The Deep 3 Podcast - We Put Every NBA Contender In A Tier List | Ep. 124

Episode Date: January 18, 2025

tier listing every NBA contender! #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 3:00- Shai MVP Talks 14:18- Thunder 20:25- Cavs 28:08- Celtics 38:46- Lakers 43:15- Bucks 50:10- Nuggets 1:01:06- Knicks 1:07:22- Rockets 1:17:35- Suns 1:20:48- Warriors 1:23:15- Timberwolves 1:29:55- Mavs 1:34:10- Grizzlies 1:39:00- Clippers & Magic ARGUMENT (DON ENRAGED!!!!!) 1:47:55- tiktok time Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

So you guys at home listening, I might be wondering, what the hell? Look at my calendar. Today's Saturday? And the D3 is dropping today and not yesterday? What is going on? Why are they late as always? I got some good news for you and bad news for you. Bad news is we already recorded this show yesterday.

And somebody up here that's not named me, I won't reveal who, lost their audio file. So we had a whole episode in which you would have had to listen to their audio from their camera and it sounded horrendous. So the good news is we decided to not do that to you guys. We're here to redo the episode. You're getting it a day late, but you'll be able to hear all of us just clearly. And that's because we care, right? If nobody else in your life cares,

understand that we do, all right? And also understand that that issue has been handled and there was disciplinary action. It should not be spoken of at this moment of time, but just to know, people were convicted. To C-0-2-A. Crayons you asked. Crayons were pulled, belts were pulled.

But it was handled internally and we're ready to move forward. HR has the file report. Maybe one that will be revealed to give you guys more details. But for now, as you see by the title, for the second time, we are going to put every single NBA contender into a tier list. We're halfway through the year. We have a pretty good idea of which teams are real and will, you know, vie for the championship, which teams are kind of in any between phase

or maybe someone can break their way and which teams are frauds. Hmm. But before we go ahead and start, y'all, we have a very, very important thing to announce. P94 has dropped. Yes. Oh. I got you, Nuggett. P.94 has dropped.

Nuggett. Yeah. I've never heard of that before. You're my little nugget. What? Are you out of your mind? I have cute names for everyone. What do you mean?

You don't like that? My little nugget is wild. You don't call your friends Nuggets? I got a nickname for all my friends. Not. There's a difference between Nugget and my little nugget. That's crazy. You didn't even like little homie him.

Little nuggeted him. That's my little nugget. Yeah. I fuck with nuggets. Anyways, as you got to see on the screen, the third episode of Project 94 is out. It dropped the day before this episode, or two days ago now.

It's us breaking down the Cleveland Cavaliers and what's made their season so great, which is funny because the day I put this out, they got their buzz blasted by the Oklahoma City Thunder, which we'll get to. Yeah, man, three episodes out in this first week. Let me know what you think about all of them.

All right. My little nugget, smoothie pie. Are y'all ready to roll? I think we are. What's one of those names is more disrespectful? I think probably Nuggett. It's definitely Nuggett. Bro, Nuggets is cute.

How is it disrespectful? Run the intro. Whatever. Cue the intro music. Fuck. Before we get into the tier list, before we start talking about all the NBA contenders in the league, I believe Mo, got a little moment of the day for us to talk about. Yes, moment of the day ironically happened just like 13, 14 hours ago.

Last night we witnessed OKC face off against the Cleveland Cavaliers. And might I say, was this the first MVP statement game from Shay, it was Alexander. He went ahead and dropped 40 points without not only his starting big, but the backup big. and with this performance ongoing last night I want to know where you guys mine resides when it comes to this MVP combo who is the MVP right now

it's Shay and it's I to me it's not really okay I'm not gonna say that it's not close but I do have my I do have my vote and it is decided um like yeah no it's not close you can say that as a card carrying member of Yokic FC if the season ends today

it would not be close that's the question carrying the best team in the NBA by far in the Western Conference without his second best player for the entire season almost with only one of the player on the roster that can dribble and there's still a top 10 offense

still good enough on that end to compete with their defense and be the best team the carry job he's doing offensively is understated because the team is so good but it's only good defensively in terms of offensively in terms of offensive creation there's

it's not like Luca or like Yokic because they're bigger playmakers but it's real similar with how important his scoring is to keep in the engine going. It's a very easy case to me right now, especially because he's played every game Yoko's out with injury right now. Yeah, I think last night was the exact kind of game that you need to kind of solidify. And a lot of the detractors who have like spoken, you know,

against JPM being the MVP, you can't really say anything, you know, outside of last night. Like that, he's had two moments in the last couple of weeks that have really solidified his case in terms of having standout MVP moments. Obviously, against the Celtics at home, Blocks Tatum on one end, gets the ball back, throws the lob to Hartenstein, right? That kind of encapsulates a lot of what Shade can do. And then last night, you go into the rematch against another, against the other, you know, best team in the league. You are, once again, down Chet, down Isaiah Hartenstein. And what do you do?

Drop 40 with only five fritos. It was a mad ethical performance. And he did everything, 40 points in three quarters. It was holy. It's everything that you want to see from Shays. And it put the whole, like, Shea Gilgist Alexander experience on a platter for everybody to see. And the fact that they blew them out in a rematch game where they obviously, like, were not the favorites. Like, that's, that means something.

And that's, that's, that's, that's, they might win, they might win 70 games this year. Like, they're still kind of on pace for that. It's hilarious that Bozos on Twitter were able to label him a free throw merchant. When he is not particularly reliant on free throws, like, obviously he gets rethos. He's great at it because he is the best downhill guard. we've seen in the NBA in the last decade. So naturally he's going to get more free throws. But he doesn't get like an outlandish percentage

compared to, you know, somebody like a Joelle Embed or someone like a harder or whatever who proportionally got more. I saw a stat earlier that of every season in which a guard average, I forget what the number was, it was probably like 35 points for 75 possessions. If every guard that's ever done that, or not guard, any player,

I think there was like 115 of them seasons like that. Shea was 78th in free throw rate. Dude, it's so overbone. People at that point in time just got to find something to hate. They can't hit on him because his team is good. They can't hit on him because his defense matches up with what he does on offense. They used to hit on him about his jump shot and his three-point rate and all that. And he's gotten that up to a great degree too.

They can't head on him off the court because he's a family man. And also, he'd be working out here. He gets his back. He has sponsorships. What can you say about him? Freaked-o merchant. That's the only thing you say. In the last 20 games, 33.6 points, 5.5 assists.

5.3 rebounds, only 8.1 free throw attempts a game. That's not a large amount. It's not. It's not a lot at all. The way, the way, like, the way people talk about him, sometimes, like, I get lost and you may not check his, like, free throw attempts. And I'm like, oh, like, how may this shit take tonight? Like 12, 13.

And you look at these numbers and it's crazy. And if you look at a lot of the top scores in NBA history, a lot of them are getting to the free throw line nine, 10 times a game, right? If you look at Kobe's best scoring years, he's getting to the free throw line 10 times. And it's so, the thing that baffles me every time about people talking about Shea is that he should be the guy that everybody wraps their arms around. She is not a high volume three point shooter. She is, I'm going to get to my spot in the midi. I'm going to take tough shots.

I'm going to get here. I'm going to drive downhill. I'm not, I'm kind of the antithesis of analytics basketball, whatever you want. the way that people want stars to get buckets and stuff like that, Shea does that. And especially for somebody who isn't wildly athletic, you can't even label him running dunk man. And so it's really weird that people haven't embraced him like that. He's in a small market, has carried the team, has been through a rebuild, like what more

do you want from one of the best players in the league? He's a two-way guy. It always just baffles me that people are not like, yes, this guy is. Top three. This guy is the people's champ. When he does everything that everybody wants all the stars in the league to do, it's wild. You know how it goes. These days, fans, the default is to hate. So I think the last step is playoff success. Let him make a final's appearance at least. Then it'll come around. But the last thing that I can say is hasn't won a playoff or won one playoff series in six years or whatever, which is obviously the way to contact. He did. He did. He won't see that last year.

Yeah. That's his first one. Before that it was, I don't see any. Now it's all. Only one. So obviously, as I avoid a context because he was on the craziest tank job of all time for three of those years. But yeah, Shay's on the come up. I mean,

I just made a short on P94 where we ranked the top 10 players in the league right now, put him out four, which is like, I think normal outside of the three like MVP guys normally. Yeah.

And a lot of people were like, Shane needs to be won. Like, I think that sentiment is building. You're starting to see people start to put them up their higher as a team is getting more and more marketing around them.

As this OKC team is really getting that hype is one of the best teams in a long time. Yeah. I think the love for him is building. Yeah, I agree. I noticed the NBA as of late over the last month, two months have been trying really hard to push OKC and Shea

as like the face of the league and stuff like that. And seeing what, seeing the hype builder on them is reassuring is comforting because you know how the NBA can be when it comes to just like marketing and paying attention to the wrong players and whatnot. And for-post-COVID-era NBA marketing was not good. Yeah, exactly, exactly. But they're back. They're back now.

Listen, they're pushing these teams. I'm getting 65 NBA app messages a day telling me about every Cavs game. OKC. Caves Caves. Here's why you have to watch it. Here's why you have to watch it. And also, like, when, like everybody has their different metrics. When you go, like Isaac's talked about this a lot.

If you, if you are talking about Shay in the context of him versus other guys in the league, especially last night, we saw he was not outmitted by Donovan Mitchell. Which is something that Isaac has pointed to plenty of time I thought we were going to escape this second without saying that And I thought out of everyone It was going to be Isaac, but it was you Listen, Isaac has brought it up And if you're just talking about 10,000 more crayon lashes

I'll see you at the end of the episode Listen, listen I'm just saying Donovan did out, Donald Mitchell did out meet Shay This happened. We don't got to do a retrospective history It's one and one outmitted. It's one and one yeah He snatched the meat back He grabbed it back

okay so is there anything that Nicola Yokich who's obviously second up sees the no Yogan's cat out so far oh my God

is everything that Yokin the Nuggets can do to recoup lost time and space what you are trying to do I don't know but like because it's kind of weird because what you're trying to do is like collectively out meet somebody

and I don't know if that's oh my God you probably should calm down one of you 12 meat contest He's Denzel He's looking around Okay Always me for me

Okay Okay You can do this to meet Man It's gonna be like What's wrong with your friends He said I'm on V-50

I stand on meatness Oh my God Don't Don't that Nah You know I'm let you live I'll let you live

I'll let you live I'll let you live Shay's the MVP right now Yokinch can get back into it easily All it takes is obviously Shay has to say healthy which is always the thing

renting above everybody the Nuggets are on the up and up they're the four seed Yokos actually missed the last like three games with a wrist injury we'll see if that really affects things it could if not to answer your question he'd have to get the two seed I think

and like the two seed definitively it couldn't be like I got the same record as a three and four seed but we're fucking 10 games behind OKC they would have to be pretty clearly the second best team maybe third I don't know because Yokic is ridiculous but I'm starting to sense the world

finally getting voted fatigue for him we're finally starting to take the crazy stat lines for granted. Because the fact that he's shooting like 48% from three is outlandish. Like he does all the same Yokish things. He's tied, I think. There's like a three-way tie at the top for scoring leaders. The fact that Yokic can be the best passer, but also now all of a sudden be the scoring leader and the best three-point shooter in the league

and we don't really give a fuck. That tells me we're probably starting to get a little voter fatigue in the air. It's, it just never, it never fails to shock me, man. Because whenever people do the things that people want them to do you don't care people don't care like yokech has been dimeing people up for years and it's like man why can't he go out and get 30 35 he's doing that he's like yogic is out here getting buckets at a high high level and now nobody cares she's doing this nobody cares y'all don't watch the games and i need you and he's been worse defensively i need y'all to tune it i will

he's been worse defensively for sure because he's carrying more of a burden but like people are watching the games and they're just being like this tubby motherfucker can't play defense ignoring the 30 points for game that's like matching Shay like matching the efficiency but it looks like the Thunder are going to have such outlandish team success

you know we've talked a lot about the varying criteria in the MVP and how it's a sliding scale people demand consistency we talked about on the stream this past week you're never going to get consistency

it's a subjective award and team success is part of it and each year it matters to a different degree because a separation and scale is different every year to different degrees I think this year

they're both going to have such crazy stat lines that OKC's team success being so ridiculously high compared to everybody else that might be it matters more this year than it did last year

100%. Okay 100%. So with that I agree So with that we are I think like the Thunder are if we're talking about

like contenders you have the MVP you're going to have outlandish team success if we're starting this tier list off they should be the standard they should be in S tier easy right

that's a good transition let's move on to the first topic, the main topic of this video. We got the contenders tier list. Before, you're right. We'll start with the Thunder. Obviously, they're going to be as tier. Yeah.

Spoiler earlier. The question I want to ask, what are we labeling as contender? What does contender mean to you guys? Contender to me means that there is like, you are championship favorites. You are in that group. You are what the rest of the NBA is trying to catch up to and figure out how to replicate, replicate in some degree. So that's OKC for sure.

I think they are, even though they didn't win it last year, they are like the standard for it right now. They're the best in the league. Okay. So everybody in this list, we're gauging them based on championship equity. How much part of it is also we're going to respect what they've shown us in the regular season. We're not going to just be like they can't do in the playoffs. So there's some element of what they showed us so far in these first 40 games. But we're putting them in this tier list based on how much we believe it'll translate to the playoffs. Essentially, like think about like we're ranking who we think is most likely to win a championship. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's a good way to put it. I think anybody in S tier, if, if anybody in s tier take like market out of it if any of these teams in s tier won the title i don't think i would be shocked if they if they did it so that's got like you said let's start with these two teams that we're talking about right now the thunder they're probably they're the championship favorites right right pretty easily at least out west for sure yeah i'll i west i don't know

if there's anybody well I guess like a healthy Luca but that's more off the strength of Luca you know can go crazy but if if the Thunder are healthy and the Mavericks are healthy I am taking the Thunder in a playoff series a majority

of the time so I would I would have the Thunder as the number one top dog out West they should okay so they're at their esteer very clearly yes are we so they're going to be asking matter what when we talk about who's the literal favorite compared to the two teams out east.

Are you worried about the reliance on Shea and J. Dove as the only ball handlers on the roster? Because obviously, they're the number one defense. They're outrageous on that end. That's why they're so great. The collection of perimeter talent is insane. Kaysen Wallace is like your fourth best defender. That's a ridiculous, ridiculous amount of riches defensively.

Yeah. But we talked about Shea carrying offensively and how important he is that helps his MVP case. Does that kind of muddy things in terms of like imagine them in the finals against a team that also has defensive talent because Shay's going to be Shea If J-D up doesn't have a great series You see where things that Donald will start to fall

Yeah, I 1007% agree with you And I can see where this is coming from But if this team was this If that would I would agree with you If this team was this team today This team was the same team that we saw play last night Including Isaiah Hartnstein I think what unlocks all this of course is

Chet Hongram and that's why I view them In that status and that's here I see this Oklahoma City team I love Kays and loss. I love Ludo. He consistently has Donovan Mitchell in hell. You know,

J-Dub is one of the better defenders across the entire league. We all know what she is too. All these guys on the defensive end are good, but where they have hiccups, like you said, is offensively. They're not necessarily creators. They don't necessarily have the best

drive games or counters or anything like that. Most championship level teams have a couple guys can do that. Okay, see, they are deficient in that category. But one thing that they have that a lot of teams just simply don't have is super ultra versatile bigs the ultimate source army knife bigs and chet hungerman he like will alleviate all the issues and pressures and just opens up a lot

of space and gives you another layer like playmaking that you just don't normally have at all because of what jadev has to do with hona night tonight based on the limitations of all the other guys so with i heart and chet i think that alleviates all that and i'm not worried about chet specifically chet's the big thing that he has to be available i think for me to pick then I win the finals, like if it comes down to that, then versus the East teams. Like J-dub in the first 12 games, shot 73% at the rim, 65% from mid-range and 41% from 3. That was the J-Dub we saw last year, who was insanely efficient three-level score, literally had shooting efficiencies that looked like Kevin fucking Durant,

which is why people like me were up here saying, this is clearly a star in the making we're looking at last year. And overall, for the season this year, those numbers aren't that good compared to the ones I just set out because Chet Holmgren isn't there. and since that's happened in the however many games has been since his efficiency has plummeted

I'm pulling it up now it's noticeably different than when Chet was there given five out spacing because the connection with IHeart in those lineups hasn't been great

for Jdub and that's kind of worrying right? Because if you don't have the perfect scenario and Chet isn't there you get kind of spooky with him being

your only other creator Yeah, but I mean you what? I pulled the numbers up in the last 27 games don't tell me 62% at the rim

don't tell me 32% from three. Don't tell me. Now the three point shooting is a cold streak. That's okay. But 62% at the rim is not fucking good. I'm not, I guess I'm like I'm not worried.

I'm not willing to put that kind of in this tier list. Just because obviously if any of these teams lose their second best player, I would feel much I would feel much differently about them. And so like if the if the Mavericks didn't have Kyrie and they just had, they just had Luca, I would feel some type of way about them. If the Celtics lost, you know, Jalen Brown, I would, I would feel some type of way about them. And this happens with, with a lot of teams. So I'm assuming health for the Thunder and I'm assuming Chet is going to be there.

And if that is the case, easiest here. Yeah. I mean, listen, I'm not, I'm not necessarily saying it's a fatal flaw or anything. I'm not going to be the one to say J-Dove's a problem. But it will be a thing, you know, it will be some to monitor, especially after last year when the Mavericks were able to shut down Chet and J-Dub. That's kind of, that was the difference in the series. It wasn't shutting down Shay by any means, so

J-dub has a lot of pressure on his shoulders of that second star. Yeah, I agree. It ain't tough. I mean, it is tough. Okay, so obviously the rest here. What about the other team in this game? Are the Cavs also S-tier? They are.

