The Deep 3 Podcast - We Put Every NBA Contender In A Tier List | Ep. 66

Episode Date: December 8, 2023

Ranking every NBA finals contender #nba Check out the TD3 merch: https://the-deep-3-shop.fourthwall.com/ Join the TD3 discord!: https://discord.gg/RUkjpMPp7E Listen on Spotify!: https://open.spotify.com/show/3elbbqVumwqz8wlIdknsLW Listen on Apple Podcasts!: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-deep-3-podcast/id1657940794 Follow us on TikTok!: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedeepthree Follow us on Instagram!: https://www.instagram.com/thedeep3podcast/ Isaac's twitter: https://twitter.com/byisaacg Muhamed's twitter: https://twitter.com/Mojo99_ Donnavan's twitter: https://twitter.com/Dsmoot3D 0:00- Intro 2:00- In Season Tourny Reactions 34:40- Tier List Intro 36:45- Bucks 43:28- TWolves 48:45- Lakers 56:00- Mavs 1:03:56- Knicks 1:09:11- 76ers 1:15:08- Cavs 1:26:28- Clippers, Warriors, Suns, Magic 1:33:10- Thunder 1:42:20- Pelicans 1:47:05- Heat 1:48:35- Pacers 1:52:10- Kings 1:56:40- Recap 1:58:45- TikTok Time Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bro, the pelicans are trash. We are not, listen. Nobody's fooling me again. I'm not doing this. That's a great cold open. I'm going to open with that and include that. Let's start. Please, let them know.

They're done 44 right now. The cranium is crazy. Oh, my God. I mean, I don't know what to say. Pray on eaters rejoice. What's up, everybody? As you see by the title, today we're going to be putting every NBA contender into a tier list. But before we get to that, we're currently recording the day after we recorded that main part of the pod

because we're doing a live reaction to the in-season tournament semifinals. And as you hear by Donovan's reaction, the game is still going on, Lakers versus Pelicans. It's such an unbelievable blowout that we said, screw it. Let's start early. The Pelicans are down by 44, and we have some thoughts. So before we get to the main pod, you're going to hear about it. Absolutely. they're getting their cheeks clapped but for like you said i think we actually get to the real real

pod two reminders for you guys one every monday we're streaming live on youtube 8 p.m. Easter time be there secondly false on Twitter once you reach 10k followers on there we're giving away an entire PS5 to one of you we have a PS5 an entire one exactly exactly there's a difference Right now, we're at what, 5.7K or 5.8K followers right now? Something like that. Yeah, man. We're almost, look, we're almost there. Yep.

10K. It's yours. Exactly. Yep. Keep all that in mind. Watch the streams. If you're watching on YouTube, do us a favor. Drop a like and subscribe.

I think when we say drop a like now or like the video, it glows in the bottom. So look at your screen right now if you're watching on desktop from mobile and drop a like. You should see it in rainbow on the button there. Go ahead and press that rainbow button. If you're on audio platforms, leave us. review rate as five stars all that yeah man let's just jump straight into the in season tournament reaction donovan we opened this with you clearly being frustrated by the new orleans pelicans let's start with that game let us hear it i listen i'm so confused right now because and as listen

as you will hear later on it in the pod and what has kind of been bubbling up for the last couple of weeks is that the pelicans and like the hype around the pelicans has been it's been bubbling up right CJ was coming back, Tray, Murphy was coming back, everybody was getting healthy, Zion was looking like he was coming back into form. And everything was looking like, hey, if this team is healthy and can play a couple games together, they might be a sneaky team in the Western Conference playoffs. And all of that may still happen. But to come out here today and to lose by 44 with a chance to get to the in-season tournament

is absolutely ridiculous. LeBron and AD were hooping. like they like this was like four years ago like it was a title run lebron came out listen taken taking uh what is it he saw a step we saw the fuck you tonight four from four from three three of those threes came on three straight possessions the third of which was a heat check from the logo that he switched that bitch to make three in a row he was on one looking like the most motivated i've seen brawn

since like i don't know the playing game against the sons from like like two and a half years ago like this was clearly a game that he got up for for whatever reasons maybe he wanted that 500 k maybe he needed a new rolls royce maybe he needed to get tuition for his third child i don't know but he wanted to win this game and make the in season tournament and it showed because he turned the fucking clock back he was saying in the interview the day that father time is undefeated he wants to be the first one to give him a loss in a while that's how we played tonight he wanted that shit bad let's wait real quick real quick before before we go and praise lebron for the next 20 minutes the fact listen

That was corny. Like, can we, can we agree with that? LeBron, like, LeBron, knowing, like, that he's about to say a bar and taking a pause and be like, y'all ready for it?

