The Deep 3 Podcast - Ranking The Biggest Surprises Of The NBA Season w/ KOT4Q | Ep. 61

Episode Date: November 3, 2023

Today @KOT4Q joins us to talk NBA surprises and the James Harden trade Check out the TD3 merch: https://the-deep-3-shop.fourthwall.com/ Join the TD3 discord!: https://discord.gg/RUkjpMPp7E Listen on Spotify!: https://open.spotify.com/show/3elbbqVumwqz8wlIdknsLW Listen on Apple Podcasts!: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-deep-3-podcast/id1657940794 Follow us on TikTok!: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedeepthreeFollow us on Instagram!: https://www.instagram.com/thedeep3podcast/ Isaac's twitter: https://twitter.com/byisaacg Muhamed's twitter: https://twitter.com/Mojo99_ Donnavan's twitter: https://twitter.com/Dsmoot3D 0:00- Intro 0:40- James Harden trade 22:10- Warriors talk 27:40- Nuggets talk 31:00- Ausar Thompson talk 35:50- Brandon Miller talk 38:50- Trae Young/Hawks talk 44:20- Nets talk 49:30- Grizzlies stink 55:13- Scottie Banes is back 1:01:35- Jalen Duren is him 1:08:00- Bucks are mid 1:14:35- Paolo starting slow 1:21:40- Tyrese Maxey is a star 1:27:40- Zion doesn't look good 1:30:46- The Kings are dope 1:34:04- TikTok time Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

So obviously the first thing we got talking about today is the ridiculous James Harden Trey that finally happened at 3 a.m. the other day, Eastern time. But before we get to that, there's an elephant in the room. You guys saw it in the title. You saw it in the thumbnail. You see you right now. We got a special guest. Kenny Beech him. How are you doing, Kenny? Feeling good. Feeling good. It's been like a year since I last chat with you guys. So it's good to be back. Facts, man. You're our first guest a little over a year ago. I'd be happy to have you back. Of course, of course. The cranium is crazy. Oh, my God. I mean, I don't know what to see. We had to start with the James Hardin trade news. After that, you guys seen the title.

We're going to talk about the biggest surprises of the season so far. We're going to go 1 through 5 and rank our biggest surprises. But before, like I said, James Hardin is now a clipper. How are y'all feeling about the trade? Man, when I first found out about the trade, it was 2 a.m. my time. Isaac tested the group, he's like, wake up. I'm like, what do you talk about wake up? It's 2 a.m.

I don't have your blessing of living in the West Coast. So I go ahead. I looked on Twitter, James Harder traded. And I see Kenny tweeting too. And I see, whoa, I see no shams. I'm like, what is going on here? Honestly, my jaw was dropped. I was shocked.

Yeah. Isaac texted wake up. I was asleep. I was not. One text was not waking me up. I was done. I woke up probably like four or five hours after that. And honestly, my first thought was just, I'm still.

upset at the Clippers because they've done this again where they drop news in the middle of the night. Like can y'all operate like a normal NBA franchise? You use standard business hours 9 a.m. 5 p.m., drop news there. Stop waiting until everybody's asleep because that was, that was honestly days after, this is still like the biggest thing on my mind from this trade. It's just that it just happens. One thing about Donovan. One thing about Donovan. If it's 11 p.m., he's going to be asleep no matter what. It doesn't matter what happens. Listen, D&D goes on at 10. You're not reaching me after that. How are you, Kenny?

How are you feeling? What's your temperature on the trade? I was awake, man. I was chilling. Well, I was in bed, but, you know, just relaxing. The phone buzzed one time. Didn't think anything of it. Then it buzzed again.

I was like, oh, that's a little different. It got up to four before I actually checked it. And I was like, oh, snap, something's going on. I kissed the wife, good night. I got to go back to work, got down to the work office, and did my initial reaction. But even the initial reaction couldn't go up because it took 37 minutes after the official trade for us to get the details, which is like the longest time we've ever really experienced. And like Donovan, I'm sorry, like Mo said, Shams hadn't tweeted about it. So I'm

like, okay, is this legitimate? Is it whatever? And it end up happening. And now the league has been shaking up again, at least a little bit. Yeah. I love how Woe was just like, he got the inkling that it was going to happen. Had to be first. Doesn't matter if we got the details in there. The trade's going down at some point. I don't know what's going to happen. But it's happening. Oh, man. Yeah. It's funny because we all knew that he was going to be a clipper eventually or at least we thought that eventually i mean originally maybe the fact that they all stood so hard on the stance that it's not going to happen without terence man we all thought like maybe it'll be a third team but it kind of you know at the end of the day we all expected

to be a clipper eventually so i don't think that's a surprising part but when it comes to the actual trade package how do you all feel about it for each side man i think yeah i think the 76s ran off like i think i think for them i think for them to get two first round picks even though that it's like a weird setup in terms of like what years the picks are in and if it's like a pick swap and stuff like this, the fact that you're able to get overall like five draft picks and some good rotation players for James Harden at this stage in his career, I think they won the trade. I don't know if anybody like fleece the other side, but I do think that the six has got the better end of it though. I can't lean on, I can't pick a winner just yet. This is just one

those changes are just going to have to see what happens, but I will agree that I, the fifth, the fifth semi-sixers, they didn't lose, you know what I'm saying? They did what they could do. Hardin's trade value was diminished. She's over here shaking his ass every single day. And I don't trust, I don't trust, I don't trust, Darren Mori. And also there's stuff. And he wants to go to the clippers, like, what are you supposed to do at that point? You have no leverage. You have no, you have no power in that situation. And as for the clippers is just like, yeah, you give away to them assets. But this is like what you've been asking for, over the last few years.

You tried to get Chris Paul. I remember back when he was available when he was transitioning or whatever, you tried to get Rajan Rondo. You got Rajan Rondo for a little stint, and now they have, like, you know what I'm saying? The best possible option, I wouldn't agree to that, but he's the best player out of the bunch of points guards

that they probably, that they could have gone over the last few years. And so they did okay, but I don't know if this, there's just a wonky fit, you know? Yeah, I think that's, The overall trade packages are just cool, I guess, like the off-the-court stuff, I really admire the fact that the 76ers had one team that was really interested in the player, and yet they still walked away with two first-round picks for it.

I also admire the fact that the clippers are deciding to go all in a second time in four years, but as far as like the basketball fit out, really know what to expect just yet, just because James Harden is so about the way James Harden hoops. but I think everybody walked in feeling like they did a good job and that's all that matters everybody just needs to be happy at the time of the trade

and I think everybody is yeah the power of friendship prevails everybody satisfied it is yeah it is funny like a lot of folks the narrative on Twitter immediately became like this motherfucker James Hardin gets whatever he wants every time

he moves like his pock this is crazy and it's just so true that like no matter the leverage no matter if he's the second best player in the league last previous year the 25th best best player in the league the previous year he will play for whatever team he wants to until we see otherwise yeah four teams in 22 months is the number which is crazy four teams 22 months

he's on a tour right now when you which one of all my name's harder next on your team fill him waivers there right now holy shit he's like bets the bulls are next we'll just keep rattling we want to do facts oh my gosh no that's crazy and that feels like so he's a journeyman now can we say that

facts yes oh man it's a he's a he's a high level journey journeyman right the best journeyman of all time

I guess yeah he's a paid assassin he's going to teams of person give him that that'll be his title that'll be his title

whenever he retires that'll be his you know whenever he gets like any type of trophy we can write that best journey men of all time but is he because listen when you say best journeyman

that makes it sound like it's successful like he goes in as a championship comes like Danny Green he went to like three teams and each one won a chip that's a good ass journeyman James Harden you know it's been playoff failure after playoff failure

so I guess the question is does this make you believe more in the clippers and their playoff chances? Not at all not at all best journeyman ever I mean listen

you could be a great journeyman and still not affect things like that but like with the way that Denver looks with the way that Boston looks and with the overall just basketball fit internally with how everything is going to move on the clippers I don't think I don't think they leveled up and it's like okay you added somebody who may be able to play the games but then he's still going to miss the shots whenever it counts so like you're not you are not benefiting as much as you think that you are come playoff time you know yeah

yeah it's definitely interesting when I can what do you think yeah I I don't see them as a team that could beat the Denver Nuggets in the seven game series at the end of the day that's what you have to do out west to make it to the finals. If they did do that,

I think they can beat the Boston Celtics who like the best team in basketball out east. I don't really see it. I also hate what this might do for Russell Westberg last night. He was amazing in the third quarter

specifically and now we don't know if he's going to be starting alongside James will he be coming off the bench. It's just we saw them try to fit together before. It was good enough to win in a regular season. not so great composed season. I don't love it.

But again, I admire that Steam Bomber is like, I'm going to spend all of the money, all the draft picks for the next 100 years because we just want the chance to win. Yeah. Yeah, the rest part is a good thing to point out because I think it was a good opportunity for a career renaissance for Russ

to be the third option there, handle the playmaking duties, do the little stuff, be a supercharged Bruce Brown for this team. That makes a lot less sense when it's the fourth option and you're the second best playmaker in the starting lineup.

So that definitely complicated. it well I want to know from you Kenny said he doesn't see them being the nuggets I think we all agree on that do you even see them beating the other elite teams in the West like are they better than the Suns Lakers Warriors all those teams I think there's definitely a world with

a world that they can do that with how their roster is constructed I think they're easily one of the most versatile in the entire NBA or at least in their conference you know they have so many wings I forget PJ

Tucker got like thrown into that whole trade and he's a I don't want to say any poor name because he don't be doing shit offensively but on the defensive end and just like place a bet who's going to get it get on the ground first or who's going to get into fight first who's going to protect the player first or just do some irrelevant shit first it's probably going to be PJ Tucker so he's valuable too in that sense so you James Hardin's bodyguard yeah exactly basically bro you James or bodyguard he's right or die for James Harden find you a girl who respects you and want you as much as PJ Tucker

does bro that's the key to life find you a PJ Tucker facts everyone valuable player on the roster bro so to get back on the game you get a PJ Tucker on your roster is crazy oh my goodness

that's great what a TD3 take but like overall like do I see a world where they can go ahead and beat the Lakers yes but it will look it all is contingent on how James Hardin decides to fit into what the clippers have going on

and I don't think the clippers should try to figure out how James Hardin should fit into you know what I'm saying how they should fit to James Hardin's game like it's yeah they should be bending the other way you know yeah I saw on Zach Lowe's podcast today he was talking about it and his thing he pointed out was like how does Paul George feel about this because Paul George been cooking and now it's like is he Ray Allen I think I said to like is he become Ray Allen for his team where he's just like I'm not going to dribble. We got all these other guys. And that's another thing I worry about is that like, Kauai is going to be Kauai regardless. James Hardin has to have the ball in his hands.

He's not one of the stars that you can try to like make him work as less ball dominant. Then he's just not valuable. And I can see Paul Georgeman, the guy squeezed out of touches. Which is, which is, which is crazy. Like, it's wild that like Paul George is going to be the one that that probably might get pushed to the fringes in this, which is like, like Kenny said that he appreciates them going all in. I do in theory. But I think. going all in for James Hardin and mortgaging everything that they did. I think that's the bigger issue that I have with all of this. Like they don't have control of the draft pick for the rest of the decade, right?

Like they don't have their own pick until 2030. And so to have three really like ball dominant guys and one of them be like Russell Westbrook who was just revitalizing his entire career, like it feels like a little bit too much of a risk. And obviously, like, you make this kind of move. You're obviously championship or bust. It puts even more pressure on that because to get Paul George and Kauai in the first place, you gave up on Shea. And now, and now we're here a couple years later. And the rest, you don't even have the option to go find another player like that. So like, I, it's wild. It's wild how all in they are right now. So do you, do you guys think, let's say they decide,

ah, James is not really the right guy for us. If they would have used that same, exact trade package towards the deadline where we have like the Raptors suck right the Raptors are awful trash and they also have a few players on the last year of their deal so obviously the value might not be as high as it normally would would you have seen them try to take the same exact package to go get a different player outside of like it like is it Pascal Siakum or something like that I think Pascal probably for all the way the Raptors are trying to diminish Pascal Siakum's value it seems like it's like they're purposely trying to make him less valuable.

And even then, I think he'll require more of a trade package than this, because to be real, the Clippers didn't really give it that much. They gave one of their picks. They looped into OKC who gave them the worst pick of the three they have that year, and then a bunch of role players, many of which aren't that relevant these days. I think this is similar to win the Mavis trade for Kyrie, where because of the turmoil and very, very special circumstance that allowed this star player to be less valuable, they're able to sweep in.

But, like, what does that get to you? I don't even think I guess I'm OG An An Anobie. that trade package wasn't the way oh if you're talking the way the GM tells it you don't have to give up your house your keys

your kids the whole nine like OG is the chosen one bro but honestly yeah I feel I would feel the exact same way if they were to do something like this

even though I don't think it would be case because you know OG is expensive and Pascal's expensive and all that I think the main issue for for me on this trade

is just the risk that they're taking and how much they're willing to bet as to as to if it'll work or not, you know, you have no backup plan, you have no option, you're not versatile for the future, you know, so it's like, that's the thing for me. And there's nothing that has proven, there's nothing to me that has, like, warranted, like, you know, this Kawhi Liner, PG duo will work in the future be, because, you know, they're always hurt.

So it's just like, I don't know, this, if I'm the Kerrish fan, I'm kind of nervous. But you know what? the clippers are used to being irrelevant at the end of the day. Damn, right? So, no, I mean that, I mean that. Let's go. Let's go. No, no, no.

