The Deep 3 Podcast - Luka Doncic Has NO HELP... But It's His Fault | Ep. 13

Episode Date: December 1, 2022

Luka Doncic has no help on the Mavericks, but it's because he's too good. Listen on Spotify!: https://open.spotify.com/show/3elbbqVumwqz8wlIdknsLW Follow us on TikTok!: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedeepthree Follow us on Instagtam!: 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 I think today we're going to talk about a few teams that we haven't shown enough light on throughout the first few episodes of the season. But number one, we have to talk about the Dallas Mavericks. Right now, it's Tuesday night, 9.50 p.m. The crazy game between the Mavs and Warriors just ended. I want to hear y'all's reactions. That was crazy. Listen, Steph had a three where at the end of the game, he's, you know, does the classic

Steph relocate the type of stuff. His a three falling away in the corner. And I'm sitting there and I'm just like, this is, you know, this is why i like basketball like that's the that's the exact like step courage just this is why i watched the game yeah yeah bro it's it was i love i love basketball but i especially love and so much admire the way the warriors play they could have had in that one possession i at least saw like two shots that players could have taken out but like okay that's like a good shot but step curry fucking maniac dude took at least what it seemed like to me one of the worst shots

that you could take he took a quick ass dribble quick ass pounded the dribble and at the right wing he threw it up and that bro he had one of the most beautiful switches in the NBA that I've seen over the past week. Yeah, the Warriors look great well they didn't win the game obviously spoiler they lost by two points

or I don't even freak those things I don't know like three Okay yeah it was one 16 one 13 Gotcha so they've looked a little bit better as of late But we're not here to talk about the warriors We know what they expect from them We haven't talked about the Dallas Mavericks like at all this season And given how Luke has been playing Given the Russia construction issues

they have like I feel like we have to remedy that right now so yeah what are I'll ask you first donovan what's your general thought on the Dallas Mavericks right now one-liner they're one-dimensional yeah that's hard to argue with it's it's the it's the it's the main thing that that jumped off the screen and and like when you look at at the box score and so for a little bit of context then we got thrown out of the game in the third order right and so he goes he he's he's driving to the basket Jordan Poole's defending him he takes the bump then we tries a euro step and just gives pool an elbow to the jaw and they end up giving him a flagrant too he's thrown out before the fourth quarter even starts and so the

offensive load goes to luka as it normally does but even more you know he did you know he did because of that he put on an absolute fucking lucca don't just master class 30 point triple double it was incredible he finished with 41 he finished with 41 points 12 rebounds 12 assists oh 40 point triple double i undersold him yeah yeah this is so we're talking about the masterclass but that does go back what you're saying the one-dimensionalness showed out

and they were up by like 17 in the first quarter so they won the game but I think you kind of saw the downside of that one-dimensionalness by the fact of the warriors stormed back into it

100% 100% and I think yeah sorry didn't me cut you off what's your thoughts on the math so far besides the one-dimensional

is the perfect word for that in other word that I'll use for them is that they have a ceiling you know there's a lot of teams in the NBA in general where you're like okay you know everything clicks you know they're

seeing it's pretty much limit you can say that for the bugs you can say that for the Celtics you said that for the nuggets you can say that for the Warriors you can say that for hell maybe even a team like the Memphis Grizzlies or the Norse pelicans but if everything goes right you get your point go ahead yeah you get my point you get my point and you can say that for every single team except for the house matters because of the way they're set up and they just have a a lot of they have issues on their roster that were partly self-inflicted and then other for other reasons they're just like they're they're tied into this weird gray area because lucca

dodges is just so goddamn good and we're seeing luca literally like suffer for success in all the good ways but also bad ways in the future i say number one that way because like every young player has their co-star or counterpart and the dallas maver's never had that opportunity to go ahead and get one because Lucas is such a god he's literally Superman and he can he's an NBA playoff team alone by himself damn near you know he's he's he's he's a dude by himself he's a team by himself and it's fantastic to watch and I love watching it but what's kind of funny also this is just a random ass side tangent this is like what James Harden was doing except for a very very larger large amount of time and that's really

I'm glad you brought that up by the fact that the Ross construction was really like strangled by the fact that he was so good right away because this is the first year that it's a let me track back a little bit that's always been the narrative right we've known for a few years that they weren't able to make this core around him for the reasons you outlined but this is the first year that you really feel it because Jaylon Brunson is now gone and they lost him for nothing so that whole thing like two years ago they had Brunson and they had Christoph's prosengis so that kind of like you know gave you multiple outlets around Luca at the time we still thought there wasn't enough. So now that you have neither of those guys and you replace them with extra

dimwitty minutes, Christian Wood, who is a whole other topic, we'll get to in a little bit. We're starting to feel that one dimensionless to be exasperated because of that. And it's led to maybe a liquidantre's MVP season, but do we think that can translate to the playoffs? Probably not. Yeah, I don't, I don't know. You, listen, it also doesn't help that Reggie Bullock sucks right now. It also doesn't help. It also doesn't help that Dore Infini Smith sucks right now. and your two guys who are supposed to be three and D guys aren't giving you any three at all. And so, like, tonight, Reggie Bullock combined, Reggie Bullock and Finney Smith combined for one for seven from three. That's, that's just, they can't get it done.

And if you're, if you're Luca and you come out and you have 41, and every time you drive into the paint, they're going to send the double. And you know as a shooter that you're going to get the ball, you have to knock down one of them. Like, they're lucky that Josh Green came out tonight. and he was three or five from three, they are not counting on Josh Green in the playoffs. That's not going to happen. He's not going to get that. They might,

they might. They're going to have to count on him as a problem. And that's nasty. That's nasty. That's nasty. That like John, he played 27 minutes tonight. If he's getting 27, 30 minutes a night in the playoffs

and he's a legitimate part of your rotation, you're in trouble. Yeah. And Tim Hardaway Jr. also at 22 points. Like, are you going to rely on that from a relatively inconsistent player? It's kind of tough. And it's interesting because we're talking about, obviously, one ball handler, two when Dean Whitties there, like, that's clearly their issue.

And it's interesting how that's played out in the numbers. Because I know, like, a couple years ago, they set the record, like, the highest offensive rating of all time. Like, they were an absolutely ridiculous, well-oiled machine, partially because Rick Carlisle, partially because the players around Luca. This year, they're actually the 12th offense, the 12th defense and the 11th offense. So you kind of like see that explicitly in the numbers, you know what I mean? Yeah, exactly. like nowadays in the NBA specifically today like

you know this one man band type offense it can work but it can only go so far because analytics and defenses are just getting I won't say better and better but when it comes to

yeah you're right yeah you're right yeah but like when it comes to just like the mindset of a defender these days like we just see if this was back in 2005 and 6 and 7 and shit Luca would have fucking he he would get a championship playing this style offense for sure but today it's not going to fly though not anymore at least i think you're what you're talking about it's relation to analytics people know now that if you put

the ball in lucidant's hand let's say i don't know what the exact number is but every possession that he either shoots the ball or passes it is a 1.2 points of possession play so in the regular season over the long haul that's going to be an efficient offense right but to your point when you get to the playoffs teams are so advanced now defensively that one it's hard as fuck to play that way so you're going to burn out like we saw with James Hardin year after year after year. And two, it's just they're going to do what every team does now where they're going to say either we're going to double team him and make

all these shitters beat us or let's you score every play and make you be the one guy that beats us and nobody else does anything. And that's kind of hard to out shoot somebody when you're going against somebody like the Boston Celtics who can also play that elite defense and be the top offense in the league. Donovan. Did you see that stat the other day

that said, it put out some wild stat. It said that the Dallas Mavericks have X amount of have won X amount of games whenever Luca Donuts scores 30 points are over and when he doesn't score 30 I believe they lost every single game that's embarrassing for the this season this season yeah it makes sense it makes it makes it makes sense and it plays and it plays out I mean Luca first off he's he's leading the league in scoring right he scored he scored 30 in basically every single game so like it doesn't surprise me that that's kind of how how it plays out

but what we've talked about already is the fact that they don't have a legitimate second ball handler and they lost that in Brunson and we've talked about that before the other part on that is they traded to go get Christian Wood and the Christian Wood experience hasn't been fantastic tonight he was two of 12 oh five from three right he finished with four points three fouls let's talk about Christian Wood yeah because Yeah, the thing is, that's not going to get it done. I don't know how plugged in y'all are with Mavs, Twitter, for some reason I am. And the number one thing they're calling for it in the past, like, four three-game losing streak they had is they want him to play more.

