The Deep 3 Podcast - The TRUTH About Russell Westbrook's NBA Career | Ep. 25

Episode Date: February 23, 2023

s Russell Westbrook's NBA career OVER? #nba #podcast Sign up for Underdog Fantasy today with promo code "TD3" to double your first deposit! ⬇️ https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-the-deep3 J oin the TD3 Discord!: https://discord.gg/e63QYQYrVA Listen on Spotify!: https://open.spotify.com/show/3elbbqVumwqz8wlIdknsLW Listen on Apple Podcasts!: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-deep-3-podcast/id1657940794 Follow us on TikTok!: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedeepthree Follow us on Instagram!: https://www.instagram.com/thedeep3podcast/ Isaac's twitter: https://twitter.com/byisaacg Muhamed's twitter: https://twitter.com/Mojo99_ Donnavan's twitter: https://twitter.com/Dsmoot3D Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

So the day this comes out will be the first day of the season post all-star break. So I think today it's only right if we give our second half of the season predictions, as well as talk about a few new stories that broke over the past week. But before we get into that, Mo, I think you have something special to announce for somebody. Yep, our very first Jersey giveaway. Shout out to Wave Break 24, aka Brian. Followed us on Twitter, Instagram, did all the necessary requirements and even join the Discord. DM us, and we'll get you right.

Yeah, so if you don't know, if you don't know, last week we announced we were going to do a Jersey giveaway, and we had told you guys to follow us on our social platforms, join our Discord, comment, and we pick somebody random. That's who just want it. We'll probably do this every few months. So, again, make sure you follow us on all these platforms to find out next time we do it. And yeah, I think we jump right into it. I'll do it. Guys, Russell Westbrook is a clipper. How do you feel about this?

Crazy. Crazy. Just the fact that, like, another Los Angeles team is about to be destroyed. I don't see the high, high upside in terms of like championship window. I think he makes them a little bit better. But I think the risk is a little, I think, yeah, I think the risk outweighs the potential reward with the rest here. Interesting. So you're overall pessimistic.

What about you, Mo? Yeah. I don't know. I feel like this move might not move the needle for them because you telling me you gave up two second on pits or two second on pits. They don't mean shit. But I feel really eh with it because I'm not sure if he really fixes. all of their problems offensively. Second round picks.

No, well, they gave up two second round picks for Bones Highland and now you're picking up Russ as well. Oh, okay, okay. I was like,

what do you mean second round pick? It was that number of nothing? Yeah, yeah, okay, that was a half thought. Yeah, that's weird because I think there's a lot of nuance

with this because there's a lot of nuance when you discuss Russell Westbroke, right? But we talked about him to the Lakers being an extremely negative asset who doesn't make them

better for that large amount of money which is just like disastrous. But how does that equation change when you're getting minimum right like it's not the same resource allocation if he's ash you can just not play him you can cut them you can do whatever you want like there's like that's why i feel like the risk is a little bit less and obviously basketball wise the fits better because you have to be better than what it was of the lakers right like they didn't have any shooting it needed a player that needs shooting

the clippers have great shooting so i can see a world where you talk yourself into it because the fits decent and it's just no risk because you can cut up tomorrow if he comes in and it's not work how do you feel at that part of it i don't know i i i don't know i I think that, like, yes, you're right and that you can just turn around and cut him. But at the same time, it's Russell Westbrook. So the personality instantly is going to come in and be a topic of conversation. He's playing in the same exact stadium, same city, just opposite Jersey, you know, of the Lakers. So I don't know if, I don't know if you're going to be able to just sweep him under the rug.

Like he's a regular, you know, 10-day guy, buy-out guy or whatever. I think he is, though. I think that's why he's on his team. I feel like they talked about it. Like, you've heard them talk about role a lot and, like, coming in and finding his own, what his role is with his team. I feel like this only happens if he's willing to buy in

and be the guy that need him to be, right? But then again, is Tyloos is the guy that's going to rein him in? We said the same thing at the start of the season with the Lakers in terms of like, oh, well, you know, if they didn't trade him, then it has to be because Russ is going to buy in and they think that he's worth it.

In terms of the picks and stuff like that. I mean... He bought it. He came off the bench. He didn't complain about it. He just wasn't. not good at it, but he bought it. He was talking about that he got injured because he came off the bench and he usually doesn't come off the bench. I think he was serious. It was stupid,

but I think he was serious. He, you think he legitimately got hurt because he was sitting on the bench. I think he thinks that because his ego first thing on the bench. Those are two very different things. Those are two very different things in terms of like if that's the truth or rustings that's the truth. So we'll see. Yeah, I don't think he was lying. I think he believes that's the truth. But overall, like Darwin Ham got him to buy in. He seemed like he, who's competing, but then again, there's no way to get the best of Russell Westbrook in L.A. when everybody knows

everybody in the organization wanted him gone. LeBron didn't want him there. Nobody wanted him there. He probably didn't want to be there. And now the clippers, we hear them talk about it. Paul George, every time someone gives him a mic, is saying how much he loves Russell Westbrook and how much he wants to see Russell Westbrook win a title.

So by default, the chemistry is going to be better, right? I mean, he said that, but then he left Russell Westbrook in the middle of the night four years ago. So, like, I don't care what Paul George has to say about anything. He could say that. I love Russell Westbrook And watch him be the main one Trying to get Russell Westberg cut

Before they go into the playoffs If he sucks Like, no, I don't care I don't care about that Mo, I want to So the thing is we all talk about How he didn't fit with LeBron and AD Do you think that fits better

With Kauai and PG specifically? Because we know the bench has lost their shooting But what about with the stars? Yeah, in theory it does I think just naturally it does Because PG and Kauai are Much better shooters than what the,

Lakers had to work with their two-star players, their game is not predicated off of assuming, but that's one of their main strengths, you know? And I would say, like, theoretically, it works, but Westbrook is Westbrook. Theoretically. He's so, like, he's so volatile as a basketball player. And so, like, if the NBA was black and white, and black and white, yes, but, like, there's a lot of gray area in Westbro's career. So you just don't know.

You're right. On paper, it makes sense when you think about, these are two, wings who don't need the ball in their hands are really good with it but don't need it and aren't amazing playmakers so you adding a playmaker next to them theoretically should work yeah but like you said nothing's nothing works as theorized with russ of westbrook is everything's a little a little different than what you would think yeah if the NBA was easy as one plus one equal to then yes this makes sense but like there's so many other theories and equation yeah in terms of 2K ratings that makes sense if I'm what attributes that's about oh for sure

If it was 2K, this will work out beautifully. Russbrook, this and out to all these shooters, and he's dumping it up to Zubach and feel like that. Like, yeah, this is great. But let's say what this Kliber's team would just look like before the trade deadline. Obviously, a lot of stuff changed. Like you said, they're brought in Bones Highland.

They brought in Eric Gordon, Mason Plumley, so things are a little different. But before the season, and before the off-seat, I can't fucking talk, before the trade deadline, there were 25th in transition efficiency. Damn. You would think Russell Westbrook being a transition-based player first off where he could help that.

And an interesting part to me is when PG and Quire on the court, they have a plus 11 net rating, which is no really good. They're killing teams and both of them are there. But when you added John Wall to those lineups, it was just only plus two. So John Wall made those lineups

10 points worse. But that's not really, that's crazy. Well, yeah. It's a little bit of months. There's a little more, a little more here. A little more here to that. A little more here to that. But when there was no John Wall

and there was Kawhi and Paul George with Reg Jackson, they were plus 16. So they got even better. So the question is, does Russell Westbrook fall closer to John Wall or closer to Reggie Jackson in terms of fit in making these lineups better? The only thing that's going to, the only thing that's going to answer that question is whether or not he's going to make layups. That's the only thing. If he's going to come in and miss layups in transition, if he's not going to be able to finish around the rim, then those lineups are going to be closer to John Wall.

But if he can somehow get everything out of his mind, start being the Russell Westbrook that we think that he can be. be in terms of, you know, supercharged finisher, right? A nice, like, distributor. But he hasn't been in that for like five years. And I don't, so again, in theory, Russell Westbrook should make them better. But obviously the spacing issue. It's a spacing issue. Yeah.

Exactly. But we don't know. So it really just depends. Are you going to make bunnies or not? That's, that's it. Let me tell you some of what numbers about good old Russell Westbrook over the past few years. We talked about how transitions to be the place where you make your team better. For the last three seasons, his team has, his team has been.

the same or worse transition efficiency-wise with him on the court. So it's been a long time since we saw him make a team's fast break attack better. We also say he's supposed to be a guy that creates open shots for teammates, right? Especially shooters. That's why he should theoretically fit the clippers. His team's effective political percentage was less than 1% better with him on the court this year, and it was worse last year. Okay.