Easy. They are. You can't be blinded by what happened last night. I think last night is more of a great sign for the Thunder that they were able to, rebound and recoup after losing to the Cavs the week before. But Cleveland can, they can do everything. They can, they have two dynamic guards.

They have two bigs who can defend the room really, really well. They can play multiple ways with different lineups and all of them are really, really positive. They have a nice wing rotation, whether it be Dean Wade, Okoro, Max Drews, right? Like all those guys can just plug and play. And they are, they are, at least in the regular season, the standard out east. So I think it's going to be really tough to go into Cleveland, especially if DeMitch is firing,

it's going to be hard to knock them off in a seven-game series. So I'm playing them in S-tier. Yeah. You said, if DeMitch is firing, he hasn't been firing this year. And a big part of it is a team is playing unselfish, right? That's kind of been the label, is that obviously Mowbly's taking a leap,

Garland's taken a leap, the ball gets spread, less shots for Donovan Mitchell. They've lost five games this year Four of them are because DeMitch had a stinker Last night against the Thunder He got clamped Understandably so by the OKC Just piranha barrage of ball handling

Defenders He hasn't been amazing And I feel like a lot of it's been written off Because of the style of play And him just doing less There's something there though That if he I'm putting them in S tier

I loki think they're better than the Celtics I'm not going to lie I think the cabs are the best team in the east But especially the last night I'm a little bit worried And I want to see some signs of life from D. Mitch. Yeah, I can agree with you on that. All

those fronts are correct. DeMitch sacrificed a lot, and we're seeing it almost not across the league necessarily, but with certain teams whether it be like the Memphis Grizzies or the Atlanta Hawks or whatever team you can think of with just like their clear star player taking a backseat just to let

everyone else cook. I understand, to see Donovan Mitchell's deficiency gets at the rim and stuff like that too, just like not be what it usually is on the on the better end of things it is definitely makes me worrisome but then when i look back and i just see how stacked and loaded this team is with having two bigs who can play all levels of defense pretty well be tremendous from protectors and then you have darius go on to who's

been fairly consistent this year one of the best three-point shooters and just shooters in the league he's damn their average in like 50 40 90 which is under talked about as well yeah i'm not overly worried if your best part doesn't perform then nine times a 10 you're gonna fucking lose. It doesn't matter what the height of team is built. And think about what you just said, too, in the five games that they've lost this year. Like, they are... No, yeah, they're amazing. Yeah, like, they are, they are

really, really good. And I think, I don't, I don't know. I understand your, your concern about, about DiMitch. He, he has a little bit of, of playoff equity to where you can think that in a playoff series, he's not going to give you four

games of straight stinkers. And so, yeah, I, I trust them to be at least, you know, competing for the Eastern Conference Finals. Like if they were an easy second round exit, I'd be really shocked. Yeah, two things are true. I agree with both of you.

So, DeMitch, it's not just stinkers. Like, he's not just missing threes. You know, like his three-pritching has actually been excellent this year. That's why overall his numbers are fine. His rim pressure is really looking worse. Like, he looks a little older. And again, there's a whole half of the season left for this to fix itself. Last year, 27% of his shots were at the run.

rim this year is 22% that's the lowest of his entire career actually pretty easily and last year he shot 67% at the rim which is pretty good for a guard of his size now it's 56 which is 32nd percentile not good at all that's like kate cunningham numbers or we always talk about that's his one fatal flaw that if kate could fix that he'd be amazing de match is finishing like kate this year which is not good and that's something you can that's not just like a cold shooting spree for 40 games your rim pressure is that much worse, that might mean something, but also I do think they're the best team of the East. And I'm saying all this. I came out giving a critique. I don't know if this is like crazy to say after last night. I still think they might be better than the Celtics. And I think

if I had a bet today, I kind of think the Cavs are going to make the finals. You can do that. Don't be, man, stand on it. What do you mean? You're some base in your voice. I heard you yell plenty I'm saying it. I'm saying it right now. I need you to put some actual George's on that. Some George Washington's on that. Oh, my God.

What are the odds right now? Tell me the betting odds. Maybe you can convince me. Last time I checked, the Cavs were plus $750. Yeah. So this year, the two big lineups

that really hurting them last year are incredible. The two big lines are fantastic. Kenny Atkinson has them cutting well. They're a three-point shooting factory. They create so many corner threes with their ball relocation

and just like everything on the same page. Evan Mobley's also made a legitimate shooting jump. He's shooting 40% from three. So even if the smart Kenny Atkins and stuff didn't happen, they would just be better because he's now a stretch big, albeit not like a gravitational way. Their lineups when they have

just Evan Mobley and just Demich are fantastic. They play five out. They are very good defensive with Evan Mobley defending the rim. When they have lineups with just Garland and Jared Allen, they play more traditional pick and rolls and they fucking blitz everybody

there's like a 1.30 offensive rating on those lineups they're so versatile I just feel like if this was any other team if the Celtics didn't win last year if the Mavs won last year and the Celtics didn't have the championship trust which granted that does mean something

so I'm not to write it off like it means nothing we would be talking about this Cavs team like oh yeah they're clearly the best team just based on this season yeah that's fair again I agree with you I think that they are something I'll add on top of that though another reason why we're not talking about this cast team as like clearly the best team this season

or in the East specifically is because of the way they went out last year and how they were in legitimate rock fights with the team they weren't supposed to be in rock fights with like the Orlando Magic and then on top of that too we saw how the New York Knicks handled them as well so seeing

that and seeing how they also struggled against fucking the Boston Celtics too and how they just got like neutralized and I think I said before in the past like Darius Garland it was like he's been hit with a stun gun with how he just like freezes and how he sees like multiple long lengthy guys like with how the cabs offensive was last year and just prior to that too he was easy to guard now kenny actin's there he's do he looks entirely different and

whenever he's faced off against these elite level teams even the boss and soces yes or even Oklahoma City Thunder last night looked good didn't didn't necessarily have many issues turnovers or issue of course but regardless of needs to say like that's why I don't think a lot of people are solely sure about the cats. They got to prove it. We've seen them just the third year together and the first few times the playoffs series did not go well, especially against the Knicks that's been in people's minds when they were a very young team.

So I understand it. They do have to prove it to people to some extent. And the Celtics matchup is a concern. We even saw that game earlier in the season when they beat the shed of them because the Celtics are perfectly equipped to guard these small guards they have. So that's why I'm kind of like

tippy towing. I'm not definitively like 100% sure. Now, stand on it. But I feel pretty good about the cast. I'm not going to lie. I feel pretty good that they're going to be fine in a playoff series. And that's fair

until they probably run into the Boston Celtics who if we want to go there and just set, we could just set the standard for the rest of this tier list. We can just put the Celtics in this tier as well.

Okay, let's move on of the Celtics. Are you guys, well, how do you feel about them right now? Is it just, like are they just clearly the best team still? Are they your favorites?

Yes. Out of east, yes. In general. Obviously out east, but like in general, are they your favorites over the thunder if chet was healthy no i would i would take the i would take the thunder if they just have heartenstein then i would take the the celtics but if if both teams are at full strength i'm taking the thunder i really think that the thunder are the team to beat this year

but boston is obviously boston and like we give them we give them or i gave them you know a lot of, I guess, flack for not, for not, you know, getting over the hump. Now that they've done that, and this is just the way that it goes, all those failed losses, hey, man, listen, you got playoff experience. That's what it turns into. It goes from playoff failures to experience as soon as you go, right? It instantly turns, turns into, just steps into success. But the fact that the subjects were actually able to get over the hump last year, they were able

to to neutralize whatever demons that they could do, I do think that winning a championship does give you a certain level of trust. And we've seen their system get them to far places in the playoffs. And for them, the question was always about, can you, you know, enter that next level? They've shown that. They deserve distrust. And it's hard to repeat. It's hard to be the number one seed back to back years, especially coming off a title.

Some of their stuff, are they worse than they were? last year? Yeah, maybe. Are they still a really, really good team? Absolutely. And they are still S-tier for me. So you don't give a shit about their struggles because you're just like, I'll wait until playoffs? Yeah. They are, they, for three, for three years, they've been in that space of what, well, I'm going to judge you on starts in May. That is, that is, that is, that is, that is, that is, that is, that is, that is, that is, that is, that is, that is, that is, the entirety of what your season of what this era of Celtics basketball it's all going to be defined by by the by the playoffs and they've like yeah they've entered that row so it doesn't bother you at all in the last two weeks or 24th in

offense and 12th in defense no really none of that matters not bother bother me like would I like to see that obviously not but in terms of like worried do I think that that they're going to like lose in the first round no I don't oh no one's saying that obviously they're they're making a conference finals it's really like can they make the final and can they win it is the standards they have. So that's what I'm talking about in terms of being a little bit worried. Their standards is championship robust. So there's no threat of them losing their first round.

And that's what I'm saying. Like they could do whatever outside of having a massive collapse and like, you know, fall to the six seed or whatever. But if they finish the season in the two or three seed, we're still going to enter the playoffs and we're still going to say it's championship or bust for Boston. That is the standards by which we hold them by. And so when that is your standard and that is the expectation, you are S tier.

I think our brains are poisoned by the Warriors and Cavs era where we think every defending champion has the privilege of coasting the regular season because they've been here before. They'll surely make it back and surely win again. And there's a reason we haven't seen a single repeat champion in five years because these teams are not the Golden State Warriors. As great as the Celtics are, maybe they have the best chance to win back to back of all these teams in the last five years.

I probably think they do have the best chance there. They are not some dynasty that has earned that right. I don't think it's just malaise. I think they're worse than last year. And I think there is some serious issues that have they need to fix that people are kind of ignoring and allowing them to coast.

But if they lose in the conference finals and everybody in the world act so shocked how did this super team not go back to back? We'll be able to pinpoint look back to these times during the year when they were obviously struggling

and everybody wrote it off. Jalen Brown is worse this year. Drew Holiday is worse this year. KP is worse this year. Besides Tatum, a lot of key guys are straight up playing worse in a way that has enough sample size now that it means something

me they're not as good as last year and it it should be talked about well i was told i was told this was an all-time team last year i know who told you that who told you that that man i heard that right there i know that man caught him right-headed freeze i was what am i supposed to do i didn't tell jalen brown to stop making shots i was told drew holladay stopped making corner threes there's only so many teams that have won 80 games in this in the season you look at their profile they're one of the best teams of all times that i and what are those and what are those those those the fucking old days and now what okay stop it that was like six months ago

a different season all I'm what I'm saying is you to say that a team is like an all time team and then now be like oh yeah we can't just like look at them come come playoff times all time teams that is your standard that is what that is what we look at

and to be like oh what is your point they're not they're not the words they're not the cast what is your fucking point that we shouldn't criticize them at all because I said they had an all time season last year last year is last year Every season is different, ever you've got to come in and prove you're still on the same level. And I think they've definitively proven they're not as dominant as last year. I think...

Me feeling away about the 24 Celtics has not shit to do about the 25 Celtics. I think the caveat with that is that specifically last year, context is different based off of what surrounding them. Last year, they looked like an all-time team because of the, like, what they were faced with in the playoffs. Facing off against the Indiana Pacers, where are these guys now? They're towards the bottom of the playoff race. in the Eastern Conference, who else did they face? You know what I'm saying? Like, that's, in that context of last year, sure.

Like, they could be an all-time team. But in general, if you're thinking all-time in the NBA, you're thinking the teams, like, who actually run shit back, like the Showtime Lakers or the Kobe and Shaq Lakers, or like you said, the Warriors teams or those Cavs teams. Like, that's when I think of, like, all-time. Having an all-time dominant season does not preclude you from having criticism the next year.

That's the better way to say it. Yeah. I didn't say they're a dynasty. I said the dominance they had in 24. was some of the most impressive stuff we've seen in a long time. Nevertheless, this year, Drew Holiday shooting 27% from the corner instead of 60. Jaylon Brown is down to like 52% true shooting and their interior defense has real issues. And again, I'm not saying it's time to panic about the Celtics,

but to ignore the current issues they have and just assume they can figure it out is something that's going to lead to a lot of people being surprised if they don't. And I think it won't be that surprising if the Cavs are able to beat them. And the damn sure it won't be surprising if the Thunder beat them. Wept into your head right now. The Celtics making the finals? I think it's closer to it's a 50-50 shot

I think yes probably it's not I'm not I'm probably saying it damn but most people he's dead head blown brains everywhere I think it's 50-50 but if you gauge the general public right now

if you had a poll of every NBA fan they'd probably give the Celtics an 80% chance of beating the calves and the margins are getting thinner and they don't have they don't have the ability

to go into the playoffs like this they need to play better by the time of playoffs come around I think there's a good chance they do so that's why I'm not writing them off but if this playoffs starts today, I would not feel super confident about them.

I can agree with that. I think one of the things for me is that I look at your holiday, of course, you're going to have some types of concerns because he's been able to get away over the last few years of his NBA career, we're just being at times offensively in terms of his consistency. I look at Jaila Brown. I'm not reading too much into that. But what I am reading into specifically is Chris Osprezingis. This dude is 29 years old.

He didn't play at the start of the season because he had one of the weirdest injuries. in NBA history. Injuries that no one ever heard before and no one apparently had. Coming to the season, okay, cool. He's right now, he's shooting 45% from the field as a big man, okay? Understand, context applied.

Chris Sosurzinius is a shooter. He takes a majority of his shots outside of the paint. I understand that. But even the percentage inside the paint and just the frequency and how he's playing, and even him, like, physically, he just looks tad bit slower it and it looks like the injuries are starting to catch up to him.

And that's very scary considering who his backline help is, who their other option is, which is like Al Horford. Al, I will never disrespect to Atlanta Hawk Legend. We all know this. But you're Al Horford at the end of the day and you're like 40. Yeah. And again, they're not cooked. They would be cooked if the playoffs started today.

Not cooked. I'm not going to say that. But they would be not who they look to be. They have a lot of time to figure it out. But I want to start the dialogue now so we don't pretend we're surprised if the Cavs are in the finals. Okay. Yeah, I'm playing both fences. I'm not, I'm not like, they're not a lock to me at all.

They're not a lock to me at all. Yeah, and that's all I'm saying. That's agreeing with me. I just say they're not a lock. That's all I'm not saying. I'm not saying they're fucked. No, Isaac, no, Donovan is genuinely holding on to you calling the Boston Celtics an all-time team last year. You weren't wrong for that, Isaac, for sure.

But I understand your context. In terms of like, that season, yes, they were like, that season standalone was one of the best. Yeah, I didn't pull a Pat Bev and say the next five are theirs. I didn't say they're going to run the league forever. I understand I don't of it though You did say it in the way that means You're unfucked with him

We can go to an other team Do you say that It feels like you're sending them up to clown them But you're setting them up to defend them by saying that So like I don't even know what your point is But he's only defending it because like He thinks that the Boston Celtics are like A shoe in for the finals

No I don't I don't like a Like out east Out East if they played, if they played a series 10 times, I'm picking the Celtics at minimum six times. Like I do think, I don't think that it's 50-50. I think if we get into a playoff series right now, the Celtics would still be marginal favorites over, over the caps. I understand what the caps are done and I respect it.

And I think us putting them in in this tier proves that like we really think that everything that they're doing is real. but I also think that Boston going into it should have a level of respect or trust that puts them that puts them at one instead of 1A, 1B. And I don't disagree. I just think we need to see the course correction

over the second half of the season where I can acknowledge it'll probably happen. I'm just, I don't want to assume it will because I think there's meaningful things that to improve other than just getting lucky and making more shots. Okay. Anyways, who's the next team we want to talk about?

Who's the fourth intendor we should put on this tier list? You can go, Donovan. Hmm, let's pick, let's pick someone kind of trash. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, let's do that. And let's put, let's talk about the Los Angeles. Yeah, we locked in. Let's talk about the Lakers. What you want to talk about?

Tell me. Should we, should we talk about them being D, D tier? Ooh. In terms of winning a championship, there's no, there's, there's absolutely no world where the Lakers win a title. Okay. Well, if we're framing it that way, then everybody besides these top three teams and maybe the maps should probably be fucking D tier because nobody else is going to win it. No, you can see, you can kind of see the path. Like if you squint, if you squint and go to the eye doctor and get those special glasses put on you. No, I might have to be inside. You can see ways. You can see ways to where people in A or A or even B win a title. Well, nobody's in A or B yet. So I don't know what we're talking about. I'm just saying, I'm just saying we're just like. That doesn't mean anything yet because there's nobody in A or B. I think I could have my eyes wide open I would not

I could look I could call the Dr. Strange and I'm not seeing any world where the Lakers win a title this should probably be C tier I don't they're definitely not B or A

that's for damn sure despite of course the amazing duo they're not B or A they amazing duo I mean look at them they're I mean

they have two top 15 players that most teams don't have that like that is a thing that matters in the playoff setting they're C tier they're a team

that is going back in 14 identities they're inconsistent they're mid but they're better than a lot of teams that aren't even in the conversation and you know in any given series you do have anthony davis who we'll see what lebron gives you in a playoff series we always believe lebron can ratchet it up when he needs to he's always buying time at this age i don't know what that looks like anymore that's going i don't know how far that gets you sure he can probably

be a little bit better i'm not going to assume it's going to be some mind-blowing thing that he's going to take out contenders we're past that but you do have anthony davis who is a extremely valuable able playoff player defensively and offensively. You do now have Dorian Finney Smith, who's not starting, but I expect by playing playoffs come around, he will be starting, who's obviously bolsters their defense a little bit, and at that point you'll have Rui off the bench, who's a good six-man score, who's going to be helpful.