People were like, their coach needs to take the leash off of Christian Wood and let him thrive and, like, try to be who he can be. But that's kind of tough when you have the 24th rim defense in the league. And part of that is because his bigger playing all the time is inept as a defender. So, like, how good offensive does he have to be to make it worth it for his defense? he has to be as good as he was opening night and opening night he went crazy yeah you can't be two for 12 I'll tell you that exactly exactly but he went crazy he was shooting for three

he was like he had he was like at least five or six from three he had a 16 no personal run like he's gonna have to be on that level to do that and but like are we are we expecting that from Christian Wood like we haven't seen we haven't seen consistent great Christian Wood minutes for about two and a half years now since he was in Detroit. Is the trade-off worth it?

Like, because in my mind, it's like, if you go ahead and play Christian Wood that much, you're basically representing the defense of a whole house. Everyone can get somebody to you. You're getting ran through every single night. And I'm not sure if it's worth it.

Like, that's something that only somebody in the South would say. This is from Georgia. That's ridiculous. Oh, my God. That's okay. I'm from, listen,

we're from Texas. And like, that's a different level of southern. That's crazy. I'm being honest, bro. But to your point, I see what you mean. I think another thing to mention it is, that can't have been spit it out. I got to get a drink of water.

That's ridiculous. Okay. So another thing to mention along the Christianville conversation is that their front court issues aren't just based around him. They use one of their only non-minimum contracts, non-minimum contracts this summer for Javelle McGee. They gave him their taxpayer mid-level. Oh my God. I forgot about that. Yeah, and everyone forgot because he's been asked.

That's the problem. So you have all this money tied up, not all this money, but, you know, one of their only vessels to get better tied up in Jabel McGee, who lost the starting spot to Dwight Powell, who hasn't been great himself, and then you trade for this guy who hasn't been great himself, it's like, what's the answer? A lot of Mazfan thinks it's Christian Wood and Kleba playing more minutes together, but that's not super inspiring. So that was an awkward transition because we had some technical issues just now with Mo's Mike, but we're back. I think we were talking about the Mavs back front court being shit so we know that they have front court issues despite having a lot of money tied up there no secondary ball handler what I want to know now is what's the answer what do they do about this listen I mean you talked a lot about like Mavs fans trying to try to

influence however they can to get a Christian wood maxie cleaver lineup and I mean to be fair it's it's worked it's been a very small sample size we've won't according to cleaning the glasses we've only had 98 people possessions of that throughout the year but that lineup is it's plus 29.4 points damn maybe they're right it's it's ridiculous and so like that that lineup out the fans yeah that lineup is third on on cleaning the glass the second one is donchitz dinwitty bullock fennie smith and mcgee and we're we're not going to see that for a while because again McGee he's not even getting into the game he's dmp you know coaches decision so maybe would and cleavers

Maybe that's the answer? I don't know. Yeah, maybe it's worth to try, I guess, but I understand why Wood isn't super heavy in the rotation because everything you know about Christian Wood, he isn't the most inspiring locker room guy that doesn't. Coaches don't typically love him, I'll say it that way. So there's probably a reason he's not getting opportunity

if he's not in the eyes of fans, you know what I mean? Yeah, I think the Mazz are cooked in terms of the actual long-term, like, success. And the only thing that they can do is, basically what they did with the Christos-Prasignus situation a couple years ago. Hope and pray and just build as many assets so you can capitalize on another disgruntled star. Yep. That's what it is. I don't want to see Bradley Beale or anything like that.

You need someone who actually fits because this is probably like one of your last chances. One of the last mistakes that you, yeah, one of the last sense you'll be able to make. So. Yeah. I'm glad you brought that up because after this year, they're not going to owe any more first-on-pixane teams. so they'll have their full slew of them so they'll be able to trade a maximum of five picks so when like you said when a new start

I think that's their whole point is that they're not going to trade any picks to make short-term upgrades right now they're going to save them and then this summer maybe next trade deadline maybe the summer after that whenever the next star gets open to grab is maybe it's Carl Anthony Towns or I don't know

whoever else you think might become available they can scoop in and give the hall absolutely but that's a long wait and it doesn't do much help this year and it's hard to waste Luka-Danchage MVP type level seasons. Who cares? He's 23. Let him collect these MVPs. Like, you know what I'm saying? You say that. Just enjoy it. You say that, right? Like, from the fan perspective, yeah, let's just enjoy Luca while we can. There's a time, right? Like, the, the, there's already a

timeline set where you have to start winning. And if you keep bringing in guys who are, who are either not good enough, right? You bring in your, your Christop's prison against, you're Christian Woods and you keep trying to get like these these stopgap bigs to play with Luca or you just don't do anything at all he's out the door right back there's the anybody in the league is a hundred percent willing to go give him the bag and anybody will go give him as much money as he wants

he's gonna go and find a situation where he wants to play basketball and it's not been a money thing either what's up like he can request trade no I mean like it's not even free agency it's like he's got five years on this contract but if in three three years from now like It's okay. It's too early to be talking about this because he has five years left, but if we get three seasons down the lines, they haven't made trade for a big star. Maybe they do again, like, and it fails like Chris House for Zingis, the conversations will begin at some point. Oh, yeah. They fucked up a lot already. They haven't really had any, like I said earlier, they really didn't have any room to fuck up as much because Lucas so damn good.

And then they had the opportunity with Chris House prozingis naturally didn't fail. I would have done the same thing back then if I were then, like everyone would have because it was a fucking swindle at the time. But you fail with that Then you go ahead And you Miscalculate how much Jalen Brunson is worth And you don't pull the trigger

And by the time You like attempt to pull the trigger He's worth way too much money For you And it's just like a whole mess Over there It's a whole mess Yeah

And I feel I don't feel sorry for Madge fans Y'all are spoiled Fuck y'all y'all Y'all got I'm a hawk So you have to remember You got the worst

Lukashic You got the worst look atonjit. You got a little brother Yeah I think that's the thing I think that's the extent of what we've got to talk about with the Mavs. Everyone knows what it is. Luca has no help.

He's not going to get any help anytime soon. We just got to watch him cook. Who's next on the list? I'm excited for this one. Let's move over to another white king of the NBA. Let's talk about the Denver Nuggets. Oh, yeah, white king. Wow.

What about gender? Are you trying to push Isaac? No, listen. Listen, you, y'all need to pull up Isaac's fantasy team. Pull up Isaac only draft white men. Listen, I have Luke. Donchich and De Montesabonis is my top two picks and I got Lowry marking in it's not on purpose I don't like black players I just end up with them every year man listen we got to keep it out on Isaac oh my god they're not gonna know you're under the scope right now

they're gonna huh the only non-black guy in the podcast likes white players a lot we're 100% joking we're 100% yeah someone's gonna take this seriously for real but I will say Nicole Yokic might be my top five whites that are alive. Wow. Across all of culture. Listen, listen, we're going to have to do a one-off draft of just top five whites. Like, just top five white dudes alive. Yeah.

