The Deep 3 Podcast - Every NBA Playoff Team's Biggest X-Factor (Ft. JokicJoestar) | Ep. 81

Episode Date: March 22, 2024

Every NBA team's most important player, with special guest JokicJoestar! Check out the TD3 merch: https://the-deep-3-shop.fourthwall.com/ Join the TD3 discord!: https://discord.gg/RUkjpMPp7E Listen on Spotify!: https://open.spotify.com/show/3elbbqVumwqz8wlIdknsLW Listen on Apple Podcasts!: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-deep-3-podcast/id1657940794 Follow us on TikTok!: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedeepthree Follow us on Instagram!: https://www.instagram.com/thedeep3podcast/ Isaac's twitter: https://twitter.com/byisaacg Muhamed's twitter: https://twitter.com/Mojo99_ Donnavan's twitter: https://twitter.com/Dsmoot3D 0:00- Intro 1:55- Rating Dunks TikTok 16:22- MoMent Of The Week: Kyrie shot 25:08- Timberwolves 32:12- Thunder 40:00- Magic 44:09- Mavericks 49:50- Nuggets 55:29- Celtics 1:01:15- Cavs 1:07:30- Clippers 1:15:20- Producer Corner 1:26:15- Knicks 1:30:05- Heat 1:32:35- Kings 1:36:28- 76ers 1:38:25- Suns 1:44:00- Pelicans 1:51:19- Pacers 1:53:24- Bucks 1:55:00- TikTok Time Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For the first time in TD3 history, we got guests in back-to-back episodes. You know, never been done before. Normally, these spaces out more. But we had a special guest coming this week that could only come this week. So we had to make an exception to new back-to-back because we need to get them on the show. Welcome, Mr. Yokish Joe Star, Mr. Your favorite TikToker. How are you doing, Jack? Oh, I'm doing great.

Thank you very much. My favorite TikTok. I am my own favorite TikToker. I probably, in terms of, like, editing and shit, I probably listen to my own. own voice the most out of anybody on the app but i'm i'm happy to be here thank you for having me on because i feel like i've heard donovan and mo's welcome facts i feel like i've heard donovan and mo talk more than like their own families have by this rate by all the editing oh i'm sure yeah yeah if you just carve out like like i call my mom a couple times a week but i host a podcast with

pablo eskabal i'm locked in with that guy for like four and a half five hours a week so yeah The cranium is crazy. Oh my god. I mean, I don't know what to say. Pray on eaters rejoice. Yeah, man. If y'all are watching on YouTube, do us a favor. Drop a like and subscribe.

If you're on audio platforms, rate as five stars, leave a review. Check out Yokic Joe Star on TikTok, on Twitter, the state delete podcast on YouTube, all that. all that. And we're going to jump straight into it. As you guys see by the title, today's main topic is going to be going team by team and talking about every NBA playoffs team's X Factor player. Or I'm assuming y'all pick players or maybe it can just be like X Factor in general. I don't know. Yeah, it's a mix up of both. We'll see. I got it. Yeah, I think for a majority of them, their players, there's like one thing that's kind of like big picture. Gotcha. Yeah, I'm the same way. But before we get to that, listen, the biggest news story

of the week. We got to talk about it through. To get to that, we're going to do a segue into a little bit early TikTok game. Normally we do TikTok time at the end of the podcast. We're going to move a little game to the front because we got to talk about Anthony motherfucking Edwards and him baptizing John Collins. And to do that, we're going to rate some disrespectful NBA dunks. Oh my goodness. He instantly is like one of the best in-game dunkers of all time. Like there's been, there's been so many clips this year and in just like what the first three years of his career he's he's on pace to like to be on the short list top three top four whatever you want to say of being young dunkers it's ridiculous yeah he's got

i remember he has won uh on the baseline against toronto um oh yeah where like i was watching a highlight reel of all his dunks on twitter where it's like oh his highlight package is already insane for a 22 year old and that baseline won against toronto when that happened everyone lost their mind like that blew up and like watching it against the ones he's done since then i'm like that's not even that cool like he his bag is so deep when it comes to shit like this it's just it's a big combination of like not just being able to jump high but he's also like really strong and heavy so if you like meet him in the air body to body uh he he's still able to like go through you and finish the dunk and stuff mo did you know who you do wada nabi was before anthony edward's put him

in the basket. You must not know who I am. I know almost every role player in the entire NBA. I'm discussing. Of course, I know who Yuda was. I don't think the average NBA fan did. I think he put him on the map for all the wrong reasons. Damn. I didn't realize that was Yuta. Shout out to George Washington University. Shout out to the revs. Is that where he went? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's like their best player ever. So damn. That's the gun to my head. That's the only time George Washington University is ever going to get airtime on the show. And they never will again after that. If you gave me a million guesses to tell you where you do I and Nabi went to college,

I would have never had a million fucking years named George Washington University. Yeah, no. Is that in D.C.? Yeah, I'm not like that with like college players. That's just a one. That's a trivia fact I remember for some reason. Yeah, it's in D. It's a party church.

Yeah. You guys want to know where Yuda went to college and everyone's like, yeah. Tell us, please. You're the fucking man. I don't know. For everybody at home, I don't know if you all have seen this segment before. We've done it plenty of times. I'm going to show you guys some disrespectful dunks.

And we're going to rate it from 1 to 10, you know, based on how impressive it is, how disrespectful it is, however you want to take it. And obviously we're talking with Anthony Edwards, but we got a few of them today for mostly this past year. So first off, Anthony Edwards Dunkin on John Collins. How disrespectful is this? Listen, it's a 10 out of 10. Disrespectful.

Like, it's a, it's a literally. car crash because Anthony Edwards hurts himself and John Collins gets a concussion. It's a 10 out of 10 dunk. Like it's it says this is don't get someone into head trauma is ridiculous. Yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm going to call this a 10. It feels like we don't set this at a 10. Like it's going to be really hard to hit that mark. And yeah, I don't know. There's so much about this dunk. Like, first of all, where he takes off from. It's a it's a stupid spot to see like a 610 guy in front of you and be like, oh, I could definitely dunk this. He takes off from like two steps inside the free throw line. And then, yeah, the fact that he's, John Collins was out of the game for the

rest, he was done after this. That's got, that's, that's 10 out of 10, man. I don't know how you get better if not. Yeah, no. The way he's holding his head on the ground is hilarious. Yeah. Yeah. Plus Kyle Anderson. The worst of every single bit of that dunk. This is one of the worst post writers in terms of a defender of all time because you got belittled post game. Someone's like, oh, no, I. Anthony Edwards was like, I got to give my, my jersey to Collins afterwards to a little kid. Terrible sight to see, bro. Rub it in.

John Collins is seeing three Anthony Edwards at once after that dunk, bro. It's terrible sight. And then Anthony Edwards, like you said, Donovan, hurt his hand too, just all bad in all angles. And the way he was holding his head. Yeah, at first, I didn't know that he'd like hurt himself. So I thought he was looking at it and like celebration on some like, what have I done? Like I thought he was just reeling from how. How bad he posterizing.

This is a murder weapon. This is crazy. Yeah. John Collins has a knot in his head like Wiley Coyote getting a fucking anvil dropped on him. It's ridiculous. Instant 10. Oh, good girl.

Speaking of the next one, it just coincidentally happened on the same night. We got Jalen Johnson, Duncan on Austin Reeves. What are y'all giving this? Nut in the face. This is immediately a 10, bro. This right here got hung up on my refrigerator, bro. This is like one of the best moments of Atlanta history over the last three years.

Of course. The screenshots of this are hilarious. Like we literally have never seen this much nut in face. Like it is just like mouth to ball contact. It's absurd. Oh my God. Yeah, you figure, I'll give this a 10 as well. It's tough because they didn't this one.

This is crazy. Like this one didn't. It didn't take over the internet. the way that Anthony Edwards did but I don't know with Austin Reeves the post game quote or whatever he's like you guys don't want to see my perspective

I promise that that it took me out it's like a fucking big old crane wrecking ball coming in yeah no let's throw it down let's put it down I got a hold back so hard yeah

you gotta slow down he also like jumped over him which is crazy pretty much bro it felt so unexpected oh and back's on the ground you know what that means his back was on the ground for a long time 10 out of 10

10 out of 10 I also love a dunk I love a dunk that's in the first like minute of the game where it's just like you have to do the whole you have to play 47 more minutes after this happens you want to go home but you have to finish

you have the full game in front of you that's tragic Terrible vibes the rest of the night. Yeah. That's first playing the game. Oh my God. He got like, he guys in day a court side

just looking at him for 40 minutes. Oh my goodness. I think of all the celebrities. Like, what's his name? And they're just going to think about him as a guy I got dumped on. Hey, for Jalen Johnson, he's up right now, though.

Facts. Moment of his career. All right, next one. What we got next? Oh, I think we have Jalen Green Duncan on Anthony Simons. I don't know if I remember this one. It was a couple,

it was like a month or a show ago. also disgusting incredibly disgusting the baby's not even here yet right he has father strength already this you see that you see there so many times where guys like they announced that they're about to be a father and then all of a sudden just plus 10 attributes across the board he's locked it he knows he's like I have bills to pay I have diapers to buy people need to get dunked on this is a 10 out of 10 well what do you think bro not Donovan is right. This is Max contract time for him right now. His chain got snatched by Alfred Sungoo and Ima Yudoka.

He needs this moment and he's what, the Houston Rockets are on a six-game win streak. This was necessary. This dunk was a nine. Only because it's on Anthony, it's Anthony Simons. Yeah. We talk a lot about like Anthony Simon stacks. What is that? I know. It's a 10 out of 10. It's not defense. No, I'll go with the nine. I like the nine.

Because to me, the only, I wanted to go lower because Austin Reeves isn't like a shot block or a big guy either, but the nuts on the face that you get like the opposite of attacks, a boost from that. But like, Anthony Simons, if you're not, I don't know, he needs to be like thrown into the stanchion, all like, D-Waid over Varage out if you want to tend from me over a guard. Yeah, there's not enough body contact. That's what it is. Like, Anthony Simons played this very smoothly. This was like the most. low-key poster ever, even though it was a ferocious poster? Yeah, exactly. You dunked on him with class. If I was getting dunked on, I want it to be just like that. I just hate, like, if I got dunked on,

if the ball, you see Simon's turn around immediately trying to inbound the ball, but it bounces like to mid-court, so he has to wait and just like listen to everybody being like, oh my God, while he's He's like, let's keep it moving. No one cares. It's just one more play, guys. Two points is two points.

Two points is two points. Oh, that's funny. Yeah, we talk a lot about like Masked LeBron or headband Clay. We got child support Jalen Green going up that list really fast. All-time. That's a lot.

Child support, Jalen Green, is crazy. next one we got Victor Wemidyama Dunkin and Drew Eubanks Oh, this is a while ago, man Who Yep Okay

Okay, listen Like Okay, all of these dunks are impressive And not impressive at the same time Because it's like, wow, like somebody that tall Is like that agile in the air That's crazy, but at the same time You're 7-5

What else are you supposed to be doing? Like, I can't propio for that. You're playing on a Little Tykes basketball home. There's nothing else to do. You better do. His body's outside the restricted area. That's absurd. How is you reaching across the restricted area?

That's like six feet. You're seven, you're seven nine. What do you want me to do? Oh, man. You're 10 foot tall. Yeah, with Wemby, I don't know. It's cool. It's cool.

But, like, part of a great dunk, like, Jalen's green, Jalen's dunk rocked because he had it cocked back, like, all the way. And I feel like throughout Wemby's career, we will get some really good dunks where it's like the worst lob in the world. And then he just like still manages to grab it and throw it down. So isn't that? This is a light dunk. I'll give this like an eight. But do you see how lost he had Kevin Durant, though?

What happened before that dunk? That was impressive as hell. Katie's supposed to be the best different on Phoenix right now. And he did that to him alongside yamming on Drew Banks. I think this is a, I'll go with eight. This is fair. Okay. He did her put KD on skates.

Like he was, he was real close to falling down. As a highlight, I might have to give this a five then, damn. That's okay. As like a total package highlight, it's an eight. The dunk itself, probably like six and a half seven. Damn.

Okay, fair enough. I'm dead. All right. Next up, we got Trace Jackson Davis, dunking on Wemby now. Hmm. Listen, a lot of people are trying Wemby this year. You got to.

You have to. This is rookie on rookie violence, bro. Both of them fell on the ground. Trace is six. He's six nine, bro. Six nine. That is insanely difficult. I want to give this a 10.

He's a foot shorter at six nine. It's hilarious. Well, put him into the stanchet. Like, he really put him in a body bag. Like, this is crazy. That's the other thing is when Wembe falls down, it's like, it's like watching a building collapse. And so if you get it, if you get him to do it, then, yeah, that's a 10. Like, he looks so silly afterwards.

That's, uh, yeah, this is a great don't. It's a lot of gravity coming down. Exactly. I think what makes it look so silly is how long it takes him to get back up afterwards. Like, damn, bro, we just saw that. And we're looking at you struggle to get up too. Every court side is like grabbing their drinks. It's shaking like the jello from Jurassic Park.

I was all worried. Yeah, got to be a nine, right? Just off the level of difficulty of dunking on Wemby. Easy nine. It's, listen, I think it's a 10. One, back to the ground. two he's like a foot shorter three he gets the end one at the same time he gets the foul so you you might get extra point for that fair and it's in a close game situation too fucking give me a

12 oh shit all right okay that would be tax to get two extra points like it broke my scale like you're seven here doing a tbh it's necessary last one we got john john morat don't on Jalen Smith. This one happened last year. I'm not if you'll remember this one. Oh, yeah. He definitely bodybagged him. Okay.

Yeah, it's the last season. Look at that. Good God. Oh, yeah. That's so great. Like, that's what I'm talking about when I said he has it all the way back, like, arm fully extended.

That's, and he, this is what, like, he's tried this dunk, like, 10 times throughout his career where he gets it on. And he's,

this feels like the first time he's made it. He's the king of the, if John, this in like bleacher report post this one I'll give this a 10 I'm handing out 10s today that's that's fun though Kevin love donkey missed bro the aura in this dunk is phenomenal because look at how gracefully who is that Stephen Adams of course it's him one of the greatest teams of all time just helps lift him back up so John Moran doesn't fall bro on his ass that is a 10 for sure backscrow oh my teamwork makes the dream work exactly I go I go I go

I go tend to Jai has that thing that like that like young Russell Westberg has where every dunk is just the most ferocious, aggressive dunk you've ever seen it in your life. And you have no, you have no choice, but to be like, dang, like, I bet the rim actually hurts right now. Like, I bet you it's screaming out because of, like, he got personal beef with the rim. I agree. I know his hand hurts. That's, that's the thing I think about when people dunk really hard. I'm like, dude, how are you going to shoot after that? I know your hand hurts. You get like a really hard high five. And your hands like numb for a while.

You're like, damn. Every other play. Yon just has calluses. Caluses of high fives? Who do you be high fiving, bro? That's the last of the dunks you got. That's a little icebreaker TikTok in there. Mo, Mo, I think next up, you have a segment you want to start.

You want to tell me about it? Yes, to all the crayon eaters out there. Listen up. We have a new segment dropping on this glorious. Wednesday, it's called Moment of the Week, where we go back throughout the week from the last podcast and look at what has happened in the NBA world where there's highlights, new stories, or days like today, a game winner. And today, or a couple days ago, I believe it was over the weekend. We saw one of arguably the

greatest game winners of all time done by yours truly, Kyrie Irving. And my question to you guys is with this game winner in mind, does this make Kyrie Irving the most skilled player of all time? Or is he the most skilled player of all time to you? So you ask any NBA player ever, it is a resounding yes. They all agree it's by far him.

I think it's dumb. I think it's stupid. And I think we should probably like delete the film. And I think maybe the Nuggets even won this game, technically. I don't know. Many people are saying that. I'm just kind of like the spokesperson. for all of them there i'm fine if you like skill means so many different things to different people

especially if you like look around on ticot it's like oh well isn't taking charges of skill isn't defensive skill just like all all shit like that as far as like versatility of shot making goes just from like every single spot on the floor no matter the defensive coverage he's totally in the running for that like he's if not one he's two or three this is one of of the most difficult game winners, one of the most difficult shots I've ever seen made in an NBA game. You felt too needs watching this, didn't you, Jack? Be honest. That's the thing. Have you all ever seen Succession? Yes, of course. Okay, so when, when Roman Roy watches the, the rocket blow up in the bathroom, right? I was in the bathroom at a coffee shop watching this happen.