Austin Reeves is playing like a legit point guard now. He's had many games with over 10 assists since he started the point guard. I think he's full-on, extremely dynamic, helpful there as a lead guard. There's a lot of teams that we're going to put lower on this list that are like complete shitters when we look at teams like the Warriors or, I don't we'll save it to not spoil anything yeah they are a competent team that has a competent chance there are some teams on here that are higher than this evening that if I put a gun to your head you'd probably pick the Lakers over in a playoff setting D's a bit much

so what's all this talk about goddamn guns man holy fuck I'm like gun this gun that we're Americans right everywhere why can't we just say yo do you think this seems better than the other one because we have to we because I need I need the real you I need that that we're a little pink. That if everything in your life depended on whatever take is about to come out your mouth. Fuck is this squid games, man. Jesus Christ. Maybe.

Maybe. Watches one show. I know, right? I've got. I've had, so we have six tiers up here. Mid would be B or C. I think that if we're talking about the mid category, the Lakers are on the lower half of, of mid.

So, fine, you talk me into, and maybe I just talk myself in putting them. Are they really lower half of mid? Are they really lower half of mid, though? If we can envision them winning a playoff series, you can't be like minimal. Well, these are all these teams can win a series. If you can't win a series, you're not on this fucking list.

Like the Hawks aren't up here because they can't win a series. All right. You didn't have to use it. You could have said the goddamn like Chicago Bulls. What a hell? The Hawks maybe actually could win a series in the right matchup, so I'm kidding.

But yeah, like you see. We'll revisit it. If they get into a four or five game against another shitter Listen Hey The top four teams The top four teams in the east are

They're also There's no way There's also no way That they're getting five Like Weren't they five a little bit ago I know they fell with all the injuries But I think they were five at one point

Yeah we were up to I think five Anyways We're not talking about the hawk in this fucking Cleveland Boston Orlando Milwaukee New York Okay

Y'all so Y'all, this is all I'm trying to say. You're not winning in a series. That's really the only thing I wanted to get off my chest. Okay, let's talk about one of those things we just mentioned. The Milwaukee Bucks. The Milwaukee Bucks started the season off. You're a kid, man.

The Milwaukee Buc started the season off in the most embarrassing way I can imagine. We all came up here as former Bucks apologists, and we formally gave up on them in the second week of the season. Me and Dauvin, we rinsed our hands of Doc Rivers, we rinsed our hands of Damian Lillard and the whole gang

over there in Milwaukee, said even if they bounced back which they inevitably will, because they were 0-10 at the time, they surely will not go winless. Even if they bounce back, we are out of the bucks market. We don't want to believe in them anymore because they've heard us too many times. They have since become competent. They've won the in-season tournament.

They're looking good. The duo works at least a little bit. The supporting cast is a little to be desired. But they're the four-seed. Where does that put you on this tier list? so i think they're clear as day higher than the lakers obviously they're not in s here there's somewhere between a and b and a morsel leaning towards the b because of the inconsistencies that they've had within the roster and the constant like they're all they're consistently trying to find themselves or doing like soul searching always at first

you know they're still trying to figure out the dame and yonness thing and now we're seeing them do more pick and rolly stuff here and they're still not as much as you like, but it's getting better. It's way better than it was compared to in the past. And then as a late too, like Chris Middleton, now he's averted back to a bench roll and now there's like a whole bunch of Jamie Butler rumors and

we don't need to get into that. But I think I feel comfortable with placing them and be considering, I know they're better in the Lakers because fucking Janus is Janus bro and Damila are still there playing like a top 20s player or whatever. Shut up. But I think the framework

is there and specifically I see their defense starting to come around which like starts to move me a little bit yeah you're you said they're constantly in a stage trying to figure shit out that's a good way to phrase it they're always soul-thurthing they're just on like a hamster wheel of figuring out problem after problem first they're like damn we have nothing on this bench we got to trade bobby porters

we have no defense okay we found andre jackson now he has no offense we have to figure out how to make the offensive line of work okay we figured that out we're getting chris middleton back oh now Chris Milton's back but also never back not consistently moving to the bench like there's always something there's always a new like hole in the bottom of the boat

they're trying to fucking plug and they only got so many thumbs so listen they're steady right now they're treading water it is kind of scary that it seems like there's always some flaw that can be poked at you get into a playoff series can Andre Jackson get the Jared Vanderbiltre treatment and just be fully ignored will Chris Middleton be there

will Bobby Portis be enough bench support will Brooke Lopez be healthy he's getting old like it bothers me that there's so many key things you can't point to that i can't put them in a yeah i i i understand that however i'm kind of back in uh oh my god i think i think i'm kind of back in on the bucks like i stock home stock home i kind of kind of rock with them right now in terms of of like the east of conference landscape um the fact that like the offense is is okay i've seen them win and progress in the playoffs with a bad offense and a good defense. And I think that the fact that you have Janice and Dame and you have Dame being able to

consistently put up good games while Janus is there, that's something where last year, you look at at the way that, you know, those two interacted. Whenever Janus was out, Dame's like, finally, it's my time. I can play, you know, my style of basketball. And you would, like, that only netted out to get you like one good Dame game a week. now that now that that's a little bit more consistent they're like I wonder why they're like they're like they're like they're like they're like third in defense over the last 15 games don't don't tell me about the offense I know you know if I don't care about that because 20 second because defensively that has been something that I thought was completely gone and I think it's harder to I think it's harder to ramp up defense going in going into the playoffs and saying like okay we just have to find our stride offensively especially when I agree too. especially when you have two guys as talented as Janice and Dave

so I will put them in B because there are a lot of question marks but they are trending upwards so I would put them in B. Yeah B's fine I think we're all in agreement so we can go B. Yonis is carrying defensively

and that's something that the past couple years and narrative has been that like his defensive intensity isn't what it once was when he was a DPOI contender every year and it probably isn't but as of late he's really been locking in

I feel like I've left many many games there's impressed by his defensive level of play also that was a crazy jump shot he just hit but that's also a thing now so we'll see what yannis with the mid he looks like let me check up on that i haven't looked at his numbers a long time but you know early in the year he had like ridiculous efficiency from midrange i think that's an interesting wrinkle that's an interesting wrinkle for a playoff setting we've never seen him with that before i know that's he's at 47% on long mid range shot still 40% on short mid which is floater range a lot less

of those that might be real 44% overall for midrange we've literally never seen yonis that's have a bag in a playoff setting will that make a difference maybe It might be, it might be, especially like if Chris Middleton, Chris Milton kind of feels like, you know, that in between player that I can go and get his shots really, really anywhere. And he's always been a very like connective piece throughout this offense. If Yonis can be that player and you've seen Yonis take like turnaround middies, you know, he's trying to get this dirt one leg thing going.

That is, that is a real thing where I don't know if I like, it's obviously not one of my most trusted things that he's. he does but he's shown it enough to where going into the playoffs i i have to respect it at least and be like okay it's not an automatic brick the same way that it was last yeah yeah we're noticing we'll see we'll see what it is but it's exactly mind just simply noticing and uh yeah it's good that dame looks good again you know he's less sad less out of shape less uncomfortable with his new role he's clearly in a better place after everything that was reported about just the shitty year he had overall on and off the court clearly that's up was real and that was why he was

bad he wasn't as people were saying oh maybe the small guard finally fell off he's washed doesn't look to be the case he looks like dam and lillard he's obviously not as effective as like portland dame because he has the ball less so the numbers aren't as gaudy but i think you're getting about what you want in a close to best case scenario from this duo true yeah i agree overall i'm gonna agree with donovan right now i'd firmly put them in be if the with knowing how the offense has been trending over the last 15, 20 games, one of the better defenses in the NBA.

There's a world in which I can see them eventually being A, but that world is a little bit far away from me right now. Let's talk about another former MVP who's in a similar boat. What do you want to do with the Denver Nuggets? Another team that had an awful start, the conversation was, how the fuck did they fumble?

This Nicola Yokic-era so bad, the roster is embarrassing, and then the sky opened up. rain was coming down the sun came out down from the heavens descended a former MVP to save this team put it on his back

be the prince that was promised to Denver and his name is Russell Westbrook the brodie had currently he's currently giving Nicole Yokers help he needs their offense has been revitalized how are we feeling about them I just imagine a halo over Russell Westbrook right now my glorious king

oh man the one of that he's been so good on me he's been immaculate bro he's on miracles on me I almost started singing in a bit Don't do that But seeing what Westbrook Has been doing

This season Feels so weird Alongside Nicole Yokic Go ahead Donovan Now I just have I keep growing up on fire But seeing what he's been able to add Has been like so unforeseen

Because the Denver Nuggets have never had A player like Russell Westbrook In their entire like Nicole Yokich era Of him being this love disversion of Nicole Yokic. Usually he's used to the score first point guards who don't have much of a passing bag and isn't necessarily the most like forward thinking holistically offensively players. And Russell Westbrook is that. The playmaking chops that he has, of course, is there. He's one of the more, the most accurate pastor on that team outside of Yolkich, the cuts and the angles

and just how he reads the game. They're just vibing on the same level energetically, I guess. Yeah, their brains are cuff and seen that's taken off, bro. Exactly. So weird to say, but yeah. You said Nicole Yowich hasn't had a guard like this. Also, Nicole, Russell Westbrook has never had a team like this. That fits him so well. Outside of that year when the Thunder, I mean, when the Rockets played no bigs

to simply allow Russell Westbrook to half bag dive and kill the room every play, you know, they were playing PJ Tucker and what was his name? Former Robert Covington as their Biggs. Roco. To allow five out spacing for Russ. Outside of that year. Even on the Thunder at home, wait, Robert Covington?

He played with Russ? Oh, yeah. Yeah, on the Rockets. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. But even, including every single Thunder team, Russ has never had a roster that fits him this well. Nicole Yokush was bred in a lab to be the perfect Russell Westbrook teammate. Like the way that the best, like at this point in Russ's career,

the best way he can provide value is his speed, right? He's still very athletic. Cutting, he can be downhill and he can do things in that way that he can do the role player stuff that people wanted to see him do for so many years, he can do that now because he has the single best cutting passer of all time next to him in Nicole Yokic, who also is shooting 48% from 3 being the most dangerous stretch big we've ever seen. A stretch big that's also the best passer with a slashing point guard. That's like a match made in heaven. It's a, it's, well, you guys, when they signed Russ, I don't think we were like shitting on it. We were kind of

just like, okay. Damn, this is the KCP replacement. We were like, like fuck this is a bruce bottle replacement i think we were nice about it and we're like we'll see if they can get something out of it our hopes are not high russ has been russ for a few years and maybe something can happen but we don't think anything's going to happen from this so small opportunity cost i guess it doesn't matter but what do you fucking do and what are we wrong it's meaningful it's really really meaningful yeah it's it's this is like the biggest argument for yokech's MVP case is the fact that is the fact that you've been able to to revive.

Don't use Westbrook like that, bro. I'm just saying, like, we've seen, we've seen, we've seen, we've seen, we've seen shut up what Russell Westbrook has been over the last couple of years and the fact that he's finally in a space where he can be fully optimized. And the variable in optimizing Russell Westbrook is Nicole Yokich. For a guy, for a guy that the entire league has basically written off for the last, you know, three years, he's playing his best basketball in years. It's like, it's really, it's really.

really, really good. And the fact that Jamal Murray had a very, very slow start, he's been playing better, but we've been waiting to see consistently Jamal Murray and Nicole Yokic and that pairing be as dangerous as it was two years ago when people

were like, you know, like, how do you even stop this pick and roll because Yokic is so good and you can just, like, it's an unbeatable combo. And as Murray has been ramping back up to that, and as the Nuggets have been trying to find themselves, like Isaac said, Russell Russell Westberg has been the prince that's promised

and he's been able to carry the nuggets or help the nuggets get to you know near the top there's a very real scenario if these dudes end up with the three seed the two seed like what if they end up with the two seed and they have a favorable path

and you have Yokic home court advantage for the first two rounds that's that means something and I think that right now I would have now there are still some questions if we're just talking about the whole team their defense

we didn't say single word about defense no let's get by there right now lymph limsey in the light is that that's what I'll say but they still I think I think because of that they beat they're in B but because

Yokic is like in his in his prime doing Yokish things having a Yokit season you would want to put them in a but again yes that defense it's it's a real it's a real conversation to have right now we're seeing we're seeing what are you putting them now if it was me personally deep down to my core it is you you you are you personally say it i would put them in s but oh my god realistically they should probably wait what but the best middle part i'll try Look at the S.

All right. Listen, listen, listen, listen. Are you the biggest Yokish Glazer on this podcast? No, I won't listen. Listen. I won't stand for it. I don't want to. I would put them in S because I just, listen,

Yokic and Westbrook have a special place in my heart. And then I see other things like working alongside them. We just saw Jamal Murray go ahead and give. I think it was the Denver Nuggets or something like that. 45 points. Jamal Marie has genuinely been turning up over the last few games. And over the last two, three weeks. and we've been giving him a lot of shit

and he's not Westbrook is not the sole reason why the Denver Nugs have upheld or have been able to be a little bit better over the course of the year. But in order for me to like genuinely be okay with putting them in A I will need to see the defense improve

and it has improved as time has went on specifically over the last 13 games. I think totality wise for the year for the year they're the 17th, 18th defense. 20th? out. Per clean the glass

which factors out garbage time 20th okay yeah obviously that's tough garbage tough scene

and yeah tough scene you just hate to see it bro I also hate to see Nicole man put this

in the paint no they're not B okay let's meet this guy meet the Blazer Rational human beings over here me know Blazer

you were just making Yokch seem like he was a fucking angel sent from heaven yeah yeah we get it

we get it got got got um this team early in the season looked like fucking C or D it was scary they deserve B for all the reasons we talked about I'm not going to go A because we'll see who comes out to A we can always revisit at the end maybe we can be convinced by the glazier to put them higher

but um not a good defense 20th and defense Aaron Gordon's missed a lot of time so maybe that we'll get a little better now that he's healthy I don't think it'll get a lot better I think maybe it'll get to like 14th 15th which could be good enough but we need to see that and even despite everything that Russell Westwick brings they're now starting him next to Jamal Murray because they need that dynamicism he has

their shooting has not been repaired in any way Christian Brown has been fantastic he's not a shooter like ACP was Payton Watson's showing some life defensively he's not a shooter Julian Strother is Julian Strother neither here nor there and Russell Westberg obviously isn't a three-point shooter

within type of gravity either so I do have worries that if you're not going to be a good shooting team or a good defensive team you have to have some ridiculous ridiculous shot making and Nicole Yokech backpacking to have a chance. And that could happen. He is Nicole Yokic,

which is why they deserve B. But I think to be A, you got to be more of a sure thing with the higher floor. Exactly. You cannot be a tier. You do not have real life uters on your team

and the Nuggets don't have that. So I'm putting them in the game. Or bruising defenders. Or one or the other. You better have fists or uters. They don't got either. Yeah. You can't, yeah, it's hard to envision

your team being one of the best in the NBA. Bad place to do. It's hard to imagine your team just whacks. That's all baby shit. But there were three point shooting wise

they're not wanted to they're clearly like they never been a high boiling three point shooting team but their defense has been what's not carrying them over the last few years especially them during the championship days

but still they figure it out ways to win too because they have one of the best players of all time and their offense has always been like consistently good great. Yeah the 30th and three point volume right now. First and

rim volume they are just fucking dive dive dive dive dive all the cutting yeah which is good it's going well accuracy wise the 13th at the room they were 19th last year so in their championship year there was a second in room efficiency when everything was fully clicking with the spacing and yoke doing his thing feeding all the cutters so that's the difference is the strengths they have aren't quite as potent with a little bit less shooting out there out of these two teams the Milwaukee books or denver nugs who's more likely to turn around no guess the nugget Nuggets have less competition because there's two great teams

in the East and one in the West and the bucks going against these two teams in the East have like Janus is Janus. You know, he's the best player. There's some good Janus defenders on those rosters

that guys that can make it a little bit difficult. If everything we said about the Thunder, they're fantastic. They're not particularly equipped to guard Nicole Yokic unless they try the method that the Timberwell was at last year when they have both Biggs healthy

and put like Hardenside on him with Chet helping. maybe we'll see some crazy but Yokic could wreck some shit in that series and maybe maybe maybe make it interesting and that's why I would put them in a tier solely because there's an actual I said a lot of maybes I said like four

maybes before I said the word interesting you could give me one and a half Mabes bro and I'll be like oh you got it that's it eight tier all right man let's do the next next New York next Donovan would you like to talk about them

I'd like to let you let's go Iso I don't want to talk about this Issa hurry up shoot that shot No, they piss me off. They're pissing me off. I don't want to talk about them. I don't know how to... Too damn bad.

Okay, here's what I would say. I don't think that they could be... They're obviously not as tier, and I don't think that they could be in a tier. I think this is a team that is highly driven by its offense. It is a team that has clear playoff defensive flaws. I think it is a team that has clear bench depth issues. obviously you're not going to play 10 11 guys in the playoffs can you play seven can we get

eight guys that we feel can actually play meaningful minutes and right now it feels like tom it feels like tibs does not want to do that he we have our entire starting five is in top 10 in the NBA in minutes and that in itself does not bother me it bothers me that I do feel like we have willing and able bodies on the bench who in January can play like 20 minutes a night or even 15. It gives these guys some rest and it just won't happen. The Knicks are extremely matchup dependent. They are going to have to have the most optimal path to get to an Eastern Conference finals,

which at this point, I think is the ceiling for them. Their only hope to being a finals team is if Mitchell Robinson comes back, is healthy for the next five months which is a big if and everything clicks immediately and then all of a sudden we get this like Minnesota Timberwolves style defense from last year and you could play too bigs

and all that works. That's the only thing. You know what that sounds like? I don't know because I wasn't listening. Same bro. That's me. I'm just kidding. Well, but all that is true.

You mentioned, I'm kidding, but you mentioned that you don't have a problem with Tibbs doing the whole like Everybody plays top 10 minutes thing. I kind of do. I got a problem with it, and I don't know why everybody else doesn't. I mean, why would you?

