The Deep 3 Podcast - LeBron James Looks WASHED... Here's Why | The Deep 3 Ep. 10

Episode Date: November 10, 2022

LeBron James looks like he has finally lost his battle with father time. But is he really washed? 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

So there's been a lot of surprises both good and bad this year. I think today we should take time to talk about basically the main things that surprise all of us individually this year. Let's do it. What we got? I have three that I have like... Yeah, I think we should all give three. That's probably a good number to keep it even.

Let's go for it. All right. You want to give your first one, Donovan? Yeah, okay. I'll start. I'm very, very shocked. Like, so before the season, all of us kind of like gave the heat, like, their respect. And we're all like, listen.

Yeah, you have to. Y'all didn't want to give them respect, first off. I didn't need to point that out. I didn't. I wanted to give them to respect. Yeah. I don't blame you for it. I didn't want to, like you, but it's just a respect thing, bro.

I was raised a C-minus. We're a great-nibus contenders. I gave them a C-plus, and people cooked me. Like, how'd you put the calves above them? Yeah. You didn't really want to. Listen, the cabs are good. The cabs are good.

We're certainly, I think we talked about them a lot last week. But I'm actually kind of shocked that Miami started off this slow. Like, the 4-7 right now, and they they just haven't looked the same and it's like you would think that tell me why i feel like the team i've watched the least this year i don't know for some reason you know it's hard to watch every team the first few weeks let me know what you think their main problem is off the top okay so right now i think that the main problem for them specifically is the defense because i think we can't we came into the season knowing that knowing that the offense is still

going to be kind of clunky like they their half core offense was was really really bad last year It was probably going to be the same thing this year, even if Kyle Lowry, like, steps it up. But, I mean, that was also another thing that I had said. I expected kind of a boost in Kyle Lowry after he gets a full offseason with Miami. And that just hasn't happened yet. But in terms of, in terms of defense where they've, like, made their mark. So a couple things are, a couple things are the other problem. One is the three point percentage for them in terms of, like, opponent three point percentage, that's gone up, right?

Last year. Well, that's kind of luck at the end of the day. Yeah. that's kind of variance but that's and so like that's not necessarily like a structural thing but it's something that that's happening and so it's caused it's causing the defense to suffer a little bit last year they were at 34 percent that number's gone up to like 39 percent which is a pretty big difference just like well maybe that's a good sign then that positive regression is coming because that's unsustainably high so like a lot of times the early season defense is good

or bad shooting luck like the lakers right now are like a top five defense but some of this because they're not a top five people's anymore that's a goddamn lie they get their backs blown out by the Utah Jazz twice and now they're mid as hell number 15 all right so you got to relax okay okay 15 yeah yeah but that brings not pointed further he's ready to get this late I don't off I love yeah that shows my point even further because beginning of the year they were number two which was small sample size good shooting luck against them now they fell back down so I guess do you think when the shooting luck inevitably goes back into Miami's favor do you think you see them going back up or is there bigger structural issues we'll see because the other structural issue

is that last year, the rim defense was also better, right? In terms of, in terms of, like, frequency and how people are getting to the rim, that number stayed relatively the same. Last year, they were at 66% defending the rim. This year, that number has gone up to 70%. People are scoring 70% at the rim against them. It's super freaking high. And so, like, when PJ Tucker's not there, and now-

That's what I was waiting for. Yeah. When PJ Tucker isn't there, and you have Bam getting into all of these actions and now he's the only one who's like putting out all of these fires on the perimeter there's nobody to stop anybody from getting to the rim and exactly they're just it's just a turn style

and so that's probably the biggest issue that I see with them they're gonna have to make a move to go get somebody to play perimeter defense for them because if they don't like they're cooked right you don't think Caleb Martin's the answer come on or is it Cody which one do they have I forgot they have Cody okay Cody Who they gave They gave an extension to

He's nice He saw it I'm yeah I'm not trying to say he's bad But when you're plugging him into the lineups Instead of PJ Tucker It's just he's not solving the issues That PJ left behind And I think that was the big issue

That people like me And other people that have more critiques Of Miami going to the season Was that they didn't fill that hole at all And you're seeing it early in the season Now I do have faith in them a little bit That they're gonna find ways To fill that hole

And adjust their schemes accordingly over time But it is a big issue like you said But it's hard hard the listen the the things that are like the two things in the NBA that are at premium is guys who can defend really really well and guys

who shoot like those guys just don't grow on trees and so if you're going to go and make a move to get that what one what are you giving up to go get that and who's going to be available in that market because again nobody's just giving out 3 and D guys if you can have one of those guys on your team

you're going to keep them so I don't all they got to all they got to Offer is fucking Duncan Robinson in this podcast audience. I'm like, that's it, bro. You know, they can move for them,

to be honest. They got Donovan's mood out there playing fucking shooting gun. Listen, I, listen, you get me, you get me in the gym two hours with the shooting gun. I can give you 10 minutes.

I can give you 10 minutes. I promise you that. Listen, then it sounds, then you better hit the heat. You'll earn $90 million. That's all I'm hearing. I'm,

listen, first off, and if we talk about like the heat and the grand scheme and things, though, like they've done a, really good job of getting off of like these bad contracts because remember they gave white side ninety six million dollars and they were able to like figure out a way around that then they go and

give duncan robinson 90 million dollars i think this is the first time where they haven't been able to get that like get from under that and i think i think they would really appreciate it if they had 90 million dollars to play with to go get a solid 3 ind guy because he's unlike the guys that you would need to be on the floor to offset the defense they are unplayable to together. You can't play Hero Dunkin lineups because you're getting cooked all the time. So, like, I don't, I don't know what the move is right now for that. I'm glad you mentioned Hero. Mo, I want to hear from you because we've heard a lot Donovan so far. Obviously, PJ Tucker being gone is a big issue defensively. Do you think that

starting Tyler Hero full time and having more of him, less the defensive players, is also an issue? Like, sure, not having that four to play rim defense doesn't help, but is it also lack of perimeter play that's making it hard for the bigs yeah no absolutely i was going to touch on that while donovan was going while donovan was in his bag like their bench is absolutely man that takes who they fucking have who is on their bench they have desmond bane then they have some they have been bayne over there my no no no my bad if they had descendant bay now that team will be different that team will be jennie this would be some answers now also also my bet my bad they have they have caleb they have caleb martin cody's and

I knew it. You're over here setting me up. I knew that. My bad. My bad. Y'all better to me. I don't know the difference and I will never put in the effort

to know the difference between them. The fact that they're both C makes it tough. Yeah, exactly. It's hell hard. But they got Dwayne Deadman on the bench and then after that they have forced... Victor LaDipo. I forgot about Victor Lodipa.

But he supposedly hasn't been making any noise. And I feel like the Miami Heat, a lot of Miami Heat fans would have probably... I'm assuming it could be wrong, but they would have... I feel like they would have put a lot of power and leeway into someone like Victoria Leivo to go ahead and carve his way. Oh, yeah.

Potentially being a starter or whatever, the case made. They thought he was their savior. Yeah, exactly. All of you heard was, all of you heard was, the holo dippo's back in shape. He's going to look like himself. He's going to be the guy that takes us to the top. Yeah.

Oladipo is not your savior. I'll tell you that. Yeah, exactly. To be honest, like, I've been trying my best to avoid my me games just because there's no real appeal to watching them playing basketball. The last time,

the only first time of the season that I've watched, than play was when I caught the very end of the Trailblazers game when they got dead end by what's his name again Josh Hart yeah exactly but to go back to the question that was a good shot yeah it was a great shot but to get back to the question like it's hell out there in a real sticky situation because if you try to go ahead and put Tile Hero back on the bench morally he's just not gonna have him bro as he goes too big he got a huge bag on him and like the Miami heat how they are they have no issues clearly putting someone on the bench who's making a fuck load of money,

but someone like Tyler Hero, he's just not going to have that. We're talking a lot about their defense, but like in the day, they're still 11th in defense, which like maybe they need be a little bit higher to be the team they really want to be, but I'm definitely more concerned about their offense. Like,

they've never been of like stupendous offensive team, at least in a regular season because Jimmy doesn't quite put in the playoff Jimmy effort all the time. But right now they're 20th an offensive rating, and I think a big reason why is they have like no rim presence, which is like a common theme among these teams. teams that struggle in offense early in the season, like we saw with the Warriors who look at their numbers, but the 25th in rim volume and 21st in rim efficiency, when you start

Tyler Hero and you have your playmakers out there all the time, you would hope that prioritizing ball handling like that makes it so you're creating penetration and creating looks at the rim, but that hasn't been the case. So I don't know, I don't think they're reaping the benefits of giving him more burn that they hope they would. Yeah, bro. I can't, I wish I could speak on the Miami, but they're just a team that just has no real appeal, bro, to me. I don't know what it is. Like, I rather watch the Orlando Magic than be my enthusiasm, being a completely honest. Yeah, I don't find them terribly interesting either.