Keep it rolling. Let's get this clippers slater off. Let's go. You know this is what we're about. I mean it sincerely, 50 years of them being an organization. It's only been a handful of years where we've looked at them and said that this is a team that can potentially compete. So if this team does fail, which I'm assuming based on what we're saying, we don't

believe they're going to win a championship, it's fine. They're the, they're the clippers. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And in the grand scheme of the thing. things but I think like to answer your earlier question like if they would they make this trade for somebody like oh gee I think they were always going to make a trade for James Harder because all we've heard for the last like year and a half is oh we have this new stadium coming we want to like

sell tickets like they want to have stars that's one of the reasons that they haven't necessarily like been too eager to move off of Kauai and PG even though that they get hurt all the time so like they probably would have done this so like for Balmer it probably is a big deal if they if he makes this deal goes all in a second time is paying the most luxury tax out of anybody and then they don't get to a Western conference finals like are we confident they they get out of the second round confident no exactly can they yes they definitely can

they have the ceiling of conference finals but confident no I wouldn't I don't know how you could be exactly yeah one thing that makes me feel confident about the clippers which I can't say too much about is like if Kauai Lander has anchor roll or Paul George, you know what I'm saying, has something going on with his elbow or whatever, they'll be fine. They'll like, they don't have to compromise so much as a team and they won't lose their identity because they got Norm Powell, Norm Powell coming off the bench. Russell Edwards was still there. Hardin's still there. You know what I'm saying? And as long as

one of the two Kawhi or PGs will be there, they'll be good regardless. If Hardin was in the playoffs last year with the Los Angeles Clippers, I don't know if they beat the Phoenix Suns, but it's not going to be like a series over type thing you know yeah this is a great tweet to kill just pulled up one of these teams will be a first round exit in the west the nuggets sons lakers clippers or warriors who do we think that's going to be probably gun to your head you had to pick one right now damn making it out of the first round biggest stakes gun to my head line what a tic-tock Steve Bomber, Steve Bomber got his finger on the trigger.

He had a big one. He's going to be mad at me because I don't think the clippers are making it out the first. Out of these, I wouldn't, I wouldn't pick them. I just don't trust them the most, like, even the Lakers with their, like, injury issues and stuff. If we get to a seven-game series, I'm going to pick LeBron and AD before I trust Kauai and PG. So, like, that's the line for me. And I, yeah, I would go with LeBron. That's hard.

Nuggets ain't going. Lakers ain't going nowhere Warriors ain't going nowhere So it just comes down to the most unproven teams Which are the sons and obviously the clippers And I'd be in one of those two ways So Yeah because I'm going warriors

Whoa man The Warriors The Warriors made it out of the first round last year By the skin of their fucking teeth Against a team that we all came into the playoffs Thinking this isn't a team built for the playoffs They barely beat them DeMontos a bonus was a non-factor

The only reason they got pushed to seven Is because Deeran Fox had an out-of-body experience and probably a million percent from mid-range. The Warriors were not particularly good last year, got crop-dusted by the Lakers. I don't know if they're better this year. They have something this year that they didn't have last year. Say his name, Kenney.

Mr. Emmanuel Paul. There we go. Thank the Lord. They have the 38-year-old six-foot-tall-tall-point guard. You can't get to the room. You can't defend one. Damn, you sound like he's caught out or relax. He'd be doing it.

You forget. You're forgetting, though, vibes. Vibes are much better this year than they were last year. The vibes are immaculate. Sure, there's one less assault to build off of, so I guess you're starting from a better place of strength. As far as we know. As far as.

Drummond punched somebody else. Yeah. It's serial activity at this point, so you know, you can never count it out. Oh, my gosh. It's a pattern. Yeah, man. I think before we end the Clippers talk, I think we're all in the same boat. Let's make a quick TikTok.

out of this and let's grade this trade you know people people on those short form platforms love a good grade to make them understand it feeding the TikTok so let me give us a little TikTok hook outside of TikTok time let's grade the James Harden trade to the Clippers what are you all grading it for Philadelphia

A sixes I'm giving it in a I'm gonna say A minus they had no leverage and still pulled off and got a couple first round picks so A minus Yeah I'll go B I think they had no leverage so they couldn't get an A trade package. I think overall this is the best return

that could hope for, but it's still not great. You've got to still hope that these two very average first-on picks can net you a decent star in the future like a Zach Levine because all the role players are getting from this trade aren't that relevant?

You told me Nick Battoom, you're telling me Nick Batum isn't moving you? Nah, if he's in for the fourth quarter, I'll tell you that. But yeah, like I said, best they could do. What are you all grading it for the Clippers?

B minus B minus you you too nice you too nice I guess I guess I guess so I mean they got the They got the best player in in the trade and so like there is Some value to that and normally whenever you grade trades Whoever gets the best player kind of won it so like it probably is a C But like I don't know it's it's hard it's the most even trade that I've seen like That it feels like in a while I say I'll say B minus

I kind of think about what's the alternative. You just sit pat and you still aren't very good. So B, I'll give it a B. Yeah. Honestly, I think I'll go B plus. I think there's still the clippers. If you thought they were going to be a second hard exit before, you'd probably think that now.

So it didn't move the needle like that to be an A. But, you know, they didn't have the most playmakers in the world. You were really reliant on Russell Westbrook, who is reviving his career, but he's still Russell Westbrook late in his career. So having James Harden there in the mix to make you have one more ball handler to fit alongside your two stars and feel the need of theirs

that isn't a strength. I think it's a good fit. It's a future that's scaring me, man. They are handcuffed to James Harden, PG, and Kauai. They have no options. Yeah, for better or worse. Hey, but they got PJ Tucker there

to get James Hardin's back, so maybe that's going to be the X-Factor. PJ Tucker's the only person under contract next season, so he might be the only one left. Oh, my gosh. This is PJ Tucker's team? This will be cut.

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Yeah, man, I think we can move on past the James Harden talk, and we can go on to the topic of this episode, the biggest surprises of the NBA season. I think we go one by one, given one each. There'll be some overlap, so we'll reveal that if that's the case. And I think we let the guests go first. Kenny, what is your first surprise of the season? Chris Paul makes the Warriors better

Okay Let's talk about it So you said surprise So you came into it thinking he wouldn't Not to this extent Because when he's in the game They kind of changed the entire formula That we've seen for the Warriors

As this fast-paced high turnover team When he comes in He's almost exclusively running With the backup five Which is interesting And when they run it they're slowing it down They don't turn the ball over And like we mentioned earlier

The vibes are at an all time high. I didn't expect it to look as nice this early, especially with Chris Paul being a guy that's never come off the bench in his NBA career. It's just different to see Steph Curry go to the bench and then when he comes back in the game, they're not down by 10 anymore, you know? So I'm excited about watching this Warriors as they continue to start to grow more chemistry and chemistry and just hoping that Chris Paul can finally get that rain. I wouldn't be too hopeful about that part. It is good to see him contribute. The first game, We came on here and reacted immediately when it was over.

And that's the game where Draymond was out. So Chris Paul was starting. And we were like, you know, he had a good second half, but that was a lot of fucking Chris Paul. I think when they were on the court, he had twice as many dribbles as Steph Curry. So the worry was immediately, even if Chris Paul looks good and works for you and gives you new dynamic to your team, is that going to be a net positive if you're kind of diminishing the best guard in the world. But now that he's coming out the bench. I think that is kind of solving itself.

You're getting a healthy dose of Chris Paul to where it's more beneficial than it is detracting from Curry. So I'm with you. I think it's a good thing for the rest of the season. With the last game against the Houston Rockets, they didn't even close with Chris. Chris came in with a minute and a half to go.

They were already up by 11. So they closed with their normal starting lineup. But he and his second unit were like a plus 23 on the day while the starters. This is Draymond's first game back. The starters weren't very good. So he held them down,

helped them get to the point where they were still in the game and then Steph Curry went Supernova and then they won the game. And that's just a formula that we haven't really seen. It's a lot different than watching Jordan Poole jack up shots and piss his own teammates all.

So, you know, it's better. It's just better. Another thing that helps, well, CP3 going to the bench helps them a lot. And of course, obviously. And I think Draymond forcibly being in the starting line, of course, helps stabilize their identity and just a perfect balance. Yeah. And not even that it's something they didn't have before.

That was a direct weakness of there as the past few years. Last year that you were not a good regular season team, Part of it is because, well, not even say part of it, it's almost entirely because they couldn't win a road game. And a lot of that was predicated on the fact they had one of the worst bench productions in the league. When Curry wasn't on the court, they were atrocious and it directly lost in games like 20 plus times.

So if they can solve that and it's not even just neutral, but it's an actual strength of theirs they have over the competition, that's going to make them push for a top three or four seat, I think. Guys, it took them until December 15th last year to get their third world win. They have three of them already. That is great. That's credit.

That's different. Yeah, that's credit to CP3. I think that the surprise is that, like, the vibes in terms of, like, how he's transitioned into that bench unit has been relatively, like, great so far. Like, because in the off season, everybody was like, okay, like, CP, like, you know you're going to be on the bench. And it kind of felt like he was like, now, like, I'm Chris Paul. Like, I'm going to start.

And you know I'm going to be on the bench. I don't know that. Exactly. And we're a week and a half into the. the season and he's like cool with it i think that's that's one of the best things for the words is that you can have this guy this veteran right future hall of famer come in and like accept his role as quickly like you don't see that a lot with with older players of his stature so that's that's huge for them yeah for sure i feel like he had no choice like maybe young cp3

would be like hell now but listen this point of your your age you're getting up there not too many contracts coming left reality hit you real fast so like said a good thing to see that not only is okay with it that he's embracing it because that type of leadership in buying like it it moves a lot of needles when you're talking about team morale people say that stuff like leadership and chemistry starts from the top down even though chris paul isn't the best player in that organization he has that level of seniority and respect with the young guys i would imagine that he can have a big impact on that yeah exactly if i'm someone like jonathan caminga or moses moody or whatever other young guy you want to point to if you see this 38 dude this 38 year old vegan dude who's pan all his panal is you

know what I'm saying, player stature to the side and just doing all the little things that they need, it's going to make X, Y, Z work harder and other specific areas that's supposed to help uplift

this team overall. So it just, it moves from mountains, to be honest with you, bro. Yeah. So I guess before we move on from this team,

what does this impact your, what you think this team's going to net out to by the end of the year? Are you more confident in them making a deeper run in the playoffs or being a top three C than you were before?

Yeah, but the nuggets are just so good that it's like all of the optimism is gone because you have to go through them or go through the team that went through them it's just going to be hard that's how i feel like every fucking team it's no matter how happy i am about it i'm like but can they beat the nuggets no so what are we talking about yeah yeah which i guess that can transition to my first thing yeah because the first thing i have is the denver nuggets defense is incredibly elite and i think that's going to make them to the point where they're basically going to be seemingly unbeatable until

we see something otherwise in the playoffs like i'm looking at them the way i looked at like 2018 warriors time where i'm like we can talk whatever the team but they're just second really do you have them like in a clear tier above everybody else yeah i feel like you have to until you see otherwise right like last year they were an offensive oriented team there were 15th in defensive rating i think they had a 113.5 defensive rating very very average they blew the doors off of the league the playoffs came around they blew the doors off the playoffs came around they blew the doors off the playoff teams and won the finals with basically zero resistance

this year so far they have a 103.6 defensive rating it's only fifth right now because other teams that are shooting above their heads but that's not going to hold that that'd be the best defense of all time but that's well above what first place was last year and I think you add that into the mix of what they already have a

yokech and the well-load machine on offense I don't know how you can't put them 1A yeah I 100% agree I feel like they're soccer is surprised this team is even better than last year. They understand their roles and they're, if you thought they were clicking all cylinders last year,

like they're that times two, you know, seeing MPJ work a little bit harder, rebounding and all that, very inspiring. Aaron Gordon, this is the best version of him. Any idea that you have of them? This is him times two,

you know what I'm saying? And their bench doesn't suck. That's like another huge key thing about them, and that's what sets them apart from last year. For sure. Yeah, so they play four games. All right, go ahead. They play four games.

One against the Jazz most recently, not very notable. One was against the Lakers. They held Anthony Davis to zero points in the second half. Completely obliterated him with smart game planning and double teaming and shading him on roles, made that people on Twitter say Anthony Davis needs to get a CDL and get a drop at Home Depot. It was all because of never defense. Next game they played the Thunder held Shade Gilders-Alexander to two for 16 from the field. He needed to get a CDL that night too.

Next night they played the Grizzlies. Desmond Bain shots where I wrote it down. Four for 17 from the field. They are just excellent at shutting down the key element you want to score through because they're just incredibly smart on that end. Yeah. And in a league where we're seeing player movement higher than ever, the continuity of the Denver Nuggets just seems to be the most important thing.

In that game against the OKC Thunder, I was so excited to watch Shea go against. Because at that point, the OKC Thunder were undefeated. They were smoking everybody. They're like, yeah, let's see how they do against the Denver Nuggets. It wasn't even close. Yolkits put his shoulder into Chet twice, and he almost can bust it. And Peyton had Shea on clamps. It was like the perfect thing.

He's like, oh, no, this team is on a whole different level. Nice. She was looking at Amazon applications that night. That's what you just showed. He had a 5.6 true shooting percentage for the game. Oh, yeah. He was in absolute. What was a 5.6?

Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah, man. That's my first takeaway. We can move on to one of your guys's, but I am very terrified of Denver as a Lakers fan. I think there's no chance they can beat them. Donovan. I want to hear your take. Give me a surprise. All right. My surprise. And really, it's just my favorite thing. Assar Thompson is disgusting. And like, Assar Thompson was one of my favorite prospects in the draft. And I, like, I thought he was going to be good. I didn't think he was going to be this good right away. Like he's, his, his, his, his, his, his, his. defense is amazing. Like he was, we talk, listen, we talk about Shea getting clamped up by Denver. Assar Thompson was putting clamps on, on Shea in their game the other night. I think he blocked him like twice. Yeah, he held Shea for two of eight from the field whenever Assar was guarding him. He's, he's been fantastic. His passing has been awesome. He's been a great connector for Detroit. And like, as a whole, I was kind of down on Detroit coming into this year because I wanted to see like what would happen with with kate and then who plays like beside him in terms of like

ivy or sar because they both can handle the ball assar stepping up and doing everything that he's done so far this year it's been one of my favorite things to see at the start of the year definitely man there's just another player that has them the person's looking as good i'm gonna talk about my list a little later but i agree assar's been a revelation you compare like him to amen a lot of people say amen is a better prospect overall but assar's shining because he has a little bit actually has the opportunity to fit his skillsets perfectly and that's like the most important thing for rookie in their first year and the fact that he gets that right away on a team that needs that specific skill set is perfect for him yeah oh my goodness these highlights are

disgusting facts he's a playmaker oh my yeah man yeah I'm just caught watching these clothes I know yeah I just lost all chair a thought it just didn't all it just jumps off it just jumps off the page just how high he jumps how furious he jumps it's yeah his he's great i'm i'm so happy he's he's like he's performed so well and then bull's game it took them until zach levin had 47 points to put assar thompson on him and then i think zach levin scored were four points after that after assar got like the full shut off the like you know a lot of help defense is being played and stuff but eventually they were like assar do not let this man score and he couldn't yeah and he's like man. Now, if he gets that assignment or that call every night against the opposing team,

I can't imagine how good it can be. Those guys are special, both of them. And I think part of it is I always wonder when it comes to young NBA players how much is like actually watching the game versus just playing it. Those guys actually watch and study basketball like I've never really seen. And I'm sure it's benefiting them at least a little bit to know this random role player on the Chicago Bulls has a tendency to do this, and I've watched him do it because I've watched the Bulls last season. So he's special. Now, just imagine if he can ever shoot the ball, at least league average, at least? It's like, it's like overwood. Yeah. What do you, so Ken, I'll ask you that. What do you think his ceiling is if he can hit league average? Like,

I feel like the common comparison is like, is he the new Andre Godaula? Like, he can be that defensive oriented guy who can pass a little bit, maybe as he gets older, move into a little more of a scoring role. Like, is that a ceiling? Or is it how? He's got to start a podcast for me to know if he's going to be Iggy. That's how it's the tall ask. Yeah, I'm telling you. It's not. I don't know if I've ever heard that.

It's really not. I've never really heard anybody say the Iggy thing, but that makes a ton of sense for what his, like, the frame of his skill set at the moment and just progressively getting better in the things that he's good at. Iggy was obviously an amazing defender in his time. I think a SAR could even be better on the defensive side at least. That's saying a lot because Iggy was great. Yeah. I think he's one of the most underrated defenders

of all time. This is game with four for Sarr Thompson and look what he's doing. So just imagine, you know, two, three years down the line. Yeah. And then you compare that to like put that in perspective with everything else they have in that core. It's just such a rare combination of skill

and fit that it's exciting. It makes it seem exciting. This is what? 2.5 blocks is crazy. Yeah, he just doesn't make any sense, bro. He's putting up stats that only people 611 and up should be putting up, bro. He has no business averaging that many

rebounds and also blocks. That's just ridiculous, bro. He's a Josh Hart, Gene, gets up to everybody taller than him. Yeah, just makes no sense. Imagine if Josh Hart was a hyper athlete with four inches of height added. There's a Sart Thompson. Now that you...

Is he Super Soldier Josh Hart? I don't like that. Okay. There's so many comparisons. I don't know. Listen, I'm calling him Scotty Pippin' Light right now. I'm so high. I'm sorry. All right. What's your first surprise? I'm staying on the rookie talk. Brandon Miller. A lot of people have not said a word about him.

He's been absolutely killing it in Charlie. He's averaging like 17 points per game on 46% shooting from the field. he has been so efficient and he's been the exact piece that everyone in that front office envisioned playing alongside the mellow and mark williams and whoever else a part of that young core that you want to throw in there you know and for him to play this well this is sort of obviously this efficient because you don't see that as a rookie and to get no no pun intended but no buzz is crazy you know because i'm sure if it was the other way around i'm sure if it was the other way around like you know what I'm saying school Henderson was going absolute berserk folks would be tarnishing the Charlotte horns but maybe that's because

the media overall has a huge bias against the hornets all the wacky things that they have going on but Brandon Miller is legit good and he deserves his flowers I was one of those people who were condemning the hornets for taking him over scoot because I'm just like a player over fit type guy but now Brandon Miller yeah it's fantastic for sure yeah like you said, if the rolls were reversed and they had taken Brandon Miller and he was shitting himself while Scoot was thriving, it would have been slander. It would have been nuts. So it's good to see him not fall into that because you know how quickly it is with NBA Twitter and NBA media these days. If you become a player that gets hated on, it spirals fast. You see Anthony Davis,

you see Russell Westbrook, now James Hardin. Like, it's hard to recover from that. So I'm glad he's not going to deal with that for the first year of his career. Yeah, it's a double-ed-sort because Brandon Miller is the Charlotte Hornets best player. It's like, yeah, a rookie looks great. But where's Lamello? Where's the rest of the guys at? So, yeah, it has been cool. I'm a guy that doesn't watch much college

or doesn't learn about the prospects to maybe a month before the NBA draft. So my whole interpretation of Brandon Miller versus School Henderson was what I either read or heard. And when he got drafted and all the articles and everything written about how bad the Charlotte Hornet's messed up, I kind of just like oh that must be the case because I

I didn't really see yeah I didn't really see anybody else saying otherwise right and through the first three games of his career I mean again just the first three games he looks significantly better than than Scoot obviously yeah he looks very comfortable that's how big his takeaway is that like would you watch Scoot

and even went me to some extent for at least the first three quarters of every game looks like a rookie looks like he doesn't quite know where to stand doesn't have the timings nailed down or anything Scoot's the extreme example of that where he looks like hilariously lost at times I haven't really felt that way with Brandon Miller And I've watched a good amount of him play so far

It just looks like he knows I'll play basketball And the speed didn't really hurt him too much So he's able to play more of his game Doesn't have that big adjustment period Yeah, as far as I see There's no stutters in his game right now And he makes like 0.5 decisions on the court As soon as he gets the ball

He knows his next move You know? You'll see this video at DJ Callet No, that's that's Trey Young this season You know what? Let me double up So I can get this shit over with my next biggest surprise It's Trey Young been ass. I just want to say that out loud.

It hurts my soul. Coming into this new season, I thought I was going to see some more ball movement or whatever. If you watch one preseason game, at least that would be the biggest takeaway that anyone had for the Atlanta Hawks. You would think that they would run some of that stuff. It has not happened, at least for Trey Young. And now I'm starting to have some very scary thoughts about him as a player and just about who he is. Tell us who he is. Let him out.

It sounds hard. Like, it sounds like, I think he's going to kill me or something. Or I think he's going to die. Nah, not that tough. I just think that his ceiling as a player is not as high. You know what I'm saying? And one thing that goes a far away is that like I pay to just the little things on the court. When you, the basketball can move far much faster than any human on any planet can, you know.

And it's little things like seeing Trey Young always demand the ball and clap for his hands before you go up front court. from guys like Jalen Johnson goes a long way. I don't see DeJante Murray doing that. I don't see any other guard in the back court doing that. Jonté passes up all the single,

every single time, you know, but Trays over here clapping, give it to me. You know what I'm saying? It's little things like that just tells you

what road you might be led to. That's a disgusting picture. Yeah. Yeah, I love AI. This is a thing, this, I have tweeted the other day.

I was, like most people, scary about AI, what it means for the workforce and entertainment and every other field. I'm now pro A. from this picture. I think it's a good thing.

Net, net positive for society. You're what's wrong with society. God. You have a platform. And this is what AI is going to give us. Fund it all. I need more of this.

No, but yeah, part of it is just bad shooting. Like we've had, but we've seen a lot of Trey Young bad shooting stretches lately, so they're starting to add up that it's not just bad luck anymore.

This might just be a trait he has. It's crazy. Even the floaters not going. Yeah, and that's been something that's been, like you said, point shot wasn't so he's in hell he has himself in alcatraz yeah i remember last year when i was here uh it was right after de jante murray and mo was trying to convince us that they would not be

a playing team they're guaranteed top six and we all tried to tell them you bugging they're definitely a playing team and that's what they ended up being this year this offseason i was buying all atlanta hawks stock there's two teams one out east one out west the alana hawks was one of my out east team i'm like this is the year is going to happen tray's going to look like the normal version of himself. I was so high on Jalen Johnson. I'm so happy to see him playing very well. And I'm just happy that they came back from that, what,

21 point deficit the other night because I had bars for them if they would have lost that game too. So I'm still slightly in, but it's not looking good because Mr. Star player is sitting in shit. That hurts, right. Honestly, you should still have bars to them. Don't overreact to one game. The other team sold.

they still didn't look good They were again ran out the court By the worst offense I've ever fucking seen With two big men that don't fit at all And they were getting fucking bodied Like I think you can still have bars for them Just because other chokers choke Doesn't mean this team look good

True That's true Yeah I also I also kind of drank the Kool-Aid I predicted them to be the four seed Not going well I'll say now I don't know if I still stand on that

I think the Knicks deserve to be above them now I changed my mind But I was all in on Quinn Snyder Fixing this team Yeah It's not gonna happen No, it is, Trey Young is the actual version of how everybody criticizes, you know, Luca, Hardin, all these guys, and they're like, they pound the rock, they don't pass it, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I feel like Trey Young actually is that.

I would say something that's like, I don't know, I feel like Atlanta Hawks fans that eventually see through it once, if we fail this season again, failure's, like, at least not being a top six seat, in my opinion. You know what I'm saying? If you fail this season, next season or whatever, they will see what I'm hoping that we all see right now. And, you know, like, when it comes to playing basketball at the point guard position and wanting a free flow offense and all that other stuff, there's only like so much that you can get away with. And Trey Young is disadvantaged defensively. He's just a smaller dude and he probably gets blocked the most for sure. 100% gets blocked the most on the court, you know? And with his playstyle, it just screams out loud to your face.

Like, Julian Newman in my mind. because like, yo, I see everyone, I see everyone. DeAndi Hunter is eating right now. Jalen Johnson is eating. DeJonte Murray has had a great season. Just dropped 41 points the other day to save our asses from the Minnesota Tim Bulls. Everyone is playing up to expectations. Maybe, like, okay, Kulul can do a little bit better or whatever.

But we have eight, close to pretty much nine guys putting in double-digit numbers. You know what I'm saying? This season. Not a lot of teams can say that. So to have this one dude, you're supposed to be a star player who hasn't. at least appears to me fully bought into the off to the new offensive system and still do his thing or whatever it

it screams something loud in my mind and I don't want to say it I just want to see them rock for the rest of the season but it's very aligned yeah listen we'll be we'll be addressing this team numerous times over the coming season so we'll give it time before you fully write off your team I'm still a believer I'm still delusional here you go Kenny what's your next

what your next surprise the Brooklyn the next are the exact opposite team that I thought they were going to be. Oh, okay. I looked at their personnel of Ben Simmons, Nicholas Claxton, who hasn't played much of season so far. But Nicholas Claxton, McKell Bridges, Camden, these are all players that I see as positive defensive players. I thought this is going to be a team that will be very heavy on the defensive side

of the ball, but also a struggle on the offensive side. But it's the exact opposite, where on offense, they're a top 10-0 and on defense, they're like in the bottom four. And it's just something I couldn't have projected in the meal. years most of it offense is like hey cam please help us and he goes and scores um it's not sustainable because you shoot like 60 something percent from the field but it's just still different because i didn't see this team as a threat offensively especially we look at their sample size last year post Kevin Durant and all of that they just struggled in the half court now they can run out

they're they're running a lot of sets where i mean they have so many like league average to above average shooters on the wing where like doron phony smith comes in and hits a couple threes and so on and so for them. They went from a team that I didn't expect to enjoy watching. So I like watching it because the offense is kind of nice. Yeah. So I'll just, we'll merge these talks. My next one is that Cam Thomas is a star. That's my first surprise, that Cam Thomas is the reincarnation of Michael Zordia or something because this guy does not know how to miss a shot. So I'm glad we can talk about the Nets. I think a lot of what you're saying is, I agree. I think the defense, a lot of his public's Claxton is out. And I think that'll, once he gets back in, they'll, you know,

in the same way that like the Nuggets won't always have a 103 to defensive rating the nets aren't always gonna have like a 120 they'll come back to earth a little bit positively I don't know how to gauge Cam Thomas his long-term value yeah because every time he starts he scores 30 and right now it's like you said it's a little unsustainable he's shooting a hundred percent from the rim at the moment he just doesn't let us literally just doesn't do it doesn't know how that's crazy but like people like people like to diminish him and be like let me know when he plays team basketball when he passes and when he defends but like we don't why are we doing that for

him and not all the other guards that don't do that shit like nobody's ever said that about i guess they have but we let zach levin be an all-star we let so-and-so be whoa whoa whoa whoa we let younger zackovin before he got decent on defense on ball but like there's lots of other guys who've made careers that just been a good bucket-getter and we act like cam thomas as i make a wish kid that they're letting get buckets for fun as if he's not a quality player make a wish kid about you donovan how do you what do you think about camp thomas i mean it's it's weird i feel like this entire season i've looked at the nets not even as like a basketball team but just as a collection of pieces that are about to get moved like they they they've just been since the kd and kairy trade i've only been able

to look at them in a big picture sense because a lot of their pieces are kind of like overlapping they have a lot of wings there's not a lot of creation and i've just been like okay who's gonna who's going to be the one that is going to get traded who's going to do all that and camp thomas has come in and been like well i like new york and i don't really want to move so i'm just going to drop 30 every night i'm going to do that so like that's cool and i think it's also interesting that like he's the guard that is blossoming because i know like you were extremely high on ben simmons coming coming back and being like you know this potential like all this and that right now like camp thomas is the start of the show and it's yeah you know it's interesting that's not

that's not Ben Simmons at this point. Well, I think Ben Simmons has been good. He's been doing Ben Simmons things. I feel like he can coexist. I think the interesting part is Cam Thomas is kind of what we all thought Bridges would be as a go-to score that would like just eat up the usage.