It was live on my phone. He hit the shot. I turned it off. I just started washing my hands. I was like, I don't have a candle more, bro. Oh my God. Because he put it up and I was like, we live with that shot. We live with that. And then it went in and I was like, okay, well. That's a bad shot. That's exactly how I felt.

Yeah. Yeah, this is one of the toughest shots I've ever seen. I'm totally on board if you want to call them the most skilled player ever. Yeah. Yeah. And every time that I think about like the skill conversation and obviously like, Like some people, some people go too far and like, they're like, you know, drawing the charge is taking a skill, knowing like angles of the skill. Like, obviously, yes, that's not what we're talking about. But like, I also think that when people talk about skills, it's more of like a pound for pound type of thing. Where like if Kyrie was six eight, you know, if he was like the same height as LeBron or KD, yeah, he would probably, he would probably be as good as them. If you make everybody the same height, right, same weight, then what, takes over your skill just how just how well you can go get a bucket so i definitely do think that

kairie is on the short list for most skill bro a running left hand sky hook to win the game it's like to make it is one thing to have the audacity to take that shot exactly yeah it's something it's something else you know like he's this not he's crazy if this happened in a playoff game we'd be looking at this in the NBA Mount Rushmore of Shots. It would have been ridiculous. This would have been the next Kauai Leonard triple bounce game winner. And this is better than that.

Yeah. Yeah, in terms of difficulty, it's got to be. I've never seen. Good. Go ahead. I was just going to say, I've never seen someone hit a game winner and their own teammate drop

to their knee as soon as it goes in. That just shows, like, A, how amazing that shot is. And then B, how in the Mud, Luca has been throughout his entire career. And in Isaac's latest episode in the IZ show, talks about that. Go ahead, tap in, check it out or whatever. But, like, that is just, like, that just shows how impressive this is.

Because someone like Luca, I'm sure he hit that shot like every other day, goddamn in practice or whatever. But yeah, man, I overall agree with you guys. On no food. I think we're, no food and no water, by the way. True, exactly. Off a sheer willpower. It's ridiculous.

You don't talk about wanting it bad enough. Nobody's ever wanted it that bad. Facts, bro. I'm over here talking about my head hurts, tummy hurts and all that before the podcast going through Ramadan and he's over here hitting lefties over seven footers like Yokic. Good grief. That's my life.

I'm tired. I got no energy. I can't podcast. Go out there and drop 35 against the number six defense in the league over the last 15 games. Do that. Then we'll talk. Last 15 games is disgusting. Yeah.

Reach. Yeah, we definitely, definitely overindex on like off the dribble shot making. We'll talk about the most skilled players ever. So if you asked me a week ago, I'd have been like, why is he more skilled than stuff? Why is he more skilled than LeBron? All this stuff. But at this rate, I don't even want to argue about it. After seeing that shot, I'm just like, you can have it.

I'll give the bag, Twitter guys, the win this time. You got it unless you have your conversation. And what's so funny about, like, the bag, Twitter, Kyrie, like, argument guys, is that nothing would ever really change their mind on that point. in terms of like Steph hitting like a crazy game winning three that's like oh this is why he's the most skill but this shot like it just further entrenched to everyone who already felt that way they're like look at that look at that it's really hard to be like well that doesn't prove anything because it totally does like that's insane it's also a conversation that only matters to them like this is

their Super Bowl every time they get on Twitter like to be able to argue for Kyrie being the most skill player ever it's just like them reaching Nirvana like this is just like all they live for as fans so They want it more than I want it They can help keep that argument alive For the next 60 years dog You can't win Kyrie's gonna have the craziest legacy

You know old heads talking about like Pistol Pete right now As like ahead of his time He was that guy They're gonna talk about Kyrie The Keyes of Deity in 20 years Who are you hanging around I'm talking about Pistol Pete? Mad Doggers

Oh my God Pistol Pete Talking to the grandpas of the barber's man just playing chess and apart mad pickleball aren't yeah yeah no he's talking to you in your ear you see you whippets don't know none

about that piss to pee when he's he did things with the basketball I've never seen before and then you get the footage and it's like he did like a right to left crossover and it's like oh my god holy shit the funniest part is the children that just learn basketball

from 2K believe that shit because one time we had a TikTok where we said Trey Young would fucking decimate pistol feet and we got ratioed to hell. All the TikTok teams were like, you fucking idiots don't know shit about Pete Meredith. Oh my God, that's funny. Pete was nice. Pete was nice.

Like in terms of a, I don't know, just like he was a really cool player. But yeah, Tray was a bad person to put against him because everybody already hates him. So it's like you could be like, Trey would be like, I don't know, Tim Hardaway Senior and people would be like, no, no, that's not happening.

He's not like that. Lollipop, just immediately I'm slandering him Facts No, Pistol beats Eat it Like, are we not watching? He's going crazy Oh my goodness

He's reversed He's doing he heep Magic Johnson passes Is it the same? He's white Tyreys Halliburton Before All-Star Break All right That's the end of the week

We can move on to The main topic of this episode But every playoff team's X factor. We're going to, listen, just like last week, people were commenting, where's the talk about the Cavs? Where's the talk about the Lakers? We're skipping the teams we don't want to talk about, deal with it. The title says every, but I'm a liar.

So we're going to talk about like 80% of the playoff teams. We like, we like manipulating the algorithm. Let's do it. Let's do it. If they want, if they want Cavs talk, make a Cabs podcast, people. I mean, the Cavs will get talked about on here. But yeah, if you want it. They will.

Don't be picky with your content, people. You like listening, just listen. Magic fans, I don't want to hear about it, okay? Well, they're pissed. Facts. I know, Jack, as an honorary guest, you can go first. Who's your first team? I just went, I'm ranked by seating.

And I don't know who the one seat in the east or the west is right now, but I had the Timberwolves first. They're the only team that I didn't do a player. The player should be Carl Anthony Towns, But with his knee and everything, I didn't want to just like spend this whole time being like, well, if he's healthy, then they'll be good. So I did more so focused on like the playoff scalability of Rudy Gobert's defense now that he has like real perimeter defenders around him as opposed to Utah. And so just kind of the narratives that built up around Gobert when he was with the jazz like you can't play him in the playoffs because they'll just play a stretch big and they'll pull him out of the paint. and all this stuff is going to happen.

Now, there's a real opportunity for Gobert, Jaden McDaniels, Anthony Edwards, Nikiel Alexander Walker, all of those guys. With Carl Anthony Towns out and how the Minnesota offense was already pretty bad before that, there's an opportunity for them to really like, I don't know, play all-time level defense and keep their team in position for Anthony Edwards to win them playoff games by hitting really difficult shots. I feel like that's going to be their X factor. Can they defend well enough for Anthony Edwards

and him being like an elite level playoff riser? Can they still win? I figure they'll probably still win a first round series. Can they make like a deep playoff run, get to a point where Carl Anthony Towns is going to return? That's what I put down for the Timberwolves. Interesting. Donovan, how are you feeling about Rudy Gaubert right now

and that playoff scalability of him? Because I know you obviously been the biggest critic of him out of us for you. He's eye. He's okay. He's okay. No, I mean, I do, I, I definitely do feel better about him now in, like, his comeback season than I did, like, last year. Last year, I was 100% like, okay, he's, we got him. We got him. He's done for. They got him.

Yeah. But no, but they've, they've been, they've been extremely good defensively. And, you know, like Jack said, like their offense hasn't been great this entire year. And they've been able to be at the top of the conference because. of their defense. So they, I think O'Bair is going to be okay. I think that their problem is going to be whether or not Anthony Edwards can make every single late game, you know, play that they need them to. Because even like in the game last night, I guess the Nuggets, like, Ant was going crazy and he was doing all that, you know, he was, he had a, he started off very well. He was, he was doing like the late game heroic stuff. But it still came down to, he needed

to hit a, you know, buzzer beating three at the end of the game just to tie it. And so if he's not hitting every single one of those shots, making every single one of the right plays, they're probably not going to go far. And so I, I'm, I'm with them. I think that the defense is going to be fine. It's the offense that scares me for them. Yeah. Mo, you've talked about that in the past, too, when we talked about their biggest weaknesses.

You talk about how they have a lot of reliance on Mike Connolly to really take the pressure off of Ant. That's going to be even more of the case now if Carlton Anthony Towns is gone. You know, we all doubted his ability, or not doubted, but had concerns about Katz's ability to make late game decisions. Yep. Now it's going to be Jamie McDaniels decisions, more Anthony Edwards decisions, even more reliance on Mike Connolly to really keep things, you know, together and coherent as an offense. How are you feeling with that now? Now, I think I look at that wing spot and you just mentioned his name, Jamie Daniels.

All eyes are on you right now, for me. because an abundance of points are left off 21 or 22 points for game however many cat was was averaging left off the board and obviously ants number's going to grow my colony's numbers are going to grow and all that but prior to last night jada mcdaniel was in a horrendous skid of just like not he was on like p j tucker timing pretty much for his standards and so yeah i know but he was like it wasn't it wasn't looking that bright for him and then last night, boom, went ahead and dropped 26 and really, you really felt his, his length and his, I didn't, I didn't mean to say that, but you know what I mean. You felt, you felt all his

offensive. Oh my God. Potential last night with how he was attacking the rim and doing all the amazing normal Jada McDanieling stuff on the defensive end to causing havoc. And he was just like really punishing people for head for their sides. And so I, I would say, like, on top of what Joe Starr said, and on top of what Donovan said, I would also, like, mention that Jada McDaniel's offensive output is very important as well. That might be my X factor for them. Yeah. I probably leaned towards what Donovan was saying that so much of this is on Anthony Edwards' shoulders now.

For sure. We saw last year that Jack said that he's a clear playoff riser. That's for sure. He's going to have to be, like, one of the best player of risers in the league in the last decade for them to really have a chance this year. assuming cat's not going to be there. Even if you believe he can do that, that's a ton of pressure on one young player's shoulders. Yeah. And I did think it was interesting how Donovan said, like, it still came down to a buzzer-beater last night. And like, what's crazy about that is

last night, the fourth quarter, the Nuggets completely sold out, just like Anthony Edwards is not going to beat us. And it was about as perfect as that could go for the wolves. Like Jaden McDaniels and Mike Conley each hit like four or two two straight threes each so four straight threes in the final like minute and a half of the game to get it to that point where you needed to hit the buzzer beater there's a lot of like if you replay that game a ton of times they they sell out to not have Anthony Edwards beat them and there's plenty of times where Jane McDaniels just doesn't knock down those threes and if that happens in the playoffs yeah the the offense it is scary i'm not like the biggest minnesota guy in the world defense keeps you in games

or are we especially in the regular season but if they get into a situation where they're like in a shootout with another team if another team has like a hot shooting night against them it's it's really it's going to be hard for them to like just match that output offensively yeah yeah this would be a much more serious conversation if cat didn't go out now that he's out it's it's kind of we're talking about a team that is short-handed that we don't don't really see, nobody really sees a path than making the finals anymore without Kat. So, you know, we're talking about an X factor

that is less relevant now. Yeah. Sadly. I said, you guys, you don't matter. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's sadly. We'll talk about you. You up there, but not really, though. Yeah. Respect for the season you have,

but it's tough. Very unfortunate. It is sad. Same thing I've been last year. So it sucks to be a Minnesota fan for the past few years. Moe, who's your first team? Ooh.

Well, I guess we could go, head and stay in the Western Conference. My first team is the Oklahoma City Thunder. This is the team that everyone during the trade deadline specifically as well, we're like, oh, go ahead. You guys should make a move for, like if he was available at the time, Laurie Marketing, but things have changed or whatever. Go ahead and other people like me wanted them to go ahead and get some slides just to reassure them in the playoffs and that backline defense. And they decided to do Caput, nothing, and sign your favorite conservative, Gordon Hayward. And since then, Gordon Hayward has not made as much.

My favorite R&C donor? I don't even know if he is, but that's just a wild guess. I probably am not wrong. Yeah, exactly. But since then, Gordon Hayward, he's been receiving about 17 to 20 minutes a game over there in Oklahoma and not much has been made. So I expect my for me, their X factor is like their wings slash guards. The Gordon Hayward's of the world alongside Gordon Hayward, the Aaron Wiggins of the

world and the Carson Wallace. All that is just basically Josh Giddy insurance. Don't doubt some of the truth. The X factor is who the fuck is taking Josh Giddy's starting spot once they benched him after two playoffs. Exactly. I was getting insurance. Who provides you the breast, the best deductible?

Let's talk about that. He's such a interesting player. Such a clear negative in such an otherwise amazing team that you don't see very often over somebody that's like a true contender that has a clear spot that's like, listen, as soon as you stop playing him, you're going to get better,

but they just don't want to for continuity reasons or whatever. You don't really see that very often with contenders. No. And they have, what makes me mad, is they have Isaiah Joe right there, Every time they slot Isaiah Joe into his spot, everything immediately gets way better for their team. That's already really good. And it feels like they're trying to make a point by being like, no, he's good.

He's a good passer. When in transition, he's good offensively. And so it's just like, I don't know. He actively makes the team so much worse in so many areas that, yeah, I mean, two playoff games in. If he is like even maintains his averages into the playoffs, which are. already not great. I will be shocked because that's such a clear, if you're an opposing defense, that's your in. That's how you're going to attack this team. And it's even more annoying is that it's not just that they have Isaiah Joe. They have like four players that could

be very serviceable for places there. Like Aaron Wiggins is such a luxury to have on this team there. Bro, it's, it's crazy. Listen, there's two things with it's under one. They have to, they have to recoup as much Josh getting value as they possibly can for this all season. They have to give him every opportunity in the world to play well so that they can move him to solstice. That's one. Two, I think along with like the whole Josh giddy stuff, I think Jalen Williams is going to be like a major X factor for them. And in terms of like, and Isaac was in, at least to me, he was one of the first people that I've heard be on the Jalen Williams train saying that he's top 20, this rising guy. And I think going into the playoffs, if Josh Giddy is going to be as trash as he's been,

J-Dub and Shade, they're both going to have to carry much more of the load. I think this is going to be a pretty big, like, coming out party for J-Lwilliams. I hope so. Yeah. And so, like, offensively, there's, there's, it's going to be unnecessary because, obviously, they don't have to play Josh Giddy and they can put somebody else in there where everything, everything, like, works a lot smoother. But if they do, Jalen Williams is going to have to rise up and everybody else is going to have to carry some more of the load. I think if J-Dub doesn't have a good series, I'm going to be under so much heat. I've been so arrogant about being right about J-Dubb. After they yelled to me from saying he's in the same tier as Chet and Palo, I took such a victory laugh that if he shits himself and has like a Jamlin Brown series where he gets ripped every five seconds, I'm going to have to go into hiding. You're going to be in so much heat as if people are going to be outside with pitchforks. You light us. Where are you at? You screwed by Barley.

I'm dead That's funny I guess my big I don't even know if it's an X factor It's more just like a question About them is like Pretty much it's not I guess She has playoff experience

That for that one year in Los Angeles but generally speaking No playoff experience between him Jdub and Chet And that's like three guys They went in the bubble Yeah with CP and Oh shit

Yeah I have such a forgettable time Yeah okay Well, I'll let it go. That's playoff experience, if you're comparing it to none, I suppose. So that's the first option, though, so it's a little different. Yeah. I guess it's just like you have three guys under 26 years old. Two of them are rookies or sophomores, whatever you want to call them.

And so in that situation, it feels like it would be a rarity for nobody to have like a slight regression in the playoffs in their first postseason setting. just with all of these expectations and with your team asking you to do so much as a young guy, it feels like one of those guys is like capable of sliding backwards a little bit. And I think if that happens, the ceiling of Oklahoma City on top of what we're already talking about with Josh Giddy and everything, the ceiling of the team alters pretty drastically. So I'm worried about that. I would happily be wrong because I want them to make a deep playoff run. it just feels like I don't know if it if whenever it ends if it ends that is going to be the thing

that like pops up as an issue yeah someone we also have this two pulled up that shows all the three point shooting that's another big thing that they're the best three point shooting team in the west like by far so if that waivers that could be another like upset potential thing that's pretty hard to keep up no yeah you're right speaking at three point shooting someone was going to mention lou dwart he's shooting damn near like 50% from the three point line since the all star break and someone like him is like such an important valuable player for the Oklahoma City Thunder. A lot of people just don't give him as much credit for the progression that he's made because there's so much other great things going on there.

