is a surprise. Yeah, I didn't, I wouldn't think of Dirk to be this kind of guy. But shout out to Dirk. I like this, yes. It's always the ones you don't expect. It's always the sneaky ones that are assholes. It's a 10 out of 10 threat.

10 out of 10 threat. Simply just being a trend setter, being ahead of time. Yeah, we have to give it a 10 out of 10. He didn't even know a decade later we're going to get a meme of Adam Silver saying get ready to learn Chinese buddy. That was going to take over Twitter. he's simply a trendsetter is that what

Adam Silver like actually said Chinese or like No no No that's good He would never see that It's a fake it's a fake quote graphic Of Adam Silver saying that And it says get ready to learn Chinese buddy I always thought he said something

Saying like get ready to learn something I didn't know the whole quote was made up I think it's all made I don't know Maybe he did say something like that But I think it's all made up Get ready to learn Mandarin buddy Yeah he definitely wouldn't say Chinese All right, next one

From Deshawn Stevenson Hey LeBron How's My Dirk Taste He wore this on a T-shirt After they won in 2011 finals You know Bitch made What the hell are we talking about right now, bro?

I think it's quite funny There's two things that should be locked up at the store And to the general public I think T-shirt presses And Make T-shirt presses more expensive

microphones. I understand it's a little bit hypocritical, but we need to lock those things up. Not everybody needs access to make their own t-shirts. It's getting ridiculous out here. I don't know what y'all are talking about. This is quite funny. I think this is hilarious. He thought this shirt was going to go platinum, bro. I didn't know this happened. I'm a big fan of pouring salt in the wound. And after the 2011 finals, there was never a wound more gaping in this world ready to be salt poured into it. This is hilarious. this was the if there's ever going to be a time to dunk on lebron this was the moment and he took it i like this i respect him for that i respect him for understanding the moment and capitalizing on that

so i'll give it a seven out of ten right passing grade okay fair enough six out of ten five out of ten for me because no one rocks this shirt these days this is my first time seeing this shirt and i'm deeply in trust i know no no logos like nothing no low no nothing bro fail campaign what i don't think it was made to be a you know like capital profit machine i don't think that was the goal here he wasn't selling me go all go all in bro go all in all right man next one who the fuck do you think you're talking to said kevin garnett to jocky mola after jokey mnoa told kg he was a big fan of his back from jokey noah was a rookie i'm letting you know this is 10 out of 10 dude i can buy this shirt off of ebay right now if i really wanted to get

Go for it. Get it. I'm going to report his ass. What the fuck you get it? This is a guess my company man. What the fuck? No, this is 10 out of 10 because Jokie Noah said that this actually messed with him for years after KG said this. So the fact that you can have lasting effect with your trash talk, 10 out 10. Psychological torture.

Could you imagine meeting your hero, whoever it is in your respective field? You're like, big fan man, glad we're being face to face. And he's like, shut up, bitch. And that would hurt Oh, okay Got down Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Imagine to be Bill Simmons.

Hey man, big fan, you got me to kill yourself. Bill Simmons just backhand you? What? I'm sorry, Bill. I'll never be the same. Zach Williams is a wedgy. This is a 10 at 10. Listen, sometimes you also got to welcome workies to the leave.

They can't be friendly all the time. You've got to set the tone. He's doing good things for the youth 10 out of 10. Cage you, asshole, man. What the hell? I hope he at least try to like shake his hand a half. No, because I think Joaquin said this like during the game. I think he said it like during the game.

It wasn't like in the summer. Yeah, they're at the Frito line and he was like, hey man, big fan, glad to be playing with you. And he's like, have you lost your goddamn mind? This is a game. Be a man. Which honestly you During the heat of battle Kind of respect it

I like that I like that from KG We're missing that I don't hate it We're missing that If you're ever gonna be The typical KG asshole That's the moment

Did you have this 18 year old Next to you I guess 19 Was he one and done Jokkeem Noah No No he was in Florida For multiple years

Okay so 22 year old Whatever it is You're an established vet You have an MVP trophy You're coming off I think Jokinot is like 2011 draft Or something like that

No no 2008 or something like that So like 2008 Whatever You're trying to win a championship, you're vying for being the top of the league, and you got this kid next of you, be like, hey man, big fan, like SpongeBob? I don't know. See, and that's what we need.