It's kind of been Cam. Yeah, yeah. I mean, their first three games, the first game of the season, Donovan Mitchell hit a game winner on them. The second game in the season, Luca Donchitz had another out-of-body experience and threw a shot over his head from three that banked in.

And the last game, they won. So it's like, they could be in a different world be three and oh right now and said they're they're one and two with some bad luck but like it's it's a real it's a real basketball team because i agree with like it does look like a team that is thrown together but with the extra offseat or the offseason it seems like their cohesion is a lot more um progressed than i guess i expect it yeah and i think it helps like what you said they have all these good shooters in the wing that just like three and d guys Bryce O'Neill, Dore and Finney Smith

Like those guys make it really easy To play good basketball Because they just know where to be It looks like they're dead last in attendance Which is something Damn Rough I went to a clippers game a couple days ago

When the Spurs came to town Never been to a quieter sporting event It was insane Damn, are you serious? It was silent I had pretty high seats Because I'm one of my friends And maybe that doesn't help

Maybe it was quieter on the bottom by the court It was fucking silent in there And if the Nets are having worse attendance than that, I can't imagine what those games are like. That's tough. It's a curse of being a little brother in your own state, really. Facts. As a Chargers fan, I know that all too well.

A little brother to the whole league. All right, Don, what's your next surprise? I, like Mom, just want to get this over with. I thought that the Grizzlies, my hot take for the Grizzlies was that they could contend for the number one seed this, this this season i thought that they would be able to at least tread water while job was out their own four and they look trash and it's it's not it's not good they have they have a bottom floor offense

their defense is mid desmond bain um has not been everything that they that they needed them to be obviously like now i'm not going to act like stephen adams is like all mb a but i didn't make that prediction before stephen adams got hurt and he does change so he does change a lot of the math for them but at the same oh and four is like come on like every everybody else has wins like you got to get one you have to get one and for them it's just what they are doing and the way that they're playing like how how bad are they going to be whenever whenever jah comes back that's that's now the question it's not can you sustain can you tread water it's okay are you going to be are you going to be 10 and 15 are you going to be 8 and 17 like what's the line and how much is jah going to have to you know

How much juice is he going to have to bring back into this team? Because I'm just not, just not seeing it right now. The Western Conference is so tough and tight. And them going off 0 and 4, like it's early in the season, but it hurt. You know what I'm saying? It hurts. And every team is so good. And the NBA as a whole, like, has caught up.

Yeah, the Houston Rocks aren't that good or whatever. But the San Antonio Spurs, they're not like, you know, I'm saying, a walk in the park. There's not many walking apart teams. So it's hard to, I don't know. I don't know. I don't want to say they're not going to make the playoffs or anything crazy like that, but I definitely see them in that playoff or play in range still. Yeah, Don, this is another one we have overlap.

This is also on my list. I have on my doc right now looking at it. Number three, semicolon, Memphis is ass. That's my third surprise. Yeah. Yeah, it's just different adjectives at this point. Yeah. Buns, that's I have on big, big letters.

And I agree. Feces Yeah, I agree I had them as like I think I had like The 60 or something like that And I was like on our predictions episode Defending that they're going to be fine

Without jaw And as a caveat I was like But then again maybe not Because maybe Tyous Jones Is gonna mean more than we thought He meant a lot more than I thought Tyos Jones is sorely missed

I know Joel Moran From the Pickaside podcast Had tweeted his predictions And he had Memphis missing the plan I quoted it and I was like Really? Shout out to him Because I think he might be fucking right He might have been cooking because this team is ass.

Yeah. This tweet is ridiculous. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No John Stephen Adams. Luke Carnard has missed most of the season. Salty Aldama, Brandon Clark. That's five of their top, let's say eight players in their normal rotation.

It's like I also thought they would be fine without John. Again, also before I found out Stephen Adams was going to be missing the year. But this is way worse than even I anticipated without Stephen Adams. where shout out Xavier Tillman he is the oldest what 24 year old in the history of 25 year olds he's got a wife and like five kids already like he is he's been locked in for a long time

his his role is just up for question where he's just taking shots like this is an opportunity he has never seen before 11 and a half shot of 10s for Xavier Tillman is crazy and they have to do that at this moment

they have to do it Yeah Yeah, and I think a lot of their woes Are exact what you would think From a team that doesn't have their point guard And doesn't have their center Looking at numbers The 25th and half court offense

And 22nd in transition volume And that's where they used to be really good Back when they had Ties Jones In those games where they play without jaw They forced turnovers And they ran And they scored a lot And did all the small stuff

That kind of accumulated points throughout the game That made them win the math game And that's just not happening anymore They're still really high In turnover percentage They're sixth in forcing turnovers you would think would lead to that but for some reason they can't turn those

into transition looks anymore at 22nd like I said and I think that's probably just because there's no lead guard there to push the pace when you force a turnover and you pass the ball Dez and Bain and tell him to make all these plays not the same as when you have John Morant leading the fast break Silver lining Zaire Williams looks like an NBA player

again so that's fun that's great shout out Zaire Williams I'm glad that's yeah that was all of my points when it comes to whether or not they could survive or how long they could survive without jaw. And I thought Zair Williams had to look like a legitimate player and start trending up again. And then another point that I was like, you know, I thought Jaron Jackson Jr. had to have an out-of-body experience if the, you know, Memphis Grizzies were going to be okay.

And I just don't think that's his mold of player. I don't think he's a guarantee. I don't think he ever be like a 25-point game score or anything crazy like that. This is just not his bag. That's not his role. And, you know, they're just going to be cooked for this time period. And it is what it is. There's nothing wrong with that.

Yeah. Yeah, like I said, the 21st in offensive rerun percentage that used to be a strength there. No Stephen Adams will do that to you. They're just exactly what you probably thought they should have been when you saw who they lost. Exactly. It's tough about that. Caviott. I said Desmond Bain would average 25 and 5 this year.

He's averaging 25.5 and 4. So I'm glad at least he's cooking. I got something I can stand on that at least I was right, Desmond Bain would be. do good. That's it. All right. Who's up next? Mo, what's your next surprise? Man, oh man. I'm a man who likes to stand on what they were. I know, hold on. Let me run that back. I'm a man who likes to admit when they're wrong. And someone that I've been hating on for quite a minute of a minute is Scotty Barnes, you know.

Okay. You have been. Donovan the other day, a couple podcasts ago, said he was looking real Tyreek. ish, you know? And so far this season, he's, I think it's more clear than ever that he is the one for Toronto and they need to hurry up and build this team the right way around him because you're still doing doing him a disservice is something that I said throughout his entire career. Like, why would you have someone like Pascal Seacom who does similar is things to him? And he's putting up these numbers with like the worst half pretty much. I think they have like, I think the Toronto just have the second worst half-core offense in the entire NBA, which is no surprise, you know?

And so if he's being this productive, I think the faster that they build a comparable roster around him, you know, you know what I'm saying? The fastest he'll potentially reach his ceiling. So, shout out then. What do you? So like I said, me, we like to, I just do it for the jokes, but like you and Donovan have been pretty down on him for a while. Kenny, what was your temperature on Scotty coming into this season?

I didn't have an opinion whatsoever Nice That's how we chewed the Raptors Don't care Yeah Who gives a fuck And Raptors fans hate us for it Every episode they're like

Why do y'all hate my team so much? Yeah I just don't care I'm sorry Scotty Barnes' emergence is one of my things As well So just to piggyback off that With the new system That Darko is trying to incorporate

It's a lot more cut And a lot more passing yada yada It hasn't equated to buckets right there i think you said second worst half-court offense i think it might even be the worst half-court offense um and like the history of basketball like that's why we don't even fuck but the silver lining is that scotty barnes looks way more comfortable with the ball in his hands i feel like when i watched them last season um i i guess i expected somewhat of a jump last year and that's why coming into this year i had no expectations whatsoever i think last year i kind of thought

in the mindset that progression is linear, right? So he's going into the next season. So he has to be better. And he wasn't. I didn't have the expectation this time around. But the overlapping skill sets between him, Pascal and OG, they're showing their head completely right now because even though they're doing a lot of cutting

and passing dribble handoffs, if nobody else on the court is a threat, what the hell am I supposed to do as the ball handler? And luckily, Scotty has been able to take advantage of pretty much every single mismatch he's had so far this year. He's passing a lot better. his defensive versatility is ridiculous and that's been the saving grace because i feel like raptors fans are down in the dumps man they don't really know what to do messiah's holding all of these

ships and don't want to trade him he needs seven first round picks for ogianan nobby even though he's an expiring contract pascal siacum said don't trade for me because i'm not signing an extension it's like raptors fans they got their championship and i think they should be thinking about those years because this right now is not it yeah scottie's interesting because he's He's been very good, he has very good numbers. When I watch him do good plays, I'm like, this is horrible offense. He's making the most of it. But when I watch him play, I feel like I'm watching like a 90s power forward.

His game right now has been really impressive shot making one-on-one in very ugly, weird ways and very ways that you don't see the modern NBA. Like he's winning with like length attacking mismatches and getting there in very like crude ways backing people down, hitting his like jump hooks and stuff like that and just like being bigger than people and having good enough touch to make that work and you look at it you're like can he do this like 10 times a game for every game like it's doesn't make sense but he's just good at it I guess yeah yeah and I thought that wasn't his game last year so that's what's interesting it's like a whole change it seems like there's like a change in hierarchy in terms of

like who's that guy you know what I'm saying and the keys has been forcefully passed off to scotty barnes that's just what it feels like looking at scotty barn all right not scotty bars my bad Pascal Seaccom and his shot attempts, is that 15 that I see? That's one of the lowest that it's been in a minute, if I remember out to correct. If I remember correctly off the top of my head, you know. And so that's like a clear indicator. Of course, change the offense has a lot to do with that. Naturally happens.

But man, like, I just want to see this trademark. It should be. When Media Day came, every time somebody talked about the previous season, they talked about how the team played selfish. And they just like subliminally threw a lot of, shots at Pascal's Yakum it's like you get the sense that they just don't like him and don't want them to be his best player and it's really weird and i feel like that's it's playing out yeah it's it's it's it's it's been time for a change another guard in in in toronto like as soon as kawai left it was

like okay we really need to move on but like he said masai just doesn't want to make them make another move to like to bring them into this next era of rafters basketball so like it's it's it's going to be interesting to see if and when they actually pull the trigger to get Scottie Barnes the things around him that he needs to like fully thrive yeah yeah I don't know it's just just a weird team none of us have cared about him for the entirety of the offseason and now there's something small to care about at least well they traded away a top six protected pick in this year's draft for yaka perdle so they got they got to either make it work where that pick is not valuable or just go all land to retaining that pick and being

ass which i mean that'll be the route they're not trying to be asked but they're successfully doing it right now so yeah whenever we did our uh we did our predictions episode i had them second to last in the conference and again the raptors fans who hate us were like what the fuck are you talking about dennis schroeder and i was like listen it's top six protected they're going to be in the play in race it's one of those teams it's like the jazz last year that you know February comes around you're like we're not going to make any noise you got no real motion so we might as well tank and keep our pick i think that's the path they're on man we can be more on the next team a team we care about my next surprise is that jalen durran is a fucking star with the capital st-a-r he is a true star in the making and we talked about assar earlier i am so hopeful for this team's future that jalen durin's going to be the guy holding down the interior with ked cunningham feeding him i i don't even know what jayland durin's ceiling is but it's so much higher than i thought it was a month ago yeah i agree i agree i agree i agree um

He's just, I don't know, in this league where we're talking about like heavily skilled centers all the time, he's kind of just like a very traditional guy, but he also does have like his passing is a lot more developed this year than last year and stuff. I just cannot wait until they put to rest this double big thing so everybody involved, Kay Cunningham and Jalen can thrive to the fullest degree. But I watched this man dominate the Bulls a couple nights ago where he was significantly faster than anybody on the court. significantly stronger than anybody on the court and he's what 19 maybe 20 now it just doesn't make any sense yeah the way I've been describing it is I feel like I feel like I'm watching

Dwight Howard if Dwight Howard was a great athlete instead of like the best athlete ever so it's just like a human version of Dwight Howard you take away the Super Soldier serum and you're just like a regular body that's who Jalen Duren is he's like 80% of Dwight Howard because he's like the modern version of what you'd want from a traditional big like Kenny said

super fast he can garden the perimeter he can roar really well he has good touch great defender but not slow-footed it's just he fits all the boxes and I don't know what his weakness is going to be and to think that they had the audacity Dwayne casey had the audacity to have this man come off the bench when they traded for wise men and they're doing the whole wise and bag thing is ridiculous you know what I'm saying I still have questions they're still doing like similar isish things from last season with a new head coach I don't know what it is with Monty Williams I think Isaac tweeted the other day Monti Williams picks a young

player that he every single season he says fuck you i hate you and i'm going to derail something and this year it's j and ivy you know and yeah so it's like regardless of that i'm so happy that the detroit pistons have a found another foundational piece uh alongside cana cunningham this is like one of the big check marks the hardest check marks that every single team has to fill out who are the guys and early into the season he is proving that he is one of the guys and he is a part of the franchise long term yeah they 100% yeah they definitely like I think the pistons as a whole because you know we talked about us earlier they as a whole they've been a really good surprise like they're their top 10 in defense right now through the through the first week and it's

because you have guys like during a hold down on the inside and then it's hard to do everything on on the outside and it's like are the should we obviously it's very very early are we like moving our expectations of of the pistons because of I know I know like I'm a slow down, I'm a slowdown, right? It's week one, it's week one. I understand that. But, I mean, if you are able to have, if you're able to have, like, great defenders on both of those levels, like, you're going to be a tough team to play every single night. And so, like, you might be able to scrape together a few more wins than we thought initially.