They're ready for it? I'm ready to give father time his first loss. Shut up. Relax. You're forcing. You're forcing. And he definitely knew that before the game for sir.

Oh, yeah. Practicing in the mirror. He knew he was recording for the documentary because he like stop and smirk to try to make it have like some aura to it. He wasn't just like, trying to give him his first loss. He was like,

trying to get the loss that's going to be hard to have TikTok at like literally next year bro ugly ass but yeah man we had to get the first reaction there because the game just ended

Lakers are great pelicans not looking great tonight but let's rewind talk about the entire bracket stage of the in season tournament before that though how are you all feeling about it in general what's your general vibe of the tournament

are you bought in on this idea Do you feel like the players care? Like, are you excited for the finals? My bad. My bad, y'all. When this idea was first announced, I was like game for it. You know what I'm saying? If I remember correctly, Isaac, you're a game for it.

We absolutely saw nothing that could be lost from the situation other than just like trial. Worst things that could happen is error. You know what I'm saying? At that point in time, you're just making things more exciting, more curious. But, you know what I'm saying? A lot of people, Donovan, had to say you might fit in this category. you were just like, ah, lame, just shit on change, certain things. Bozo!

NBA change or whatever. It wouldn't even like that. You're like, who the hell is going to watch the Charlotte Hordens versus the Washington Wizards? That's not the big picture. What we witnessed tonight that first in-season game and a couple nights ago, seeing them go against, who the Pacers go against a couple nights ago? Was it the New York Knicks, I believe? No, the Celtics.

The Celtics, there we go. I forgot. Yeah, the Celtics, like, those, that's like the bigger picture of the end-season. in tournament, you know what I'm saying? Mock him again. Mark him again. Run it up. Wait, wait.

You guys say your stuff. Say your stuff. Old man, bozo, scared to change. I don't know. Okay, cool. So there's two points that I have to make. One of them is that I was wrong in that it is, it is much cooler than what I thought it was going to be.

And there was a lot more buy-in initially than in like year one than I thought it was going to be. Two, I'm still low-key right in that. Oh, like, what, listen, which, if we're just playing for bread, like, okay, I guess like that stakes, but my biggest thing that I kind of extrapolated across everything was, what are the stakes? And I still think that that is something that, like, can be addressed going into next year. I think that there can be a little bit more on the line rather than just $500,000. So, like, we can see that.

So I'm, listen, I'm defending myself on that, but it is, it is, it's a, it's a, it's a good thing that the league is doing is, it's exciting. These games have been fun. The, listen, the Hornets Wizards games, they've been a little bit better with the cool courts. Like, it's been a good thing. Yeah. Yeah. And I, we don't want to get caught up on rehashing this at all. Yeah.

But I guess the point Adam Silver probably is thinking is that like they don't want to put too much incentive behind it because as you see players are carrying this means some of them. And as that goes on for many years, fans. start to care so he'd probably say well what are the stakes for a finals you know like it's bragging right you want to win a trophy there's something it's a championship you want to win that's why you play the game they'd probably view this at that same thing it's just a second part of that where it's just an accomplishment it's why you suit up you know yeah that's fair exactly so either way these games have been great like we said let's start with the full-on breakdowns with pacer's versus um why am i blank you know versus bucks yes the short the headline from this game

is Tyrese Halliburton is him. In the tier list you guys are going to hear after this we recorded yesterday, we talked about the Pacers, and we talked about not necessarily having faith in them to win multiple playoff series or anything, and they're not like real quote-unquote contenders, but we are all in on Tyrese being that guy, which if that's continued to be the case,

you'd never know what you're going to get for them any night, and you never know what you can get for the many series. That was all confirmed tonight. Mo? Man, Tyrese Halliburn, I said, I think in this tierless video, or maybe it was a podcast prior to that, I said that this dude is a new age, new era point God.