Across every genre. But listen. Like, it's Mac Miller, Nicole Yokic, like, their neck and neck. That's a strong duo. And Yokic, listen, Yokin's coming off a back-to-back MVP's, I said before the season that he wasn't going to win. MVP he hasn't come off in the first i guess like 20 something games playing an MVP style but yeah the nuggets how that that's what that's what's that like the nuggets they've come on though

they've started to come on their second in the west like there's they're looking the way that we kind of thought that they were going to look at the beginning of the season for sure especially over the last month or last like for the year i wrote this down they're 25th in offense somehow but second in defense which when you think about the players they have on their team especially this happened a couple years ago yeah but If you look at the last month of just November, they're second in offense. So they're starting to pick up,

and that's why they rose the second in seating in the west. And I think a big part of that is because Jamal Murray is starting to pick it up. He's back to averaging like 20 and 6, like he did a couple years ago after a slow start. But I don't even, right now, I want to put to the side to talk about the team as a whole. I'm going to get back to a point you just made in passing.

You said the first two months of season, Nicole Yokich isn't necessarily playing an MVP level. You're not wrong. But I want to hear why you think that, like, what's a difference between this year and last year? I think the biggest difference is just the scoring. It's just the overall volume of scoring for it. It's just the volume of scoring for him because, like, the efficiency, he's still a very efficient player. We're still seeing, like, him being able to pass out the post and set people up and, like, all that stuff is really good.

But when you look at what he's done over the last two years, which is, you know, most likely been out of necessity because he hasn't had the help. But he's been scoring 26, 27. That number's dropped by five or six points. And so... That's what I want to talk about. Yeah. So he averaged 27 last year. Right now he's averaging 23.

But he also has one more assists per game. He's like almost at 10. And his true shooting percentage went up. He's currently at 70% true shooting percentage. There's been... So right now he's, it's ridiculous. He's by far the most efficient volume score in the NBA. It's him and Curry.

You're like by far one and two. So one thing I want to say is In the history of the NBA There's never been a player To average 35 points per 100 possessions And have a true shooting percentage That's 13% higher than league average Right now Nicole Yokish

Is the first person to ever do that this year So All the nerds are uniting right now So why is the fact that he Is making two less shots per game Because he has more help around him And doesn't need to take so many shots But he's just as efficient

Same level of defender Same level of playmaking why does that make him a worse player or why does it make him a less impressive season? You know what I mean? To tag along onto that is like his three point shooting

has dropped off a fucking cliff he's like shooting 29% from the field right now or from the three point line that I just saw and to hear those efficiency numbers still it's fucking crazy bro

if he was taking him oh my god year by year he's taking less and less three's and moving his shots closer and closer to the basket which is why he's shooting a ridiculous percentage there but yeah like

why is he less impressive to you this year just because he's taking two less shots per game you know what I mean like I feel like he's on the same level it's just people overvalue that scoring number you know what i mean like 27's more impressed than 23 but everything else around that is just as great if not better well when you've set the standard for yourself at 27 at like when when the standard for you is 27 14 and 8 and then you come

out and now you're at 23 8 and 10 and kind of like the rebounding numbers have dropped down a little bit like you said the assist numbers have gone up but now you have two made love like the major counting sats going down so just on the surface it looks it looks less impressive and then this whole season it's not the past two seasons specifically last season was a yokech has absolutely nobody we're just watching him cook like look like look at him have the type of seasons that a westbrook is having that a harding can have that a luca's having right now where he's just doing everything this this entire season is a hundred percent a ramp up of let's get michael mickel potter junior back in let's get Jamal Murray back in.

And so we're not seeing that, we're not having the same moments because that's not the focus this year. The focus is trying to get those other guys back in, back in the mix. Yeah, absolutely. So, like, it just looks, it just looks different. But also, it's the same thing where it's like, if you look at what the Warriors did a couple years ago and it's like, hey, you can't have, you can't have, um, Steph Curry or, or KD win MVP because you have good players on your team.

Obviously, obviously, they're not to that level in Denver, but, but like, it's, But you see what I'm saying? Like he doesn't have no help now. And that's the thing. That's not a chip on his belt like it was before. It's not part of the argument. I just think we see a lot of comments and not to say YouTube comments and I'll be all. But the general narrative around Yokic right now is that like he's not in these conversations that some of the top guys are.

Like last year if you're listening to the top five players in the league, most smart people are going to put Yokch in their top three. Right now because of the recency bias, a lot of people might not. And I just think that's weird because the reasons for that are like so clear. You know what I mean? Like he's obviously not a worst place. player now because he's taking less shots for obvious reasons yeah well so you would so you would still have him in in your top three sure I mean I don't know if I if I ever did he was like number three I just think I wouldn't change my opinion on him based off from this year to last year

you know what I mean so if you had him at four before I think he's still four if he had a three he's still three like I don't think anything's changed he's not worse this year by any means yeah definitely he's not worse and I definitely agree don't even hit it literally right on the money like and I think it's just because, like, people, like you said, like you had this conversation a while ago, a couple of podcasts where you and Donover were going out. It's it for 10 fucking for, like, felt like for 20 minutes straight over Yilkech winning

MVP or not. And, like, Yolkich just trying to acclimate his people first and worrying about everything else later is a huge part of the reason why, you know what I'm saying? He's only averaging, what, 23 points per game this season. And I don't see envision him winning MVP or getting any real. Well, she's probably going to get, like, top, top three chatter just because of, not just because, but the Nuggets are going to be fucking elite this season, or they are elite this season, but I don't think anyone's going to seriously consider him to win MVP, like, at all. Yeah, and the thing is, he's probably not trying to try him an MVP. He's like, he's been there, done that, he's probably trying to save himself a little bit, prepare for the playoffs, but getting the maclimate it, so.

Speaking about MVP, just for a quick second, we talked about this lad podcast, but it's still a damn, it's still damn. shame the phoenix suns are like number one in the west and devon booker just dropped like 44 last night and he still has zero i mean zero MVP talk at all do we care not at all god if i was a phoenix suns fan i'd be sick to my stomach sick sick you kidding me you're right but don't give a shit let's not talk about it another interesting I want to get back to Yokis

I want to get back to a player that actually matters but anyways the Jamal Murray is actually taking more shots this year than Nicola Yokic Yokic is only taking

13.6 shots per game Jamal Murray is at 15 and a half even though that Yolkits is shooting 62% and Jamal is at 43% Like that, that's the reason why we're not seeing the MVP stuff and why we're not doing that. Because, again, that's not what this year is about. What we should give him credit for is this is, this is the leadership type of stuff that we see and that we ask for from the stars. Like anybody else, anybody else who's coming off with back-to-back MBPs can say, hey, this is my team.

I'm going to go out. I'm going to get mine and you guys can figure out where you guys are going to fit in. And he's saying from the jump, it's about, it's about my teammates because I know. once I get to May, I'm going to need Jamal Murray to be that. I'm going to need MPJ to be that. So we should give him his roses on that front and on the ultimate leadership front. And

I mean, we can go from there. He's still top five and do all that. I just don't think that MVP is in a card for him right now. Yeah. My only worry is that in the as the season progresses and as the postseason starts to live on or whatever, I don't want to see him doing, not coasting that he's doing

at all, but I want to see him be more aggressive and take it up to that MVP. he's notch once he's in the second round third round or whatever the case maybe that's the thing that's i think he still is no i mean i don't think taking less shots makes he's not playing at the nopi level you know what i mean like he's still doing the play making still making all the shots like i just think it's more like just more possessions where jemma or even's picking roles like not yeah when yokech has the ball like his fair share like he's still doing the same level of like no he's not being passive by any means he's had an

issue of being passive in the past and i feel like that's That's a part of the reason why he had a little... Has he? Early in his career, early in his career. Back when he was fighting for minutes with fucking use of Nurkich, yeah, most definitely had an issue with being passive. When he's fighting to make the roster, yeah.