Yeah. And listen, Cade's a great defender, too. I was watching a play where Cade was defending ball and passed them off to a SAR on a small, pick and roll, and then Jalen helped in the back end. those are three like great defenders that gives you such a good foundation they're going to add Bogdanovich back into the mix and he gets healthy and he's going to replace Isaiah Stewart shooting all those corner threes which has been fucking disgusting and then right now they're starting killing Hayes for his defense he's also the worst score in NBA history so hopefully a time will come

where they have a better two there that fits gives them more spacing and then we'll see all those pieces come together like I said there are three and D shooting guard away from being nasty on defense so to your question Donovan I don't know if I'm going to expect them this year to make like a push to play in or anything like that yeah but i don't think they'll be the worst team in the conference and that's listen to me that's progress because that's that's progress because like there was a very real possibility that they like could have been and i mean i guess they still can but like i was very ready to kind of like pencil them in as like 14 15 and listen they might be able to get up to 13 who knows right who knows we're it's about

steps it's about this is a marathon i just print and they have they have the guys there they have they have the guys in the building which is it's something different that we haven't seen from Detroit in the last what seven 10 years that like you have you have actual like young talent that you can build around so yeah right now we're witnessing a shift similar to what the Orlando magic went through last year people are like oh shit they have some guys follow of course like been him yeah fronds a lot of people finally recognize like you know like this dude actually might be an all-star sometime in the future I think the Detroit Pisons are going to gain that type of respect once the season is over.

Yeah, they might not make the plane or whatever, but they're going to be known that they will be here in the future to contend to contend for a playoff spot. You know, so and plus, this is another, dub, my side note, they have some hard-ass jerseys. Their city is just in jerseys, most of them trash, they hit their shit out the park. Yeah, it looks good. I hope they can figure out what the path is for J. Nivey. Like I said, he's the person this year that, you know, Monty Williams is contractually obligated to pick a young player that he just hates it all heart. Right now, it's Jayne Ivy, and he's coming off the bench for Killian Hayes for defense reasons.

I guess he has to earn his right by not being bad on defense. I don't know why you would draft him if not to play next to Kade Cunningham, but I guess that's a convoy for another day. But if they do go on the path where he ends up being traded and they can find a shooting guard the fifth next decade that'll be the piece the move i think that makes this team really interesting next season yeah for sure Zach Levine loves going to the um was this little caesar's arena and dropping 40s so yeah i'm sure he'll be available soon uh if they really want to build around jane ivy is that what i'm hearing oh you could do worse any young player is

better than what we have in chicago right now listen i almost had chicago on my list i had them written down the surprise was the fastest team team players only meeting of all time i took them off the list for cam thomas but listen we almost got into it but we'll save you the pain today you know so they're not worth talking about it all what's your next surprise kidding my next one is that of all of the major moves that we've seen so far this in the previous off season the dame milwaukee bucks thing is the one that looks the most clunky and i just did not expect that i thought it would be kind of like a seamless fit immediately and it has not been um this whole talk about um how

how good this combination of players is going to be. We're just not seeing it. They're not giving them the opportunity to really do it. I don't know what the numbers are, but when the AITES is telling me, they're not running as much two-man action as they should. And maybe that's something that you hold in their back pocket. But, brother, it's game number three.

We need to get some reps up. And the only time I really saw them do it, not even a bunch, but like game one of the season, we saw it a good amount. And that was the game that Dame had, what, 37 or something. Since then, I've watched every single game. And we're just not seeing it nearly as much. and all the other fits the poor Zingas,

your holiday fit looks really good right off rib all of these other ones feel okay this one is taking more time the defense is bad I think a lot of people recognize the defense is going to take a step back

but it's like genuinely bad right now and the offense is not compensating for it at the moment yeah I'm glad you I'm glad you said this though Beasley's your shooting guard

yeah I'm glad I'm glad both you guys are saying this because Kenny this was on on my list as well in terms of like biggest surprises like I think I don't I don't I don't know like I think all of us kind of the like expected for for the defense to to be bad but like you said I think on on Zach Lowe's podcast the other day I think he said that they've in like the first three games they ran like 11 7 and then

nine pick and rolls with with day manias and they're just not they're just not using that action which everyone like that's the reason that everybody thought that it was going to be you know this like unstoppable force and for I know Isaac and Moe thought that they were going to be the best team in the conference. Did you feel like that about them or no? I had the Celtics as the better team regular season and postseason. Okay. Yeah.

And so it's like I don't like right now I might just attribute it to like bad shooting from from Dame because he hasn't been light time. I think once like obviously people are going to guard him the same. But once his shooting really opens things up, it's going to be okay. And also Middleton, his he's always been the biggest X factor for how this team was was going to go. And I think as soon as he comes back, health. and is able to give them some, like, quality minutes,

then you're probably starting to see a little bit more continuity between them, and then they won't just have to, you know, rely on all these, on all these other guys, especially early on. But it's crazy how much Chris Millington means to this Milwaukee team. Yeah. It really is. And that's the thing that whenever you have a couple or three stars, I guess you're calling Chris Milton, one of them still,

you don't typically have a lot of depth. So having those guys matters a lot because after that, you're bringing in guys like, you know, John Bochamp, who a lot of people, we like him as a role player, but he's not Chris Middleton. You know, especially when Dame doesn't have the familiarity, that makes having a Chris Milton even more important because you need as many pieces you can that know how to play with each other. And my question here is, I agree with Donovan that some of it is just Dame had an awful shooting game. One of those three games was like the worst shooting

game of his last two years. Yeah. But when the pick and roll volume, that's clearly like a conscious thing, right? Like, yeah. That's probably a coaching decision to not spam picking rolls. I don't really know the lodging on why. I don't know if you all have an opinion on what you think that is. Some of the lowest pick and rolls he's running his entire career, you know. And going back to coaching, I don't know, there's something going. I feel like there may be something going on behind the scenes with the Milwaukee Bucks because I first and foremost, I didn't know that Terry Stotz was a part of this coaching staff until like he got fired or until he like just straight up left, you know. Yeah, he quit. So that is just like raising red flags. You got first time

head coach um and i'm just i don't know they just have a lot to work through as the season goes on and yeah i'm totally banking banking on the boston celtics being the best team in the eastern conference in the regular season at least yeah yeah i'm not i'm not riding them off yet they started slow last year too ended up with the one seed it's kind of the bucks find a way to be the one seat or the two seed every single year so i think it'll be fine largely but if they're not going to if not spam picking rolls is a conscious choice that's not how they want to play that'll change my outlook on the team because I think that's a ceiling razor that could make them unfuck withable if that is how they want to play and if they have a different take on how

their offensive look great for Adrian Griffin I'll once we see it actually work maybe I'll change my opinion but I feel like it has to be high volume of day and picking rolls for this team to reach that ceiling yeah I think like for them to I mean but for them to to get there like at least even the one seed, they were always able to get there because their defense was so elite. And so if that is going to take a step back and that's going to be in the bottom half of the league now,

your offense has to... It won't be. I'm just saying early on, it's not great. And so your offense has to replace whatever your defense wasn't doing. And if you're not taking advantage of your best option, then you're setting yourself up to be severely limited. So, yeah, they have to figure this out.

Do you all think they'll have a bottom half of the league defense? Or do you think it'll bounce back so? There's no way. I think it'll bounce back to be like maybe league average slightly above that. Yeah.

I mean, maybe it's just biased from what I thought coming in but like I feel like they can get back to be like the 10th best defense or something just because you have that core of Janice and Brooke Lopez guarding the rim gives you a high floor. I like to think they can probably bounce back

to the lower half of the bottom 10 instead of like top five. But I agree. If they are league average or worst, That would definitely change how I feel about them. I think that they are kind of because of the position they're in, some of the value that Janus brings defensively is kind of out the window because now he's straight up guarding like Jimmy Butler instead of being the best help defender in the NBA.

So I just don't, I don't say, think that what you're saying is crazy because they again still have the runner up to DPO Y and a guy that won him before. But it's just a whole new look. They just have to reimagine defense and I guess offense for success. And I'm not pressing a panic butt at three games in at all. It's just different from the bucks we've known over the last five years or so. Yeah, that's a good point. I hadn't really thought about the fact that Adrian Griffin isn't going to run the same defense that the previous guy did.

And that definitely, that could change things. That could make their defensive floor a lot different because maybe that style just won't work. We don't know. Right. All right. Well, Donna, who's up next? Is your turn, Donovan? Yeah.

Okay. So we kind of skipped into mine because I had the bucks made. But another one that I had was we kind of have to start these conversations about Palo. Like I thought I thought that Palo hasn't been fantastic to start the year. Now the MAVs have been, not the MAFs, the magic have been good, right? Their defense is top 10. I think endless. I think a lot of it is just slow, like a slow start for Palo.

I don't think anything is something that like is legitimately wrong. But he has not played well. well and I'm concerned a little bit just because I don't want this to get to a situation where we were talking about earlier like with Trey Young where it's like oh yeah it's like a slow start and then he'll come back but then we start seeing slow starts and like you know progression isn't linear but it's just something to keep an eye on because I was very I was very intrigued about Orlando's potential this year I thought palo and friends both had the opportunity to be an all-star and it just hasn't started with

well it just hasn't started well for palo so this is just something i'm monitoring right now yo that is so nasty yeah the magic girl weird team yeah for the audio listeners mikhil just pulled up a graphic that says conversations will be had palo ban caro stat line 11 5 and 4 on 43% shooting versus marvin bagley the third at 11 5 and 1 with 75% shooting yeah honestly we're just watching we're just watch it keep in the eyes peel the magic are a weird team they've been good they're solid they're 500 window carter's not scoring like he used to palo looks like crap franz hasn't been as good as you would think but they just they want a couple games i don't know how because they're often sucks their spacing is horrible starting markell and sucks together is tough yeah and they have to start

markell because he's their best guard he's earned it but i'm worried that's the part i'm worried about is that for as good as he's become and how he's proven himself to be a successful player despite his shooting issue. How do you have a point guard that can't shoot next to two wings that are supposed to be ball handlers? I'm not even looking at Mark Hill, bro. I'm honestly looking at Jalen Sugs.

He's such a volatile player. He's a polarizing. He's not right. He'll do like a lot of gut-ass stuff. But then also like there's some like holes in his game that you'll have to compromise big picture. And I don't think with all the good stuff that he does,

I don't think you can compromise it because it hurts. You know what I'm saying? guys like Paulo and all that. And going back to Paula, I think he just needs to realize that he is supposed to be the dude on the team, if not the dude, the secondary dude, whichever way you want to slice it. Like, he should be, you know what I'm saying? The guy, you know? And so I think as time goes on, he'll just find himself. He was a rookie last year and he's going into his second year. It's not a, I'm not batting too much of an eye on his individual performance. It's encouraging to see that he's unselfish, you know, but he's a little bit too unselfish. But he's a little bit too

to a degree. And for a player like him, whose game is not about being unselfish, you know, I think it's just like, he'll find his identity his time goes on. Yeah. Yeah, Jalen Suggs is like, are this next generation's Mark is smart? And I don't mean like his actual impact on winning and stuff. I just mean he has so many moments. You're like, what the hell are you doing? Oh, never mind. Yeah. It just happens time and time again. But yeah, I, I, I, I, I, I, was excited about the Orlando Magic. I had Window Carter as one of my most intriguing players going into the season because that's a team that desperately needs spacing and then every single year he's got better and better and better in shooting the ball. And I'm usually not one to overreact the

preseason, but in preseason he was shooting it like crazy. And I was like, oh man, if we can get him to be, I think it was like 40% from three on like six attempts. Like it was something crazy for Window Card. I'm like, I don't expect that. But if he can do something similar, I think so far he's shooting like 12% from what was what's is that 20% from three or something right here they're starting line of 1 through 5 he's shooting 0% 30 20 22 and 33 we got to get one on the board man what the hell I tell you he's the I think he's the bigger problem than Suggs not because he's a worst player just the fit is putrid yeah yeah yeah it definitely it definitely feels like you're watching a mid-2000s team whenever whenever you watch the match just like everybody

is kind of like clumped up together and your top two scores Franz and Palo like the shooting under 40% from the from the field right like they just they because there's no spacing bro I know there's no there's no room to operate so like are they they have

they have to make a move right like do you have you have to do something right because if you keep moving like this then everybody's just going to run into each other for 80 for 80 what for 78 more games like it's tough you shouldn't be chest bump in on offense it's a terrible look

of course they're probably committed to Franz and Palo they committed to co-anthony with the extension that he got a couple weeks ago so in order to make something shake it falls on Markell, Suggs Wendale or any of the bench pieces I just don't know what the value of those

players would be if you're thinking about trying to add space I was so high on Buddy Heald going there when Buddy Hill became available a month ago like fake became available a month ago I was like that's the perfect fit You put him on a team and he adds space and like he's a significantly better shooter than all of these players combined. It's like they need that. And obviously, I guess, but he's not going anywhere.

