The Deep 3 Podcast - We Picked Every NBA Playoff Team's Biggest Weakness | Ep 134

Episode Date: March 28, 2025

every NBA playoff team's biggest strength and weakness! #nba Check out the TD3 merch: https://the-deep-3-shop.fourthwall.com/ 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 Mo's twitter: https://twitter.com/Mojo99_ Donnavan's twitter: https://twitter.com/Dsmoot3D 0:00- Intro 1:29- Bucks 14:10- Thunder 21:12- Suns 27:35- Knicks 35:40- Magic 43:32- Warriors 53:05- Celtics 57:43- Pistons 1:04:13- Nuggets 1:09:47- Pacers 1:15:45- Clippers 1:20:58- Lakers 1:25:45- Grizzlies 1:30:50- Rockets 1:38:35- Cavaliers 1:43:23- Kings 1:44:49- Hawks 1:49:02- Timberwolves 1:52:42- tiktok time Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I just hope people at home understand the bravery that we put ourselves through every day. Specifically this month of March, we are 26 days in to March basketball over three weeks of watching the fakes-hoops known to man, watching non-stop games that don't matter because half the teams are tanking. We've done it. We're almost to April. The playoffs are almost here. We've done it, y'all. Don't you ever in your goddamn life disrespect Najee Marshall basketball?

Watch your mouth when you watch printing grimes. hoop and put the whole city of Dallas or my bad Philadelphia again on the goddamn map they're giving everyone hopes hit a poor salt in the wound a little bit remind you all could have been in Dallas but with that being said you know we've dealt with this we watch a lot of nothing today we're going to look forward to April to May to maybe June for some of these teams we're going to talk about every single NBA playoff team's biggest strength of weakness so we're going to talk about 20 teams today one through 10 in each conference since you know if you're tendency you very well could be in the playoffs but if you're currently 11th the day of recording

this sorry you're not getting talked about we're only talking about the teams that have a real chance of doing anything in the playoffs yeah man every single team talked about today you guys ready 100% let's go ahead and do it let's go ahead and do it the cranium is crazy oh my god I mean I don't know don't know what to say You know, today we're going to talk about every single NBA playoff team, like I said. But I think it's only right. We talk about the team that's in the news for yet another unfortunate reason. Our first team today is going to be the Milwaukee Bucks because we can't talk about the

Bucks Playoff Outlook without talking about the news that broke yesterday. Damien Lur is out indefinitely with the blood clot. The same type of blood clot that Victor Wominyama has that made him be officially rolled out for the season. They're still holding out hope that he might be back. They're not putting any precise language. on this time period, it's just indefinite. But needless to say,

another horrible, horrible spat of luck for the bucks who have had three straight playoff runs, completely wiped out before they can even start now, assuming he's going to miss the time. Just how unfortunate. Yeah, this is, this is tough because, and I think it sucks because you might be able to put this trade into one of the biggest disappointments of all time

in NBA history. Oh, I think, I think that now, like, you have last year where it doesn't work out because Janus gets hurt. And also because coach got fired midseason, Janus gets hurt right before the playoffs. You don't win a series. And then you have to come back and regroup. You're bringing Doc Rivers, all that. Even now, after a whole offseason together, new coach, you finally have all of that time to be, to be together and to jail and all that. You still are like the four or five seed.

You're not even one of the three best teams in the conference. And then once again, you're going into the playoffs, somebody gets hurt, you're probably going to get first-rounded. You broke up, and obviously there were circumstances that, like, kind of forced the buck's hands, but you broke up a team that won a championship and that had a core where you saw proof of concept to go out and get Dame completely shake up your team. And you might not have a playoff series win when you have Janus, who everybody has said, top three player in the world, undoubtedly.

and Damien Lillard. So this trade is now, it's creeping up into that era or into that ilk. Yeah, yeah, but we talked about this last week and we obviously talked for a long time about the difference in how we view it

and that, again, it's a, one of the biggest failures, you can call it that if this happens to be the case that Lillard isn't going to play in the entire playoff series, right? In terms of disappointment, you can't help would be sad that you literally don't get to see this duo

together for the two years they're, you know, on the same team. You don't get any playoff runs of them actually being a, duo. So it's a disappointment. I'm not going to do the whole, you blew up a championship team. That team would run its course. I'm not going to hindsight say it was a bad move or anything or that they should be like upset, affect themselves from making this trade in hindsight. I don't think we need to go there. But it's definitely disappointing. It's definitely unfortunate.

Dude, the title of this episode is the biggest strengths and weaknesses of playoff teams. And like as we can sit down and harp on the consistency of weaknesses of this team, whether it be athleticism, guys being too slow or whatnot. feel like of having a point of attack defender and all these like random these things within the basketball court that's very important none of it matters when dame you are out you absolutely you're coming into war with no dagger with no knife you got a body you got a shield you can pay some defense on all that but at the end of the day this team traded for damey lord for a fucking reason they lost out and sacrificed the elite defense that they were building around brooke lopez drew a holiday and yannis for a reason now that dame's gone like Like, yo, it's hard to sit down and envision this team making any real noise in the playoffs. Like, without dame, depending on what they're facing, who knows, maybe they can, like, get to the second round. But that's as far as these conversations go. No, it's not happening.

Yeah. It's not, it's not happening. They're not making, they're not making the second round. I think that, like, they're in, I guess we can, we can go into, like, the, you know, the destruction of the episode. Their biggest strength, in my opinion, excited about it. Their biggest strength was the fact that they had Janus. Any series that, any, any series, right, any series that they walked into in the Eastern Conference, you were going to have the best player in the series.

And obviously, if it's like a tiebreaker in terms of, okay, this team does this really well, this team does this really well, the backups kind of play out. You more often than not are going to side with a team that has the best player, the player that can go nuclear, the player that can, out of nowhere, have 40 and 20 and impact the game on the on the defensive side that's going to be the the key that was their strength as again like you look you look at all of this and you look at at the weakness now that you don't have dame you have put so much pressure offensively on not only yonis to score but to also create for others now you are really really relying on kail kuzma to come through in a big way in the

playoffs you're relying a lot oh my god on kevin porter junior to come in to come through in a big way you are asking guys who should not be number two options to give you some level of number two production and that in itself like I don't think if they beat if they play the Pacers I think the Pacers beat them in five games right yeah and that's a series today if it starts if it starts today it's a four or five game again just like last year the patients get to run up on them when they're wounded when they don't have their stars they get to beat the shit out of them that's how it goes. And yeah, well, I mean, one of the other previous strengths is, you know, they could stagger

Lillard and Yannis, that the fact that when, you know, we talked a lot about how Lillard and Yannis haven't quite gelled and made each other better in the way you want from a duo that's like seemingly had complimentary skill sets and they were added. But Lillard cooked when he was in line and was without Yonis. You know, he went up to like 30 points for 75 instead of 23 when he was playing as a solo star on the court. You kind of had that ability in a playoff series, you know, do that typical dynamic of having one on the court at all times. Without that, you're just going to get blitzed in the non-Yonis minutes that immediately takes away your biggest strength. And now you're kind of just left with a team that has only strength you can say,

the star, like you said, and a whole bunch of weaknesses. Like, you said maybe they can get to the second round. I would be baffled if they had a competitive second round series. Like absolutely floored. Shout out Janus, there's a world in which he maybe beats the Pacers, but I would be completely flabbergasted if they had a competitive series in the second round. If they get there, I think they're getting ran through. Yeah, I 100% agree.

like, again, the weaknesses that they already had with between this Dame and Janus duo were still very strong. Like, they weren't out of the clear. And who knows? Like, I don't, I couldn't even confidently say that with Dame alert on this roster that they could beat an Indiana Patriots team who's like rejuvenated themselves and have this root like newfound energy and identity. I couldn't even confess to that they'll be able to beat them. So without Janice there and without Dame there at this point in time, it's looking like a good product. Yeah. we do we also do have to look forward and i because the the very like present of the the present

situation is obviously dame is out indefinitely we don't know when he's when he's coming back playoff stuff is there looking forward it i do kind of feel bad for bucks fans because it kind of puts them in the same situation if you just start talking about like feelings and underlying stuff and like subtext where is yannis who has consistently put pressure on the front office now going to look at at at this team and once again it's the it's the one year that he's healthy right because you actually could be very like well actually and look at yonis and say you weren't here the last two years and that's a major reason why we weren't able to take the steps that we wanted to that doesn't matter right now now he's healthy he's playing great

and damon's not there and you have yonis does he get impatient do you start having those feelings and those rumors pop up again i wouldn't be shocked if that if you start hearing a lot of that or come right back into it now that you are two years. Yeah, I mean, we've, again, we've talked about it in the stream, I think, most recently. We had, like, a five-year media upgrade where, like, it seemed like every mainstream source, just, like, tried to open these psychosis, convince Janus that he wants to get a trade request. We had years of people being like, you want to go to L.A., you want to go to L.A., you want to go to L.A., and every time he touched a mic, he's like, no, I'm, but I'm chilling here.

I like it. I like the city. I like the organization. So I'm not going to assume Yannis has any desire to leave until he's presenting us with that. I know he said a couple things early in the year where he was like, hold on, don't get too comfortable. He said he said that, but I kind of am just, I feel like that's more posturing than otherwise. I feel like he's not going to want to go anywhere until he convinces otherwise. I don't know. This dude, he's so quick to get on a mic and just be like, yeah, bro, like, winning cares everything. I don't give a damn about MVP. I don't give a damn about like none

else. I think like over the last week or two, he even said something like he doesn't give a fuck about like winning MVP or how people view him if whether or not he's like the best player. in the NBA and shit. So I feel I'm not going to sit down and like think about his future again because I think it's a silly to do as of now but it just wouldn't be surprising because he's been telling me who he is

over the last few years and I can't sit here and be like I won't believe him. I'm going to think about it. But I just think I'm not going to entertain it. Yeah, I feel like the bigger, the bigger PEOB I think is just it just shows you how fucking fragile

a championship window is. Yeah. They won 2021. They had three stars that weren't old. They were all like below 27. Or actually Drew Hall is probably a little bit older around there. But nevertheless, three stars who you thought had a runway to compete for the next five years or so. They had a coach that they thought was going to be the coach for the long

run. They had a good enough supporting cast without any real glaring weaknesses. Like, after 2021, you fully expect them to be back the next year and maybe the next year and the next year and be in the race every time. 2020, they might have won again. But, you know, Chris Milton got hurt. And at that point, we were like, okay, unfortunate, you're still, your window's still here. You know, you lost a year. That sucks. And the fact now that since that year, This will be the fourth season in a row in which a similar issue occurs. And for one reason or another, they're not whole. They don't stand a chance to even see what the potential is.

It's not that they fell off. It's not that they went out sad a bunch of times. Like, it's not like the Nuggets where they lost players because they got cheap. And then they just lost the teams at Timberwolves who had their number. It's not that at all. They just didn't have a chance because pure bad luck. That is so unfortunate. Like, that is just straight up a sad story for Bucks fans.

Yeah. And the Nuggets thing is also kind of interesting, too, because they had a weird case where they lost years on their window on the front end. Like before anybody thought that it was like the window, like the year that you could have been like, okay, the Nuggets have something and they could win a title. Jamal Murray tears his ACL like two weeks before the playoffs start. And so him like losing that playoff run,

losing the year after that, those are two years of the Yokic Murray pairing where they would have been competitive in the Western Conference. So that's interesting on that front. But yeah, for the bucks at least, it's just, like, I don't know where you go from here. Like, you really just have to wait and see what happens to Dame if he's able to come back. If he's going to be healthy enough to play next year or whatever the situation is. Again, I have no idea how to look at.

Yeah, they haven't ruled out yet. They haven't ruled them out. They haven't came out and said he's done for the year, which maybe that's just like wishful thinking. everything we've seen like this like Wembe has the same exact thing deep vein thrombosis this time it's in Lillard's calf opposed to the shoulder of Wembe and maybe that makes a difference in the

science element of it you know you bend your shoulder a lot you really have to make sure to avoid irritating that and so whatever the verbiage is for a black cloud I don't even you know but maybe a shoulder makes it so it's an immediate rule out versus Lillard with the calf they have some type of hope that heals differently again talked out of my ass but maybe that's the reason

they haven't ruled them out but I feel like we can assume he's probably going to miss the entirety of the playoffs yeah sucks man i mean the dame and yonis duo has never been on the court what we wanted it to be but at the end of day like they never even had a chance to show what they could be which sucks and which is sad i'm tired of being sad man for the one let's talk about different team sorry bucks fans sucks to be you guys i legitimately sucks i mean the mass fans like i'll laugh at you like ha ha your team stupid that sucks that's funny though from my perspective so i'm dancing on your grave a little bit but

man that can't even dance i'm just like that sucks you have an all-time great player the second best play you've ever had the best homegrown talent that wanted to stick around you're ever going to have since you know like cream left it's unfortunate that his story is being completely just rampage by things that have nothing to do with him pure lack of luck tough you need to see it who's a happy story with that being said with that being said let's talk about the second team of today's episode let's talk about the oklahoma city thunder my first team on this list okay i figure we knock him out right away, talk about the best team in the West. Their biggest strength and their biggest weakness. I want to do this one first, because it's quite simple. The biggest strength is

everything about the team is good and the biggest weakness is essentially nothing about the team is bad. That's kind of what it boils down to. I'll get more specific, but like, their strength is they have the MVP and they have the best collection of perimeter defensive talent in the NBA. That is what they're built off of. What do you think the biggest weakness is right now? earlier in the year, I would have said non-shay minutes offensively. But since the All-Star break, they have the same offensive rating with him on and off the court. They've been firing on all cylinders, 125 both ways. I don't know what to point to is a weakness.

You tell me. The only thing that I can think of when it comes to a weakness, when it comes to Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City, I can't talk about Thunder basketball. Let's talk about their education system. Where the fuck do they rank in the United States, genuinely? Like, 29. 29's not even at that. No, my, my, my, bye, bye, bye, my.

49 I was thinking there's 30 I had an NBA brain for a second I had an NBA brain no probably 49 it's probably them in Mississippi that's the bottom two Mississippi's for sure at the bottom I don't know that for

I know that for fact that's what type of shit you got a point to me brand pays to Mississippi he's going crazy Allegedly Allegedly you have

This is not alleged I don't know what's going on Fuck him. Okay, so Oklahoma is apparently ranked 49th in education. There we go. I knew it. I knew it. It's fucking sucks, bro.

Is Mississippi 50? Yeah. I don't know what's 50. Let me see. Probably Mississippi. Yeah, probably. Yeah, probably their dog down there, bro. Fuck.

But, yeah. So, like, early in the season, I said the biggest weakness of theirs, I guess, is that they're a really, really, really dependent on Shay's creation. Their only secondary ball handler for real is J-dub. And Aaron Wiggins, we'll give him that as a third ball handler that can really create for himself and others. And outside of that, it's just full defensive slanted lineup that, again, really relied on Shea. Since the All-Star, actually, I said this, before the All-Star break, they had a 122 offensive

with him on the court and 1-0-8 with him on the bench. Gigantic difference, right? Since the All-Star break, we have Aaron Wiggins coming back. We have this new lineup they're doing now with Isaiah Harden, Stein at the 5 and chat at the four. That's really growing into itself now and getting more comfortable. They have a 125 offensive rating without him on the court right now. They are blitzing everybody.

Janlon Williams, Big Jalen Williams, is proven to have. have a lot of value. He's put up triple doubles and shit and games for some of the stars miss. They are firing at all cylinders to the point where the biggest weakness I can point to statistically, unironically, is their free throw drawing. They're 25th in free throws drawn and 26 in free throws free throw rate on defense. So they lose the free throw battle. That's their biggest weakness. That's so ironic because of all you goddamn eaters on the internet over here talking about some oh she's a free throw merchant she's a free throw merchant although he gets to the line a lot obviously his game is based on that but that's just

hilarious that's also not that's also that's not that's not that's what I'm saying that that verb is is not correct yeah it's certainly not based on that it's not hard his game was based on that she's just good at it and he understands how to do it and like it's a skill but it's not his game's based on being the best shooter and best slasher at the position in the league yeah I misspoke yeah but yeah but I don't know. Do you guys have any other thoughts on a weakness of theirs that you're looking at? Like, obviously a lot of people, I'm kind of joking saying they're perfect. They're not. We can talk about it a little differently. Some people obviously have a lot of doubts about

their experience and their age and stuff. I would say last year was the experience you guys wanted. They lost. They learned from that. So I'm not terribly concerned. I think when you have the second best net rating of all time and every other team in the top five net ratings won a championship, it's probably a good assumption that your game will translate that like if you're that good at basketball in the regular season, you'll probably be that good in the playoffs at some extent i'm not worried on that end do you guys have any left over worries no i think i understand why people would say that but also at the same time and somebody asked uh somebody asked a cat this last year where they were like you know you got like do you think that you

guys have gone through the fire enough and and cats like dang like how much do you want us to lose yeah and like for the thunder how much more fire yeah for the thunder do you had two years ago when you were in the playing before pre-chat last year you get chat and then you lose in the second round and honestly you lose in the second round because PJ Washington was going bananas like that was such an outlier to the way that he performed for the rest of the playoffs that like you can look at that and be and say okay this probably won't happen and if it was and if it does like if it if that happened at a normal rate then we probably win that series.

Yeah. So. And even without that, let's say the team is the same as last year and they lost fair and square. They did lose fair and square, but let's say they lost in a way that it was consistent. They would lose 90 out of 100 times or whatever.

Let's say the maps were certainly better than them last year. They have Isaiah Hardinstein. They have Alex Caruso. Those two guys straight up would have been the difference last year. Like that's a big, big talent injection. So even if you want to point to last year and say they prove they're not good enough that in a playoff setting, too much reliance on Chet and J-dub, but they're not ready for that, fine.

We have the best primitive defender from a guard in the NBA on our team now and the top five passing hub big man also on our team now. Who both have a lot of the pressure. Exactly, who both also had playoff experience before. So they're also like not super, super young guys. It's not like you're bringing in rookies either. So I can understand why as an entity you may think that the Thunder don't have enough experience.