But regards to the fact, he's just as an important piece as anyone else excluding like Chet, J. Dub and Shay, obviously, you know? And if someone like him has a cold shooting night or a couple cold shooting nights and just forget sometimes how to shoot the ball or whatever, he's 24, still super young. And I think he was in the bubble when he had his moments. And I think the infamous moment was like him getting blocked by James Hardin, which was just crazy as hell. He's that important, you know?

And if he has a bad series, that like messes up so much for OKC as well. And that's just like, what you're going to do? It's an age thing, bro. I did not think Lou Doort would still be here this part of this important to a championship team when he was going off in the bubble against James Harden, like you said. Never would have predicted Lou Doort would be part of a contender in four years. Facts. You could not shoot that at all.

He was just this fucking muscle-bound defender. I thought he was just like a stronger, Anjie Roberson, to be honest with you. Bro, I was talking about them, like, potentially moving off of Ludohert this year. Because I didn't think that he was going to, like, take this, you know, kind of leap and beat this level of a shooter.

That's, yeah, it's why I did not see this for him at all. Good for him, man. Right, Don, what's your first team? All right. We're going to go to the Eastern Conference, Listen, Orlando Magic fans, this is now your time Because we're going to talk about you guys But we're going to talk about Franz Wagner

And the fact that he needs to make a three-point shot Like bad Right, he has his three-point shot has regressed very badly this year He shooting 29% from three Damn! Over the last 20 games, he's shooting in 25% from three Damn! If he can't make a three, they are done.

like it's it's not and it's not going to be close right you're going to get to the playoffs and paolo's going to see some more some some more attention and franz is going to have the ball in his hands a little bit more and even if you're not taking like off the dribble threes he's he's not making catches in shoot threes in the last two weeks he's made like one three in the last two weeks it's all feeling dangerous it's it's awful he he's the number one player that i'm watching on the magic going into the playoffs because if he can get it going and like their first round matchup is probably going to be against the nix if the nix health is like kind of shaky and franz steps up and he can start making a couple shots they can make that series very interesting and they

can get a series but if he doesn't we're just having rock fights and throwing bricks up for 48 hours every other day it's it's it's not going to be great so that's so that's so sick to my stomach I hear you you're right I am incapable of ever slandering Franz Wagner I love him too much so I'm going to ignore that and I'm going to say their X factor is Johnson Isaac because he is a goon defensively and if he's ever able to play 21 minutes in the game

without falling apart that would change their team yeah I like it's crazy like I don't know you see him make so many plays out there that no I don't know about nobody else in the league can make but he's definitely like a one of five type player just in terms of like perimeter stuff that he does on top of all the help side rib protection. I don't know.

I like the Franz Wagner point about three-point shooting. I think, what was he last year? Was he like 35%? Was he respectable? I just had it put it. Last year, he was 36%. Damn, okay. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Because like they already, they're horrible. I would assume like Jalen Suggs is the only guy on the team now that's shooting above like 36% at that point. And so I think Franz, he'll be open a lot. If those don't fall, that will be scary because New York is already, I mean, they're going to abuse Palo. And I think he'll be fine. He's a big guy.

He's physical. I'm just talking in terms of like hard-nosed Tom Tibido defense. They're going to go at him really hard. Table ladders and chairs, baby. They're going to bring your motherfuck loose. Oh, my God. Yeah. Yeah.

So I think I'm on board with the Franz shooting. I love Franz too, Isaac. I like him so much. You call him the White Paul George a lot, but if the three-pointer doesn't fall, I'm going to have to stop calling him that because Paul George could shoot the hell out of the basketball. I've seen you post clips of you doing pick-up games. I think I've seen comments called you the White Paul George. Never that.

I always get in real life Kelly Olinic comps. That's it every single time. You look like Kelly O'Lillian. You know that? And I'm like, no, I've never read that before. Oh, my God. That was hilarious. That is hilarious, bro.

I agree with that. I guess I got to my first team. We're quick. I just want to say, that is the most damning thing, damning stat that I heard. Donovan, that Franz is three points. So I just got decimated because now, not only does he basically get to play with one Markhill Fultz who last hit a three-pointer. A black history.

the start of it. February 6th, bro. February 6 is the last time he hit a three-pointer. Now he has to play with two Markell Fultz is basically, bro. I don't know what he's supposed to do. Damn. It's tough. But we can move on to your next pick, Isaac. We go to my first team. Let's talk about the Dallas Mavericks. I feel like they're one of the more interesting teams in the league as of the past 15 games or so, really since the deadline. And, you know, the story of their team now since that deadline is they have a really versatile front court when before the deadline they had some of the worst front court talent in the league honestly it was pretty horrible Dwight powell was getting good minutes now he's out the rotation

because they got derrick lively daniel gafford and maxic clebo all rotating through at the five and jason kid has kind of done a lot of different stuff with that since the deadline i guess it's a nice way to say it some dallas fans would say he doesn't know what he wants to do with those players i'll give him some benefit of doubt and say it's hard to figure out how to deploy this new talent. Now we start in Daniel Gafford for the last five games and they are incredible with him. I think they're like five one or something like that since they started Daniel Gafford. And to me, all those centers are going to give you a lot of versatility of different lineups. You have five outlook. You have a defensive specialist. You have an offensive guy. It's better

on the boards and Gafford. All kinds of versatility there. But I think the player who's going to really unlock their lineups and allow them to be that versatile is PJ Washington. I think he's by far the X Factor for a playoff series. His two-point shot has been trash since coming to Dallas. Dallas fans will tell you it's a slow star. He'll get it together. It's not that good of a shooter. If he can have a Rui Hachamora type of three-point shooting run in a playoff series and really allows him to have maximum spacing with his athleticism, with his defensive versatility, they can do a lot of interesting stuff with those three bigs if he can be the four there consistently. Wow. That's so based. That's exactly what I do is I go, he's not that good

at this. If he was though, oh my God, this shit would be crazy, bro. Oh my God. Oh my God. Hell yeah, bro. That fucking rocks. Dude, Mass fans have so much Cope about his shooting. I'm like, this is just who he is.

He's not going to be that consistent of a three-point shooter. Yeah, so I mean, but it feels like he wasn't he mildly high in Charlotte?

Like, wasn't he like 37? I feel like when they made the move, I pulled up basketball reference to Michael Masters was like. Yeah, yeah,

he's having a good shooting season. But, you know, he's one of those players that you can't, quite trusted. He's very up and down throughout his whole career. Oh, yeah. Very streaky shooter, I guess, is the word to say. But he brings a lot of other things outside of shooting that he's made them better since the trade.

And his three-point shooting is really like the, I guess, you know, the X factor there. That if he gets a hot PJ Washington month, they're entirely different team. Yeah. Yeah. So he was, so he was 35% last season. But to start this season in Charlotte, he was 32%. And then now in Dallas, he's at 26%. Damn.

Okay. And it's like that one year. to hear that like one year of vucevich before chicago traded for him where he was like 38% and he just can't shoot since yeah i feel like p. j washington especially in charlotte also you're getting a lot of opportunities to like get your shots up and get your shot right and to see the ball go in the basket if he could settle into what like the looks that he's going to get in dallas which is like catch and shoot you're not going to be doing a lot of on ball creation next to luka and Kyrie. If he can settle into those looks and start knocking those down, yeah, this guy's the

limit for them. But I'm not going to hold my breath on that either. They should also use him more like Aaron Gordon and really use him as like a lopthreat coming down low and like really channel some of the athleticism they have there now. And so a lot of lines they don't need to because they have Gaffir, they have lively. But when he's out there with Kleba, they should really use him more going towards the rim. He's really just standing in the corner the whole time in the same way Grant Williams was. Wow That Grand Williams

It's such a terrible experiment For everybody It sucks now It's so crazy It ended so quickly Yeah Just just because he likes to talk Like

He's a yapper Baby, he's a yapper Oh my god Get his ass out of here man We're trying to win basketball Get him on a podcast Oh that's so fancy He might get a tremendous podcast

Every other NBA player has a podcast Where is the Grant Williams podcast? No him and Theo He needs to join Theo Pinson's or something like that and be a full-time co-host it would be funny like um one of the ones that exists like uh miced up in the locker room grant williams is like yo should I start a podcast everyone's like dude you're fucking annoying do not start a podcast bro it's like no we don't like

listening to you man I'll break the mics with hammers that's hilarious I'm surprised you didn't have like I guess this is kind of nasty of maxie cleaver as a X factor because it's maxic cleaver at the end of the day but at the same time this is the same Maxi Cleba that helped and helped tremendously with the Dallas Maveries back in the year 2022 in the postseason against the Clippers and all that but um over the nice over the last nine games that he's played he's been averaging a whopping one point and he's shooting 11% from the field and 6% from the three point line and all the games that he's played so far in March that is beyond he's at the point now he's out there because he's smart and knows

where to be not because he can block shots in three points you like he used to. He's really out there now for just like veteran presence and IQ. The defense is nowhere near where it used to be. So that's why I don't too much care about him when he's their third best center at this rate. It's great. He gives him some versatility. But I'm definitely not holding my breath on him having a big series in any playoff setting. Six percent is impressive. That anytime, anytime I hear yeah, anytime I hear numbers that are like that low, like you're trying to do that. You can't You can't tell me that that's happening by. It's a skill.

Exactly. It is a skill. It is a skill. How? Jack, what's your second team? Okay. Let me,

let me, um, who else? The Denver Nuggett. I said that with a lot of bigger. Put you a lot of pressure. All right. Um, my,

my Denver Nuggets X factor. I had the big name, the big name is Peyton Watson. And then there's a subheading that says Christian Brown also. But we can mostly focus on Peyton Watson. Because with the nuggets, you're looking at probably the most consistent starting five in the league. Boston feels a little less stable, but like higher ceiling as far as star power goes a little bit. And so the bench is where shit really gets shaky for Denver, and it's been that way for several years.

Last year, Bruce Brown was obviously the stabilizing presence with their bench. He provided a lot of stuff in terms of like on ball shot creation, a little bit of facilitating playmaking, another guy that could run the two-man game with Yokic really well when Murray went to the bench. And the nuggets are going to look to Peyton Watson and Christian Brown not to recreate those specific attributes of what Brown did well, but more so just like we need impact off the bench. we need you to be able to make high-level plays when we stagger you with a couple of starters. And I think Watson especially, the flashes that he's shown, he can play at like a fringe starter level on this team, especially off Yokic. He's like a really good cutter. He's a phenomenal defender.

Like the stuff he's shown when they've thrown him at guys like KD for stretches, it's stuff that very few players in the league can do. And with how good Denver's defense has been. this season and how much of a role that's going to play in them being like a dominant postseason team. The offense, you know, it's going to be super steady. But the defense, it's been, I won't say a new development because they were also good last year, but they weren't this level. And Peyton Watson has been like a real, real contributor on that end of the floor. Interesting. So who do you think is more important to him or Christian Braun? Who do you think you have a bigger role in the playoffs?

I think you'll probably see Watson's name more because he naturally fits into like the MPJ Aaron Gordon archetype of like you can run like a weird inverted pick and roll or you can leave him in like the the dunker spot like we talked about with Aaron Gordon. There's just a lot more plays that Peyton Watson naturally finishes off a Yokic assist than Christian Brown who's more just like if they'll leave him open. If he can hit those shots, that's great. And he's like a smart back cutter guy, but he's not running. He's not running like a two-man game with Yokic anytime soon. So I think we'll talk about Watson more. Gotcha. Okay.

I got something about this, Mo and Donovan. I like it. I like it 100%. Before the show started, I actually thought that I had the Nuggets. So I wrote stuff down for him. And I wrote literally like everything that the Jackie just said. Just because like we've known when the, when Yokic is on the floor, the nuggets are like unbeatable and you are just trying to survive the minutes that he goes to the bench you're trying to

either lose them by a very very small margin or stay even and if they can if they can stay even you're not beating them like they're going back to back if they can stay even whenever he's on the floor there's nobody that that even Boston like they will not mess with Denver that happens and so getting getting that bench production for Denver is the number one thing that they need going into the playoffs I agree and I think timing is perfect right now for someone like Christian Braun who's been on a heater over the past month so far. And, you know, like I would I would also agree with you, Jack, when it comes to the Peyton Watson things are just straight up like athletic and quickness and just like freakish

things that only he and Aaron Gordon can do on that roster. And Aaron Gordon can't play 48 minutes a night, obviously. And so having someone like him just brings a whole other, like, it's a counterattack. And he's like the ultimate counterattack for the Denver Nuggets right now. I'm dead at that picture. Exciting whites. Um, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I also like Peyton Watson underrated like a helpside, helpside shot blocker. He's already like the clear best help side shot blocker on the Nuggets just in terms of like Yokic can often get guys out of position

while they're going to the rim but he's not going to go up there and get it and so if he forces them into like a weird floater or like a scoop layup attempt Peyton Watson is even better than Aaron Gordon at coming over and erasing those shots so I feel like I don't know that's a pretty niche play you're not going to get that like 10 times a game or anything but it is cool to see happen

it's a great display of like his athleticism his wingspan, all that stuff. Yeah, I agree. The nuggets are probably the least interesting team in the X-Factor talk just because they're so amazing and they're so solidified in who they are. We're talking about their bench problems with the same bench problems they had last year, obviously replacing Bruce Brown like you said. We just know that they're one flaw because their starting five is so amazing.

So like it's by far the least interesting of every great team on here. I know. It's like in the off season, all the talks, Bruce Brown, Bruce Brown hurt to lose. I knew that was going to happen though. But people were like, oh, they lost Jeff Green. They lost Jeff Green. This is big. And it's like, okay, settle down, everybody.

That's, he's a rotation guy. But it's like our seventh best player. It's seventh. That's generous. It's hilarious. Yeah, we've won the next team. Who's your second team? We're going to go to the Boston Celtics.

And we're going to talk about MVP man himself, Jason Tato. I don't. Nasty. The rest of. Listen, the rest of the. of the starting five and, you know, and the sixth man, like, that's fine. And I feel like we've gotten to a point where not that, like, they are like so consistent because, like, but we know, like, Pozingis fits with what they do.

And he brings another dimension. And if you want to say that he's the X factor, fine. Okay. But Derek White is fantastic. Drew Holiday is awesome. I feel like Jalen Brown has also, like, he's also settled in and been just fine. But Tatum is the one where especially over the last. month and after all these like faux MVP talks and everyone's like oh well he's just

taking you know a step back to let everybody else see throw all that out the window right because it's time like this is if this is the time for quote unquote superstars right to rise up and do all this stuff and we talked about it before in our episode when we have one big question for everybody and I said like the Celtics their clutch stats are fine they they actually are are really good their top 10 in offense and defense and net rating in touch stats. And so on paper, whenever, you know, the last five minutes comes down, you feel comfortable. But there's a feeling right now that I don't have with Tatum. And knowing that the

ball is going to be in his hands, I'm, I guess it's the two part. The X factor is not only Tatum knocking down the shots, but it's also going to be can Missoula draw up plays and create situations to where Tatum can get good looks at the end of games? Because a lot of times he's getting kind of, you know, step back, tough ISO shots. And I want him to get better shots at the end of the games. And that's something that I'm going to be looking towards in the, in the playoffs. So it's kind of a two-part thing with them to. I like that.