Yeah. And like who, you said those are the three pieces that are the ones that would have to go. But none of them are like the archetype of player that'd be super interesting to a lot of teams. Like Fultz is their best guard. What team would he make sense on? You would have to be a team in the mud in order to be feeding over someone like that. Markle Falls, bro. You have to be a rebuilding.

Yeah, it's like, it's hard because he's good, but like, how do you fit that in a modern offense? Yeah, I'm intrigued. You're both fans. Of course, you're intrigued. You're intrigued by anything. Yeah. Well, like, what's what?

They did that deal and, like, part of that's part of a Zach Levine package and what you get Fultz next to DeRosen? Fucking yuck. No, thank you. Smash my head. I think we should, we should just reset the boost trait. I think that helps everybody. Max.

Lowry's not coming back to those doors, but we can make some work. Yeah, they need a stretch five, unironically. The bulls need a rim protector. I don't know, Wendell Carter's not go bare or none, but he's a better room protector than boots. But we'd also need Franz because he was the initial draft.

Good luck. That's hilarious. Yeah, man, the magic are definitely on fraud watch for now. We'll see if they can get a bounce back. Nah, man, I'll go next. I'm still a supporter. Yeah, me too. I'm not shooting concord.

wrecked itself in the span of three games and we're looking back like oh never mind they're five and two right they're fine but right my last one on my list I don't know how many y'all have left it's my last one my number one surprise Tyrese maxi is also a capital STAR star that was my next one too Isaac let's let's let's beat it down I I wouldn't call myself a Tyrese maxi hater but I wouldn't call myself a Tyrese maxi stand either I've been a let's say a Tyresexie realist the last couple years. I kind of felt like people were being a bit dramatic about his ceiling and I was like, I think he's good.

I don't know if I'm seeing what y'all are seeing to make me say that he's like, couldn't be the star to replace James Hardin. And I was dead fucking wrong. He is exactly the star for a place James Hardin. He's currently averaging 30 points, six rebounds and six assists, averaging two points for possession on dribble handoff plays, which they've been spamming to death, getting him downhill. And he just looks like he has

the juice that I didn't think he had. He finally got free. For me, my, my But the main reason as to why I didn't, well, why you didn't think he had the juice is because we read on the same page. I was like a podcast ago. Like, what elite skill does he have to separate himself or what combination of elite skills is you have to put him in an upper echelon of players in terms of now you had this guy is different because X, Y, and Z, you know? And of course, like his shooting has always been a thing throughout his career since he was a rookie since he was in Kentucky. That's just who he is.

more so it was just like in my book I wanted to see if he could play in pace and be a real you know what I'm saying point guard at least be a fake point guard for a little bit you know and he's shown that ability to do so this season and I think the pacing for me is like utter is what's like changed his game of course like I agree there's more there's more time he has a ball in his hand more natural number is going to go up but he's just next level because he's able to read certain things that he wasn't able to read a year two two years ago you know so he has that he has that John Morant gene where you run a million miles an hour and then stop abruptly and just be real awkward to get to your floaters

and mid-range jumpers yeah he has that same type of thing where you know if you're a fast guy that can get you to a certain distance as a level of player but if you're a fast guy that knows how to slow down that's how you really become elite and learn how to make that skill set really dangerous and I feel like he's finally putting that together also if you're a fast guy that can shoot like how how do you stop a guy that can score at the rim or get past you at the rim but also hit a sidestep three-pointer like it's nothing last year you mentioned a dribble handoffs they were 29th in the league in dribble handoffs last year and now of course new coaching new system and stuff they're first in the league we're starting

to see more joel and bid as a playmaker he came out in his post game he was telling his teammates you can cut i'll find you um and that hasn't been the case always for joel and b so i think this pairing has been has been so good that they said we'll trade james harder for robert coveton That's how good Tyree's Maxi has been right now. Like I remember this might even been last year. We talked about it on our podcast like who has the higher ceiling? Tarry's Maxey or Emmanuel quickly because their skill sets at that point were somewhat similar. And of course we have a Knicks fan on our podcast, right?

And I'm like Tyrese, Tyree's Maxy, but I didn't see it being this. I didn't think he was going to have like a super. all-star type ceiling and right now he's coasting this way to the all-star game so it is it is very cool to see it's the silver lining of all of this mayhem that's going on in philly listen i'm i'm the resident nix fan here that should not have been in conversation like maxi i love i love iqq he he doesn't have the ceiling of maxi i'm so i'm so happy i feel like last year like really this is just maxi being free and i've been a maxi stand so i'm going to take i'm going to push the agenda that he could have done this last year but james hardin was just there

to you know taking up the space but like now that now that one doc rivers isn't there and like really the construction of the team has changed he obviously is much more integrated into the offense where there were times last year where it was hardened and imb they're running their two main game and then all right maxi you come in you do your thing and it's not as seamless but he is 100% like a part of this offense doing everything that they need him to do so listen they you're right trading him for robert covington made sense because of the leap that he's taken so i'm i'm very happy shout shout out tyrese man you swap out james hardin for robert covington pj tucker for fourth quarter nick batum you're cooking you have opportunity to do that

you got to do it for the bars yeah man this what's your what you guys's feelings obviously a lot of the conversation around the sixers after the trade has been like this james hardin trade sets them up to make another deal with his new draft assets whether it can be a star swimming for a Zach Levine if it comes to that or something around the edges even if they don't do that are y'all feeling confident about this team

and their just outlook on the season? I think they're good enough to finish like a three seed even without them making the big move would I put money on it? Probably not but I feel like that's probably what their ceiling is in the regular season postseason time

I don't have much confidence in them just based on history and Joel to be Yeah. I'm just going to go that way. I don't really love the fit of some of the trade packages that people are throwing around to, like, flip this current package for Zach Levine. I just feel like that diminishes Tyrese maxi quite a bit because Zach Levine is such a, he's one of the best catching shoe players involved, but hasn't been empowered to use that skill set often. So to see him kind of make the mental shift to that being part of his main role would just be, I don't know, it might take longer than trade him at February and now we're contending in April. Yeah.

Yeah. Max is him. Donovan's vindicated. He predicted it all-star leap last year. You were a year too early, but it works out in the end. Who has, who has predictions left? I'm all out. I've won more. I got one more as well. Cyanne doesn't look as good as I want them to. Oh, pain. Yeah. That was my other team that I bought stocky, and it was Atlanta out east, and it was the Pelicans out west. I'm not selling stock because they've been winning games. The offense is, terrible. But I watch him play, and I hope he's just going to be a player that plays himself into shape, but knowing the history of his injuries, he doesn't really have time to play himself in shape because he plays 35% of every season. So it's like, I don't know how to feel really.

Again, they've been able to win a few games with their negative spacing and everything, but Z just doesn't look as great athletically. And of course, he's had a lot of injuries and stuff. And even when you watch him on the court, he looks a little bit bigger than what I expected after the pictures that came out during the off season. He's been cool, but that's not the player that I thought I was getting this season. Yeah. It's also weird because usually every time he's come back,

he's kind of immediately erupted into being a superstar, which has made the conversation weird because he'll play 10 games, and in those 10 games, I average 27 points. And you're like, how the fuck do I talk about this guy? Yeah. And this is the first time we're seeing him, like, ease into it. Do you think that's because of him or because of the team more? Because he's not leading the team in shots.

currently. It'd be soon he's 57% in the field. What's your read on why he's being slow? I think that it's a little bit harder for him to get a shot off. Like he's been a guy that can just kind of bulldozer through people, and we've seen that quite a bit this year. But nobody else is much of a threat. So they're kind of game planning for Yonis to barrel through the team.

So especially the game that B. I missed the other night. It was a fucking nightmare. They have Matt Ryan was like the second most important player on the entire team. And then J. Hawkins was the third most important just because those dudes are threats from behind the arc. It's just a rough watch. They need Trey Murphy to third back desperately. Like, I didn't expect it to be, him to be this important this early on. And again, they've been able to maintain what, two and one record. So it's not like they're 0 and three or anything. But for my stock and them to turn into gold, I need them to get things going.

Yeah. It's a weird team. I think last year we all talked about it. them having too many creators and not enough tertiary guys, I feel like that's still a thing, you know, that hasn't gone anywhere. And they're missing one of the tertiary guys, like you said. Not a fun team to watch. Yeah. Yeah, man.

You got to stop falling for the summer picks. You got it the same way that we can't put stock in the preseason. When people are in the summer and you know, they're posting their workouts and stuff like, you can't fall. You can't fall for it. I'm a notorious Ben Simmons Highlight Real offseason watcher

You were moved You were moved by those 10 fritos that he made in a row Weren't you And it took him three games this year To make his first one Or attempt his first one That's a modern age Ben Simmons experience

Yeah man So my last My last surprise Was The Kings man They're still here in my preseason predictions, I believe. I think I had them around the playing range or something like that.

And they still very good could be, you know, like some of my points, they still stand. But an X factor specifically was, of course, like their offense has to be like otherworldly. Their offense has been good. It's been some of the best in the NBA, has it been the best like they were last season or one of the two best like they were last season. They've been like top tennis range or whatever. they've been good you know um but something that's like been paying the something that's stood out to me is kegan murray i thought to myself you know this did this team did absolutely nothing to change and they're only relying on internal growth and some of their young guys and

sub bonus and de aaron fox and all that and also kegan murray and i'm like the only the only one in my mind who potentially has another gear to go to probably is kegan and i thought to myself how good can he be i don't know if he can be you know i'm saying all-star friends that they probably need him to be in order to reach in order to continue their growth and trajectory that they're on but so far this season he's been taking about 14 15 shots per game 10 of those has been three poners he has been chucking those and their head coach has been forcing him to quite literally so i'm just giving him good kudos when during our predictions episode we argue about this 20 minutes because i was like i don't know i think the kings will probably just be the kings again

They're probably going to be just as good. And I was led to believe I was bat shit insane. Like I was gaslit into thinking that this team would fall off for no reason. And what do you know? They're still good. We were arguing about one spot, though. Like you had the Kings at five. I had the Kings at six.

We were actually the most high on Sacramento because Mo had a met like nine. Yeah, Mo had a man nine. And we defended them early and then just bashed them. Yeah. Yeah, but they're good. They're the Kings. Like I think they're this team. that as long as there's cores together,

as long as they have DeMontasabonis, Deeran Fox and plenty of shooting, it's going to be a well-old machine. They're going to have to... This is the first time we're going to see them a little bit injured, a little bit dinged up because DeNor Fox hurt his ankle the other night. And they don't have a timetable,

but the boys didn't miss any games last year together. So we'll see how they weather the storm without Deeran for a little bit. Yeah, and that could be something that, to most point, could be something that is a difference from last year to why they kind of come back to Earth a little bit, because when you have perfect health, you're bound to regress a little bit the following year.

Yeah, exactly. So, who knows, man. The Kings are going to be good regardless. I still, like, stand 10 toes down. I think they're going to regress in terms of the standings and all that. Their offense is not as potent. It's still potent, but it's not as poignant as it was last season. So I'm still shocked at Keegan Murray, man.

He's so good. Yeah. He's an interesting player to evaluate being so old already and, like, closer to his prime, the most second year players but listen I mean no reason why

you can't keep getting better yeah man I think that's all of our surprises I think we're all good there man that sounds crazy Kenny yeah I'm good we have a

ritual over here at the deep three all right okay we all bow our head downs and we be quiet for a little second and we use the words

crayon eaters rejoice and they seep from the bottom what do crayon eaters look like look we don't know we don't we don't know all we know is they enjoy ticot content and i need you to repeat those golden words crayon eaters rejoice kettie say it with me please

is this a bit is this real it's real it's real no you're not wrong with it time crazy yeah mo calls our fans crayon eaters because they're a bunch of little kids that want the tic talks before everything else so this is how we We're just in a TikTok time. We welcome the crayon years back. They click the timestamp to go straight to this point. Yeah. And now we're going to feed them everything they need.

That's crazy. I've never thought to belittle my fan base before. It's not a bad thing. It just means like you like to have fun in the NB and you like to have fun conversations. You know, maybe you're not into the X as an O's. Okay. All right.

A good pack of crayola's in the morning is how you start a day off for the nutritious breakfast. Facts. As always, we're going to start with the draft. This time since we've got a special guest in the house, the draft's going to be a little different. we're not going to draft team lineups like we normally do each of us are going to draft three of the best NBA nicknames of all time

so whatever you think is a good nickname whatever that means to you that's how we're going to do it let's draft the best NBA nicknames of all time I need Kenny to sell here I'm not going to lie Kenny I'm preting on you down far here they they tell me they tell me all the time that I sell drafts I need somebody else to take the fall this week I might be selling because I have I'm building my team a very certain way so the first overall pick I will take the round mound of rebound

Charles Barkman It's a good way It's a mouthful okay We're being silly here Whoa Okay relax A mouthful off rib Damn

Relax Second pick I'm gonna go AK 47 Andre Carriolinko It's a hard ass A weapon Yeah

shit is violent Shit is intimidating perfectly represents Mr. Cariolinko On the basketball court, man. If I heard someone called named, name, nickname was AK-47, I would have thought he had four or five bodies under his belt. Like, on a basketball court, that's crazy. I'm not

going out that guy at the rim. I'll tell you that. Next up, go ahead and give me sweet melon, Camelo Anthony. Just such a nice, savory name. Savory is. Well, savory's crazy. No, not savory. My bad. Sweet name. That's hilarious. All right. Rolls off the top. All right. I'm going to go old school.

I'm going to go old school with my first pick. Give me Daryl Dawkins. Give me chocolate thunder with my first pick. Oh, that's a good one. Going chocolate thunder. I love that. And then, you know what? And then give me, give me habachi.