Okay. I want to give him a pass on two of those things, though. Yeah, I don't know. Let's give him a pass on two of those things, because the Lakers had the oldest roster in the league last year. and then on this and then this season they have absolutely no shooting and so it's like it's yes Russ has been bad and you would want him to make those things better but the pieces around him don't help him make them better that's not how it works though it's compared to Linus with him on the court

and him without so you could say the team can't shoot at all but if those teams full of non-shooters are shooting better with him on the bench what does that say he's not elevating non-shooters that's the point there we go that's what you're getting to his lack of efficiency outweighs any creation he creates for others, right? So even if he's making all his team around him shoot 5% better, he shoots 10% worse, so it doesn't matter overall. If they're actual shooters,

I want to see him, I want to see where he looks like with actual shooters, because we haven't seen that in a while. The last time we saw that was when he was on the, I don't know if I want to say Wizards, but definitely on the Houston Rockets. Yeah, the Rockets is the last time. And so I don't want to say that. He's gone through, like, a lot of injuries

and shit like that since he's been on. the rocket so he's definitely not going to be the same player but the biggest question is can he have at least like half of the production and like actually finish on the basketball court like you said donovan who knows to us bro yeah that's a good point because the rockets thing he looks like an enigma for a few months of the rockets before he got hurt because they just like went all in on him and they played robert covington and p j tucker's their big and spaced everything the fuck out so he could bulldoze the rim you can see a world where the clippers have the capability to do similar things because they already run small ball they are ready to run lots of small

lineups with like marcus moors playing the five yeah so maybe there's a framework there but is current russell west were good enough to play this type of lineups just for him when you have flumly and you have zubak probably not this is his last chance like this is his best opportunity this is by far the best fit in my mind for him possibly other than like a mid-ass seem like the wizards that will just be like yeah i'm coming yeah but in terms of just like Russell Westbrook's legitimacy as a player today, not his entire career whatsoever, people get messed up and just spread to my crazy. Today, his value, this is like his last chance in my mind.

Oh, certainly. I agree. Yeah, I mean, you could say the Lakers was his last chance. He's a minimum guy now. Like, he's kind of like on the doorstep right now of the relevancy. Is that the word to use? I don't want to be too harsh about it. You know, Taiwan Tigers with Dwight Howard or making the minimum contract?

This is the last chance. Yeah. But we'll see. Like we've always said, I don't think any of us are super optimistic it's going to work out as our Clippers fans aren't either. But you can see a world where you understand why they do that and the risk is low enough that's like, that's not going to kill you. It's not like they're paying $40 million, right? Yeah, exactly. I would do the same thing if I were a good move on their part.

I don't know if I would say that. No, I would not have made the same move that. You have nothing to lose. That is that true. I think you have a championship window to lose. That's what I'm saying Like you said No like you said

I just kind of It just doesn't work out So it's like Yeah there's a way out But still Yeah I don't know if I would Insert that volatility

Into a lineup That's trying to already Get their chemistry together To make a run Thank you But there's a way out So I get it Yeah

The Rockets have had Like the most lineup changes In the entire NBA The season Clippers you mean? Oh yeah Clippers my bad

Yeah yeah God Yeah they're so volatile This another wrench But you could also say That they already Redid their whole team With the deadline

They're already gonna have to get a lot of stuff figured out just last 22 games yeah what's the one more piece right like it was already going to be a lot yeah i don't like this situation because if you have to talk to yourself as much as we are into like something working out then it might not work out bro you might be delusional hey yeah i don't want to be the one to say i'm apparently the russell westbrook hater i try to be nice about it and find a way but you said it not me we're going to take a quick break from the show to tell you about our partners at underdog fantasy if y'all don't already know by now

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Let's go. Let's go. I'm going to put my mic down, Mo. If you guys don't know, yesterday on Wednesday, February 21st, the Atlanta Hawks fired Nate McMillan. And if y'all don't know, Mo is the biggest Nate McMillan hater in the fucking world. Oh, no, I'm not. No, I'm not. No, I'm not. People, listen, people on Hawks' Reddit, Hawks' Twitter call this man, they compare him to Hitler.

They compare the man to Osama bin Laden. I would never do that, all right? I said some nasty thing about him. You call him milk dead. That's better. Yeah. I said some, not nasty. things about i'll compare them to a milk that yeah that's the worst thing that i'm pretty good you know but

nitt mcmillan he is the definition of mid you know a couple years ago when we hired him at the r j barrett of coaches huh see the r j barrett of coaches let's stick to nate oh man that's crazy see don't know man that's stuff but a couple years ago when he was fired from the indiana pacer's and brought into the atlanta hawk's coaching staff with lloyd pearson july that um i was over here like thinking myself wow the indiana paces are literally the definition with them the wizards like i don't know who does it better it's a midoff right there and i thought to myself name of villain probably couldn't success to succeed over there because he didn't have really much to work with those just paul george and a bunch of bleh and once paul george left it was just

a bunch of black you know and then hawks have a whole lot of point guards so i'm just like fucking we have a generate in my mind we have a generational poor guard and also we have a lot of offensive pieces for sure yeah it was a young core that was promising something interesting you know he's a generational yeah my back my back

keep going keep going I digress watch her mouth and with I would tell you Trey Young is generational because he was

able to go through the Nate McMillan curse and carry his team into the Eastern Conference finals I read or right tell us about Nate McMillan yeah so anyways

Nate McMillan, all right? He, his style of basketball and in the approach and just the constant things that you see continuously on this, in the game, it's very irritating, irritating because you see the same exact shit and you would think that you see the opposite beat when you add an all-star caliber player like the John Timur, but you're literally the exact same team statistically. So you're saying the bad habits he had from DePacer's showed up in Atlanta and showed up in Atlanta with the Jean-Tor-Marie as well. Exactly.

Bad habits they've had throughout his entire career. What are those bad habits to be more specific? He never evolved. He never evolved and he never adapted as an NBA coach, so he's just stuck in the mud, and he brought these stuck-in-the-mud tendencies to Atlanta, and now the Hawks... What are these tendencies, though? Because I feel like a lot of people don't, probably... A lot of people think that, like, he's just solid coach that gets scapegoated and it's

happened twice now, and that he's not really the problem. What are these bad habits that people that don't watch them every night aren't seeing? bad habits some of the bad habits are first off defenses has always been a bad habit for him even though he's supposed to be a defensive mighty coaching is supposed to be a strong troop that's not it whatsoever and one of the he says no strong habits yeah exactly and one of the worst habits for him this season has been just not committing to an offensive system and also not holding sort of it looks like at least not holding players accountable there's no real system sure young hupes hoops and vibes.

The worst, the game that probably defines the Atlanta Hawk season so far was when they went off, is when they faced off against the Houston Rockets. And they were up, Desauntan Murray was doing the same level of savagery that he usually do when he hit the ball off of Jabari Smith Jr.'s head into it like that. And Tray Young and him were just playing LA fitness type basketball. And the Hawks blew the lead. And they lost. It was the most embarrassing loss of the season.

that type of basketball that style of basketball has been ran throughout the entire year and it dates back to last year you got no identity and he and yeah exactly no real identity and he went away completely from what works we saw we used to see john colin and dono yon ari when it was on the team get involved in so many actions motion offense as soon as we land an all-star guard next to troy young it just completely goes away here here we go because this is this is what i told you was going to happen before the season it's not But you were right, but for the wrong reasons, though. You were right, but wrong.

It's hard to, so he's not the offensive mastermind you need to figure out a way to make two high-usage point guards. I need the ball in their hands work. That is insanely hard to do. I don't know if any coach can make that fit work. From the top, me and Donovan have both said this trade was stupid as shit because they don't fit together and both need the ball. At everything you're explaining, you're putting on Nate McMillan, which maybe was his fault. You watch them closer than I do. but this it's also a fucking side effect of the trade like how was he supposed to make that work

i mean it's not only named mcmillan's fall i would say like trey young he hasn't played up to sand his first 26 games in the season compared to his last 26 games of the season it's literally night and day he's so much more efficient and he's playing better basketball but i take fault in him as well and all just everybody on the roster just hasn't been playing well john con forgot to shoot and you like that but in terms of just like figuring out how this works if you don't see any improvement literally you see the same type of basketball from day one to from game one yeah that makes sense yeah then it's like that makes sense what's the issue you know yeah yeah that makes sense if you clearly don't know it's hard to make it work the issue in like

it it really just has to be that because i was seeing like john collins they did the the whole presser you know afterwards and you know all the reporters are coming in after practice and john collins was talking about and he was like i think Nate macmillan is better suited like the expectations and the things that he was trying to get out of us is better suited for an older, more experienced team. John Colin said that? Yeah, and it was very, that's what I'm saying. I had the exact same reaction

because this is a team that's been to the Eastern Conference finals that thought they were ready to take the next step. And it's like, so where do you guys think that you guys are? So I think, I think, like, I think, it's a weird comment in general. I think Nate McMillan, I think he deserved to be fired just because of, because of everything that Mo said,

because of the fact that they haven't really progressed since their Eastern Conference finals appearance and it's very clear that like his timetable and where the players think they are is off and so like if you and your star player and kind of just your entire team don't really vibe like that then you do have to go but i don't that was that was very very interesting to hear john collins say yeah that's weird i don't know if i so what i feel i agree with you but i don't think i'd use the words he deserves to be fired i think he had to be fired I think it's more what it is because like you said

I think the GM's still Travis Slank right No No there's been so much volatility Whole organizing is screwed What's the GM's name again? GM is Landry Fields Toronto Raptors legend Completely forgot

New York Knicks legend Yeah I think Landry Fields put him in a garbage situation And plus Trajong hates the guy I've got to throw it out there Him and Trey Young have never got along So he didn't have his star player in his corner He got dealt a bad hand With another star that isn't fit

and clearly it wasn't an easy answer to solve or it wasn't an easy question to solve but he didn't have the right answer like you said and he wasn't improving throughout the course of the season so you just have to throw somebody else in there to try to give this roster a chance to find that answer because even if he is a good coach but not the right answer for this question

you've got to find somebody else like potentially be that because you're committed to this team you're not going to blow up this core so all you can do is try to find somebody that even if they're not even a better coach they can be different and give this team a different sign of life and try to do something else facts Listen the Hawks right now

It's very nasty They sit in the A seed right now They're a game under 500 They lost two games in a row Heading into the break Moe where do you think that they go from here Yeah what's your second half prediction As the episodes about

Yeah so this team goes as far as where Trae Young is Archimery John Collins And the rest of the crew takes them There's not much Like stylistically That I don't know if they'll change I think they will change just similar This is very hard

I just generally don't know A couple years ago when we saw something similar Happened to this Hawks team They rattled together and they went on the run And they went to the Eastern Conference Finals I'm not one of those delusioned ass fans Who will hold them to the exact same type of Like if they did this it like no I'm not

It's probably not going to translate It might not translate but I do expect them to be better And play better basketball and lock in defensively And offensively But I can't really I can't I'm in the air I don't know bro Donovan, ask me that question.