All fair. All fair. Yeah. I look what you think is Jalen Brown. I feel like over the past 30 games, he's been so amazing that like people were talking like, should he actually be all the NBA this year, despite not having the crazy counting stats? Because I feel like he's been the best version of himself, you know, with all these new people

they've added in. Tatum gets all the attention for whatever he plays good or bad. But Jalen being so excellent has been like a huge part of why they're so dominant. And you know, in the finals, people were like, oh, he outplayed Tatum and all this bullshit. But if he can like score at that level again, they're going to be pretty impossible to be in the East. Yeah. I'm on board with calling Brown the X Factor here just because I agree. Like last 30 games have probably been the best basketball of his career on both ends of the floor. I mean, he could have had 50 against the nuggets if he hit his free throws. And so, like, I think to me, the X factor for Boston is when we talk about Tatum is like

this top five player, top seven player, you're going to, every year, including last year, you're getting like a couple games a series where it's just like a, it's like 11 for 20. 27, 8 for 21, 6 for 18, stuff like this. Just one or two games a series where the Celtics have historically survived these to be close games. They've come out on top in several of them. It hasn't been like this story that's continually permeated the narrative of Jason Tatum's career. But it feels like if his off nights just become, like the floor of his game rises a little bit to where his off nights are still, like, really solid impact offensively be it like i don't know getting a ton of rebounds being a playmaker

still like i don't know getting to the rim when the jumper isn't falling he added all that muscle this offseason i think that is a good place to look towards for when uh or if the celtics even struggle in the eastern conference i'm really nobody in the east if i'm boston maybe like the zombie heat figure out a way to shoot a million percent from three but the celtics are just oh they will i mean they will they will patty mills he's coming back but uh yeah i think the celtics are just on some other shit right now that's a great that's a great news that might just be the same guy yeah the Celtics is the other team that are like the boring ones to talk about this because they're so fucking perfect they're just unstoppable and they don't even have like like when you talk nuggets

it's like oh shit yokech 34 15 15 the Celtics it's like it's just like a different player playing pretty well every night while everyone else plays like at the same like very high level and that's kind of how they beat teams and so I don't know there's not even that narrative to talk about with them it's just like oh another 30 piece they blew out another good team no one no one can touch them right now bro they don't win they're gonna this is gonna be hilarious they don't fucking win the finals yeah it's gonna be hilarious for a multitude of reasons and the biggest one's like wow like everyone's gonna be talking about how jason tatum you know what I'm saying like just flopped in the playoffs or

or in the finals or whatever again. And that's just because he's by far the most blessed young player or when he was young, he's still young, where he'll be to our ages or whatever. But one of the most best players, blessed players in the NBA in terms of the situation and shit. And so, yeah, I agree with Donovan's sentiment about his X factor. Just, it's just all dependent on how he makes the specific reads and how well prepared he is in game to make certain adjustments rather than just.

just like we're reverting to just throwing up a shot because it feels nice at that moment in time. It feels nice. It's a rhythm thing. Exactly. What's your next team, Mo? Ooh, so my next team, let's go ahead and stay in the Eastern Conference. So Cleveland Cavaliers, there's just a cluster fuck of things going on with this team right now. For me, the first thing I wrote down when it came to X factors like, oh shit, synergy between like,

like Evan Mobley Jared Garland or fuck Evan Mobley and Darius Garland and then also like you know I'm saying the other guys as well Donovan Mitchell and shit like that and then I went to huh how well is Darius growing gonna be playing in the playoffs once Donovan Mitchell comes fully back in health and healthy because Darius so far over the last few games has been on an absolute heater as well he's I think he's been getting up like 10 three point attempts per game something crazy he's knocking down hell a lot lot of them bitches. All right. And so I think for me, like, it's just like, how will this translate into the playoffs? Because they're one team in the NBA who just has like five

different versions of them, you know? Like they're not cohesive just yet. I love that your X factor is can Darius Garland knock them bitches down? Yeah. I respect it. It's so much, bro. Kenny Like how do you guys Carpet? Yeah Go ahead For me

All the things You said are true Obviously we've talked At length About the Evan Mobley Jared Allen duo And can you make it Work offensively

Against really smart defenses I'm more concerned With can Darius Garland get his game off While D Mitch is there Because he mentioned He's been going crazy Shooting 103s again

Can he knocked him Bitches down With D Mitch on the court I don't know Because he's been going crazy In BART In Big Bart Because Donovan

Hasn been there And the more You should have gone to him He's been in a better rhythm. I think a big part of his struggle this year has obviously been injury related and his conditioning when he's came back from injury. I saw a Kaz fans talking about the fact that he's lost 10 pounds and that's really hurt his ability to finish at the rim. And I also just think it's kind of similar to the Dame and Janus thing where Dame never really gets in his right

rhythm when Janus on the court at him because they just kind of struggle to B2 1A's on the same court at the same time and figure out how to implement each other. Yonis hasn't done a good job of putting Dame in those situations to succeed in a way that makes him feel in rhythm. I feel similarly about Darius Garland. I think it's very similar in that way where he's just not going to be able to be a great off ball player next to D. Mish. It's not his game. He needs a ball in his hands.

And can you really long-term extract the most value possible out of Darius Garland with Donald Mitchell on the team? Not sure. I don't feel like it because I love watching Darius Garland run the two-man game with Jared Allen. It's gorgeous. But simultaneously, like, you understand why Donovan, Mitchell demands the ball and like takes it out of his hands because it's just like he's better he's

better at scoring he's better at putting pressure on the rim especially with garland not being the most efficient player right now and so I guess the X factor is just like what version like can this all be cohesive or really what's happening in the off season with them I don't I don't see they went on the big win streak they Jared Allen's underrated Evan Mobley will be super super super super good and he's like probably all defensive team or near it this season. But just in terms of like a deep playoff wrongly, like if they made the conference finals, it feels like I'd kind of be like, whoa, over, I don't know, Milwaukee or New York even,

if New York's healthy, there's a lot going on. But yeah, the cohesiveness between Garland and Mitchell, that's something I'll be keeping an eye on in the playoffs. Definitely. I think for them, the one of the things I want to see, one of their duos has to figure it out either the backboard has to figure it out or the front core has to figure it out of mowgli and ellen they're going to they're going to have to make a decision on one of them because i think with all four of them on on the on the team it just doesn't feel

like you're ever going to be able to to reach the full potential and get to like championship status because there's there's going to be some flaw you're going to be overpaying for one or two of those players that aren't going to be reaching their potential and being a at their best so it's going to be like a waste of resources so they need clarity on can this back court work and if that works fine or can this front court work together and if that works great i doubt that both of those work simultaneously but yeah they need they need to figure out which one of those duos they can keep such a weird situation when you don't just they're all so good like you don't want to lose any those guys it's such an awful situation to be in i feel so sorry for jb bicker

Saffro because like it's an awful situation to be in and then also on top of that too. I mean, what makes a situation a little bit better is like all your role players are like figured out the Max Truces and George Sneying who shoots sometimes too much or whatever, but still a good player. And then the Sam Marils who comes out of nowhere, Dean Wade, Isaac O'Rour, like all those guys are just there and they're rejoicing to help make this thing go. But it's just such a like a top problem that it doesn't matter how good. the other auxiliary parts can be because you haven't figured out.

I feel like their identity yet almost. Yeah. I remember when the Cavs went on the big win streak towards the end of it or towards whenever Garland and Mobley were about to come back, I was like, if you told me that this team is adding two players, one of them's been an all-star already, one of them is like an extremely promising young defensive big man, if you told me this team was adding those guys, it feels like they should be way scarier than what the cabs have like currently amalgamated to. It doesn't feel like there's, I don't know, the same ceiling, like the talent,

it doesn't feel like being maximized, which I guess that's kind of what we've all said in a unique way at this point. But yeah, they just got a lot of shit to figure out this off season. What a mess. Good mess, darling. This is their floor. There's clearly their one tweak away from being really great. I agree I'll do my next team I'll do my second team let's talk about

the Los Angeles Clippers everybody's favorite team in here Donovan's favorite team we got the jersey on them boo you let him say that out loud to you Donovan that's so damn

right there that's like she's supposed to snuff me but Clippers fan I can't stop him in real time they're like to beat the fuck out of me

but yeah they obviously every year the story with them is usually health. If it's not health, it's Paul George in the side of the backboard. It's something, some kind of calamity that stops them from not winning

and, you know, fulfilling their potential. Assuming we don't talk about any of that, I think their biggest question marks are James Hardin and Aviza Zubach, right? And they're both kind of matchable dependent. If you play the nuggets, Visa Zubotch, you can put in a blender. If you play so-and-so,

that really is an exposure perimeter defense, James Hardin, going to be tough. I'm going to lean as the biggest type factor as James Hardin, though, because I think we talk about them as being the second most threatening team

in the West and really the most likely to beat the Nuggets and I think the most likely scenario for them being the Nuggets would be James Hardin is really able to

stretch apart to stretch apart and pick them apart and put Paul George and Kauai into a position to succeed that doesn't work if he's shooting tour dates

and if he is looking like a pumpkin like he has in a past playoff series so while the pressure isn't entirely on him to make them be able to win games right?

It's their third best player they can afford to have poor shooting nights I think it's the biggest top competition, he'll be the decision maker between whether or not they're clearly the best team in the West dominating everybody or if they're sent packing again in a very disappointing fashion because the other two guys aren't the best decision makers in late games to really go band for band with Yokic in a late game situation. Yeah, I'm on board with that. I think

to me, the X factor here is James Harden through like the lens of Paul George. Because I have felt comfortable about the clippers with James Hardin because I feel like the way they constructed the roster with Kauai Leonard with Paul George with Norm Powell with hopefully like a healthy Russell Westbrook there is enough offense here to survive a a Hardin regression on the scoring front as long as he still provides elite playmaking but if Paul George is how like the level he's played at over the past several weeks month whatever it is I don't have the numbers pulled up right here, but if he is on that level, I'm way less confident in the Clippers ability to survive what would then be a bad James Harden series on top of that.

The fact that you have, like, Kauai and Paul George, if they can both hit the ceilings that they've shown in the playoffs before, which Kauai, nobody's worried about that as long as he's healthy, then this Clippers team is very scary. But if they aren't like the absolute machine that they were for that big win streak on offense. I don't like the defense is pretty sketchy. So I think yeah, Paul George and James Hardin, the combination of the two. They can't regress at the same time. Somebody's got to play good guys. Exactly. Yeah. Would you guys feel better? Would you guys feel better about the clippers if like if Paul George stayed at this level, but James Harding came back up? Would you guys feel better about them in that form or flipped if, like, Paul George came back up and Hardin kind of stayed at this level?

You need Paul. I'd be, I don't want to put any, like, I don't want to put any weight on Hardin, like, Hardin scares me. I'm operating under the assumption he is going to regress. So I would rather see Paul George kind of get up and just like talking like a man who's been through some trauma. And I have two. I'm looking at the 17, the 18 warriors. We got him on the ropes, baby. And then it's just like, I don't know.

It's not his fault, but it kind of is. So yeah, I would rather see Paul George push stuff a little bit. Donovan, how much faith that you have in James Harden right now? I don't have, what, 1%, 2%, I don't, I don't believe in that man. I was like, he is, and he's the post. child or poster person I don't know he's a girl man right whatever but like

poster person I know yeah like he is the face of choking for this generation so like I don't have a lot of faith in him that he's going to rise to the occasion I think that the I think that I still somehow like

think that the clippers are going to be okay but like I don't think Hardin is going to get to a superstar level. We saw, we saw, we saw two games of Crazy Hardin last year, um, against the Celtics where he dropped 40. And I saw, I saw, I saw a tweet that somebody was supposed to highlights from that series. And they're like, he had two 40 point games in that series and still average 22 a night. Damn. Damn. Nasty. That's, like, that's the level

of choking that we normally get from Hardin. So I don't, I don't think that's going to happen. I do think that Paul George, I think, I think, think he's going to be okay. It's, it's kind of scary when it goes on for like weeks at this point, but I think he's going to be okay. And yeah, one of the things with the Clippers is, how do you feel about those two guys? The third star or the first star in Kauai, we know he's going to show up, right? We know that if Kauai is healthy, he's going to go to a place that can elevate everybody else. So even if those other two guys regress, By like a little bit, I still feel kind of, kind of okay with the clippers and like their

chances of making a deep run. But it really depends on what Kauai is doing rather than everybody else. Yeah. I can definitely agree with that. As of late, it's like whenever people talk about contenders towards the back half of the season mid to late March or whatever it is, like everyone's like, oh, yeah, a lot of teams just tend to hover around like 500, like the one of the greatest teams, the greatest team of all time, in my opinion, the Golden State Warriors back in 2017 or 2018. They went like 500

playing like the most 500 basketball ever, you know? And same thing with the Denver Nuggets, I believe, towards last season, they were like the most 500 team ever. And specifically speaking in terms of like March, you know. And so same thing, similar things happening with the Los Sanjas Clippers, I just don't think they have that like cachet and that history and they don't have like that crown just yet. Everyone believes that they are like great, have been elite for the most part of the season. But, you know, like there's just things like effort that's just really lacking in for a team that has had so many moving parts over the last, what, eight months happened to them. It doesn't feel real comforting, you know? Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. We, we can

the clippers talk we talked enough about them hey what i like talking about the clippers no you don't says nobody nobody nobody gives a fuck listen we we came out here

we made several videos talking about like listen we like to make fun of them they're here they're elite they're contenders and they've just fell off the deep end I've no longer feel any reason to give them the time of day until they actually show it

for an extended period of time wow anyways we've all done two teams now we're exactly half way through. We all have four teams to do. So we're going to take a quick break and we're going to do our first ever producer corner segment. Nikiel has a topic for us. He's going to jump in something to break it up to tell, I don't know exactly what he has planned, but we got something from him. Baby Nikiel, what's good? I'm going to need some energy from you guys, all right?

Been a lot of ball talk. We can keep that up a little. But basically what I want to do today is uh let's reminisce a bit all right jack i don't know how old you are but the rest of us you know mid 20s the conn's unc oh don't worry i got i got unc the other day because i was like i was seven when something came out and someone did the math and they were like god damn and i was like all right well that doesn't shit no man i have to go back inside after that one holy shit that hearing a damn is always hearing goddamn in person is crazy What are we reminiscing about, Nikiel? We're going to, you know, kind of vibe, yap,

rate general pop culture events from like 2016 to 2018. Okay. So kind of like a golden era for us those days, maybe. Pre-COVID days, okay, when shit was sweet? Exactly. Listen, for us, end of high school going into college, shit was sweet. Okay, so you said we're going to rate some vibes

where you have like a list of things. We're going to rate them one to ten? exactly that's what we're gonna do you already yes all right off of vibes alone you said sure I mean listen yeah okay once you start talking to you guys just right just like how far the memory is yeah listen reminisce a bit all right okay start off we're gonna be talking about 2016 yeah yeah let's start strong let's talk about the the 2016 217 2018 Warriors. Terrible.

Pain. They're horrible. Zero. Fuck them. It was the worst thing in the world. July 4th, 2016.

It's terrible. Like he signed there. That was my 9-11. And then, yeah, I was like, oh, cool. Well, we can care about, we can care about the MVP race now.

We know who's winning the title. So, yeah, I'm going to give them like a zero, dude. This is 10 out of 10. What did we, listen. First of all, as, listen,

as a massive Steph Curry fan, this was awesome. Two, everybody is like, oh, my God, this ruined the league. Let this happen to your team, right? Let this happen to your team. You're like, this is the greatest thing. I love the salary cap. It's amazing, right?

Like, it's fine. But also, you nerd, shout out the CBA. That's what if, I promise you, if the Lakers were able to get Kevin Durant in 2016, you would have like, this is great. I love you and yours. It was, it was good. like seeing, I like seeing periods like in NBA history that are historic. And for us to like witness one of the two greatest teams of all time, that was, that's actually kind of fun.

Yeah, you got any, uh, anything to say? No, other than pain. They made me hate my life, bro. I hated that lights can do every single time that I saw Steph Curry just decimate any single team like the Oklahoma City Thunder, the first ones to like blow a three one lead. It just like makes my heart hurt so much. Now like obviously looking back a couple

years older now, I can appreciate that greatness, but at the same time if I had a time machine or if I like was able to delete a certain time of human history I might delete that time off of the hater of me back then. I fully agree.

what Donovan saying now, but this isn't about what I think now. This is reminiscing. Back then I wanted them all harmed. I wanted them all out of my league. I hated them all. I was excited, bro. I'm happy stuff. I'm happy Steph didn't have that the night night celebration. If he had that

in like 2017, 2018, I would have hated my, like I would have broken a couple TVs. That was a tough time. He starts gritting in the fucking final. God. Listen, we want to talk about Steph's gravity. Breaking TVs, come on

That's quite the impact Quite the impact All right That's the next one Lock in guys We're going to talk about 2018 Fortnite Man

Do you mean the greatest game Of all time Pound for Pound The best air in my life You had Ninja playing with Drake And Travis Scott man Dude Everything changed after that

What up there With GTA5 Minecraft Or whatever other Goat games you have in your lifetime nothing is better than p fortnight i'm uh i'm in a fortnight renaissance right now because it's it's the only game i like my xbox is old as hell and so it's one of the only games it can run uh and i feel

cool because i have like the old skins from way back from like i have like 2018 skins i'm like no one else has this shit i'm on some exclusive stuff over here so i will say that that part makes me feel good i got that shit on man That's weird. And Adonovan wasn't into it. You know, I wasn't. I played it, but I was never good at it. I never, ever won a battle, bro.