Shut up. That's what we need. Today, everybody's just too buddy, buddy, right? Everybody's just too friendly. I need more Kevin Garnett's in the league. I like this. See, when Dahl the Connect checks into the first game, goes to Clay Thompson. It's like, hey, man, I want to be a shooter just like you.

Clay Thompson should spit on him. What? Are we talking about? Can you imagine that happens? No, that would be ridiculous. Honestly, again, being spit on is the highest form of this. There's nothing worse than being spit on. I'm not saying I condone it, but I understand murder in that situation.

Like, I made it. You can't be spit on. I can't take it. Oh, my God. All right, man. Next thing we're going to do. We're going to play Keep 4 cut 4 The new staple of ours

You haven't done in a few weeks I'm going to name you eight NBA MVP seasons You've got to keep 4 cut for Let's keep 4 cut 4 MVP seasons Okay A wide variety of eras Some modern some non Keep in mind there will be a variety

So don't put your eggs in one basket Either way too fast All you got to do is pick 4 to keep Four to cut All right Put your eggs in too many baskets I don't know what's coming next I'd never have to be there's no shame

a little bit of shame I guess like at this. Next up, first up, 2007, Dirk. You're blind. What do you mean? Cutting that. Also, yes,

I'm gonna cut it. We are cutting that. We are cutting that. First round exit? Yeah. The playoffs don't matter into him winning that award, but the whole season is tainted

because you lost in the first round. Like that's looking back 12 years later it does. Whenever someone mentions that MVP award, they mention it in a negative connotation. Yeah, but he lost. in the first round. Embarrassing, bro. Thanks.

Thank you. You gave a franchise, a slogan they ran with for years off the neck of you being ass in a playoff series. We believe was a staple of the Warriors history, and you granted that to them. Cut. Quickest cut of my life. Fair enough.

That's an easy one. 1994, Hakeem. We got to keep that, I think. I think we have to keep that. I will. I will. Because I think in that year, I think he was also DP-O-Y as well in 94. So if you have that, I think so, because Hakeem is one of, he's one of the players that has like

MVP, DPOI. Yeah, it's, yeah, that's true. All that. Correct. You're right. So. Does that year he was DPOI, MVP, NBA champion and finals MVP. Just one of the greatest years in NBA history.

That's like the greatest calendar in NBA history, bro. He has every trophy you could get in a single year. I'm keeping that. Yeah, keeping it easily. Okay, 94 Hakeem, easy keep. Well, that's underrated as one of the best individual years of all times. time exactly under talked about 2009 lebron james first nbp season young lebron just gang it out of the mud first they did win they won 60 games that year with a mediocre roster

in 2009 but him and moe willing to that team to the promised land you lost to dwight howard and hito turkey loo in the conference finals can't take it i don't know but it's still a great year, though. It's still a great year. It's also LeBron James. I mean, not to be a glazer, but it's LeBron James. We're not to be a glazer. Because LeBron's, I'd want to put it on there, but I feel like I've seen better MVP season. How many? Are we cutting this? Have you seen enough that you feel

comfortable cutting it? Are we cutting this? I don't think we can't. No, let's keep. Let's keep Levin. Let's keep Levin. Okay, you want to put it towards the bottom in? You say, even the order doesn't really matter, but we can go. Yeah. I'm put my four. Just say it's the worst one. Okay. 2020 Yannis Another DPOI MVP duo

See Oh again that's You gotta keep that He's done a rarity You have to keep that Okay DPOI and MVP I think we have to keep that

I'll give him that I'll give him that I'll give him that I hesitate Who's the third one Jordan Only only yeah Jordan All right we'll do We'll keep

Gotta be honest Again it's what Again, it's also one of the better NBA seasons that you've seen in history under talked about. But he also got clamped in the playoffs. They got advanced. Yeah, it was, I think,

was it, who was it against? Miami, the first build a wall series in the bubble. Oh, this is in the bubble, too. He went out so sad that it, like, it destroyed his reputation until he won the next year. It was nasty discourse. It was bad.