What? Ask me what you just asked Mo. Oh, okay, got you. Where do the hogs go from here? They end up exactly where they are now, in the eight seed, being mediocre. The same team they were with the name of villain is the same team they're going to be with the inner room coach. Nothing will change. Now, zero chance that they're the exact same team.

They're really going to get a lot better or a lot worse. And one thing that I want to add that I hate, nope, when people do, a lot of people are starting to look at Trey Young and be like oh this dude is a coach killer blah blah and I'm just like I mean low key I mean what do you want It's fair it's a fair criticism

No one it's not really a fair criticism because nobody has been in that goddamn locker room You're just making these These comments based off of assumptions You know You're just thinking of one story that has came out That's like okay he probably shouldn't have done that And that's when a couple months ago

Someone leaked out that this man took his own private jet back to back to Atlanta after he lost in Miami. There's been plenty of reporting that him and Nate McMillan did not get along in and see eye to eye, just like there was him and Lloyd Pierce. Now, Lloyd Pierce was one of the worst coaches in the league, so we're not going to utter his name too much, let the man rest in his coaching grave. But two coaches in the row that trade doesn't see eye to eye with, and even if you say they're both bad coaches and deserve to be fired, the fact that it's reported that there

is clear chemistry issues with their star player who is making his objections known in a way that it is hurting your team's chemistry. that's the definition of a coach killer Coach killer doesn't mean you're unjustified It just means that they're not uncoachable That's a negative word, but you know what I mean It's also two coaches in five years just mathematically So like that's that's ridiculous

Double homicides, but like when Yeah, you're right It's two coaches in five years But these two coaches came from the same They're friends, their best friends Quite literally and they believe in the same thing So it's like what do you expect to happen If my man's don't like you why would I like you

You guys believe in the same thing. Neiman accepted the job from Nick Milliman literally called Lloyd Pierce like, yo, I don't really know if I'd accept the job because they did you kind of dirty. And he went ahead and accepted it. So it's like, of course they believe in the same shit. That's why I'm like, I don't know if the Hawks will get better

because this dude Joe Prunty or whatever his name is. It's all from the same shit. So how can you expect him to get better? I don't know. Anyways, Trey Young's on a coach. He used to be with the Bucks. So he has experienced a different coaching tree. Yeah.

And I think he knows that to come in, he has to do some. different stuff so we'll see but yeah you're right it is kind of weird that the person they hired to fix the issues of lord pierce was like his fucking best friend for any co-worker that was never going to work well the hawks the hawks are not going to they're not going to get much better like that's that's not they're not they're not it is it's going to be too hard for them to change their entire philosophy in the last 23 games of the season and master whatever is like the the newest scheme for them that's not going to happen they have the third hardest schedule remaining

in the league that's not that's not going to happen and and once again the thing that the thing that set this entire chain of chain of events into action is the fact that you traded for dejante murray so you have a structural problem in the way that your team is built and as well okay you do you do you do no what if you just simply watch how they play if they just move the ball a little bit more and incorporate exactly but that's a very big ball with two point guards who need the balls in their hands very big if though it's been done before it's been done in inconsistently though who by who who has gotten two-point guards that are shimby ball damn in it what you said and as bida zante and tray mainly tray if you look at tray's off ball shooting numbers and

percentages and just overall tendencies they've dropped as the season has gone by so Because that's how he doesn't want to play like that. And it's not going to change. Trey Young does not want to be coached to play like that. And Donovan, what did, what did, what did John Collins say during the interview earlier today that you watched? He said about accountability. Yeah. Yeah, he did.

You think Joe Prunty's going to be the one to fucking put Trey Young in line and do like, oh, you're going to play off ball and like make him do it? Doubt it. If it's not, I will. Shit, I'm coming to a marina with my belt. Then you're going to be there every single night because I'm telling you, it's not going to be him. and Trey Young and the Hawks they have they have a problem again Isaac and I told you this the moment the trade went down and so they're going to have to do something to

yeah they're going to have to do something to resurrect this thing now that's not going to happen this year and it may not happen next year because again they invested all this draft capital so they're going to try it and like see it to they're going to try three first spurs trick them that's crazy that's crazy you know the crazy part is too we're talking about Trey young doesn't want to play like that he shouldn't have to. Like, to some extent you want your star to be more versatile.

But a lot of star players have their play style and don't want to be told to do something else than what they know works and want makes them great. Yeah. The problem isn't that. The problem is that they knew he was like that and they got a player who's the antithesis of that. That's the stupid part.

Like, you're going to trade all these assets. Get somebody who fits with your star. Yep. Yeah, man. Don't try to force him to be something he's not. Yeah, man. Speak on it. Speak on it.

Too many, too many teams went star hunting this summer. And it's them and the Timberwolves. They didn't even go star hunting They went sub-all-star hunting They went Really good role player hunting Yeah Yeah they saw an opportunity

And jumped way too early And they got way too excited They sold Yeah You know it was crazy They'd have been better off training for Rudy Gobert Yeah Track's facts

Crincapella is so on and off So those injuries saff them man He used to be so good Yeah exactly It hasn't been the same It sucks He just doesn't move in the new I'm tired of talking about the Hawks though

What do you Yeah, let's move on. Let's move on. Can we, what are the teams do y'all expect or have high expectations for us this second half of the season? Okay. High expectations? Yeah. Don't know when you go first.

Yeah. Okay. This is going to be kind of nasty. I, I like what the Wizards are doing right now. Oh. Hey. It's disgusting. It's disgusting.

But I like, I like what Washington is doing. They came, they went into the all-star break six and four in their, in their last 10, in the 10 games leading up to the break. They won two games. and offensively they were low-key cooking right in the 10 games in the 10 games leading into the all-star break they had the third best offensive rating in all of basketball and you're you're finally starting to see beale porzingis and kuzma and they didn't all three of them didn't play for all 10 games but they did like all three of them did play and so that mid-three that we were joking about is loki it's a it's a solid trio if you're talking about the if you're talking about the back end of of a

of a, you know, playoff standing and trying to get into the play-in, into potentially the 8th spot, I think Washington can do that. And I think with all three of them are clicking, I think I have some high hopes for them. Okay. And they also started starting Daniel Gafford next to Chrisops for Zingis in the front court. And that's been a big reason for the turnaround too. It's been a really good pairing, having his room pressure with Porzegis's spacing. It's worked really well. So I see your point. I've always liked watching them because I love watching Kyle Guzma Thrive. I still have some Lakers fan attachment to him. So I've always liked watching them, like, oh, this team is fun.

But I wouldn't say I have high aspirations for them in the second half of the season. Can we talk about real basketball now? No. Plus, on the same way, Beale kind of is getting back to being Bradley Beale. He, like, before, thank you, I cannot talk. Going into the break, right, he was back to averaging nearly 26 points a game. He was shooting really efficiently. He was shooting close to 40% from three.

And we've seen Beal kind of be on and off over the last, like, year and a half, two years. If Bradley Beal is going to be the player, you know, if he's going to be 25, 26 a night and really earn those $250 million stays getting paid, Washington has a legitimate ceiling to sneak into the playoffs as the eight seed. And so that's why I think is going to happen. Right now Washington. You think they're going to jump the Hawks? Look. They're only half a game behind Atlanta right now.

Yeah, I mean, they're going to see each other in the playing. That's pretty likely. They are. I don't want to bet on the Hawks and the play in against anybody I'd probably pick them over the Wizards but it wouldn't be a easy choice The Wizards

The Wizards schedule from here on out Is basically 500 right But they have three games against the Let me see They have three games against the Raptors A game against the Bulls Two games against the Pistons A game against the Spurs

A game against the Rockets They have a lot of winnable games Ahead of them Where I think that they can Overcome a half game deficit So if I'm I'm talking about a team that's rounding into form rather than the team that just fired their coach and doesn't really have an identity like Moja said for 15 minutes. Yeah, I kind of like Washington to make it.

You know what's so tough about the Hawks? Just last thing, they have like this, in my mind, they have like the second hardest schedule. Third. The entirety of basketball for the rest of the season. Yeah, they have the third hardest. They have the, oh no, second. You're right. The type of.