We treat it like, oh, Tibbs will be Tibbs. He's going to just, that's what he does. He doesn't like to play his depth, oh well. And it's kind of just become accepted. I feel like it's kind of asinine for a team that has very little depth to just, like, shoot their load in the regular season and put as many minutes on their bodies they have.

when the games don't matter as much yet jalen brunson is durable josh hard's durable all these guys besides o g but these guys are durable sure do you really want to stretch that to his limits like jillan brunson not a big guard i don't know i mean he's it would have shocked you if this wear and tear eventually accumulated and we look up in the playoff setting like damn i wish we kind of fucking bought them some time to have our only five players that matter get a little bit of rest because if you miss even one of those guys and have to put miles mcbride jericho sims wherever cameron And in the lineup, it's not going to be pretty. Like, you really need these guys.

So I don't just accept it because that's what Tibbs does. I think it's kind of crazy. I think it's like, listen, it's, I, it is something that you should like monitor, but also at the same time, yo, like, this is, this is the, this is the way that we play. We try to and win every, every single game. We trust our best players. And I do, I'm kind of, the only reason why I'm upset is because I think that the. There are other people that we can put in position to where they can also get experience and get into a rhythm throughout the season, not necessarily that, you know, we're going to

run these guys into the ground. We've seen Josh Hart play 48 minutes all of, all of last, you know, like nearly every single playoff game. And all of the guys, like, nobody's complaining. They want to play a lot of minutes. Like everything's fine. Of course they do. They're players.

Exactly. Everything's fine on that end. Everything's fine. I'm not doubting it for team chemistry issues. I'm sure they're fucking happy. Who cares? It's more about like doing what's responsible for them. Everybody's happy until they aren't until they have a lot of minutes, a lot of opportunities to twist an ankle, a lot of opportunities to pull a hamstring.

Like the more minutes, the more chance of getting unlucky. The problem is, everyone's happy till they aren't. Now look, if we're up by 20 on somebody and our starters are still in, do I like that? Obviously, no. The problem is we have not been up 20 a lot. The problem is that we're out here scraping out winds. against, you know, against the sixers. We're going into overtime with them when Joel and B.

isn't playing. We let the pistons come, come into the garden. Scraper not losses versus Kay Cunningham. Exactly, exactly. Kay Cunningham has done that. We've had games early on in the season that we 100% should have won. We've had big leads and squandered a lot of them. We saw it against the Thunder.

We've seen it against the Cavs. Any tier of team in the NBA, the Knicks have been able to get up and they have not been able to close the deal. And so in situations where that has, you know, where the idea of rest could present itself hasn't necessarily happened. Because I've seen all of that, because I see that the depth, especially at the big position, is not there until Mitchell Robinson comes back. And again, we have not seen him play since last May.

And he might not play until March. I don't know what that's going to look like. I can't put a very high ceiling on this team. I'm putting them in B tier. At best. At best. At best. Really?

I mean, you think that is a survey? No, I was going to say. see. All right. Relax. We have one of the best offenses in the league and it truly is like a superpower if you will as you like to call it. That offense it clicks whenever it clicks and it clicks fairly often. It's just the defense

that's an issue. Cazin 4. Okay. If you weren't on this episode and if I was just talking to myself right now, I would just I would put them in B tier but because you're here I'd want to put them in D. C highest. But I'll let you wrong. D is just throwing out crazier and crazier tears Where do you want to go with the Houston Rockets?

The two seed out west One of the biggest surprises of the year When we did our predictions for the year We all said they'd make the leap to be in the play-in At least I did, I don't know I think we trusted it I was down on them the most I was down on them the most

Yeah we said they'd be in the playing race We all put like 9 or 10 Because they weren't that last year We said we'll see when it's just fall But they're going to be in that conversation Well they blew through that fucking conversation in like in a week. They really plummeted, I mean, flew to the top of the league.

27 to 13 right now. Second seed, seven games behind OKC. They're probably going to hold on in the top four, at least, off the heels of a ridiculously good defense. Jalen Green is, sorry to tell you this, Donovan, I want you to cover your ears as a Jalen Green hater. It's maybe hard for you to hear. It's a name of a better.

He is on one of the patented Jalen Green heaters. Yes. Circa, 2024, March. He's doing that now. It's January Jalen Green instead of March The difference is He's still attacking the rim really well Like it has all season

Which I don't know if people know this He shoots like 72% at the rim for the year Which is elite That's been an actual improvement But in this heater He's also shooting 40% from 3 Which is usually what happens When he's on these heaters

I don't know if it would continue But it looks pretty fucking good right now And I'm hoping that it continues for him How do you feel both in Donvin? Are they real? Can they win a championship? Absolutely not God damn it I tried

Absolutely not. Win a championship? No. There's no way they win a time. Okay, can they be a tier? Can they be their first eight year team? No, they can't. No, they cannot be a tier.

They can't. This is one of the NBA seasons where like, we're extremely like, it's a top heavy season, all the teams that are supposed to be good or just mucked up for whatever reason. And the Houston Rockets, they're blessed. They're one of those teams that are just way ahead of the schedule. They figure out their identity and they're ahead of the curve because of that. But let's be.

real here. If your playoff contention, championship contention is contention on Jalen Green and consistency, you cannot be a tier for me, brother. You cannot be a tier. Now, I'll put them in a tier if Alfred Sengoon was having like a genuine all-star season averaging like 24, 25 a game, but he's not doing that. He's kind of falling off offensively. The touch isn't what it nearly used to be. Of course, he's been performing harder on defense and that's like attributed to. to this team being better on that end, of course. But Sangoon isn't necessarily a force as much as I would want him to be

or a staple or one of the genuine top three, four, five best centers in the entire NBA just yet. Because of that, I think I feel comfortable putting him at beat because there's a real world in which we can envision them getting like knocked out in the first round.

Sure, but I mean, part of this is projection, but we also can't just ignore what's happening in the regular season. Like, it's so easy to just be like, oh, have me to do it before. They can't be there right now. They're top 10 in offense and defense. If we can put the fucking Knicks and B

because they are great offensively and mediocre at best defensively and someone like the Rockets can be second seed and do nothing but win, do nothing but what's asked of them, be an elite defense that will translate to the playoffs. Their defensive talent is utterly ridiculous and be eighth in offense

despite the structural issues they have on the team. Since they added a man Thompson to the starting lineup, which is never going to change, by the way. I hope Javari Smith is ready to speak bench because he's not going anywhere Men Thompson. He's going to continue to start. That's a big part of why Jaylon Green's having a big run. Demoted. It's not just Jalen Green

just fucking flip the switch to March Jalen Green. A men Thompson is the perfect person next to him. His life has been much easier with the men there. He's fucking fantastic. They are top ten in offense. And I feel like if we don't reward this team with A, it's like are we just voting on what we thought before the season started? Like we're just kind of fighting,

we're just not acknowledging anything they've shown us. No, what is their ceiling? What is their ceiling? I mean, out West, I mean, would you be shocked if they're in the conference finals? Okay. I would be shocked. I would be shocked. One, yes, I would be shocked if they were in the conference finals.

However, that is their ceiling. There's absolutely no way that they make the finals. That's like, I think we can all agree on that. That is not. There's no way that anything that's not okay C makes the finals. So if we play this game, we're not comfortable by any team besides maybe the Mavs. But like, if you do this. Okay.

So they have to go through in order to get to, to the finals and contend for a championship, they have to go through the best team in the NBA at minimum and then they would have to go through they would have to go through Niccoliokish. They would have to go through Alucca Donchish. They would have to go through all these other teams.

The path is very hard. And then also, yes, I believe in their defense. I think that they are very, very good. I still have a lot of questions about their late game execution. And we saw about like, we saw about a month ago in the closest you can get

to play off basketball in like in the in the in the emirates NBA cup against against oh my god they were thrashing them the game gets to to the last five minutes you start see you start to see their offense bogged down i even last even last night against the sacramento kings you get to to the last couple of minutes off offensively they they made shots but the decision making was still a little a little bit off and you can see you can see a little bit of of the youth, you can see a little bit of their offensive struggles when not a lot of like, when they don't have a lot of A tier creators. And so I do agree with Mo that if you are betting on Sangoon and consistency from Jalen Green to get you to that next level, I don't think that that's

a smart bet. And so I would put them in because of that. I'm not, I'm not arguing that they're going to be in the finals. I'm just saying shouldn't we have some kind of like quality of team difference in these tiers? You could put them towards like the top of B tier if you want. That's fine. Yeah. We look at a team like the bucks in the. the Nuggets who have done nothing of consistency compared to the Rockets. They have the first and second best player in the entire NBA. Meanwhile, the Houston Rockets have like maybe the 40th, 305th best player in the NBA.

So that's where like the disparity is. No, I understand it. I'm out of voted so they'll be beatier. It just, it just looks funny to not. It does. I hate it. Care about with the regular season at all. Like, what are we talking about?

I agree with you. It's not, not caring. But to not. I just need some... Put it into the equation, whatever word you want to use. Maybe you care, but clearly you don't care very much

compared to versus projecting to the playoffs, which I understand. That is the point list. So I'm not... I'm not fighting... I'm not calling... I see this team and I can see them like...

You are literally calling them frauds. ...success. Yes, you are. How? If you're saying the two seed has no chance of making the conference finals, you are effectively calling them frauds. The two seed is a fraud.

We're not necessarily calling them frauds. I'm just looking at their dollar bill. I'm just like, yeah, this might be counterfeit. This might be... Okay, so, okay, Mo, okay, that's like, that's like, it might be, I'm testing you. I'm not, I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that. Obviously, you're not using that verbiage because you don't hate the players on this team,

so you decide to have to call, to be that dramatic about it. But if you're saying the two seed has absolutely no chance in the conference finals, you are effectively saying they are fraudulent two seed, that they are not worthy, their quality of team in the playoffs is not worthy of that two seed. Not necessarily, because I don't, so one, I don't think that, I don't think that their losses or I don't think that their wins have come in a fraudulent manner. Like, if you looked at, if you looked at where the, the Bucks were at the start of last season, and the Bucks had a decent record before they were, before they fired Adrian Griffin.

And they were, they were pretty high up. They were winning. They had like 30 games at 30 wins at a certain point. I looked at that record. And everything that the Milwaukee Bucks did, I was like, this is a sham. I don't believe in anything. I don't believe in any of it. I am beastly.

The Rockets, I legitimately do believe in their defense. However, I think that their flaw offensively drops them because I do think that it is a big enough flaw to where when you play other teams in that conference, that is going to be a deciding factor. Yes, that's what it is. And for me, if they had a singular, like, super trust worthy offensive force or ends it on their team, that I'll be like, yes, I'll grant them. If they had something like a jam or rant or something like that,

yes, I'll grant them A, because this is a player who I can trust, he's like a security bank and I can trust in him in my offense whenever things get, like really hard and really tough. I want to feel safe with my team's in A and S tier. I understand. I won't be, listen, if the playoffs started today, I wouldn't be out here predicting a deep raucous run, so I get it.

I'm not going to, we can go B. I'm more so arguing in principle for the idea of respecting regular season in these tiers, just because if we don't, we're gonna like, we're just really just picking the best players because we're like, oh, that wins in the playoffs.

And then we get a version of the suns last year where we're surely the best off the dribble shooters will win in the playoffs. Then they get their asses whoop by a team that had a good regular season, but we doubted them in the playoffs. We have two ones and a two seed in the S tier.

We're clearly giving credence to the regular season. Sure, because we believe in those guys for the reasons I just said because they have two of my top five players and two, and the other ones on pace for 70 wins. So we gotta go S tier.

The calves. But the calves are a team, the cabs are a team who, like most said when we were talking about them, the last two years, flimsy in the light, looking counterfeit. Yeah, we are looking at 70 wins, 70 wins, it's still be like, ah, you're fraudulent, right? If there's anybody who's going to call somebody fraudulent, it's me. And the fact that we're like, we're out here giving them respect, it's okay. Like, the Rockets just aren't on that level. Okay, that's fine. Listen, I get, I'm not super pro-Rocket, so I get it.

But they're not fraudulent. respect. Guns with the back of your head, Isaac, you alluded to this like 30, 40 minutes ago. The Lakers face like Houston Rockets in the first round. Who are you taking? Guns with the back of the back of the back. I'm ready to let it spray.

What's you saying? So the next thing, I think we should talk about. We have to get more graphic every time. No, he's saying, what if I fucking pull your screen through your ears? The two flame throwers up to your eye. What if I surgically remove your organs? What are you going to do?

where do you guys want to go with the phoenix suns really do they belong to be here i mean they got kd and book we're putting teams on here if it's their clear goal to contend if they're obviously all bought in to win now mode you have to put them on this list for intent they're motherfucking f tier right now they are making moves

acting or not even acting but they are making moves hoping that Nick Richards is your savior Oh my God If that is the way that you operate You are an F tier contenders They just traded like four or five For a second round picks for Nick Richard That's all they had to

Josh Okie Officially broke bro Empty the clip To go from the 30th The credit card is back to the 29 And at the end of the day But yes you're right Isaac they went from the 30th

Best Center in the league So now the 29th They got better in any way that they could and I commend them to that but at the end of the day they're the sons they're absolutely

I commend them for that great yeah you got better bro congrats good job James Jones you're trading more picks lovely you never did that before this is what every team strives

to be bro so yeah they're after goodness I thought this team would be good during the preseason I was fooled listen my my takeaway from this team is I will never ever ever ever again pay attention to preseason basketball

because I thought they'd be fine and then preseason came around and I ended up putting them above the Grizzlies because I was fooled by the new offensive system that Bud brought in by the clear intent to up the three-point volume, the seemingly better defensive personnel around them, the seemingly better playmaking across the roster.

I was fooled by all this to think that all these things I named could get the best of this big three of scores. Turns out that Mike Budenhouser is not Jesus Christ. He cannot turn water to wine. He cannot turn Bradley Bill into a defender. He cannot change a terrible team to being good because if a roster is broken

and roster's broken, it's the worst big three of all time, and they are earth-shatteringly mid. They're 20-and-20. Say the line. Mike Bouda-hosa is not your savior. He is not. He's not your savior. I, yeah.

At this point, they're not even interesting to talk about, because every time we talk about them, we're just like, yeah. It's a heartening, bro. It's a disaster. It's not fun. As time goes on, it just feels more and more sad and sad and sad. Saturdays just bleaker and bleaker, bro. It got to the point to where you had to like,

everyone knew like Yus of Nurk it sucked, but he sucks to the point where he can't get in all minutes, right? He put up donuts. Now Sun's fans are in frenzy because he unfollowed Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. That's what you're upset about. Oh, shit. God, damn, bro.

That's real. That's real. Teams are in shambles. Meanwhile, meanwhile, Matt Ishby is upstairs just screaming at himself in the mirror like, who has it better than us? Nobody.

Who has cheaper hot dogs and hamburgers? Tell me right now. I will feed you. Yeah. He's like fucking drawing the Joker makeup on his face. They hate us because they ain't us. Top tier delusion. I love it.

Yeah, they say. Let's double down. F tier we're putting the Golden State Warriors. Another team that's clearly trying to win. Are they? Apparently not. They actually have been on an embarrassing media rollout in which after, after a Steph Curry made comments in the media about being worried about the feature of the team and how he wants to be here forever, but he doesn't know if whatever, yada, he threw thinly veiled criticisms to most is ever given because he's a trooper to the core, loyal to the soil.

As soon as that happened, Steph Curry, Graham-on-Green, and Steve Kerr all went out of their way to go to the media and say, we don't think we should mortgage the future either. We're in line with Mike Dunleavy Jr. We think he is doing just fine as the GM of my good franchise that I want future ownership in. and they have towed the company line, said all the right things. Apparently they don't want to make trades either. So what I'm hearing is they're following being mid from top to bottom of the organization. So they got to be fine with being F tier

because this team's fucking terrible. What the hell does that mean, bro? I hate this type of language that's coming out of all these guys' mouths. I understand it a little bit because it's like, okay, you don't want a mortgage off your future to throw away the next eight, nine years

of your, of the fucking year in existence. But that's not going to happen. And that's insane hyperbole. And then also on top of that, too. It's not just hyperbole. It's fucking manipulative. Who is suggesting they fucking mortgage the future? Nobody is saying trade the world for LeBron James.

Like we're talking about maybe trade comminga. Yeah, Caminga is not the future. Caminga is not an MVP in the making. And even if that is the case, if you think he is going to be a star, by all power to you go ahead. We're just saying, make a small trade. Trade a first round pick for the first time ever. Trade somebody, do something.

Like, it's not do everything. it's give us a fucking shred of hope. Yeah, and if anybody deserves it, it's Steph Curry, because for the last, I don't know how many years, I guess, like 13, 12 years or whatever of his NBA career that he's given to the Golden State Warriors, whatever they

look forward to in the next 10 years, doesn't fucking matter. The next three years, it's what's most important for the rest of their existence in the Steph Curry era. And they owe it to him to try to get better by any, even in the most minute way possible. now see the thing is if you just say we shouldn't trade every single pick possible in one trade

they can't disagree with you they got to say you're right because yeah you shouldn't trade every single pick possible is this it's clear it's up it's the easy way to win every arguments get these dudes off the screen man i don't want to talk about them who else belongs anybody any other bottom features you guys want to mention oh the the 10% they should be an F tier with them whoa okay come on come on come the fuck they're like there's no way Absolutely no way that the Timberwolves win a playoff series It's not having

No way There is, they can win Oh actually I don't know They can be the 18 maybe No they cannot win a series Hold the fuck on What if they get the 7C And they play the Rockets

Mr. I don't think the Rockets Will necessarily translate Because like it makes a Cution Could the Timberwolves be the Rockets in a first round series? No What? Like there's zero chances

Less than 10% There's a chance Effectively zero I think they're D And you can tell me everything you want About the Timberwolves and why you hate them I'll give you that time too I'll give you space to tell me about the Timberwolves being garbage

I won't disagree But I will say I don't care Because I'm of the belief that the sons and the warriors Are a special level of pitiful That deserve a tiered themselves So even if you want to convince me The Timberwolves are F tier quality And if you succeed in that and I do agree with you

That they're just as bad I'll still tell you I don't care Because I'm not putting anybody in the same tier of pitifulness. All right, well, let me tell you why they suck. So I think that the Tim Wolves are awful because they are clearly the fit between Anthony Edwards and Julius Randall. No, no, no, don't put them in D yet.