Like, I respect them for what they do and the heat culture is real, but I find myself not watching them as much as I should just because lack of interest. But I'm going to give a couple of weeks watching more games of theirs before I really, like, have stronger opinions about it. Yeah. But I see, I see the issues, but I still believe they can possibly come back from them. Yeah, it's nothing to sweat about at all. I'm very, I'm very, I'm very, just sweat a little bit. You sweat a little bit. I sweat more.

I'd say more about the warriors than the Miami personally. Yeah, higher expectations, yeah. Yeah, but it's, before we keep going with this, what's up? You want you just something else to say about the heat? No, no, no, no. I was, I was about to go, because Moe brought up, he brought up the magic, but what, what are you going to say real quick? Before we get any further into this,

we have three disappointing or surprising, in any way, teams for you guys. First, we got to do what we always do at the start of the show. We got to give y'all our reactions to your NBA hot dakes. Let's do it. You thought I forgot. I didn't forget this time. I low-key forgot. All this heat talk, all this heat bashing talk got me.

Yeah. Sometimes you forget, but not today. So, as always, I got a list of NBA hot takes for you guys. Y'all let me know if these are W-Takes or L-Takes. First off, Rudy Gobert says that Jalen Brown is better than Anthony Davis. That's a W-T-TIC. That's an L-TIC. Okay, I'm just kidding.

I'm just kidding. Jalen Brown has not been that good this season whatsoever. He's been good. but not to Jalen Brown. Jaylon Brown's been fine. Jalen Brown's with Jaylon Brown, but just the Anthony Davis hate, I hate that every time

I made to be this Anthony Davis apologist on the show, but come on. He's still a great player. You have to realize why it is, though. Like, the expectations were just next level.

I saw some highlights of Anthony Davis back when he was in New Orleans. Brassahon crossed two people, not one, but two at one time. Listen, you remember the highlight. Anthony Davis is not walking through those doors. Give it up. He's still like the 12th or 13th

that worst best player in the NBA, and that's still a better player than Jaylen Brown. Oh, he went from 7 to 10 to now 12 to 13. Does that not tell you something? I have him like, nah. You know, you know I have him higher, but just being realistic, everybody else has him. Like, he's at worst, like, 13 or 14. I'll give, listen, I'll give you, I'll give you a deal with Jalen Brown. I'll take that. Yeah, I'm taking that. Yeah, I'll take that for sure. I hate that the internet makes me to, like, argue against Jalen Brown so much, but people overrate him so much on social media. I'm like, let me enjoy him for what he is without you trying to turn him into Paul George right now. I think that man is T-Mac Ascent, bro. Holy shit. Bro, they fucking love him because he's just like, he's a pro-typical wing. He's on the Celtics.

He looks physically, he looks like an appealing player that seems like he'd be like that type of two-way wing you want. Oh, fuck. Oh, okay. Ah, you caught me right. I was like,

what do you mean physically appealing player? Where do you go with this right now? The 6-8 wing that. Okay. You know what I mean? The top player you think would be a star. This man is scouting for real, bro. Yeah.

It's hilarious. Okay, okay, okay, next take. Okay, MJ says that Kyrie and Braun are a top five duo ever. Ah. What is it? This is a good one. Is it? I'm going to give this a W take.

Yeah. I'm going to say W take. You got to think of it. But they're five. They're five. The four ahead of them are Steph and KD. Naturally. Jordan and Pippen, Shack and Kobe, Magic Kareem.

And then, and then we got, and then we got, LeBron Kyrie. And that's insane to say. You're absolutely right about that. But I, wait, go ahead, Isaac. Is LeBron and Kyrie a better duo than LeBron and Wade? I think they feed off of each other a lot. I think yes, I think yes, but only because we, we were able to get prime

Kyrie and prime brawn for longer. And by the end of year two, we weren't able to get prime weight. So like, if we had gotten that in 0809, then yes. Yeah. But we were able to just get a little bit more longevity out of the other two. Yeah, absolutely. And I think this is, I understand why people would argue with this,

because these two, LeBron and Kyrie, of course, they played a lot together. But they didn't produce a lot together, or at least as much as they should have because of just injuries on Kyrie's end of things. And also like a premature exit out of the Cleveland Cavaliers. So, still in a fact, top five. for sure. They're just that stupid. I'm going to give it to you. I'm going to give it to you and say it can be five, but I think we could probably think of a few more that could overtake it if we really tried. The one that I was struggling with that, like, was on

the borderline was Bird and McHale. Yeah, I was thinking that too. And so, but it's like, would you, like, would you want Bird and McHale or would you want Ron and Kyrie? Right? Like, I don't know. Like, is, is Kyrie that much of a better player than Kevin McKale or vice versa? Like, are we just, say, that's what i'm saying like that's that would be that would be the conversation and so i think wherever whichever side that you land on there that's what your answer is going to be are we sure i mean so obviously katie and step number one katie and draymond i do i really want to cover a better duo than that i mean i mean i mean my bad my bad step and draymond step and draymond

oh my god potentially if we're just talking if we're just talking about like building if we're talking about like building a team and like like if this if this was this was my team but this was ultimate team and you get like the two players where you could build your you could like start your franchise with yeah that that's an elite duo yeah again top a top five walking offense in terms of prime top five walking offense and step top five walking defense and draymond and now you have both sides just playing well off each other that pink roll is deadly like that's that's kind of nice that is probably a better duo for being honest like they've proven it they've won multiple championships

together without kd they're the most impactful offensive player of the past 20 years probably the most impactful defensive player the last 20 years like yeah i want to say you're right but the little the little kid in me the iconic in me just wants to say hell no even though basketball wise you're absolutely right about that i still just want to say no though just to disagree with you just want to watch a better mixtape yeah exactly i'm all about the bag well listen you wouldn't have step currie's mix tape without draymond's impact so this man is a julian newman disciple oh don't Don't ever just say, like, holy shit, man. That's the old thing anyone has ever said to me in my life.

Okay, okay. Last take, then we can get back to the surprising teams. Swish says that Luca is the best player in the NBA right now. I'll take because Janus is simple and playing. You're right. Obviously, I'll take, but is Luca number two right now? Yeah. Yes.

He's playing like it in his first 10 games of the year. He's playing better than Yolkids right now. I don't know if we can crown him over Steph Curry. Like, sure, for these 10 game sample size, he's put a better number. but Steph's probably still the better player Steph's numbers are ridiculous too That's right now though I got really ready to say

Luke is a better player in Steph Curry Would you rather take him for a totality of the season I mean probably not But like still but like right now though It's a tic-tack conversation right now It's got to be Steph in my opinion But I get why you'd say that But I'm not willing to give up the title yet

All right that's fair Either way I'd rather be the last one I'd rather be the last one if you thrown Steph than the first one Yeah I'll give that to him fans well those are our hot takes so we can get back to rattling off our teams that have disappointed us or surprised us in a good way donovan i mean mo you want to give your first one uh

yeah i can go ahead and give you guys my first one of the teams that on the lowest key that have been disappointing for me is like the new warrants publicans now if you go ahead and look at the stadiums right now as you speak i think they're like the eighth seed and in the weston conference like i think on average that's what what most people would assume them to be around the eight to eight seven six range or whatever and yeah they're living up to that height but like in terms of just like what's disappointing to me I knew the defense is going to be asked like they don't really have any real defenders herb Jones cannot guard everyone he's not Jesus Christ dude you do what he do damn near damn near yeah exactly but zan has been

just a little bit disappointing even though his numbers are damn good it's just like when it comes to Zion Williams, and you have, like, extraordinary expectations when you think about what he did in the second year in the NBA, you know? And so I understand what's something that has to also be factored into them being kind of disappointing. I was like, hey, oh, maybe I'm talking myself out of this, but Brandon Ingram did miss a couple games because, like, he had a concussion. Yeah, that's exactly what it is.

Like, maybe they aren't as disappointing, but John Williamson, regardless of the fact, has been just a little underwhelming. He hasn't been asked. No, he's been, yeah. Yeah, I mean, you just look if you just be as simple as possible and just look at the basic numbers. Yeah. In his last full season, he shot 61% effective full and goal percentage, effective field goal percentage. And at the rim, he shot 67%.