I don't necessarily believe that. again, I think going right now, going into the playoffs right now, I think that the Thunder are the best team. I think that they're going to win the championship. And I don't think that it's going to necessarily be too, too much of a struggle. But that's just, that's just me. You know, that's the time. Yeah, yeah. For the sake of the theme of this episode, if I was to say what a weakness would be, maybe it would be like, okay, like Jadab isn't there right now. And hopefully he comes back looking like the same old Jadab that we've seen over the course of the season but jade up here or not they can go to they can be in the one of first round

playoff series without him like genuinely i could say that with confidence absolutely so the seems like as bulletproof as it gets they should be the NBA championship favorites they're just like that man at least out west like if you want to say you you're going the Celtics over them that's not crazy you know Celtics fans even though they're defending champs have a big like chip on their shoulder every time we don't immediately glaze them they're always the Celtics disrespect is crazy you can you can view them as one a one B if you want but out west it's clearly the thunder and everybody else barring good health i have no doubt they're going to come out of the west yeah i agree i agree speaking of the west i guess let's stick

to it this is my turn um i want to talk about the phoenix suns so as of wait things have been better for the phoenix suns they're currently as you speak on a four-game win streak and they're fully into the plan on because in the plan because of the fall off of the of the dallas Mavericks. And Devin Booker and Katie have been cooking, bro. And this team as of late has been fighting for their lives, like throughout the entirety of the season, trying to figure out things when it comes to the whole Bradley Bill experiment. They threw bowl bowl into the full traded for Nick Richards. And he had like a, the greatest PR run for like the first two games. And since then you ain't here shit about him. Um, and- I got a question for you

real quick. Yeah. Uh, what changed in these four games? Does something happen four games ago that made them a different team to start? winning these games? I mean, Bradley Biel's not there. Oh, how many games he missed? Four games, I think, bro. He's missed four? And how many they won? Four, bro. So here's something interesting for you right here.

Here's something interesting. I don't have my iPad today, but I got the spirit of it with me in my hands. So these guys are 13 and 3 when Devin Booker and Katie play and when Bradley Biel gets a DNP. The sons are seven and eight when Katie and Buck start. deal with the beel off the bench they're 14 and 19 when beale starts holy shit and they are five and five when ryan starts and when brad is off the bench overall they're just they're a losing team running badly bill plays i don't want to say this is bradley bill's fault necessarily him as a player i'm sure he has very useful skills in the NBA so he's not washed or a negative by any component but in terms of the context of him in this team and what this team needs he is not a good

fit. Yeah. And I think it is his fault to some extent, but not, it's kind of like a Russell Westbrook on the Lakers thing where it's your fault because you're negatively impacting the team, but you know, you didn't ask for this, bad fit. It's Bradley Bills fault defensively, I think, is a big difference. I don't have those numbers yet pulled up. I'm sure the defensive ratings are the big swings in those lineups. I think offensively, he's not the biggest issue in the world. He's a very talented offensive player still. I've maintained over the last year and they've been a disaster that he does have value. If I was the other team, like I would, if you're giving me a pick to take on his contract, I'd be happy to. I think he still could be a good player

for somebody in a better fit. But defensively, it is a nightmare. Having Devin Booker and Bradley Bill both of them out there, essentially one of them has to play the three unless you're starting Devin Booker point guard again, which brings its own issues. You're never going to have a good defense without being the case, especially with the center rotation they have. It's just simply impossible. We have known this. We've known this. Like from day, from day one, who would have thought that Bradley Beal, who's out getting 30 a night in Washington, not being asked to be a great defender and be put on a team with two other bucket getters who and Kevin and, you know, KD, his defense stepped up. Booker, we've seen him play good defense in stretches, but he's never

been known as a defender. We asked the same questions two years ago. Yes, you guys may be able to get buckets, who are you guarding? And also, are you guys all going to be able to get buckets because you all get buckets in the same kind of way and you can't play off of each other. And so it's not, it's not surprising that adding Bradley Bill into this equation. And his salary is so much because it's, it's $50 million. And it's 50 million dollars. Dude, it's $50 million that you could have towards other more complimentary pieces. It's such, it's such a whole.

and it's such a void and it's such bad team building in terms of what the Sons have done here and what ISBIA has tried to do here. It's awful. Now, they're going to get the 10. They might not make the, they might not make the 80 because you're going to. I highly doubt they will. Exactly. Even if they did, let's say that they win two games back to back, they're getting demolished in the first ride. Like, OKC might beat them in three. They might be a blood bath You thought Minnesota punched them in the mouth last year You thought Minnesota out hustled them

Out physicalityed them Had primitive defenders to put them in hell Put them in hell in the interior for the same reasons You thought that happened Imagine that team in Minnesota last year And every single element of the team is better That's what you get in OKC this year It would be disgusting

No, it's just straight beat up So Mo you didn't even say a strength of weakness You were just like Ha ha sons Because we all understand And for the sake of the format, what's their biggest strength of weakness? Defense, we already know this, bro. Like, their defense is absolutely horrendous.

As, like you said, like you alluded to, the second that they pull Bradley Biel out, they're able to play more players who are comparable when it comes to what they need. But the players who they have surrounding Devin Bucker and Kevin Durant aren't necessarily the most, I would say, experienced. Running Ryan Dunn, great player, you know what I'm saying? Um, Igadaro, fucking that rookie is great and he tries really hard, athletic, defensive-minded, of course. But when it comes to these players, at the end of the day, they're young and relying on young rooks to do the nitty and greedy things is great to a certain degree. But at the end of the day, like, their defense is is consistently spirally, it feels like. And so that's the biggest weakness.

Yeah, they have the worst. Yeah. The worst center rotation in the league. Exactly. The worst point guard rotation in the league. And their wings in between are good offensive players that are not good defenders. So there is no complimentary players for those weaknesses of their best players. It's just a whole lot of weakness.

And the strength of the fact that you had two-star ball handlers in Devin, Booker and KD, does not come even close to outweighing all the horrendous shit I just mentioned. Yeah, exactly. Like, having no interior presence whatsoever on the defensive end, Nick Richards being your saving hope, your guard and point of attack defender just not really being there relying on ties zones it's just a cooked product overall but they are at least slightly interesting now things aren't as bad for you phoenix suns fans shout out march basketball donovan who's your next team thank you uh all right

we're just we're going to talk about the nix real quick obviously the obviously the weakness is is the defense we've we've harped on it so so much um it's what about their defense it's the it's the fact that they are swish cheese and and specifically being able to attack uh to attack jalen brunson and attack carl anthony towns and like you see very very often in playoffs in playoff basketball you see teams be able to start match a punning and bringing certain guys into the action and making sure that no matter what right whether whether we attack this screen or not, we are going to make sure that this defender is there. And obviously, like, the strength of the next defense is going to be, is it going to be

O.J. and O.B. It's going to be Deuce McBride. It's going to be McHale Bridges on certain days. If you, if they are, if they are playing their starters at full, full minutes, you are going to, you are going to get a lot of defensive lapses from, from, from, and from Jalen Brunson. and that's just not something that if you get to the second round and at this rate they will play the Celtics in the second round we've seen that we've seen that story many many times over the course of the season and the Celtics are the perfect team to exploit all the weaknesses that the nicks have and so can can they win a first round series against the against the um against the pistons yes will they even play the pistons no because the bucks might drop the six anyways but

But they can win a first round series. Their offense is that great. When everybody is there and everybody's humming, it's awesome. But you start getting into teams that have more talent, are able to exploit these matchups, and it's not great. So I think ultimately that's going to be their undoing, and that's going to be their biggest weakness. Their biggest strength is Jaylon Brunson's shot making.

Yeah, also, like, you mentioned their biggest weakness is the fact that they have a pairing of Brunson and Kat that defensively makes it hard to build a nucleus from, right? that's also the biggest strength is brunson and cat so it's such a double-edged sword that brunson's shot making but now plus the carlton town spacing and ability to attack mismatches from the five like that's an extremely difficult playoff solution i mean problem to have to solve for a defense so like there's no rule we're way around the weakness because the strength necessitates the both on the court together so exactly it's just it's a tough cycle yeah it's just

a team and it really is like for the for the nicks to go and have a crazy crazy run legitimately somebody's going to have to get hurt on on boston like they're i don't i don't think that they can beat boston at full strength and so they're going to they're going to have to have some type of advantage or or boston is going to have to be depleted in some kind of way to where the the level field is a little bit the playing field is a little bit more shout out is a little bit more even uh yeah so that it's going to have to have to be that and Obviously, I'm not, I'm not open for that. Nobody's, nobody's waiting for injuries.

And if they go against the Celtics, it's clap. Like, they may get one game, but that's it. No, I think it's important. You keep, I'm sure I'm, I'll see this episode, like, no, like people have never heard about these teams before. So we talked about it at length before for common listeners are here every week, but it's, I think it's very important to say that you only keep mentioning the Celtics, right?

This team is going to be very good. They're fully healthy. So clicking and have their main six or seven guys, counting McBride and counting Mitchell off the bench, very good team. They can't be the Celtics. That's the weakness, really, if we get down to it, is that they're perfectly built to not be able to beat the Celtics. That they have a lot of things going for them.

They have that strength of the pick and roll combination of Kat and Brunson, and they have good wing play around them. Shout out Josh Hart, what he brings in transition. Shout out McHill Bridges, what he brings. It's like a secondary ball handler. He's mid-range scoring, has been a little better. And shout out OG is a play finisher and obviously one of the better defenders in the league. but it's uniquely set up

to not be able to handle exactly what the Celtics do well if you tell me they have a chance of potentially upsetting the Cavaliers I'd be shocked I don't expect it

but like it's in the realm it's in the realm possibility that things could go their way if they really really play perfectly in the Cavs shooting slumps or whatever

there's just like a negative chance that they can beat the Celtics at their specific stretch you out beat you with three point volume attack your big men like that specific team

is just their cryptonite okay so my question to y'all is Celtics aside because I agree with you what would have to go down in order for them to defeat a team like the Cleveland Cavaliers because if we're at all put our money down

we're all taking the calves like nine times out of ten pretty much but that one off chance what has to happen for the New York Knicks because that sounds like it's their only way out which is to luck out when it comes to the standings what has to happen is we have to get a really good stretch of Mitchell Robinson basketball him being healthy for one they have to be able to keep up with the size of people in the playoffs

he has to be there and be playing well and we had to see the progression of him and cat together, which we don't know how many games left to see it progress. But, you know, that has to be a real look they can go to. And you have to be able to expose this small backcourt of the calves and their small wing play. You know, they're going to a lot of times be out there with Darius, Garland, Donovan Mitchell, and Max Drews.

That's three, six, five, and below defenders. Two of them are like six to and below. So you have to be able to really get them position where they're being forced to switch actions because Jalen Brunson is dicing up their drop coverage. So you're forced to switch Kat. and he has to be able to attack mismatches. Brunson has to be able to attack their big men. Like, you had to really prey on their uneven size personnel

and the fact that you have two scores that can expose mismatches from different sizes. That has to prove to be the difference and you have to get like the perfect version of that. Yeah. And I think, I think on top of that, you're going to have to, you're going to have to get like another out of your mind

three-point shooting series from Josh Hart. Yeah, yeah, that too. Because last, last, last year, here in the playoffs as a whole, but specifically in that, in the Sixth Series in round one, Josh Hart was going crazy, right? Josh Hart was not,

was knocking down threes, and they were leaving them open and they were daring him to shoot, but he was doing that. And he ultimately was the one who ice the series, right? He has a three in game six, does all that stuff.

He's, he's right now, like, he's okay. He's fine. He's like 35% from the field, you know, especially like as of late. You're going to need Josh Hart to shoot like 40% from three in a play. out series against the Cavs to really make up for some of the lapses that you're going to get

defensively and just to, you know, keep up with them as a whole. So everybody has to really, really be on top of their game and you're going to have to win, you're going to have to win the series on volume. Shootout. Yeah. With that, with that offense clicking. And again, and this, you could apply all this to the Celtics too. They just have the defensive personnel to shut down Jalen Brunson and Kat to some regards so I don't have as much hope for the way I just described it but if you want to pray for a shootout going that way I guess you can't

maybe I hope the Celtics have bad shooting luck It's awful because like you're asking for the next to be like yeah we're going to need you guys to To put up these threes and the settings are like dude We take 55 threes when we wake up Like it's fine right like we'll do this Exactly say less So it's yeah so again

I mean honestly I think the outcome I described against the calves is like not impossible like this series happens I'm very much going to favor the calves definitely but it's like 70 30 like I think 30% chance of the Knicks winning like it's it's it's not a small percentage like that all that could happen is there even a chance of this happening no it's not like the nicks would have to drop the nix right now are three games up on indiana in the four spot and cleveland is five games up on boston for the five so it's going to be oh yeah it's going to be boston new york in the second around if the Knicks can beat the pistons, right?

Yeah. In the first round. Damn, face looking running your eyes. Tough scene. Yep. That's tough. Let's talk about the Orlando Magic as the next team. Okay. They're a bit complicated to talk about from a playoff perspective of strengths and weaknesses

because they're so like, they're not whole and they're not going to be whole. So while they're on here, I'm not sure they make it out of the playing tournament just because of unfortunate injury luck, right, with Jaylon Suggs being out for the rest of the year. But I'll say their current strength right now. it's a little, it's like opposite of what you would have thought, right? Because they've profiled as an elite defensive team. Since they've lost Jaylin Suggs, they haven't been a top 10 defense. In the last 15 games, they're 11th.

And they're actually at the 22nd in offense instead of 30th by far. So they're kind of trending in the opposite direction. And I think right now, their biggest strength is Palo Bancaro is turning it around. He's looking a little bit closer to what it was in those first five games when we all got really excited. He's currently in his last 15 games, 29 points on 60% true shooting. And that's 60% true. true shooting is exactly what we wanted to see him be. You know, he's been a below-league average efficiency score for his entire career, despite

it looking really pretty. And the biggest part of that is he is incredible right now, drawing free throws. Yeah. He only has a 56% effective field goal percentage, so his overall shot making from the field isn't above average. But he is getting to the line like a goddamn demon right now. He's shooting 39% from 3 in that time and 73% at the rim, which is really big, right? We've been saying we need to see him really unlock that interior score.

scoring. He is scoring well at the rim. Seventy-three percent is a lot higher than where he was before, around 65, which was the problem. But man, this free throw strong ability he has right now, that's a difference between him being an average level of score in terms of efficiency to dominating like he has been. That's by far the bigger strength now is he's really turning on at the right time. Yeah, I 100% agree. He's, things have changed a bit more when it comes to how I view him and the consistent like ups and downs and how he's like the style basketball basketball that he's choosing to play and this style right now that he's choosing to play which is like being a tad more physical and a few calls like going more so his way because he's like

making himself in his presence feel be felt more with his shot making or the type of shots that he's deciding to make has made a difference this team is routinely like one of the worst offenses in the NBA. Now, they went from like 28, 29th throughout the entirety of the season. Since post All-Star break, they're now the 25th best offense. Still

ass. By all degrees, it's not good. Trending upwards. But guess what? It is better. And that's all that matters. And that's all you could ask for for a team that's been in the mud throughout the entire season and has been handcuffed without any shooters. Like, it's hard to see this team

like thrive in the playoffs. Of course, with the nature and status of who is on this roster and whatnot. But in terms of like their biggest strength, hey, like, yo, Palo's going fucking crazy and Franz is doing Franz things. And, uh, well, Franz is actually playing like shit since he came back. Franz needs to figure out how to be the second option and make three-pointers again and be able to actually play off of Palo because he's not nearly as good playing off of him as he is playing alone.

And at some point, Franz has to develop some off-ball skills and carry his end of the bargain there because you're not going to be the one option. So it's reality. But, uh, Palo is currently. as of late, low-key been a free-throw merchant in the way we talk, throw that word around,

but I like it. Like, he is, has a lot of games where he doesn't shoot well, but he still produces well overall because he gets a line consistently. And I'm okay with that right now because, you know,

he's still early in development. He'll get better at the pace of his game, get better at the consistent footwork to get these mid-range jumpers he likes and a more, a higher pace that you like that doesn't really bog down the offense. That's fine.

He'll get there eventually. I love that he's currently a free-throw merchant by straight throwing his body, around he just sometimes it's honestly he's exactly what you've asked him though i mean donovan of all kinds of players including palo where you're like be big be assertive be aggressive there's times where he drives and he just like seeks content and just throws his body into the lane to draw a foul like straight up runs into people and that's like such a positive development for his game

because it was so much finesse and slow footwork to get to these numbers before and so much lack of assertiveness that i don't even care if the other stuff is there right now. This is a fantastic development going next year that he can start things from this aggressive standpoint. Exactly. And especially when when you have like, and I say this obviously with so much endearment in my heart. But when you have Kobe Bryant Brain and you want to take the toughest midrange as possible, there has to be something in your game that you can get too easy. And so if the free throws are it, fine. Now, when you get to taking tough shots and making them and getting the free throws,

that's when you get to beat Shea Gildjus Alexander and you get, right? And you get to be one of the best scores of all time. But most of the time, you are not doing that. So either you could pick one or the other and especially when you are still trying to not only develop as a whole, but just developing the season and start taking the steps to get back to yourself, right? You obviously missed a lot of time with the oblique injury. These are the things that people, that you're always here.

on the broadcast. Like when people are having a bad game, it's like, oh, just, you know, get to the free throw line, see the ball go in. That stuff actually matters. And doing that consistently, right? Doing that consistently and having that be a part of your game, it's something that we saw with, with Tatum, like two years ago, when Tatum, when Tatum kind of took a leap as a score and Tatum started to get to the free throw line a lot, that's kind of, and I've kind of put those two up against each other a lot because and Tatum has evolved and has, you know, become a good playmaker, but we were saying for years, like, you probably don't want to be putting the playmaking duties on Tatum, just let him go be a bucket.

It's the same thing for Paulo. You don't necessarily have to make him into this crazy point forward who does everything. And for him to progress as a score, just put the ball in the bucket and getting, getting to the free throw line helps him do that a lot. And it's a lot more efficient, especially for an offense that is just trash. you know yeah you just naturally fall into buckets like it's not to no surprise that we see a player like jimmy beller stepped foot into the warriors vicinity and all of a sudden like they just their offense just runs like a whole lot smooth now of course yes they do have step curry but

the opportunities for buckets to be made it's just vast you know like you don't necessarily have to get to the rim and like converse convert on every single attempt why because you're going to get hacked and you can get to the line those are just like free opportunities that are stress-free points. Yeah, and like, it's been such a wad up and down season for him because, you know, he started the year, he has those five games, he goes, bat's shit, it looks closer to this, he's dominating at the rim, averaging 30, he dropped 50 for one of those games, gets hurt, comes back, really struggles after the oblique injury.