I think since he's become Nicola Yokic, he's been very comfortable taking enough shots and being like that guy. And I mean, we've seen this version of Yonka for, what, three, four years now? Like, I don't think a lack of aggression especially in terms of like shot taking from him I don't think that's that's an issue

I do see what you mean though like I'm saying that like it doesn't really matter but I see what you mean that when you get to the big stages you want the guy that shoots a 70% two shooting percentage to take more shots than not so I get what you mean in terms of like right now it's while getting Jamal integrated but when it's crunch time it needs to be more Yokic's hand

so I see your point you need that ISO you need that Kobe ISO right here okay that's funny Yeah, I see your point. One thing before we get off the nuggets, one thing I have to mention, Aaron Gordon has been incredible this year. Like, he does not get his flowers because he's Aaron Gordon and, like, who gets a shit. But he's currently shooting 70% on twos and 38% on threes.

Like, if he wasn't playing as amazing as he was, they would have struggled a lot more early in the season. That's fair. That's fair. My thing with Aaron Gordon, and like you said, like Aaron Gordon might fall into that category of we do not care because the only, he's made me not care about his actions. actual basketball. He's the only thing that I, like, associate Aaron Gordon with is, oh, he got robbed in the dunk contest twice. Damn. He's made that, he's made that a very big part of his

personality. So he can go and shoot 50% from three. I probably wouldn't care. I'll be like, listen, I'm going to need to see a dump. Yeah, but it's been nice though. As we know, we're talking about Ron Murray a lot, but there's still Michael Porter Jr. is coming back this year who has been all right. He's shooting still like 42% from three. He's being his normal sniper self, still doing absolutely nothing with the ball in his hands, just being a shooter. But I think the thing we saw with his restiness is he's not shooting from two quite as well because back before he got hurt, him and Yokic had this amazing connection with backdoor cuts where any time MPJ caught the ball going downhill, there's an automatic dunk.

We haven't seen that this year, but Aaron Gordon has kind of taken that role in a lot of plays and that's why he's being so amazing for twos right now. It's pretty good to see. This team just works in unison. I love it, bro. Every pairing feeds off of each other extremely well. And they got KCP Everything makes so much sense on paper for them

Question for y'all So if Michael Porter Jr. is just relegated To just be a three point shooter Do you think that's okay for Denver Considering that like Bones Highland has really taken Like a step forward in this offense And that like he can be kind of the The like driving type of force

I think it's okay in that It won't make the team worse Like they'll be good But it's not okay And that you're paying this guy max money to be Kyle Corver but big so like at a certain point since they're going to get to the point financially where it's going to be hard to pay all these guys and some people are going to kick out the door and when that becomes the case it's going to be tough when this guy does nothing with a

ball in his hands yeah exactly like short term yeah it's okay like as long as they're winning doing her thing you have bone Thailand who's doing all the things that he can't do but like yeah like long term you pay him all that money for a fucking reason he was a top like three recruit a couple years ago and he was supposed to be a top three draft pick back in the 2018 draft for a fucking reason he has all this potential and they paid him based off of that potential just not for him to fulfill it you know they don't they need him to fulfill it and it's not like like people could easily say like oh he's like clay Thompson clay doesn't do a whole lot with the ball in his hands but prime clay

let alone being a better shooter but prime clay was also a very impactful defensive player you'll never be able to same thing about you'll never say that about stiff ass michael porter That's what I'm about to say, yeah, step the back ass. If you're giving shooting great, you're not given defense, you're not giving playmaking, you're not giving shot creation, like, you got to check at least two of these boxes, you know what I mean? Facts. Yeah.

All right, it makes sense. It makes sense. Yeah. But no, they're an interesting team. We all predicted them to be very high in the West standings before the season. I think I might have had them as the one seed. I think we all had them as the one seat. Listen, they're only a game back of Phoenix.

They're only a game back of Phoenix right now. And so, listen, we keep harping up. on Phoenix being irrelevant don't let Denver get the number one seat because I promise you we will never talk I don't think Damien Lee's gonna make that happen man you should have seen what it did to the beam team last night so I heard

you was a beam team fan they keep bro they keep working out after these games oh my goodness that was terrible bro oh my goodness real quick DeAndre 8 is coming alive in the past week and he's been putting up like 28 points 30 points like looking really good and that's

an encouraging sign pull up I see a bug on my floor across the room. I got to kill this bitch for it. Oh, he's scary. He'll keep talking. Exterminator Isaac in the building. You know, you know, you know, you know why DeAndre is, it's playing as well as he is, right? He got the, listen, he got the, uh, he shaved his facial hair.

Oh, yeah, he has a little guilty. He's looking real islandy right now. Like, he's, oh, okay. He's looking real islandy right now. He, his, like, facial hair has finally grown into his, like, old man face. it's a it's a it's a great thing to see i think i think as a as a whole he's finally coming together i was so concerned as to where you were going with this but let's focus on the real and you have to i killed the bug broke or his flowers bro finally okay i can stop talking about bbook now thank god

what was next ha ha ha ha ha ha ha it was a grasshopper jumping around i was throwing slides i don't know if you could hear in the mic but yeah that sounds like you were getting stumped out i was like holy shit we're just fuck love that Okay, and no more talking about the signs. Don't give a fuck. Don't forget it either. We do not give a fuck about the signs. I'll be on record.

We're the podcast that doesn't give a fuck about the signs. Yeah. Third team we've got to talk about today. We've got to talk about my new favorite young point guard in the NBA. Move aside, Trey Young. This is Tyrese Halliburton's League. The Pacers are the biggest surprise of the season. The Pacers pass up the Jazz is the biggest surprise.

The Pacers are a legitimately good team. Tyrese Halliburton has made the leap to being a future potential superstar. And I'd love to see it. We're talking about the Pacers before the Suns. This is fantastic. Yeah, this is dirty. We're talking about Indianapolis, bro. People are really going to have.

And I'll do it over and over again. People want your head-upy. I will have a Tyreys Halliburton segment on every episode of this podcast. Yeah. I love Tyrese Hallibur, bro. One thing that I absolutely hate myself over is not naming him the MIP. I 110% believe that this dude is going to be in. should be without a question out of down my mind an all-star and i fucking want to like just

chope myself out when i when i go back and list that podcast of me naming jalen bruce you relax is fucking hooping out of the ass right now it's just going crazy listen i'm i'm good at my predictions okay it's not everything good at home no are you terrible look at the hawks record look at what my team is fucking doing you ask me if everything's okay right now hey hey is tyrese hallibur is about tyrese Tyrese is fucking elite. I love the way he played basketball, bro. This year.

Yeah. So really get in real quick. Tyreys Halliburton is playing at an all-star level. The past three games, he's actually had 40 assist and zero turnovers. Think about that for a second. That's never happened before in NBA history. And he also has 60 points. So he's out in these ridiculous.

20 and 13 over the last year stretch with zero turnovers. That's maddening. That's insane. That's what I say. So before the season, before the season and went our hot take segment, oh, we forgot to do hot takes.

Yeah. Oh, wow. We did. We'll get back to that. We'll do it at the end. This season, before the season started, somebody asked us as a hot take,

are Shea Gilders Alexander and Tyreys Halliburton going to be All-Stars. We said, yes, Shay, probably not Tyrese because their team's going to suck. Yeah. He is playing at the level we thought, but we thought the team would hold him back. This team's not going to hold them back.

They're currently like the five-seat or something like that. They're really good. Yeah, and a lot of Pacer's fans just interestingly enough are fucking in Arlen low-key shambles because we all know that this is not good for them. I remember when we had Kenny on our podcast and did like, you know, what team deserves

Wembegiano and I was like, bro, I want to see fucking Tyrese and Wembe fucking hoop. That's the best basketball. That's the best basketball outcome, period, for Wemianano and Tyrese Halliburn, bro. Yeah. But what were you saying? It sounded like you were about to say something important, Donovan.