He's down to 65% at the rim and just a 55 effective full goal percentage. Because he's shooting mid-range shots at a 26% clip, which is not good. So basically what that means, mid-range shots for him means floater range. So like outside the paint, but, you know, not at the rim, but in the paint. and for those just have not been dropping at all Which basically Do you have his offensive rebounding rate Because I know the last time that he was in

He was getting something stupid Like half of his offensive rebounds I'll grab that in a second But more specifically back to the shooting percentage It's because in his first In the last year when he was insane 81% of his shots were at the rim Which is a fucking insane amount

To just be able to get to the rim Every single play and shoot there 81% of the time Like that's insanely abnormal Now we're down to 70% and that 8% of shots has gone to short mid-range shots which means floters. So what that basically means is

he's not blowing by his guys easily and getting to the rim. He's settling for those flutter range shots which are typically through contact and that's why he's shooting so poorly at them. And when you watch them play you see that that he's still trying to force the same amount but he doesn't quite have that burst

in his handle as good as it should be or as good as it was a couple years ago. So I'm thinking that comes back with time. Yeah, definitely. But if it doesn't, that'll be an issue. I think, listen, I think that's a key. also his free throw rate is going to is going to go out I think that as long as he stays aggressive

like he's he's going to get to the line he's too big he's too physical people are just bouncing off of him and so I expect his I expect him to start taking more free throws but if you look at New Orleans like again they're six in offense and so they're six in office

they're doing what they're supposed to do on that end of the floor without Brandon Ingram too and a lot of it and and that's I want to see another 10 games from New Orleans before I start saying, oh, they're kind of disappointing because like we've said, listen, Zion missed a couple games. Ingram has missed a couple games. And there's four guys on that team that can be like a legitimate offensive option in Ingram, McCollum, Zion, and Yonis.

And this is the first time that they've all really played together. So let's get another 10 game sample, see what they look like, you know, closer to things giving closer to Christmas, and then we can start saying if they're, like, disappointing. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think if you look at the games, they lost, like, they've lost five games so far. Are, like, four of those, the ones that didn't have Ingram? Pretty much.

I'm talking on my ass. I don't know if it's true, but I feel like it is. Uh, so, like, and, yeah, I have no, I'm, I'm not 100% sure. Okay, so they lost, they lost to, so when they lost to, to the Lakers, they didn't have. They didn't have B.I. Yep. And then whenever, I'm going through this schedule right now. The loss of the sun without B.I. as well.

So, I think two of those losses were without B.I. So, like, I mean, small sample size. That's the difference between being, like, the third seed and being the eighth seed right now. So I'm with Donovan. I'm not too worried about them yet. Yeah. Their defense has been, like, what, they're 11th right now or something like that? No, it's way worse.

I think it's like. Yeah. Yeah. They're 15th. They're 15th in defense. So they, they're, cleaning the glasses, they're 13th, which is. clean the glass filter stuff garbage time so that's not that's kind of better than what we expected isn't it yeah i think yeah listen they're they're 500 right now again i we just really

need to see them healthy with a cohesive unit because the first two games out the gate when everybody was there they were clicking and they were they were like offensively they were nice again but that was against the nets everybody nice against the nets That's true That's true They play Brooklyn and Charlotte So like You got me

But like They just need a little bit more time And I think that I think they'll be fine I think that's the moral of the story This is the one we're not gonna overreact to Yeah not at all It's just

It just kind of leaves Not even a displaceable taste I just look at your standings in zones I'm like huh I thought we'd do a little bit better And I just go ahead and move on Focus on bigger issues We got a lot of bit

We had serious teams with real issues they have to talk about and Isaac what's one of your team yeah so this isn't a serious team this is a very unsurious team

at the moment but it is a big issue in terms of what people are talking about yeah and to me I'm surprised that for the last few games LeBron has been

the biggest problem with the Lakers yeah which is wild to say crazy to say on a team with Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook

so what we mean by that it's not to say that LeBron's garbage now but he's struggling the past week or so he's not had some really garbage games for his standards obviously and really for anybody's standards he has not shot well from the field

so part of that is because he's playing through his stomach virus which who knows what he's still in fact yeah so I mean but also he's just he has not look good even when the first few games where he was shot better and like last game he shot decently

he doesn't look like he did last year and a lot of people were saying that because obviously he lost a step father time finally caught up but I just want to talk about what you guys think of why he hasn't been good he looks LeBron does not look engaged from a pure just like visual standpoint yep he just doesn't the vibes are terrible he doesn't look engaged and he looks like he looks like he

looks like LeBron is at the point where he's like listen I'm just pulling up to to play basketball because it's like I just lifted I'm just trying to get some cardio in real quick have have have some fun and that I'm going to go that's really what it looks like right now and it's just like it like you said like the vibes just aren't there nothing's really clicking i think right now he's like listen let me just try to stay healthy i'm not i'm not trying to get hurt we're gonna try and pass kareem he's definitely frustrated you can you can see it which i think is like a big problem that this year the vibes of the overall on the team have been decent because darvin ham's done a good job of like instilling that confidence in them but as he just keep

losing you can just see it on the bronze face and he's never been one that's great when it comes to that but like he's been especially bad this year and just like the body language has been horrible and I don't like doing all the what's he like in the locker room because like I'm not fucking there I don't know what the dynamics are like but it just just not that like hustle and like tones that you need you from your best player on top of him shooting poorly and like when the demeanor doesn't match when you're doing bad it's kind of like hard to work with when was the last time when was the last time that you guys saw LeBron this checked out because there's a right answer right probably last year

No, I would, no, I would say, I would say this checked out, it would probably be 2018. Yeah, I see what you mean, but he was pretty shied that last year too. Right, where LeBron literally said, I have to leave for two weeks. Yeah. Like, I'm taking two, I'm taking two weeks off, which is still just like, it's just crazy that he did that. But going into that, like, going into that break, everybody knew, like, okay, the team that started on night one, that's not going to be the team come the all-star break. Like, everybody's getting traded. The number one thing, and I really don't want to go into it,

but obviously, like, the Rust thing is just hanging over, and it's like, okay, if we can get, if we can get Buddy and Miles Turner for Russ, then let's make that deal, and we could try to, like, build a team around LeBron and AD strengths. I just feel like he's waiting for that to happen. And until that does, he's like, well, I'm not going to, he's like, I'm 37. Like, I'm in year 20. I'm not going to give everything I have. It seems like he feels like it's not going to happen.

like i don't i don't know i'm just making this 100% up just based off of the assumptions because like just yesterday there was a press conference with garvin ham that came out it was oh yes across everywhere someone had to deep through the deep files of the mbaa.com site which is pretty odd and um like he was talking about how like oh this is the team that we're going to have uh bob we don't we can't go ahead and cash out on this and this for the future like this is what we're rocking with. And so if I'm LeBron to, like, to be specific, he said that Rob Plinkett told him they're not going to go into luxury tax.

They're not going to be a repeater team. Yeah, exactly. Which is crazy. You're the freaking lost, you're the Los Angeles Lakers. Like, can you stop being broke boys for two seconds? Mom and Pop Shop. Exactly. And can you, and can you pay the luxury tax?

Yeah. Come on now. Yeah. To be, but, so we're talking about all this stuff about LeBron being checked out and stuff, but there's been a lot of doom and gloom about like, oh, he's washed. He's finally got him. I do want to, you know, put that fire down a little bit and talk about the on-the-court stuff and why he's shooting so poorly

because it's not as simple as just like he sucks now you know what I mean like he didn't just lose a step and he's worse like he can't jump anymore that's kind of a thing his verticals just gone but it was gone last year too like this isn't anything new obviously the the biggest difference is that people can see it is he just smoking layups and shooting really terribly at the rim that's because the amount of rim shots he's taken that are contested has gone way up so in turn so in turn he's shooting 69% at the rim when he was 75% last year. And why is that?

Because we all know their spacing is fucking horrendous because they're by far the worst shooting team in the league. It's like that's a big reason why. Like they're not doing many favors with the team that's constructed around him. But even then 69% at the rim

is bad for his standards but that's what it was in 2020. So it's not like it's unfathomily bad. Yeah. The real reason that he looks so bad is because he's shooting a lot of threes and none of them are going in. Yeah.

She's shooting 22% from 3% and 28% from Florida range. How many 3% are shooting a game? I feel like it must be crazy. I feel like it must be 9. well six point two nine's absurd that's that's that's that's that's curry numbers oh okay I thought six point two's a lot is less than last year but it's a lot yeah so if you're shooting six shots a game making 22% of them your stats are going to be low he's

Russell Westbrook now that's hilarious yeah that's hilarious look out of the roles but but we know that he's not going to shoot to be the it's not going to be the worst in the NBA all year so we know like we were talking about with the heat defense positive regression is coming so when he gets back to his averages which will definitely happened in an 82 game series, I mean, 82 game season, he's going to be fine. You know what I mean? Like, he's going to, he's still old, LeBron. He still doesn't have that oomph he used to have, but he's going to be fine.