I'll just be one of the news. That's crazy. I will build, but I own God, dude. I would never want to come outside. And someone would always come in my house and blast my brains out. And I just try to, I bitch to my little brother, go ahead and fucking give me some healing potion or whatever the hell that is. Let me slurp some juice or whatever they do.

It was all down bad I tried to play but I was never good 2018 Fortnite rocked Because people weren't building like that back then Back then it was like I'm getting shot at I'll put up a wall or something To block the bullets

And now it's like I don't I play no build now Because holy shit Like the stuff some people be on Yeah I wouldn't play it either That's what I was going against I'll be one of the I'll be the worst I'll build a house and I'd be like Fuck that you want to win

Got to come find me. They'll find me every time. I'm going to stay at house. Yeah. That's great. What's next? That random ass, Isaiah Thomas MVP type run in like 2016. Completely came out of nowhere.

I'll give that a nine. That was a great. That was fun. That was fun, man. Like, if you have me rooting for the Boston Celtics, something's going right. And, like, yeah, man. Short guy. The vibes are great.

last pick in the draft, just like a ton of really six storylines coming together all at the same time. And it would have been cool if he was like an all star or something. So for him to be like have the fourth quarter like clutch season that he did on top of all of that and be whatever fourth in MVP voting. That was phenomenal. That's like one of the greatest out of nowhere years in the history of the league probably at least the last 20 years. Yeah, that's up there for sure. I have 10% I love that season especially because like

every time he would go into the pain and finish some like crazy late you're like how was he getting in there like how is nobody blocking the shot so like watching it it was amazing the way that you guys feel about 2016 2018 I'm this but flipped

because looking back on it I like seeing the way that Isaiah Thomas has moved since that season has made me have like internal revisionist history about that and I'm like you weren't that good like you you were up but like just relax relax your rotations were weak no Isaiah Thomas did so much oh that is true he was absolute cone but he couldn't do anything about that obviously but um he gave so many kids in the

hood so much hope bro he had all the little like five three five four kids back when I was I don't know junior in high school at that point in time so much hope in so many unnecessary crossovers i'll see people who are right-handed purposely try to learn how to shoot what their left it's a crazy time bro crazy time but that's a tend to me do you live in boston the streets where that turned on by isaiah thomas not activated like he's a i no no i lived in Atlanta man it was crazy then phones is nuts that's crazy what's the next one uh the Marvel run around that time when they dropped Black Panther, Infinity

War, Endgame, it was the whole moment. Don't get me started. Don't get me started. I'm like, what's the guy's the WWE guy, the memes? That that's me about this. That was special. That was special. Oh, Vince McMan.

Was that? So, Infinity War, that was crazy. Like, I don't know. To see it come together in that regard. I didn't know if it was going to be I didn't know if we're going to make it there because like I'd been in it since like Captain America and all that

shit and so I had seen a lot of different projects fall apart so for it to I don't know really hit that emotional peak that that fucking rock that was a really fun time. I've fallen off since then vibes aren't quite the same but back then it was crazy I have a confession

there's been a very like there's probably been two other movies that I've had as much fun, like watching it in the movie theater as I did watching Infinity War when it came out. Like, that was one of the last times when, like, it felt like a, like, moment that, like, you had to go to the movies, like, this weekend, like, the first show impossible to go see this movie was, it was, it was special.

It may have been the best day in my life. Wow. I saw the Lakers win a championship of 2020. It's the only championship I've ever seen one of my teams win in my lifetime. That brought me a lot of euphoria. It didn't touch the euphoria I got when I saw Thor come into Wakanda with fucking Groot on his side and spinning around his hammer. I was, ah, ready to bounce on the building.

These kids don't know about that. They don't, they don't get it. They'll never understand. My confession is that I watched endgame for the first time. A bootleg. Like seven months ago. Seven months ago on a goddamn plane. And when I saw it, I was like, wow, it's pretty good.

You know? But it wasn't as a life change. You know, I was just like, oh, it's a cool movie. Oh, nice. Yeah, when the next one's coming out, pretty good. Actually, you're not low to the soil. You have to watch this in 2008. You wouldn't understand.

2008? Yeah. A brief. I get with it. It was a decade in the making. That's why it was pure cinema. My whole childhood was wrapped up in that movie. Thanks.

My goodness. I just don't know ball. All right. We can get back to the main part of the pod now. I love that. We want to, listen, we each have two more teams left. We're halfway through exactly. Jackie's

MIA will continue on he'll be back Donovan what's your next team all right we're going to talk about the all important

New York Knicks that's what we're talking about right now because I have all important because I have two because for different scenarios

one if every if either OG or Julius Randall is there then I see Dante DiCinzo as the X factor if OG

or OG Randall you know, either or or are not there, then Josh Hart is the, is the X factor. Because what Josh Hart has done over the last couple games, just playing the most Tom Timito's style basketball, playing all the minutes in the world, playing the hardest on defense, getting all the rebounds, right, doing all the dirty work. If OG and Ninobe is not there, the Knicks need him to be basically like this elite super soldier version of himself.

If OG is there and Randall's there and there's a little bit more. more scoring around than Dante Divenchino is the ex-factor for me and his shooting and his like he's he's been one of the best shooters in the league this year and he's been he's been fantastic he's really been able to elevate his game and so once you know once the attention goes to brunson obviously and randled dante being the release foul for for the nix offense is going to be big so it really just depends because this entire nick season is just are the guys going to be healthy are they not and it's if they are healthy cool if they're not the season done.

Yeah. Josh Hart is just Dennis Rodman. It is where it is. I'm all on board. You all know the Jimmy Butler calendar where it's like MVP at the end? I saw one of those the other day

where it was like Josh Hart the whole year and then just towards the end, is this Sean Marion? I was like, damn, low key, yeah, now the shop's falling and everything. So yeah, I think my expector for the Knicks, assuming health and everything,

we gave the Clippers that, I'll give the Knicks that. it's it's Julius Randall's conscience it's a shot selection because like like if he's if he is just like mid-range turnaround psycho how we know he can be it's done that's it the Knicks don't the Knicks don't have it but uh I got I got some news for you that's gonna be it because like regardless of if those are falling or not

just the way that Randall pressuring the rim opens up like everything that that does for the Knicks it's one of the most important parts of their team and so for him to kind of fall back into tough shot mode it really messes up all of the stuff like

that Jalen Brunson is trying to do the DeVincenzo the OG are able to do off of both of those actions as a result and so yeah it's just a Randall has the tendency to just constantly bail defenses out even if

they don't even if they aren't like physically equipped to guard him and so yeah i think uh i don't know maybe tibito maybe he'll like sit him down we got like some draymond green type therapy and it's like hey buddy just just go to the rim you're 610 280 go to the rim and you'll be able to even if you're missing layups collapse the defense and kick out so that would be my x factor for new york wow that man gets into the playoff setting unlocks the eye of the tiger the tiger being Carmelo Anthony and he has to replicate him That's a hell of a tiger

Watch it Why do you know? I didn't do anything No he wants to feel that Camelo He just doesn't have the skill set To be Carmelo But he's in his brain

He sees Carmelo We're good We can fly throughs We each have two left We can go faster On this back half Mo what's your next team My next team

Are the Miami Heat We can kind of keep This one short Biggest Act factors I think it's obvious to me It doesn't matter How well band play It doesn't matter how good Tyler Hero or Tiro's year plays.

It's all about Jimmy Buller and like if he can ascend to that next level. If he can't, no one cares and they're getting out in the first second round. But if he can ascend. Don't say second. It's first. If he can ascend, then, you know, like obviously this is a completely different team that we're talking about. And, you know, like they could definitely wreck a lot of fans, hopes and dreams. Jimmy Butler's nickname should be X Factor.

He's just the definition of this conversation, but every single year we know against all logic, he will activate and be that X factor. It's just like, literally the definition of what an X factor should be, right? It's like nothing matters unless this happens. Yeah. And quintessential Jimmy Butler, nothing matters unless he becomes God. Otherwise, first on exit with ease. And it would be so funny.

I don't know. Like, you have so much faith that he's going to do it. And I do too. It's just like if slash when it doesn't happen. it's like the hell were we worried about what's going on like why why was everybody freaking out about like i don't know probably like the 15th ranked offense 10th ranked defense uh yeah so it's just uh yeah the heat i think jimmy'll do it i think they'll be a tough out but there's always that question mark there yeah it's such a weird team construction like we

i don't think we've ever seen anything like this in NBA history a team that's just certifiable mid until the playoffs come around and one guy makes them amazing like can you remember anything like this? Back in 1999, the New York Knicks, but we've never seen nothing like this like you're right in terms of like the consistency of being mid

and like fire at the same time. It just, it's a brain altering. It doesn't make sense. Who was the Knicks? Was that like, was LaTrell Spreeweiler, Jimmy Butler?

Who would that be? That's an interesting question. I don't even, I don't know shit about the 1999 Knicks. What a pool. Yeah, no. That is disgusting. Yeah.

But yeah, we don't got to talk too much for the heat. They're very much just the heat, right? We just know what they are. I'm going down this rival hole now. Of what? Now I'm looking up to 98 mix. Oh shit. Rick Brunson mentioned.

Okay, Jalen Brunson talked. All right. There you go. Is it my turn? What's your next team, Jack? Yeah. I'll do, I'll finish my West teams. Kings.

Their X factor, DeMontis, subonis. That's what I said. Just not, I don't even, there's no stats to, back this up from this season because he's been phenomenal like he's been so good but just like a very baseline level uh nothing else is going to matter if um anything approaching like what happened with draymond and loony last year happens again this season and i i maintain like i've said that that was just a horrible matchup draw for him and that's like the the combination of loony and draymond really negates a ton of what is able to let him play at a high level even maybe more

more so than, oh God, my Sabonis tweet, maybe even more than like a Rudy Gobert one-on-one matchup would, because there's still stuff he could do there, but Dremont is just so good at negating guys bigger than him. He's been doing that his entire career. So I think if Sabonis maintains this level of play, the Kings, they have the potential to hit their ceiling. Then it becomes a question of all their other role players, like the Keegan Murray's of their team. but we are still waiting for the answer on if Sabonis can like really dominate and sign the paint really be one of the best rebounders in the league still finish play make at a very elite level so yeah that's that's their factor for me yeah don't you're not going to see me get my hopes up

I'll say that I've talked enough I've talked enough about Sabonis throughout this season people know where I stand so Donovan how do you feel about this Mo how do you feel about this Listen, we are locked in. I feel the same way about Subonis. He's not doing anything. And the Kings are, I don't, I mean, I don't even know if the Kings are going to get to that point to where we're even going to see Sabonis in the playoff series. Like, they have to, they have to close out this season. They've been inconsistent.

They've been, they've been mid. And I've said, I think, like over the last two weeks, I think that they're going to fall into the plane. And then in a one game scenario, I don't think they're beating Dallas. I don't think they're going to be. the wars. I would pick the Lakers over them. I think it's going to be very, very hard for them to make a respectable playoff run, right? Which I think for them is just winning a playoff series. So it's now that they're done in my eyes. Yeah, I can agree to that. There's literally like, they can't do it. I just, I'm not bet I'm not betting on it. They can't do it to play

Timberwolves. I think Rudy Gobert is in the same way, Dramon's a worst case scenario. Rudy Gobert's the second worst case scenario. Yeah, plus, like, they can draw... Gobert plus Nas Reid. Like, it's, like, the same kind of just, like, two huge guys. And so, plus, they lost all the clutch, the clutch aura, the clutch vibes from last year, which is, like, huge in terms of a playoffs. No more life to beam.

Let's talk about it. I mean, like, the beam's been getting lit, fine, I guess. But in terms of, like, in terms of, like, you watch them play and you're thinking, like, how does this, like, style of play translate to the postseason? And it's like, oh, is Malik Monk giving you 30 every three games in the playoffs? Maybe. Maybe you could, like, pin your hopes on that. But it doesn't feel like it right now.

So, yeah, I feel like we're all on the same page. Kings, Kings not really like that. You guys said everything. I don't need to contribute to this conversation. We're in a bag. He would eat against the Suns. He might eat against Thunder if the Chet didn't go as well. He might eat against Zubach, but put him up against Yokic, put him up against Dremon.

Clearly not Anthony Davis. I'm going to eat against Anthony Davis. Or Colbert, any of those elite rim defenders, he's getting cooked. There's no good match up for the time at all. That has the potential to end up very poorly clipped if they end up winning a series. He's getting cooked. He won't be fried again either. Fuck.

Delete the video. Okay. Next team I got, this is a real quick one. I have the 76ers. Fucking obviously, Joelle Embed, clearly, if he's there and he has. has time to acclimate and get you know multiple weeks of play under his belt they could be scary they were scary earlier in the season if he's not there or if he's coming back fresh off of the injury and go straight to like the play in it's not looking good i agree there's

there's there's there's there's nothing else to say about this yeah it really nothing is just is he there is he not i mean if they're healthy i guess assuming he's there then i guess Kelly Ubrey's X factor? I don't know. Tobias Harris, can he give you anything? Buddy healed? Yeah, it's just like, it's like, I don't know, it's crazy that like this team, look at this team since Embed's been out and it's the

only X factors, like, can Embed be back? Like, they are so bad since, like, there's nothing to talk about here. It rocks that Maxi has kind of acclimated to like the gap that's been left in scoring and everything. Shout out to Tyrese Maxie, but yeah, it's just I don't like it. I don't like the vibe. And I don't like the idea of like rushing your generationally mobile, I don't know,

shifty seven footer back from a knee injury just to try and make the postseason with, again, this team that is garbage, this team that is horrific without him. I don't think they're winning a title with this team, even if he's playing. So yeah, I don't like it. I don't like it. I agree. Begging for the right to get blasted by the Celtics. Hey, what a prize.

For a sprinkle of positivity, at least Kyle, he's back at home, playing well, and he's able to be, you know, release some pressure off of Tyrese, he's averaging a cool, like, eight points and five assists. Great stuff, better than Patrick Beverly. That's all the positivity I got for the Sixers fans. Anyways. Jonathan, what is your final team on your list? The last team.

The last team on my list is the Phoenix Suns. And the X factor for them, which is also a question for me. are you guys going to show up in the fourth quarter or not like it's it's really that simple like if you if you are going to win playoff games you're going to have to be competent in the fourth quarter and they are not that right they are one of the five worst um for you know clutch time teams since since the uh since the all-star break this picture's crazy um they've been one of the worst fourth quarter teams all year. Kevin Durant has recently had his struggles down the stretch of games.

And we talk so much about their like roster construction and just how much of it is. Like, hey, Devin, Kevin and Bradley, go get a bucket. And especially in those like final moments, you guys have to go get buckets and they don't do it. So like, if that doesn't happen, nothing is worth it. So yeah, they have to figure out how to score. it's honestly hilarious that a team that is entirely built on having three elite ball handlers that can make clutch shots when needed with very little structure needed that can beat their man one-on-one the entire basis of this scheme and experiment of team building is based on that match-up advantage how are they by far in a way the worst fourth quarter team in the NBA that is so embarrassing that should be your calling card that's the entire reason you built how you did is to win in that exact scenario and you're in the wizards realm you're in conversations with the hornets when it comes to that very important realm of basketball.

It's hilarious. Disaster is a kind way to put it. Yeah, I think even more so than the clutch stuff, because I think this translates into the clutch, is just like, last year in the Nugget series, even though they lost, we did get like a solid two and a half games where you saw the vision of like,

Kevin Durant and Devin Booker are two of the best scorers, pull-up jump shooters, one-on-one players. in the world. They were simultaneously on a level that allowed them with no one around them, with Josh Okie standing in the corner, they were on a level that allowed them to compete with the eventual NBA champions. And since then, it feels exceedingly rare that we have seen either Beale, Booker, or KD, any combination of those three get into that zone at the same time. It's probably happened in individual games. It doesn't feel like it's happened for an extended run. Obviously, some of that has to do with health. But I think that is the question.