The Tigers is the Lakers. It is the 76ers. and then the clippers and hawks are tied for second and Sacramento is fourth and then Toronto rounds out the top five Oh okay Usually the Lakers always up there Because they always schedule the marquee games

For LeBron's team in the second half of the season So I afraid the Lakers would have been like top five But Lakers Lakers actually have the six easiest schedule The rest of the go Need that, give me that You know why? You know why? Because they have like two or three games

Against the fucking Warriors who suck ass Oh man Wow Yeah so I like So, yeah, my big prediction or whatever, I really like Washington going into the second half of the season. Okay, I like that. We'll do some love with some teams who don't really talk about very often.

I'm a thorough, closeted Washington Wizards and Joyer. So. Yeah, I don't hate that. Closeted, man. Edit that shit out. One team I want to talk about prediction, I think the Nets are going to remain a playoff team. I can see that. They have, right now they have a,

from them versus the 10 seed, they have a 6.5 game lead to stay in the playing. Yeah. They're 10 games above 500. Yeah. I think there's just going to be like 500 the rest of the season and finish 10 games about 500 and just like be a pesky six seed that gets wiped off the face of the earth

by the bucks in the first round. But they're going to be a really fun team in the regular season with all these wings. We're going to see Bridges continue to make that leap and show us if he can make that star leap and do more with the ball in his hands. Yeah. And they're just like what's been talked about for the last few games before the trade deadline.

But they're going to be one of the most fun teams in the league all those wings it's back to what we saw before the kd caviar era which all these role players clicking with all the chemistry yeah it's back yeah the vibes are i i completely agree yeah you know what's crazy about that they shun ben simmons to the shadow realm too so they're gonna be doing all this with him playing 15 minutes a game us at third string center it's crazy damn that's so crazy to think about man yeah what's his name jacoban was what we were talking about he was basically like saying ben simmons is unplayable if we put him that was crazy i don't know how we go you put him next to a playmaker what does ben do oh my god he was like if you put ben next to

another center then you have a spacing issue you can't help him with the same time if you put him without a center with other ball handlers it's what has been doing is another ball in his hands yeah so we'll figure out where we can get him in these line up somehow next game he had seven minutes yeah we're going to be seeing a lot of ben simmons in these bright outfits sunglasses on the shades that's going to be his role he has to get moved in the off season like that that has to be on the table right like they have to be actively looking to ship him out oh yeah for sure

yeah I'm sure they would trade him the deadline if anybody wanted him but nobody wants it makes a lot of money no one wants that but see to me I get why they're doing that because they're refocusing their point of view as a team on trying to just build their chemistry back build their you know identity as a team with all these new good players they have and they have a lot of good players and they view Ben Simmons as not a good player right now but on the other hand it just feels like poor asset

management to not try to reshape value for him because like they have granted he sucks right now he doesn't want to score but they have the pieces you would think the spacing the wings around him to like find a way to build a role for him yeah but they're not trying they're fucking i guess it's probably a chemistry issue in the locker room maybe they just don't feel like he's does want to it bad enough no one plus one is not two in the NBA you again like similar to what you said earlier about like russell westbrook you would think with all this spacing you should be snapping the same shit when he had Katie and Kyrie and Joe Harris and Seth

Curry on his scene. True, sure, true, true. All just, we're just projecting and none of this shit worked out. Like, if I'm the Brooklyn Nets, like, I just treat Ben Simmons, like, he is like Katie and Kyrie and not on my team. He might as well not be on the team right now because he's not doing

nothing noteworthy whatsoever other than, yeah, he got going to be nothing worthy, bro. I forgot exactly what he said, but as soon as Spencer did what he got there, he said something in the media about it, about Ben Simmons. I forgot what exactly we said, but it was something like,

I hope he can get back to being this player he was, or he needs to figure out how to want it or something like that. It was something that makes it seem like he's not a good teammate or a guy you want to be around the locker room, and then what he had been there for three games. So, like, there's something going on with Ben Simmons where clearly everybody that smells him in the locker room wants nothing to do with him and doesn't want him on their team.

So we talk a lot about, or at least I do, that we had to give Ben Simmons some grace come back from injury, that there's a lot of issues at hand mentally and physically. But at a certain point, it seems like he's probably just not a good guy to be around in the locker room for whatever reason. So, like, that probably plays into this a lot. Man. I can't find the quote. I'm not seeing it.

Yeah, it doesn't matter. Yeah, regards to if you find the quarter or not, all Nets fans should be not as depressed as they were a couple weeks ago. And this is a new phase, new regime, new error for the Brooklyn Nets. And just having a bunch of positive good vibes. real expectations the best basketball that anything can be a part of is a team with no expectations that's when you're stress-free you don't expect shit you don't expect to win hell or lose heller bro just straight-up vibes and good energy and that's what literally the brooklyn then start the only thing that like they should really be paying attention to is like

nick claxon's growth in the development and just how much of a leap he can take yeah for the next coming few years or whatever and also like you said mackal bridges and like the biggest thing for and what's separating him from being, like, the great, the best role player in the NBA, which he is, in my opinion, versus, like, a potential All-Star is his ball-handing ability, and it's improved drastically. And if one of you could look up his number so far as of Brooklyn, I'd be hell of interested to see what they look like as of now. But I know, like, he's, it's weird.

When I watch McCall Bridges, I never realize how similar of a player he's. So just straight. So just straight counting stats. So in Brooklyn right now, in the three games that he's played, he's averaging, yeah, he's averaging 25 points, 4 rebounds, 2.3 assist on 50% from the field and 38% from 3. Damn, pretty good. KD. It's pretty nice.

So to me, the other thing they should be talking about over the next 26 games is assessing this roster and seeing how many of these guys can we ship out for first round picks this summer. because they have so many good role players that can get them so many picks Cam Johnson, two first-on picks Nick Claxton, two first-on-picks they're going to keep Bridges, but like so on the line Dorian Finney Smith, first-round pick, like they can really rebuild.

For y'all is like, would you ship out McAllardridge? Like, what route would you want to take with this team? Oh, here, me out. Apparently, the Grizzlies offered four first-on picks for him at the deadline. That was reported. Listen, I guess they said the Grizzlies first-on picks suck, and this is the main guy we got back for Katie so we wanted to build around him and let him see what he can do

but if somebody offered me four first on picks from mccall bridges he would be gone i'm gonna do that though because that's literally competition like why don't why would i do that you know but damn yeah i don't know that's yeah don't know no i was just saying i need the i hate the fact that every first round pick that gets traded has some type of of protection on it. If you are trading the first round pick, listen, be a man and stand on your word. Let's our balls hang, boy. All right. You know what I'm saying? If

you are a man or a woman and you are trading a first round pick, please get the hood in there. Please. Stop that. Please. Do what needs to. For all the female GMs are. Nah, you're crazy. You're crazy. I was trying to go

so smooth. I was trying to go so. I felt so bad. Just please stand on your word. Send those first romics to me. Not again, get it out to the laughing fit.

Oh, that's crazy. All right, next topic. Next topic. Yeah. Well, who is, what is a prediction you have? What is a team you want to talk about? Oh, man.

What team do I want to talk about? Well, one thing that I want to talk about for sure is the Milwaukee Bucks and how fucking dominant dominating they have been over the last i think they're 10 and all their last 10 games that they played and i'm interested to see if they can carry this on so what's your prediction can they huh what's your prediction are they going to carry it on yeah my prediction is they're going carry it on and also i'm very interested in seeing what the cleveland cavaliers continue to do uh as time as goes on i love them more and more as a team i still believe in what i believe in

and like that disagreement i've had that we've had since day one i still have very i still believe that's going to be an issue, their wing spot or whatever. But I'm just imagining them in a series versus the Philadelphia 76ers. We had this whole conversation a while ago. And I'm just like, yeah, like the possibility of this being a real upset regardless of their flaws or not is a very real thing. And so I'm looking at that team as well. But more so, the Milwaukee Books are 110% going to be back. Yeah.

I mean, they're already back there. One game behind the one seed, or 0.5 games, actually, just one win. Yeah. Yeah, I think they I don't know for sure Because the Celtics are still amazing But I won't be shocked If the season comes to an end

And the bucks take the one seed No, I think that's going to happen I know you do Because you're the highest on the bucks in the world No, but even before Like the All-Star break And going into that whole situation They had two games against the Celtics

And obviously like the one on Valentine's Day Nobody played but they end up winning the game in overtime So that's good but they still have they have one final game against the Celtics on Thursday March 30th I think that's going to be the deciding factor I think both them and and Boston are going to play you know exceptional basketball over the last 20-something games and it's going to be it's going to come down to who has the tiebreaker I think that like Milwaukee the one thing that obviously is like the elephant in the room is Janus's health and how much it is how much

how much is Janice going to play? How much is Chris Middleton going to be able to play and shoulder the load now? Because they've been getting him and just ramping him up. Now that Janus is out and if he misses like extended time, Chris is going to have to step into like superstar Chris. Offense revolves kind of around you. And I'm not sure how that plays out immediately. But I still think, I still think Milwaukee's defense is going to be able to kind of carry them through.

Yeah. Yeah, Janice's ankle is a big thing. I think from the reporting so far as they've avoided, like, the worst. It wasn't something incredibly serious, but he made me as a few games, and a few games is what matters in this type race. But is his ankle or his wrist? It's his wrist. Oh, my bad.

I misspoke. I was thinking of LeBron's ankle. He tweaked during the All-Star game, but he's fine. It wasn't his pinky or something? No, it was his hand. His finger? Yeah. Yeah.