So is LeBron being fine in your eyes still a top 10 player? Of course. Okay, good. I'm happy we're all on the same page. Dude, if I'm LeBron, like, I'm just checking in there. Once his jump starts, starts working, I'm just chucking it, bro. Take those six attempts with me and turn to eight, nine, like I said. because at this point it's like bro technically speaking right now from my point of view the lakers are eliminated from the playoffs they're two and eight right now and what that means is that they have to win like 60% of their games in the weston conference from this point on to make the playoffs that is not happening 60% that's not happening

there was some stories that at least with sham serrani it was reporting that apparently at this point the lakers aren't considering trading first on picks anymore because they're just like fuck it why waste your future draft capital in this wasted year like it's not going to get us to a point we're going to be contenders so like whatever crazy that that's at the point if that's leaking is for a reason if it's sham saying it so the fact that we're at that point 10 games in sucks and a big reason why it's happening because the last few games that have been real make or break games for the record lebronsman garbage yeah exactly though if i'm the lakers hate to see it i would still go ahead and at least push for because if i'm being honest you're not going to have an opportunity as good as an opportunity from right now compared to right now in the next 10, 15, who knows, it would be 20 years to go ahead and seriously.

20 years, two decades. Okay, well, relax. That's kind of reached. 10, 10 years, 10 years is kind of reach. 10, what are you talking about? They're just in the Lakers. Let me find. This is what I told y'all, though.

Go ahead and blow it up. Like, if they are, if they are, if they're, if they're serious and if Polink is serious about not trading Russ and not trying to make a contender now, then what do you doing? Then trade, trade everybody. Did you see Bill Simmons reported that? Bill Simmons reported that Anthony Davis is available in trades, but it's like, fucking Bill Simmons, so who gives a shit? But like, it's not a real story, but he did say that. I did. I didn't tell you that a couple weeks ago. Like, they should go ahead and trade Anthony Davis. For what? I don't know. I'm not the one for that right now, bro. But if you're trading Anthony Davis, you got to trade LeBron and go full rebuild. And that's what they should do? That's what they should do. I am. I'm training Anthony Davis to have a better team around LeBron. Like, what are we doing? I'm pro rebuild right now. Okay, well, conversation for another day. I think that surprised me. me as the bronze play and i think he'll be fine but it's been concerned that he hasn't been fine so far especially when you need him to be extremely good to win these early games have a chance

to prolong your season if this cold streak from his continues their season's going to be over before begins criminal rob polenka should be done the fact that we will be the say if a bronze fall is crazy it's rob polenka's fault how dare you ask a 38-year-old man to go ahead and please carry my team that's that's anthony david's fault too how the fuck i have to give i'm on the hell anthony davis has been the best playing the team by far this year anthony davis has been just fine he's been he's been he's been cool yeah just fine the best per on a two and 18 how good is that how great is that and for being honest bro yeah well you you said like you said thank rob polinka that's your answer i feel sorry for anthony was at the same time because it's like

this dude went through so many injuries and like i remember a couple years a couple years ago when they won their first championship he was fighting through like an achilles injury damn near torres shit and i'm like yo he's had he's had so much years of his prime to sliced off so So I'm like, yeah. It's funny hitting on Anthony Davis, though, so I like it. We talk about, like, LeBron has no spacing. Anthony Davis isn't that spacing either. Like, he's still a rim score as well.

Like, it's not easy for him either. Like, I don't know. We give him so much slack that we don't give to other people in the same situation. Just say quiet, dude. Say it. Whatever, I don't give a shit. This is an Anthony Davis topic. Donovan, what's your next thing you're surprised by?

Surprise. We're talking about some more two and eight basketball teams. Let's go. Let's go. Yeah, no, I'm very surprised at the. Magic and the Pistons and the fact that they haven't won more games. I think coming into this year, we saw the foundation for both of these teams and it was like maybe one of them can be frisky enough to start to like creep around the 10th seed or like

the 11th and 10th seed and if everything breaks right, they could do that. Right now Detroit is 3 and 9 and Orlando is is 2 and 8. and so it's like I'm I'm very very surprised about at both teams that they haven't been able to to win more games and it's like they're

young teams they're still learning how to win this concern is more for Detroit rather than Orlando yeah as I say Orlando's been injured a lot too Orlando and listen Orlando has been in a lot of games

and they've competed very very well they've been in nine clutch games this year they're one and eight which is absolutely ridiculous and so like Define what clutch games are real quick for people. Yeah. So clutch games are games that are, they are games that are within five points where the teams are within five points of each other within in the last five minutes of the game.

Yeah. And so they've been in. Close finishes. Yeah, close finishes. They've had leads going into the fourth. They've had leads late into the fourth quarter. And they just haven't been able to finish. That's a product of like young teams learning how to win.

That's going to be fine. And it's like the defense, it is what it is. 30th, that's what it is. Last, the worst. They're, actually, no matter. My bet, that's Detroit. Detroit's 30th. Yeah.

Orlando is, yeah, so Orlando, according to NBA.com, they're 19th in offense, 25th in defense. Detroit, on the other hand, is 29th in defense, 26 in offense, 15th in pace. And the shot distribution on defense is relatively the same as it was last year. So, like, the defensive scheme is kind of the same. but they're allowing they're allowing like more long twos to go in so that's a little bit of luck

because like that's the shot that you would want people to take but at the same time this is back to back years where you're at the bottom of the league in defense and and I want to know what you guys think my big problem with Detroit

is if you have two young guards you have Cade Cunningham and you have Jaden Ivy why are you not top five in pace why are you not running up and down the floor every single time you have you have Sadiq Bay who could shoot you have Boyan who I'll tell you why please tell me why because if you are a young team

if you're a young team and you can't play defense that's what we're just turning this into a track me and we're just getting shots on goal and that's all we're going to do one one Kay Cunningham isn't a real isn't a super fast player like he's not J and Ivey so that's one thing two you can only run out in transition when you get a stop on defense when you're the worst defense in the league how many times do you have to get out and run that's like that's literally what it is you can push you can push off of you can push off of off of makes and even though that kate isn't yeah you can and even though that kate isn't super fast we've seen we've seen guys who haven't been like CP3 isn't somebody that

i would say is super super super fast we still see him be able to to push the pace up and down yeah yeah i don't mean like he's not like he's not deer he's not running a situation like deer and fox you're so like when your team is built around your star player and he's not a push-to-face kind kind of guy but you're right that should that probably is an area they should improve on especially with Jay and Ivy coming in. But like I said, it's tough when your defense is so bad because one, obviously,

transit pace doesn't mean like how fast you run. It's how many possessions you get up. And it's just, it's so much harder to get those possessions up but you're not getting your transition opportunities. And I'm sure if I look right now, their transition frequency

is probably almost in the last in the league. Yeah. It's something to where, like, at least an easy fix to where you can, you can try and get some easy points off of a make and try and try and like,

manufactured some type of quick offense because again in the half court if you're not if you're not able to to create stuff you have to find you have to find ways if you're not getting those stops you're not getting those long rebounds to try and like push the pace like that's just that's an easy way while you're trying to like manufacture your offensive system yeah so i got the numbers pulled up so their transition frequency is 20th so they're not the worst like getting out in transition like they do it better than 10 other teams like at least but they are 29th in points or play When it comes of transition, so, like, you want to get out there, they fucking suck at it. So I think the problem might just be their players aren't good at the end of the day.

Yeah, I got Kelly. He's coming off the bench and fucking, what's his name? It's very, but that's shock. That's shocking, though, because like, is it? I think, I think it is. At least, at least the starting five. At least the starting five has a lot of, I think all of us like Kate Cunningham. We like Jada and I be.