It's just like, are we going to see Devin Booker and KD, Devin Booker and Beal, whoever, all three of them kind of settle into the space that they're going to have on offense. Their 15, 16, 17 shots per game, whatever they're working with. Are they going to settle into that and dominate? Or are we we're just going to get like fairly high level play out of two of them and then somebody puts up a stinker on one given night. I feel like that's kind of what we're working with right now because beyond that like it's like Grayson Allen phenomenal shooter blew my expectations out of the water this season. There's not like a ton of other role players you can look to and be like help us out, provide high level offensive play right now. The first year we have to be nice

to Grayson Allen. Yeah. It makes me sad. It makes me sad. and then they're wasting a generational Grayson Allen's season you're not shooting the lights out and then I remember screw this guy who cares

it makes me sad is hilarious yeah and then yeah man they're just yeah like we can just wrap this up but it's just so sad to see them go

toe for toe along with the Denver Nuggets last season considering no one else was able to do that and then they're like fuck it's going to get Bradley Beal Now, Bradley Bale is doing not that much justice and not making their offense any more complex than it actually should be.

And so they're just literally in the mud and they're just the most black team right now in the West. It's kind of one of the rare instances where the haters were entirely correct. All the downsides that people who wanted to hate on it projected of them all being the same place, failing to complement each other, failing to get into smart actions that would leverage each other's gravity against each other. and them just like all operating the same spaces and that leading to not the most point in offense it's all been true it's all been exactly how it's happened I do also think it's hilarious that like when they put it together

it was just like uh Beel and Booker they'll just split point guard duty it's like that is not how that works at all like what do you talk they'll split it they're both shooting guards and like I get I don't know initiating a set is not the most complicated thing in the world but you would like somebody

to routinely do that job the entire year, not maybe just like slide into that spot mid-March. Matt is just like me. I would do the same exact thing back in 2K, when I used to play 2K a lot, 2K-16, 2K-17. Hey, man, give me the best players in the world and then these motherfuckers will play it all out together.

And that's as far as his top box as one. Yeah, well, because if you're playing in 2K and you were in a pick and roll with Bradley Bill, you can hit that corner skip pass. Bradley Bill cannot. Big difference. He's not diving to the corner of the guy. with the sticks. Yeah, exactly.

Tough scene, man. Who's your last team, Mo? We can go ahead and roll into my last team. The New Orleans Pelicans. They've been on fire as a late. Specifically, Zion has, you know, everyone's talking about how he's lost hell of weight and how he's just now

fully back and he's revving on all ends right now. Him and the New Orleans Pelicans. Their head coach has been making a lot of the right tough decisions in terms of like choosing a when to go ahead and fully unleash C.J. McCollum and benching him during certain periods of the game just to let the Trey Murphy's and Zion Williams and the Herb Jones of the

world is really fully kick ass, bro. And that's what they've been doing. And that's all because of John Williamson. And he's the biggest X factor. That conversation just ends right there. He's being just the walking mismatch from hell that he is. There's the sky's the limit with this team right now. And he helps answer so many questions. Can I be honest? Go ahead. Please do. I've talked a lot of shit about the Pelicans over the year.

You have. About how Jonas Van Junis does not fit at all. They need to move him long term. I'm not super confident about the brand new and Zion fit long term. A lot of reasons I was very down on the Russia construction. I still think that still feel all those same ways. But they also

are kind of fucking sick and I kind of believe in them off of pure vibes. And I think they might be the clippers. I'm on the board. I think they might win a playoff series. I've always been the biggest Zion fan of the world. I've gone to bat for him when everybody was calling him. All the most fat public names you can imagine when Stephen A. Smith was having a fucking field day

with his fat lexicon. I was like, relax. He's Zion. He'll be great. But now I'm really getting bought in by Brandon Ingram. Defending is better than he ever has. His passing's been really good. He's taking a back seizure score to let Zion really have the gravity

in the game he needs to, which is what I've been saying all year. They need to really empower Zion so he can make everybody around them better. I'm fully on board of Tray Murphy just being him obviously Herb Jones Himithy Jr.

I love this team and I think they're going to win a playoff series now. I've been pushing Pelicans' agenda for a while the Clippers series we're good. Herb Jones, Trey Murphy,

it's official passing of the torch from Kauai and Paul George to the next generation of elite wing players, baby. Give it to me. Yeah, I think I'm on board with like Zion as the X factor because for the entire year before this stretch of Zion play

I always described the Pelicans as a team that just felt like there was a hole in the middle that was about the size and shape of like 26 points on 60% from the field and like when that fits in there everything else is like oh all of these other pieces make perfect sense around this and so I'm really I'm really happy

to see him starting to put it together I love what they're doing defensively. I just, yeah, I don't know. I get the Ingram concerns and everything, but I don't know. I think as long as the defense hold, there'll be a tough first round out at the bare minimum. Dude, Trey Murphy DM'd me. Trey Murphy DM'd me after that tweet.

And I was like, bro, I'll lead a spoonful for you. And he was like, it's cool. And I was like, all right, cool. That's late. This might be your funniest tweet I've ever seen. For the audio listeners, what does this tweet say? And also, I can't read that bitch. Go ahead and read it, Jack.

Go ahead and narrate your tweet. It says two New Orleans. It's too far. It says two New Orleans Pelicans players follow me on here now. So to celebrate, I'll eat this entire can of Tony Shatcheries, Tony Shatcheries, Tony Saturis, seasoning with Saturis, Sashuris, my Louisiana girlfriends on the floor over here. So I'm getting the correct pronunciation real. I'll eat this entire can of Tony's with a spoon and it's a it's a Cajun creole

seasoning is the picture so yeah if you all ever had that the imagery of eating that with a spoon is crazy dude I took I took a bite because people were calling me on it it was the craziest shit I've ever tasted like the full spoon of it like I've rinsed my mouth out for like a good five minutes afterwards you just did heroin yeah yeah that's what they say about me you know that is David how you feel about the pelicans

Zion there's so much positivity going around here that I'm kind of scared to speak I'm here you

fucking go I'm trying not to I'm trying not to listen you notice I was being quiet because I was just letting everybody

I was letting everybody say I with the chest I think they'd be tricking y'all I I am still not sure about the pelicans in a in a playoff series specifically against the the clippers i think

that i think that that that's going to be the matchup right like it's good it's going to be clip it's going to be clippers pelicans i think that one kawai is going to rise up to a level that is going to be crazy and even though that herb jones is fantastic and amazing and he keeps 99% of all NBA players in Guantanamo Bay. Kawhi Leonard is the 1% that successfully breaks out of prison. And so I, like, I think it's going to be hard. So maybe, okay, maybe they don't trick people because they actually are very good. But I don't believe in them to win a playoff series against the Clippers this year.

That's fair. Yeah, I don't know if I do for sure. I have to sit on that and think about it for the next 16 games or whatever it is. but I certainly think it's a conversation when I definitely didn't two months ago. And it's also like the clippers have more tough shot making. The pelicans really, they look to Ingram a ton as far as like obviously Zion gets to the rim

and those are like super efficient looks. But for like when you're seating the more difficult like mid-range pull-ups, Kauai can hit those. We know he's going to. Paul George, it's not a guarantee the way it is with Kauai, but it's more so you feel more comfortable with that than you do with like CJ McCollum taking those shots for the Pelicans which is like the next guy that they go to in those situations a lot of the time

so I think I like I said I think they'd be a tough first round out but there's just a ton of playoff pedigree on the clippers and I think uh yeah Kawhi you have the best tough shot maker in the series best player in the series I'd probably still go with them yeah I think that's a fair assessment um As just a straight-up hoops fan, bass call fan, I'm just happy that, uh, wow, that is insane. But anyways, I'm just happy that we are able to get a healthy Zion. And I think once this, when they get like outed in the first round or they advance to the second round or hell, maybe going to the Western Conference finals, whatever crazy shit happens, they will be able to assess what they have and make the correct moves and figure out how to like fully maximize.

my zone and his insane potential is necessary in the stepping stone makes sense we got two teams left what is your final team jack uh i'm the indiana pacer's most boring of my teams i would say um because like the x factor here is literally just is haliburton going to be like how he was for the first three months or is like this hamstring just like the rest of the season is this kind of guy we're getting um obviously beginning of the season historically great offense one of the dominant offenses we've ever seen best offense in the league since haliburton has returned from the hamstring injury we're looking at 22 games where they are ranked 8th in offense he's just 15 points per game on like 54% true shooting during that span and his volume his volume scoring

28% from three in those 22 games which like that's nasty shit and that's that's obviously like your leg is not as good halberton is dude I was so high on the haliburton hype bro And so I'm biting the bullet now, but I'm not selling my stock. I'm here for next season when he's got a lot of health behind him. But yeah, the volume scoring, the volume scoring he had at the beginning of the season was really something that allowed the Pacer's offense to operate that way because he was shooting threes at such a high volume and such a high efficiency that there was like so many cutting lanes available for a team full of good passers. That really hasn't been the case since then. They've been a little bit better defensively, not like the worst defense in the league, but just really nasty shit. So it's similar to Sabonis where it's like, hey, if he plays well, the floor of the team elevates to a point where maybe it matters how Benedict Matherin plays or maybe it matters how Miles Turner plays.

But if those things won't matter if Halliburton is just like the level of player we've seen over the last month, month and a half. sadly yeah he said yeah not much as you be said about that it's clearly haliburton it's such a night and day difference that similar to jimmy similar to subonis definition of x factor

tragic yeah my final team yep i have one more team but real quick the Milwaukee bucks you can call it dami lillard if you'd like it's very important that he finds a way

to click next to yannis and really hit damian lillard status at the same time as yonis hits best player in the world status but it's chris middleton you know, Chris Milton is not healthy and playing at a level even close to what he was doing in 2021, 2021,

they have absolutely no chance. They cannot out shoot the Boston Celtics without a good version of Chris. Doesn't have to be Prime Chris, doesn't have to be, you know, one of the best late-game shot makers in the league for a final run. It just has to be a good tertiary scoring threat

that can really give you something from that position. Yeah. And one, an interesting thing about Middleton coming back is that you hear so much about the Damian Pick and Roll and obviously I think that is the action that's going to unlock the best version of this team but since it hasn't really like hit its ceiling yet um middleton and yannis already have an extremely established two-man game that has seen like a ton of playoff possessions and they know that they can do that super well so them running that with dame playing off of it in more of like a

catch and shoot attack closeouts role I feel like that is um an offensive set that's that it has a lot of potential when you're going up against the team like Boston when you're getting guys scrambling around even though they're so switchable and sometimes it's not going to matter who's scrambling out to Dame because everybody on the floor is a good defender

it's just another layer to Milwaukee's offense that they're definitely going to need to be able to compete at that level. Yeah, I agree. A little simple and plain. You know, that's our last team and this is the end of this section of the podcast.

We're going to transition over to TikTok time Jack will not be joining us Jack Appreciate you coming on the show Appreciate you coming on Long two hours You've gapped it up with us for a long time You're a trooper Appreciate you man

Appreciate you guys Thank you for having me on This was fun Jack This was fun Thanks for chopping it up Where can people find you at? All right

I'm on TikTok Instagram Twitter At Yokit's Joe Star I am on YouTube At the State of the League Podcast I host a podcast with

Pablo Escobal, a free two-hour episode on Apple, Spotify, YouTube every week. There's a patreon.com slash state of the league where you can also find an additional two-hour episode every week, plus access to a Discord and a bunch of other fun stuff. That's $5 a month. If you want to financially support me or Pablo in any way, that's the best way to do it. And that's where you guys can find me. Thank you, everybody, for tuning in and listening to me Yap with these guys. They fucking rock

He gave us all of his information That's amazing We love to have this meal I got it memorized On the TikTok time As always We're going to begin with the draft Today we're going to do a draft

Listen March Madness is beginning The first round is this week It's only right We do something related So we're going to do a draft Of only NBA players That have an NCAA championship Yeah, let's go. This is the most of the tournament. I'm going to pay attention to our year.

Fact. Oh, you're sick. Fuck about college. Oh, y'all are sick. Y'all are chirping. I'll tune in. Listen, I'll tune in at the end. Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final 4. I'll tap in there. You're missing. I haven't watched a Sweet 16 game in a decade. Y'all are missing on a real ball. That is fake basketball. I promise you. Listen, tell me when Texas plays. I'll watch. Fake basketball. And that's real defense. You guys are hogwash.

Oh, fuck off. Anyways, the draft order is me, Mo Donovan. Real simple. You guys know how it works? T23 stable. Lesser FNBA lineups with only players who have an NCAA championship. First pick, give me Michael Jordan. Okay.

Shocker. Got to start somewhere. Yeah, solid pick. Obviously can't go wrong with the goat. What we done with him. So I could go either one of two ways and there's no real wrong answer, but I feel more comfortable with Kareem. So go ahead and give me, go ahead and give me Kareem. You're done with the 90s, but you're not done with the 70s?

Fuck off. Yeah, no. Kareem's different, bro. That's a real hoop right there. All right, where are we going? I'm on point guard. Give me Magic Johnson. Fair.

Nice. And at my center position, give me Bill Russell. Okay. Okay. One in the five. Listen, we're definitely now with the 60s. I got some bad news for you. Listen, if you take Bill Russell and take him out of Converse and put him into some

Nikes, he's eating. That's tough. We give him some ant man shoes. He's going to jump out of the gym. That's tough. That's hilarious, right. That's tough, right. You know what?

All right. So at my four, go ahead and give me him. Anthony Davis. Fuck. Damn, that takes away a lot of options for me. I'm busting rosters over here. Damn, damn, damn. Okay.

All right, I'm a double up. Give me Patrick Ewing at the five and James Worthy at the three. Okay. Okay. We're an old head team over here. Okay. Can't be mad at that.

We got a veteran presence up and down the roster. Yeah. You don't stand a chance against me right now. now. Why not? I got my first. I'm going to force him left. You think that moves me? I'm going to turn him to Jalen Brown. He's going to draft him out to Sabona. A.D. is cooked. All right. Let's relax now. You're going to draft him bad. I'm so cooked. Okay. So at my point guard, give me Isaiah Thomas. Yon. Okay. Yon. What the hell? you know you're lying

I got to figure out where I want to go all right you know what at my four give me back to back national champion give me Al Horford at the wow I forgot about him

okay I love Al Al Horford and Bill Russell might be the least energetic starting front quote I've ever seen but they get the job done they do they do for sure They did a job or whatever. The reliable as hell for sure.

Fundamental as fuck. Exactly. And I see, this is, this is tough. This is tough. But if you have Magic Johnson, I need somebody who he can, I need somebody to be his Byron Scott, somebody who just runs around like crazy, just gets these shots off. So am I two? Give me Jason Terry.

Okay. Wow. Okay. That was a good pick. That was actually a good pick. Can't hit on that. Can't hear on that. at all. All right. Sad my three, I need an all-around wing. Give me a little bit of spacing,

of course. This is the, we, my team is hella old school, so it's okay. Go ahead and give me Grant Hill. Mm, okay. Very all-around. Great pick. My team is loaded right now. Can't lie, I'm cooking, crayon eaters. You know, listen, I'm putting, I'm putting Michael Jordan at point guard. First off Then give me Shane Badier at the 4 No Yeah

I was hoping he would fall And we're gonna finish it off Give me Carmelo Anthony to round it out Oh I forgot about Carmelo I did forget about that You're saying You should be worse about you bro Damn okay

My team is huge Versatile cooking Yeah but you got no playmakers bro Carmel are gonna be choked out in the middle a game by M.J. Hey, J and worthy is plenty. Oh, man. Okay.

So, she's. Yeah. Yeah. So where did I go wrong? Oh, that's hilarious, bro. Okay. Damn. Mello really fucked it up.

Yeah, damn is right. But it's okay. But it's not, you're still not fucking with me. So I think at my two, you know, what? I need some real old school wizardry going on. Give me Bob Coosy. Real hoops, man. Oh, you're cooked. Real loss. You're done. Yeah, right, bro. You have Michael Gordon and Mellat point guard. Get out of here. You're done. What are you talking about? You just drafted Bob Coosy. You drafted Josh Giddy. I needed someone who couldn't swing that thing. I can't

everybody can't shoot. He needs to go ahead and share the love. What do you mean? Nobody can do. You got no shooters. I'm telling you. Jason Terry is cooking Bob Coozy. Oh, yeah, right. I'm probably... Dollar than my cook Bobcousy. You don't know ball. All right. At my three, let's get somebody a little bit more modern, right?