And a lot of people ran victory laps and said, see, this guy sucks, I come up here and said, I don't think he sucks long term, but he needs to play better and we need to see him eventually figure these things out post-injury. Like, we said, we'll give him like 20 games or so, because we know it takes time to back from injury like that, but these are real flaws he needs to improve at, even when he was healthy. He wasn't quite great at these things. So seeing him start to make those improvements and answer those questions incredibly important. Because I don't even think Magic fans should give a fuck about making the playoffs this year, making a run. You just want to see him and Franz be able

to play at their peak at this point of the year with the bad shooting. So you can have hope that next year they learn from this, learn from this terrible circumstance they're in, get better as passers because they're used to playing with such terrible spacing. So if you can fix it the summer, things will really click earn the next year. If I was If I was a magic fan, I'd just be wishing to losing the playing. I want this season to be over. It's been awful. Yeah.

Yeah, in the biggest week, I can't shoot. There you go. I never said it. That's it. All right, Mo, what is your next team? Okay. So, I want to talk about the Golden State Warriors. There's so much to dive in when it comes to this team, especially at this current state

because Steph Curry isn't out. But looking at it on a broader scope, playoffs scope, a couple weeks from now, their biggest strength, obviously, similar to what you said earlier. Donovan when it comes to the Milwaukee Bucks, their biggest strength, you're honest. The biggest strength for the Golden State War is that they have Steph fucking Curry, one of the greatest shooters of all time. And

within that same vein, their greatest weakness is that when Steph Curry sits, they have like the worst offense that the NBA has to offer in the entire league. Seeing them over the last few games without

Steph Curry being led by Jimmy Butler has been disappointing to a certain to a certain degree to me, to had losses against Atlanta Hawks, had losses against the Miami just last night and whatnot. And overall, I think since this run, they're like four and three or something like that,

they slowed down just a bit. They slowed down just a tad bit. And that's due to Curry, obviously not being there. But assuming he's there, healthy and all that, I think the type of basketball has Steph Curry's playing trumps every single,

or that A's been playing when he was healthy, trumps every single, like, important niche stat that you can think of when it comes to the war is like yeah I can sit here and tell you like they're one of the five best offensive rebounding teams in the NBA but at the end of the day like those offensive rebounds go back and land it to Steph Curry's hand which produces like so many more points and like opportunities for this team so by far like that is the biggest strength him playing at this level specifically alongside Jimmy Butler and Draymond of course

is the biggest strength now and when it comes to weaknesses I could look at their big man rotation Quentin Post is great Dremont and Quentin Post sharing those minutes and whatnot it opens up it's another dimension of basketball but really I'd take my attention towards like the bench and seeing what those guys do

more importantly I'm looking at some like Jonathan Caminga he's been it's been kind of wonky since he's been back and seeing his fit alongside Jamie Buller isn't like it's clunky as hell. It's clunky as hell. And it worries me that he might not be able to like provide any real positive production once those time comes. And I'm limiting him from doing anything positive in

the playoffs alongside. I'm just going to assume Buddy Heald isn't going to do the, he's going to be himself, which is not producing too much in playoff basketball. So I think their depth in playoff basketball last year. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. More importantly, outside of just Steph Curry, which like, yeah, obviously having one of the best players of all time is your biggest strength for sure. Outside of Steph, their biggest strength is the versatility, I think, to having Jimmy

Bother brings now, like the ways they can beat you, obviously they can both play together and they can, you can have what we've seen so far in which Jimmy Bueller brings enough defensive attention that Steph can play Steph ball and they win in the, you know, rather traditional style we've seen they win before, right? They play 2022 style Warriors basketball. But also, when Steph goes to the bench, their offense is a little bit worse now with Jimmy Butler. But we've seen lineups that they kind of play Jimmy Butler basketball when Steph's on the bench, which in a playoff setting excites me when he really wraps up his scoring, as we assume he will,

like he's done in recent years. They get to the free throw line a lot more at the highest level in the league with those lineups. They offensive rebound like crazy. They do everything that Jimmy Butler did with the Miami Heat, as you come to expect. They played Jimmy Butler basketball. In a playoff series, the fact that you have to defend Steph Curry basketball that he goes to bench and now you've got to deal with Jimmy Butler, you've got to deal with the 2021 Miami Heat

as the bench lineups. That's crazy. That gives you so many layers, the way you can play, the way you can utilize your depth and two distinct looks. Obviously, everything Germant does defensively, they've been a top defensive team

for most of the year. They're not going to be pigeonhole to one style of play, which I think gives them a real good chance to upset somebody in the first round. Are you guys, are you guys penciling in

the return of playoff Jimmy Butler? Or are you, like, because, I don't know. Like the fact that Steph has been gone and that the offense hasn't been as amazing, we keep talking about how March is almost over and we're 10, you know, 11 games away. If there was a time to kind of, you know, start ramping up for playoff Jimmy, right now would kind of be that time.

And so I wish I was a little bit more encouraged about Jimmy Butler basketball right now. I mean, so what does that mean? Do I think he's going to do I think he's going to do I think he's. it looked like it in 2020 and drag it to him to the finals? No. I mean, that's foolish to expect at this age. Like, that's, that's not consistent. But do I think he's shown a pattern of clearly wrapping up his scoring aggression and having a clear 2018 LeBron style of load management in game in the regular season? Yeah, I think clearly he ramps it up in terms of output to some degree and save his energy for that time. Like, that feels irrefutable to me. And, you know, last year it didn't work.

He didn't get them anywhere, him ramping up. But that's also because the team sucked. So if we know he's in a ramp-up effort-wise and, like, assertiveness-wise, and we know he's next to Steph Curry, I have a feeling we can pencil in some sort of improvement of these scoring-wise. But this is the most, like, passive that I've seen Jimmy Buller, like, in a long time, in a long time. Like, when it comes to his shot attempts and all that, like, this is the lowest that he's been shooting since, like,

his second, third year in the entire league. So I am more on Donovan side in terms of, like, I worry about whether or not he can, turn it up. And even when he does turn it up, how much can he turn it up? And does it matter enough to the point to where you like, you can be in real battles in like a six, seven game series with some of the other upper echelon teams? Naturally, they're, they're an elite team regardless. But I really want to see the legitimacy in Jimmy Baller and how if he's able to like not reach those 20, 20 feet, but can you look some like you did like last year or in

2023 at least yeah i mean why do you think i mean he's doing it like because it's a new team and he's blending in like he didn't forget how to shoot it's clearly on purpose to like fit this team and like you know figure it out and enter it in this like organization in a way that isn't disruptive so i don't think it's like for lack of ability that he's less assert than he was last year right he's about the same player obviously you know you get it older every single year so maybe there's some incremental aging that makes whatever ceiling there is a little bit lower year by year. But I think I'm sure there's communication with Steve Kerr, that there's a reason that

he's pacing himself. I'm sure there's communication of the way he likes to do that. I will be shocked if we don't see at least a little bit more aggression. Yeah. Another weakness that I have for this to my guess that I could like point towards is that out of all the other elite teams in the Western Conference, OK, see, the Denver Nuggets obviously, the Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies. I don't know if I would say the Lakers, but they have the worst fucking big man

rotation out of them all and also like the most unique worse in terms of like yeah you don't have anybody to fucking bang down low with nicole yokes who the fuck does you don't have anybody to like really withstand someone like um Isaiah heartenstein whatsoever you don't have anybody who can really like deter someone like i don't want to say exactly because he's not going to get any like much playing time but those types of guys i'm i'm i'm really worried about their big man rotation And I haven't seen a lot of Kevon Looney as well. Maybe you haven't put him back, but we'll see. I would like to introduce you to Draymond Green.

Draymond Green's fantastic. Dremont Green's elite. And he's in some defensive player of the year combos right now for whatever reason. But I'm thinking past Ramon Green right now. You can't. It's Raymond Greed. He's the answer to all that. He always has been.

Like, that's the answer. Like, he famously is the answer to lack of size concerns. He famously is the most unique big man defender of all time that always nullifies that. Like, rarely when they lose in the recent years, has it been because they're big men are the issue. It's everything else around that. Like, you're right. They don't have a deep center rotation. Jermon does a lot to quiet those concerns.

They never have. You're absolutely right. They never have. But like in like, loa of that too, you've always had something like, oh, you've always had the other forces being able to supersede that. Now, of course, German is one of the, in my mind, he's one of the three best defenders, four best defenders of all time. but if I was to say a weakness I'm leaning towards that as well I also like the point you made about Kaminga real quick

like this tweet pulled up I'm scared when the Jimmy Butler trade happened I like the idea of Kaminga being slotted down a peg and being able to be a finisher and not be asked to be a creator nearly as much I figure when he came back

from injury you might see a little bit better a Kaminga that's really focusing on slashing and not everything else right in the line of shares with Jimmy Butler they have a negative 10 net rating with both I'm on the court with just Kaminga is negative 0.5. You look at just Butler, it's 12. And you look at neither of them is 0.9. So I just named four

different lineup combinations, right? The ones that feature Kaminga are very negative and the ones that don't are positive. It has not been a pretty sight. They need to get better synergy playing off each other. If Kaminga can't thrive next to Jimmy Butler in these lineups, it's cooked. He won't be relevant in the playoffs. Like, again, post-injury, Russ will give him some time to get it together. He has to be able to fit or otherwise it's a big issue. I agree. I agree. All right. Donovan, what is your next team?

We're going to go to the Boston Celtics. Okay. I think that their biggest strength is Jason Tatum. I think that Jason Tatum... Are we going to pick the team's best player every time? No, no, but I do think that Tatum... I do think that Tatum in the way that he's performing this year is setting them up in line for a great playoff run from him. and all the things that you would want from like your number one guy to be like the top

score and all those on top of all his all of his defensive versatility on top of his playmaking it's all coming together and so I think that the playoff run that they are about to get from Tatum I think that is 100% going to be a strength and it's honestly not only a strength but kind of a need because I think that their weaknesses are obviously like their health and availability. You don't know if Christops is going to be there. Drew Holiday has missed time here and there. Al Horford has missed a, you know, he's missed a game here and there. He's also getting up there. So the health and just that consistency of we're going to have these six guys here every single game. You don't necessarily know that. On top of that, last year, you had

Jason Tatum, you know, doing Jason Tatum things. And you also had Jaylen Brown playing at an amazing level. You're not getting that this year. And so, like, because Jaylen Brown is not being at that level, even more so, you need Jason Tatum to be Jason Tatum, the player that everybody has been asking him to be. And he is doing that right now. And so I think that those two things are very, very key for the Celtics as they move forward and especially going up against the Cavs who are, I know that they lost four. straight, but for all intents, are firing on all cylinders, have a lot of options, have different ways that they can beat you. Having Tatum play at that level is very, very key to them

getting out the East again. Yeah. Yeah, obviously, you're 100% accurate. The weakness is simply health, right? If they were fully healthy and Chris Lops would played all 82 this year and was not a question at all, the conversation on the finals would be a lot different. They would be a lot more sure thing to, okay, they're going to win the East, right? This is the most dominant team. Like, they would be completely different if Chris Ups didn't have these injury concerns. He does. That's always going to be the weakness.

If they don't win, we'll probably be able to point two injuries of some sort. That's probably going to be the outcome. I think this, obviously you're right, Tatum's playing amazing. The other biggest strength, at least when we're comparing them to the teams they have the beat out east right, the Knicks and the Cavs. Their biggest strength is that they don't have a defensive weakness. They have zero, zero pressure points built into their talent. They're deploying zero guards in their rotation that are a defensive weakness.

Payton Pritchard's small. You can't really pick on him one-on-one like that. He's a very good defender with his hands and he's moving his feet and really blitzing on these coverages and just not being an easy guy to exploit despite the size. Their big men can all hold their own. Christops and Al Horford are not people you can really pick on unless you have SGA maybe who can pick on anybody. And obviously we know what they can do with their top four defenders in White, Drew, Jalen, and Tatum.

It's such a huge strength when you look at the teams in the East Hat that beat them. All of them contain small guards. That's never going to be a weakness for the Celtics. Yeah. And you've seen it time and time again, like, especially playing the cabs. You can put, like, they have length that they can deploy it onto Darius Garland and make him put it on them. Good God. Relax, relax, relax.

We made it so long, man. As I'm saying. We were doing really good. But yeah, but they have, they have size that you can put on Garland. I said we were so professional for an hour To kind of to kind of Now we're putting that length on various Oh my God

Mute his mic Holy shit man next team next team Like there's somethings They're great but yes that's it No right like their strength is they're the highest floor team in the league By far they're the safest highest floor Their offensive system will create lots of threes And put them in advantage to have a top tier offense

No matter what And their defensive personnel will make them impossible to exploit In any like Huge glaring way So, highest floor, but the weakness is maybe their ceiling is going to be limited by injuries. True. Okay. Isaac, do you want to go next?

Are you wanting to pass me to a baton? Oh, yeah, my turn, isn't it? Go ahead. I was excited. You're excited? You want to go? Go ahead. Go, you'll fuck up the order.

You go ahead. I know you're excited. I'm so excited about the Detroit Pistons and what I'm seeing from Cade Cunningham and the rest of the guys. Specifically, Kate Cunningham, bro. he's like continuously like on the uprise since the all-star break he's averaging 27 and nine and like five rebounds on perfectly fine efficiency bro since the all-star break perfectly fine yeah yeah like he's efficient 35% from the field whatever 46 or 7% from the field i'm from the yeah from the field 35% from 3 3 point line cool stuff this team as a whole has been like

has felt so complete and it's so weird because I've sat down and, like, thought that this team felt like they did a whole lot of losing for no reason. But things are starting to come into fruition. I see the vision now, or I've been seen it obviously, but the vision seems like more serious and real. Like, since the All-Star break, they've been the third best team in the entire NBA and has been top five on offense and also defense.

This team is fucking real. and seeing the general leading this fucking charge, Kate Cunningham, like, one of my favorite terms that you coined Isaac was, like, playoff proof. All signs of his game and seeing... I coined it, let's go. I doubt it, but I'll take it. Yeah, shut up, you did.

I'll take it. Straight market right now. Let's go. But seeing how he's getting his buckets off makes me feel like he'll be able to translate this shit into the postseason. Now, I don't know how deep the Detroit Pistons will be, but I know whoever the fuck they face.

it's not going to be easy out whatsoever. Now, when it comes to the truth behind him, Malik Beasley and whether or not he's going to be able to continually shoot like 42% from three on like eight, nine to tensure game, which is insane. I have no idea how that's going to carry on. But when it comes to being able to sustain a certain level of play on both ends of the core, defense specifically, they scare me. They scare me.

Yeah. Yeah, the biggest strength right now is they're very balanced. Like they have the lead offensive star that's the engine And then you have a good team defense around him With solid shooting and athleticism Like it's just a very very well rounder product right now That doesn't have strong holes to poke at Early in the season

You know Jalen Duren Can't defend Not moving your feet It looks real bad Looks a little better as of late Isaiah Stewart has been a good defender since last year So you know the big man rotation isn't horrible You have plenty of shooting around him now

For the reasons you said Malik Beasley Tobias Harris I don't know how Tim Hardaway's been playing this late but he exists, he's there You got a big Rod Holling game The other day where he looked really good And Asar Thompson has been carrying their

primitive defense, been absolutely locked down as always To number one since the postseason bro It's insane Since the awesome break Yeah it's just a very very well-round A supporting cast that gives you enough of a floor That you can hope that Cade has A huge series and makes you be able to win

By just having extremely resilient offense being the quick processing playmaker he's been the whole time if he has a good shooting stretch from three he can have big scoring outburst in a playoff setting too you just feel really good about the floor of this team

not you don't see them like just getting clapped and the floor falling out from under them that's not happening yeah that's not happening and we I mentioned it a little bit earlier we kind of like

obviously I do think that the NICs are a better team and so I'm like penciling them in if the NICs end up playing the Pistons in the first round there is a very big very real non-zero percent chance that the pistons can win that series and it's you're going to be stressed no i am i am and i like i'm i've already acknowledged it because the pistons are for everything that

you guys said they are a very very good team and they are a very real team a lot of times you see young teams make make a make a push or make a leap you know where they were trashed the year before then they get into the playoff picture and you're like you know what good season for for you guys but you're getting clapped in the first round. That's not the case. That's not the case. Obviously, it still is good season for the Pistons, but you feel that they are building something real

and you feel that they can be competitive with, you know, a lot of teams outside of, you know, Boston and Cleveland. But with the rest of the East, no, they can hold their own. And we've seen it this year. They've gone into New York and Kate has taken over and they've won games there. So I am pre-stressed. for that for that series and i already know that it's going to be harder than what that the

than what a normal three-six matchup like whatever you have about that matchup in your head it's going to be it's going to be closer it's going to be tougher yeah man i don't i hope the pissons win i don't i don't i'm not i'm not even really i'm not even really praying on the nix downfall like that i don't really care like i don't have any like i'm not i don't give a fuck about the Knicks to be clear. But I would love to see the Pistons in a playoff series. Like, I would love to see it. This, the Pistons are what the NBA needs in the league again, bro. God damn. So my, like, interesting, fun fact that I saw also was that when you look at the top 15 leaders in NBA when it comes to technical files,

you see like, I think, four straight Pistons. Cade Cunningham, Isaiah Stewart, you fucking see Dennis Short announces. He's on the Pistons and one other player too who I just just slipped out of my mind. But them just being, having beef with anybody who they roll up into is what the NBA needs and they're playing their character so well. And I hope they never let go with someone, someone like Isaiah Stewart, who was just like a jackass for no reason. He, who he owns that. Culture fit. Exactly. Culture guy. Love it. We can't, we can't have pistons teams that are bitch made. They're the pistons. They need to be hard nose assholes. Like, I don't know. I'm sure there's teams you can

think about the rebuilding years that were classified as soft. we can't have that it's like it has to be as a part of the NBA handbook a written into law part of the world that Pissons have to be at the top of the leaking technical files if you're not willing to scream people you can't be on the roster yeah I love that it's a tradition is all this time it's like how those Celtics have to employ white men the pittons have to employ assholes and that's beautiful yeah like that that's that's culture that that's legacy of a franchise what you need man shout out big shout out this one makes them bro I love Shout out Babytron. Shout out all of them. What's your next team? Shout out of all them. Shout out the Denver Nuggets.

That's the next team we're going to talk about. No shout out. This is... Never mind. Fuck you, Nuggets. I changed my mind. Don't shout out the Nuggets. This team has perhaps the most extreme version of their strengths and weaknesses.

They are not a balanced team. They're actually quite the opposite, I think. I think they are a team with... They have the biggest strength you could possibly have in the NBA. Nicole Yokich offense, right? The playmaking of Nicole Yokich is the biggest strength you can have, Best player, best player. Yeah, it helps.