It was bad. We have to keep it still. But first round is it. It's a regular season. an award. I know we didn't give that to Dirk, but Dirk was historic. Yon is not historic. Dirk didn't have a DPOI. It's fine. Yeah. Only one spot left

and keep. You better be careful now because there's four names left. Okay. 2018 Hardin. Cutting. Shit. We're cutting. Sorry. I'm going to cut that. Got to cut, right? Yeah. You got to be careful. It's not not too hard. 2019 was a better season from Hardin. He didn't win MVP. So

cutting 18 isn't that depressing. Yeah. 2006, Steve Nash. Cutting easily. no you guys underrate steve nash he's come on now i'm i'm gonna cut it i'm gonna cut it we if you talk about the poster child for disappointment that era of the phoenix sons is up there true true

it's up accomplished absolutely nothing from that era shout out steve Nash though too much hate on steve Nash it's not easy but i understand you guys want to cut him 2000 shack one keep one cut left keeping 2000 wait wait stop it only only once stop it we're keeping what if what if the only unanimous MVP is there though what do we have what do we have what do we have left so right now we have what of jordan so right now we

have hakeem yannis brawn we we got it to 2000 shack is ridiculous is it really that ridiculous it's one of the best things of all time what if curry is there though that's the only name that i have in my mind would you feel that bad about keeping prime shack over curry right right now right now shack in two a unanimous MVP i would shack in 2000 averaged 29.7 points 13.6 rebounds damn damn damn was second in dp o why first team all NBA all star all of that he was second in dpoli i didn't even know that's crazy it's because he averaged three blocks a game uh all right i can't i can't go against the voting and won a title you why going all right give it to him. Give it a shame.

And one of the title. Okay, fair enough. Listen, I don't think you'll feel too bad about keeping Shaquille on you. I think you'll live. Why? So? But with the last spot, Drummole. Tell me already. 2014, Kevin Durant. Oh. I feel good about that.

Okay. I feel great. I feel great. This list is perfect, I think. Is this your guys' first successful for a cup four in a long time? you kept 94 hakeem 2000 shack 20 yannis and o nine lebron you cut dirk hardin nash and durant i don't really have any issue with that the only thing that you can think about switching in my head would be like 2014 durant in 2009 lebron 2014 lebrant was historical in so many ways sure but it's

fucking fiftice in his buckets was crazy brown you'll live that's fine i thought you're going to say around over Janus is the one you would question. No, no, I think the fact that if you win MVP and DPLWI, like most said, that's so rare, you do kind of have to be up there. The LeBron one is the, is the interesting one. Looks like a perfect, perfect, perfect list to me. Congratulations, you guys aren't terrible today. You surely will be next time, though.

Don't speak that. Enjoy. Don't speak down on me. Okay, next thing we're going to do, let's talk about this rookie class currently. I feel like we haven't no much talk about them it's a rather underwhelming class the best one that was really

jumping on the scene got hurt pretty fast so it's been a dull rookie of the year race so far but what I want to do is I don't want to talk about the rookie of the year race I don't really care who wins

shout out Castle shout out Jayne and Wells shout out whoever else might win I can't remember I'm gonna name an NBA rookie from this 2024 class I want you guys to tell me who you think their prime comp

comp will be now that you've seen them for a year okay let's do it so you don't even really hard to do instead of like a player comps off of just college, it's now that you have some sample size of NBA basketball. Who do you see them developing into? Okay.

Should be a fun one, because it's kind of an interesting thought experiment. First off, Stefan Castle, who do you think he becomes best case scenario? Or it's not even best case scenario, just realistic scenario. When I see Stefan Castle for some reason, I see how versatile he is, I view him as like point guard version of Andre Eagle Dollar. That's not a bad comp. I think that's a good high end. I know who I see.

I see Goron Drogic with bounce. It's like slashing point guard who can pass a little bit but really nice his way to the rim with Stefan Castle was dunks. Gron Drogic is fancy layups. They use a little bit of speed. Not too fast though, but they're quick.

I think that's a pretty good comment. Without the shooting though, because Gauron Drogic, he was a sniper. Not really. Not really. Really? What's his story? Yeah, Gron Jorg was a crazy shooter.