Give me habachi. Strong. Forgibate arenas. Yeah. That's kind of mid. You can do better. Yeah, you can do way better. I think at best.

Is that the best Gilbert Arenas nickname? I don't even know if that's the best nickname that Gil has. It's not. I can confidently say Agent Zero is better. It loki, listen, I, we'll see how the rest of the draft plays out, right? You already sold it. We don't got to see that. You lost.

We don't know what's going to happen here. I would be. Double Gill would be crazy. What's that? Oh, man. Next up. Bro, I got to go at Pandemic P. You using this man's name into something serious happening in the world right now.

That's so disrespectful. I love it. That's great. Next up, keeping it slanderous. I got to pick Mr. World B-flat, Kyrie Irving. The best nickname to come back in the last few years. That's good. That's good.

Never seen a nickname that represents a player's being an embodied. body's in this perfectly he literally thinks that so yeah it's fact for him the next one i'm going to take is from mr joel prisbella the vanilla gorilla stop playing with him that's that's a deep that's good that's a deep cut okay i've never heard that's on my that was on my list okay yeah it's a deep okay yeah all are the trenches y'all are deep into google i've never heard that i got to go watch his highlights now this man's a sicker this man's a There's a 30-second clip. Don't worry about it.

That's great. The last clip for me is going to be Mr. June for Reggie Jackson. And the reason I'm drafting that is because he's a career, three point per game playoff player. How the hell does he get Mr. June when he doesn't play in June? I don't know. It makes no sense. So I'm taking it. False advertising.

That is crazy. Was he born in June or something like that or what? Nope. Lame. That's not a sign. Next one I'm going with, Mr. Soss Castillo himself, Nick Stouskis. The best and name to the worst player you can imagine. That's a good one.

That's a good one. That's solid. That was on the board, man. That's hard. Go ahead and give me don't Google Evan Fornier. You better listen to you. Oh, that's a good one. That's a good one.

That's hard. Do not Google that. Listen to him, don't Google it. For your own safety. Listen, you guys didn't think that I was going to do this. This was my plan from the start. I was always going to go double gill. Give me Agent Zero to round it.

I was always going to do it. Oh, man. Yeah, no balance. I was thinking about this. Double gill is a crazy plan. Oh, gosh, right? I succeeded. That's funny.

That's great. Great job. Can we wait to see who has the best nicknames? I don't know if you can sell a nickname draft, but somebody's going to find a way. It's all about balance.

All right. Next thing we're going to do, we're going to bring back something we haven't done a little while. We're going to rate some disrespectful NBA dunks. So, real simple. Nikil's going to show some dunks on the screen.

We're going to watch them rate from 1 to 10 how disrespectful they were. First off, Kobe Bryant, Duncan on Steve Nash. I have to see. See this again. Let's see this again.

Let's see it. Yeah. Hanging on the room. The hanging on the room was a little bit disrespectful. He's nearly horizontal in the air. You know what I'm saying? Like he's really defying aerodynamics here to teabagged Steve Nash. And listen, he's doing this.

He's doing this to get his MVP back because you know that Steve Nash stole one. That was the first thing I thought about. There's a first thing I thought about. There's some history in this one. they said yeah i'll give i'll give it like i'll give it a nine i'll give it a nine i'll give it a nine knowing the history behind it it absolutely deserves a nine look at steve nash too just looking so helpless looking up and no one help him immediately bro makes it even worse nine i have a rule for these that i've said before if your backs on the ground it's a 10 immediately

Steve Nash was flat Big Couldn't have been more Horizontal Legs in the air I think I'm giving it a seven Y'all I feel like we could do

I feel like we could do a lot better I think we could do a lot better So I'm going seven You don't think we're claiming The MVP is enough disrespect for what he did here It's a good argument Good point, good point

All right next up We have Michael Jordan Dunkin on Dickin him a tumbo and wagging his finger in his face right after. Another iconic one. Nope. Yeah. That was good.

This is more disrespe. The actual dunk wasn't disrespectful, but it's the finger wave. It's the taunt. Yeah, that's what it is. So I don't know how to rate that. I'll give it like an eight because that's a nice moment. It was just a solid dunk. I was a regular ass dunk, bro.

The lore behind it makes it a nine. when DeKimbe was telling Jordan that he's never dunked on him before and then he went out and did it this is a, it's a 10. Shout out to my, that's my goal. That's a 10. That's my goal. That's a 10. Wow. I literally saw De Anzo Russell do this to Palo Bancaro

just a couple nights ago. This is Paulo Bencaro the greatest shot blocker in the history of the game. No, but he's Paula. Oh, I love, Rudy Go Beer love, so we go. Stop that, stop that. No, no, next one. Next one. It's getting nasty in here.

Stop that. Stop that. Next one. Next one we got. Kai Jones, Duncan on Victor Winvin, Yama in the summer league. Oh, man.

Now that is goat life right there, man. That is goat life to its core definition. Pete Kai Jones right there. Never seen before. Never will probably seen before. This is a 10. 10 on 10 on 10. Listen,

people forget about, people forget about prime Kai Jones. Okay. What he did here was crazy. This might be the most productive thing that Kai Jones has done in the last three years. This is, this is, this is crazy. This is a 10. A lot of people's welcome to the league moment is guarding LeBron or it's trying to stop Kobe.

Wembe's, it doesn't even make, it doesn't even make sense. He was in an interview 15 years from now and they're going to be like, what was a, when did you know you were in the NBA? And he was like, when Guy Jones put his nuts on my back? I was like Oh shit This is for real Ted Guy Jones is literally

A 1% athlete Bro in the NBA It's ridiculous I guess I guess outside the NBA But yeah Yeah true Pain

True Nice Next up Truthful Chris Paul Dunkin on Dwight Howard The Kenny special

Yeah Yeah That's one of It's four career dunks, y'all. He defied the odds. Nobody expects him to dunk because he literally does it once every six years. I think that earns at least a nine. So are we going to be real now or what?

Because this shit like a five. I ain't going to lie to you. I mean, it's nice. It feels nice knowing who he is. He don't do that. But even though you did it, like it's like, it doesn't move me man this is a five yeah I'll give it a five too

this is more impressive than disrespectful yes yeah true okay yeah you know what my heart is at you know what my heart is at on this one so what you get automatic 10 automatic 10 oh man that guy one with three DPOIs come on man

not many people's catching him he didn't have him there he didn't have him here he didn't have him here he was working I think this is the moment he decided he wanted to defend he was like I can't let that happen again CP3 helps set Dwight Howard's career straight facts I will avoid

I didn't even mean to do that I didn't even mean to do that Whoa No I didn't even mean to do that on God That's a serious situation That's a serious situation Too bad I'm an unsurious person

Next up we got Vince Carter's dunk of death in the Olympic Perhaps the most iconic dunk of all time Yeah Oh man No this is fire The steel jumps over the defender Oh my gosh

Dude the defender didn't even know what happened bro He was terrified He thought his head got knocked off This is a 10 on 10 if I ain't seen one before This is a 10 This is a 10 This is a literally Like people listen people do like

Tomahog dunks in game And they're like it's a dunk contest dunking game No this is a dunk contest dunk in a real life game. This is a 10 out of 10. That is a discuss. Oh, my gosh. Listen, we got two rules.

One of them, if your backs on the ground, 10. Second one, if nuts are in the face, 10. It's immediate. There's never been more nuts in the face than this nut in the face. This is nut on top of the head. We ain't seen this before. This is peak disrespect. Generational nut.

We've been very, very crazy these last two weeks. Africa was wild This is probably the easiest 10 we've ever had on this segment For sure true Oh man Crossed Alright next up Next up we have

Blake Griffin dunking on Powell Gasol Twice in the same game Twice is crazy It's a it's a 10 out of 10 It's a 10 out of 10 You can't do that same game Oh Look at that

Look his back is on the ground his back is on the ground bro he was on all four it's a 10 I need to see the second one the second one he comes around hits a little pick and roll the thrunk yeah

oh man look at he's on the floor back is on the ground when the person they get dunk don't complains to the ref right after no

you let him do that to me help me me that's a that's a foul though that's a that's a that's a that's a that's a that's a that's a that's a back's on the floor twice this is a 20 no it's a flagr foul though struggling to get up and having to use all fours is peak like yo I just got demasculized but like I I have nothing I have nothing on him right now there's none you can do buddy God made him crawl don't so hard you crawl is crazy he said my kids are here No one of he's mad.

He invited 20 family members this game. That's great. That's the last one we got. Next thing we're going to do, a tier list, another staple of the show, something we do every week. This time we're going to start something we did last season. We're going to start over for the new calendar year. We're going to go position by position and put each,

not the 10 best in the league, but a variety of players in the league into a tier list. And today we're starting with the point guards. So real simple, we've got 11 names on the board. Let's put these NBA point guards. into a tier list. First off, Steph Curry. S tier. No, conversation. Easily S. Immediately S. We got to set the bar somewhere

and he's the standard. Yeah. No one on his level right now. Next up. Tray Young. Oh, man. What a steep drop off. Right now. What? B. Oh, I'm being generous. I want to say C.

The first four games of this season. C or D? Really, first four games, D? I think he'll be in a B.C range. But out of respect, I think C's like an okay, me. Just in case. All, we'll go see. Wow. He's going to bounce back, though.

Come on, we can't overreact too much. Oh, yeah. He will. I was thinking, I was thinking B. Maybe I'm a generous guy. I was thinking B, but I'm not mad at C. I'm not mad at C. I feel like he probably deserves B for now as well,

but he's definitely on fraud watch. He can quickly fall to see if he doesn't learn that to make a bucket. Yeah. I'll think he'll be a B for now. Yeah. After that, Luca Donchich. s also he's got to be with step curry up there in s tier yeah it's got to be yeah is he equal footing with staff or is he just below an

he's equal footing he is he is he if we're talking yeah if we're talking about tiers he's equal footing listen he's he's been bawling and so we got it we got we got him some props winning games by himself essentially yeah bro single handedly carrying that walk that mavix roster not a lot of players can do that Now, we're talking about Trey in looking like Julian Newman. Kari's been looking for a few games. Luke was finding a way to win. Yeah, man.

Next up, Chris Paul. This is why I wanted to have Trey Young hire just so we could put Chris Paul higher. See, you're intentions that we're not at the right place. So Chris Paul can't be hired in C these days, right? No. Is he C or D? Does he still deserve C off of like? I think vibes and like, I know how to win.

Truthfully, he's probably... Does he know how to win? I think Kenny's right. Sometimes. Come on now. Yes, all the time before April. He knows how to win. Before April.

So, where we're going to see off of, uh, we're being respect to our elders? Does this look right in 2023 to have Trey young and Chris Paul in the same team? No, let's play. Trey young is B, bro. Trey young's B. Yeah. I mean, look, but like, look, Chris Paul's wearing a warrior's jersey these days. Everything's out of whack.

like we can it works it's fine no you look at Chris Paul pictures of him in a warrior's jersey you're looking

at magic Ewing it's happening this is Raptor Sakeem right next up Damian Lillard he deserves to be in A for sure he's not

I agree in Stephs or Lucas tear simply because like he's not generational in that aspect but he's still like superb and you know what I'm saying

he's Mueller, bro. Easily, yeah. He's clearly better than Trey Young, clearly worse in Luca Donchage. Quintessential, eh? Yep.

Next up, DeAngelo Russell. Ooh, this is interesting. Where would you put? Is it interesting? Yeah, where would you put him, Isaac? What does F mean?

Tell me that he's to y'all. Does that mean you're the worst starting point guard in the league? Does it mean you're the worst point guard in the league? What does that mean to you? I'm doing this based on if Steph Curry is top tier, where are you compared to that? Like how many rungs below that are you that?

And I'm not going higher than D. Listen, Daniela Russell couldn't be further from Steph Curry. So put him in F. Damn. I wanted to put him a D, but shucks. Never mind little old me, man. It's a shuck, you know what that's man? He's a gawley, brother.

What do you do? Next up La Mello ball He's been ass so far this season He's been bad He has been bad Another guy though that he'll bounce back Yeah I'm feeling a smooth B

Because I don't expect him to shoot 20% from 3 this whole season So Good prediction Yeah I'll say B Okay B's good Cool B works Next up

Jamal Murray I think he's ascended to A tier at this point. He deserves to be better than Trey? Right now, I mean, in this, in this moment, coming off the championship, right, firing on all cylinders, I think right now he deserves to be a. I need Kenney and tell him to the real. Tell him the real. Hey, I'm with Don on this one. Whoa.

I'm done on this one. Jamal Murray is a king of efficiency, plays his role the perfect way, and he just dropped 38 points in the NBA Finals game. Like I have to look at that So I'm putting them in A tier two Let's go Yeah So it's a bigger accomplishment The Trace ever done in his career It's got to be a

Well he was fun John Morant I guess We'll put him in D We'll put him in D for a delinquent Naturally Fair enough Put him in D

I guess it's fair Yeah you can't even get on the court Sure I know whatever D D for Delilah, that's where he's playing these days Oh my gosh Next up

Jalen Brunson He deserves to be a solid B In my opinion B I want to put him in A so bad I want to put him in A so bad So badly I want to He's been

I don't know if he deserves to be in the same tier As a mellow ball I think he's always out of that tier But you want to put him in A in the same tier as Damien Lillard I don't feel right I have to go down to C Loki

Damn Wow I'm trying to get you That La Mello I'm sorry Who's a Mello closer to Right now Chris Paul or Jalen Brunson

Ooh I would You're ranking If you're ranking the top of 100 players Who is he closer to mathematically I think you would be closer To Chris Paul

Right now That hurts Kenny you make the call Ken you make the call Is Lamello gonna be B or C Keep him in B tier All right There you go

We love the me too We love the me too. Yeah. Last one. Russell Westbrook. Oh, man. Is he a... He should be a C.