It helps a lot. And not even necessarily just him. Like, the floor his playmaking brings to an offense and the way he can make players around him better and have more utility offensively. The way he can make Aaron Gordon the best lop threat, most effective lot threat in the league. The way he can make Russell Westbrook's pace extremely effective by giving him the five-out spacing. The way he can let Jamal Murray walk into off the dribble shooting nonstop off his screens. Like, the floor raising he does offensively is by far the biggest strength, right? That's clear.

Their biggest weakness is the fact that Nicole Yokish is a rim protector and they don't have the requisite point of attack defenders to hide him. When they've been good, when they've contended over recent years, they had KCP and they had Bruce Brown before that when they had won the championship, right? All the guys up and down the roster, you had strong defensive personnel that allowed Nicole Yokic's defense to not sink or swim you because you had enough point of attack defenders who are specifically good at fighting over screens that were really good at recovery when you bliss with Nicole Yokic, just complementary talent that made you find ways to hide them right now you don't have that now you're starting christian brown

who is one of the coolest offensive role players in the league elite transition player not a good point of attack defender not good at closing out and containing drives not good at any the things that kCP is good at defensively he's quite poor at some of those skills so man yokech's defense is a problem now because if you don't have good guard defenders and you have a bad room protector you're just going to be forced to be people with shootouts it's not going to go well for you I need the tweets of people calling out Nicola Yokens for being the worst big man defender of all time. All that, all that, I need that. That propaganda has to, has to come back because at least now, and obviously, it was always highly, highly cherry-picked.

But, like, he was fine. He was always just, it was just fine. Now is the actual time where it's, like, making an impact. And, like, if you wanted to be nasty and put those nasty agendas, at least you can do that. Hey, he's a two-way player. Exactly. Exactly. And it's also, he's asked more of offensively now, too.

Like, he's having an offensive season that people are arguing might be the greatest offensive season of all time in which he's averaging almost 30, shooting 40% from 3, averaging 10 assists, 13 rebounds, a lot of more offensive rebounds. He's doing everything. Do you think he's able to do everything and not get tired? Like, the fact that he has to score more is leading to him having less injury for the defensive end too. Like, everything that is making them good is also making them bad.

It's kind of like a Knicks thing. where you get the strengths of having these two guys, but the weaknesses are built into their game. That's what they're doing right now. They don't have the personnel to hide that. I disagree though. Okay, but I disagree because that is, I feel like the Knicks,

the Knicks problem is very much like a personnel issue, whereas the Nuggets is, it feels, it feels more, more personnel from like a front office standpoint. You know, we're like, it doesn't make a difference. Either way, if you had, when you had KCP and you had a flock of good defenders, you could hide his weaknesses. That's the same thing.

If the Knicks had Jaron Jackson Jr. next to cat, they could hide his weaknesses, but they don't. Regardless of how we got there, both these teams are lacking the defensive players that can hide their worst defensive stars. What did you drop? I dropped my water bottle. It was quite loud. But you're right, it is Calvin Boone's fault

that they're in the situation, whereas the Knicks never had that defender, so ha-ha, terrible GM. But regardless, Yolkis is a guy. out there fighting for his life defensively and it's not going to go well in the playoffs first round first round it i don't know about that i won't go that far to say but also i wouldn't be like shocked and surprise matchup right now is i think it's the warriors of them yes the warriors we had we asked this a week and a half and spicy and i know i picked the warriors in that more i think you did too i didn't answer and the comments so many the comments called me a pussy because they were

like you made them answer on the spot but you didn't say your answer you got to know what i'm not podcast we're not bitch made isa you have you have an opportunity to relinquish yourself what team is it i actually don't know i didn't answer because we were talking about it and i was like i don't know like i don't even it's not even that like i'm scared to answer i just don't know like straight up i have no clue what to say there like i think the nuggets are marginally better i guess but I actually don't know if that's true like it's the way the Warriors been playing post Jimmy

if you told me that this is like the third and fourth best team in the West that that sounds like it could go either way I don't know I know I know we're like obligated socially to give a prediction for the sake of it but I straight up don't have one

like I don't know what to tell you at some point I'm out of my ass and now us as TD3 and how we're viewed is tainted we're a bitch made now yeah yeah I'm bitch made there we go the bitch made podcast

the soft the softest podcast on you YouTube. Don't say we. Don't say we. Oh shit. He said, no, I'll say something for the sake of it. I'll get a take off.

Don't say what. He said, I'll do my job. All right, do your job. What's your next take? Get a take off. All right. I'm picking, I have a team, and their strength is not just the fact that they have their

best player. Let's go. I'm going with the Indiana Pacers next. And we're going to talk how they are not a basketball team, how they are a track. How they are a, track team. And I think, I think that their, their speed and their pace and their ability to

score and transition is 100% a, a strength for them. You know what's funny? That is a Tyrese Halliburton stat. We are once again picking the best player. That is Tyrese. No, but it's not just the fact like, but it's okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Like you have Tyrese because Tyrese is not going to, because he's not going to take over games in the very traditional way of having like Ayana or having LeBron or Luca like that, right? Obviously, having your best player dictates how you play. And I think that while, like, the Pacers have, they've been surging forward. And one of the things that we always hear about playoff basketball is like the game

flows down, the game flows down. Yes, that's true, but also it's a seven-game series. Like, every game in every series is not so wild rock fight that ends up like 78, 72, like it's 2003. The fact that the fact that the Pacers are good and can run and can force teams to either get on their level and be in a track me with them or we're just going to get easy buckets and we're going to be able to get into our offense super quickly. We're going to be able to put pressure on your defense extremely fast and force you to think and communicate very, very quickly. they are going to stress the mentils of your defense. And I think that that is, that is fantastic for them.

And so they are, they're awesome in, in, in transition. They don't necessarily allow a lot of transition opportunities defensively. Now, if you do get in transition, they are not good, right? You can score. You can score. If you, like, if you decide and you are able to run on them, you can't score. But that, that's not necessarily how they play in the end. are they are like they normally do have an advantage there so i think in playoff basketball winning

around the margins you know margins in transition that is a very very big thing a very key thing yeah yeah i like how you mentioned the quick processing that tyris halberne doesn't take over games as a passer in the way that lucid donchish does exactly he's driving into the lane swinging crazy passes by manipulating the defense and getting corner shooters open right that's not how he does it so people think he's like a worst playmaker and i mean i guess he isn't luca dantsch but you know he's a an extremely, extremely viable playmaker for what you just said, he makes decisions instantly. Yes. The way that he can come off a screen and diagnose within a second, which way the ball should go

and get it there, not hunting an assist, finding the, like let's say, he runs a pick and roll and the wing defender comes off right and helps him around him at the nail on his drive. A lot of people will try to get that deep paint touch, manipulate the other defender from the corner to come in or hit to cover the role man and find the corner shooter or find the lop, try to like hunt the assist, the Tray Young game. he'll immediately like a second after he crosses that screen throw it to the wing player who will attack the close out and get it pushing and do a hockey assist right

keep the ball moving by making the pass before the past that creates a shot it's just constant attacking of mismatches as soon as you help against the Pacers the ball's moving to where the help came from regardless of if it's coming from Tyrese or from the guy that he passed it to the assist that's really hard to deal with that's incredibly hard to do with yeah he's like the best in my mind proactive

pastor in the NBA just like getting that shit off and he doesn't mind just like getting it off maybe a little bit earlier than he's up than he should just for the sake of the offense to like continuously to run fluid it's one of the best of yeah he's also really good at a one specific little thing he does is that when he'll get into a handoff where it looks like uh let's say the do with siakum a lot where he runs up like they're going to give a dribble handoff to tyrese and he had him running off to you know try to a hundred three or whatever he'll catch it and immediately give it back. So in the same way as the Alcom runs towards him to do the handoff, he throws it

and then catches like a second later and keeps running himself. It's like a play action handoff. It's crazy. It's like he treats the ball as if it's a hot stone offensively and he's trying to get that bitch off as quick as possible. And that's a valuable trait. Like a lot of people when they evaluate playmaking, just look for assist and creating open shots or hitting open shots when team playmaking is really important.

And having a playmaker like him, K's the same way with the fast decision making. goes a long way to start in chain reactions. True. Yeah, I agree. Now, their weakness and one of their biggest weaknesses, this team cannot rebound to save their life. They can't. They can't.

They can't do it. They are one of the worst rebounding teams in the league. And it's not only that, it's a lot of stuff on the margins. Like, it's the rebounding. They give up a lot of points off of turnovers. They offensive rebounding, they give up a lot of those. well. And so in the playoffs, I know I just talked about, you know, creating extra possessions

and being able to speed the game up. But when the game does slow down, if you are unable to successfully end a possession with a rebound, you're given the other team an opportunity to get a, to get second chance points. And we've seen teams really dominate and really create identities off of getting offensive rebounds and getting second chance points and being, you know, that more physical team in that sense. So that is. is something that it wouldn't it wouldn't be shocking if you look at like the hustle stats after a Pacers game in the playoffs and they just lose every single column yeah yeah that's her Pacers talk what's the next email um you mentioned kate cunningham earlier oh my bad i've talked about

i'm just so like kate centric well speaking of great passes then i guess let's move over to the western conference and talk about the los angeles clippers now the clippers are such an interesting team because you see a team led by James Harden, Co-Ey Leonard, and you think automatically like, oh, like the buckets must be crazy, you know, until, like, you realize, oh, shit, like, James Hardin is only

converting on 39% of his shots from the field and, like, 34 or 35% or 3. So it's, like, really not pretty whatsoever. But that's good. That's okay, because the greatest strength of this team is not James Harder eccentric. It's not a

Kawhi Leonard's that whatsoever. It's about their goddamn defense. This is a Tailu, like, led team through and through. Um, and when it comes to their defense, of course, that all starts in the paint. They're one of the, when it comes to their fundamental, the fundamentals of their defense, they allow the seventh least amount of points in the paint. They put a huge emphasis on making sure no one gets their shit off. And even if they do get their shit off, they got Zubotch in there just doing these all day long, which is quite Effective and whatnot and on top of that too on top of defending the rim at a at one of the best levels in the league When it comes to the three point line as well, they defend that at a above average rate. So when your defense is

Continuously meeting that line and you got guys like Norm Powell when he fucking plays and James Harden when he has the energy to do so but more so the Derek Jones juniors of the world and Chris Duns of the world and whatnot those just dogs like locking down the in-between stuff, reaching out and putting it and putting in the effort at the three-point line while also being disruptive on all other ends of the court raises the ceiling of your team.

It's not that high, but it gives you some level of the ceiling. Now, raises the floor of your team. That's the best way to put it. It raises the floor of your team. Yeah. Now. Yeah, it's a straight up in elite defense. Derek Jones and Chris Dunner

is one of the best defensive combinations in the league from the perimeter. Exactly. Now, in terms of the weakness, it is their offense, obviously. Like, James Hardin, he can cook. to a degree, but it's not what it used to be. It's not Mitchell Star anymore.

Yeah. It's not a Shake Shack now. It's still good, but you know, it's fast food good. Yeah, exactly. And so the fact that you have to rely on like a fast food type diet for the rest of your life as a, at least for this era of clipper basketball, alongside that, you see Kauai Leonard. He's absolutely frying people, especially over these last like few games, I believe over the last, let me, see here 10 games he's shooting like 52% from the field 40% from the three point line while also averaging 25 and 7 he's great but boy oh boy we've seen this story time and time again and the

fact that you might have to rely on someone like hawai to reach the second round i'm not sure how fruitful that would be so that's why i'm just like that's a massive weakness in their offense throughout the entirety of the season kawai or not like has been in the slums yeah They just have a very stagnant offense that, you know, I see Clippers fans talk about, like, oh, is Tailu overrated? Why don't they ever get into their sets? Why don't they do anything besides high pick and roll? It's so simple. It's so vanilla.

Why don't they do creative stuff like Will Hardy or Steve Kerr or whoever you want to point to as really good off-ball movement and so forth? You're led by James Hardin, Evisa Zubach, and Kauai Leonard. Do those scream off-ball players to you? No. Those scream some of the most habit-based players in the world. Yeah. those are slow it down methodical attack mismatches isolation pick and roll players and that's what you're going to get and like you said james harding giveth and james hardin taketh away he's the floor razor for you and he's also the ceiling limiter because he's not what he wants was and that's okay you know strengths and weaknesses elite defensive team with it's kind of like the pistons but a little diet degree at this point since i think kate is lapped up james hardin elite defensive team is going to lock down as at least how the pistons are currently playing and then you have a low efficient scoring guard leading you, but he's a really good playmaker and really resilient

scored that while he's going to be league average efficiency, he's going to get to his spots consistently. It's kind of similar. Yeah, yeah, I agree. So regardless of the fact, Clippers fans should be fucking ecstatic with the result of what the-res deal with those. Unless Kauai is cooking, unless Kauai does what he did in this Cavaliers game where he fucking toast everybody and looks like Kauai, that changes things. Yeah, like that changes things tremendously. But again, it's Kauai that we're talking about. That's why I'm like, this is the weakness naturally, bro. Like, there's nothing to be built upon me believing him in terms of having some form of longevity in the playoffs, which is this conversation.

But, hey, if he does do that, then so be it. We're having different conversations, slightly different conversations about this Clippers team. Maybe he's there now. All you can do. He's there now and he's playing well. So if this continues and we continue to get Kauai ramping up, then that could change the weakness. But even as constructive, he's been there for a while and they still have these weaknesses. so I'm not going to say it's obviously going to be something they fix.

Exactly. I agree. All right. Next team we're going to do, let's keep it in Los Angeles. Let's finally do the Los Angeles Lakers. Bo. Bo. Ah, shut up.

I have not had a good time watching them this week. LeBron James has come back from injury. Well, first of all, he got injured, so that sucked. He was missing games. They had games where they didn't have a chance to win because he's hurt and then they missed other players and they kind of just gave up and benched everybody as a rest day. So the crazy momentum they had, after the trade is slowed down because of injury, like I said.

And because the last two games, they played the Bulls and they played the magic and they got their fucking teeth kicked in by two below average teams. And so the biggest strength is obviously the fact they have LeBron James and Luca Donchich and Austin Reeves. And they have a three-headed ball on their attack that allows them to have one to two self-creation experts on the court at all times. That gives them a lot of balance and the type of lineups they can play. It's allowed them to play defensively skewed lineups. That's their biggest strength, is that they can roll a team out there that plays guys like Jared Vanderbilt, like Jameson, like gave Vincent to some extent when a shot is falling, just throw out all the defensive players and say, we're going to muddy the game up and lock up and then LeBron and Luca got us in the late game, right? We'll keep it closer to our defense. These guys will out-execute you in the fourth quarter.

That's their strength. It's a double-edged sword thing because their weaknesses, all they have is these defensive-minded players. they have no offensive talent in the front court. Their big men are the least talented big man in the NBA by far. Shout out Jay Mannebill. He tries real hard. He's the worst offensive player in the league. Shout out two-way player, Tray Jameson. You've earned minutes by trying really hard.

Probably the second worst offensive player in the league from a big man perspective. I can introduce you to a Klingapela. Klingapella is so much better than them offensively. You don't know how good you have it. They've won games with defense. I think people have this idea of who the Lakers have been. post-trade deadline as like nobody's stopping Luca and LeBron

the offense is crazy right they're 19th in offense in the last 15 games they haven't been an elite offense for a single minute and people know that if they're watching because Luca is really

really having to rely on isolation buckets because there's no pick and roll partners his game is really hard for him right now because he just cannot get a good screen with a threat to roll that defense has to attack one-on-one because people just double and people just hedge on these

and you're not going to trust your advantage of rolls like they don't have the talent offensive way at all. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Maybe you get better during the our season, okay? It's okay.

It'd be better. You'd be fine. Whomp, wamp, wow. So, yeah. They just don't have any offensive threats.

I don't think they have an offensive ceiling. And we've seen in these past two games, this defense, like, this defense. they're getting out of the mud by playing the defense of the lineups only works when they just try insanely hard and can carry in that end. It's really hard to try that hard consistently. It's really hard to have that energy night and night out,

especially when LeBron James come back from injury, when Ruby's coming back from injury, not 100%. It's just a high ceiling, low floor type of team because they have to deal with so many weaknesses that they have to overcome. Tough scene. I hate to hear it. Hate to see it. We'll be praying. With that being said, they stomp the Knicks out in five games, so I don't know why. I'm talking my weaknesses here. They beat the shit out of the Knicks. Obviously, the Hawks aren't even worth mentioning, but I guess I'll throw you a bone and say their name.

Oh, man. I can't wait for the Grizzlies to come in here. Beat them up. But yeah, no, they need good health for sure. Because right now, like, both sides of the ball, everything I said, necessitate small ball. And you can only do a lot of small ball if everybody's healthy and everybody's full effort and capable. Like, LeBron's defense was a big part of why they're number one for so long after the, trade deadline. And if he can't do that, if he's not able to give you that effort, which I think

he can. And especially Rui as a small ball five in those lineups, that'll be like pulling the Django piece out that makes everything else collapse because you're not going to get top your offense without a real center rotation. So you've got to be a strong defensive team. Yeah. And we'll see if Brock can do that for two straight months at this point. He's done it for two straight months. He just has to be healthy right now is coming off an injury. Guess what? I need two more. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. You can get it. It's just like the risk of injury is always there. And one injury that derails his, you know what it is?

He can do it at this age. He just like, he can't ramp up and down the energy level super fast. He has to get momentum and be able to carry it, you know? If there's a setback, it takes him a while to get that engine revving again. It takes some while to get back 100%. But if these next 10 games happen, he says healthy and he can go into the playoffs at 100%, I think we'll be fine. That's a question. Exactly.

So that's always been my question. But again, I'm waiting for the Memphis Grizzlies to come in here and beat them up. And that is my next team. And one of the strengths of the Memphis Grizzlies, I actually think that most people might look at it as a weakness. Because obviously there was, but they are wrong. There was a stretch, right, where the Grizzies were losing every game on a buzzer beater. They lost like three straight games on a buzzer beater. And I think that between that stretch and that obviously the lack of John Morantness that we

we've seen the thought about who the grizzlies are in clutch time basketball or like in late game situations like you know they can't they can't close they can't finish it's actually not necessarily true right like they if they if they go two and one in that stretch right if they instead of those shots going in and they're two and one instead of oh and three I think they were looking at at the grizzlies and the way that they operate in clutch time situations as as you know fairly fairly decent and they like as a whole they are a great offensive rebounding team in the clutch they have the second best net rating in in the league like they do know how to perform down down the stretch of games and so if you talk about the idea again of playoff basketball

and we're playing these close games the grisleys know how to execute down uh down the stretches of games and obviously execution and being mindful of what's going on is always a massive massive advantage I think that that is, I think that for them, especially if they get to like a second round matchup and ends up being them. And let's say by some crazy thing, the Houston Rockets get there, right? I trust that. Why is that crazy? Because the Rockets are not winning a playoff series at all.