He had some years, but he was always a low volume. He wasn't a super. super strong shooter either, especially when he's young. I just remember, I don't know. I'm thinking about him in those Phoenix Saturdays, I think. Gron Drogic shots, his best year was four, so in 2020, when he's older, he shot five and a half a game, 36%. But for a lot of his early career, it was like three and a half a game,

31%, 33%, 36%. He was never, shooting threes wasn't his thing. Hmm, okay. All right, sounds good. He was a slasher. Not bad. Gorn Daj's interesting. but yeah you're right but you're right

Stefan Castle needs to learn how to shoot three is a little bit better to make that cop happen yeah he's a better shooter at least coming into this year than I thought he would be which is crazy because she's shooting 28% and you're like yeah he's better than what I thought I thought it would be worse I thought it was gonna be like 25% or something like that bro my expectations

were low when he comes you're putting him in like Andre Robeson conversations yeah relax I have faith will become an average I have faith will become a good enough shooter same I definitely I definitely do I definitely do now I after seeing what he's been doing this year. I think point guard, Andre Iguodala is perfect because he can be a 20-point scorer if you wanted to,

but your team's all going to be very good. But combine his scoring and his cutting and all that along with his smart passing, the rebounding, the defense and all that and all the other intangible stuff, I think you slot him in on any team in the league. They're going to get incrementally better. Yeah, I think the defense might be the thing that makes the Agadalcombe really good if that continues to develop.

Is point guard Iguodala just like Drew Holiday? Yeah. Nah I don't know actually Low key Andrew Holliday is not a bad

comparison he's not as good defensively that's kind of a high bar but that's not a terrible comparison

yeah yeah Zachary Riseschet hmm listen he has been playing well as of late though he's like a great

rookie year bro so far yes since January 1st he's shooting over 40% from 3 so he's full on a good shooter now

even for the year 54 shoe shooting isn't bad yeah averaging like 14 points for game since January as well I think I think he's ducked the Harrison Barnes allegations

the new allegations Chandler Parsons with good defense Chandler Parsons is kind of nasty we gotta take some steps and also you brood that comparison and also let's not bad let's not put that on the young man all right let's not put that on the young man

Chandler was good Chandler was good defense is a good player you're letting the bag for you let's not put that on the young man you're letting the back fool you He was a good player just because overpaid doesn't mean he was bad.

No, he was solid. But we're not giving that. So where are we going? What's better to you? I mean, I'm still not ready to be like he's going to be a superstar or anything crazy or anything like an All-Star caliber player.

I don't think that. I don't think he's going to be superstar. He said, there's a gap between Chathar Parsons and all-star. He's somewhere in there. I think what he could be. I think he could be 2025 Cam Johnson.

That's my comparison right there. Chandler Parsons is as good as Cam Johnson I don't want to use the Chandler Parsons It's just it's a sore spot It's a sore spot All right, all right Yeah See this is what happens

When you get in media And people don't like you in TV They forget about how good you were When you're a player I had very high expectations for him When he was in Memphis really bro My bad Very high expectation

I will watch the Taylor Parsons Highlight tape today My bad Don't turn on FanDil TV Turn on YouTube Watch the highlights I got you I got you

Okay Okay. So, Cam Johnson, okay. Donovan? Anything? No. I'm actually, I'm terrible. I'm at least playing a conference. I'm trying to find something. I'm not going to lie. My. Jared McCain? Blank. Hmm. Who reminds, who is Jerry McCain remind you of in that brief time who was taken over the league early in the year? Smaller player has a ratchet. He's getting his buckets off in a very unique way.