LeBron. Oh, my God. Who the fuck has an ankle? I think so. I'm just pulling ankle out of my ass. It's Anthony Davis. You know what team we all said? He got one in Mexico on break.

Isaac What What are your last 20, 30 games or whatever? How many games left for the Phoenix Suns? What are your expectations for the Phoenix Suns closing the season out? Because right now, if the season was to end today, they'd face the Los Angeles Clippers in the playoffs. So like

Yeah. I'm going to go off their limb and say over the next 20 games, we're going to see the Phoenix Suns look unfuck with the bull at times. Damn. They're going to be incredible. Damn. We're going to see. So Katie,

might come back this Sunday, and obviously there's going to be some jelling time needed, but any star that comes into a new team. I think of all of them, Katie is probably the one that requires the least amount of time. He fits into what they're doing exceptionally well. You put him in the same role bridges in him playing off ball, attacking closeouts, doing his mid-range thing, but obviously

give him some more pick and roll ball handler possessions. It's going to fit so smooth and feel almost exactly like they did before, but you just add one of the greatest offensive players of all time in there. It's going to help DeAndra Aten be fully-unlocked version of himself. He's going to have another person to set him up, shots are going to get that much easier for him.

They're going to be incredible, and I've talked myself into them over the last few weeks. I think they're probably going to make the finals. Really? Over Denver? Probably. It's Katie on a team that was already a contender.

It's not overthinking. They're going to be incredible. Wow, man, that's crazy. Looking at the standings, they are, they're only three games behind the O2Seed. And speaking of the two-seed, they're four and a half games. They're four and a half games.

Sorry, three wins, three wins. Okay. The three wins on the win column because teams play a different amount of games, so it's hard to look at that. They have to catcher three wins in the win column. Yeah. That's doable. Very good.

Will they get that high over everybody? I don't know, but will they be top four? Probably. I think they're going to crack that. I think the Memphis Grizzies are going to slide a little bit because they've been really bad. Not really bad, but they haven't been playing up to par ever since, like, all this crazy shit has happened in the Western Conference. And on top of that, Stephen Adams is out.

with an injury and even though he's not like he doesn't put out the most impressive counting stats he does every single intangible you can think of on the basketball court for john moran and jaren jackson yeah they need him for sure and so like now you're relying more on jaren jackson junior who has filing trouble he's had filing trouble ever since he was in michigan state and so this team is going to slide like shit in my mind and they'll be fine they went through They're not going to slide like shit. They're going to be a top three seat at worst. They're still the Grizzlies.

Every team goes through cold stretches. The bucks had theirs. They're back. They'll be fine. They better hope. They better hope because Job was doing all that talking. And, you know, I'm not scared of anybody in the West. And now the entire West is like, okay, we're just going to, we're just going to suit up, add some type of Hall of Fame to our team and we'll be okay.

Like, let's, let's see. They jump to shit. John Morat, let's see what you can do against Devin Booker and Kevin Dore. like they they better get their act together because they would that be a fun series versus sons that'd be a fun ass series personally i need a rematch of phoenix dallas i need it so that we can get katy and kre and luka versus booker again that's the series that i need so that's possible dude that could very well be the four or five any season any series in the wetson conference if we're looking at that top six is going to slap regardless

Even if we don't get that, I would love to see what it is said as right now. Kawai and Kady versus PG and, oh my goodness, I'll be fire as well. Are you kidding me? Yeah. I'll say, these playoffs are going to be so good. It's going to be generation. I saw it. Somebody made a, I said, Donovan saw it.

I don't think you saw it, but I don't think I sent to you. It was an edit of Jaws saying, like, I'm not scared in the West. And it showed, like, this fanciest edit of, like, all these teams gearing up with, like, ESPN announcers just announcing the trades. Yeah. This is going to be, I say it to say. This is going to be one of the most exciting playoffs in recent years, especially in the West for the reason you said. Let's talk about if it ended today.

If it ended today and the play in went chalk, we'd be looking at, let's assume the Warriors get the eight seed. It would be Nuggets Warriors in the first round. Oh my gosh. Need it. Nuggets probably win because they have helped, but nobody wants to see the Warriors, especially not the Nuggets who have a slow foot at center.

It would be Pelicans versus Grizzlies. If Zion's back, Zion versus Jha. Are you kidding? Yeah. Oh my goodness. I need it. I'm taking the Pelicans versus Mavericks. Mavericks could beat the shit out of the king.

but whatever I don't know I don't know I don't know nope nope sorry don't I've been listen that's it that's it would be fun it would be 140 135 every single you're crazy for sure for sure yeah I think the Kings deserve some more respect than that but the Kings aren't gonna be that serious playoff threat I don't think shout it to them their regular season team for now oh I know beam team and then then Clippers sons which like you said Kauai and Paul George versus Katie and Devin Booker yeah Jesus Christ yes then like you throw the Lakers in they can somehow break into that top six or seven don't do that don't do that I'm just saying the Lakers in there dames in there SGA's in there like there's all these teams still

vying for that last spot yeah it's going to be incredible yeah I didn't even get the finish damn I just met the playing race is going to be great y'all are acting like I said Lakers and win the title I want to hear that let's transition to that oh what is your expectations for the Lakers second half of the season I think the Lakers they're the most talked about team bro they're winning they're winning 15 games or at least 15 games okay at least 15 games Yeah, I'm a stammer. There's 23 left. There's 23 left.

So they're going to 15 and 8. Yeah, 15 and 8. If they go 15 and 8, it'll be 500 and they'll probably be in the playing. Yeah. Man, 500 only in your plan. Fuck, that's crazy. So, no, don't make the plan. If they go 15 and 8, they're probably going to be in the play-in.

Yeah. So let's say they play the, so they make the plan, they'll probably be the 10 seed. Let's say they go against the pelicans in the first round. You picking them? Yeah, I'm definitely picking them over the pelicans. Okay, so they beat the pelicans, then they play the Warriors and the second game of the plan. You pick them? them depends on top of anthony davis that i get because he always gets a bitch by draymond green

anthony davis so uh what's that no he doesn't yeah he does what do you mean he has that man on locks what are you talking about all right whatever either way but do you see them making the run through the play into the playoffs yes big picture absolutely okay so you see them getting to the playoffs yeah do you see them winning a playoff series uh no probably that's where it ends yeah you see them stomped out by the grizzlies or nuggets yeah yeah absolutely they just don't have enough too soon not their year yeah i think they make the plan too i think it would be shocking if it it makes the 10 seed because like we always see in these second halfs of the year a lot of these teams floating around there just fall off for whatever reasons like i think the blazers they're

going to kind of be out of the running the jazz are going to fall out of it i think the last spot's probably going to come down to the thunder maybe the timber wolves if they slow down a little bit yeah it wouldn't be shocking if the leaguers got that no i wouldn't be shocked at all no one should be shocked. Apparently Donovan snickering over there. You'd be shocked, I guess. I kind of would be shocked. I think the Thunder are going to kind of lock this thing up fairly quickly.

I think OKC is going to get the 10th spot. I think they're going to make the play in. The two games up right now, Shea's been balling. And whether you want to call it old age or luck, LeBron and Anthony E. Davis have not proven to be able to stay on the court at the same time for an extended amount of games. So do I think that those two guys are going to be able to play 23 games? Absolutely not. I have no faith in that.

And so if they're not there, yeah, both of them are not there, I don't have faith in the Lakers winning, I guess, winning at a 66% clip. I don't see that happening. Fair enough. I mean, yeah, that's always obviously off in the room. Just like the Warriors now, Steph Curry's hurt. It's kind of reached a point with him. raised also never healthy so

Zion's hurt same thing cats hurt so those question marks remain for a lot of these teams so I see your point but just for the sake of conversation and talking about these teams on paper let's say they are healthy and you're just talking about a maximized version of the team they have now let's say they're they both play 20 games

so they miss them and you're stuck with one star and D-Lo for a lot of these games at that point do you see them making this playoff run? No I still don't I still don't I think I think I can see them I'll put in two ways If they get 2-10

I can see them winning the two games And getting the 8 seed if they get there However I don't see them getting there in the first That's how I feel too Yeah Five games under 500 going to the break It's like borderline an insurmountable deficit The only reason we're talking about it

Being surmountable is because they have LeBron and AD and obviously that ceiling is always crazy If you have adequate team around them Which they haven't had for two years So because of that We've seen it with them with the proper role players being able to win at like best team in the league rate that's not like unrealistic so that's the only reason it's tenable

but five games is a lot to get to 500 like they might be firing on all cylinders but they just simply cannot come up with that big gap like maybe they go three games above 500 and 23 games which is a solid rate but it's just not good enough when you have this giant hole you filled yourself into yeah I just I can't bring myself to do it I can't bring myself to trust the Lakers to to make up that ground

in yeah and I guess I do trust I trust them to be very good now. I think they're going to be a legitimately good team. Oh, yeah, they'll be competent. And so I said to say, if they go into next year and they bring back Delo, it goes well, they still have Vanderbilt and Beasley under contract, they extend Reeves. This team can be legit next year. Assuming Braun is still looks like Braun and has another year of being Superman, despite

being 40, this next 23 games is a runway for next year to prove that this team can be a contender. And I do have faith that's going to happen. Okay. I disagree, but I don't want to get too much on the, on the late. Thinkers. Give this team enough time to gel. I think they have everything they need.