Don't put them in D yet. Go ahead. Keep talking. Keep talking. Anyways, the fit between the fit between Ant and Julius Randall is not one that is good. They struggle so much. One of their best things, one of the best things that they can do is to not have Julius Randall out there. And when you have it, right, and to have Nasreid in that, in that space.

And when you have a $35 million a year player, you have somebody taking up that much of your resources to go out and do anything else, it is not, that is not optimal for a team that wants to win a series. The deadline is about three weeks away. Nobody is trading for Julius Randall. That is not good. The vibes since day one have been completely off from this team. Andy Edwards has not only had to deal with bad spacing. He has had to go out and try to create his own spacing. Anthony Edwards, one of the most athletic guards in the league right now,

one of the best slashing guards in the league right now, had to say, hey, I'm going to come out here. I'm going to take mad threes a night. Granted, he's doing it well. shout out to him, right? He's just good like that. But he's had, he's had to completely change his game to accommodate Julius Randall and Rudy Gobert. And Mike Conley, who is still, even though that, you know, he's on the bench, it's still a part of their rotation. Listen, man, when it's gone, it's gone. And I'm sorry, it has left. It's time for Mike Conley

to put on the sweatsuit and get a clipboard. He has to go into coaching. The player life is not for him anymore. And you look at the, you look at the Timberwolves and you look at everything that they have. Julius Randall, negative on this team. He is a negative. Mike Conley, not giving you anything. You have about five to six guys that are actually in your rotation. Jada McDaniels, who they have needed to step up for years is not stepping up. Rudy Gobert, listen, Rudy, you get to live today because I'm not going to go crazy. But you understand the limitations offensively that you have with Rudy Gaubert at your five. I don't think that there is any way

that the Tim Wolves win a series and if they play the Rockets in the first round, they get beat in five games and the Rockets will lock them up. Wow. I hear you. I see you.

I'm once again giving you space and if I was Chris Finch, I'd look in the eyes and say, we're not the Warriors, though. We're one to be above them. You know, these arguments are so lopsided. Isaac, you're entirely basing it off of just how ass and how much in the hell

the Phoenix Suns and Warriors are. and Donovan actually has real static with how just the season has played out for this team? No, I have a reason to. I have no reasons. The Warriors are devoid of hope unless they make a move.

There is no formation of this team that can get them to being beatier or higher, I think. The Timberwolves are one Julius Randall turned ankle away from starting Nazareth to the four. You're watching the worst on this scene for it in order to turn around.

I don't want it. I wasn't to trade Julius Randall. I don't want everybody to stay fully healthy and have a prosperous career as an athlete that has a limited shelf life that injuries make it worse, they should be healthy. If Julius Randall misses even a little bit of time, this team is going to start Nasreid and look like they did last year because they're going to have the right spacing out there.

That lineup has a very good net rating. Another good lineup they have is whenever they play Jamie McDaniels at the four with Gobert, and then they have Nikiel Alexander Walker, Dante Divenzo and Anthony Edwards out there. They have strong lineups that give me faith that whether it's benching Randall one day, whether it's

getting blessed by some missed time and seeing the better version, whether it's maybe a trade. They have a path to success in a way that makes your team makes sense because they have life in certain lineups. And even if not, they are mid. Mid teams can have good runs. We could look up and they could be on the

past two weeks of patience have been on. And we could look up and say, hey, Timberwolves just went seven and three. Now they're the seven seed. Now things are competent. They have that in them when they have the talent they have. The Warriors don't have that ceiling because they're devoid of talent. The Timberwolves have a little ember in there. The fire isn't fully out.

The ember's there. If I blow in it the right way and catch the wind, I can get a decent little stretch that gives them life. And you'd say, okay, they're a better off situation in the Warriors. The T-Wor just lost at home to the Warriors. I cannot see. Yes, cool. That's a random ass game. I simply don't see.

But at the end of it, I hear you. I don't understand you. but at the end of the day like the war just don't have the framework and the Minnesota Timberwolves do there's a I agree with Trouser they belong to you they belong to

they have the same floor you're right I understand they just have I can envision a world where the ceiling slightly better and I don't fill away about the tons I think if you're F tier you had to be completely entirely 100%

fucked that there's really no world in which any of us believe as currently constituted you can do something of meaning there is no way currently constructed that they would do anything of meaning that is not happening

with the Timber Wolf. Take it off the board. They are not doing anything. No. I respect your passion, but go to hell. No. What do you want to go with the Dallas Mavericks?

Sorry, y'all voted. Oh my goodness. I'm staying out. I'm kind of bought back in on the bucks. I promise you right now, I'm staying out on Minnesota. I don't blame you. I'm not even in on them.

I'm just super out on the two teams on the bottom. Yeah. I'm mega out. Yeah, in terms of what the cheer list is, they deserve to be in D for that reason. What about the Dallas Mavericks Mo? Where do you want to put them? Such a weird team, such a weird season.

Solely because of health. When I look at the team, I'm happy with what you get, with what you got, all the off-season signings when it comes to Najee Marshall. He's been performing exactly how you envision him performing when it comes to what he is defensively giving you a lot of the same things that Derek Jones Jr. did. But the thing about Najee Marco is that he, Najee Marshall is that he has actual, you know, he has layers to his game, can attack a close out.

He's a better shooter and all. that compared to Derek Jones Jr. And that's kind of like alleviates. That makes our offense a little bit more complicated, you know, a little bit less predictable, which is so needed for the type of franchise that they're, for the type of players they're building your franchise around. And that along with Quentin Grimes doing his thing too,

he's going to get a fat ass bag next season. They're finally starting Derek lively Jr. I think if Luke was healthy, I would want to put them in a tier and eventually it was going to be back. So I'm just going to put them in a tier. It's an interesting dilemma here. They are, like for the reasons you said, they have a better supporting cast in last year. And next year, live with development, he's a full-time starter.

PJ Washington is still very good and scales up when needed. Nigel Marshall gives them a little bit more creation from a guy that's a corner sitter. He can attack closeouts and create a bucket when needed bench lineups. And Clay Thompson has given them some good spacing to their lineups, even though he's obviously inconsistent. They're meaningfully better. At some point, presumably they'll have Luca and Kyrie back. maybe things keep going bad injury wise we can't predict that

because we know Lucas is not out for the season and we'll probably play himself back in his shape and be Luca come playoff time I feel good assuming they'll be A tier pretty easily but do we they are the 7th seed do we have to you know give credence to what's happened so far

or can we because it's injuries can we just put out of thinking caps on and put them at A tier oh man this is nasty conversation that we might be having and we might look like hypocrites a little bit yeah like Rockets fans might see this and be like you're putting the fucking seven seat above us.

I'm going to kill myself. But for a playoff setting, obviously we'd have more faith in the Mavs, but how much you got some of a balanced projection versus what's going on? It's all projection. I'm putting them in 18. I don't care.

They have one of the four best players on the planet. And clearly, they're not, they're not the seven, they're not the seven seed because they suck. They're the seven seed because they've been hit with mad injuries and because one of the four best players on the planet has missed a bunch of time. That's why.

That's why, when Luca is there and when Kyrie is there and they are together, this team is, this team is hoopin. So no, I'm not going to. I just wanted to pose. I wanted to acknowledge the elephant in the room that it looks hilarious, but I 100% agree. I'm so in on the maps. Ask Rocket fans this. If they played the Mavericks in the first round, would you be scared? I don't want to ask Rockets fans anything.

They're going to yell at us regardless. I don't really give a shit about them. I just want to throw it out there from a talking point. No, no, whatever. Put the Mavs in 18. Yeah, the Mavs. I'm so comfortable with this because of what you said, literally I don't feel negative

by any single element of their game besides injury health. I think if they were healthy right now, they would be the two seed and they would clearly be the second best team in the West. Yes, is this bias? Because I predicted they'd be a two seed before the season started and I want to hold on to maybe being right about them.

Of course it is. Am I going to do anything different than put them in the A seed? No, no, they're A tier. I don't care. The only way I could envision this team being below A tier is if like some parts, like if Clay Thompson really wasn't working out,

Naji Marshall was having a really, really poor shooting season if PJ Washington was hippy you know, I would not. I'd probably put them in Beecher because serious things went on and Luca isn't a fucking like he isn't a fucking God

but we can't fix everything. Yeah. But thankfully everything is working out. Everyone's meeting expectations except for Clay a little bit but Clay's gonna do what Clay's gonna do what Clay does. Everything's gonna work out.

I think Clay's gonna totally fine. Okay. Where do you want to go with the Grizzlies? The three seed out west. They have a very unique style of play. They've really moved towards this egalitarian, not pounding the rock. They've equipped their offense to survive without John Morant.

They run very little pick and roll. Every single person in one through five can attack a closeout, can drive, create, keep the ball pushing to others. Their top 10 offense, top 10 defense. But we've seen some up and down John Morant games lately as he tries to adjust to that life in this new system that doesn't quite prioritize them enough. We've also seen Jaron Jackson kind of fill that void and be the number one scoring option. It's a very new look, Grizzlies team. how do you guys see that going in the playoffs Houston Rockets fans are going to hate us

because just a couple of nights ago we've seen the Houston Rockets put fist on the Memphis Grizzlies not really Fist was a close game but I'm still going I think the Memphis Grizzies are a tier above the Houston Rockets and they probably belong in a tier they probably belong in a tier

they're a more complete version of that team yeah you can see the Grizzlies translating a little bit better to the playoffs and the Rockets yeah yeah I guess that's fine they're game and a half removed two and three so in terms of regular season credence they are very similar the rockets have one more win i think it's fine if the difference between that is you project them to fit a little bit better i i do wonder how the style plays in a go like it is very like power of friendship it works very good for the regular

season it's beautiful game stuff you have to really be clicking you have to those principles you installed i guess a lack of pick and roll play everybody drives and kicks and is on a string making the right rotations filling the right spaces offensively that can go really really good or really bad. If you play a team that it really hones in on that, like maybe the Rockets and their crazy defense, you could see a world where they kind of like crumble because of that strength that becomes a weakness

all of a sudden. I think they might have some variance in the playoffs, as I'm trying to say. And that's fair. Like, I think a lot of stuff in the playoffs is really matchup dependent. But I think the Grizzlies, the fact that they're playing this way doesn't necessarily scare me because

I think that one, to do it, To play the style of basketball correctly, the vibes need to be high. And outside of, you know, the stints where John Morant has not been on the floor for outside reasons, the vibes have always been high in Memphis. And they've always felt like a really connected team. Their depth has always performed. And they've always been able to find guys to come in and play roles that they have asked them to do.

So I think that that's fine. And then even you talk about scaling up or you talk about the playoffs, I think it's easier for them to scale up and ask John. Morant, hey, we're actually going to need you to go get 30. We're going to put the ball in your hands a little bit more. We might run a little bit more pick and roll. That's okay because now this entire season, now we have John Morant running pick and roll and we can have Jerry Jackson doing it.

And he has had time to elevate himself offensively to where that duo is now a like serious, serious threat in the playoffs. And so they're a team that has a lot of depth. They have an identity, which matters. they have some playoff experience, they have the guy in Jai. Yes. And Jaron Jackson, like you said, is taking that leap. They have a lot of things going for them.

So I would put them in a tier. Yeah, I have a lot less questions about the Memphis Grizzies than I do about any other team in B tier. Like obviously the Milwaukee Bucks and the Denver Nuggets, they have two of the best players in the entire NBA. The New York Knicks have one of the best offenses that the entire NBA has to offer, but their defense is like completely trash. And as for the Houston Rockets, one of the best players. one of the best defenses in the NBA, but going back to what you said, Isaac, about, like, variance and your worries with the Memphis Grizzlies, I can tie back to the Houston Rockins and how, like, they have, like, the most insane variance for the top-seeded teams in the entire NBA. And for that reason, that's why I feel a lot better with the Memphis Grizzlies. Yeah, aesthetically, I understand what the issues, I think both teams could encounter similar issues in a playoff setting for different reasons.

and I think it's easier to overlook the ones the Grizzlies have. I don't feel that that different reality, but I can understand why we do feel that way. And I also think the Grizzlies have a little more versatility that could end up going well for them. Jaron's offensive leap could become really, really important in a playoff series. The presence of Eadie, if they get him going. He's been up and down because he went out with injury,

but before he went hurt, he looked really good. And, you know, his presence gives him ability to go big with him and Jaron playing together, or they go just Jaron at center, or they go to Brandon Clark at center for some lineups. like they have a lot of different ways they can play that really I think is important for a playoff series to have versatility

some of the best teams in the league that I really really respect like the Cavs and the Thunder have that ability to have Versal Big specifically I think the Grizzies have the same advantage so yeah I guess it's fine okay cool I like it I like it do you put the clippers on this list

they're a casually the five casually the five seed Kwai Leonard is casually playing basketball again looking pretty fucking good looking handle the ball extremely well getting his fucking buckets in these limited minutes if Kauai is healthy

again we've overlooked the Clippers all year because we didn't expect him to be able to stay afloat without Kauai and they've done more than that as the five seed like I don't think we've talked enough about how outrageously wronged it proved everybody and if Kauai is going to be back again a healthy Kauai

is like we're betting on the wind and like it's a social construct but if he is healthy they're going to be dangerous. as hell. Like, they're kind of, right now it would be Nuggets first clippers in the first round. I can tell you as a Yokish fan, I would not be excited about

that. Yeah, I mean, even without like a healthy Kauai, they would just be like a very, very, very annoying team to deal with because of the style basketball that they play and they are like in general defensive minded. If Kauai was healthy, then I would probably put them in B tier.

Because there is an actual way, pathway specifically for them to upset a team and just like genuinely like, not make a run. Kauai is healthy. He's here now. So what? I don't know how consistent that is going to be.

And because of the scar trauma that I have, I want to put them in C-tier. They belong in C-tier. Okay. That's fair. Stop it. If Kauai was a normal human being with normal legs, they would definitely be B-tier. But I think C is fine just because we have to apply the Kauai tax where there's history says he won't be there.

We leave the door open because if he is, they have the ceiling that needs to be respected. But because history says that, they can't be hired and see. Yeah. If James Hardin was like more. efficient than I was like then I would probably be like okay you can cohorts me to put them in in B tier because James Turner is playing like peak not peak James Martin basketball but something close to that then I'd be like yeah for show but they're the fifth seed and no one's talking about anyone on this team being a all star at all donovan wants to hate really bad I'm not going to

let them how do you guys want to handle the magic who they are good right now through the five seed they have not played a single game where palo van care was playing at his new star level and so was Franz Wagner. We've seen them do it separately. We feel decent, us personally, about the fact that they can probably click at the same time when they're both healthy,

both playing at this new all-star level, but it's entirely imagination. We haven't seen a single game of it. So any equity we put in a championship ceiling or a conference final ceiling is entirely made up and projected. What do we do with that? We let our imagination run wild

and we put them in a tier. What? Eight tier is crazy glaze. No, realistically, they're probably in B tier. I see, that's what we're getting back to. We look at it to you like the Rockets. Okay, they can't be Beatty either. Let's be real.

They can't be beat. If we look at the Rockets and say everything's done is great, we're putting imagination next to you. Come on now. That music has been playing too much. Such is life. I don't make the rules. I just follow them.

I'm sorry. You have not been to the playoffs in years. You are telling me to bet on. on a Jalen Green heater to take you to the promised land. I've seen the year after year after year. He gets on a heater, then goes on a colder. I'm not doing it. I'm not doing this, man.

Well, if we want to do that, I've seen year after year after year. Franz Wagner can't shoot in the playoffs. Franz Wagner doesn't shoot well next to Palo. Year after year. I don't believe that. I don't believe that. But we're putting a certain amount of trust into their upside. Palo's out here getting 30 last year.

Again, if Palo plays at his normal level and continues to be at this new. found superstar and franz comes back and plays the same way he did before i could see them having an a top of ceiling if we get 25 30 games or then to prove it but i can see a lot of things and i haven't seen it a single single game if it's literally zero seconds of proven basketball i feel like they got to be c but we acknowledge that when they're healthy they'll probably be b or a here's my here's my thing because first all you thought you got me by not giving me the chance if the if the magic r and c the clippers have to be indeed i we just have to

What the hell? Do you want to put the fifth seed indeed? Outrage. The fifth seed. That's ridiculous. I think, I think what you just said makes no fucking sense. Because I think the clippers are pure imagination.

A healthy Kauai is so far been proven unreal. And we're hoping it happens. A healthy magic has literally not happened. We're hoping it happens and we're hoping Franz can be a star next to Palo. There are both equal amounts of hope in a ceiling that we have not seen at all. That to me screams same tier. the fact that you would see those two teams and say one has to be lower, what are we talking about?

They're the same situation. First of all, a lot of things that you said, and here's what I'm going to say. One, one, when we talk about the Orlando Magic, we are talking about a team that has Palo who we've seen in a playoff setting before and has strived. We've seen Franz Wagner this season take a step forward.

Have we seen it next to Palo? Hold up. when we talk about the when we talk about about the clippers there are two things that you are banking on one is koai leonard going to be there koai leonard has played two or no he's played four playoff games in the last two years he has gotten hurt every single year that the clippers need him i want to throw that striking from the record kawai leon is not to be to be trusted in terms of being there when it counts two we are talking about a james hardin led team and even though that james hardin is playing well. James Hardin, it's not like James Hardin is like massively efficient this year.