Boyan is a good player. Sadiq Bay is a good player. Isaiah Stewart has made some leaps as well. like it's not like you're completely devoid of talent in Detroit. It's all right. So, um, I think the biggest thing is, one,

you underestimated how long it takes a rookie point guard to get going. Yeah. Davey's been promising and he's been like, showed flashes. He's not a good NBA player right now. He's not above average impact. Like his rim finishing and transition moves

have been as great as we could have hoped for. He can't fucking shoot. Like watching him shoots disgusting at the moment. And two, the biggest thing is underrating how important Jeremy Grant was. is having that type of veteran on the team that isn't like some amazing top player for a team but like is still their best player

like losing him is kind of tough I'm looking I'm looking at I'm looking at Ivey stat right now it looks like his shot his shot isn't that bad he's shooting better from three than Kate Cunningham right now and I feel like when I watch a lot of Pistons games specifically maybe two or three Pistons games one of them he was playing against the Hawks

so it was really easy to catch up on I feel like Kate Cunningham He's just naturally like a past first player Who just happens to be really fucking good at like scoring the ball He's just unstoppable At time it looks like that Kind of like Yokic-ish In terms of just like pure instincts

He likes to get others involved And he feeds off of others And at times I feel like he has trouble with like Actually getting himself going Just because he's so focused on getting everyone else involved There's been plenty There's been a few games this season where he went crazy in the first half

dropped like 26 or 27 and then to fall up in the second half he drops four points what the hell happened yeah it's just little things like that yeah I see why you would have hoped for a big jump from these teams but

I think it just goes to show you that with these young type of teams progress isn't linear it's not like every year they get five wins better and five wins better until it becomes this core it takes multiple years of being garbage and then it all comes together as a player is like hit their stride like when all your players are young every young player is pretty much ass for the first

few years and then it clicks it's not they get a little less ass a little less ass when I say ass I mean ability to impact winning on a high level yeah and especially good good I'll say especially when it comes to like teams that are built around young point guards I feel like that's the hardest way in the NBA right now like it takes a little longer always

unless you're like generational yeah so I just think it's probably just impact the way you think about young teams going forward is that like we I think we kind of do it was a lot like a lot of people see when players get drafted and like oh this young core so good they're going to be a good team like people did that with the rockets after they had that draft where they drafted jalen green Josh christopher Garuba and like all those people they're like oh they're going to be a nice frisky team and then they were fucking horrendous and got the number three pick like it just it's not as what the talent on paper doesn't

always equate to productivity in the beginning of their careers it's not it's not but my I guess my thing is I'm surprised that that like the pacer's are five and five. You know what I'm saying? Like there's like there's going to there's going to be teams every year that are like that frisky team. And so in my eyes, I'm just surprised that Orlando isn't and Indiana is especially. Orlando still could be though. Especially they they're frisky but they're not closing games. And like again, I understand that's just that's just young, young talent, young course trying to know how to win.

It's not even just that. They don't have Markle Faults. They don't have Cole Anthony. Jalen Green missed time. I mean, Jailen Suggs missed time. Jonathan Isaac is somewhere. I don't know if he's a basketball player anymore, but he's somewhere as a person like this. He's done. He's done. He hasn't played basketball for two years and they still said he's not ready to like to practice. Yeah. He's the friends he made along the way at this point. But even without him, there are three guards have all been injured. Like there is better to come with the magic once they get healthy, you would assume. But the problem is that magic are never healthy for some reason. Their team is just drastically injured every year.

we'll see if they finally ever see their full team i have high hopes for for orlando and i i want i want to see them them get better i'm and you've known this about me for years i've really like wanted the the pistons to be to be good but i'm like i'm i'm kind of close i don't know why listen i i have i have no idea either i just really i just really rock with them but like i i i I hope that I hope likes Big Sean a lot Listen

Listen top one Listen top five Top five favorite Favorite But like Top five rappers name Sean maybe I said favorite Come on

You don't have to do that I listen long story short Orlando has a high ceiling And I think that they can Like I hope that they can start Closing out these games Because they've looked pretty soft

They've looked okay Nah Screw all that Imagine they go ahead and I don't want I don't want them to go ahead and close out any games for maybe a few for the sake of Apollo's development and whatnot but scroll that at the end of the day

I'm going to go ahead and see them tank so hard and I want them to land Scoot Henderson That is the missing piece. That'd be nice That'll be Fuck that I want them to add Victor Juanana Are you kidding now that's OD Bobo just finally went ahead and got his stride Could you imagine the lineup

Franz Palo Palo with a three Franz of the two Yeah oh that's disgusting That's just way too much Suggs, Franz, Paolo, Bo, Bull, Victor? Oh, my God. Yeah.

That's a solid 27 wins right there. That's what that is. All right. We're 45 minutes. We've been through four teams of the nine. We've got to speed this up.

What's your next surprising team? Next surprising team. I'm going to keep this super short because this team is super ass. And I don't want to talk about him because he's going to kill my vibe. I was about to say Milwaukee. The Minnesota Timberwolves.

The fuck is going on. All right. Like, I, bro. You know what's going on with them? We were on the same page about DeAngel or Russell going, going crazy to see the season simply because, like, he doesn't have a sport, a floor spacer, but at the same time, he kind of does with someone, like, Rudy Go Blair, who's, like, a vertical threat. Yeah, we all thought finally having a role man for the first time in his career would unlock DeAngel's passing. The problem is nobody's passing can be unlocked because their offense is fucking disgusting and stale, and nobody knows where to stand because two big men both want to stand the paint and post up. So there's nobody for DeAngelo to pass to you and there's nowhere for him to go to trying to create his own shot. So he's shooting abysmal from the field. He's putting up like 10 points per game in the last five games. Like everything's been bad and it all comes down to they didn't they overestimated how easy they'd be able to adjust having two big men playing for at the same time. Yeah. Y'all got it. I'm gonna just sit back and I'm gonna I'm just gonna run it. When they first made the trade, I made a TikTok saying this trade is mid. Everyone's overreacting and saying they'd be going to be good. But the problem is you're gonna.

put the ball in Carlton Towns his hands on the perimeter and he's going to have a big man standing on the dunker spot and he's not Kevin to rant he's not going to create off a dribble like that and it's just no chance that they can both play adequate defense or adequate offense being two true centers over the course of the off season over the course of the off season I let you all gaslight me into thinking they're going to be good thinking they're going to be this regular

season wins machine they're not you gasling yourself yeah look at him not taking a calibati for his bad takes I didn't even y'all at you two I'm in the general NBA community I was convinced that they'd be good They're not going to be good They never will be Because playing two centers That are fucking slow-footed

And large human beings that are not fast In the modern NBA is idiotic Yeah Yeah absolutely It's what it comes down to We all I think we all just were so happy For the Timberwolves Because they finally just made like a

Who was happy? Not you You're not happy for anyone right But like just most people were happy For the Timberlil This is the biggest move Since like Jimmy Butler era that they had

and like a lot of people were like yo maybe this is the year that they can go ahead and become a top four seat and actually make somewhat noise a little bit more noise in the playoffs and don't be such a disappointment like last season versus the Memphis Grizzlies and a lot of people put a whole lot of stock into Anthony Edwards in his second year leap or was it is he the second year yeah third year third year third year leap and anti Edwards as a whole is body language as you've seen we've all seen those Bro, it's not his body language Which is verbal language too He hates this shit He used every chance he gets he talks about

There's no spacing and he can't do his job because there's no spacing Yeah, exactly and he's like he's talking It seems like ever since the season started He already made up in his mind like this is just not going to work bro He don't even mess Rudy like that at all So who does This seems this nasty NB election

I've been trying to tell you I've been trying to tell you This is the only thing that I'm going to say about this I've been trying to tell you Cat is cat's not him and rudy gobert is whack and you put both of them on the same team what do you expect what do you expect you're lame and you're not him on the same team so now this the first question has to be asked what do they do now i feel like this is a wild take but they're going to end up being it's going to end up being it's either me or him situation between cat

and anthony edwards and i feel like they're going to go ahead and just get rid of anthony i'm not anthony my bad car anthony towns they're not good either either them anytime soon. What they're going to do is they're going to try to figure it out and give it with the season and hope they can figure it out. It's going to be difficult because you can't just get rid of Rudy Gober after you just traded for them.

You can't do that. They gave up a million picks for him and you're not going to give them. But you can give up a million more picks for someone like Anthony Towns as well. Yeah. So maybe that's what they're a decision to come to. But at the end of the day, their long-term vision is

going to be Anthony Edwards and Kat playing together because having the slashing guard in space and big is a great formula. So you let Rudy Gobert come in and just, you're just going to decide. to pick Rudy over cat like what are we doing yeah it's funny it's funny because it's funny because because they're going to end up trading cat and then they're going to be Utah Utah Jazz Light with with an athletic two with the with the lesser version of Donovan Mitchell

athletic two and then an aging Rudy go bear and that's all you're going to have yeah yeah this is tough because they gave up so much for him they gave up all the picks as if he was Kevin Durant like it's such an all in move and it immediately doesn't work like that's fucking That's my number. What do you do? Like, yeah, they could go ahead and, like, trade for, trade Carinthony Towns away and get most of those, if not more assets back. But at the end of the day, it's just like, bro, you're just wasting your time.