And that title only goes to players who are just masters at managing the game on the offensive end on every single level possible, no matter what type of defense is throwing at you. Now, yes, of course, like, still hasn't been to playoffs yet and all that. And I don't want to say that Tyrese Halliburton is, you know what I'm saying, the actual point God when we have to see him go ahead. and go through these next feats. But we're watching this legit superstar leap and he's doing things that only some of the greatest game managers of all time, like Chris Paul, who was called Point God

and also fucking LeBron James do over the last 15, 20 years. You know what I'm saying? Crazy stat for you guys. The only players to have more 20-point games, tennis's games with zero turnovers, then Tyreys Halliburton is. LeBron James and of course Chris Paul they both have I believe eight or 10 or whatever Tyrese Halliburton has seven to his name he's title alongside Steve Nash

and all those are the guys but this dude is like 22 23 right now and he's already reached those beats hell of times this season also too so yeah you mentioned you mentioned you want to calm down giving me broad proclamations because he hasn't had a playoff run yet honestly I don't really give a fuck I think we can say that he's made the superstar leap. He is in, he's made the same leap that we saw Shay Gilders Alexander make last year where we were like, by the time the All-Star break came around and he was selected to an all-star team, we knew who's going to be an all-N-Ba player, we knew this guy was pushing top ten conversations. We don't really got to wait to see team

success. Like, you can just tell that something's different. That's the case of Tyree's Halliburton. I remember a few days ago, I saw a tweet. I forgot who tweeted it. Someone tweeted the Tyrese Hallibur might be a top five point guard already. And I quoted it. I was like, I don't know. That might be conservative. I think we might have to fire up top three conversations soon. After tonight, and we saw him just little brother, Damien Lillard, despite being eight years younger, I don't know how we can't have top three conversations for him. This is what the in-season tournament is about, right?

If we want to talk about stakes, the stakes are agendas will be pushed. And the agenda that you're going to get from us moving forward is that top, is that Tyrese is a top three-point guard consistently. like for him like he came out and he was hitting floaters over brook lopez consistently he was pushing the pace and again like mojo said he doesn't turn the ball over ever and to be able like for the pacer's to play as fast as they do to play as wide open as they do and tyrese to have the ball in his hands as much as he does and to not make mistakes and to be as efficient as they are that's amazing right and so the listen I'm gonna I'm gonna say this man carry the paces to an in-season

tournament final he's out here doing it like your favorite players could never and is I just yeah I'm I'm extremely happy to see Tyrese like make this leap and be able to play in games that are meaningful and the one thing that everybody has been you know saying this entire run is at the beginning of the season when people were asking Tyrese about the in-season tournament he said I said, yeah, I love it. Like, I've never won anything in this league. It's going to give me an opportunity to compete. And he's showing everybody, just give me a chance.

Just give me a chance. And I would go out there and drop 30 in 10, 28, and 10, whatever he did tonight. And it's going to be fantastic. 27 points, seven rebounds, 15 assists, 57.9% from the field, zero turnovers. And he hit the dame time, too. Yep. Add that to the stateline. 100%.

aside of even like we're focusing on Tyrese Halliburton it wasn't just him Miles Turner was also incredible and that connection is really what drove their offense. He had Mouse Turner looking like Anthony Davis on the role like they were just dicing up the bucks defense and dunk after dunk for Miles Turner which he did know their collaboration together but what was interesting to me was you know they went in a halftime of 12 for the reasons you said they were just coming out a great offense he was finishing over Brooke Lopez at the rim there's actually one place specifically where he had a hard finger roll layup off the glass to go over him and reggie miller was

like look at that easy one just you know routine commentary and doris burke was like listen you are the hall of famer mr reggie miller you can say that's easy for all of us that shit did not look easy and that's exactly how i felt because it looks so routine for him but that's an incredibly difficult thing to do over someone who just was second in defense player the year last year like brookelopez is not an easy target in the rim and terries taliburton was going at him going at yanness doing the normal pick and roll stuff with no resistance to the whole first half. But in the second half, we saw, you know, the bucks are the bucks still and they made that run. And the fact that the game ended with Tyrese Halliburton, getting to the rim blown by Brooke Lopez and then hitting a setback three to make them go up five from seven, what was it?