I need some defense. Just a little bit of scoring. Give me Mattel Bridges at the three. Oh, he won when I forgot. That's a good pick. Wow. Yeah, he did. Damn. Okay. That's great. Your team is very boring, but very fundamental and probably good.

This team, my team wins national. championships that we are a college team that's been together for four years we know how to play together not to play the right way yeah zero athleticism these are zero explosion bro you're right they just know how to get it done they're full court pressing three man weaving it they're mad fundamental if they're having the ball five passes on one possession nobody's taking a shot yeah exactly swing that bitch from wing to wing we're playing off a two pump fake and And pass. This is,

that's all we do. Find the open man. And I got who killing basketball. Just straight talent. We're going to kill him. And then Shane Battyen. Yeah. Just there.

We need somebody who's face the floor. Exactly. All right. So for the audio listeners, my team is Michael Jordan, Carmelo Anthony, James Worthy, Shane Batty, Patrick Ewing.

That's interesting. Combination. Interesting combination. I got Isaiah Thomas, Bob Coozy, Grant Hill, Anthony Davis, and Karima Dool-Jabar. Nice. That Coosie's kidding me right now.

Why did you do that? I need a connector. What do you mean? It's wild. Yeah, just took the thunder new theirs and giddy. All right, relax. I'm not even playing with you. You could have taken Dante Devincento and it would have fit a little bit better.

No, don't. Oh, my goodness. My team. I have Magic Johnson. True. I have Magic Johnson, Jason Terry, Mikhail Bridges, Al Horford, and Bill Russell. McHale Bridges saved you.

Not going to lie. That was great. That was great. You could make a good team at the leftovers too. Like you could pick Gail Goodrich, David Thompson,

Glenn Rice, I think about that. Brunson. Antoine Walker, Carlos Boozard, Joe, Walter. I'm surprised Carlos

went undrafted, but I guess that's because, you know, systematic-wise and how he built our roster for sure. We're Pamilton.

Who is going and Carlos Boozer on their roster? I would have done it and I'd done it before and I'll do it again. Fuck it. What do you mean you would have done it?

You didn't do it. You could have did it. I would have done it, though. You literally didn't want him. But I had my priority straight during this draft right here. Okay. Yeah. Losing for the priority?

Next thing you're going to do. We're going to run back something. We haven't done a few weeks. A tier list. And we are going to do a tier list of young NBA players under the age of 25. Well, last week we did our, or two weeks ago, we did our rankings of top 25. players. So now we can do a little tier list of it of a random assortment of them. Let's get a perfect tier list once again.

Real simple. I got a close the little window. Yep. Bob. Okay. So you get you guys in the whole works. You've been here for a while. You guys understand. I got I think 14 names here. S through F tier. Do you guys want to do this based on how good they are right now or long-term potential? We always do how good they are. Maybe long-term potential is more fun. Long-term potential may be more fun. It's cool vibes. But. But then again, they're all going to be really high in long-term potential. So I don't know about that. Yeah, so I think we should do just based off right now, like today. Okay.

How they play this season. That's fair. Just this season. Okay. So let's put these young NBA players into a tier list based on how good they've been this season. First off, John Morant. Small sample size, but he was playing like John Morant. Yeah, we know who he is.

He's an S tier, bro. When he's healthy, he's like a top 15 player at worst, which is crazy. He's a, he's a S-tier. easy yeah I'm going this yeah since Luca Trey young and all them aged out he's probably the best young player in the league right now him or Anthony Edwards yeah I agree okay Tyrese maxi listen he was an all-side this year he's picked up the pace since Embed got hurt I kind of want to put him in us but he's not as good as job right now yeah he's a tier below tier below for sure yeah no one no one out here is

probably saying I want to build my team around Tyrese Maxie. If you are, brother, you're so done for mentally. Cooked. I would love to have my second option, though. An efficient 26 points per game moves me. Oh, facts, bro. A solid for him. I like it. Okay. Keegan Murray. He was a great player. You love to. He's great. Yeah. Keegan's a great player. It's fantastic player, but I don't think he's definitely a tier below Tyrese. Alago, sorry to say two tiers. I would say he's a C. I'll say a C because he's like a player who a lot of people,

he can fit on any team, bro. He makes any team immediately better because of his defense and spacing. Super simple player. Yeah, just very good role player that can contribute to winning already. Easy C tier. Donovan. Where are we playing Scotty Barnes?

Well, listen, he's better than Keegan Murray. Is he as good as Tyrese Maxie? Ah, considering what he does. defense playmaking obviously isn't the score but all around game i think he might be i think he's i think i think it would be disrespectful to not put scotty in the same tier as tyrus maxi put him in a tier exactly you can still you could think tyrese is better so far but they're definitely the same shot as fear exactly i agree next up evan mowgli ooh i think he might be the first be on this this right now.

He might be the first beat. If it's just this season not projecting, the offense doesn't come around, hard to fit him unless you have a stretch five or he can play the five one day. You could convince me see if we really don't believe in his offense, but defensively he's still amazing. I guess we can go be. Yeah. We'll go be.

Let's not be disrespectful to defense. Yeah, yeah, yeah. To defense. The defense is insane. The defensive player why? But you're lucky of it Moblee because it's close. All right. Oh my gosh.

You've been knocked down some threes. One more bad playoff run I'm looking at you in C tier Yeah being on Donovan's hate list Exactly A tough tough list to come out of man I'm sorry Don't think you're sweet

Careers go there to die Nobody's ever made it out Facts Right John thing comminga Interesting young player Because he just came out on the scene He's the latest of the party

Because of Steve Kerr Yeah Show did a lot of flashes Once he became a full-time starter And it's really put it together as a great rim finisher. But it hasn't been a big sample size as being great.

I feel like we got to go see. That's what I was thinking. That's all I was thinking. Because he's not like, because even though that Evan Mowgli is like great on one side of the ball, he's still elite at defense. And I don't think Kamega is elite at offense

or elite at defense. So I'll put him in C. Yeah. See's fair. If he was playing like this throughout the entirety of the season, then I'll put him at me for sure. Yeah, he's definitely gonna be a big riser next year if he gets the opportunity, but for now, we gotta, we gotta not go too crazy.

I agree. Cade Cunningham. Mm, man. He's been snapping over the last, what, seven, eight, six weeks of basketball, bro? That man, he's been incredible. He's putting it together. The two-point shot is falling. The passing's falling.

I'm not saying falling. The passing's great. At least B-tier. At least B-tier, but- If he wasn't on the Pistons, he would be A. Yeah. It's just, he's in Detroit, so it's like weird to put him in A.

I hate saying, for sure. He hasn't earned A by a totality of work, but he's talented enough to be A, but give him some time and put him together still. Give him some time, aka let the Pistons be watchable. Tyrese Halliburton. This is hell is skewed now.

Because we've had legitimate S-tier performance from Tyrese. But we've also had some real stinkers from him over the last couple. About two months of stinkers. Two months is a lot, bro. That's, nah,

it's a month. Two months is extreme. But it's been at least a month and a half of damn near. Early season, we would have said S tier without a doubt. Lately, he's been looking like pumpkin tier.

I feel like we've got a downgraded to A until he really gets it together again. But do we think he has a chance to get back closer to what we saw earlier in the season? Absolutely. He for sure does. He for sure does. But if we're doing this off of this year,

Yeah. A, maybe even be, maybe even B. Okay, relax, relax, calm down. Listen, I'm just saying, I'm just saying the last, it's been real scary. Stop saying, it's been real scary. It's been real scary watching it. I'm on the opposite. Not that scary.

I'd want to believe in him a little bit, maybe I believe in him. 29% for him doesn't scare you? Fuck. I'm not scared either. Long turn. I'm not scared. I want to put him in S too. But A is fair for what he's been doing for sure.

I'm with you. We saw him be S clearly, but you got to think about it. It was only a two-month sample size of him being a god amongst men. So we don't give anybody else that type of credit for a heater, you know. Jalen Green's been hot for two weeks. We're not putting him fucking skyrocketing up yet because we've got to see it longer. We've got to see that extended longer time for two weeks. Who's got putting Jalen Green that high?

Oh, my goodness. Houston. Don't speak for everybody. I forgot, that's your guy. Okay, we can go Tyrese in A tier. Next to the other Tyrese. Victor Wambaynama. S.

And none of you guys got to say none. Ever. Don't say a damn word. S tier. Shut your mouth. Yeah. He knows it. He wants to be like,

above us, above us, above us. Don't even agree. Don't even agree. Nothing for the peanut galley. Kobe white he's a great C player not B I couldn't put him B's a bit much he's been great but not that great you know great for Kobe white standards not necessarily like number one pick standards like Kate Cunningham you don't think he's been better than Keegan I don't think he's been as good as Cade yeah exactly I think he's been on

considering Keegan's defense is crazy the impact on that is nuts yeah and it makes up a lackluster offense, which is not really lack of alcohol. It's just man. This, Kobe White, understand. I'm putting you at the top of seats here. That's for sure, for sure. Should we put him in a D? No, can't put him.

Nah, I wouldn't put him down. He's too exposed to. Because what he does inside the paint, now he is playing with Steph Curry and Clay Thompson off the bench. But what he's been doing and how fast he was able to evolve in that offense has been great, given the opportunity. I think he's definitely the jersey. for sure.

All right. All right. You got it. Fair enough. Jalen Williams. J-Dub. Just put a minute here. Mm.

A tier? Yeah, just put them in A. A tier is stark because what we see right now is all all-stars. And that must mean that you believe Jail Williams should be an all-star result, at least on that tier already. You got them right, I believe it. All right. is how I feel so I'm holding you guys accountable logic logic clears let's put him in a strong defender one of the most efficient three level scores in the NBA he doesn't have a flaw in

his game right now obviously he is the second option which is always in a way people way people's perception down he's done nothing but perform excellently he deserves a tier shout to it's here we move logic clears palo ban caro what are we thinking is closer closer is Scottie Barnes are closer to Wembe. Closer to Wemby is kind of crazy to say because Wembe's Wembe. Paulo's been elite. He's been fantastic with the cards he's been given. But Wemby and Joss status is like, Wemby and Joss status is kind of like,

can you be a top 15, 17 player worst case? And I don't know if Pollo can be that. Yeah, I'm cool with Pallone. He's very similar to Scottie Barnes, I think. I think they're right in the same conversation as one another. Yeah, and again, we're going to all-stars in the A-tier. Let's put Palo in there. Yeah, for sure.

Give him some respect. Yeah, he deserves it. Brandon Miller. What a great rookie, bro. Shit. You love him. He's great. He's great.

He's great. He's very good. Rim finishing is still ass. Obviously, not like a passer yet, but impressive defensively, great shooter. Does he deserve C or do we put him in D as a rookie? He's been one of the better rookies, though, and he's been fairly consistent for what he's been given in Charlotte, which is hard. Like, there's just constant volatility and all that. So I might want to put him in C, but I know he belongs in D.

I just know what he does. But I feel like him at the same tier. But if you're grading him on a rookie curve, then you put him in C. But as just like NBA players, and even in this list, I think I would put him in D. Yeah. I feel like Camiga's closer to Brandon Miller. than he is Keegan Murray. Really?

We've not seen a big sample size. Can we get us not lighting up the world still? He had two weeks for he was averaging 20 and he was insane. He's been good since, but he hasn't been like outlandishly great. He hasn't been outlandishly great. I don't know. I don't know.

Either like your scope on Keegan Murray is like broader than what I expected it or like Well, you hit Gigan Murray. No, I don't hit him. He's cool. He's cool. He's cool. He's cool. He's cool.

Let's do that narrative. He's cool. Okay, well, we can put Brandon Miller and D. You can leave Malone if you like. Yeah, for sure. Al Perrin Sangoon. He, listen, before the injury, he was hooping. And he's really taking a leap forward.

I want to put him in A. He might belong to B'Norne, to be honest with you. He's already solidified. It could have been an all-star this season, but standings and Lee's just straight up not better than that stacked rock that stacked west so i think a is fine okay our a tier is very crowded do we want to move everybody in b through d down one and then split up the a tier nope all right it's a lot it's a lot of good young players i guess a decision we have to give credit where credits

do yeah okay fair enough this is our tier list how do you guys feel about this What do you guys have a major question about any specific player here? No, I think we did a great job. I think everybody belongs to they're supposed to. And I think that once again, we made another perfect TD3 tier list to. You always say that. We lie to my face. We don't miss.

We just don't miss. And whatever Reddit tells you, it doesn't matter. We don't miss. Okay. That's so far. We got Ray shot early in this season. yelled at so much. We're saying Wembe is better than Sengoon.

And it aged so gracefully. Oh, boo-hoo. That's true. That is true. Except for the game on March 5th where St. Gould have 45 and 12 on Wembe. Outside of that, you can watch all the other 81 games. But,

all right, man. It's time for the next segment. What we're going to do next? We're going to bring back something we did last week for the first time. We are going to play the imposter game. Owee, I was in my bag last game. You weren't quite the opposite of your back. You made us think you were an imposter

despite you being innocent. It was up to Donovan to go ahead and tee it up. And you're lying, Isaac, because you gave even worse answers than me. I wanted to go ahead and play through the field. Real simple. You guys saw this last week. You guys loved it. It was super fun for us to do.

How it works is. Nikiel is currently texting all three of us. he's texting two of us a name of a player and one of us you're the imposter the goal of the game is for us to go player by player we're going to take turns saying a hint about the player and the whole goal of the game is if you're the

imposter you don't want the other guys to guess it's you and the other two are trying to figure out who is the imposter nice bet all right you guys know it two of us know the NBA player one of us doesn't let's figure out who's the

imposter Donovan you can start tall okay oh my mom your neck sorry I forgot to talk about the order don't have to vote me you're good you're good

okay tall okay I just said no no I'm saying like okay great you're on my ass right now okay you said tall

I'm gonna say good shooter first round pick Okay What's funny about that We've got narrowed down Okay Nice

Okay Alright I'm Okay Western Conference Mm hmm Okay nice I'm gonna go

Big man He already said tall That can mean anything. Okay. You sound like you're studying right now, Isaac. Uh-oh. I said that very clearly.

He already said tall. Yeah, I said big man, though. Tall could be like a fucking six-five guy. That's not, it's relative, bro. That's not tall. But that's not what I meant. What do you mean? But it's all good.

It's okay. Isaac. Okay. Good but not great defender. Okay. Hmm. Facilator. Hmm. Okay. Good rebounder.

Mm. Black. There you go. You're out the very first pitch you gave. But buddy, you're out. When you said first round pick, wow. Yeah. We were saving for the TikTok. You are so out. It was a joke at you. Fuck. You said first round pick. I'm like, oh, this guy has no clue. So he thinks he knows He picked the one notable second round pick God damn it Yeah, no, that's hilarious Which is good

We're like, oh, now you're cooked, buddy That's a great general answer All right, we're good The text all that for the next round Yeah, I love this game We're gonna do a couple rounds of this Donovan you went first last time So Mo you go first this time

real simple two of us know the NBA player one of us doesn't who is the imposter all right Eastern Conference Swaggy All-Star

Okay okay Damn number Um Hold on Okay You said All-Star right Yeah

Okay Nice good ball handler Terrible haircut Okay Hmm Decent passive Okay

Okay Good shooter Caucasian Ooh First round pick This is true. Okay. Okay.

Let's not belaborate. Don't even lost. Let's move on the next round. Yeah. You were so cooked. You were so cooked from the game. You said all-star. Some shit like that. I'm like, bro, you're so done for already.

That's two in a row of losing on the first guess. Mad embossers today. Y'all are too bold. What the hell? Yeah. Okay. Well, next round, we'll try again. Are we text all up?

We're all good. Round three. Who is the imposter? It's my turn first. For a second. No, Donovan. Black. Okay.

Tattoes. Okay. That's a good generalization. If he's already black, he must have tats. Short hair. Score. Mm. Beard.

What did you say? Beard. Beard. oh my bad i'm sorry i thought you said i thought you said fear good defender playoff performer you are cuts you are beyond cooks it's hard and isn't it it's way off p

this is paul george donovan is the imposter you're like a love you were cooking until then Playoff performer in what universe Yeah, nah Way off P, they called them Playoff Piss or whatever it was bro Where's Waldo P? Good God

My bad Listen, I'm trying to be as general as possible And it's just not working See Playoff performer is not niche enough Yeah, exactly I'm thinking I ran out of things to say I just like getting specific

We can move on to the next game. Listen, three straight duds of imposter this week. Probably not going to make him do a TikTok. But you guys got behind the scenes. Tragic. Next thing we're going to do, we're going to do something we haven't done a while, T.U3 favorite.