Listen, I don't know. I don't know. this. Here's what I'm going to say about the faces. Tyrese is hooping and they're doing all of this with two guys who we thought we're going to be out of there at the beginning of the year and Miles Turner and Buddy Healed. We, Miles Turner tweeted out, you know, he tweeted out the like, come get me or something like that, trying to, you know,

sent some of that. He won't Adrienne Wojianowski's podcast. Tom Mossom if I was the Lakers, that would trade for me. Yeah, he was trying to, he was trying to send the bat signal out to L.A. for them to come get them and somehow they've managed to be 12 and 8 Ben and Dick Matherin is fantastic he's he's yeah he's he's he's him and I just like

I'm very very shocked because not only is the offense is the offense is the offense at like playing at a really high level they're 13th in the league for the for the year in defensive rating right and so this isn't a this isn't a situation like like the Sacramento Kings and I don't

I don't want to hate on the Kings I actually want to apologize to the Kings fans I was I was hating just to hate. I'm actually on the beam team now. But for the paces, they're not just running up and down the court trying to outscore everybody, right? Like, their upper half in the league

in both categories, that's really, really big. And like Isaac said, they are a legitimately good team. Like, they do it on both ends of the floor. Let's talk about how. Let's talk about this Roger construction because I think it's like the perfect recipe

to be a fun team. You know what I mean? Like, their whole thing is they have this elite driving force point guard who is pretty heliocentric at this point he's like a 30% usage rate which is like really high it's like top five in the league

of course yeah and then they surround him with hell of spacing so not only do they have shooters like Andrew Nemhard buddy healed um I'm blinking on who else oh Aaron Neesmith like tons of wings I can shoot threes really high level

but the biggest piece has put it together this year is Miles Turner who's been hooping his ass off now that he's a full-time center and not this like weird four next to Demontis the bonus so he's always behind the arc he's a true five now who's given them that five out spacing and they're not the best three-point shooting team in the league they're like middle of the pack but their volume is super high and the spacing

that's being created for tyrese to go in and pick teams apart with his elite passing is just incredible isn't it's a very clear why the 10th best offense yeah so for four for tyrese just just some numbers for some for some context according to cleaning to cleaning the glass so he's in the 98th percentile in usage rate he's at 29 percent he's in the 100th percentile and assist percentage at 51% yeah good lord that is for those who don't know these percentiles a hundredth percentile means he's better than a hundred percent of the league so he's number one 98 percentile means it's better than 98 percent in the league so he's top two percent so it's crazy and the assist percentage what what percentage of his teammate shots did he assist on and he's assisting on

over half of his teammate shots it's it's ridiculous yeah so like when you talk about him him being in Helio Centric, like, it's, it's very, very cool to see somebody this young, like, make those reads. And he made the read two nights ago to find, to find the open shooter, to hit the buzzer beater against the Los Angeles Lakers. Love seeing the Lakers in shambles. It's fantastic. But, like, those are the kinds of plays that you're seeing from Halliburian, really on a nightly basis.

Yeah. And so I took, what's up? No, I was just going to add on to that. And to think that this dude fell all the way to, I forget what pick he was, but he was the 13. He was in the later end of the lottery, like 13 to the Sacramento Kings. Guys like Kellian Hayes

fucking went before him, bro. Kelly and Hayes did an idea. Leave killing alone. Fucking nasty, bro. He's bad at basketball. Yeah, he's bad at basketball. Speaking about bad, the only, I love everything about Tyrese Halliburton's

game. He don't hold the ball. He don't, even though he's like a ball dominant point, or he doesn't feel like he's dragging the offense or ever holds the ball too long. His pacing is CP3 fucking like. It's insane. But one thing about him that always throws me off is that whenever he

shoots the ball. Yesterday I saw him hit a goddamn sidestep. I swear to God, I thought that was going to hit the off the left side of the backboard. Every shot that he shoots, it looks so off but it's so cash. He's shooting like 38 or 41% from the three point line. It's ridiculous out here.

Like the ass jump here. And this leads me to a TikTok But it works I'm going to name some I'm going to name some point guards And I want you to let me know Would you rather have them or Tyrese Halliborne? Did I say that right?

Quick transition into the TikTok fire Okay Okay You ready? Darius Garland Fuck You know I'm the biggest Darius Garland

I'm the biggest Darius Garland fan in the world But I might have to pick Tyrese Hallibor And I don't know This is hard This is hard Where you see why is kicking his ass or what? I'm going to take Darius.

I'm going to take Darius just because I've seen him do it before over a longer period of time. But if you took Tyrese, I would not be mad. I think that the size Tyrese has will make him a little bit better a defender in their primes when they both get to a decent level. Yeah. And as great as Darius is, I think Tyrese is a little bit higher of a ceiling as a playmaker. Like he's going to be a top five passer in the NBA. I'm pretty confident in that. The only thing that separates them a little bit for me and why I might pick Darius.

I'm probably going to pick Darius Garn is because of the amount of separation that you can create and just how nice this handles are. I think that kind of takes us to a little, but again, the defense that Tyrese can provide. Anyways, there's no wrong answer. I love both these players with all my heart. Yeah, that's a crazy way to start. All right, the Mello ball. Oh, I'm taking Tyrese. Oh, I'm taking Tyrese.

I think the Mello is getting kind of underrated. He's also incredible. I think they're incredibly similar players which is wild given their draft difference I guess I guess I'll give it to Tyrese but I'm not confident in that at all Like Lamella might be better

I don't know Man I already know Donovan's agenda against him All right Deer Fox Oh Tyrese Halliburton I have no issue saying that I'm taking Tyrese Deere's great, it's in a fantastic season

but I think it's going to be very soon that Tyrese is going to be a clearly better player because the playmaking is such a higher level i think that the the ceiling that or listen maybe this is maybe it's not it probably is the ceiling though the ceiling that dearon fox is reaching this year that's just going to be a level for tyrese halliburton like he still has he still has ways to go and so i'll take to i think it's a question now and this is the best version we'll ever see the air and fox and tirese like donman said still has room to grow wow that's crazy i think i think y'all are slightly disrespecting to the aaron fox uh i think he's

possibly has another ceiling left to go up there but yeah maybe i let's agree with tyrese too much but i think he's him i agree with you you're not wrong at all how many names did i give three or was that you give three you need a couple more no you're fine all right listen however many names you want to throw out there yeah you're any more questions any more people you want to put them against no i think those are the toughest questions i need i need i need i need just tough questions i can't ask jar or fucking tray or anything like that so i Yeah, yeah, let me be shit on Tyrese. As you said, Trey, Trey's a question.

Get the fuck out of here. Don't, don't get that. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Yeah. I think the last one, the last one would be, would you rather have Shet or Tyrese? I think that's like the last level. That's hard.

That's hard. Shay give us how old on. Say that. Save that. Save that. Don't talk about that. I think we have that later. Yes.

Save that. We have that in TikTok segments later. Okay. I forget. Okay, but going back to the patience, we'll quick to wrap it up. We mentioned they also have a top defense. I think the 13th, you said. Yeah.

What's interesting is, let me pull this up. They're currently, they have the number one rim defense in the league. Code. They have the number one rim defense in league in terms of percentage allowed, I mean, in terms of efficiency when teams get there. But they are 28th in frequency.