That's just not happening. Damn, now they can win one. Don't say that. They can't. My team is the Memphis Grizzlies, and that's how I'm going to talk about. Okay. But if the, right, if the Grizzlies, they just. Get into late game situations and clothes series,

I do think that they can execute at a high level. And their overall just grisly culture, hustle, offered rebounds, all that. That always means a lot to me, and I look at that as a strength. Their weakness, first team on the list where their quote-unquote best player is the weakness. John Morant and the questions surrounding John Morant is the biggest weakness on this team for me. He's been better, though. I think the bigger, I mean, so obviously there's baked in inconsistency with everything we

talk about this year with how the system has kind of moved away from Jai and he's had to adapt right. There's some low points, but there's been some strengths in the last 20 games or so. So I'm not as worried about that. What's worrisome is if you're going to have inconsistencies, even though the ups are there now with John Morant, but the downs will come with it, they have to get back to being a top 10 defense because that's where they were early in the season when they were the two seed. They are not.

They're currently 19, the defensive rating last 15 games. That is just not good enough. It has been a mess defensively. It is, they're searching for answers. They're changing the starting lineup every now and then. They're currently now starting Jared Jackson at center again. They kind of go back and forth between that. There's searching for answers and they haven't found it yet.

And they have about 10 games left to figure it out. Because if they're not going to be a top five or six defense, especially in the playoffs when it narrows down to like the top A.O. 16 teams. If you're not one of the three or four best defenses there, you don't have a chance. You're going to be cooked. Yeah. That's what the Memphis Grizzies hanged their identity on.

over the last few years, whenever they've been in that run, excluding last year, obviously their defense has always been, like, leading the charge, and then you get whatever you can get out of the offense and what John Moran and doesn't ban

and the rest of the guys are able to provide. So in my mind, when I think about that, I think about, okay, like, Darren Jackson, Jr., he was injured for a few, for a few games.

I think he missed, like, five, six games. So I'm attributing some of the, like, defensive rating chopping off there. But also, still within that, like, I 100% agree with you. Like, it's still not the fucking greatest

Or it's still not where it should be In terms of how this team is structured And what is needed for them to thrive Or be okay in the playoffs Last five games at 17th He's been back for all those games, I think It's still not good, man They have a lot to figure out

And they're toying around with figuring out I think it's really also rooting their big man They're trying to figure that out They know Jaylon Wells is like going to be the guy there But outside of that the perimeter room It's been fine, I think I don't have a huge issue with that Obviously, you know you're playing

John Moran, who's not a good defender, but that's never stopped them from being a good defense. They really have to figure out what they want to do with their big man. I think the early season, Jay Huff stuff kind of slowed down a little bit. Edie's been a rookie big man and a rookie big man that's seven foot four at that. So, you know, there's a lot of pros and cons with that. There's been some fucking rough stretches defensively. But I know a lot of Grizzies fans feel like he hasn't been given enough

a role offensively that he probably deserves a little more touches in their eyes. So just, you know, I think it's not surprising either. The nature of this team, they have so many players you have a lot to figure out. Like there's a lot of moving pieces you can convince yourself is going to be the answer when you have so much depth

that just figuring out what the playoff combinations are going to be is what these next 10 games are about. Thanks. Also, I would like to double up though because I was looking at my list and I actually do have

the Houston Rockets on my list. Okay. Tell us why they suck. Okay. Which I disagree on, but apparently you hate them. You hate Houston. Same reason.

Since you fucking hate Texas. Man, moving to Chicago, signed a nice lease out of department. Now he's acting. make. Look how they switch up. Look how they switch up on home. First of all, first of all.

They taste money one time. I never liked. I've never liked a little bit of change. I've never rooted for the Rockets. I have not rooted for the Rockets since like 0-8-09. That's the last time that I was like, oh yeah, I'm rocking with this team. Anyways. Look at them gentrifying his soul.

This specific team, this specific team, I'm always worried and I've been worried just about the late game offense. That is just the, that's the, that's the, that's the best. biggest thing for me. You look at the numbers. There's 17th in offense in in in clutch time. That is, that's not, it's not great. And I, I want to know when it comes to that time, who is going to step up. Who is going, who can they look at in order to, to get buckets? I feel like I've talked about it enough and I don't even want to want to harp on it. But I do think that this is a very, very good opportunity for somebody to show that they can step up and take that mantle. Now, one thing that I do think obviously works for them is that they can.

clamp of anybody they have one of the best defenses in in the lead when we get to to uh to playoff basketball specifically for them the fact that they they are very good at defending the the three-part line and in in play in playoff basketball we see a lot you before you even go and like watch the game you look if you look at the box score you see who took who took more threes who made more threes who have the better percentage and a lot of times that is going to show you who ends up winning the game and you can you can figure out like who's going on who's going on streaks or figure out a lot of what happened based on three point volume and for the rockets for a team that again may not have the best offense if you can if you can limit another team's three point volume or

if you can if you can defend the three point line well that is a way that you can make up a lot of ground offensively and keep yourself in these games to where your defense now becomes a massive massive asset. And so that is that is a place where even if they don't have the shooters like that, like some of the elite teams, the fact that they can also, you know, stop the other team shooters. That's a very, very key point for them. Yeah. Yeah. The biggest strength is quite clear, right? They had the maybe outside the thunder, the best collection of wing defenders in the league potentially in terms of depth of defensive players. And their offensive rebounding is batched and insane. They're actually doing the thing now where they're closing a lot of games against

teams that can't shoot well that they know they're not going to abuse them. They're closing a lot of games now with Stephen Adams and operating Tsanguna out there together, which is absolutely disgusting on paper. The first game I saw it, I was like, ew, what the fuck are you talking about you're playing Sangu with the power forward? It's working. They're picking and choosing their spots with it. It has a positive net rating by a good margin. Now, I don't think that that'll work against good playoff teams, but it's something. It's a look against specific matchups that they're going to have in their back pocket. That's interesting. And, like, I don't, we do, we do a lot of talking about whether offense isn't good enough.

And it's not in terms of contending. Like, they're not going to be able to beat the thunder or anything with the worst from the field scoring in the league. Like, they're truly atrocious there. But there is, like, value to being an elite defensive team, elite offensive rebounding team. That stuff does translate the playoff basketball. Like, physicality is important. Like, you said earlier, they can't win a playoff series. They can certainly win one against the right matchup.

Yeah, it's entirely about. No, can they win two? No. Is it so? Okay. Is it mathematically possible? Yes. Am I going to pick the rockets regardless of, unless the Suns magically get the 8th seed or magically get the 7 seed, I don't see myself picking the rockets in the first round. You should pick them over the Suns.

You should pick them over the Clippers, I think, if they were to play, if that's the 2-7 potentially. I'm going to add the Grizzies into that fold too. I think their defense is too much for someone like John Morant. Well, that's not going to be a first-on series. that's that they're the forested right now so i think they're safe there you should pick them over the kings that's for damn sure if they make the eight seed and i guess they have to make the seven which probably is actually i'm going to let you know this right now i'm let you know this right now my mind has no thoughts about the kings making the playoffs that is in my mind that is a

zero percent possibility i'm not well i'm making a lot of teams that could be the seven c so i can't stand watching i can understand you picking the warriors and the timbrewolds is going to be close we'll see what version of the timber rules we get for the last 10 games those two teams I can understand I think the Rockies can beat the Clippers

can beat the Kings can beat the Suns the other teams in that range like they might get a very winnable matchup is all I'm saying yeah exactly

I don't understand why you're so like overly down on them like of course because he hates Texas because he's switching up but don't you understand we've already made

this clear Mo oh you forget yeah he he's no longer a southern boy and he wants to turn his back on his roots he's never one

I'm telling you now He's going to Chicago. He's going to Portillo's every day. He's not going to Waterburger ever again. You sold your soul for Harold's chicken, basically? I will be at Portillo's. I will say that. He's going to blow an H-E-B-up.

That's too far. That's too far. That's too far. Bucky's saying goodbye. Donovan's on the approach. I'm going to every one. I'm going to every Buckees. I'm going to every son.

I'm going to every son downtown, blowing every Buckees up. Probably you. It's over. That's where the best Buckeys be at. In fact, it's like Temple Texans in the middle of where. Shout out Temple Buckees. Shout on Bastrop Bucys. They don't know about Batshop.

Man, Batshap Buddy, save my life. I wish I didn't know my Batchtrop. That's a hell is that, Fred. It's a random town outside of Austin. It's just like the widest place on Earth. It's like, Texas. God, that's real. If you want to know the whitest place on earth,

I'll take it to South Georgia towards the border between Georgia and Alabama. It's probably pretty similar. It's probably pretty similar. I don't know if it was out. I think I win that, or they win that matchup right there. Probably. I see planned town halls there.

I don't know. It's probably close. That's probably more hateful version of white people. So you probably win in terms of it's worse. Yeah, right. I don't know. I don't know. You get in the middle of Texas.

This, that hate ratings. Listen, listen. You're, West Texas is where we're getting a run. You're not beating West Texas. We're talking about Bastrop. You don't want to go ban, but it's not a band, bro, when it comes to the racism in South Georgia border bordering. He's right.

He's right. You don't go ban for me with that. There's some, there's some places in East Texas that you, that you. Do you want me to send you Klan meeting invitations? I know where they're located. I'll pull up. I'll pull up. Okay. I've driven through West Texas and I've been frightened at my surroundings before.

And like, not even that I should be, but I'm just like, it's an eerie vibe. There's an eerie vibe. in the air that I don't want to get out the car You ever go up to Amarillo? Wait, what do you say? I said, have you ever made the drive to Amarillo? To Amarillo? I don't think so specifically.

That It's everything. What business do you have in Amarillo? Why did you make that drive, Donovan? Is there something you're not telling us that we don't know about? I have places to be. But like, and it was just, it was along the way. But that's, that's exactly what Isaac is described where I was like,

click, click. Like, I was like, now. We're not doing this. All right. Let's talk about the Cleveland Cavaliers. No more West Texas racism. The Cleveland Cavaliers are interesting team. Their strength is their combination of front court and big man talent, right?

They can always have at every single minute of the game, an elite rim protector and elite lead guard out there for 48 minutes, as well as a good collection of wings around them. Like, at the very minimum, there'll be a great wing, a great guard, and a great forward. I'm a great big man out there 40 minutes a night that's a rare combination

that's led to you know fucking 68 win pace I can make like three different solid starting lineups from a collection of like 11 players bro it's ridiculous they could have

like their fifth best lineup they have could include Darius Garland Jared Allen and DeAndre Hunter which is like a fantastic place to start from and the other two guys aren't going to be bad

so yeah depth for lack of better words depth across all three core position groups their weakness is again we're talking about one of the best teams in the league so it's similar to the thunder conversation where they don't have a ton of weaknesses

you could say the weakness is lack of top five player if you're talking about historically about what wins a championship that's boring I won't go there their actual weakness I think is size of defenders on the perimeter I think you know you obviously have the two small guards in Garland and Donovan Mitchell

that's an uphill battle defensively that's why they're not like a top three defense in the league they've been hovering around top 10 all year but also like Max Drew Sam Merrill, Dean Wade even, who's tall but a short wingspan. These are guys that play at the three. Not huge guys. You know, that's why the DeAndre Hunter trade was seemingly so big

because they have like a real wing-sized defender to throw out against the Celtics now. But there's all been down the roster. There's defenders that play small. And thankfully, you're flanking them with gigantic motherfuckers like Evan Mobley and Jared Allen, so it's okay. But it really comes down to the Celtics matchup. There's exploitable defenders for Jason Tatum specifically to pick at.

Chris Lepenis on switches. You know, so Donovan, he said, Sam Mero, Dean Wade, and Max Trues. Singling out them boys over there. I'm not really like that. In fact, I think Max Drews fights pretty hard. You better pull up your shorts. Your defense is going to decide the Celtic series. You better get ready.

Oh, no, he's a completely different ally. I 110% agree when it goes to Darrys Garland. But you make a very good point that I haven't thought about when it comes to their perimeter defense. They did make that DeAndi Hunter trade for like several reasons. One of the big ones is like, okay, like he's. He has a stigma, and he should be known to be, like, a good wing defender, which I would say, yeah, probably sure. And that is much better than what they do have residing on that roster.

Maybe, like, you can, a cast and counteracting point, maybe like, oh, like, Isaac O'Kerkerr was there and all that. But if you play Isaac Kukuro those minutes, like, you sacrifice a lot of your offense because his three-point shooting hasn't been known to be consistent in the postseason whatsoever. That's why they went ahead and replaced all those guys in his. rolling minutes and all that just seemingly just diminish as time goes on when he comes to his tension there so i can see that i never really thought about it yeah it's specifically important against caps for the reasons i said that you can't it's hard to survive out there specifically strews if they want to start him as they're in playoff three that's hard against the celtics as like and it's really the same thing as the nix conversation that like yeah match

them up with any other team in the east i think the strengths far outweigh the weakness is we're not even going to have a problem. We don't really got to talk that much about it. They're probably going to beat whoever's in front of them. Those goddamn Celtics. Now, with that being said, they have a way better chance than the Knicks do. I think they have like a 50-50 chance to be in the Celtics, whereas most of the other teams in the East, they're going to blitz them. Yeah.

And it's rare that there's a team in the East. It's so rare there's a team in the conference you can say you might not be able to beat when your team is as dominant as the Cavs are. Like, for everything you said about the Thunder all year, the Cavs have been neck and neck with them, if not a step above them for a lot. the year in terms of winning percentage so very rare that's not the clear favorite to win a championship and that's how you know like and we've done all this you know back and forth about the cabs and the celtics that's how you know that the sultics should probably still be looked at as the favorites

because every time we're having these conversations it's like yeah they're good but like they they got to beat the seltics like they need this to play the seltics and it's always judging yourself up against boston so yeah to be fair they are the defending champs too so there's also part of that built in our heads we've seen defending champs be bad the next or be like lesser and them not necessarily be like the standard in a in a conference it's the fact that like they still they still are they more often get more often they get more credit than they deserve than less yeah last few teams i have are the bulls and kings and i think i want to cut them damn okay the kings are absolutely abysmal they can't guard shit can't hit shit demada sabonis what the fuck type of basketball are you playing bro everything's so down bad for them and when they first made that Dearon Fox trade we were all just like

oh cool they're gonna be entertaining at least right now they're not even entertaining not me I did not say that and Sabonis was all he trying to hurt people

right he stepped up under Tatum's foot obviously it wasn't intentional whatever but like the Kings just have a bad fit like their strength

is they have talented players the weaknesses none of them fucking fit together the fact that it's I like Zach Levine I like the idea of him off as Sabonis

I don't like the idea of Zazana Zach Levine and Damar together. I don't like the idea of Damar, Monk, Levine together, and you can't start Keon Ellis. You need to start Keon Ellis. Like, that's such a key part for them,

but they're so, like, like for politics reasons, as always, they're hamstrung, their handcuffed to not starting Keon Ellis and not doing the key thing of starting players that can defend and shoot off off ball. They can't put their best five players

out there very often, and it's a problem. Yeah, sorry King's fans. They suck. Tomorrow is probably not going to be in this team next year is really what I'm trying to say And for this year he is And it's addition by subtraction is needed In some regard to this roster

I want to talk about the Atlanta Hawks I mean Levine Monk And Keon Ellis is so small They're like who's the three in that It's just tough They're just not fun to talk about it anymore man They like the light the beam shit The whole nine put it away

That whole bit is dead Moving on We can talk about the Atlanta Hawks same old story um since the all-star break they are 10 and 9 they're right on track to being exactly what they are they are fulfilling the prophecy of what they um try to be and embody in the NBA when it comes to everybody playing their role the Atlanta Hawks know how to play the role now is it a fun role as a fan no not really do I like it absolutely not but it is what it is and I'm happy that there are outlier things on this team that are doing well I guess the strength that I

could say is like we have an identity we have players who are good now and we have something that we can cling on to on yaku kongwu i think he's the like the newest shit out here that we can talk about since he's been starting center for the Atlanta hawks like January 20th he's been averaging 15 points 10 rebounds a steal a block while also shooting 38% from three now on like two three three a tons for game but slow volume but the fact that he's shooting them bitches has like moved mountains for us because there is now plenty of other opportunities for other people

to do shit on the basketball court. Zachary Rich Shee has been one of the most consistent rookies that the most consistent rookie that the entire NBA has to offer Dyson Davis continues to. Hey, Jayne and Wells erasure. Hey. Oh shit, yeah, Jen and Wells does exist. But he has no aura. He, when it comes to aura for aura,

who has like least aura between the two? I don't think Rishi is some aura, man. I wouldn't go that card if I was you. He has more than General who else. I can tell you that for sure. I don't even, I'm not even going to entertain that conversation. Keep talking. I'm a Hawks fan brother. That's all I got to cling on anyways.

All you have to cling on is aura? Oh my God. Dyson Daniels. Dyson Daniels has been fantastic in Trey Young's efficiency has been getting better. Now, as usual, our offense, A, has been top four, five, I believe, since the

turn of the all-star break. But our defense is seven, our defense is 17th. It's been better than the traditional 27th, 25th, 21st. It's continuously getting better. I don't know if I like it at the rate. But our defense is, it has continued to be not that good. We don't have the, um, I would say depth big man wise to be able to really we just don't got the guys just yet, man. We just don't got the guys. I hate talking about the hawks right now. That's the conversation. It's like, yeah, it's dry. John Johnson got hurt and

nothing matters. Like they just, the weakness is they don't have their second best. player they need their second best player like i don't even care what the strength is the weakness is debilitating they're not even like shout out them there's silver lines like you said shout out dyson daniels getting his reps in offensively in the last season shout out risa shay getting more more comfortable in his supporting role it just feels like they're just so irrelevant and so stuck in the middle it's like when i talk about the hawks i don't have to talk talk talk about them and like grade them on a curb like yeah like you have guys now who are consistent and have a role and are actually valuable a slew of guys but on the other hand of things like none of it

really matters and you will make like zero noise because your second best player and John Johnson is out. So that is. Shadow having Terrence Mann under contract for three years. Uh, yeah, whatever. 15. And he won't play a lot next year. Yeah, it is what it is. He was hooping last night and him against Houston, though. Hit plenty of timely threes. Solid defense, too. I do like Richard Shea, though. Rishishin is impressing me as a blade. His, his potential, I will say, is a little bit higher than I initially thought. It is higher than I thought, actually. You know what it is?