He's been good for the Clippers. Yeah. This is like... She's like the good Wast range. But good Wast. You're a nice one. We'll put both the old... We'll put both the old All-Stars and see.

I think that's a fair thing to do. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. Yeah. Both the guys that are on Wizard Jordan's status wearing their six uniform, they can go in there

I love it anything we got a tweak before we finish it are we happy with all these I don't know Jalen Bronson doesn't look right there I can't like to you right he doesn't deserve an A he might deserve

A he's also never been in all stars I think neither with Jamal Murray though so yeah well Jim Jamal Marie's in the different He's stamped though He's literally stamped and there's nothing fucking all star bro

like what he did in the finals like is generational, you know what I'm saying? I think B is fair for Jalen Brunson because he hasn't accomplished those feats just yet. No, man. It's not that easy. Jalen Brunson, know what it is? Jaylon Brunson looks weird there

because he's next to Lamello Ball. Because Lamello Ball is a fraud in B. He's a picture of the dragons of the three heads and one of them looks goofy. That's just that's the Mellow Ball. Oh, my gosh. Out of all of them, though, who has the best celebration? Who's doing this?

This is hard right here. Well, there you go. Lamello stays in B for vibes, the cool factor. He's there for aura. The tattoos, you kidding me? What? Who's cool? What type of question is that?

Listen, he's the only one with the reality show, so that gets some points. That streamed on Facebook. So that show is washed. Is this still going on? Who knows? They had, no. They stopped a while ago. Okay.

All right, man. Next video we got, we're going to do. something we've done about a month ago now, we're going to look at baby pictures and guess the NBA player. I don't know if you ever done this, Kenny, but it can be easy or it can be incredibly difficult. No lie. I'm really, really good at this. You say that now. Okay, I'll you do that. Please. You say that now, but let's see how good you are. Please. I get I get stuck on these. I need help. Go ahead. So he's a hook. Hit the hook. Guess the NBA player based on their baby pictures. Let's get the first one pulled up.

It's Kevin Durant. First off, who is this baby? Damn, I didn't even finish the question. Come on, man. Damn. Is that an off-brand Simpsons T-shirt? Oh, yes. That's crazy. Look, man. Kevin DeRan had to get it out the mud.

Wait, is this, is KD? Yes, this is Kevin Durant. Yeah. Hey, Kenny might have been honestly. He might be good at this. Yeah. He might be cooking. This might be his bad.

That was easy, though. That was easy. What was next? All right, next one. Who is this kid? I have an idea. I don't want to just jump the gun, though. Now look at his swag.

What is he wearing a gold chain? Look at the hat. This fresh prince baby. This picture is kind of old. So that may be a hit. If you got an idea, let that shit fly because I don't know who I'm looking at. I don't know. Is that Tristan Thompson.

Damn. Oh, that is nice. Yes. That is Tristan Thompson. What gave it away? uh the eyes i just look him in the eyes and i see the the grown version of him i don't know he says i see a cheater in those eyes don't follow like a cheater when he's five is a nuts

i see an infidel in those eyes Oh Who is this Oh my God That's crazy Who is this kid? I got this one too I don't want to just answer everything

Donno what do you think this is? I don't Is that a Thompson twin? It looks like a Thompson twin. Is that a Sarr Thompson? I don't know which one it is But it's a Thompson twin It literally is the same.

Tell, bro. I'm going to assume that's a sire. I get a sarm vibes. If they see this video, don't let us know, bro, because this picture was from Facebook. This man, was stalking. Awesome. Yeah. Who is this kid?

He looks smooth in this picture. I have an idea. He looks sad. It kind of looks like, are we thinking Devin Booker? I mean, the hair is kind of weird. I don't know. I think in J. Brunson.

Bro, this guy is different at this game. Come on. This is Jalen Brunson? I see it. I see it. Damn, you know everything. This facial recognition is crazy.

You don't get Jalen Brunson there? No, you just got it way faster than I did. Yeah. Listen, I just saw, I just saw light skin and I went to Devin Booker. Like, that's, that's really bad. It's always the same reception. You immediately you go save their book. Jason Taylor.

It's always Jason Jason. Oh, man. All right, next one. Who is this kid? Ooh. Tell me you, tell him you know this one instantly. Not instantly, no. This one is hard.

This one is hard. I ain't going to lie to you. This looks like a big man. Is this a center? No, this is not a big man. This is not a big man. Damn, I'm a shit. Now, something that I will say is that these type of kids will throw you in for a loop.

What the hell? These type of kids. This has to be a biracial kid. Just off of that. Right. You got it. It is. Looking at his hair,

is he a rather white passing biracial kid? No. Okay. In my opinion, no. Ah. Is he currently playing right now? He's currently playing. And he is a big body for his position.

This is Josh Hart. No. Not Josh Hart. Damn. Not far off. You're in the right conference. Conference. That barely narrows it down.

He's a big body for his position. Do you know how many birachals are in the Eastern Conference? Like, it's a long of the snoring in the league. List him out. He says a big body for his position. Yes. Big body for his position. Is that a tall guard or is that a big for?

Oh, this is Michael Porter Jr. No, he's a Eastern Conference. What the fuck was Denver and? the west god dammer's in the west i thought i was cooking you touched you was on to some no he's a to answer you though he's a big guard a big guard the hair throws you on for a loop bro the hair is crazy as hell yeah it does no it's not cade good guest that'd be hilarious that'll be crazy though big guard is the eastern conference is this dyson daniels oh that's a weston conference That's not terrible, though.

Is this Ben Simmons? No, it is not Ben Simmons. You ran out of Big Guards. Kenny, come through. Come through with the answer. I try it. I don't got it. You're supposed to know everything.

Damn, where are you at? Big Gar. Biracial Big Gar. I'm not even looking at the baby picture anymore. I'm just thinking about biracial box. Is Tejate Murphy? He's black. He's not.

He's black. He's like me. What's that? What the hell? No, he's not. This man is not biracial. Is this? Is this Kenny's close personal friend Tyrese Alliburton?

You are correct. This is Tyrese Alliburton, bro. You are a bad friend. I don't see it at all. Bro, the hair is. I'm doing everything but Tyrese. Yeah, man. Wow.

Well, no, the hair's crazy. Facts. My hair is a kid. Who is this kid? I know that face Hold on Hold on hold on hold on His face looks high as hell

I don't know who this is Marshawn Brooks This could be anybody So who is his father Oh man This kid Let's see This is an old picture

So I'm guessing it's not a player playing now Or if he is he's old No He's playing now He's playing now He's not old Okay No

Wow Skin completion has stayed the same Is this Cade Cunningham? No, this is not Cade Cunningham I don't think that looks a thing Like I'm looking at something about the Listen, I've seen the live somewhere I'm trying to

Give me the conference real quick Is this Grant Williams? Same conference No, it's not Grant Williams This is a good guess so He has a puffy face Okay, Western Conference Yeah

Kenny got me thinking about players at big lips now That's all that. Jesus Christ. Is this Yonis? This is not Yonis. This is in the West. This kid is long.

He grew up long and lengthy. Brandon Ingram. God, this is Brandon Ingram. I should never said that. Damn. It's the lips. Then you said long pulse. Then you said long.

The lips and the length. Damn. What has this turned into, yo? This is crazy. I'll be damned, bro. Oh, my gosh. Oh, yeah. Who is this?

Don't even ask. Wow. What give it away so fast? It looks exactly like him. Everything. This kid just looks like a bad ass off rip. He just looked like he terrorizes. Yeah, he has those adults eyes.

He looks like a terror. He lived up to a week's today. of the kid with the big head. You're isn't that video that killed the big head who runs over the camera and like punches it? Yeah.

You're seeing that bind? Yeah. That's what he looks like. Yeah. His nose stayed the exact same too, which also helps. So, yeah, that's a movie bullet. He grew into his head.

Yeah, that hell was crazy. That is true. The top of it was enormous. He was thinking. That was wild. That was wild. He's next. Oh, man.

I think that might be. be it. Oh, no, we got one more. Who is this kid? Donovan Mitchell. Ooh, you would think so, but it is not. Mm, that hands shape, bro. That head shape is crazy.

I know exactly who this is. This is Tyrese maxi. Woo! That three rule forward. Yeah, that's Tyrese. Damn. How did you get it so fast? That's good.

I just, Kenney's wearing off of me. I just know everything now. Every time I see a child, because I just immediately know, it's six cents. Yeah. I swear to God, when I saw this, I thought this was immediately Donovan Mitchell

because the head shape in the nose and the eyes just like Dalman Mitchell just so distinct now I've seen the smile that's a that's a Tyrese maxi smile he's always grinning bro that kid averages 30 points per game in the NBA right now it's crazy that's crazy he's got the same body type to this day

oh man it's hilarious that's the last one I believe that's the last one that's great I love baby picture segments I bring up one more video before we get out of here and that's going to be a new segment we've been starting, deal or no deal?

I feel like it's only right that we do this considering Kenny, you're most known for rebuilding teams on 2K and making trades. So we're going to get a sense of how you value players and trades. This time the topic is going to be Zion Williamson.

So we just talked about. So it's going to be real simple. I'm going to name some trade packages around Zion and you guys can tell me if you take the deal or not. From the perspective of you're the Pelicans. NBA deal or no deal, Zion Williamson edition. first up

would you trade zionne williamson for jalen brown and derrick white she's you starting off kind of tough um good listen not often you trade a star you get a star back are there are there first round picks involved

no straight up nah I gotta this is hard man I think I might have to decline I think if I'm the new one's pelicans and I get a chance to pair Brandon Ingram with Jalen Brown

That's a once in a generation type of mid That I do not want to do Yeah The only reason I'm kind of contemplating it Is that those two dudes on the right Can play basketball games for a full season So it's like Maybe you want to wash your hands of the Z experiment

And try to do the other thing But the ceiling of Zion is too crazy So I'll say no deal But at the same time Imagine Zion next to Tatum And Chris Paul But that's as far as you can take this conversation. Just imagine, because he ain't probably playing.

Then again, baldhead, Derek White, has been kind of an enigma. He hasn't missed a shot since shaving his head. So maybe you've got to get that on your team. Yeah. Yeah. No deal. Yeah, no deal for me too. Next up.

Would you trade Zion Williamson for Jamal Murray? No. Confidently, I'm going to say no to that one. No. Ooh. I just, no. respect to Jamal, I just feel like he's such a perfect pair with Yokic that pulling him away from that. I just don't know if we're going to get the same level of player full time. And again,

the ceiling of Z is just higher in my opinion. So I'm going to stick with that. Wow. Yeah, I'm not moved by the Jamal Murray. See Jemma call him back court. Right. That's hilarious. It's not the answer. Yeah, I'm doubt with no deal, bro. The synergy that Jamal Marie has with Yokic is generational quite literally. You don't see that top. Yeah, it's almost like, Draymond is like Draymond's perfect for the Warriors but you take him outside of that he'll be eh

I feel the way to a less of extent with Jamal Murray yeah he'll still be good but not ask it or valuable yeah all right no deal next up

would you trade Zion Williamson for a John Morant what do you want out of this train what are you looking for you know I'm I'm gonna say deal I'm gonna take this deal I'm gonna take this deal

I know listen I know both of them have their have their stuff once John comes back though I know that he is going to be all NBA like for sure he's obviously he can't make it but whatever he's going to be that level play

he's going to be an all NBA level player he's going to actually play games he can change the franchise and I've seen it from him I haven't 100% seen it from Zion I'll take John I'll take that headache over Zion right now same slam the deal if we're looking between guns and buns give me the guns

I think he'll get over that. It'll be a phase in his career. We'll look back a decade from now and be like Young Job was wild but now he has 10 All-Stars and he led my team to victory. Well, I don't know how much we can say that for Zion

given his history. I agree with it. I'm accepted. I guess y'all can't meet me. Oh, we got the deal? I guess so. Sounds like you don't want to say. I can tell it takes a lot out of you.

Yeah. I just, I think Zion's ceiling is top 10 in the league. It is. You know, and I just, I would hate to make this deal. And then Zion goes on this like breakup tour where he's like, I care about my body and I care about all of this. And then he turns into the player. And I'm like, ah, damn, I'm around to sell on Instagram live.

I'm like, I just fucked up. But Zion would never do that if you don't break up with him. So he'll never be that for you. You know what I'm saying? Right. Everybody walks out on top. You know, everybody walks out. It's true.

Yeah. I would also be too scared to do that. but I think Jha is good enough that I'm willing to make that risk like the risk award weighs out when you know the alternative is also like a top 20 guy top 15 maybe

yeah deal it up one more one more would you trade Zion for Scotty Barnes and OG Ananovi hell no hell no

yeah you said fuck no yeah right here yeah right here this is not happening but Saigi get the fuck off my line yeah

God Messiah would be asking us for draft capital in this trade Yeah Yeah I'm saying no I'm saying no I'm saying no

I'm a mess I would ask Brandon Ingram and C.J. McCollum as well There's nothing cooking with this trade bro Scotty Barnes is nice And OG is OG but The value just isn't

isn't there Right For Z specifically I don't know I just don't see the ceiling Yeah I don't need that I don't know I'm caping I would never do this day in my life.

No deal. That's funny. That's hilarious. All right, man. That's the last deal we got. And that's the last TikTok second we got. Wow. I think we're done here.

Kenny, every time we end these episodes, we have somebody tell the people what to comment if they're still watching. I'll let you decide as a guest. What should they comment? Comment down below. CP3 is the point God.

and we'll know you watch the entire thing. There you go. CB3 is the point God. And I better see it spam in the comments. Real. We'll see y'all later.