James Hardin is doing what he needs to do to help them get wins. But we are talking about once again a James Hardin led team that is already not riding at peak efficiency. So his drop off is not going to be the same that it's been in years past where it's been, oh, we've got a really good regular season Hardin and then he dropped down to a certain level. He's already at that level. Now we're going to get to the playoffs and we're going to see James Hardin be James Hardin. So why did you guys see this video of Isaiah Stewart laughing at Miles Turner for playing with Legos? I did see what that was- You play with Legos! You play with Legos! That was hilarious. Put the Clippers in B.

They-D was one of my favorite players. Put the Clippers in D. Hey, Mo, do we want to throw Donovan a bone? He hasn't gotten anything he wants this episode and it's been quite funny. Do we want to continue to jump his ass? Or do we want to give him a bone and put the magic in B? either put the magic in B or the Clippers in C and D. I'd rather have the Clippers in D than Magic and B. You know he wins out for you. Yeah, exactly. If I have to pick one and which one is actually like more realistic.

Because obviously we are, we are expecting a lot of stuff from the magic. And like you said, it would be kind of disrespectful to put them in the same tier as the Rockets who have proven a lot and have a nice body of work. But again, so do the Clippers this season though, too. but okay so I think you just admitted that you just admitted that so we're not changing the shit there we go this is the tier list we're banking on day party's body of work in the Orlando magic in the same sentence what are you saying banking for we're not banking on jack shit they're in C tier we're not exactly calling it as like some clippers run going I don't expect none but disappointment that's it you have a chance to be you're expecting disappointment and you want

to put them in C put them in D okay first of all you were just talking about how the Timberwolves are like the shit beneath my shoe and you want to tell us to put him in the same tier or anywhere close to it no again well if it was my tier list alone the timbles would be in lost and then it's our tierless that's what i'm saying so i'm trying to convince y'all but you but for real like you guys are how he trying to put Kawhi leon and james hard in in 2025 as a c tier contender there's no way so how we're feeling mo is this a perfect tierless mo why are we doing this okay c cleveland boston and s tier eight tier we got the dallas mavericks Memphis Grizzlies.

See, I told you all a couple of weeks ago. I felt like it was y'all too against me and I didn't like the way the game was going. And clearly, Clippers, HR did not have the conversation with you guys.

D tier, Timberwolves and F. Sons and Warriors, this is again. I hope the Clippers gets sweat. I really do. I really do. Y'all don't understand

what I've done. Now you got a worse. You guys have turned my hate up for the Clippers even more. I hope they lose it. I hope they lose in the plan. I really. funny as soon as that happens you're gonna come up here like i told you y'all y'all fucking clippers

you're like get your man's as if i give a fuck about the clippers no no from this point on that is your man's no that is your guy no that is y'all's collective man go get go get your man's we do not rock with the clippers like that no we just don't hate them no you and zubach i just think it's late night zubage zubbiz be texting you you on your tummy kicking your feet that's your man's that's your man's now you do me a favor can you transition to us at ticot time oh my god we are looking at another suspension but it's okay this is the perfect tier list crowd eaters oh shit are we going to be able to rejoice like in a couple of days for now this might be the last time we rejoice because

it might be over but regardless oh yeah this the last ticot time of ticot what are we going to rename this we're going to have to rename this segment once they ban this shit and once you guys all got to watch on youtube comment below what you want to rename ticot time to Maybe we'll pick it from there. Maybe if you guys have a good enough recommendation, we'll go with it. We've seen Crowley in the corner before as a suggestion. That's a pretty good one. So we'll see you guys want up that.

For the last time, Crown Eaters, rejoice. This is for you for maybe the last time. Shows not going anywhere. I just got to call something else. Welcome to TikTok time. Once again, we're going to begin with a draft. And this time we're going to do a draft Building a player

With only skills from players Who aren't starters Strictly bench guys Okay Deep cuts Again the weed with this one a little bit I like this Yeah normally we do these

Build a player drafts It's always like everyone's a god Because we have straight Superstar traits This time you know Good players on this list Switch it up No All-Stars

So we gotta really flex that knowledge A little bit And make some good team building All right Let's do this Let's see who's in nowhere So draft order It's me, Donovan Moe

I got first pick To start this off Give me a Sarr Thompson's body Okay I'm one of the best athletes in the NBA I can't take a men anymore So give me his twin Okay

Sounds good Sounds good For defense First team I would like Alex Caruso's defense You can have it Okay No balls on my team

All right So for shooting Give me Peyton Pritchard Oh, that's a good one, okay Give me the Uyrs And then you know what Let's go white on white for playmaking Give me T.D McConnell

There we go You have a type You're ready You have an archetype you're looking through Yeah Here we go I hope you see it through to the end please please

all right for playmaking give me give me scotty pippin junior for playmaking okay all right that's fine

he has some a lot of biggest games this year yeah for shooting give me give me my sunshine give me Jared McCain

shooting ah is he what I mean is he he didn't know he wasn't starting I mean, he was starting a good amount. Did he, I think the really, if he, if he, let me check.

Did he start more games than he sat on the bench? I'm gonna, I'm checking that right now. We're getting a fact check right now. Jeremy came. He played in 23 games. And he only started temporarily. He wasn't starting when he got hurt. Oh my God.

This guy is far. He's trying to find all the holes in the game. Okay. Okay. He filled in starting when people got hurt, but he's the person starter. You're valid. All right. I was upset that he wasn't a starter.

I vividly remember, but why do they? Bench him. Valid. So give me his shooting. Why, Siri talking to me. And then give me Jonathan Camingo's finishing.

But one thing he does well, he dives to that rim. Give it to me. Fuck. Okay. Damn. All right. All right.

For body? For body, put Alex Caruso's defense in Jonathan Isaac's body. Okay. I feel like that's just Jonathan Isaac. I feel like your father hasn't changed that much. Okay. That's fine. Okay.

I don't know. Your knees don't work either. You can't play more than five games in a row. This is obviously best case scenario. I think best case scenario is like six games in a row. Relax. Relax. I turn injuries off on 2K if we make the play.

all right so for finishing give me obi topping damn that's a good one yeah all you pick my finishing okay that's my backup

so greets it's a great pick great pick great pick and then for defense give me Nikiel Alexander Walker I was wondering

what to pick with him he's been really good all year like everything yeah he was so all around okay how do I want to play this For shooting, I do have a lot of options. You know what?

Here's what we're going to do. We are going to take my homie, Mr. Derry Bird, A.J. Green shooting. Okay. That's quality. I'm the only one without a white shooter. Is that giving me, that knock points off of me? Probably.

Damn. Shit. Okay. Give me Tari Easton defense. and Lonzo ball passing Lonzo just started starting too okay you got away with this

you barely got away I messed up because I was going to take Tari finishing I want to damn it yep yep my guy's a fucking demon that sucks Asar's body

decent defense straight motor he's a fucking hedgehog he's run up and down the court like a madman I have no idea where I want to go with this anymore. I don't know.

Finishing? Maybe you could I don't know. Thinking a little Daniel Russell. I don't know. Duncan Robinson. I'm thinking Jackson Hayes.

Mm. Hey. You know what? Yeah, do it. I'm not going to take Jackson Hayes. Do it. I'm not going to take Jackson Hayes. But I am going to show some love

to a very, very underrated finisher. Give me my boy. I just want the vertical for finishing. Give me Jericho Sims finishing. Oh my gosh. He doesn't finish anything. He's told not to.

You're not hitting a single lamp, but if I throw you a lob, you're going to catch it. That's all I want. If I can shoot like AJ Green, it's okay. Does the body give you the vertical? If you take away Jericho Sims and give him some broken knees, he might be useless. No, no, no, no. The finishing did you do the vertical You're bleeds

No I need it Okay Please But what are you finishing out with Who's the body Fuck man I'm in the

I'm kind of in a pickle Because I got the defense of a guard Playmaking of guard Of course But I can finish Like it'll be topping So

Your player is real strong He's the best of a lot of a lot of worlds. I can make an argument where Peyton Pritch is the best bench shooter in the league. No, you're going to build Poku who does push-ups. You said Poku? Poku who does push-ups. Oh, what a name, bro. Damn.

Okay. I kind of want to, I need some size on me. I need some size on me. So I can't lean towards no point guard naturally. Ben Simmons would have been my pick when I just found out he's been he started a majority of the games for the. Why do y'all want these broken-ass bodies? What are y'all doing? Because we're talking about the idea of the body,

not like what has actually been produced. My idea of it is shattered bones. Yeah, okay. Okay. So for my body, I think I'm going to go with, give me someone who's fast, strong, and just brutalizes every opponent coming off of the bench,

DeAndre Hunter. Okay. Yep. The strong. This is, this is Poku who does pushups. He posted Wemby this year. Did you forget? Oh, you didn't see.

Do you remember Poku? This is Poku who does pushups. I'm telling you. Poku who does pushups is nasty. Don't disrespect the underhundred left. Okay, so for the audio listeners, I have a Sarr Thompson body, Jared McCain shooting, Tari-Eason defense,

Lonzo ball passing, and Jonathan Kaminga finishing. Well, I have Jonathan Isaac Body, A.J. Green, Derry Burr shooting. Alex Caruso defense, Scottie Pippin Jr. playmaking, and Jericho Sims in that 40-inch vertical as my finishing.

That's disgusting. Do you have the worst in every category? No, you have the worst body. You have the worst body. I think you have the worst body. That's not. John Isaac has a worst body, actually.

Stop it. Mid versus mid. You guys haven't been tapped in with Dionne Junter. That's all that tells me, man. You've watched his workout routines? You were just so passion about his body. Congratulations. Listen, man.

Y'all haven't seen how he's been moving this year. I don't blame you, though. I got DeAnd your body, shooting Peyton Pritchard, defense of Nikkeye Alexander Walker, playmaking of Tid McConnell, and finishing of Obie Topping. Yeah. So which one of you guys got second place? I don't know, man. You got, you're talking about body, and Assar Thompson literally just came back. He had, like, actual issues.

so the start something's 20 i'm not worried about it i don't know about that but we don't need to dive in listen i wasn't going to say nothing you know about my guy stuff it was going to be a hippo violation if i talked about it but yeah we can throw it out yeah and then just fun i don't know i don't know i want to feel real safe with your playing around dude that's all we say i want to feel safe with john isig around for numerous reasons well he's not on my team I ain't paying up for a reason

Not I think We'll make sure you're safe No I guess maybe Oh that is trying You know what I say Yeah that's true He do keep that shit on him All right

Next thing we're going to do This home is protected Let's get serious I'm going to have you guys Guess some NBA players Buy their hairline We've done this in the past Mo is presumably

the man no word of the group whenever we've had you guys guess the identities of men mows put his thinking cap on he's done well except for last time when we did celebrity lookalikes you did fucking atrocious he has had to think much version of mo comes out he has had to think much it's more instinctual you know exactly exactly you give too much time to think he'll start fucking glitching we have to make it so he just goes snappy donovan sit back stay safe I got you don't worry about it be my passenger princess for this one curious all right listen Relax. Come on, Scootie, I got you.

Relax. Passenger princess, my little nugget. Kind of going wild. January mode is devious. I need to know what y'all nicknames for me is after this, but let's get into it. Next one. First player, guess the player by their hairline. Who is this?

Save me, though. Okay. Go ahead. So this is clearly a light skin player. okay and it seems like there's some receding going on I feel the pain brother this may be

it's maybe Blake Griffin there's a little Blake Griffin why did it take you so long to get there this is stop you see the red hair I'm being articulate stop it what I'm weighing on my options did you not see how fast I was last TikTok time when he comes to this I was atrocious I was like over 16 100% motioned have got it instantly

I don't know if this is wrong for me to say but this looks at that ice cream the chaco taco taco listen you're going to have to tell Blake Griffin that to his face tell him no hairline looks like a chaco taco yeah we're going to have to body slam you

we're going to have to set the same this is Blake Griffin obviously the red hair gave it away instantly damn this is all Blake Griffin too yeah this is last year in the league this is damn your current day Because remember, rookie Blake Griffin had the line. He had the lineup.

Yeah, sharp as ever. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay. I want to start easy. The red hair is a dead giveaway. Next up, who is this player? Get it down.

Lay that hair down. Oh, man. Okay, so this picture looks a little bit old. And they got braids. Sir, stop taking so long. Oh, my goodness. You don't know anything. Passage of a person that's got you.

Don't worry about it. Be on your phone scrolling TikTok. Don't put your head on your brain. All right. Don't worry about it. I got you. I got you. this looks like Alan Iverson of me man

AI and he's looking at me like that too oh man why did he pick this picture why is he shirtless why is he hurting there's a million picture stop it

Donovan can you imagine Alan Iverson just looking at you did in your face like this and him saying smoothie pie what are you all bro what is your problem what are you all what the fuck is happening

can we go to the next one please you're my smoothie pie two for two right now that's all I hear all right man who is this player oh shit here yeah he's like Ken McCluck

could this be King o'clock I was about to say that okay Josh McRoberts I'm just kidding this is not Josh McRoberer the name

all right this could either be i want to say stephen adams but this is too clean no that's not stephen adams what the hell it's feeling very like yokeish joe starry yeah are we getting is this like kelly olinic it's not cah leninic but you're on the right hair texture hmm okay you're on the right track jack save us okay uh man who the hell is this guy does he play right now Oh, he don't play right now. He's an old man.

Oh, is this, Dirk? No, is this Steve Nash? This is Steve Nash. There we go. Finally, you narrow, you check list, you wait on the white boy list,

you got to him. There we go. Yo, his chest is mad hairy. It really is. As great. You know, this is funny? It's lined up at the top, too.

I know. That was intentional. You did that? You think you did it? His line to not go up his neck. He's going to blend it with the jersey, though, too. I'm going to be crispy one way or another. I'm going to get this line.

He said, I'm swimming. How often do you got to, like, re-line that up? Oh, my goodness. 360 chest hair. Oh, that's devious. I feel like most tried that before. Nah, I don't have much chest hair. I swear, I can show you right now, too, if you want.

Stop that, man. I don't mind showing you my chest hair I don't have much I guess a little patch I'm gonna throw Why are you so dead ass about this too I don't mind I can really

It's not an issue It's just hair Please stop please stop please you see it on my face On my eyebrows Sir please stop Okay All right all right All right

I'm scared to kids I'm scared the kids I'm scared of you Please, I'm sorry, leave a like, five-star. I'm sorry. I don't mind showing you. Sorry. I don't want no disciplinary reaction after the pot.

Sorry. Oh, my God. You wipe my eyes fucking recalibrate. Next player. Whose hair is this? Oh, man. I know his head hates to see a pick coming. God damn.

Clearly. This is a bit of like, the picture is taking, with some flash because this hair does not go with how bright his forehead in it. So it's getting, I'm, I'm throwing off a little bit initially. It's given.

Okay. What do you say? With these type of players, he might be thrown off. I think I was about to go if I didn't. It's not true. Maybe so consciously I was about to say that. It's giving white boy. I probably was going to go. Tire.

I just didn't know what it was given. So I had to back off and go with something. He's given something. Give it something. but okay is this victor wimbayama what the hell no it's not victor wimbaniama listen in some light you could kind of see it no no the the the light forehead is really throwing me off and i'm not sure where we have to go from here i feel like is this uh actually not i feel like his hair is a little bit bigger i was going to say kate cunningham but his hair is bigger yeah no he this is

Midlife crisis, Steph Curry when he had groomed hair out in 2021. Oh, man. This feels so crazy looking back at it that this was like a six-month period where he was like, yep, not cutting it. Wait, this is 22. Oh, yeah, this is 2021 back when he like broke his hand and missed the entirety of the year. Yep. Damn. So what's, what was the worst error?

Is it this or was it that like brief stint where he had braids? Those braids are tight. He had braids? He was pulling those braids tight. He had braids trying to make that work. Yeah. Yeah. This is worse. This looks crazy.

This looks like I photoshopped it to give him a young person haircut. It does. I used to have this haircut. Of course you did. Of course you did. You were a young person. If you were 34, would you have this haircut? Probably not.

Nah, I had it when I was like 18, 19. Yeah, man. What an arrow. That next step. By Duke players. Oh, my God. Who is this player? Damn.

All right. Initial instinct, listen, you talk about like low haircuts? Initial instinct says this is Harrison Barnes. It's not Harrison Barnes. Nothing like Harrison Barnes. I'm not sure. This is an old player. I'm not sure where to go.

This is an old player. Is this Borges Dia? This is not Borges Dia. I wouldn't have said it if it was. That's a great guess. Thank you. I thought it was a great guess too. Oh.

Nice. Okay. This is an old player, clear as day because this photo is kind of grainy. But this cut is so, like, in this, you can't tell who this is. I know, it's a very, like, listen. You're saying it's a grandpa.

This is a, this is kind of like a dark season. This is what Destiny's Child was singing about, right? This is what Beyonce was talking about, right? That reference is going to be lost on everybody listening to this. And it is okay. It is okay. But I don't know. I don't know.

It's not, it's not like Kenya Martin or something like that. I'm just thinking about like, man, like 2000s players. It's like Steve Francis? This is not Steve, what the fuck? This is a rare mythical pool. This is hair Richard Jefferson. Fake, fake. I don't believe this.

AI, chat, GPT. Yo, the world getting crazy out here these days. That's insane. Richard Jefferson, hair, follicles growing? This is like encountering a shiny Pokemon. You just can't believe it until you see it. This is why they're banning TikTok because misinformation is just spread in across the internet. Exactly.

We can't have people thinking that Richard Jefferson ever had hair. That can't be a thing. So I'm really good at Photoshop. Insane Photoshop, bro. Next up, who was this player? Oh, man. I remember this era. Exactly.

You fooled us earlier. But this, I know a midlife crisis when I see it. I know a cry for help when I see it. Brother was going from team to team to team country to country. Couldn't find a home, had no place to rest his head for six months. This is Dwight Howard, bro. So this is Dwight Howard. Where the hell did he get this from, bro?