And you look like one of the biggest embarrassments in the entire NBA. They're not going to trade cat. Maybe if it continues to fail, maybe they try to trade Rudy Gobert at the deadline. And they're not getting the four picks plus Walker Kessler back, but can they get three picks from somebody else? Maybe. Like, it's still Rudy Gober. He's still as good as he was.

Like, somebody did probably pay three at least two. Like maybe you count your losses and just do that I say all this to say Yeah yo they're just looking like they missed the number Wait what they say what they say 21 21 do some format Yeah, 21 of the Lakers right now Patrick Beverly they're missing that man heavy right now

That intensity looks completely yon So I'm gonna keep Anthony Edwards and check at times That was him The Lakers got him I don't see that intensity It doesn't look pretty Yeah Anyways next team They suck

They suck They're not they're not fun to watch. They're actually abhorrent to watch. Like, the opposite of fun. But anyways, let's go the other way with my next team. Okay. But I'm going to focus on a player. We've talked at length about the Utah Jazz and how they're the surprising team.

I think they're like eight and three now. Like, they just keep on chugging. The thing I'm most surprised by with them is Lowry Marketing. The past five years of Larry's career, he's been an absolute joke. He's been a borderline draft bus that ever makes fun of for being, because people were talking about him, like, oh, is it going to be the next dirk for the team that drafts him?

And he was just ass He wasn't particularly good at anything He had one good shooting year They had like three poor shooting years He couldn't defend Last year with the Cavs They ran this three big lineup And he looked solid

You kind of started to feel That maybe something is You know like Going in the right way for him But this year He is so good on the jazz He's been their go-to score Adding 21 points per game

But he hasn't had like any plays ran for him He hasn't been on ball at all It's purely been Offball, being a cutter Pick and Pop All the type of things you need For somebody with his type of skills

set, he's been what you want for him when you drafted him. So I just wanted to give some props to him. And I've been so pleasantly surprised by him. Yeah, I feel like the Chicago Bulls early on when they drafted him, they tried to go ahead and prioritize him, but he just wasn't there just yet. And then once other players started to develop and things just started changing, the dynamic of the team and the Rex started changing, you kind of just put him in the back burner and be like, yo, it's in his corner,

catch a couple threes. And he just, I feel like he just didn't do enough stuff. And he started to find his rhythm with the caps a little bit. And now it seemed like a Utah Jazz kind of just like. a misfit throw away whatever you want to call it and like this is the perfect situation i got like i said i think last episode of the podcast every play young player's career is purely situational and i feel like larry marketing probably i don't want to see he's always had the talent but it's always been there no he's better now he he was bad in the first few years like he's gotten better and

like you said it's situational because he's not they're not running through him like we're trying to do in chicago they're not trying too hard to force it yeah this the way they played just the flow of the game, whatever it comes to you, comes to you, he's just really good at that, finding ways to score in a very free flowing offense. Yeah, I'm very surprised by Lowry. The one thing that, like, that has caught my eye this year with him is that he, he looks from three, right?

He's taking the same amount of threes, right? He's around, like, six threes a game. For his career, like, in Chicago, he was 36%. In Cleveland, he was at 36%. He's under 30% from three right now. Bro, and he's having the best... And he's having the best, going year of his career. It's crazy.

Watching him go into the Lakers and just feast at the rim. Like, he's so hard to stop at the rim right now, just going off of cuts. You see Jordan Clarkson, Walker Kessler, pick and roll, maybe Kelly Olinick doing their thing, and then you just get a backdoor cut from Larry Marketing to dunk on top of Anthony Davis. Like, he's so hard to stop, just free-flowing doing his things. The whole, the marketing is the, like, he's the individual representation of what the jazz were, because all of us, none of us, none of us wanted to give the jazz any, any type of time in the off season, because we're like, listen, they're going to suck, they're going to tank, they're getting victor. They just got all these things from all these, from all these trades.

And now they're at the top of the West and, like, they're playing extremely well. And Lowry is like, again, he's the embodiment of that where you just have some guy who's written off. And now he's bawling. So, like, listen, shout out to Lowry. Shout out to the jazz. Shout out to Danny Ames for, I don't like saying shout out. No, he's probably mad. He's probably mad.

He's allergic to building bad teams. Yeah, yeah. Just wins. Yeah, exactly. It's like when it comes to his rebuilding, he's one of the best, but in terms of making that next shift, that next step, I feel like he's kind of, I don't know. He ran into Kyrie Irving again.

Kyrie Irving is just not bad news. Maybe I shouldn't blame him that much or whatever, but now I feel like the Utah Jazz are in a position to where, like, instead of thanking for someone like Victor 1 and Benyama, they can be on the hunt for their next. disgruntable star and potentially add that piece, shift things a little round, shift things around a little bit,

and be a contender once again and take things times 10 compared to where they were just a year ago. Yeah, bro. They have like eight feature draft picks from the Cavs and the Timberwolves and the Timberwolves. This is peat retooling, bro.

Peak retooling right here. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Exactly, they're going to retool and not rebuild. And maybe they're sellers at the deadline that trade some people like Jordan Clarkson or Relique Beasley or whoever, but maybe they don't. Maybe they just be fun and play,

good basketball. Yeah. Shout out Larry though. So we're 55 minutes right now. We've all gone through two teams. Should we just cut it there and not do the third teams? Like, yeah, we do want to go for two hours? Let's go to the 13th. Yeah. Yeah, let's cut it. Yeah. Okay. So, but we're not going to cut the show and end it there.

We're going to do our TikTok segment still because we've got to get to those. The rest of it, let's go through Rapid Fire. I haven't written down what we're going to talk about. Okay. I was going to talk about the Clippers and then being horrendously mid right now. Their offense is 29th in the league or 26, whatever it was, some like that. 29th offensively, yeah. They're incredibly mid,

and we should be concerned about Quiet Lantern's health. That's kind of what it comes down to. All right. I'll go right by all my. My big surprise is Memphis completely forgetting how to play defense. They are 20th.

The 24th in defensive rating right now, I think that they are going to be okay once, once Darren Jackson comes back right now. The biggest change in terms of like last year's defense to this year is that they're, they're mid, the short mid range, right?

which is like right around the paint, floaters, things of that nature. That percentage has gone up and that's because you don't have Jaron Jackson in the middle, altering shots, blocking shots.

So once... T.L. Dom is good, but he's not Jaron Jackson. Yeah. So once, once Jaron Jackson comes back, that part of their defense is going to be okay. We're probably going to see Contender Memphis again.

I'm with it. Yeah, what's your last thing, Moe? Yeah, so my last team, my last team was the Boston Celtics. They're surprisingly the number one offense

in the entire NBA, and that, I don't want to say that's a complete surprise, but it should catch some people off guard. Now, it didn't catch me off guard completely because this entire off season, I feel like a lot of people were underrated just how valuable someone like Malcolm Brogman was. I don't know why, but this man is like,

it's one of my favorite role players in the entire NBA and it's a random left field thought, but he reminds you of Barack Obama. I don't know why you take that for what you will. What the fuck are we talking about? I don't know what we're talking about right now, but he's just, that's special. yeah he's just that special he's just that special right now and someone of his presence with his skills

the reminder is because his specialness oh what wait wait he's a specials brock obama wait what are you talking about wait wait what are we talking about right now I just see you spit up water what is going what are you talking about because you just called Malcolm brandon special you just said he's special the same way Obama special what do you wait I did say that I'm running my mouth right now I'm right I didn't catch you I didn't talk about Whoa, I didn't catch that right. I'm running my mouth right now. Holy shit.

You set me up. You set me up. You know it's 11 o'clock right now. And I'm tired, all right? You set me up. You threw in a word special, and then I was running through my little dialogue. You called Malcolm Brogden special. No.

You say he's generational. I said generation. He's such a great mind. No, anyways. Malcolm Brogdon, what do you think about health care? Anyways, I know what I was saying? Save the people. That Malcolm Vrogman effect is a lot more potent than a lot of people think.

Now, what's interesting is that their defense has been one of the worst in the entire NBA, and that's what they've been known for since last year since they had that. We'll turn around last year. Currently, they're ranked like 23rd or 24 or something like that at the defense event, and that's completely uncharacteristic for them, but they've still been pretty damn good, one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference still, regardless of the fact. And now it just makes me think, like, you have to assume, that their defense is eventually going to catch up to them,

and they're going to be right back where they left off dueling with the... And Robert Williams is going to come back eventually. They'll be right. Yeah, exactly. They're going to be good. So them being asked to the defense is just kind of surprising. That's all.