guess but really like he's very versatile as a score too though it's three he can get to the rim a little bit he can shoot off ball on ball i've saying it all year i think the best comparison in terms of caliber player i think will be desmond bain now he also is a lot younger being better off the top if you tell him he can get a little bit better than that and be whatever an all-star version doesn't bane is it's so hard it's so hard to compare i think bane is a good floor i think he'll be like a just right next to all-star level player yeah in terms in terms of of outcome he can he can definitely get there and it looks like he's going to have all the opportunity in the world in the next in the next coming year they're going to need him to be

desmond bayne yes and they're going to need him to be paul george he got to do everything he doesn't be man paul george he got to be all nba i'm sorry yeah you you better make a clay thompson leap cities on your shoulders maybe i'll compare i maybe he's a smaller not ever mind i'm like i'm like i'd bet yeah i think let's take to the doesn't be one it might just well okay so it's probably he's so unique because of like the build but in terms of like being being that size being kind of kind of physical a little bit and then being able to be like smart and get into your spots Kyle lowry is is what i is what i think of when i think of like a smaller guard who can who can get to his spots and like and be honestly like a pretty decent score i think he

I think he has a higher upside as a score than Kyle Lowry and obviously like I think Larry's a better playmaker but that's the first thing that comes to my mind yeah okay I don't hate that

I don't hate that Alex Tsar still to me the best working in this class still to me the one guy that has all-star potential yeah having good to close

great defense at what 19 20 years old moves mountains bro he's good defender and he is fast with the ball in his hands he has a really good ball handling for someone this size I feel like it's some version a similar type of archetype

to like a Jaron Jackson someone who can be this versatile four or five defender and do ball handling stuff and attack closeouts and shoot I feel like Jaron Jackson is the vision and I see that big man I see that 6.6 next to rebound

I see Jaron Jackson Jr. He's already rebounding more than Jaron as a rookie so maybe we're doing him a little dirty in the rebounding department I see a mix I feel like I see a mix or feel a mix of Alexar I mean of Jared Jackson

and also Evan Mobley He's not quicker than Evan Mobley though He is more fluid of an athlete He's more fluid of an athlete But I feel like he's His stature just feels more real And comparable You know what he looks like to me

Low-key, this is sacrilegious He low-key looks similar to like A Baby Janus when he was a rookie And the way he was like moved in the open court not saying he'll make that crazy leap. Janus did. Who knows? Like the style of ball handling

from that size, it might be the first Janus son. Yeah. Okay. Maybe. That's high praise. That's a lot. That's a lot.

No, I'm not thinking about Al-Qaeda. That man loves his jumpers. And there's one thing about Alexar. He loves shooting that motherfuckeran. You know, you know, I can spread the floor, right? You know who shot a lot more when he was young? Yonis. Janus.

Now, I don't think he'll ever become the best athlete of all time and dunk in everybody's head. I think he'll dribble in similar ways. Okay, okay, I can see it. Not in love with it. Donovan Klingen. Hooch. Just a big body.

Just defender. Just like that. Is Rudy Gobert? I was going to say, I think he's somewhere between Zubach and Rudy Gobert. Ruehobar's on the best defensive players of all time, so he's not, that's high praise. But he's worse defender than that. I think he'll be better defending the Zubach. And offensively, I think he'll be better than Gober.

worse than Zubach. So he's like perfectly combined those two players. And you know what? So that middle, that's a damn good player too. I like that. He's a fucking great player, bro. Zubbatch average is like 20 a game. What the hell? He should be in Atlanta Hawk. This man should be holding down the pain for Tray Young. It's unbelievable to me. They didn't pick him. Ah, it's okay. We'll live. Zachary's. Shout out, Zach. Where are you? Shut up, man. He would be such a good fit. He'd be such a good fit, man. I have all the stock in the world. cling is going to be an elite defensive player he's going to make all defensive teams you're under 500 and what is your team over 500 let's not get into this right now

every other episode there's nix hawks beef yeah someone said last time it happened i was in you're just staring i said this i looked like a kid watching his parents fight isaiah collier very quick can't shoot a lick right now but a really good passing prospect has a handle can use his speed and can really really pass like his passing accuracy is crazy I don't know if he'll be able to like manipulate the game in such a way and his defense is not there yet also but I I smell like some version of Rondo in here yeah I was to say Ricky Rubio that's what I'm thinking I'm thinking a more athletic Ricky Rubio Yeah, Ricky Rubio was quick and obviously an incredible passing mind. Isaiah called, I mean, Ricky Rubio was a fucking prodigy as a passers. Maybe that's too much praise.