Lamello ball. The Lamello influence. Spot him, got him. I'm so glad he cut that. He's too grown to be having a hair cut like that. Next one. Who is this player? Ooh, damn.

This man is stressed a lot. Yeah, you see a couple of grays in it. Forehead. Can see the wrinkles. starting to form right they're on the older side yeah i see this and i think instantly draymond green this is raymond green correct stress is the perfect way to go about her yes oh my god bro time is ticking right now you got to cover all these places on defense they ask can you be a 40% shooter while also averaging 16 points a game

meanwhile having to be a company man and agree with everything that that they're trying to tell you to Hard knock life Next one Which player is this This could be anybody Let's see They're bald But you can kind of see the hairline

Only old people really do that I would call that a hairline It's pretty high up I don't know if it's like akin to Stephen A So yeah exactly You show the Stephen A who'll be like yeah It looks like a quality cut What did this pick of me

Sound time you're like that You know Who's his barber? Matter of fact, give me his I-Gee. It's just like Doc Rivers, maybe. Nope. Doc Rivers, Chris Paul Cody. Sam Cousel.

Sam Cousel. Yes, I would vote Cam Cam, Sam Cousel. This is light-ass head. What are you talking about? I don't know. Listen, the right light. The right light. Is this Jared Jack?

That's a good guess. That is really good. This is bald Richard Jefferson. Now, this is real right here. This is real right here. I should have known. This is a different knucketters. Yep.

This looks like the Richard I know. Great guy, man. Exactly. This feels like safety. Yes, man. Yes, man. Just looking really swell. Yeah, just good guy.

next up whose head is this uh man i know who this is this could be donovan back and he was in like fucking fifth grade or something like that six seventh grade listen me amon chumper and norris cole brought the flat top back i'm letting you know that right i'm part of the trio we were in the group chat we were talking about it it was great i see this though and i do see a young player i see like a young jaylon brown whoa this is jalen brown from his rookie year from summer league actually okay I was gonna say Niroz-N-N-O-L the Khalid look-alike

no Kaleed that's true that's the last one we got so we gotta go as an easy one the next thing we're gonna do let's talk about basketball let's get serious I feel like this year has been a real changing of the guard

you know we started saying that last year it was pretty clear but this year like even more so all the old heads are like largely irrelevance and the leaves ran by young stars now you know you're seeing the NBA market more we're getting the calves and the thunder pushes the future with these young stars so what I want to do now is

look towards the future of these young stars I'm going to name a young NBA star and I want you to tell me one other player you want to see them team up with at some point in their career okay all right let's do it so imagine when these guys are 29 whenever they hit the market what stars you want to see them kind of make duos with

sure really it's like a dream duo essentially first off it's do an easy one Victor Wenbanyama I want to see him play with Trayo That was quick And I want Tray Young in San Antonio All right

God damn it Now we're just Now we're just being crazy And to be precise I'd like to see him in San Antonio This August for For Devin Vassel Two first round picks and Brownham

Yes All right Now we're just asking for things that we can't have Never will have Never have No but any point Any point guard Any point guard who is like

a six and a half out of ten or better passer because if you can if you can have just a little bit of playmaking around around wendy that's all you need he's clearly entering already is in that defensive prime he's about to win the next 10 d p oys get somebody to set him up throw him the entry pass set the rest of the team up we're good i got an even better idea for you put him with lamella ball talk about box office no do you know all the crazy shit lamella would try with him you throw shit off of the backboard. Yeah, when we get that

bitch is somewhere. I think Lamello would drive Wembe insane. This is where the difference between us lies. You are buying

for Instagram likes and views. I'm trying to go for championships, right? I want wins. Concrete concrete success.

Let's take this a step forward. Let's get him with Kate Cunningham. Oh, okay. Yeah, listen, any point guard the great.

I kind of like Tremor. I kind of like Treymore. I want to see him with the best lob thrower I could possibly imagine. That's Trey Young's game. Let's make it happen. All right.

I like it. I like it. Not in Atlanta, though. Next up, Anthony Edwards. Okay. I want to see him with the passer. Yeah, for love of God, get this man a point guard, please.

Yeah, point guard who can preferably shoot really well because he is in hell every single time that he decides to put his head down and run to the room. Yeah, we put it right. He already got a couple of cribs there In Minnesota What? Him and Dane would be really cool

Dane I feel like Lily would fit well Yeah yeah yeah I could That would be disgusting dude to stop I can see that tough to stop But I need a point guard For for aunt If we're gonna go all the way

I want a point guard who can Who can play some defense as well I want Hey Kate would be cool Hey cake on here If we so please Just the perfect guy just a perfect Save Cape Cunningham.

Put him with any star, he'll work. Okay. No, honestly, to be a little more realistic, Darius Garland, I think everything that Dee Mitch and Garland are doing right now fitting so well together, they can do the same thing with Anthony Edwards, give him a point guard

that's an amazing off-ball shooter, an amazing passer that can make his life easier. It would be perfect. You know, who else will cook with him? Give him Scotty Barnes. That way we can recreate MJ versus Scotty. We got Walmart, MJ and Anthony Edwards and Walmart Scardy Barnes

or Walmart, Scotty Pippin, in Scottie Barnes. We got the Team Who Bulls at home? Let's do it. Exactly. I love it. That would be perfect, though. A big wing who can defend and do a little secondary passing? That would make his life easy.

Can I throw out an option if we're talking about Instagram views and likes? Oh, God. The Timberwolves. No, the Timberwolves are in a very interesting, kind of desperate situation. What if they get Zion up in there? Oh, my God. And you get Andy Edwards and Zion together. That sounds like a catastrophe.

That team is so. all over the place. I do not, bro. Tea wolves are already stressed about Anthony Edwards and what he said. Zion and Anthony Edwards in one city plotting a mission at night

on a weekend. I understand. I like this. I like this. I think, listen, I think the two main game between and Zia would go crazy.

I mean, yeah, on TMZ every night, bro, for show. God damn. The two men will go crazy. You fucking glazer. He's a demon.

On the core. core on the core all the core all the core they'd be in a section they'd be going crazy they're money spreads doing money spreads all they so tough right next up palo bancaro franz Wagner oh my gosh all right i'm trying to tell you these guys when franz comes back healthy and he plays the way that he was palo's here right he gets back into a full rhythm the Orlando magic are here to take over the league they're here to put the league on notice. Next five years is ours.

I want to see him play Donovan Mitchell. I want to see him with two guard. I need to do a low playmaking. A good shooter who can make it so Palo doesn't have to be the point guard, that'd be nice. Okay. Okay, I like that.

What if you put them alongside Chet Hongam, though? Just a massive team. That'd be sick. Yeah, just a massive team, perfect centered to play so long side. I always love the idea of top picks in a draft teaming up one day, like John Zion. Like, it would just be fun.

It's just a good story. If we got it happened Probably Probably like some like Yeah player teaming up with The second overall pick was really good Yeah I guess LeBron and Wade is close

But it wasn't two Oh yeah Lebron and Wade is the equivalent They're the top two guys from the draft Okay What if we What if we got Darius Garland to the magic To play with God

You just want to put Darius Garland everywhere Holy shit I know he fits anywhere He's a great player He's scalable What do you want me to say? He's very scalable. Okay, next one.

Cade Cunningham. I need him with some type of demon who loves to put the ball in a bucket. I need him with Anthony Davis specifically. No other room for conversation. He needs an elite big man who can create so they can't double team him. You dump it off to an elite score. It's going to make his life

easier. As soon as the leekers blow it up and LeBron with tires, we need to get Anthony Davis to the Pistons. I get some bad news for you, buddy. It's not going to happen. Why not? I will make sure it won't happen. That's why. You don't want to see Kate thrive with Anthony Davis?

You and what army? Well, it depends. It depends. You're a Pistonsator? Wait, time about this is in Detroit? Yeah, I said to the Pistons. Okay, I'm all in. I'm all in.

As long as it's going to happen in for the Lakers, I'm good. We just don't want the Lakers to see any glory. That's all. No. I was what I was going to say. We're anti-Kate success now? Yeah, no. I'm all in on Detroit, on Detroit basketball.

Okay. Let's get him. That's the one. Detroit, basketball. I'm all in. Let's not do that again. Next one. Chet Holmgren. Send him to Detroit.

So he could play with Kate. And we can get some real. You know who we fire with Chet? Basketball. John Moran. Shagos, Shagos, Alexander? I mean, that's just a better version of John Moran, so yeah.

You got drafted in the perfect star duo. It's hilarious. How many guards in history would be better fit? How many guards could you possibly think of, like, as a stretch big you want a slashing guard next to him there's like two in NBA history you can imagine we get better fit with him than Shea but stay at home

yeah like Jordan Wade Shea like I was he in the top three outcome already Stay at home bro He don't need to go nowhere Yep Staying okay C No how good you have it The grass is not greener

Take over Take over that David Busters Make sure that all the high schools are yours OKC could be your kingdom Tray Young Besides Victor Womeniama Zaya No

We can make that happen He's available We can No No No If all Zion needs to do Is just jump

And still be somewhere Athletic We can get Trey the lob threat To start throwing Lobbs everywhere to Zion Zion Zion might get his image

You know Why Jalen Johnson To the 3 Put Zion right there Hell no. This is the worst city for Zion Williamson. He does not need to be here and trade's not going anywhere you're there. Null and void.

Let's be realistic. Give him a big. Who can catch logs? Zion Williamson and Magic City? Just listen. Just give me Nick Claxton and I'll be happy. Oh my God. Give me Nick Claxton.

Not even spreads. Money bags. You know what I'm saying? Tabits ain't open forever. Never close it. I'm hoping a lot of credit Magic City Oh my gosh

You got a awards member He got perks Magic City points God No like magic city Perks Car points I don't

Award points That's what Magic City Monday We're just talking about You know Just some light Freaky activities

Try to make a Mets or drug No, no, no, I'm not talking about that. Under Perks. P-E-R-K-S. Yes. Not that. That's what we're talking about that.

I was like, what? No, 30s. No. These videos are posted on Max. Look at what we're doing to the corporate media landscape. Oh, my God. Oh, man. I heard wrong.

Who are these buffoons? Talk about this. I heard wrong. They're put a D-platform us. What is the, Does he see yoga to think? My bad. John Morant.

He kind of got a perfect guy in him too next to Jaron Jackson, Jr. I guess. We can reach a little higher. Okay, this is cheating because everybody felt well with this guy. Nicole Yokic would be pretty sick to see John Morant doing the stuff

for Russell Westbrook is doing this year. Well, old man Yokic in like four years? Yeah, exactly. Whenever he doesn't want to score that much, he can just throw dines behind his head to John Moran every play. Okay, I can see. Oh, that's fun.

That's fun. I like him. Hello, Lobbs. I like that a lot. What's the big man can do? Him alongside, ironically, weirdly enough. I don't know what made me think of this, but Devin Booker would be flying to leave alongside Zama. I was thinking Jason Tatum, too.

You know, everyone loves the double two Jason Tidim. You throw it to jaw. He's fucking sprints downhill four on three. Yeah, there's nothing you can do about it. That'll be an elite duo. Tatum mentioned first time. Next up, Zion Williamson. I said it earlier, Trey, yo.

Let's get them together. But me personally, I'm a type of guy that wants to see Zion with Victor Women Yama, but that's just me. I'm the type of guy that wants a scene with a stretch five for the first time in his career, particularly the best man protector in NBA history. No, no, no, no, no. Counterpoint. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

When I put him near Vic, you can get a stretch five, that's fine. Put him with Port-Zingis. Don't come close to Victor Women, Yama. I know where to put him. Donovan, I know what I'll make you feel very happy. Let's put him in Golden State. Y'all are disappointed with John Nick and Camiga. He is what you want.

Jonathan Camiga 2B. He can play that before. He is that punching, that scoring punch, that threat that you need. Honestly, pass and all that. Draymond is a search for the low. Yeah. Yeah. That spacing is ridiculous.

You can do worse. That's kind of sick. I kind of like it. That's not bad. That's not bad. Good job. I know people who know people. Let me know.

I make it happen. Oh, if you know the right people, you would know Mike, I don't leave he's not doing shit, so don't drive you up. Dalton Connect. What the hell? What are he doing on my screen right now? Bro, play the game. Shit, why?

It's always disrespecting the best player in his draft. Get him with, listen, get him with Tony Allen, get him with Bruce Bowen, get him with all the best defenders in NBA history, teach him how to sit down and slide in place a defense. So you want him to teach Tony Allen how to get buckets? Trying to do good for the elderly? What? Oh my God.

Tony Allen has nothing to learn from Dalton Connect. You want to put another generation on? The only thing that Dalton Connect needs to be put on with his rookie year so far is just focusing on your finances, focusing on your taxes and focus on how, you know, like live that life in L.A., the most responsible way possible. Get him an internship somewhere. I don't know. Backward, not necessarily. Yeah.

Not a fan of the way this conversation is going. You should have set him up for... Dalton Connect is looking at me and I'm looking at him. Why is he on my screen? I wanted to hear Victor Women Yama Kay Cunningham Nicole Yokit

Bobboa said no one in human history get a hobby So what So I can see Vic on the Lakers Correct Nightmare That would be a number

Man Oh we can do your thing Since now Hey This is not just anything This is just not anything Okay I have a very special segment

For you guys today man Just a couple of days ago Shagmet I have a very special segment for you guys today, man. Just a couple of days ago, we witnessed one of the craziest non-calls in NBA history. And today I'm going to introduce to you guys. I have like, I think, eight or seven plays of some of the greatest plays made of all time that didn't count. And I want to you guys to rate them on a scale of one to ten.

So much it dunks the shit that were called back? yes high flying plays bro just in general first one up we got job morant decimating wemby it's a 10 out of 10 the newest one is list yeah it's it's honestly a 10 out of 10 i think this is exactly what john morat has been dreaming of this is he has he has wanted this moment and the basketball gods gave it to it also proves that job marant is a liar because remember he was like man i'm done duncan and he saw bick and he was like oh i'm going it was yeah it was instinctual he just had to attack the room. Dude, if this would have landed, this would have been a, this would have been the first

play on John Morant's highlight reel in 10, 40 years from now. It still is. It still is. You still is. You don't care. Yeah, you're going to play this and then it's going to get into all the other plays that that counted. Yeah.

10 out of 10. This is exactly what you want to see from a play that didn't count. You're like, damn, if it would have counted, it would have been awesome. That's all you can ask for it. Man, oh man. I hate the wreck who called this goddamn play. What was the, I know what the phone was? Sold everything.

bro. I know. Next up we got Alfred Zingoon decimating Zach Collins. Alfred Zingoon. He said it like you're like a Zorro. Alfred Zingun. He's all like you having fun. He is. He is.

I need to see the full clip because from what it looks like right now it looks like Zach Collins is about to be on his back and you know the world. You all looking at the different screen. Let me switch the screen you guys are seeing. I promise you Donovan, it's not a very pretty side at all. and you are right.

Yeah, Zach Collins, you are 100% of right. If his back hits the ground, you know the rules. Oh, I can share two screens with y'all. Let's go. Honestly, I don't even know why Zach Collins is still employed

after this play. And also, after Seguu was a rookie at this point in time. After this play, I would have sent him like back home, bro. Look at this. Whoa.

Bro. Oh. He, dude, he looks like he concussed Zach Collins. He's holding his head on the ground, looking for God, looking for his mom. This is another 10. Just hyperventating. Tell me it's a dream

Yeah This is violent They met in the air And he got all 255 pounds Of Turkish meat in his chest God Oh my God

Dude Singh Gung Generally doesn't have hops like that But he likes to try So hard to really Boom shit Nah that hurts That hurt me That hurt me

That looked like it genuinely hurt Bro Slopi It was a sloppy His head slams On to the Oh it did it back Oh no

You got posterized But one of the Oh Oh, that whiplash is crazy. That genuinely looks like it hurts. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, this is another 10.

This is a 10 out of 10. This is an incredible time. Yeah, listen, I can't put you on your back and give you a concussion and not get a 10 out of 10. Shout out to you, Sang, dude. You did it. Dealing damage. You did it. These goddamn refs, may you need to be fined.

Nah, dang, I don't want to watch that again. I got some else for you to watch. Anthony Edwards, violating Gabe Vincent. please yeah this is just this time and time again this is perhaps most disrespectful image I've ever seen just as a still picture he just the proximity of nuts to face is outrageous this is the most intentional nuts to face either bro donnaman can you imagine going to the park one day and you just randomly get postrised but midair in post rising he holds the back of your head scoops it towards his midsection and he puts the ball

in the net and yon the head scoop is quite the routine yeah that would one that would never happened to me. Come here, boy. Oh. I actually saw Dominic get dunked on once. You're a damn lie. Don't you dare. Don't you dare. Don't you dare lie to anybody and say that that is accurate. We were at Gregory Jim at the University of Texas. No, I did not get dunked on. I did not get dunked on because I know exactly what you're talking about. That. So this play, it was pretty much just like this. He rose up. It was nuts to face. It bounced off the back iron. So the ball didn't go in. He missed the dunk. But effectively, but effectively he got dunked on. And I'll never forget the image of Donovan

He missed the dunk. No way. Did he even try jumping Donovan? I have never been dunked on. He jumped but like just barely because the guy was like dumb athletic. It was like a college little athlete so like it wasn't something that like I have never expected in my life. So Donovan jumped a little bit but he was like like he barely up the ground.

Nobody has ever tried to dunk on me and the ball. No he tried to kill you Donovan. Hold on. He tried to kill nobody has ever tried to dunk on me and the ball went through the hoop. That has never happened. It's never happened. You're not denying the nuts in face. You're denying the ball and hoop.

Nuts were not in my face either. Did he just like almost fall back or stumble because that would make things even worse and I'll lose respect. No, he landed very cleanly. He landed virtually unaffected. He just kind of missed. Okay. Thank God. I was not done.