So teams are getting there all the time, but they're shooting very poorly. And to me, that makes total sense and you think about the roster construction. Because like we said, they have all these guards who are shooters. naturally they're not the best defenders but credit to Miles Turner

because Buddy Hill's getting blown by every play Naismus getting blown by every play but Miles Turner is shutting that shit down every single time they get to the rim better than anybody so props to him Pacers fans this is the time of their life I remember back in my prime YouTube days I was always bullied they've made

Eastern Conference Finals in like the last decade bro in the last 10 years they've ever since after their Paul George days Okay, I'm talking about, like, you know what I'm seeing, recent history, okay? Most of our fans are known but 12, 13, 14 years old. They've still made the playoffs.

What do you mean? Look, they've never bought them now as a franchise. Okay, historian. Fine, fine. We don't care about that. You don't care about the Paul Gorsays. Even though it's near and dear to my heart, I got a PG-13 jersey right there. But this is the time of their life.

I'm so happy that they're out of this mid-ass category. Now the only team left that I need to, you know, i'm saying i need them to snap out of whatever fucking they're literally illness and they has like they're the definition of mid right now who i'm on your head i'm on the wizards oh wait no no the pacers they're fourth they're fourth in the east they're like 13th in defense mid like no they're not no they're not they're not a mid team okay okay what are we talking about i'm just i'm just i'm just i'm just playing around i'm gonna go there you're right though it's a very good time there's lots of hope for the pacers this is the most hope the patients have had in a long

time because tyrese is in the ceiling to rebuild around they haven't had that since paul george facts what a what a great boat to what a great way to tie that up that's fantastic this is why we're the td3 good for them okay no we're going to do now we're going to move on to the aforementioned ticot segments let's do it we got these hot takes to get to oh yeah let's do the hot takes first because I completely forgot about those. So, I got some NBA hot takes for y'all like always. Y'all let me know if these are W takes or L takes. First one, devilish says that teams should,

can't talk, devilish says that teams should stop drafting centers high if they want to win. I'm going to give this an L take because there are certain centers out there. What does that mean? If there was another Nicola Yokic or Joe Lombid, you 100 times out of 100, depending on how the other draft prospects are, take them number one. You could argue that three of the best five players in the world are now are all big men between Janice, Yonkitch, and Embed.

Like, the position is just as great as ever when you have these guys come in the league that are ultra skilled and playmakers from the position. We can't let people like James Wiseman and DeAndre Aten as top picks make us think that they're just impossible to find good ones. Also, basketball's not like that. It's not like football where you can be like, oh, we don't draft running backs in the first round. If you have a good player and good talent, you go and you take them as high as you do. And victors are coming right around the corners. Like, obviously, big men are going to be highly drafted for quite some time. Dumbass.

I'm not going to include that. That's so mean. Okay. Next one. Fawn Ryder says that Alan Iverson is the best player to never win a championship. That's false. James Hardin. Probably an L take.

James Hardin is better. Charles Barkley is better. People were going to hate that you said James Harder is better than Alan Iverson, but it's absolutely correct. Yeah, it is. Yeah, but like stuff. We all like AI more, but come on. Facts.

Yeah, L-Tick. But the answer is Charles Barkley, even outside of James Hardin. True. Yeah. Like, oh, yeah. This is simple. It's easy. L-TIC.

Last one. J.C. says that Andrew Wiggins is better than Brandon Ingram. That's an L-Take. L. I can't. This is an L's around the board today. Initially, like, try to see my way through it, but my boy, I can't see my way through it. That's an L.

You can't do that. actually Andrew Wiggins contributed to winning on a championship team, you can blow up. No, it's not fucking true. Brandon Ingram is much better. Maybe the gap isn't as big as it used to be now that we've seen Wiggins find a role for himself, but Andrew Wiggins has a much higher...

I mean, but Brandon Ingram has a much higher ceiling. Yeah, no, he's out of his mind, bro. Okay. Well, those are hot things for the day. Sorry, they were bad, I guess. I didn't pick good ones that were debatable. Next thing we got... We're going to do a draft

because we know how much you guys love them. So I'm going to start trying to give us one to do every week. There are most viewed videos by far every single week. So let's give the people what they want. Today's one is going to be a little interesting. It's not going to be about the players play on the court. It's going to be a little different. I've been waiting for this.

Okay. I've been waiting. Let's draft NBA lineups based on how good, how I phrase this. Let's draft NBA lineups based on who has the best hands. Who do you want with you in a bar fight? Okay, okay Listen, I like this This is right of my alley

I first pick, right? I first pick I got second pick Moe's third pick I can see Moose cameras pause He's currently Googling names

Fuck you Fuck you fuck you Fuck you I will go first Undeniable Give me Ron Artes First point Oh I was hoping

We didn't pick Come on now Come on now That's easy That's funny Amazing pick It could just be Me and him

We're good I have a second pick I didn't realize I'm gonna prepare too I'm just like Hugh oh number two give me

give me the enforcer give me Bill Ambier nice okay that's cool he's not the most talented player but he's gonna punch the motherfuckers he also got punched a lot

he was getting beat up too so like okay but I like I don't have a pick I don't want Bill Ambier no too bad too bad No, you, yeah, you got to pick him.

You got to keep him, bro. Who was your number of picking again, Donovan? Ron our test. Okay, cool. You got Ron our test. I'm going to go ahead. Give me Ben Wallace and then give me James Jones. That's his name, right?

No, no, no. James Johnson. James Johnson, I believe. No, no, no, no. Hey, on me. You cannot do that. Y'all cannot do that. You said his name.

You cannot do that. It's not my fault. You're not prepared for these draft. Listen, listen. y'all cannot do that y'all know exactly who i'm talking about he one of the last times one of the last best seasons he's had okay okay just say it again you can pick james jonson james johnson all right okay he knows taekwondo bro you cut your head off he got that high out in him yeah second pick me junkyard dog give me zach randoff oh that's good that's good the bullies bully i like that

That's tough. That's so underrated. Okay. I should have picked them earlier. Okay. So I have run our test. I've run our test with me. Give me Stephen Jackson, Captain Jack.

Good pick. I'm taking him. And then on top of that, see, I don't know if I should go scrappy. Try to get, try to get, you know, a little, like, size, try to get some value there. Or if I should go with a big man. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to go with another kind of mid-sized guy. Give me Matt Barnes.

Give me Matt Barnes Matt Barnes Joe 30 hours Joe Joe down the PCAs to go fight Derek Fisher He he's about it Yeah

That's a good pick Black Air Force energy right there You know who I'm picking Fuck the hands Give me Gilbert Arenas Because I know in a bar fight He's packing me every time He's got my pack

Hey man You read the title of this video This is not what we're talking about Oh, my gosh. You said fuck the hands. I'm going to be protected. I'm good. You know what?

I got to go ahead and pick a big body. I don't even know if those little weak-ass bullets can stop for him by to say. I got to say Shaq. Give me Shaq on my team. And then along with Shaq. Shack can't fight. Along with Shaq. What?

Are you kidding me? Along with Shaq, give me Draymond Green. We know. I don't have to say. Oh, you're getting pieced up. Dremont. You're picking Dramon Green, bro. Give me Dennis Robin.

Dennis Robin is being the living shit out of Dremongering. Oh, I forgot Dennis was there. The recently biased kicking my ass. All right. So I'm just going to pick people from the 2004 Indiana Pacers. Yes. Give me, please give me Germain O'Neill on top of that. And then I will finish my roster with, who am I going to?

listen low-key under underrated fighter uh could throw well actually okay this is tough I was not prepared for my fifth thing so I will I will I completely forgot about this you know what give me Brandon Ingram

I like that I like that swinging him I feel you he's actually thrown a punch in an NBA fight and there's not a lot of guys should say that that's fine I like that one you know what I do my last pick I was going to pick

remain on you to go more hands give me demar de rosen you don't want to fuck a demar de rosen if you know you know oh you got demar it's okay because I got John well I got gang signed John wall it's gonna be a whole dude shoot out right here that we fair have

you got you got fake gang sign player I got Jamar to Rosen if you know what I mean oh hell no you crazy oh hell no I just got that set up a time place let's run it that's great I got John wall it's gonna be a hilarious video that we ended that

perfectly you're going to edit that one first i know you are god i can't wait to watch that tic-tok yeah this is going to be so good okay so next one's going to be a little different going back to basketball who are the most fun teams to watch in the NBA now listen i listen i got to give it up for the sacramental kings

wow they got to be up there listen i'm on the lead past MVP i'm on the beam team light it up to everybody this the Kings are very fun to watch. Wow, that boy finally got the hate out of his heart. I did. I did. Yeah, that's a great pick. What about you, Mo?