But Collier's passes are ridiculously accurate. He places that ball in the perfect spot every time. Yeah, prodigy is the right word. You might have to come down a bit of a level. Talking about Pablo Prizioni, you know what I'm saying? Pablo Brigioni. No, listen, I pray that Isaiah learns how to shoot just a little bit. 23% of 3 is outlandish.

But if he can become a passable score, his passing is going to be. be ridiculous. Why are you laughing? No, man. 23% is diabolical. That's crazy as hell, bro. That's ridiculous. It's nasty.

48% true shooting is also nasty. Rookie guard seasons are fake. We know that. You can shoot 10% as a rookie if you're a guard, and I'll allow it. No, I can't take 10%. I don't know about 10%. 10% is all being to say. He's doubled that.

He's doubled that, so we're in the green. Dalton connect Dougie McBuckets That's actually not bad Watch your fucking mouth I think Dalton has a little bit more of a bag And he has a little bit more of ability to drivel

To me I kind of see If he had a little bit more playmaking in his game I would be like Baldombenanovich On the Clippers Now his handle isn't nearly as good He's much more of a like He can drive but he doesn't have a handle

per se. He doesn't have a horizontal handle in that way. He did in college. I don't know if he, maybe he just just has the opportunity to do so for the Lakers, but. That's just not developed it. He can get ripped. That's just not developed yet. But I do think in terms of Dougman Bucket's thing, he's a little more

athletic. Like you can throw him to some lobs. He can, he's a good cutter. He can use that size. He's all six, seven of him. Maybe he's also Chandler Parsons. I don't know. A little smaller Chandler Parsons. You want to see Chandler Parsons of the league so bad again. Go home, bro. I already see him. I'm already watch exactly your Easter Day.

Ew. Don't ever say that game. He want to see him. Who's a good shooter? He 36% is a rookie. I think he'll get the 40 as he gets more comfortable and isn't a rookie, you know. So a good shooter who can cut

and be a little bigger than you think. But not, he's an atrocious defender right now. Maybe that'll get decent. And he can't do a ton of ball handling like one-on-one scoring. Who's that sound like? Like a stationary shooter that can cut. Stationary shooter?

again. I think I believe in his handling developing a little bit later today, so I'm sick and tell us to the boy off the case. So I'm saying this is not my game. It is not. I need y'all to say a name, and I'd be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's not bad.

That's a bad. I can see the vision there. That's hilarious. Rob Dillingham. This is fine. I think Rob Dillingham, however you felt before the season, you should probably feel exactly the same way.

now. This is still whatever, Jamal Crawford, Bones Highland, whoever you want to compare him to, still that way. He's still going to be an electric bench score. Yeah, you got a puncher's chance to be Kyrie. The shittiness is outrageous. Honestly, I think Bones Highland before he

like torpedoed his career trajectory and got himself traded from the Nuggets, that's the best comparison right now, I think. But I think, I don't know, because his playmaking is a lot better than I thought it would be. With the limited minutes he's been giving, given, it's so much better than I thought it would be. in his rookie year.

So if Bones have more playmaking tops to his game or more division. Jamal Crawford, could pass a little bit when he was younger when he had a little more higher usage. Yeah, let's think towards Jamal Crawford.

Look a shot. Listen, the modern age, Jamal Crawford, just like we said before the draft, still the case. Yeah. Reed Shepard. Oh, man, God damn. Not playing at all,

having a nightmare rookie season. But like I said, rookie guard seasons are fate. You don't care about that. It doesn't matter when he shoot. You don't give a fuck. He's still going to be Mark Price. I don't care.

still going to be a five-time All-Star Five-time All-Star So who's I'm not going to say He's going to be an All-Star So who's like The non-all-star version

of like a Mark Price archetype of like Off the dribble shooter It can pass Get the ball moving Tide Jerome Who's like Low

That's not a terrible comparison Yeah If he's not a badgeron For the for this team That would be a great addition Okay shout out Ty Jerome Becoming the archetype for six men

Listen, he'll start on like 95% of teams You don't know what I'm saying? Especially the magic Who started on music? Especially the magic Yeah Looky elite trash talking too Yeah I like that

Who calls? I mean like a little more Offensive responsibility Seth Curry I feel like as a shooter He can still get to that I mean Seth Curry's in the best shooters of all time

But I mean the types of shots he takes I'm looking at 27% from 3 and 3.9 points I can't Nah he shoots better in the G league He did barely plays in the Rockets These stats are almost almost don't matter. He barely plays.