I was not dunked on. And I was looking at. I was like, damn, I'm glad I'm not back there. I'm glad I didn't run back on defense. Mind you. The worst thing about all this was that it was like, it was like 12.30 in the morning. So like the runs weren't great. either.

You know, it wasn't even like it was a close game. Did you guys at least win the game? I can't, I honestly can't remember. I'm surely not. There's a guy trying to dunk on Donovan. Surely we didn't win the game. First of all, first of all, let's not act like, listen, 2019, Donovan, shooter.

Real life, Oudder. I'm not even lying. Listen, back of my day. You were playing against fucking DeFal Marbury over here to jump over you, so I just assume it didn't go well. That's insane. And he missed. I've never been dunked off.

Let's not spread these lines. Next up, we got Blake Griffin. This old school is hell man. This is very reminiscent of one of his posters on Kendrick Perkins. Look at him. Oh, screen again.

Got him. Yeah. Again. On your back, cupping motion. What I see, they're rewarding good defense. He was in position. He drew the charge. He did as his coach told him to.

To me, this is a zero out of ten because the defense won. He won the rep. Tell me, let me. see this again zero out of 10 nah that's why he did that on martian gartat bro that's so hard do you know how many times martin got taught

you know how big martin is do you see that that's fundamental defense you see that hard charge is a lost art oh that's it strong the charge is not even a basketball play it's whack you know martin gortat you're seven feet tall jump it's a more square level of defense

defense is defense zero out of ten respect the gortat screen no jump how monitor defense. Respect defensive positioning. Hey, it's 100% white. It's a 10 out of 10, too, man. The way he coxed back in it. Shout out to Blake Griffin for Dunkin on him.

Oh, my God. Thrunk, negative 2 out of 10. Back to the ground, too. Man, this is a 10 out of 10. 10 out of 10. Next one. Oh, man. Next up, we got LeBron James in mid-air catch. matching reverse alley-oop. Ah, my God, bro. This is different.

Yeah, this is different. And it's honestly, kind of sad. These plays you see and you're like, why didn't he do the fucking dunk contest, man? Head over the rim, bro. See, but also, I've, and I've thought about,

obviously we've had a lot of time to think about it. I've always thought, like, maybe LeBron is just an in-game dunker, and he's not like, he knows his limits. He's not like a dunk contest dunker. Yeah. But this can't be a sort of,

super high score because he didn't dunk on somebody. So I'll give this a five out of ten. I give this a six. His head is at the rent. His head is above the room. Yeah, that's just a routine. LeBron did that six times a game. But mid play, like calculating, okay, I'm going to catch it reverse and I'm going to

like do a fucking whatever the fuck this shit is called. Yeah, nah, this is. He was just 24 years old showing off because he can. Nah, man. You can do all you can do this. This is a fucking eight. What do you mean? I can do this is LeBron James.

Greg Jim is lucky I never got those hops I'm going to kill Greg Jim My bad 10 No poster insight Next up we got Jamal Murray posterizing DJ Wilson

What a name Oh yes You put this enough Played a clip This this might be The worst call In NBA history In terms of like

Taking a dunk off the board This might be the worst one yeah i don't know why what was the foul here they said it was an officer on jamal murray that's okay we'll see one more time

ah because the leading with the elbow this is an 11 out of 10 I hate that rule sometimes your elbow is in the way it's not on purpose this to get rid of history because a little elbow to the face get your face out the way

dude plays like this like it reminds me how athletic job or Jamal Murray used to be back in the day yeah he ain't got that no more. He doesn't

not have that balance. He's heavier now, too. Damn. He's that old fat. That's that supposed to. She's got a muscle on him. You know what I'm saying? No,

we heard you. Understood. No, this is a weak-ass call. He didn't even elbow him in the face. He elbowed him in the forearm. He's in the restricted area, too. Unbelievable. You need to start finding

his goddamn breaths, bro. Anyways, next play, we got, wait, which way is this? This is Shannon Brown's block. Oh, okay, this is, okay, there we go. I'll take you right now. This is a 20 out of 10.

Anytime you see Shannon Brown doing this shit, oh my God. Oh my God. This is the highlight of Shannon Brown's career. He blocked a fucking layup. He grabbed. This is the most disrespectful form of a block that you can. I love how it was a foul. The whole bench knew it. And they're also laughing congratulating him because they don't give a shit. It's that impressive as a physical feat. It's not a foul. But his head is above his head's above the fucking square. Like, what do you want me to do?

That's not a foul. No, that's a weak-ass foul. It's not a foul at all. He can't even touch him. Jumping that, jumping that high with like three pounds

of fabric on you is ridiculous. That's a different area. It's like the opposite of PEDs. His uniform is holding him back. They also gifted us with one of the greatest memes of all time too. Which one?

Utilize. Kobe's reaction and Kobe in the worst of bench's reaction is all. Yeah. Oh. Truly. gifted. Truly, truly gifted.

Next up, we got John Morant trying to end Kevin Love's life. Another, another misdunk that will be a part of his highlight tape. Yeah, the dunk didn't go in. There's other ones where he actually finished the play. Yeah. Can't give this a high score. It went off back iron.

Yeah, I can't give this a high score. It's not a 10, 8, or 7 at all, but the creativity, not even the creativity, the audacity. Stop it. this photo this photo the photo of it is elite 10 out of 10 the fact of all didn't go in i can't rank it like because what i got you you're gonna they're gonna play that clip and they're gonna stop it right there fade off and then it's just gonna be a lot of that cuts real fast yes hell of jump cuts people are never going to know he misses play yeah damn such a dangerous play i know he was insane

why would you try this guess he tried to jump over him that the goal was to clear his head that's crazy good there's so many insane highlights of john morant jumping dumb high and just going nowhere and like making whatever play happen it's all he gets hurt all the time you just be darn shit he's a poor business decision this is crazy

that's what kevin love deserves to try and take a charge you're so anti-charge you want to jump with john morant I'm very anti-sort or get out the way get out there go play defense that's funny yeah my next thing we're going to do let's talk about Kay Cunningham

the breakout star of the season so far I think well we did our top 30 player rankings we did our top 30 player rankings the week before Christmas and he didn't get ranked he was like 34 he was just outside of the list because he had about

two weeks of really turning up when he started in the beginning of December and since then since we did that ranking on December 22nd he has continued to go fucking ape shit for a month and a half he has clearly established himself as like a top 25 player in the league at worst. You can push up even higher

if you want to just count this season. So let's talk about worry rank them. I have a series of players that we're going to compare them to, levels one through five. You're going to tell me who's better this player or Cade Cunningham. Okay. Talk to me.

Okay, let's do it. So who's been better this season, I guess? Level one. Oh, wrong. Level one. We got Jamal Murray. Kate has easily even better. I'm not thinking twice.

So Marry started off the season stupid slow. Cade didn't start off the season great, but it wasn't as slow as Jamal Marie. He does... Jamal does nothing better than Cade right now. Yeah, you're probably right. We had to start somewhere easy. Obviously, Cade clears.

Level two, Tyrese Maxie. It's Cady. I'm honestly not thinking twice about it either. Listen, Tyrese when he's playing off a Joelle and Bede, second option, Tyrese is a fucking demon. I think I could put Kate Cunningham in a lot more...

In a bigger variety of situations and he's going to thrive and get his game off. 100%. If you swap their roles, I promise you, Tyrese maxi is not smiling about anything. All the joy in all the joy that he plays with, that's gone if he had played.

If he went through the fires, in Detroit for three years, if he went through the fires that Kate Cunningham went through, he'd be like, listen, man, if that's not a game, it's my life. If Tyrese had to lead double big lineups

with Isaiah Stewart and Jalen Duren, he would lose all of his whimsy. Oh my gosh. No more sunshine. We can't. If Tyresexie has no whimsy has no whimsy, What is it all for? It's for nothing.

Life isn't worth living. When Tyrese maxi stops smiling, I stop smiling because I know the strongest soldier is wounded. Okay, I agree. We got to do that as an experiment. We got to put Maxie and Jeremy Kane just the happiest guys in the worst situation. I want to see how strong is they're happy. How much sunshine is in your pocket? Yes.

You want to waterboard Tyrese back? Waterboarding, what the hell? I didn't say all that. I just said put it without shoes. Yeah, we get violent. Damn. Next up, level three, Darius Garland. See, this is tough.

This is tough because Darius is having a very good season. For the number level playmakers, I would say. I think Darius is the better shooter. It's very tough. I have the utmost respect for Darius Garland in the world. I am the leader of Darius Garland FC. We're going Kuttingham. We got to.

Yes. With the shooting lead that Cade is made, he's a better passer, better defender, better shooter. Neither one of them are changing your life. So I don't know when it comes to shooting because Darius Garland is like 50, not, you're right, you're right, you're right. As good of a shooter almost, because, yeah.

Same, close to the same tier shooter. It's not a weakness for Cade. Yeah, but I like Kate's size and versatility scoring. Seems harder to stop. That's what I meant was more like his ability to get his game off because of his size and ability to shoot off the dribble. But you're right, Garland is.

Garland is probably a better shooter, but it's close. I'm going to go, Kate. I'll go, Kate. Long-term file starting my organization from zero. I'm taking Cade 10 times out of 10. Yeah, exactly. But shout out Garland, Garland, it's not too far behind. Yeah.

Level four, we got Trey Young. I'm taking Cade. This is hard, too. Actually, no, there is hesitation. I just wanted to piss off low. So, Tray Young still deserves me ranked higher because he's done it for so many years. But just this season, Cade's been undeniably better since Trey Young just forgot how make his floaters that if it continues yeah if we're just got in this year we got to go kade

for this year i would give it to you kate has genuine better his playmaking has been one he's been one of the seven eight best playmakers and passers in the entire league the shooting has elevated again also he's not he's better on defense i'm for change the snatch mo it is listen he got it for now he he's in detroit he's been through some sums it's okay he got it for now. He's not running back. You're not, you're not getting the chain back. It's fine. I got it. I'll get it. Tray will get it back in blood if you needed, bro. I'm not worried about it. I don't know if you will. I think, I think Cade is taking Tray's chain. I think he's snatching it. And I think he's pairing that they wear up there in Detroit. And I think he's looking fly. I don't know. I think

Kate got to him got it. We got something for him. Don't worry about it. You got something for him. What you got for him? Not a damn thing. DeAndi Hunter? not a damn thing guys stop doing this to my ice goddamn Trey king

leave him alone for right now level five level five step curry and this is where I say stop the madness we're not taking

we're not taking Kate Cunningham over step cur you're not taking the chain is the top light skin point going no step is top light skin until he decides

not to be top light skin understand that That is a choice by him. We'll go, Steph, because I believe if he was in a better team situation, he would still be a lot better. Just this season, it's looking a little Lightning McQueen getting passed up. It's looking out on a bit murky, man. I mean, he averages more points, he averages more assists, he averages more rebounds, he averages more blocks. Well, why don't you stop talking?

Like, everything I said is a lie, though. Like, I, I'm just stating facts. You can choose to hear the more. for a little social experiment that will be collectively shut the fuck up he's been more efficient than him to Steph is only shooting 44% on the year from the field I mean he doesn't have a higher true shooting though

Steph's so more efficient overall I'll give him that fields from the fields from the field yeah four rings four rings seven piston cups we're talking about lightning between out taking some curry what the hell you mentioned in piston cups for see you and I don't know

he doesn't know shit about pissing cups I don't want to be in the no that's not my lane Steph got it though I got it count your days yeah count them fast

shout out Cade man it's so funny I was looking it's still up there our like fifth to oldest video from the first few weeks we have a TikTok where I'm arguing that I think

Kate is gonna be a better player than Anthony Edwards oh yeah fucking moron I mean I remember that. I mean, I was going up against you. I mean,

listen. Is now the time to say I was wrong? I mean, once trending pretty highly. Listen, it's, it's not the case just yet. I have never been wrong.

I've just been early. I don't know about that. Never wrong. Never wrong. Just early. I'm not going to say you're fully wrong, but so far you're not right. Early.

Ageing is going really slow. Early. It's super slow. Early. Super slow. Now, by the time we're like, 28, 29, sure, you can add that

conversation. All that means to me is I was playing the long game and that's how you want to invest. Seems like a super small investor. You look for get rich quick schemes when guys can win rookie of the year or like make an all-star appearance in your two. That means nothing to me.

Just go to the Western Conference Finals. I'm looking for sustained excellence through your 30s, through your retirement years. And got his chain snatched. Chain snatched. In the conference finals. He was going up against one of the Fucking Luca fucking Donchich, what?

And didn't match up. Because he has Carl Anthony Townsend, Rudy Gober on his team. What the hell? Gobert. Oh, man. Last thing I want to do, let's do a little variation of the Keep 4 cut four game I've been playing. We're going to do, I'm going to name six names of different players. You've got to put three of them in overrated and three of them and underrated.

Okay. Oh, man. So maybe you don't believe any of them are overrated, but you've got to pick somebody to be there, so you better choose wisely with all these names. We're moving into this blind. Yep, you don't know anything. We got a lock.

Player one, Shaq. I, if anything, Shaq has to be, he has to be overrated. What? What? If, I think that there is, when you talk about like most dominant,

that's like a term created for, shack but also there are several centers that you can make a case for ahead of shack but you can do you really want to start this list by ranking shack is overrated do you want to say the shack is too good for being it's not my list so i do what you want we can't we can't call a top 10 player of all time like a consensus top 10 player of all time overrated it's tom foolery what are you doing you know what again i think the shack is properly rated but i guess if we're talking about in this era, I would say underrated because a lot of people, when you talk about like, you know, like 2017 Warriors versus 2001 Lakers, they're like, oh, how they're going to stop

Stephen Clay? It's like, who do they have for Shaq? Like a lot, like people do underrate how dominant Shaq would be right now. Yeah, I think people take his like bigness for granted. It's like, oh, this is this big guy. It's like, no, he's also the most skilled guy, the most agile guy, deceptively fast, deceptively good passer. Like, some of those skills are lost because people just like, ooh, massive. Yeah. Okay, I'll go underrated. I flip my pick.

Underrated. See, I didn't want you to start on the wrong note. I had to interject a little bit. I won't be doing that again. From now on, you're going to be able to fuck yourself. Thank you.

Player two, Shea Gilges, Alexander. Hmm. I think he's upcoming onto his first MVP. Naturally, he has to be underrated because the NBA just started pushing him and he's been a star for like

a year and a half, two years now. Yeah, he's playing an all-time great. He's playing in like all-time legend levels. He's needs the accomplishments to come. So that's typically a time someone's underrated. I'll go underrated as well. Damn. Once he wins that ring, people are going to be like, top 30 all time. It's going to come real fast.

Yeah, exactly. Right now, right now it's not there yet, though. Okay. Carmelo Anthony. Underrated. What the hell? We're not using the last spot for Carmelo Antian underrated. Why would you say? You want to fill all three spots?

No. He's overrated. I don't, listen, I love black excellence, okay? Carmel Anthony, when it comes to just maximizing career, I love media success. Stop it. You know, he's a dad and he's been there for his son. His son's been to be in the league in a couple of years, you know. He's a good father.

He's a great father, bro. You know. But, um, this is the guy you're making fun of and is somebody with their wife and kid. he's underrated he's not an underrated brother you want to use your last spot on this list and go three straight overrated yes I do

no yes I do no no we cannot do that yes someone has to budge someone has to budge do you care about the integrity of our list or are you letting your fan of me in the way I don't give a damn put Carmelo Anthony in underrated

oh my God y'all go have the box for it at this rate put him in underrated please bro bro we can't why would you why would you put him in underrated tell me why what's his case for being underrated in NBA history carmelo anthony at this point has gotten to a spot where people are like hey yeah like he can score but he was never a winner when carmelo anthony has like led teams to like decent you know and like above average team success. He is a great, like one of the best scores that we've seen in in NBA history. He does have success at all three levels in the NBA. I think that what is one of the best mean? How many

to be one of how many do you have to be? Like what's the level? You know, one of like the 17 best players. Oh my God. That's where the case is lost. Do you know how many NBA players that have been? Being one of the top 17 is an accomplishment. I think that Carmelo Anthony doing that means something. He is underrated, though. You don't understand. Do you feel like, though, I mean, they're going to end your ability

to call anybody else underrated. You guys call three shit overrated. Okay. I'll make the case. Are you seriously going to ruin my list like this? I thought it was Arles. With the smile, you're making a year list right now.

It should be Arliss. But are you giving it to him? Put him underrated. Let's see what happens. If it's fucked. You owe me a jersey. I'll take accountability. Okay.

Yeah, you're taking accountability. Kobe Bryant. You owe me a jersey. What the hell would you do? Why would you do this for? I want an 04 Kobe Bryant jersey. Fuck that, man. What the hell?

For Carrello Anthony? Oh, my God. The lakes Donovan will go to glaze. Look at you now. Oh, my God. Next point we got James Hardin. Oh, my God. Overrated

Overrated Oh my We have no toys And last but not least We got Joelle and Bede Overrated Hey, listen That's not bad

That's not bad Is it two for three I could have been worse Exactly Could have been one for three Could have been over three It's not terrible Mo's not happy

Listen It's a lose lose situation Either way How I think there's a pretty clear way to win this list and you did the wrong choice. Embed, cool. Now, granted, granted, had I known it was going to play out like this, maybe some choices would have been. But understanding that you go in blind, not knowing.

I was telling you these choices were possible. So what? We were playing blackjack. I took a hit at 16. Sometimes you'll lose, right? That happens. Why don't you just take, listen, take a chance with your life sometimes and live on the edge. And it's okay.

It's okay. who's gonna do anything to us for making this list that we didn't know who was coming next. It's about integrity. You heard of your first, y'all. Donovan hates Kobe Bryant

and he thinks he's like not even top 20 of all time and I think that's embarrassing and I think you should flame him in his tour mentions. You should comment Donovan why do you hate Kobe? And that's the end of the episode.

We'll see y'all next week. Also, I cross my fingers. You're not getting a jersey. No!