And I told you last week, it's not Harrison Barnes. It's Chandler Parsons. I told you. It's not Chandler Parsons. Go to hell, brother. I have the worst words for you. Oh, my God. Go to hell about Chandler Parsons.

It's more of, uh, he's fine. It's Alfa Rukamino. It's more Clay Thompson light with like a little bit more of a hand to one. I'd settle the fuck down. Yeah. Clay Thompson. There we go. Those are the comparisons.

Donovan. Who is your, do you have one team left, Donovan? I have one team left. Who was your last team? I'm going to move off the Hawks. So we're talking about the Minnesota Timberwolves. That's a good one. Yes.

So the defense is back up to Top 5. And I think that obviously that is a massive, massive strength. Anytime like when you talk about the way that they were built last year and their defense carrying, you have that formula back again. And these guys are demons. And so I think that obviously, like they. their defense is a strength and they will be able to

lean on that whether or not you're getting the shooting or the participation or the play from Julius Randall all that is there but as long as you have that foundation it does give you a floor to go into every series and that's awesome and it gives you a sense of identity so I like the fact that their defense is back to being

like elite again their weakness in my opinion or one of their weaknesses they are slow as hell and every time I'll Every time I watch them, I'm like, bro, go, go, go. Like, please, please run, please run.

Can somebody throw an outlet pass and they won't? And they just don't do it. And so I think that they miss out on some opportunities to get easy buckets. And what we were talking about with the Pacers and forcing teams into miscommunications or forcing teams to process very quickly defensively, I don't think Minnesota does that. And I don't think that they have a lot of, I don't think that they are obviously like one of the more talented teams. in the Western Conference. And so whenever you do that, being able to force some kind of miscommunications and close

that talent gap, I think you can do that simply by running fast and running a lot and doing all that stuff. And they just don't do it. And like they are one of, they have, they're one of the least teams, they're one of the teams in the league that have the least transition opportunities. And so I don't, I don't like that for them, especially going into the playoffs. So that is for me, one of their biggest, one of their biggest weaknesses. and there you are

the Minnesota Timberwell you're too slow but you can lock up I like I'm glad Julius Randall is playing better as of late the spacing is good now despite I mean

especially when Frick compares on the court the spacing is fantastic with Nazari Julius Randall lineups so I like the fact that they have good better

offensive looks from their main players I still like while it's no longer a glaring weakness of theirs the Julius Randall thing they figure out the fit their weakness is still low key. It's the ceiling of an Anthony Edwards

Julius Randall lit offense. Like as good as that is, or as proved as that is compared to early in the season. It's not a high ceiling compared to the rest of the league. So you really need to lock up at the highest level. You need Jada McDaniels to continue his stretch. Gobert to not be a problem on either side of the ball to beat Pete Gobert or whatever the best version that is right now

at this age. I just don't see the ceiling offensively regardless. Okay. Yeah. But shout out the improved spacing. Shout out Donston even chenzo being back jaded mcdanels being able to shoot again it's all good it's the best i can ask for but it simply lacks firepower compared to the other top teams yeah yeah i agree i agree but it's inspiring and this race is fucking interesting as hell yeah it excites me more for going into next year as i i'm glad they're carrying good momentum towards the end of the season in a world where the thunder don't exist maybe i'd view them as like a sneaky team but i i don't see them

competing with the thunder at all yeah yeah yeah Yeah, maybe they beat the rockets. Maybe they find a way to the same team beat the rockets. Who knows? Who knows? Maybe they get under the second apron and then they finesse their way into like a Kevin Durant trade. Yeah, maybe they kill Alexander Walker's a Laker next year and he walks for nothing. Oh, go to hell. I have one more team on my list.

And that team is the Miami Heat. Holy fuck, I almost have nothing to say about this team. Let's just cut the Miami Heat. Let's cut the Miami Heat. Yeah. They lost nine in a row. They're okay. Wow. I think if you're Miami Heat fan

when you see this I'm sorry but I'm also not I'm outvoted Welcome to TikTok time Crown Eaters Let's go to war Lebride

Welcome to TikTok time Welcome to TikTok time I hope you guys enjoyed that That's a nice little transition To get on to the second part of the show Hope that was music to your ears Today we're going to begin this section of the show

By talking about the most beloved players in the NBA the fan favorites the guys who make the culture of the NBA what it is what we're going to do today is I'm going to name an NBA team and I want you to tell me who the most loved player in franchise history is the fan favorite see this isn't necessarily the best it's so much different I know yeah yeah it's straight up not the best it's straight up only fan favorite it might be a role player for some teams

it's probably stars but it could be a role player it could be something like that that's just day one to the franchise everybody loves and respects don't even think about how good they are okay let's do is someone who died for this team basically let's do it oh they can be live it's okay well first team i mean uh first team los angeles lakers exactly exactly set yourself up for that one watch your mouth this is coby bright hands down we're not doing anything we're not i'm not accepting any other names outside of coby bright i can't say magic johnson i just said i'm i'm not accepting any other name other than Kobe Bryant. I'm a lane towards Kobe too. Yeah, I mean, honestly,

Kobe Bryant is so revered that people almost treat him like he's a religious figure. We got Nico Harrison talking about, I'm going to decide who runs my team. He said, I'm going to decide to face my team based on who's the most like Kobe. That shit sounds like Christianity to me. He is a basketball Jesus of some people. It's got to be Kobe Bryant. People prescribe. People subscribe to this Kobe Bryant religion worldwide too. I don't see people do it after Magic Johnson. They wake up and they read Kobe Bryant's scriptures. They read mama mentality quotes. Exactly.

Exactly. I'm leaning towards Kobe. Exactly. Yeah, that's a lifestyle. That's, that's a standard. It's a lifestyle. The mama mentality? Yes.

You have to, you have to believe it. That's your lifestyle? Every single day. Okay. What's a mom mentality for that? Like, what's the lifestyle for that?

It's the same. You know, you just get up, you go to work. You control what you can control. You know, you know. Wake up at 4 a.m. Fucking get your blue, blue, blue water bottles, the bananas and shit.

4 a.m. Saratoga water, banana peels. Control what you do control. Make sure that rain sleet or snow, you're trained to go. All of that. That is mama mentality. Okay.

Run real hard. All right. Toronto Raptors. Who's the most beloved figure? This was a little hard. You know, Vince Carr didn't leave on good terms. It's not. I think Kauai was only there for a second.

It's not his. Kyle Lowry. I think Kyle Lauer is the easy answer for sure. He brought them the championship, stayed true to the team. Yeah. Loyal. Been there through their ups and their downs. He grew as an all-star there.

When he first got there, he was not absolute. He wasn't shit. Yeah. He was developing to the player that he. I was just saying that what it was, bro. Like, did you see him back in those seasons days? Did you see him as a Memphis Grizzly? He was nothing, bro.

But as soon as he put up to the six, he was a different player. Yeah, it feels like a homegrown star, even though he wasn't drafted by them. Exactly. Kyle Larry. Exactly, bro. He showed up their fat, got dumb in shape. People made fun of him. Damn. He would... I'm telling the truth. Normally, I'm the one hating on Kyle Lowry. It's you just on...

I'm not hating on him. I'm making up his story, bro. You suck. You sucked. Couldn't shoot with a choker. But then it develops. When it comes to this guy, there's no good job to a slobily looking bum of a point guard. I hate the way you talk. I hate the way that you dress.

Kyle Lauer, I love your game. You inspired so many players in the NBA today. Actually, you didn't, but I love your game still. See, yeah, the fat ones. Okay, shout of Kyle Lowry. The Utah Jazz. See, my God. See, now listen, now nasty man would be...

Disgraced. Listen, he would be the choice. However, there's a guy from his era on that same team that has a little extra boost, so I'm going John Stockton. Okay. Listen, they both have transgressions. One of their transgressions eliminates them from fandom. I think some fans that live in Utah

probably like the transgressions of John Stockton, so he probably embodies a team even more post-2020. So let's go John Stockton. Every Utah Jazz fan sees a lot of John Stockton in themselves, bro. They live and breathe John Stockton. God forbid. He's just a regular guy. Memphis Grizzlies.

Another small market team. If you're asking me, I'm saying something like Tony Allen. He just got his jersey retired recently. You've seen all the guys come up to the world where he's like Mark. Mark the Saul. You see Zbo pop up out of nowhere, bro. He is like, when you think of grit and grind, he's... Is it one of them?

Could it be Zibo or could it be Mark? It has to be somebody from the grit and grind era. So I'm going either Tony Allen, Marcus... You don't think there's any argument they love Jolly like that? No. No. Not like that. They probably love Jock.

They love Jop. Not like that. The Memphis fans don't care about a little gun. He got to make him to the Western Conference Finals in the long time. You think he's Kobe? No. No, he's not that. You think he Mike Conno?

Listen, like his fans are game, Kobe. Memphis fans can forgive John Moran for a little gunplay. They can, I'm sure he's loved. Nah. I'm going Mike Connolly, Mark Nassau, or Tony Allen. And you get to pick out of one of those three, Mo. Take your people. Me personally, I'm going towards Tony Allen.

I'm going to just Tony Allen. Shout out. Sonny how it is. Shut out Tony Allen. First team all defense. Exactly. There you go. The Dallas Mavericks.

It's just too easy. It's too easy. Dwight Powell, exactly. Way too easy. Yeah, yeah. Longest tenure in Mavis history. He's been on the team forever. No, that's true.

Name one thriving skill of Dwight Powell that doesn't rely on like team morale. You can't. I guess I can. He lives and breathes morale. That's an otherworldly talent right there, bro. The locker room goes. far as Dwight Powell takes them. Exactly.

Nobody looks up to Dwight Powell like I do right now. Great player. The Denver Nuggets. Is this one obviously Yokic or do you think there's a certain cohort that loves Mello more? No, I think after he got the chip. And is that cohort, Donovan Smook? After, first of all, I've never been a Nuggets fan. I've always just, just been a Mellow fan.

But after the ring, it is. kind of undeniable and I think that if they retire 15 they're going to retire yokeets is 15 so that's probably what's going to happen it is going to be okay so it's the okay yeah winning a championship does a lot for your fan favorites and winning MVP's you know they ride for him until dawn they'll ride from forever makes sense exactly this one I don't know the answer to it all the New York Knicks I have no clue who the fan favorite is to Nick this was quite difficult because I don't have a clear cut goat they don't and it's honestly and it's very generational too because yeah definitely like every like

if you ask yeah if you ask somebody every 15 to 20 years it's going to be a different guy just because there's been so many lulls in in next history hmm this this is really interesting i would get your grandpa's favorite walt fraser your dad's favorite patrick ewing your favorite carmello anthony your son's favorite jalen brunson like pick a generation I have no idea, genuinely. I think maybe Mellow just because he had like Charles Oakley? Yeah, you know what?

Let's go with Oakley. I'm going to go with somebody who just has the highest approval rate. And I know that especially after he got thrown out, like nobody had a bad thing to say about Charles Oakley. I'm going with him. Yeah. How do you dislike Charles Oakley? How do you just dislike somebody who's a whole personality is badass?

Like you just can't. Yeah, exactly. That's good. I agree. he's one unhatable person for me yeah okay the los angeles clippers another one that's quite difficult you know chris paul requested a trade they booted blake griffin out kawai hasn't really koi hasn't wanted to know if i think fans to love him like that is it is it was elton brand oh yeah it should be blake griffin but with the way things ended i don't know if it can be

like but it didn't and because of him it didn't because of him he saw the the extension that they traded him six months later. Is he Alton Brand like low key? Like do people romanticize in 2000s like that? And he was like the guy? I don't think Alton Brand brought enough cool glory to the Clippers. I might lean towards Blake. There's no out there. Nobody gives a shit. The Clippers fans don't exist. So there's no out there.

Damn. You right now don't exist to Isaac. Tough scene. Try be more real. Not my fault. Try existing. Try snapping into reality. Maybe I'll give you credit. Try it. Try be a tangible matter. I don't think you can.

I guess it'll be Blake Griffin. He's probably the most beloved of that Lopsity era, just with the way things ended. And he's homegrown. They drafted him. It's probably Blake, but who's to say? Plus, there's nobody out there. He won a slam dunk contest,

and so he did bring home the only trophy in Clippers history. Nice. Oh, my gosh. I will be going with Blake Griffin. That's hardware, baby. That's history. That's the highlight of Clippers history. Okay.

Okay. The Atlanta Hawks Oh, it's Dominique Wilkins And it's, I don't think it's close It's easily Dominique Wilkins, yeah He's he went to school in fucking Georgia, bro His kids go to school in Georgia His son that's going to be

A prospect sometime soon Has his eyes on fucking Georgia too So it's like, he's Georgia So he's a fucking commentator for the Hawks right now Talks all the players That does a lot On our Rangbee does a lot for fan favoritness He stuck around in the world of the Hawks

post career yeah exactly he's a southern boy south and like through and through so it's easily don't think jeff t gets an argument jeff t is cool man look they he just reunited with pa pa paul milsat cow corber who works for the hawks too ironically enough and they just did a whole whole entire podcast speaking about whatever the fuck jeffsing is up there but it's like it wasn't up there he's been saying sure the all episode it's just like yeah yeah yeah yeah fuck that I think Jeff Teague's, like, love has happened towards when he started picking up that microphone. No one was really out here. Yeah, I was joking.

We don't got to go into Jeff Teague's Hawks fandom. But me personally, I thought it was the next star point guard in the NBA. You really don't understand how special those drives and that left to right crossover was one-on-one. Oh, I believe it. I believe that you believe. Explain to us. Because I low-key was on your wave, too. I really did like Jeff Teak.

I thought he was special. Yeah, like, I absolutely agree. When it comes to his ability to drive to the brim, And his mid-range game, it was special, bro. Like, he wasn't necessarily the greatest three-point shooter. It wasn't his era. But, yo, there was levels to his game. There was versatility to him.

He could do any porn guard in the league. Did you guys see the clip from their podcast where B.S? They were doing a gambling thing. And B.N. And B.M. was like, today only, B.J. Tucker, 5'3s. Better 1,000 win 3 million. three million is crazy i saw that loss of mine i was crying i was crying

three million is shameless bro PJ Tucker five threes he went to day only he was the delivery too bet a thousand went three million you know that's so shameless oh fantastic bit

Next team. The Minnesota Timberwolves. Another hard one. Is it still KG, even though, you know, like you requested a trade? No, it's for sure. It's for sure KG. Because KG is one of those guys and he was in one of those situations where everyone was like, man, like, we're sorry that you had to be here. Like, we're sorry that we failed you, right, in one of those rare situations.

And the fact that he also came back to the team in like 2016, 2017, 2017, that's also very, very, very. very big. And the fact he came back to like mentor Carlton Town who they thought was going to be the next KG, like the goodwill is completely returned. Yeah. He is the face over there, bro. And so many fans hate that he hasn't gone his jersey retired yet still. So he's the face of that organization.

Still, he's not even there. Yeah, I'm not tapped in with the Timberwills temperature on the KG jersey retirement. Exactly. The OKC Thunder. Nick Collison. Yeah. Listen, it's either. Listen, it's either Nick Collison or it's Russell Westbrook.

Yeah, it's so crazy. Those are the two options, literally. Now, Shea's about to win MVP, probably. Good chance they win the title. If they do win the title, does it become Shea? We have to wait a couple years because, like, there really is no understating how important Russell Westbrook and the fact that he got MVP that very next year. It's like, we had the best player in our franchise's history.

Leave us to go to go to 73 and 9 and you stayed here and you brought us and you did all this, I think emotionally fans are way more tied to Russell Westbrook Fair enough But also You gotta realize We had two MVPs

They couldn't win a championship If we get a third MVP And he does win a championship I think I think that might instantly Become the fan favorite I understand But Russ took care of the fans

At their lowest You know what I'm saying Like he was with them And so like obviously You had some tanking But that rush That rush year It's special

It's an all-time I'll be baffled If we have this Convo in five years, I'll be baffled if it's not Shea. Also, I think a part of this outside of basketball reasons, when it comes to think about, like, beloved player, Russ really ingratiates

themselves with the fandom in O.K.C. Like, he really, like, embodies what that shit is about. And I don't think Shea does that nearly as well enough. That's not an issue, obviously. She definitely does a lot, too. They, listen, okay, see, rock. The fandom is crazy for Shea. They, Oro, man. The way you feel

about Oer Man, they feel a million times about that. They worship him. yeah but who they worship more I just lean towards Russ because I think he even like this community stuff too in that outlook like there's so much that he provided for that for these guys compared to Shea

so I think it's hard to say the championship will change the equation it will yeah it definitely will we have to wait too much right now right now is clearly Russ yeah obviously Russ right now they have to wait two and a half months facts

not 90 more days and we got it the Philadelphia 76ers oh it's Alan Iverson Or is it's a Julius serving? No, it's Alan Iverson. So the NBA fandom at large loves Alan Iverson. Do 76ers fans love him more than their other stars? Like, is he within the 76ers fandom that loved?

Yes, I would, I would say so. Because I think that AI... They love Joel. They respect Joel. The process is a big part of their hearts. Again, it's emotionally... It's mostly gaming. Yeah, I feel like with...

I feel like with Embedding. I feel like with Embedit, it's more like, yes, like we rock with you, we drafts, to you and like we we like respect you but if you go to like every single like philly sports team they're all just like we're underdogs nobody likes it ta-da-da-da and like alan iverson being at the size that he was winning MVP playing as hard as he did diving on foot doing all that stuff like embodies the philly mindset or you know whatever that means so i do think that he is like their most like beloved player yeah yeah it's that's hard to parse because like them like like mo said the Joel and Beat thing is so emotional and so much connection there to like the ups and downs

of the turbulence of his career and we're in the middle of that right now and at the low end right now so hard to parse that especially when one has the soldier one doesn't I I wonder I really wonder how this is going to age in 10 years from now like how they're going to view joel yeah they can't I mean that I doubt that they like hate him or or sour on him no no definitely not certainly not I wonder I'm saying I wonder if it goes the other way I wonder if they like adore him and they're like you gave you gave your body for the team you tried blah blah blah we respect you were there the whole time like I wonder if it goes the other way it becomes like real reverence after the fact looking back do you think that can happen without a conference final appearance sure I mean it's not I don't think 76ers fans blame him for that they're they avert their attention to Ben Simmons for the hatred for that all right I thought more of sixist fans but all right oh my God I thought they had higher standards damn Ah, you dickhead. Higher standards.