Yeah. I expect it, like you said, it'll come back, but do they come back to being by far the best defense in the league like last year? New coaching, Malcolm Brogden's in here and new pieces around. We'll see. Facts. All right, let's get to these tic tic tic tic. Let's do it.

First one, we're going to talk about John Morant. John Morant has been the big topic of discussion early in the year because he's been electric. So, I'm going to name's the NBA players. You let me know if you take them or John Morant. Come on. Simple. Damien Lillard. I'm taking John Moran because he's been healthier.

He's on a court board. Has he? Yeah. He hasn't been the pinnacle of health himself. John Morant this season so far? He hasn't missed any games. Well, I just mean the past few years. I mean, John Morant has hurt every year, too.

Yeah, but so far this seat Damien Lur has already missed a couple games and he's had a couple Okay, when they're both healthy, who's better? When they're both healthy, who's better? When they're both healthy, it's damn. It's damn you're better when he's healthy for sure. But I'm talking about this season, it's job. Okay, I just been going forward, who would you rather take?

I mean, go, I don't know. Yeah, okay, so. Yeah, who's better right now? Who's better? Going forward, give me Dane. Right, right now, I will take, I'll take damn I'll take damn

I take damn because it's very it's very clear he came back and instantly Portland got back up and it's like oh wow

we we forgot like he actually did earn his top 75 spot like he's him it's tough John Moran's been amazing

but before he got hurt Lillard was being basically just as good like he was looking electric yeah I'm gonna give Lillard the Nud

I'm gonna give Lillard the knot for now but I won't be shocked that Jod passed him up over the year okay that's fair that's fair

Jason Tatum I'm taking I'm taking Jai right now. He's been Jaws, Jaws been crazy this year. It's Jason Tatum. I don't know if I can Joe Moran. I don't know if I can approve that. Okay, it's not crazy. Listen, if you said that last year I would have called you a moron. But I think Jaws played himself into that tier, but I still got to go Tatum just for the two-way impact. Yeah. He's not the playmaker

that Jai is, but his scoring is on the same level. Defense is much better. The defense is so different, bro. The defense is so different. That's what really separates him in my mind. Listen, it's early. I don't hate you for it, though. It's early, right? Jod's three-point shooting is at 46% this year. Obviously, that's going to, obviously that's going to go down because that's like prime, Steph Curry is on, like, is on fire numbers. But like, but like, listen, if he can, if he can stay at, like, 35 and be respectful from there, it's, it's John Moran.

Like, we shouldn't sniff at it. Yeah, it's not crazy. I disagree, but it's not crazy. Okay. Okay. What about Trey Young? John Moran. Trey's not that good.

He's been shooting. He's like, why would you put him on this list? Why would you do that to me right now? You, why? Hey, hey, hey, hey. I just want to hear you say it. Set him up. I don't even want to go into.

Trey Young's not even soon 40% from the field, but I expect Trey Young to be better at the end of the season. I'm not believing at that. Is Trey Young overrated? Get out of. No. Okay, what it is, Trey Young's been worse because he's trying to adjust to playing with

Jean-T Murray, who needs a ball in his hands a lot, and he hasn't been great off ball compared to what we think it could be. So, Jaws been better, but I think before the season, I was saying Trey's better, but I think Jaws proven that he's probably another tier now. As of now, I'm not going to- No, Trey is definitely that guy. Bum.

It takes some time to actually just, a lot of players in NBA. Are we going to have to trade Trey Young? Oh, my goodness, bro. This dude is trying to run my head into a wall right now. Do the Hawks need to restart the rebuild? To restart the rebuild is crazy. Oh, my goodness. dump him for salary for Russell Westbrook?

Oh my goodness, bro. Get some pigs? In your dreams, bro. A lot of players are not good at, are not good when it comes to doing shit off the ball. And guys like Tri-Young, who has immense potential off the ball, get to spotlight for that because he has so much potential. Does he have immense potential off the ball? He definitely does, just because of the rage, but he just doesn't move like that at all.

I'm being 100% serious. No, no, yeah, he does. I don't think he does. I don't think he does. I think that we've seen him from the time he was in college to now Put himself as a player who needs the ball I don't think that he is I don't think that he has like crazy upside as some off the ball guy like if if he It's like effort he can't that's all it is

No, it's field too not everybody can be step curry by trying hard it also has to he can't be Devon booker off ball like like like like there's like there's level there's levels to it and I don't think I don't think I don't think try young has that in him to to be running around and stuff like that, it's just not in his game. I don't think he's equipped for that. It's not in his game as of now because our coach has not been able to unlock another level in this offense. Even though we're already good offense as a whole, we don't suck. We're in a playoffs right now. And you owe me $100 at the end of the season.

So shut up. Okay, okay. Okay, back to the John Morant topic, the actual point of the segment. What about Jimmy Butler? I'll take John. Easy. Give me give me jaw I'm not even thinking about that twice right now

In the playoffs we can have a conversation But for now give me job Listen listen I get called a Jimmy Butler Hater every day in the comments So you know I'm picking job But it's hard to say it's easy Like Jimmy is still that guy He's averaging a solid 20 points

I'm taking Jai Okay I'm taking Jai right Fair enough Okay All right Next one So we've talked a lot about teams

We're worried about Let's get an easy TikTok version in there So I'm going to name two teams. Y'all let me know which one you're more worried about. The Warriors are the 76ers. I'm more worried about the Warriors. They can't play defense right now.

Steph Curry has to score a million points a night just for them to have a chance to win. He had to score 47 for them to win by three against the Kings. I'm very, very nervous right now. Yeah. Yeah, I'm playing more worried about the Warriors because I had higher expectations for them. I thought they were going to go back to back. So the fact that we're seeing them be this bad I'm really worried about that

And relative to what I expected Also worried about the 76ers long-term goals But I didn't think they're going to win the championship You know what I mean? So L&B just needs to stop being lazy And actually turn it on mentally And look for some in-season motivation Like a lot of players need to do

And as for the Warriors They've had For their on their term On their level of defense Generational over the last few years for them Generously bad defense We've never seen them this bad And also their bench is really really really bad

as well. They have one of the best five, they have the number one ranked five man lineup in the entire NBA right now. And it's by a wide margin as well. But once they start picking dudes up off the bench, they completely drop off and that just shows how bad they're. They're the best five man. But after that, bro, it's, it's terrible. Looking at you, James Wiseman. Yeah. James Wiseman got a, I don't know if he can't figure it out, man. They should have, you should go ahead. You too, Jordan Pool. Huh? Oh, it's a Jordan Pool too. He has a been good yeah jordan who has been asked but you're like it next one lakers or nets nets nets nets i'm a word about about the nets i think that i think listen i think both teams should

should blow it up i think they're both done i think they're both cooked yeah but the nets have two depreciating assets and at least the lakers if they so choose to have have pieces to where they can kind of start a rebuild nobody wants been nobody wants ben simmons nobody wants Kyrie Irving. Nobody wants Kyrie Irving. Yeah, I'm definitely more worried about the Nets because at the start

of the season, at least people were respected the Nets to be a playoff team, a top six seed at least or seven guaranteed. And at this point, moment and time, they're competing for the worst spot or the worst spot

in the Eastern Conference. So definitely more worried about these. I mean, definitely more worried about the Nets. I'm probably more worried about the Lakers because at this point it looks like they're going to be out of the playoff race by December. So that's kind of fucking tough.

How can you be worried about some of those because from the start? True. But on the other hand, the Nets might crumble as a franchise from the top down. So it's kind of concerning. Like, could you imagine being, what's their GM's name? Sean, I think. I'm not 100%. Sean Marn marks.

Having to rebuild a similar, like, he came into the Nets when they were in shambles. And yet he fixed a situation. And now he put himself back into a similar situation. Probably even worse because these guys are actually good. So it hurts. more because you know they would have work together and now you're going to have to fix them yourself and it's even harder to do now tough it's tough scene yeah okay last one the heat or the timber wolves the timber wolves we we are for the for the pure fact right and away from

basketball Miami has an infrastructure they have a culture that has proven themselves to be able to work out of work themselves out of issues Minnesota's trying to build that they just gave up all of these picks for Rudy Gaubert, and they don't have any identity, any culture, and I have no faith in them to pull themselves out of the whole thing. I'm with you 100%. The heat have had a really bad start. I think they'll be fine. I do not think the Timberwolves are going to be fine by any stretch of the imagination. Playing two centers next to each other is not an experiment that was ever going to work. Yeah, absolutely, bro. The Minnesota Timberwolves are going to look like one of the biggest embarrassments in the NBA when they eventually,

you heard you hear first, trade cars and you sound away for the mess that they started. Oh my God. it. Let's do it. Nice. Okay. Next one, we're going to run back something that we've done in the past. I'm going to name some players you're all going to guess their 2K ratings

because the 2K just put out their first roster update this season. No, Muhammad will be playing the game. It's unfair. He's on 2K all the time. I don't be playing the game, man. Okay. So, yeah, they just put out their first roster update.