He actually started one game and he had 28 points. So. Yeah. There's a 100% hit right from the field when he starts. It's all I'm saying. The verdict is out.

We'll see about that. The verdict is out for now. Now, but he plays so little like it's like impossible for him to be in a good rhythm. Yeah, you can't be good or bad. I have no idea what you think about him. But in the G-Leaks stats,

he gets motherfucking buckets. Okay, well, as I see, this is not the podcast for player comparisons. This did not go well. I'm sorry. Listen, you don't have it every day and sometimes you just got to be in the right system. Player comes not my system.

Don't have my hands in the pockets. You had Darwin Ham for the past 10 minutes. He did. He has answered. Don't take him out now. First of all, first of all, first of all, I've had my hands in my pockets the whole time. The whole time I've had my hands in my pockets.

He took him out right away. He took him out immediately. But I do agree. I do agree. I don't have any X's and O's for you. I have all the Rai-Rah and all the pseudo-motivational speaking gift. Last thing we're going to do, we know, we haven't done like a 20-question-style guessing game in a while. We're not doing 20 questions today.

What we're going to do is I'm going to think of the NBA player. Do you guys have to guess who it is? All I can say is hot or cold in response to the player that you're guessing. Perfect. Okay, Matt. Perfect. Unlimited chances, we can be so reckless with these guesses. So, guess they didn't be a player I'm thinking up. Yonis.

Cold. LeBron. Hot. Whoa. Luca. Colder. Steph Curry. Colder.

Anthony Davis. Hot. Okay. They probably played on the same team, Donovan. maybe one of the champions are together what you said Russell Westbrook Colder

Kyle Kuzma Colder Colder, colder, damn, hold on Hold on, hold on Going the wrong direction All right, so you got to think about

caliber of players So I said LeBron and Anthony Davis and those have been the two hottest ones Come on Yes, you did Start thinking, Austin Reeves

Wait, wait, wait Okay. I'm just thinking about good players. Colder. Oh, fuck. I'll think about clutch just now. K.D. Cold.

Ooh. Okay. No KD. No Steph Curry. James Harder? Cold. Wow. McGrawne.

Michael Jordan. Incredibly cold. What the hell? Okay. Darwin, Ham. Warmer, I suppose. but still cold.

Warmer. Okay. Does it have to be? I guess so. Cold. Whoa. What's it cold? Rui?

Warm. Alex Reve. Austin Rees. I said that. Hot? Oh, you did? You said Austin Reeves? Yeah.

Yeah. I didn't hear you. I didn't hear him said that. Hot. He said hot? I said hot. Ooh. Okay.

Austin Rees. So it's someone on his. DFS. DeAngelo Russell. Colder. DFS. Damn. Warmer.

Please don't tell me you selected Jackson Hays. There's no way. There's no way he picked Jackson's. Dalton Connect. God forbid. Warm. Hot, hot, hot, hot. J.J.

Reddit. Colder. Damn. Now, this is awful. This is awful. We are fumbling. We are, we are formula. I don't understand.

where we can go to make this up right now. All I know is that, listen, if Dalton Connect is hot, hot, hot, we have to be, we have to be right there. We have to be right there. Yeah, we have to be on the line. Think about, think about it. Say a name, please.

It's a carry me, please. I'm giving you the game plan. I need you to execute. I want to go Darwin-Ham mode. Bronny James. Ding ding ding ding ding white hot Hot hands are on fire It's Brody James

You said LeBron immediately I was like hot Couldn't be hotter He has the same name It is Lebron James There we go There you go That's funny so

You said clutch I was like If you had clutch If you were to ask clutch I'd have been like on fire there you go I feel like people in the comments probably knew Ronnie James very early on yeah yeah okay that was good

that was fun if we're still here comment Donovan went Darwin hand mode and we'll see y'all next week and we'll see y'all next week I will see y'all next week