All I've been watching is the Hawks, so I'm kind of depressed, bro, so I don't know if this is a right question for me. But when I need to change my mood around, I have to say, the Phoenix Suns. See, Damien Lee, who like how he is, is kind of different. No, I'm so serious. The Phoenix Suns, bro. Capper. Terrible pick They haven't been as great as usual this year

But for me it's still the Golden State Warriors It's still the Warriors for me Like even though they've been struggling Steph Curry is so electric Like you gotta watch them night and night out basis That's yeah Cap aside for me personally You can say I was showing whatever

Cap aside I really love watching Dave is going on in the Cuban Cavaliers Oh with the Cavs are a great pick for sure Good good Yeah especially because Donovan Mitchell Was randomly turned into fucking 96 Jordan this year so like we can we can get you on the right path now you're headed towards towards prosperity i see the way i believe you this time i promise i see the way

obviously the grislies are in the conversation just because job brant night-in-night-out basis is electric yeah absolutely i want to say the new warrants pelicans there should be up there but sadly they're not i can count on my hands i feel like how many dunges zion has got off bro not as many there's two mid-range jumpers going on there too many cooks in the kitchen like it's they're great teams They're good, but it's not that fun to watch. Also, listen, when Lamello is there, when Lamello's there, the Hornets are up there.

A combination of Lamello ball and Eric Collins is the announcer. And that's a dynamic duo. That is all the adrenaline I need, bro. That is all the adrenaline I need. Facts. Oh, another team that's a sleeper is the Orlando Magic. I fucking love watching Franz, Bo, Bo, fucking hoop out of his ass, and also Paolo.

Beautiful. Yeah, that's nice. That's nice. Even though it's a poverty basketball, it's hell of fun. So that's a little deep cut pick. Yeah. Yeah, the Raptors are also in there. Just seeing all these six-nine guys, dual-h-h-nob things, and spread the ball.

I love the Raptors. I know you hate them for no reason, but I love the Raptors. Hell not. Shout out to Pascal, but, ugh. You must not have been watching OG this year. OG is taking that lead. Oh, OG is different. Oh, you're right about OG is different.

He's different. Nice. Okay, well, that's end of that segment. Look out for that one to be sponsored if you saw the first, version here you'll see a little surprise at the end shot to the world fans next up let's go the other way who are the least fun teams to watch in the NBA the Los Angeles Lakers gotta be as a Lakers fan I fucking hate it it's the worst thing in the world to watch the Lakers it's terrible it's terrible you got Russell Westbrook making stupid plays every

five minutes you got LeBron James who doesn't even look like he cares about basketball anymore got Anthony Davis who listen I'm not going to say anything about AD he's done his job he's stepped up. So to Anthony Davis, congratulations. But every night, I turn on the TV, watching the Lakers, thinking I'm going to have fun, and every night I have the worst time of my fucking life. I don't know why I do it. It's masochism. You lie to yourself every night. I feel the exact same way except for the Atlanta Hawks. There's nothing worse than watching a team who's supposed to be good, be incrementally worse. Yeah. Another team in a similar vein is the Timberwolves.

Oh, damn. Terrible. Anthony Anthony Edwards Anthony Edwards fun to watch Cat kind of fun to watch Gobert, not so fun Put all them together It's fucking awful The fit is horrible

Yeah Honorable mentions should be The Miami Heat I don't think they've been playing That bad of basketball But they have randoms come in and out Of the lineup every time I swear to God

I've seen someone who used to be My manager at Best Buy Go in there and hoop And he was playing super well Against the fucking Atlanta Hawks Who knows bro A lot of people Are gonna say the Sixers

But I disagree because I'm a James Hardin fan and I think Joellen Bede is electric So I like watching them But I understand if you don't Oh, we forgot the wizards The Washington Wizards Bro, they have 3 20 points scores

Relax They're not that bad to watch I don't hate watching the whistle I don't hate watching the Wizards Just because Kyle Kuzma's fun If they didn't have Kyle Kuzma And I didn't have the Lakers connection to him It'd probably be terrible

They're the definition of mid Like they're just a basketball team But they're good Like, they have, they have guys that fill out the stereotypical roles, but they don't do anything. You got good mid, you got bad mid. They're good mid, so I wouldn't put them in that conversation. Yeah, they're mid. Like, I like watching them a little bit, but it's hard to be super fun when your top two players.

Like, they're still mid. Yeah. It's hard to be fun to watch your top two players are Beal and Porzingis. Like, nothing about that sounds exciting. Yeah, y'all really need a fire up on the Charlotte Hornets. Who the hell wants to see? Bro, you got a fucked up because I don't watch the Charlotte Hornets. I'm not an idiot.

Good. You got to watch them? No, I watch them a little bit. I haven't watched every team, but like... Listen, we got to watch every team to do our jobs well, but they're probably the team I watch the least, along with, like, the Spurs. Yeah.

So I haven't got too many games this year, I'll tell you that. Not with the Mello going. Okay, that rest of that segment. We got our hate off. That was pretty funny. Next one, Donovan, I think you have a question for us regarding some points per game lines. Yeah.

All right. Let me pull up. Let me pull up my notes and get these batchups ready. Host D. Yep, yep. All right. All right, I'm, let's see. How are we going to frame this?

All right. Y'all let me know which players average more points for game this year. Which player do y'all think is averaging more points per game this year? Yeah. All right. I'm, I'm a witch player. Okay. Which, which player?

Dang, it. He doesn't do this usually. I know, I know. Listen, I haven't done this in like six pods. I'm so rusty right now. Yeah. Okay. Which player do you guys think is averaging more points this year?

All right. Okay. Yeah, we'll probably work on that. All right. Jason Tatum or Kevin Durant. Ooh, this is tough. I know they're both averaging over 30. Did one of them fall out of that?

I think Durant is. I think Durant is, bro. Just the other night he dropped 44 or something like that. Yeah, he went crazy against He's like 45 or 46 Yeah, maybe Tatum drops like 29.4 I'll go Durant You're both wrong

Oh Jason Tatum is averaging 30.8 points per game Kevin Durant is averaging 30 flat You bitch This is so close You're an ass I had to do it had to do

All right All right next one Anthony Simons or Zion Williamson Ooh Oh now Dude, this is by a point in a half. They're both averaging 22.0. I think Anthony is averaging like 23.

I think it might be just Anthony by a little bit. Oh, I thought he said Anthony Edwards. My bad. So I'm going to say Anthony. All right. Well, you guys are both right on this one. That's cool. Simons is averaging 23 and a half.

Zions average in 22 and a half. Yeah. Shocking. I think I just heard that in a pod lately that Anthony is a 23. So do your research kids? All right. Jalen Brown or Deerrin Fox? Oh, that's a hard one.

Dearen Fox, I think he's like 26, close to 27, isn't he? So I got to go him. I got to go Jalen Brown. He's been hooping. He's averaging like 25, 26. Deer and Fox has been a career. And Deer and been on a slump recently, too. All right.

Well, Mo, you are correct. Yeah! You can't hold me. You can't hold me. The Aaron Fox. Deer & Fox is averaging 24.8 points per game. Jalen Brown is at from 26.1. I'm in my bad.