Vanderbilt's a legitimately very good defensive wingstopper. This is fantastic. If you get Deelow, if he fits well and stays away from bad Deelow habits and you just get the good things with him, like it's very possible with him playing as LeBron and AD. It's the easiest role he'll ever have. That could work. I'm not as high in Beasily as everybody else is. Everyone talks about Beasie like he's prime Kyle Corver, but he's a good volume shooter.

Reeves is extremely good. This is a legitimately deep team now. And like you said, they don't have the time to really. make up that ground, but next year, watch out for this team. Yeah, and I feel like time in my mind doesn't matter as much because these players, like Daniel Russell, is not going to be a disruptor whatsoever in this offense, and none of these players are hard to play around. Next to LeBron, I don't think that's true.

LeBron's kind of hard to play around. I wouldn't say that. For DeLo, for DeLo, yeah, but in my mind, like, it's not going to be, it'll be a little bit of an issue on Deelos. and it may be a little bit hard for him to adjust, but in general I don't think he's going to, like, completely hijack the Lakers' offense. Oh, for sure, for sure.

No, yeah, that's not the problem. The problem is, will it look just okay as they figured out, and we're not going to see them, like, really clicking on all cylinders? Because, like, I feel like we've seen from Dilo so far. His last game before the deadline was his best game so far. I think he only paid two or three. But we haven't, it takes time to get to the point where you're, like, seeing everything super smooth,

flowing from Dilo, pick and roll with AD, swing out to LeBron, him doing his thing. like maximize everyone knows where everybody is at all times that takes a long time to cultivate no matter the talent so it won't be bad and like Russ bad fit but it might not be like incredible you know what I mean no I agree I agree I agree with you I agree with you but yeah ultimately five games is just too much for me

it's just a lot that's fair but I won't be shocking for wrong and shit just the script plays out the way we wanted to and they're somehow in the play and make a Cinderella run we all want that to happen because we all want that to happen because we want to see LeBrono playoffs again. So I'm holding out a little bit of hope. That's fair. But we talked enough of the Lakers.

I think it's time for another Lakers segment, but this time in TikTok time. Let's do it. Transition? Transition. Let's go. Smooth up. So we're going to start TikTok time

like we do every week with the draft. This time we're going to do drafting only players that play for the Lakers. Okay. Damn. So everybody in their prime, so not like the version of those on the Lakers but only players that played on Lakers at some point in their career at any point at any point so you can pick like Carl Malone if you want to and you won't get Lakers version you'll get

Docs, ew, never, yeah I'm just yeah I thought I think of a washup Laker Gary Payton for lack of a better example there we go yeah so uh wait let's draft NBA a third pick right what you said? I said, what's the order? I think I have the third pick in this one. Yeah, I have first, Moez, second, you have third. Okay, cool. Let's draft NBA lineups with only players who play for the Lakers. And we'll do everybody in their prime.

First pick, obviously I got LeBron James. Okay, that's cool. Cool. I have the second pick? Yep. And actually, I have to say Kobe Ryan. Well, people are going to hate your ass Isaac also for saying that. Yeah, I mean, it's not Lakers, LeBron versus Prime.

It's Prime LeBron versus Prime Kobe, so obviously you should pick LeBron. If you're going to be like, oh, Kobe's the best thing. Yeah, but I do you know, I digress. All right. Well, I'll just take the two people that actually play together. I'll take Magic and Kareem. That's a disgusting duo. Nice.

It's my turn. Check. Damn. Yep, I know. Do I just keep it going to pick Anthony Davis? Yep. No, I'm not going to pick Anthony Davis, but give me Walt Chamberlain. Okay, okay.

This man got Wilts. chamberlain nice all right oh it's still on i think oh it's still my turn oh yeah you're right yeah oh oh this is tough now yeah this is a whole i was about to say that i forgot it was my turn again who else played for the lake i'm trying i'm trying to

watch out players who played so i can like cheat oh prime carmello play the lincoln oh my god are you serious should i pick marmolo no there's better players a lot of players will play for the lakers but i don't have a brain fart now uh you know what give me steve nash i need prime steve nash like so lebron all the plan

making you could ever want it's a nice pick that's a nice pick all right this is going to leave a sour taste in people's mouth but give me prime russle westrook okay yeah i mean that's fine okay okay that's cool that's cool that's cool Kobe isn't the best fit in the world but yeah all right so so i got magic and kareem hmm so i just fill out my two spot i don't really want jerry west he's like by me jay west i am not picking jerry west over wessel west you can keep you know what we'll go we'll go elgin baler at the two we'll go yeah we'll go elgin baler at the two and then give me carmello at the three nice that is very very very very nice so it's a weird fit but i like all the talent yeah yeah i mess with it i need a piece

to bring it together that's a w can imagine carmello anthony and magic johnson on the same court wow that'll be such a weird basketball though yeah prime though be beautiful i like that i like it i like it we'll we'll make it work if i can get phil jackton as my coach we'll we'll make it work yeah really beautiful all right so at the four give me paulgasol Ooh Okay That's crazy to me Because I'm taking who you should have picked

Anthony Davis for my four Oh I thought you already picked him See I should have asked Nah So I got Steve Nash Anthony Davis LeBron

And And What's up next Will Chamberlain Oh man You You're dust it It's over

Now it's your last pick Yeah I have I need a two guard Is this even worse finishing? Who do I There's an obvious one to pick Would I go fit or talent

Talent? Yeah, I'm going to just go best player available Give me Jerry West Give me Jerry West as my two guard Okay Yeah, this was a nasty sweet man Shout out to you. I kicked your ass

Yeah, we literally saying no chance All right, so I got Russell Us progummer one Kobe at the two, at my four, I have Palgassol, and at my five, I have Shaq. Not a bad team whatsoever. Not a bad team whatsoever, but I need spacing. And I need someone who's an absolute sniper at that three spot. Who?

Should I choose Ryan Kelly? So good. Oh, man. Who's a sniper that the Lakers have had? I can't really think of any off the top of my head. I'll get this man Danny green I almost I almost trolled and said Kyle Guzma to be honest

you know what give me this is kind of nasty I think it would be funny for the TikTok pick Cozma no I'm not going to do that give me give me yeah give me Lamar Odom

give me Lamar Odom my loss whatever give me Lamar Odom okay I take my O go that I'm glad you know I'm talking trying to decide whether or not I'm going to play this small ball and if I'm going to move Carmelo up to the four and go for like just fit or or if I should just take an actual four because right now I'm the only people on my board right now are between me to take in Michael Cooper or I'm taking James Worthy. Okay.

Damn. James Worthy is a great pick. I sold so hard. I think I'm going to keep Carmelo at the three. But do I want Michael Cooper? Michael Cooper is defense. It's crazy at the two. Yeah.

That's tough. That's tough. You know what? We're going to put a lot on Carmelo's play. Give me Michael Cooper at the two. And I'll move Elgin to three and then Carmelo to four. It's a big team. Yeah.

with 6-9 Magic Johnson at point guard It's a huge team Man Sir, a lot of length Over here boys Oh, hot Resume Those are good teams

Man, the Lakers have so much talent Yeah, exactly This is unfair All right next thing we're going to do We're going to do another 2K video So I'm going to text you guys 2K ratings Let's do it

And you're going to guess which team this is So Guess the NBA team by their 2K ratings Okay there's team number one point guard is 97 shooting guard is a 90 small 477 trash mo always gets this stuff before I do oh shit okay no all right here we go cool we're back in business let's do it's elite back court yeah elite back court 97 overall point guard a4 center power forward shooting guard 77

Who is this team, Donovan? Hmm. Trying to think. It's a nice team. I can't hold you. It is. It is kind of nice. But, all right, let's think about the best point guards in the game.

Yeah. You got Steph Curry. You got Luca. Oh, it has to be the Mavericks. Yeah, it has to be the Mavericks. That's Luca. Who's a 7th? Who's an 84 raw?

Is Christian Wood starting from him? Yeah. could yeah yeah you sure is the maps yeah we're going Dallas Mavericks this is the Dallas Mavericks yeah yeah got I was unsure about the 84 I'm like damn yeah yeah but I know it was starting though so yeah yeah it's him and clevo starting now oh yeah nice nice yeah right mode close your eyes until Donovan gets it close my thank you team number two which is so weird because most most Wi-Fi was set up earlier now okay I'm good to

all right again yeah again the back court is the strength of this team we got 93 point guard 84 shooting guard hmm 78 small Ford 78 power for it and 75

trash ass center it sounds like the Portland trailblazers sounds like this could be Damon Simons are we disrespecting Jeremy Grant though not 75 you're you're extremely disrespecting jeremy grant that's what i'm saying i yeah just trying to think just trying to think

uh so again oh damn so this is this is your is this your team is this the hawks no this is not the hawks no no no i would know no no definitely not the hawks uh 93 84

78 78 75 I'm trying to think I'm trying to think about really good point guards here yeah so 99% I'm surprised it's taking so long

it's one star player and a bunch of role players yeah that is true one star player and a bunch of role players why does this take it so long I don't know you're selling is this Shay

all right yeah I'm gonna go okayC oh wow this is Shay I'm gonna okayC this is okayC that's a great guess you clutched up Because I wouldn't have guessed that, bro.

God damn. Let's go. Shout to Josh a giddy. Yeah, 75 is Jason Williams at the center. Team number three. All right. Wait for it. Wait for it.