We're going to guess the NBA player by the haircuts. Staple. This is my bag. Something that, yeah, this is Mo's back for sure. Listen, we all know he's a mannower. He's a hair noor. He guesses these instantly every time. We'll see if Donovan keep up.

This picture's going to shut out of me right now. What is this guy? Fuck! Who is that? No, that's not Charlie. Oh, no, it's not shot in a little. Who is this guy? I forget.

You say Charlie Villain, no way, but that's funny. Oh, man. I have no idea with this. So for the audio listeners, how this game works is, we have a picture coming up of somebody's head cropped to just a haircut. They have to guess who this player is. Real simple. He looks like he just smells something crazy.

Listen, he did something crazy. Guess the NBA player, buy their haircuts. First off, who is this player? Donovan, we know this could be two players or three. No, it's really only one, right? It's really only one player that has the Doc River special of having a hairline but no hair. This is Chris Paul himself. you are so confident

and so wrong this is not Chris Paul there's like two three players who have this again right wavelength this motherfucker oh this is PJ Washington

this is not my bad PJ Tucker I said PJ Tucker my bad PJ Washington my bad PJ why does he look like that he's mewing

you know he looks like fuck what's it what is that he looks like he looks like what's his name again? Farrell? Farrel Fuck, bro.

Farrell? Yeah. That's nothing like Farrell. He kind of does to be. You don't know, Ferrell? Does he not? No. Go to hell.

Yeah, I know. My brain was much for two seconds. Top three hip-hop producer of all time. You're calling him Farrell. Jesus Christ. Yeah.

Louvreton. Next player. Next player. Who is this man? whoever this man is he's not having a good time he looks short in this for some reason or was framed differently sort bald and like that you don't look like you get minutes this is bad too who can this be see see normally i feel like we know all the ball players they just see out you look at NBA teams this is crazy I have what this is crazy I want to say

Like, he has to be on a contending team if he's this old. No young team is having a player like that. Can't. That's true. You could make some type of joke about like 2009 LeBron, but I don't, I'm not sure. I will say, this picture, some reason when he got put in his light show, he looks a lot darker than he is. So don't let the skin tone lead you a stray. Really?

If I have to visualize a light skin dude, this is going to be hard. This is about this isn't a light skin dude. I don't know why it looks so dark. What? He's not light skin. Wait, he's not light skin? No. Okay.

I genuinely, he's not black. Wait, could this be, you said he's, could this be Todd Gibson? I just said he's not black. Oh. He's white?

I don't know why he looks so deep. Could this be Evan Fornier? It could be, but it's not. That's not a terrible guess. What, white guys, I have, You're showing me a black man's head and telling me he's not white. I don't believe.

I don't know how this picture looks so dark. I doesn't look this dark on my phone. I don't know what the hell happened. I didn't say these are current players. I don't care. It's a black man. All right. This is modern Genoblee.

What? Oh, wow. Yeah, no, you're right. The top is just dark. It's just tan, bro. Man, applied no sunscreen on that bitch. That motherfucker's burned as we speak. He could say it.

He could say it. Well, he can't. Shut up. Blackmaster was one month ago. What are he doing? He taught a composure. He taught every young black kid had a Euro step. Because of his.

Do you know how many black rappers have used the left hand like Genoble line? He's influenced culture on multiple levels. A multiple levels. He got it. That's hilarious. All right, next player. Who is this man? Why does all look so dark?

It's something happening with the slideshow. Turn the lights off. I got this. Who is this player? Now I don't know. Could you show him you black name and telling me that they're white? Nah, you should get, this should be in your bag, Donovan. Full head of hair.

Why? I don't know why they're like that. Yeah, but he's from fucking Houston. This is your bag. This is Alfred Sengoon. You need to get your white knowledge up. Yes, this is Upper and St. Goon. Yeah.

Of course, more would know that. Well, but I know that. You know. What's the assertion there? Yeah, what do you mean by that? You're a milkman. Stop that. No.

Next player. Who is this man? Skinny forehead. It's the Afro too. See, but the Afro is like... That throws me off because not a lot of people have that. It's not crazy. Is this, uh, see now, what I want to think is, I think it might be, I think it might be Kobe

White. And in this picture, it's like a picture day. So it's a little bit more compressed, right, put together rather than just out in the open. So it's not Kobe White, but you're not, you're not a terrible guess. I got it this is Colin Sexton Incorrect

Damn Oh I know who this is The one little brave I can't remember No no This is Jalen Green No it is not Jalen green

A short hair now Whack He has big hair again You're tripping Damn though Fuck Not this big Yeah he does

Fuck Who could this be see because OG OGs is yeah it's not OG OG looking

y'all losing Dread y'all lose yeah we'll lose one more guess come on one more one more

one more guess Jonathan Isaac nah Johnth Isaac is a horrible guess this is cool Henderson wow he's been so bad

this season so I don't even have recollection of him tough you fucking took him out of your brain yeah exactly i'm like look rookie year doesn't exist for him anymore damn all right next player who is this man thank you for my god king himself we needed this one so bad oh you got it no man i could hear the

gothic tones already right now this is easily this is easily what am i hearing what am i hearing what am i hearing? Yeah, what are you hearing? Oh, man. He can't do it. I'll come there. Yeah, I can't do it off the top, bro. I can't do it off the top. But this is my king, my gothic king, Jimmy Butler. Correct. This is Jimmy Buckets himself. Yeah. I want true hero. Easy. Easy layup. How topic's finest. I still see your shadows in my room. You're my king. to me butler you're him I hear they hear from anywhere bro I hear it I don't see it

I hear it I feel it it's in my veins it's in my heart I write about it at night I still see your shadows in my room all right next player who is this man damn damn okay watch it

okay could this be I know who this is I know who this is Who is it? I can tell By the length of his hair In the height of his forehead This is Tyrese Maxie

Okay That was some specific fucking investigating But you're correct This is Tyrese McHick I know it was correct Of course This got to be knowing He's a knower

How don't you know He's a knower I might be Shit I might have to drop the podcast and be a part of the FBI team right now, bro, because I just know how to identify people. Fed. Next player.

Who is this man? This could be so many players, bro. Generic ass for it. Yeah, I know. But I'm going to guess. I'm going to guess that this is Damien Lunders. You are correct. Like a mug.

Congratulations. Wow. Don't even say none. You are so right. Yep. Waiver Hair line Waiver

And the waves too You don't have a lot of Waiver Today At least I feel like it That's hilarious Alright next up Who is this man

All right We have no hints whatsoever Just hair and headman That could be anybody Could be a Mop with an NBA band right now This or actually Okay so I'm thinking three players I'm thinking

either Tyler Kvon or Yuda You're cooking I also give you to Wada Navi Just because he has black hair Kvonne has right here Yeah

Pick one You listen you have three names You're narrowing down pick one We are going to go You're going to go with you We're going to go with you Think about it Consult with your teammate

Well let's do it Yuta Let's do Yuta This is Yuta Wantanavi I try so hard to tell you It's not This is not you know what an Avi This is Tyler Hero

Ah okay You sold Look I consult with my team yeah and you know what we stand with that decision as we have you wouldn't we'll die with it all right that's the end of that segment next thing we're going to do we're just got some basketbally tic talks in here we're going to talk about several NBA playoff teams and I'm to ask you from 1 to 10 how much you believe in them in the playoff setting

tell me I'm ready to call people frauds frauds wow some people some people on this list are going to be frauds i promise you probably so real simple on a skill of 1 to 10 how much do you believe in these NBA playoff teams first off the Milwaukee bucks yeah is it with or without yonis i mean obviously with yonis but i believe you're about a 7 okay yeah yeah i don't what would you have mo See, Damiena just turns into a different human being whenever Janus is off the court and also like vice versa with, well, Yonis is Yonis regardless of the fact. But I want to say seven, maybe six, just because there's just so much gunk going around

with that team, bro. So seven's fair. I'm down with it. They just don't, they're not, they haven't had a stretch this year that have just been pure dominant basketball. I'm one 8.5. I do not want to see Yonis in a playoff setting still. I know the defense isn't great.

No dame can't cook with him on the court. I know Chris Milton just came back. Who else are you betting on in that conference outside of Boston to beat them? The calves? I don't think so. You just seen it last year. You're looking at Jimmy Buller eyes in the eyes. You're saying, I don't believe in you.

He cooked you once, buddy. He'll cook you again. You better cook yons his knee again. That's the only reason that happened. Hey, with Miami's witchcraft? They still lost. You try and Pat Riley right now? I wouldn't do that.

that face to face stare down on taking yannis no okay that's fair next up the Oklahoma City Thunder see I believe in them like okay I believe I believe in them more than the bucks but I can only give them a seven because they have the nuggets in their conference so so that's that's what I'm going to place them but they are legit for sure I 100% believe to make the Western Conference Finals, and I 100% believe that Yokish will commit his reign of terror to them wherever you may be playing and make the finals over them. Yeah, I agree. I definitely believe in them more than the Bucks, which is so weird to say because Yonis is

Janus, but they're just a unit from head to toe, bro. So I want to give them a need. I believe in them to deal with everybody but Yokish. I agree. I believe in them as much as I believe in Yolkich to destroy everyone as much as the fucking and sky is blue, bro. Yeah. Next team, the New York Knicks.

Are they healthy? Sure. Let's say they're fully healthy. 10 out of 10. Ew. Now that's right there. It's called delusional kids. Of course I believe.

If everybody is there, right? And everybody is playing, even if we don't have Mitchell Robinson starting, Even if he's coming off the bench, which he said he would do on Instagram, listen, we can give anybody in the Eastern Conference a good fight, and we will make it interesting, and it's going to be great. If everyone's... It'll be such an interesting five-game series against this hell take, so it'll be lovely.

You should... Five games, wow. It's hilarious, bro. Oh, he's going to look so good holding Jason Tatum to 26 points. Damn. Wait for that first tour date from Jason Taylor. Wait for it. Yeah, and at the other side, you can see Julius Randall having an even worse to a date.

No one showed up to his show. I'll tell you that. Tragic. That's just, Derek White going to give you all hell, bro. Jaylon Bruce is going to be in a blender. Jalen Brown's not coming to play. Yeah,

no. Your best hope is Tom Tibido going out and just putting down thumbtacks all around the floor. Josh Hartson, I have to fucking be an insane person, running around like Crash Bandicoot. Facts. right next team the Miami Heat speaking of the devil literally bro I'm giving them a 10 a 10 because I'm terrified bro I have no choice last time I was in a very bad place in my life Lord have mercy forgive me Miami Heat 10 10 10

I'm very bad place what did she be Butler do to you I lost everything, bro. My parlays were cooked from head to toe. I constantly bet against them. That's what I did. Damn. I'm giving them a two. Wow.

Quite a different answer. Okay. Listen, do I like the Miami Heat and I want to see them make a deep run? Yes. Do I think they will actually do it? No. I think that Jimmy Butler and his time of rain of turning into Superman in the, in the playoffs, I think it's over. I think we've seen the last of it. I think the Miami Heat are

going to have a tough road ahead of them. I'll go some in the middle. I'll go five. I think it's incredibly hard to catch a lightning in a bottle twice and make two final trips out of the playing. I don't foresee that happening. Jimmy Butler had had scored 37 points for game to get the bucks out of here last year. How could I possibly expect someone to do that again without just believing in a myth? And if I'm got to believe in a myth, it's going to be Jimmy Butler. I mean, he's a man amongst, God amongst men, but I think their time ran out too. This Miami Heat team is a lot better compared to what we saw in prior years, though.

Jaime Hawkes, Tehros Year, Ty Hero's healthy. It's marginally better. Duncan Walminton's a lot better now, too. Yeah. It's a little bit better. It's better if Terry Rozier can come around and really find his footing there. But he hasn't yet. Huh. Tough city, Miami.

But I don't ever bet. Wrap it up Miami. Boo. The New Orleans Pelicans. About a five. They used to have to show me something. Yeah. I can't get all the way with it right now.

I'll go like a six and a half. I'm fully on board. Zion is back. Ingram was playing really well next to him without having to score the ball, being a good passer, good defender. I think they can bench you on his valchunis

in playoff games and let Trey Murphy be in that finishing lineup. Let Larry Nance be in that finishing lineup. And I think they have a lot of potential, but it's tough on your first-time matchups to Clippers. I don't know if they can be able to overcome that. Every single time I am all in on Zion Williams. sent in the Pelicans. They fail me. They don't fail to fail me. It's tragic. So I'm going to go ahead and give him a five, bro. But I'm hoping for the best. This year's different. Zion is here

to dominate. He said that to me last year. His leg fell off. It's not my fault. Ham she fell out to bone like ribs. It was ridiculous. Next team. The Dallas Mavericks. Ooh, this is tough because Lucan and Kyrie is Luke and Kyrie and no team wants to face that. And they got front court depth now. The coach might have CTE, but everything else aside that is looking good. You know, I'll go six and a half. It probably should be a seven, but like you said, Jason Kidd cannot be trusted at all. So we got to take them down a little bit.

But Jason Kidd is going to be the best player in any series that he shows up in. of playing yokech so yeah i got i got to put a little bit of faith in that but then again they're in the playing if they make it in the plane they're either going to play the thunder or the nuggets which is her if they can get to the 60 and play the timber wolves then we're talking true give him a seven listen it depends on the path i'm not been against lucas so i'm with you the phoenix suns two i've been saying exactly i've been saying two since the offseason this was a second round you want to give them more waiting to happen

two are you serious one zero why are you guys being so generous this team is a disaster everything we said coming to the season all their ball handlers play the same they wouldn't make each other better they'd be in the same spots

wouldn't lead to great offense or defense we've been right this team is unmitigated disaster their future is so bleak they're not making that out of the first round yeah but devon booker got cool shoes so maybe that gives them a little exist These shoes aren't even cool

They look like want to be air forces Are you a hater now? Oh my goodness You a hater Those food for less air forces Get out of you Man relax Those air forces would have you jumping out the gym

Send me a pair Send me a pair Facts And I'll appreciate it along with Donovan too You're still not making it out of the plan Thanks Next team Let's go back to the east

The Cleveland Cavaliers about a four, about a four. They have a problem where they can't play all their best players together. And that's a problem in the playoffs, right? If Garland can't play well when D.Mitt is there, that's an issue. If you can't play Mowgli and Jared Allen at the same time, that's a problem. You put both of those problems together. Now you get one big super problem.

I don't, I don't think of a problem. I don't cluster flucker problems. Problem squared? It's a three or four for me. I'm with it Obviously they had the talent to be very high But you have to at least it You have multiple problems

You have to hope all get solved at the same time That's just a lot of ifs That most other teams in the conference Up there The other teams in the conference Don't necessarily have I agree There's too much to solve

And too little time Sadly I might have to give them a five I'll go four That's fair Last but not least The Los Angeles Clippers Oh, man He asked me two months ago

I would have said 10 Now lately it's looking a little more like five Five maybe a little bit too short though I might go six Four Paul George said we have no identity This has been the weirdest season I can imagine for a team

I consider themselves a contender That is true I want to believe in them But then in the back of my mind I just see the video of Paul George walking through the tunnel saying Where is Pito And I can just see it

on Twitter right now, so I might have to go before. You have permission's like, fuck. God. I'm that's a rabid. I think he's Paul O'Chadies. Yeah, Paul George is giving the community too much content to be thrown back at his face. We need to cut off his goddamn internet connection. Mine, I know chip and chatter.

I still believe this team guys are running them. They just have very little time. He's all good. Hi, Paul, Mike Talk of a rocket Keep going He's in his bag right now Don't stop

He loves dude I still believe in the clippers To make some kind of run I'm getting a little scared Because earlier in the season I said they might be pushing the nuggets To get out of the conference I'm not necessarily that confident anymore

So I'll go seven The only reason why you go seven Is because of Kauai Leonard exactly and that's fair let's do it yep there we go y'all that's the end of the episode if people were still here what's the comment donovan comment me die knife chip and shatter comment 2018 fortnight was special okay there you go and comment follow yokech jo star don't actually come with that just do it we'll see y'all later see y'all and i see y'all