Very good season for Jay. I do my research. And lastly, Paul George or Nicola Yokic? Oh, this is tough. So we know Yokich is at 23. Is Paul George about 23? He's been missing a lot of games. He's missed a lot of games.

He's missed a lot of games. This is tough because you were talking about how passive fucking Yokic was. I'm going to say Paul George has been averaging more, though. I'm going to say Paul George is averaging 21. I think he's having a slow year. Nicoliochage is averaging more actually no my bad my bad my bad my bad my bad my bad my bad Paul George is averaging more points

I'm in my bag My bad my bad my bad Paul George is averaging 23.6 Nicole Enochage is averaging 23 Damn Yep I know ball and you don't All right those are the four matchups I got for you Cool that's good

You fucked me up at the end I got you Okay next one Mo I think you have something for us now regarding some 2K lineups. Yep, let's go ahead and run it back. Here we go. I'm glad I don't have to play Moe in these 2K ratings.

I actually play 2K. Oh, yeah. Oh, you're fucked. No, Isaac really do be on the game. That sucks. I'm cooked. Now, I don't play that much more. 2K's dead.

Whole community's gone. We got to get on FIFA. We have to do the lineups, right? Fuck, I forgot about that. Oh, yeah, send us the first one by one. Can y'all get these NBA teams by their 2K Okay, first one. Point guard is okay.

The shooting guards are the weakest point of the team. Is this the 76ers? No, no. There's no way. There's no way. It has to be the Denver Nuggets. It has to be the Denver Nuggets. Yeah, it's obviously, that was great.

That was great. Okay. That was a, that was an easy one if you ask me, all right? Yeah. Yokets to 96th is they give away. It's either him or Joel and Bede. Yeah, absolutely. That, that's, there's no going over.

that one at all. All right, what about this team? Okay, so we got an elite point guard, clearly, and a pretty good shooting guard. So my first thought is, it's either the Hawks or the Blazers. Do I think, Amphrey is not an 86, is he? I don't think so. I don't think not, not yet. Here's the thing. It's got to be the Hawks. Is, okay, so the center is an 80. The center is in Capella, 80. I'll go with you. 83, John Collins of Power 4. This is the Hawks. But it's also, but Jeremy Grant's also nice. But there's, there's no way. Is that your final guess, Isaac?

This is the Hawks. No. No. Oh. So it's, oh. Is the Blazers? No. What?

Oh, wait. Is this the Grizzlies? Donovan, what you guess? Um, wait, let, let Isaac go. Yeah, it's a Grizzies. Yeah, you're cooked. Okay. Wow.

Yeah. I knew it was one of those young point guards. sense yeah i figured that the hawks would definitely be in that makes sense because i feel like john collins and click and pellet kind of doesn't mean 86 i love to see it give him his respect wow yeah he needs to be he needs to be a little bit higher all right what about this one let's see all right so you got best players of power forward oh wait this is the pelicans no wait this man is on the money yeah donovan you didn't stand a chance from the get go come on me playing 2k i did a real play 2k you represent i take too long i take too long i take

too long to process information Isaac got it he has the teeth he has all the ratings process in his fucking membrane

bro it's wraps you had no chance say the combination I lost same thing bro you're just bad at this I'm hosting the next one

I'm opting out of these I don't want to play I don't want to play yeah that's okay we go one more second before we get out of here that's going to be

Which player would you rather build around? First up, Tyrese Halliburton or Shegildes-S-Alexander? This is tough. Two Golden Boys in this season. This is hard. This is tough. But with my philosophy and how much I believe in Tyrese Halliburne, bro, I like playmaking. I like players who can do both.

I like players who have layers onto their game, bro. And Tyrese Halliborne has that and Shay goes out of Alexander. Although he's not a bad passer, but that's not his go-to thing. He's not a passing third. You never mention him as one of the best passes in the NBA ever. And for Tyrese, you do that, especially these seasons, this season. Fair enough. I got Tyrese.

Okay. That's fair. I think, listen, I still might take Shay. This, if we're talking about philosophies and just bias, I'm very biased to guys who can just go and get a bucket and Shay's that guy. Shays, Shays that guy. The thing is, Halliburn's already an elite passer. Shea's already an elite score.

Do you think it's more likely that Shay becomes. a really good passer or that Halliburne becomes a really good score. I'd like to place my money on Tyrese being an elite score, even though I still feel like at times that shot can be limited. I think both are really likely. Huh? I think both are likely. Like, they might both be really good at both eventually.

Listen, I want to see, I want to see, I want to see what Shay's assist numbers look like when he doesn't have the Oklahoma City Thunder around him. And like once they actually start getting better, that's, that's why I want to see. But for a guy who already this season has taken that jump, And it's very, very clear. He has that gene. He has that clutch gene in him. And he could score at a very high level in volumes.

Like, I like that to be kind of the, you know, the center point of my team. That's not a bad take at all. I don't blame me. I don't blame me. It's just how I prefer. You have a different preference. Yeah. Okay.

Where you going on? Lamello ball. I'm not mad at the shake-out of Alexander pick. I don't know. Okay. Lamello ball are Anthony Edwards. forgive me anthony edwards simply because i feel like he has another level of star power to him but it's so nasty because what does that mean i think you need that dude at the end of the day

over lamello yeah anthony it works yeah i think i'm going to go with lamello i understand everybody's infatuation with edwards because he can be this pro typical scoring guard but i think when they both hit their peaks lemello's going to be an elite passer and a damn good score yeah i'm i'm taking I'm taking Lamello on this one. I think Anthony Edwards still has a leap to go to become, like, a great volume score, and he still has ways to go in playmaking, and he still has ways to go in defense. Lamello can already be a really good score,

and he's already a really, really good playmaker. So I'll go there. See, Lamello's also a fucking terrible defender, and also he has more holes in his offensive game than someone like Anthony Edwards has just getting to the line, finishing at the rim, things like that, things like that. So, I can't, my, my heart storm, I can't really hate y'all for that either, so that's the end. Okay, last one's really hard. Joel Embed or Jason Tatum?

Tatum. Tatum. That easy? Tatum. It's not tough. It's easy. I think Joelle might be like the third best player alive. Like, maybe probably not, but like he's top five.

Like, the two-way impact, now that Joelle is a skill, now that Joel has his ball handling ability and go-to scoring from the mid-range, like, What can't he do? Stay healthy. That's what he can do on a consistent basis. Jason St. Well, hasn't had that bad of injury concerns in like two years. Bro.

And when I'm talking about building my team around, those injuries concerns are like the second, they're the, if not the first or the second biggest thing off my checklist level. Can you stay healthy? Can you be on the court at least? That's why I have. All right.

Well, I mean, if that's your reason, I get it. But like, in terms of how good they are, this is really close. It's not about how good they are, Isaac.

It's about who would you rather build your team? him around yeah and i'm going off of how good the players are what do you mean yeah you take you take at their at their peak i think that i would take oh this is tough i think that i would take and bead just be just because like isaac said he can like the ball handling is down um and he can do kind of a lot of things in terms of like shooting wise that like some guards can do he can take pull-up threes he can he can he can extend his range and he could be the anchor to my defense and if you can get both of those things in one that's that's a super super steal so I think I would rather build my offense around Joellen Bede and I think

he's more defensively impactful because he defends the rim like yeah I don't know why I picked Tatum outside of just liking that style of play you know what I mean and B's gonna lead you all to the second round meanwhile Tadam's gonna lead me to the finals let's get it cool give give Joelle B Jason Tate and I'm on a ass right now I'm gonna be Jaylor Brown Marcus Smart yeah I know I know I know I'm being a asshole well that's the end of the segments we got this is a long show lots of tic-toks i think we're done here that was a lot of tic-toks y'all the whole lot y'all gonna eat yeah see you next time