All right. Let's go. We got a 79 overall point guard, an 87 overall shooting guard. 83 overall small forward. 87 overall powerful. This is the Washington Wizards. with Bill Kuzma and Porzingis. Wow.

This is not the Washington Wizards. It's not? I'm just playing it's the Washington Wizards. Wow. I would have known either way. I'm a God. You could have lied to me and I would have been like, wow. I bet.

Got your ass. Bradley Beal and Prisinger's are the same overall. Damn. That's crazy. Prisinger's been on fire this year. Yeah, that is true. All right. Next up, let's play a game of 20 questions.

We didn't do it last week. Let's do it again this week. Cool. I think I went last time. I thought of the player. So who wants to do it this time? I got it. I got it.

I'm not going to pick Shannon Brown this time. Thank God. Jackass. Stick it. I know. My bad. My bad job. My bad.

All right. Give me about 10 seconds and not think of somebody. Okay. Mojoa for lunch. Me, what I have for lunch? I literally had some chicken and I had some eggs. All right. We're good.

we got we got this player okay go ahead and say the hook for me what's the hook I ain't done it in a minute damn y'all suck at this you say you got 20 questions you boy you got 20 questions to guess the NBA player I'm thinking all right let's go

all right y'all got 20 questions to think y'all got 20 questions to guess this NBA player I'm thinking of don't look at the camera just look at us okay cool all right well yeah y'all got 20 questions to guess this NBA player I'm thinking of see that's what begin me because I

be looking at the camera. All right, but we're here. All right, anyways, let's go. Is he a current player? No. Never is. Did this player retire bald? Yes. That's hilarious.

You got a shy. Okay, retired bald. This is Ray Allen. It is Ray Allen. Damn. That's crazy. We are a dynamic duo Isaac. Holy shit.

That's crazy. Three guesses is a fucking record. That's a hall of fame. Tink talk. That's a hall of fame guess is a Ray Allen And this is finally Ray Allen Yeah That's hilarious

That ball question Really narrowed it down It did me a lot I slammed down We narrowed it down All right Let's run this back Let's run this back

Just for fun Just for fun Yeah Okay Mo you do one this time That's You want to come with the player Yeah you come with the player this time

All right That was crazy Yeah that was insane Nah I'm upset Get fucked All right. Y'all got 20 questions to guess the player

that I'm thinking of NBA player Y'all got 20 questions to get the NBA player I'm thinking of Okay Is he a current player? Yes

This is Ray Allen I'm just kidding No All right that's two questions Fuck off No I'm counting it is two I'm off of blood Nope two questions

Sorry It's not I'm just joking No No he's a current player Okay Is, is, is, does he play in the Western Conference? No.

Okay. Cool. Is he below 6.5? No. Three questions. Is he black? Yes. Question four.

Okay. So there's a tall black guy in the east. That narrows it down. We're getting somewhere. Is he above 6'8? Yes. It's five. Okay, so it was about 6-9, 6-10 probably.

Is the black guy in the east above 6-8? Let me fact-check that real quick, but keep on getting it. Has he made an all-star team? No. Okay, not an all-star. You know what we're going to do? Let me look at NBA standings. Is his team currently a top-sixth team in the playoffs?

Yes, and also I have to backtrack. this dude is below 6-8 Below Okay, so he's probably 6-7 Okay Non-all-star Below 6-7 Top 6-6 team

Yes Is he a good shooter? No No Oh wait, hold on I have to backtrack again Damn, they're not a top 16 Brough

They're not a top 16? No Damn man Yeah, got a backtrack Okay. Not an All-Star, not top-16, not a shooter. Probably about 6-7. Hmm. Not a shooter, and he's 6-7 or so.

Hmm. It's not R.J. Barrett. They're a top 16. Six-seven. Is he a good defender? Uh, no. He can't shoot. He can't defend. What does the guy do? I'm saying this to Isaac is this Tony Snow

what question is that I know that's not that's not a question I'm at I think I'm at eight eight I think seven or eight yeah okay so it's not a top six team he can't shoot can't defend

who is this bum he's not six eight all right um I shoot can't defend he thought he he thought they're a top 16 so is that something on Miami Heat this is a question no are they were they drafted after 2015 no okay so older player hmm they're probably not a starter is this a starter no no

Okay. Okay, so that should bring us to 10. Interesting. So it's a bench guy who is not good at anything. So the teams in this range, we have the Miami Heat, the Hawks, the Wizards, the Raptors, Bulls. So either they're close to top six or he just fucking lied to us and mess this up. Thanks. Wow, this is hard.

Sixth. Yeah. Wow. Is he a good passer? No. What the fuck? He's not. I'm upset.

This guy, it's like the Nassas onto the Kumpur, but he's on the top two seed. Yeah. He's not good at anything. Did we pick him in our worst player's draft? He doesn't remember that. Yes. We did. Yeah.

Oh, wow. Okay. I can't remember who... Is this Kevin Knox? No. It's a good guess so. But no. Who do we pick, you, man?

Can't be Daniel House. Can't be PJ Tucker. It's not going to be Admiral Showfield. I picked him. Damn. Oh. Wait, no. It's not here.

Who is this bum? It's not as hard as y'all making it seem. Y'all are struggling. What do you mean? Y'all going to be mad when you find out. He can't. He can't. Pass, defend, or shoot.

And he doesn't get major run. Like, what are we talking about? This is hard. This guy who sucks and doesn't play. Is this? Well, is this Will Barton? No. He's a free agent.

Lock in! Oh, forgot. You got a cut. Is it? What about the bulls? Somebody who can't shoot past and defend? How many questions is that? Is that?

11 or 12? Something like that. Y'all got a rapid fire. That will be fine. We're not going to lose. Can't shoot past or fan. Who the fuck is this? He's between 6-5 and 6-7 because he's not 6-8.

Yeah. So he can't be 6-8 fly. I said below. So if we're talking about the pistons. Okay. Let's do it. Let's really narrow it down. um is this team

in the bottom four yes is this a bottom four team no no okay so some are you from seven through ten yes let's just use our questions is he on the heat yes okay he's on the heat and he sucks who is this man

is he going to talk about who is on his roster he's talking about Victor no Victor can defend, and he can shoot a little bit. Y'all are embarrassment to the basketball fan club community, bro. He's not a starter.

All right, so we got. Is this Eudanus Haslam? Yes, God damn it. Y'all are trash! God! Wait, Eudanis Haslam is under 6'8? I looked at him, he was 6'7, bro. Okay, fine, sure. I thought I had to confirm.

That threw me off. I thought Eudanus was like 610. I thought he was like 6-9-6-10. Nah, bro. I should have known when he was asked at everything. damn yeah exactly he said what does he do i was like i thought y'all got it but damn about time shit exile give me your basketball fan cards that's funny yeah hey we got we got it didn't we well udanus has him on basketball reference says that he's six eight really on actually on google it says

he's six seven so trust what you want to trust but i got i'm a kick rocks okay next up we're going to do a few more do we're doing a lot of ticotts today yeah we're going to do a power forward tier list we've been doing these fall positions they've been great hit this one let's put these NBA power let's put these NBA power forwards into a tier list let's put these NBA power forwards into a tier I'm ready first off obviously Zion's S tier don't even got to talk about it I mean not zion obviously Janus is S tier first off obviously Janus is S tier we don't even got to talk about it Where is Zion? Zion is here right below that.

Not even question it. Yeah, I think A for sure. All right. We're just going based off the talent, right? Sure. I could say a little bit of everything. I still would say it. Production, talent.

Okay. Then. Yeah. Okay. If we're going off of talent, yeah, I'll put him in A. Sure. I mean, he can't be B. He's too good for that.

I mean, it's like B plus. He's barely played in his entire room. If you put him in B, B, plus, and what do you put Julius? Let me, let me, let me, style. I mean, Julius Randall will clearly be below. Okay, where's Julius Randall?

Is he B or he's B right? He's B. I mean, it depends where we're putting Zion. We're putting Zion's A, Zion's A, obviously. If Zion's A, then Julius Randall's B. Yeah, B. He's an All-Star though. He might be, he's like B-plus.

Like, he's good, like, for his fault. He's good. He's not, he's not better than Zion. I don't think, I genuinely think he's not on the same level as Zion. He's not. He's not. I'm capping. He's not. All right. Where does Anthony Davis fall? S or A? S

Oh, that's a disagreement Is he closer to Zion or closer to Yonis? Yonis is the best player in the world Ante Davis Andy Davis is a step below He's still very, very good He's a step below Yeah, you're right

We put Jason Tatum and S for small forwards I think Jason Tatum and AD are that far off I mean is Jason Tatum currently The best small forward in the world I mean LeBron and KD are better Yeah, I still rather have LeBron katy but damn that's that's tough i feel like 80's overqualified for a but underqualified for s exactly all right so maybe that means we default to a but like it's tough

yeah let's put him in a let's put him in a yeah he doesn't doesn't deserve a s yet yeah if it was coming off the coming off the title he was s but he's got to earn it back again yeah exactly okay evin mowgli uh that's a b yeah yeah b i think he's probably budget the All-Star, he scores more points, but you can argue that Mobley's just as good of a player because he has the defensive impact rather than offense? Yeah, exactly. Easy B. Yeah.

If somebody wanted to say he's C until his offense catches up a little bit, I would get it, but I think he deserves me already. All right, that's fair. Absolutely. Moby's he. Jaron Jackson, Jr. B tier. B.