Oh, my God. Ridiculous. All right, next thing we're going to do, I'm going to, it's March Madness. We're in the middle of it. We haven't done anything about that yet. We haven't showed the content

in a college love. Today that changes. I'm going to show you two NBA teams, all-time lineups from different colleges. You tell me which one would win. Okay. It's March Madness. It was a better all-time team.

Okay. Let's make you want. First off, Kentucky versus UCLA. For Kentucky, we have Rondo, Shea, Booker, Anthony Towns, UCLA, we got Westbrook, Gail Goodridge, Reggie Miller, Bill Walton, and Kareem. Kentucky's lineup is just so well-rounded.

It's just amazing. But you have Bill Walton and you have Kareem, and it's like... Korea, I know. Those two big... Those two bigs is crazy. Dude, Carltonty Town is trying to deal with the passing of Bill Walton. he's in a looking around balls whizzing by his head

but having a backcourt of Shay Rondo and also Devin Bucker 2 at the on the wings is fucking crazy but I think we got Russ and two shooters yeah but you got MVP Shea basically in AD

AD can only do so much with Kareem like it I'm over I'm overshattering the fact that he's there it's tough I don't I think we feel like you's double Do we think this double big line-up will fit well for UCLA with Russ? Yes.

Then I think it's no contest. If we think the two bigs will work, they're going to beat the shit at a car lengthy towns. It's just a Carl Anthony Towns issue, bro. That's all it is. Damn. And I could have put to Marcus Cousins, but I don't think that would have changed much. That's true. I'm going with UCLA.

Yeah. Best big man duo we can possibly imagine. We're going to UCLA. It's just overwhelming. UNC versus Duke. Okay. So for UNC, we have, Duke is small. Duke is light.

They have no, they have no real center. For we have, for Duke, we have Kyrie Irving, J.J. Reddick, Grant Hill, Jason Tatum, and Zion at center. And for UNC, we have Kenny Smith, Michael Jordan, Vince Carter, James Worthy, and Bob McAdoo. Yeah, it's a UNC. I mean, having Michael Jordan helps. We're starting from there.

Are we doing, like, NBA version of them or college version of them? It's to NBA version Okay I'm still leaning towards UNC I will go with UNC Yeah

Duke is Jordan Carter worthy That's such ridiculous wing athleticism Yeah That's crazy You got Hasbeat on defense

Trying to play defense Everybody Yeah we're just holding hands Yeah we're just holding hands He's clearing over his head Jumping over him That's your best hope

As I on at center I mean Is Zion rotating, trying to stop Michael Jordan drives? He's getting put in multiple body bags. Yeah. One arm will be in a bag. He'll have his torso in another bag. Damn, they're dismembering him.

It's not a good look. If Zion, Zion meeting Michael Jordan at the rim, it's not happening. And if he does well, he goes back, plays some offense, runs back down the court. Boom. Concussion. Concussion. Carter at the room. Concussing.

And then you've got to bang around with Bob McAdoo. I just see you like wiping the floor, bro, in like four or five. I see Michael Jordan and Vince Carter just jumping in the air like his slam ball just throwing alley-oops to each other. And then JJ Reddard is going to be there.

Pissus hell, bro. He's going to be so fucking irritating that he, because he physically cannot do shit about it. Damn. Hope you podcast about it. Yeah. Get off his chest. Next one.

Michigan State versus Wake Forest. Hey, Wake Forest. So for Michigan State, I'd like that. Oh, hey, hey, hey, hey, so it is. For Wake Forest, you got Chris Paul, Jeff Teague, Al-Farukamino, John Collins, and Tim Duncan. But Michigan State, don't sleep. Magic Johnson, Jason Richardson, Jaron Jackson, Jr., Draymond Green, Zach Randolph. It's just, it's the most fun college team ever.

It is literally Zeebo and Dre on one team. And Magic Johnson? Like, this team is gigantic. They're smallest players, 6-6 Jason Richardson. Yeah, this you can say team is disgusting. Like, listen, shout out Tim Duncan. Draymond and Zebo is a pretty decent answer. Who's already matched Johnson on this other team?

This is actually not a great answer. And Jaron, that's the best you can do. That's not a terrible answer. It's the, it's two DPOIs? Just because it's the best you can do doesn't mean that it's like actually good. They're all three of them are getting cooked. I love when we talk about Tim Duncan like he's will, like he's going to drop 100 on everybody's head

just because he has that much goat aura. couldn't cook with like 19 points he's gonna give you a cool 19 he played in the dead ball era put him in space no shout out to Duncan it's far but to say like no because I feel the dude

doesn't matter I feel the disrespect coming through the screen and I don't I don't want it to start if anything it's like disrespect to you and the glaze not the Tim Duncan

exactly so like take it personally don't take it personally on behalf of Tim Duncan shout out to Jeff Tee when you see him you see me so I got to take a person

right i have to ride for tim duncan yeah i'm down to ride no i mean listen chris paul tim dunkett is quite the combination i don't know if they have any answer for mad johnson when you look between that that that's where it all falls off but you got afruca me it was great john you got a jumper you got a jumper you got a jumper and john collins you got jeff t you were just talking about his right to left cross over if john collins jumps draymond green is collo's lining him out of the air it doesn't matter But I will go with Michigan State Because they will fight them And I trust them in a fight

Zeebo and Dray is the worst front court To fucking deal with, well They're gonna be gap in your ear off. That's the loudest front court of all time. Yeah You're gonna hate them. And you got Magic Johnson's arrogant ass out there going Back and forth

Just smiling? Yeah, bro. And then Jaron Jackson, annoying that's just like floating around on the lower place shit and meanwhile Jason Richardson

is windbow Duncan this is the most irritating team for sure gymnastics in middle of the court yeah Michigan

they got it shout out week four so that's an amazing team could that wake for his team win an NBA championship

NBA championship the CP3 and Tim Duncan yes but listen Jeff Teague and me new John Collins

isn't like in 2000 in 2017 six yes they can win a what did john collins look like in 2006 a hooper what are we talking about dude john clons is shooting forty percent of three right now what are he talking about that's all in 18 and 10 that's all he's probably better for that area isn't he

he's good yeah okay shout out john collins gonzaga versus texas for gonzaga we got john stockton jalen sugs rui hachimara ched homegrin and damatta sabonis But for Texas, we got DJ Augustine, Avery Bradley, Kevin Durant, Lamarcus Aldridge, and Jared Allen. Texas is whipping their ass the meatest way possible. Understand what it is. Gonzaga, great players, great players. I'm looking up and down that roster.

And I just keep asking myself a question, who's going to get your buckets? Who's going to get them? Because Kevin Durant's giving you bucket after bucket after bucket. Lamarcus is turning over his right shoulder, giving you buckets after bucket after bucket. I don't know what we're going to have John Stockton and Sabonis taking turns passing to each other, farming assists, going back and forth. Chess Pass, chest pass, chest pass, chest pass. Avery Bradley, locking up.

Jared Allen, locking up. DJ Augustine, with those guys, eyes closed. Tennisists. Prime DJ Augustine was different, bro. He's feasted. They're lucky we didn't put TJ Ford on this list. We could have killed. TJ Ford.

They don't want to UCLA. No. No, he went to Texas. No, he went to Texas. I'm thinking about T.J. Leaf, by bad. T.J. You thought we were talking about T.J. Leaf? Yeah.

Listen, I hope T.J. Leaf still sends Lanzo Ball Christmas cards because Lanzo Ball got that man paid. Yeah. Facts. Well, yeah, man. Listen, shout out Chet and Sabonis. Great fit together. Chess passes. Back and forth.

Everybody. Chess passes. We got you more as we get buckets. Bad, battling of drop steps and just two foot jumpstop. I'm going with Texas Jaylen Suggs and Bradley and Avery Bradley are just fucking punching each other in the chest over and over everybody else is playing basketball

it's never been more over until now bro what is we going to do when Katie just decides to ISO his ass too? Not a damn thing pray 24 2014 Katie at that oh my god hell hell hell you're doing hell

Jack sucks I'll be squealing bro imagine somebody yelling that on the actual basketball Call the police. USC versus Villanova. For the USC team, we have De Anthony Melton, Nick Young,

DeMar de Rosen, Evan Mobley, and Nicola Vucevic. Villanova side. Kyle Lowry, Jameson, Brunson, thick on thick. McHale Bridges, Josh Hart, and Omari Spellman. It's crazy. Dude, this is a thick theme that,

thick team that Philova has. Yeah, bro. That team is so. I think you understand. Larry Brunson and Spelman. Amari Spelman got body on him, bro. We got some girth. McHill Bridges is like the one skinny guy,

but other than that, we got some strength. Hey, stop talking about my team, Omar Spelman. Stop talking about my players like that, man. And not enough, bro. It's not enough.

Look, Nick Young, it would be hilarious trying to guard Jenlin and Brunson. I'll say that. But listen, man, Evan Moby and Vucevic are having that tiny-ass-villanova team in hell.

Yeah, I'm going with USC. because again, Damar Bucket Nick Young, Streaky Bucket De Anthony Sometimes Bucket Yeah

Yeah De Anthony Melton Great role player Vucevic Mowbly Amazing So yeah I'm going

I'm going with USC He's Vuzovich I don't know man I don't know man Lowry and Brunson is a

disgusting duo actually They are not Guarding anybody Those are the best two players on the list Unless they

Unless they are collectively drawing 10 charges a game, which I think with them with them is actually possible, but like I'm not, I'm not going to do it. I'm taking USC. Okay, USC. You got it. You know, I said we're going to do a little bit of Marsh Madness constant today by relating things to college basketball. We're going to continue that. We're going to do a second college-based thing today. When you guys know and love, when you guys have seen a student in the past, but we're cranking it up a notch. I'm going to show you some NBA teams. I want you to guess who they are based on where they went to college. Okay, we've done the support. And this one is going to be the hardest one you've ever done. Okay. It's going to be difficult. Let's see.

A mix of though. We're going to have, we have three levels of difficulty. We have easy, medium, hard, and we're going to go on three rounds of that. I need to lock the fuck in, all right. I'm not locked in. Damn. He'll fucking lock in. Fix it.

First off, which team is this? Okay. Okay. So someone who went to USC, then we got a Colorado dude. there, Auburn and Arizona. Is that Arizona? That is Arizona. I'm going, I'm going to guess that this is the Utah Jazz and that is Isaiah Collier and

that is Cody Williams. Oh, okay. I thought you weren't locked in. First guess, first correct answer. This is the Utah Jazz. You saved me. I told you guys earlier, part of the bomb of mentality is always being locked in. So understand that.

Oh, my God. Understand that. You see, even when I'm not locked in relatively, I'm a little bit locked in. Exactly. Okay. Never not locked in somewhat. Remain locked in because I need the help. First off, a good win.

Next one. Which team is this? See, now we have two question marks. We're going up question mark levels. Easy. You got a Kentucky guard and then you got someone who went to IU. There's not a lot of IU players in the NBA right now, especially who are big.

So this is Kelle Ware in the Miami heat. Oh, okay. Listen, you know you some IU. You have a good deep history with the state. of Indiana, a lot of good memories there. This is the Miami Heat. Weird. Next up, which team is this?

Wicked. He's wicked. Which team is this, level three? Um, I have no... Three question marks. I never had this before. All right, so Utah and Stanford. Who will be playing for Utah, man?

The only player more I know who played for Utah. Is this Kyle Kuzma and the Malky Bucks? Well, who would Stanford be? Oh, that's Brooke. Lopez? Yeah, didn't they go to Stanford? Is it Brooke Lopez or Bobby Portis? It's probably Brooke Lopez.

It's probably Brooke Lopez. Yeah, there we go. There's no Milwaukee Bucks. That is Brooke Lopez. He went to Stanford. Yeah, there we go. Damn, the fact that you see Utah, you said, damn, Kyle Kuzma, that's crazy. Yeah, exactly.

It's one of the most odd things. You know, John Collins? Never mind. I put three question marks You guys got it instantly God damn How hard can I make this game I can put one one player on here

You guys would probably get it Let's try it Kind of tapped in When it comes to these college streets It's ridiculous Which team is this Back to level one This Iowa

Oh this is This is very easily The Sacramento Kings Damn that was easy There we go Shout to Keegan Murray Is that what gave it away Yeah

Keegan and Sabonis gave it away. Yeah. Okay. Not a lot of Iowa players out here, so that makes sense. We're cooking right now. I'm just hoping that eventually you guys get one wrong. Which team is this?

All right, what the fuck is that mascot right there in the top list? That's Wichita State. Wichita State. And you got a Gonzaga dude there. And you got big horns in the middle. Mm-hmm. Big horns. Mm-hmm.

Okay. So I'm thinking, I'm thinking. This is a tricky one. I'm pretty, you guys got at least one wrong guess here. So I think, I think I'm off a little bit, but. Which sauce? What I'm guessing right now is that the five is Jackson Hayes and that the four is Rui and that this is the Los Angeles Lakers. Oh my God.

Get one wrong. This is the Los Angeles Lakers. I thought I would strick you up by putting Austin Reed's first college and not Oklahoma. Damn. Yeah. Okay, we're in our bag right now. Shout to Jackson Hayes. Not even trickery works.

Fuck. Next one. Which team is this? Level three, we have three question marks. TCU, and then what's this team? That's Washington State. TCU and Washington State. It's a very...

Don't tell me you know this one. This is hard. I feel like I have a team to mention just because I know this player went to TCU and he plays this position too. when it comes to Washington State, I'm not 100% sure of this guys there. The only guy that I know from Washington State is Clay. So there's that.

I'd be forgetting who went to TCU and actually played on their squad. Desmond Bain, the Memphis Grizzlies. This is Desmond Bain and the Memphis Grizzlies. Perfect. Not a single wrong guest today through six rounds Jesus Christ

I'm unbeatable We're like that Next up Which team is this Bitch ass team Damn God damn Everybody blew

Blue blood in this bitch Damn Fuck It's a bitch ass Yeah A bunch of pretty boys Duke Biggs Okay this could be

fucking anybody Yeah For audio listeners Two Dukes That's it Point guard Duke Kentucky

and center duke Duke Duke Duke and your wing is Kentucky too yeah again all all blue bloods but if we're trying to could this be the Dallas Mavericks

oh my god this is the Dallas Mavericks huh he put 80 at the 4 okay okay yeah you're pitching a perfect game right now yeah he put 80 at the 4 that's what it is

that's what he plays what he wants to play. Damn. Okay. Which team is this? Ooh. Oh, I got this. Yeah.

Go ahead. Go ahead. Take it. Shout out to Quentin Post. I think that's Boston College, I believe. You know we're Quentin Post with a college? Yeah. Shout out to the Golden State Warriors.

This is the Golden State Warriors. I didn't know that before I researched this. There we go. We're in our bag. One war. We'll see if I can get one L on the board. Which team is this? Oh, this is a gator.

It's not a lot of gators in the league today right now. Yes, but it's a, and it's a gator who plays the two. And so what I would think is that this would be Bradley Beale. And now, yeah, I'm going, I'm going Bradley Beal and Devin Booker. Wow. This is the sons. Woo. Okay.

Nine and oh, zero incorrect. This is the greatest performance that we've ever put up, though. CD3 March Band is ridiculous. It's like so good. It's boring. It's not fair. It's the best you've ever done. Definition of in our bags was just put in display for us. You're welcome. Wow. Duffy. Next thing we're going to do, we're going to bring back a series. We haven't done in quite a while. I'm going to name two NBA players. Let me know who's better. Old or new? So two errors of NBA stars. You let me know which one is better at their peak. The old player or the new player. Okay. All right. But first off, we got Kemper. Walker versus Cade Cunningham. I love Kimball Walker so much. Keep mind, the one year Kimball Walker was All-MBA.

All-N-Walker versus Kade. Listen, that makes sense for Kimba. However, Cade has an argument for All-MBA this year. He is making All-MBA. He is making all-M-BAs. That's what I'm saying. He can be as high as All-M-Bay second team, too. And shout out to Kemba and everything that he was doing in Charlotte.

But once again, the Detroit Pistons might be the four-seed in the Eastern Conference. Brother, 25, 8, and 6 is a task that Kimball Walker has never sniffed in his career. Being a floor general while also being the best score on the team, while also being one of the better, like, defenders on the team as well, is a task that Kimber Walker has never had to do with. He's a great player, maximized his potential. We gave the little sharp hornet's hand, something to watch at least, but it's levels to this. Damn. I'm going with Kay Cunningham. you win.

Chris Bosch or Evan Mobley. Now, I think we all think Evan Moblee can get there. Is he already there yet, though? Nah. Nah, he's not there yet. He's not there yet. I need one great post-season.

You know how you know? If Evan Mobley in free agency joined with two other stars, it wouldn't be like, oh my God, this is the greatest big three I've ever seen. He wouldn't be like, oh, my God, they have three of them. It wouldn't be thought about that way.

Chris Bosch was out 24 and 10 with nobody watching him Yeah Except for the entire country I don't know Maybe that's not true 24 and 10 back then It's equivalent to like

2930 In today's age Yeah I'm definitely taking Chris Bosch I'm going Chris Bosch Fair enough Fair enough Evobly has a little more development

Let's go Yeah exactly 2011 Deirc Rose For this year She Guilds Alexander You are going to stop to get us slaughtered in the comment section.

But it's Shea without a second and more thinking. They're not even in the same tier. It's Shea so easily. People might disagree. I get it. Shout out Derek Rose. What he did on that defensive team is incredible. Very similar to the role Shea has.

Make him better at everything. And that's how you get Shea. Actually, no, he's a better passer than Shea probably. I don't know. I don't even know at that front, too. He's a better. Yeah, he's a good passer. He's probably a little better.

He's a better athlete. who cares if it doesn't make you better at the rim or anything who cares he's better at dunking he's better making me feel something that's what I'm saying he's telling this he makes to shut up Derek don't do that Shane's a mean guy how about that Derek Rose is for the community

exactly I'm not giving Derek Rose the character side anyways yeah I think he's a better score he's a better defender he's making his team he's leading the better team the both can be MVP's I don't really I think it's quite easily Shea. Yeah, it's say. It's say. Bogosha.

Don't have I'm so sad about it. You don't want to do it. And I understand it. We got to do what we got to do. Patrick Ewing or Evan Moe. Oh, whoa, I said it, Mowgli. Patrick Ewan, or Victor Wemba. And keep in mind, year two, Vic, has year two Vick already passed up Ewing?

I need you to understand. There were some years of Patrick Ewing that were very, very scary and very, very freaky. He was out here hooping. He was out here hooping. So before I go and pick Victor women, y'am, I just needed you guys to understand that, that Patrick Ewan was out here hooping and he was out here doing a lot of things. But I think- You're too, Vic, better than a legend, better than the best Nick of all time?