So we got some new numbers to go through. Okay. So I'm a list of NBA players. You let me know what 2K gives it. Can't talk. I'm a list of NBA players. You guess what their 2K ratings are.

Rattle them all. Donovan Mitchell. 91. I was about to say 91. I'll go 91. Actually, no. If most go in 91, I'll go in 92. You said 91 first.

You state 10 toes. No, but you said 91. I'm not on you, team. What is your decision? 92. 91. You're a bozo. It's 91.

You freak. You should have stayed. You're not 10 toes. You got a bitch off your spot. Look at you. yeah that's okay that's on me ben simmons 77 yeah oh jesus 66 66 yeah he's a bum he's a bum damn all right he's an 80 overall 80 still damn he he was he was he was he was 83 to start the season they dropped him down to 80

you should be below to that's too hot 66 good lord yeah that man he He's a headband. His name is Josh Johnson. Yeah, he's a doo-do sur, 55 overall. No badges whatsoever, literally. No badges. All right. What about Benedict Matherin?

Ooh. 80. That made nice. Did you say 88? No, AD. Can you tell us what he was before? No. Yes, he can.

You wanted to say, too. No, he can't. It's not part of the game, Mo. I'm going to say, okay, can you give me a content? takes clue and tell me what Apollo Ben Chiaro's rating is. Say a number. Say a number. 82.

He's average like 19 right now. Donovan is once again right. It is 80. It's 80 on the die. The same is Ben Simmons. Ben Simmons? Oh my goodness. That's so disrespectful to Bennett.

The greatest player of all time as you would like, Matt Matherin, bro. That's so disrespectful. Yeah, according to him. Yeah. Fuck. That's funny. All right.

What about Shay Gilges Alexander? He's a 90. 90. most closer he's an 89 what he's not a 90 damn he's been fucking he started off he was 87 a chart the year and they moved him up so baby steps

okay he's an easy 90 in my books bro so we're both right so we're both right no I think you're more wrong your number is further away I think we're all right on this one I think we all have good guesses I know I know I know more ball

All right, what about Zach Levine? Well, this is tough. 83. What? A3? Are you nuts? You laced? He's like an 88, I would say.

You use an 88 exactly. Damn, maybe I do, too. This is crazy. I'm running away. Zach Levine. That's wild. It's kind of high. You're crazy.

Okay. All right, what about James Hardin? This is tough? 90 he's a he's an a 7 I'm gonna say 90 87's pretty low come on he's not lower than she Gilles Alexander but he's an 89 he's the same as she

oh okay I think that's a win for me yeah that's a first W ironically it's a hard in W2 overall I think Donovan ran it this time most of him were right he bitched himself off his own spot with Donovan Mitchell but he was right I know ball I know ball

Okay Next one I need you guys to pull up the group message On your computer And look at the jerseys We sent Last week Remember those

That was a long time ago Oh yeah You only scroll up for days Yeah let me scroll Let me find it The next thing we're do Is the NBA Well they didn't release

I don't think It leaked all the city edition Jersey So we're going to go through them And I'm gonna have you guys Tell us if they're a W or an L Can you send it to me again? Okay, I'm ready.

I'm ready. We're going to get into this jersey back. This is my lane. This is where I live for. The aesthetics of basketball. Yeah, I know you love this shit. Let's do it. So let me get that hook in.

Y'all let me know if these new NBA city jerseys are W or Nell. Let's go. The Spurs. It's a slight W. A slight W. Are you insane? This is the worst one of the whole list. This shit is garbage.

No. Garbage? Not for the complete opposite. with that these are kind of fire bro this taco cabana ass jersey look at that fun they're listen they're they're cool anything that like i can understand that because it feels like they're doing the same thing that like ruined the miami vice jersey by making it like that weird color but for the spurs who for years are just black and white this is a little bit of creativity so i'll give them i'll give them a little black and white jersey over this bullshit

i'll give them a little credit yeah this is an actual w row this is different this stands out by far more out of the rest I don't think they're better than the rest but they definitely stand out. This is the W. If I see you wearing this and you're above the age of 14 I'm cooking you You should listen that's that's fair And now that you say They do look like Six Flags jerseys

In fact You're switching sides What are you talking about? These are actually No I still like them I still like both things Can be true like listen six flags have some fire jerseys What about these Warriors ones with the Rose in the bottom i hate those these are stupid bro you guys are disgusting yeah those are real nasty bro who thought of adding a nasty ass like a fading rose to this was a good idea this is you guys

ever seen those i'm not even going to get into it but these are nasty just nasty work i appreciate the creativity and a i don't know not on this they are they're tacky they're tacky it is what it is why even have a rose out of everything this is i don't know what it means it probably mean something to the city but it looks like this is disgusting get this out of my face yeah get this out of my face okay next one the charlotte hornet cl t jersey nasty what a c l t stand for bro cheese lettuce and tomatoes the fuck is ceil like no this is terrible i'm sorry they could have like yeah it's ugly yeah this is just terrible out of my face the clit jersey Chircy

Yeah, this is whack I don't even know much to say about it It looks like shit That gold does not look good with the black And the stripes are bad And all that's very stale bro It's very disappointing Because Shara has some of the best color schemes

In the entire NBA Yeah Next one This Trailblazers is PDX one I think it has potential It has potential Potentially to be one of the worst Juries of all time, yes

No, the big old PDX that's stupid Like I know that's what they call it out there in Portland But like that's just that's just kind of dumb I don't hate the color scheme though But they like the colors, it's different The trees and the stripe is all right It's kind of cool like I don't I don't hate it Maybe it's a W but it's a light double

I hate when teams I bet when we see I bet when we see this one in person on the court It'll look a lot better than it does in these league pictures I hate when teams step way too outside of their comfort zone If they already have good color schemes Why step out of that? Stay in your lane Team like the Spurs, they go ahead and they need to step out.

They have to be outside of lane because they're just gray and white or gray and black. Talk to them, Mo. Talk to him, Mo. Portland, you got that red and black thing going on. Like, just run with it still, bro. What are you doing? All right. I respect it.

What about this Hawks jersey? You already know why I'm going. I'm going with an... No, stop it, Moe. Stop. It's an L. It's an L. One, the 11, look at it, has gradient.

We don't do gradient on any. Ah, you're right, we hate gradient. We are an anti-gradient podcast, so it's an L there. And also, this is a knockoff of their own jersey, of their own city jersey, that they had the peach, the peach, uh, yeah, the peach, uh, yeah, the peach jerseys that they had a couple years ago. Yeah, right. Uncreated and gradient. Oh. Yeah, I ain't going to lie.

You got on me. Bring back the MLK jerseys. We don't need this anymore, bro. No. The other peach one was definitely better, but I like this one a lot. I like the stripes on the shoulders, the green, I'm not green, oops, the orange with the kind of cream color. It looks nice together. Yeah.

These are a W, but I'm not a humongous fan of these. I'm on the side. Okay. Next one, the Clippers. They keep trying to do this red on this side, blue on this side. We're just going to throw a whole bunch of mumbo jumbo in the middle. What are we doing? What are we doing here, man?

This is bad. I kind of like the mumbo jumbo in the middle with the text of the different patterns and tiles of color. I kind of like that The red and blue on either side The lack of symmetry is awful I don't know what it is It's like It just runs me the wrong way

It just makes me mad That's what I'm saying It just makes it The Spurs are the same shit And y'all liked it, you ate it up No but it's something with this Clippers jersey That makes me feel like They're trying to make fun of the Mexicans

And it's like Oh my God I just I don't see it I just I don't I'm not trying to make fun of the Mexicans I don't like it I don't like it. It seems like they've,

it seems like they have gone after the Hispanic community for years with their jerseys. We should really review what's going on in Los Angeles. This is terrible. Well, as you guys can see, Mo's camera just turned off because you ran out of storage. As always, because he's extremely unprepared.

So I think we'll cut it out there. We've got to take six jerseys. That'll be fun. Wow. This is terrible. They're coming for the Hispanic community. We need to talk. We need.

to talk. Yeah. But I feel like the Spursons are making fun of the Mexicans more. This shit is so bad. They're making fun of the Mexican. Holy shit. It's an attack. It's an attack.

It's like, I'm telling you, it's like YGs go loco, but like on a jersey. It's terrible. It's just hilarious. It's offensive. It is. All right. Well, as always, that's the end of the show.