I think Jaron might be A-Lo-key. No, until he's able to stay on the court on consistent basis and stop following out. He is. I mean, he's healthy enough. He's going to be defensive player of the year. He's legitimately been the best defensive player alive today. If there was the best offensive player in the league who wasn't a pretty good defender, we put him A easily.

Why does that not apply to defense? Because he still has fouling issues. And if you can't stay on the court in the playoffs, then that, that's the same thing as the, like, availability. What does he even mean? If he can't stay on the court during the most important moments of the game, simply because of his tendencies, then, bro, you can't be a tier on my list.

He's the best defensive player alive despite his foul tendencies. That isn't hurt his impact. He would just be even better without it. It does hurt your impact because you're not there to leave anything if you're not on the court. He's going to be defensive player of the year. You're acting like he fouls out in the second quarter. He has to take stints in the third quarter.

He's going to be fine. But even with that, Donna, what do you think? I think B plus A minus is the range. He's not a tier. Oh, my God. Putting him in A just don't feel right just yet. it does it that that's that's that's right mo it just doesn't feel right he's gonna be an all-star and defensive player of the year what the fuck are we talking about

I actually just a little bit I don't know why but I just want to say you to see a little bit more right just like done just want him just a little bit more just a little bit more give me a malarkey yeah we'll put him in beer we put a bunch of bullshit what about draymond green that's so hard to he's so hard to a tier rank bro if we put draymond above jaron jackson i'll end it all uh man this is so this is so hard to rank this is so hard i don't know where to put um dream on jermont it's all intangibles he's still a great defensive player been locked in but like the offensive production is so non-existent at this point can you really say that he's a better player than jaron at this point by me no i cannot

i got to put him i think i got to put him in b all right jaron's in b okay they could be in the same tier we're not we're not saying like are they the same to you right now yeah yeah yeah i don't know if i can agree with that that's the whole point is tears that's all right you're right evan mowellie's in b so jaron has to be in b as well i mean i mean evan mobley's in b so dramont has to be in b yeah yeah put him in b you know this is a tough position yeah this is so tough to grade i can't believe jaron's in b unbelievable nobody values defense properly all we have left now is mo your two tictox oh dang you weren't even going to place up porzingis that's crazy after the way donovan was glazing it man damn glazing you what did i say you're a porzengis glazer

that's crazy what did i say you're you're watching the wizards you said that the wizards are going to be the best team of the east by the end of the year and that porzingis is the best white man ever walked the earth something like that all right mo what's your ticot man all right let me go ahead and send this thing to the group chat and i'm going to hit you all with another sneaker tic-tok it's been a while yeah oh wait no this is not the sneaker tic-tok no this is not the sneaker t-tick-tok's after i lied pump fake yeah sneaker t-tick-tok is after right come soon within 10 minutes if you're still here comment where's the sneaker t-tick-tok oh my goodness i want to see the comments where is the sneaker t-tok where is the sneaker

snicker do they still do they actually be commenting that yeah every time they always do it last i'm gonna send you these i'm gonna send you shout out for actually be commenting i'm gonna send you that's the common players with most all right okay well what's the hook tell us what the tic-tok is all right what do these three players have in common let me repeat that i got a little hiccup yeah what are these what are these three NBA players have in common okay first one kate cunningham scottie barnes Barnes, Moses Moody. They both play it on the same high school team together.

Ah, easy one. That's easy. This is the light work right there. Cool. Okay. All right. You need to give us harder ones than that. Yeah, I know.

I need, I need to grab a feel for it. All right. What about these players? Katie, Dominique. Oh, they all tore their Achilles. All you all are running through this. Damn. Let me go through a little bit harder, all right?

Come on now. Come on. I didn't even have time to think when he said that. You have step up. I, I, step it up. Say less. All right. De Marderoza and Steph Curry.

Which Curry? Steph Curry? Yeah. Okay. I have no idea with this one. What the hell? All right. Yeah, you're talking that.

I also had to up it up. What's up? You got something for us? All right. Demar, Steph Curry, and Jeff Teague. This is a specific era. What the fuck does that mean? So.

Did they all do the skills challenge? in the same year? They all lost to LeBron in the playoffs. Damn! Wow. Wow. That was not where my mind was going. Wow.

Okay. Yeah, this made it's, okay, yeah, this made it just two. Another level. All right, this one is, all right, this is fur. I'm like that. All right. What about these three? Blake Griffin, Ben, they all did it, Kendall Jenner.

Yeah. Didn't have to finish reading it. Oh, man. It was a layup. All right He's been a professional harlots It's crazy He's a matter for the streets

All right What about these I think Calabasas streets This is hard Jason Terry Oh Lebron does on all of them

Damn Oh my god Y'all ran through these Y'all ran through these Shit Yusuf Nurgich gave it away Yeah exactly John Lucas gave it away

What you mean? Dude, I was watching that highlight And I had to rerun it so many times As I'm like, bro, is that really John Lucas? I remember that's crazy Nasty work, man That's hilarious to talk

All right Now we had the sneaker TikTok We promised you guys three minutes ago Yeah exactly So let's go ahead and get these sneaker TikToks Up and ready To fucking fire All right

So I'm going to send them all to y'all at once. Okay. Now, I'm not going to lie. Correct shoes. I did not sabotage on purpose. No more false propaganda. All right. Nice, nice.

All right. So how did the hook go? Which NBA shoe do you all think? Which NBA shoe looks better? Ew. Yeah. All right. Which NBA shoe do you all think is, which NBA shoe do you all think looks better?

Say it without, it was better. Without channeling off the end Which NBA shoot Hold on Why am I pointing at you? I don't know Which NBA shoot do y'all think looks better Cool

That Lemello are So we got the lamello twos Or the Kauai 3s Yeah so you got the Lamello 2s Or the Hold on they're not called They're not called

So you got the MBO2s Or you got the Kauai 3s Oh This Kauai suck These Kauai's are payless shoes Mello takes this one easy Yeah I don't even love the mellos like that

but these kawai's are fucking terrible puma loki's doing some stuff in the sneaker game though i like i like that yeah you man you would have more respect for new balance than the cool things that they've been doing over the last few years but this is just an absolute break i feel like if i've seen someone wear this i'd assume you work out a construction site bro simple it's the only way that makes sense i've seen i know several mexican children that wear these shoes and they got them and they got them 100 dollars off because they got them at walmart Hell. Oh, hell.

Ain't no wrong with that. NewBounds doesn't take a lot of L's these days, but this is one of them. All right. So what about these Nike Zoom freak fours versus the Dawn issue fours? Okay, so this one's weird. I like the color way of the Don issue four better, but the design of the freak four is better. I think the freak four sweeps, like no problem. One, the silhouettes way better.

And I think any shoe that's black and red needs to have some element of white. Or it just looks too much. Yeah. I was like, I would never wear these dons. Nah, I might, listen,

honestly, I might get a pair of these don't issue for us. I'm not going to lie. However, on the zoo, on the zoom. That's what I feel about these freaks. I mean,

these are kind of hard, the freak, listen, the backwards check is fire. Yeah. That's hard. I think design wise, I would wear,

I would probably wear the freaks, but in terms of just like, feeling like him when you're on the basketball court, give me those Donovan Mitchell's. I'm scared to twist my ankles in those freaks, to be honest.

Can't do it. Yeah, absolutely I don't know who him is I wouldn't feel like anyone I wouldn't feel like Donald Hitchell, I'll tell you that Yeah, those are fire Those are fire I look at the detail on the freak shoes

They got the splatter on the midsole That like, tie-day on the bottom sole They got the text on the swoosh This is hard Yeah, those are ill as hell You write about that I might change my mind on that actually This man's easily

manipulated Yeah, man all right next we got the joe ones versus the jt ones i think i don't like you really i think both are very mid but the jt ones look atrocious to me no they're they're not atrocious this is weird they're just fine this is actually one of the better signature shoes that jordan has come out with in a while and i think in a different color way if you get these in green and white i think i think those would be fire. I just feel like Jordan's incapable of making good shoes.

I don't have Michael Jordan's name on it. That's funny. Something about the logo, the materials they lose. They're just all so weird looking. I mean, but the jaw ones, the jaw ones look like... They look basic. No, but they look like LeBron 20s. It looks like when somebody tries to copy your homework and you say,

change it a little bit. That's what it looks like. It kind of feels like a mix of that with some PGs. Like, it feels like a very much like a Nike basketball shoe. Yeah. I don't mind that. It's better than the other one, which feels very much like a Jordan brand shoe, which is garbage.

So, yeah, okay, so Nike's floor is obviously much higher than Jordan. My only thing about these JTs, though, is like, why do I have a built-in storage unit in my shoe? What are these four big assholes on the bottom of my feet? For aerodynamics, Mo, do you not understand science? You don't understand technology? He wore these and dropped 55 in an all-star game. Look, when I... Fifty-four, whatever.

Store a little snack to go when you're done hooping. When I'm wearing hooping shoes, I'm wearing for A performance, but more importantly than a... that bro i need the swag needs to be on point and sadly the swag is you wear shoes for swag not for performance yeah drip or drown yeah easy bro i know you don't get he's drownings okay cool well well that recaps that caps that caps that and when we know us that caps the episode we're done here sweet nice everyone comment isaac show us your haircut the hat stays on during podcast all right we're up see y'all Thank you.