Better than a legend. That's so crazy. That's so crazy. Oh, I love Patrick Ewan. Exactly. Let me, I just want to pull up year two. I want to pull up year two, Patrick. you in. All right, let's hear it. Oh, year two

doesn't matter. It's prime pad versus year two Wemby. Let me see. All right. So his best year in terms of MVP, MVP 4th and MVP voting. We'll go to the year after that. First team, all NBA, 28.6 points per game, four blocks,

11 rebounds to assist. Jeez. Are you willing to be such an outrageous glazer that you say Wemby is better than the greatest Nick of all time? This is on your team, Donovan. You are disgusting if you do that. Yeah, no, it's not going to happen.

I'm going to pet. Ah, we're going to test your sloppy, topy levels, and you, you approached it. You got close. He's not really low. Not enough snoppy on the topy, bro. Get out of here. You're your cancer. Yeah, you backed up last second.

I'm going with Pat. Yeah. Listen, you thought about it. You thought about it. Yeah. Oh, my God. It's a crazy visual. Next.

You got to calm down. You got to calm down. Why was your mouth that white open? Kobe Bryant or Nikola Yokish? You need to stop making these power points. So, like, one year peak versus one year peak. Are you willing to say, listen, some people were saying, Yokish is having one of the best offensive peaks of all time.

All right, that's cool. That's cool. And I'm very happy for Nikoliosk. And obviously Kobe, obviously Kobe's like legacy, his body of work is much better. But one year peak versus one year peak, who's better? Kobe. I mean, my best. Yeah, exactly.

Someone should have slapped me silly. Deep down in your soul, in your gut, in your deepest subconscious, you know. I'm not even right in the mind most of the time, Donovan. You know this. You meant to say Nicola Yokic, and you're trying to take advantage of me right now, bro. You know what Kobe Bryant did for the game. You know what he produced. You know how good he was at his peak.

And that's why you say Kobe Bryant over Nicola Yokic. So you're going to say Kobe? I said Kobe. That's two to one. I don't care where Isaac says. Kobe Bryant better than Nicole Yolkich. It's your kitchen. You're not going to do anything about it.

See, when you don't think, you just feel that Kobe's better. You know it. Get the fuck out of here. You know. I don't know. See, and that's the thing. You may not know that you know, but you know.

There you go. You know too much. And knowing too much is not good. I'm a knower. I thought you were a feeler. I'm a knower. Now you're a knower? Which one?

Listen, poke. You know what I'm saying? I know that I feel stuff. You know what I'm saying? I know that you feel stuff. I know that. I'm going with Kobe Bryant. Oh, my gosh.

I'll keep my opinion to myself. Comments can decide. Okay. Next one. Vince Carter versus Anthony Edwards. this is such a good comparison it's honestly not though it really is like

because like if you if you close your eyes and somebody tells you like oh yeah these two guys like they jump high you're like okay cool but then if you watch the games I do think that like Andy Edwards is better than Vince Carter

yeah I think it's fair to say his scoring bags a little actually I don't know his mid-range game isn't that great yet Anthony Edwards has everything needed He will be better Maybe there's an argument Of Vince Carter's best year

When he's a little older and mature Maybe you can say it's still better than what we've seen from that yet Vince Carter's best scoring year I'm pulling it up His peak scoring year was 27.6 That's a lot of goddamn points right now

That's pretty good That's insane In 2000 in 2001 Damn That might as well been 30 fucking 33 points in today bro now I'm going with Anthony Edwards It's 27 points on 22 shots

I'm again I'm going with Anthony Edwards Damn fair enough Vince Carter was 30 years old in 2007 That's insane Holy fuck damn Ben Wallace versus Rudy Gobert This's hilarious

It's the same player Who would survive in the league today Well I mean Bear's alive and well. Rudy's in the league right now. But who will be, who would survive better? Who would be more alive? It's, this is, what's that meme?

Actually, I can't even say it. But, yeah, this is the flirting versus harassment meme. You don't like it from Ben, hate it from Gobert because the aura difference is huge. Pick your choice. They're the same. I'm going with Ben Wallace. Ben Wallace has unlimited dog. And even if you would like to say that Rudy Gobert has some dogs.

in him that's cool he doesn't have as much dog as ben wallace and i'm going i'm going solely based on the amount of dog that they have in them you don't appreciate the nitty and gritty things bro you don't just appreciate the screen i don't i don't appreciate nitty gritty but i'm going with ben wallace ben wallace is the definition of nitty gritty you know it's crazy gober sucks offensively he might be better offensively than ben wallace exactly Do you know his free throw percentage genuinely? It's like 45% at one point, bro. This shit is disgusting.

No, man, that's fine. That's fine. Understand. You want a championship with 45% free throw percent. Like, you don't understand how nasty is. No, understand what Ben Wallace was doing. Ben Wallace, 45% from the free throw line. He's like 6-10, he's like 6-9, right?

He's a 4-time D-P-O-Y. He's a 1-41-1-4-time D-T-O-O-Y at 6-9 playing 6-6. center. I'm taking Ben Wallace every time. And even if like I don't care what the percentages say, when I watch them both play offense, it looks the same. They both

look bad at offense. So you're going with Ben Wallace because you're smaller? It's more impressive. It's cooler. It's more impressive. Okay. Fair enough. Scotty Pippen versus Jason Tatum. This is interesting.

Scottie Pippen obviously has the resume. Guess what? being the sidekick to the goat. It's not interesting. It's not interesting. You're right. You're right. It's not interesting.

Jason Tatum is better. He's much better. Like, shout out. Listen, shout out to Scotty. Great number two. Right. You helped out Michael Jordan in the best ways possible. You are not Jason Tatum.

People love the big, so the biggest thing people say, the one year that MJ was gone. Scotty was like third or fourth in MVP voting. That's Jason Tatum every year. Perpetually third or fourth MVP voting for the entirety of his prime. he's the better player. I saw someone on Twitter say they think he's the third best passing small forward

of all time. I don't think that's ridiculous. I have to really think about that. I mean you think about LeBron and Larry Bird. It's like Taneum or Grant Hill, I guess. I don't know. I don't know.

I got to really think about that. I got to dive into it. Got to dive into it all you want. I don't know who you're going to come up with. Obviously, I come on stars. I'm sure you can go like Boris Dio or something that's a better passer. But you know, among star players,

it's not ridiculous. Congrats. I got to think about it. But that's, still not outstanding. I don't know. That's extremely outstanding. What are you talking about?

The third best at all time is something? When it comes to... No. I don't know. It doesn't feel like as much of a wow, bro, like an accomplishing feat.

That's because you hate him. I don't hate him. Pass that face. Oh, you passed that you over it? Okay. I mean, I guess Scotty Pippins in the conversation, too, but Jason didn't clear.

Yeah. Again, I'm just talking about forwards. So it's not like I'm saying all time, all time. But it puts you in perspective, incredibly versatile defender, incredibly versatile offensive player on and off ball. One of the best playmakers has ever seen in the position. It's Jason Tatum. Playmaking bar must be.

It sounds like I mean. I was about to say, playmaking bar is low. I guess. He also is really good at it. He is good. He'd be throwing dots. Gilbert Arenas or Trey Young. Ooh.

Completely different players. It's like the opposite offensive games of each other. opposite offensive bro opposite personalities very different guys yeah well considering one is like an actual threat to the locker room i'm going for safety for safety reasons i'm leading towards troy young it's very clear dude i try i worry about tray young's defense and when it comes to gilbert arinas he like brings the defense with him at all times so um sometimes i needed those I'm leaning towards Trey. I'm leading to

Trey. The locker room is secure. Yeah. The team is going to be safe. I'm leading towards Trey, I think. I just wish Trey Young would like remember had a score inside the three point line. That's fine.

It's one year. We're talking about it next year. It's been a couple years going. I don't care. The year's over about it next year. We're on a kill streak. Get him some help first and foremost. We're about to get a UAV next year.

It's not looking great. Richard Jefferson or Aaron Wiggins What the hell top of comparison is that Y'all forget what Richard Jefferson was like Richard Jefferson with hair And even as his hair started to go away Richard Jefferson, he could hoop He could do some things

I mean yeah I'm comparing him against an all-time great One of the best the league has to offer So it's not like I'm fucking disrespecting him You need to relax Shout to Aaron Wiggins, man I wonder if Richard Jefferson thinks that he could beat Aaron Wiggins right now

in the game of one-on-one. Fuck, no, you wouldn't. What type of question is that? I mean, he seems like, listen, he seems self-aware, but he also is a professional athlete and they have crazy confidence and ego. I'm sure that if he's like,

I'm sure if you told him you have two months to train for a one-on-one against Aaron Wiggins. He'd be like, two months to train for a one-on-on-one. Like he's a boxer? He's been out the league for a minute He needs to get into basketball shape

So I think that if you told him that He could be like Yeah, I'm about to semino this dude Like he might do that Grow man strength Mm-mm Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm All right, man, next thing we're gonna do

Also, it's weird That he has tattoos He just has one, doesn't he? It's weird that he has a tattoo I don't think he just looks like He just looks like he shouldn't have a tattoo Yeah All right next thing we're going to do

I'm going to name a young NBA player I want you to say from 1 to 10 how much you believe they're going to become an all-star Okay Mo. So like right there Mo this is your bag

How likely it is? This is projection I need you to step up I saw fuck out the way Okay First up Amen Thompson 1 to 10

How likely is it Once the keys get turned over to him I'm going to say 9 At first I'm going to I'm very confident he'll be an all-star But seeing the specific skills that he's clearly one of the best at in the NBA in terms of transition, athletic, and, like, defense and there's other skills a part of his game, too, that haven't even been flail unlocked in terms of his passing and shit. Yeah, it's going to be a nine.

He's going to fall in too much. I got my eye on those corner threes. They're going in a little bit. I'm noticing. I'm noticing the skills and the development. A little bit, a little bit. But he don't even need it, bro. He's that good.

He don't even need it. Doesn't want. I'm going 10. There's no, there's no world moving forward. at least the one that we live in where I think that Amin Thompson will not be an all-star At least one time

Take it one step further Across the multiverse Every time Amin Thompson is an all-star Wow, 10 is Ten is making a superfire all-star For like year by year by year I don't know if he's that No, it's just how lucky it is

He becomes one Like just one-time minimum Okay, yeah You can say 10 Got it Austin Reeves For he's made real life development in his game and also he's a laker

I'll go five out of ten it really depends if he leaves the lakers he can definitely make one you put him on a mediocre team that needs buckets put him on the bulls he can make it all-star dude no I think if the lakers are one of the top the best team in the in the western conference or second best team in the western conference with the full year of osse reeds balling out alongside luka

he they need two all-stars I think they're gonna make awesome he's an all-star okay maybe like post-lebron if lebrons are retired and also he's like the co-star to lucca like three or four years maybe that could be the case Yeah, 10. He absolutely. What's that going to be?

That's going to be like year and eight, year nine off the Reefs? Yeah, he'll be like 29.30. He'll be in his prime, averaging 25. It's possible. Yeah. Yeah, it's possible. All right. I go, I go five.

It's very, it's very situational on if he's going to make it. So actually, I go six because I respect his talent, but it is still very situational. Yeah. Ultimately, that white boy is dangerous. Exactly. For a long time. Jonathan Kaminga. One.

Yeah, one. Damn. I was going to say one right before you finish saying his name. One, zero chances happening, especially on the go to say Warriors. If it happens, bro, he has to be so much better at, like, so many different skills and he has to be in a different city completely, bro. Damn. You said it all. That's true.

I agree. I think it would be a good player, but yeah, All-Stars will not on my radar. Yeah, exactly. I thought maybe you guys would be a little more optimistic, but never mind. Stefan Castle This is an interesting one Because I'm very I'm a hundred percent sure he'll be a good player I don't know how high that ceiling is yet though

I'm going like four I think I'm going about four Like I think that he can Okay Because it depends on two things Like obviously his development But The Spurs are also going to have to start

Getting to the top of the conference And that That depends more on Wemby than him And then we'll get into a situation With like oh the spurs are the number one seed they got to have two all starts da-da-da-da-da and stephan castle's kind of in that i'm with you i don't know because d'n fox is there right now so it's like and no one's thinking about oh that's true so drop it down through i think it might be like a five because d'nard fox is a little bit a little bit

older and stuff on castle i could view him being as one of those pairs somewhere to like drew holly where he just slips into an all-star game randomly guys they're going to trade him for Kevin Durant this summer. He's going to go to Phoenix. He's going to put numbers next to Evan Booker. It's going to be an all-star. Trading him for KD. That's too much motion over there in San Antonio. It's too much motion. Can't happen. It can't happen. Do Wemby and KD would be insane? Adam Silver is already damned his league enough by allowing us to rig the Lucas shit, bro. We can't let that KD shit happen. I would love to see it.

Trey Murphy the third. Damn. A lot of opportunity now. He's going to be the guy next to Zion probably. Yeah, this is like seven or eight, right? Yeah. It wouldn't be shocking if a leap came next year to where he was in all-star. Next year. They've got to be good, though, to get, like, if he's going to be an all-star, that means Zion's really good, too.

If they're going to get two all-stars, they better be a top three seed. There's going to have to be a lot that happens, though, in the Western Conference. Like, can he be better than J-dub next year? It's tough conversation. I don't know. OKC is like a lot. It's not ridiculous. A lot to be, like, number one, two, in the Western Conference.

They have to be really damn good. And if he's really damn good, then yeah, he's going to be an all-star. So I'll rest my case on 70. Yeah, there's stuff he's done this year in the low stakes, high-usage role with the pelicans being so god-awful. He's certainly looked like an all-star. So if that can transit to a winning team, I'll go eight. I agree.

But we'll see it. The pelicans got to get the shit together. If he's going to be sniffing those type of conversations. Yeah. And they have a lot of shit to get together. Brandon Miller, how coffin are you feeling now as a hornet? slower lower lower lower

I'm going to I'm going to about four I don't think he's not going to get any boost from the team being at the top of the conference anytime so we could take that down and I I'm just

I don't know I'm still unsure there's still some things in his game and some eternity that I want to see I'm going for it yeah I have a hard time projecting anything good

to happen to the Shard Hornets at this point it feels like they're just damned for all eternity like they did something wrong in an afterlife and they're and they're like generations later their family's being cursed three yeah i might lean towards four too like you

donovan nothing good happens to charlotte you are in charl so there's no fucking media boost whatsoever and then when it comes to his game specifically there he didn't have the perfect sophomore year or too much of an encouraging one so i'm gonna lean towards four but the but the potential still there yeah he could definitely change this equation pretty soon Jared McCain, how encouraged are you by those 20 games where he was going crazy? One, I'm going like a five with him because I do think I was very encouraged. However, a lot of it was because of opportunity. And I just have no idea what the sixers are going to look like.

I don't know if Joel N. Beat is going to try and play again next year. I don't know if Paul George is going to be a little bit more available next year than he was here. So I'm not too sure So we'll go about five But even that shows how confident I am That he is like a good good player Yeah I'm like I'm a hundred If this was rate how much you believe

They're going to be good 10 I just think there's a world where he's like just below all side level For sure But I can see him get in there So yeah I go six And if he does get there like he is literally one of the best shooters in the NBA He is a top five shooter in NBA Like launching it at like eight nine

Maybe 10 a game And he's like, that's what it has to be. Exactly. And building your TN, that means like he's also like a foundational piece too. Jeremy, him being a foundational piece at that size is hard to do when you're not like the most like skillful ball handler in the world. It's not a weakness at all, absolutely, but it's not outstanding. So when I look at him, I'm just like, okay, you have to be similar to Tyrese maxi, like you've got to have, you have to be a flame door, bro. Okay.

Franz Wagner 10 10 he would have been it this year he would have been there if he would have stayed healthy but no I'll go nine actually no I'll stay 10 but I'm worried that it won't be next year he has to get a lot better playing next to palo it's insane how much better he is when palo's not there and spoiler there's going to be there we want him there

he's better he has to make a lot of improvements as a shooter if he's going to be able to be a start with him exactly we've already seen the levels that he can reach all we All we need is the game's played and that's it. But I'm going to go. But with that being said, if a superstar becomes available and they happen to trade Franz Wagner

for said superstar to pair with Palo and Franz goes to another team, I think he's a guaranteed All-Star. How Franz Wagner look like on the Portland Trailblazers? All-Star. He'd be amazing. Him with Denny and Kamara, that defense would be ridiculous. Franz at Point Guard, let's cook.

Yeah, he's an All-Star. Ten. Let's cook. Ooh, that'd be filthy. Oh, from that point guard would be sick Your team would be gigantic Yeah Jalen Green

Now I know none of us Are super high on him right now There is always the ceiling You know he could get the right year If the Rockets are good again He could be the league score for that year Maybe Singu's not available to make the team I'll say there's a world

In when she sneaks in Seven He could definitely slip in That's way too fucking high I wasn't trying to say all that But I can get him three Seven's ridiculous calm down Wow

Brother you don't understand What I saw him do To my Atlanta Hawks last night When he's on, like, Shadow March, Charlottom March Jalen Green is ridiculous. Like he literally looks like God damn Michael Jordan, bro. What he just,

Kobe, what he just moves like that. It's crazy. Like, you know, March comes after the All-Star game. Yeah. Brother, we're about to go into year five

of Jalen Green. You can't do this year after year after year. I'm saying three. I want to give him a little bit of credit. You are insane. Three? Yeah, I give him three.

That's why I'm giving them. No, no, no, I'm going to Mo. Mo's insane. Oh. I think, I envision him, I can see him slipping into literally just one. If the Houston Rockets are continued skyrocketing and he, if he, like, grows even more than he actually is right now, I can see what and we're like, okay, damn, the Houston Rockets are good again. Sengu was also last year. His stats are still, eh? Let's give him to Jelly Green. Seven feels a lot higher than I can see him slipping in. Pause. That's like, that seven is like, I think he's good enough for sure. I think the Houston Rockets are good enough And then that way like

Someone has to follow through Yeah Okay Oh that's the last one we got And that's the end of this episode Dom and if people are still here What should they comment? I don't know

I'm blinking, I'm blinking, I'm blinking Oh, come on, come on think, think, think Sign up for the Mamba mentality course What? $20 a month Mo, what should people comment If they're here See, people behave

You gotta get it to 10K Think about it, bro. You don't have to get at least 10K. At least 10,000. At least 10,000. Comment when we need at least 10,000. We'll see y'all next week.