They were up nine to go up to 14 with those five points to seal the game. That was like superstar shit to me. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. You know, and he caught on to what they were trying to do in the fourth quarter, which is, I don't know why Adrian. different. We're going to talk about that a little bit later, but they're running a, it's appeared to be a two, three zone. And Tyrese noticed that. And he, and he was just feasting, QB mode, like Patrick Mahomes mode. And he would just get into Peyton whenever you wanted or

passing it out and orchestrating the offense on that end as well, you know? And once he saw that, it was pretty much game over. And that also the, the Milwaukee Bucks will also help, like, put a nail to the coffin. You know what I'm saying? So Tyrese's mind and how he sees the game, which appears to be in slow-mo with how, with how calculated every single decision that he makes is phenomenal. And it's only something that we've seen a few times in NBA history, his mind, at least, in display that he's putting out. And that's rare. Yeah. For sure. It's funny you say slow-mo because, like, that's the opposite of what he's doing. It feels that way to him, but like the whole thing's making them crazy is that they're just so fucking fast and he's so fucking fast and can just think the game faster

and everybody else it's like their whole point their whole like ethos as a team is that like listen you can score they're not a very aggressive defense they kind of like let you get to your spots and they just play very fundamental not a lot of trapping or anything it's like they want you to shoot fast because they know they're going to shoot faster it'd be better at going fast and just out sprint you to the end of the game and it works yeah man it's it it it is interesting though because they've had one of the worst defenses in the league but over these last two games of you know of like tournament play there the defense still hasn't been like elite obviously but the effort has been there and it's very interesting because

i it gives me a little bit of hope for the patience moving forward because now it's like i know that that level of at least intensity and effort is in there and so once we start getting later in the season i'm i want to see that like this this this is something that i'm going to be expecting from this team once we get into playing tournament season, you know, playoff season and all that stuff. So it's, yeah, whether they win or lose the tournament, this six game stretch that they've had is extremely encouraging on all fronts. Yeah, man. Yeah.

I would say real quick, this is not even, they played a great game, hit about their, like, their season average or whatever, but they didn't even shoot well from the three point line at all. They shot 21%. You know what I'm saying? And they didn't get to the rim, obviously, as much as the Milwaukee Bucks. And that fourth quarter right there, let's this, it just put, it should put each and every one of us into perspective as to how potent this entire team is. And, bro, like, it's, Tyrese is the star of it for sure. He is the conductor of it.

Don't get this shit wrong. But also having a team with so many consistent and reliable. guards like buddy healed bruce brown andrew demhart before he went down or whatever um that t j mcconnell like that goes a long way as well these these are some of the better guards better bench players in the NBA that they have just along his backside to help carry the offense and make it a float i don't want to say it almost at all times because they lose a lot of games once tyrese is sitting down obviously that's where that's like a part of their roles but when he's on and he can play alongside a t-j or whoever whoever it is bro they just make they don't make a lot of mistakes this

offense doesn't make a lot of mistakes they're so coordinated with every move for sure yeah how did you all feel about the game from the buck's perspective i think free time is over free time oh obviously it's that it's not over yeah yeah i'm playing i thought i thought i wasn't i mean like dained in a suit super well but like i let the game like i feel like they played fine the facers just like clashed up and like won the shoot out But I know, Mo, you alluded to it. A couple hours ago during the Lakers game, there was a report that came out from Chris Haynes

that Bobby Portis had, I think the word used was altercation or confrontment, whatever it was, with Adrian Griffin in the locker room after. And I read the article, and what happened was, Adrian Griffin was, like, doing his normal coach stuff, like telling the players what we got to do better. And Bobby Portis spoke up and was like, you got to do better too.

The offense was unorganized in the fourth quarter. So, well, I read the article. I didn't even feel like it was anything, but I guess that's like fuel to the fire of some people finding a reason to like, you know, have, like Donovan said, the season tournament is for narratives and you can easily spin this into a narrative of the fucks you're in trouble. Exactly. A narrative that hasn't been pushed, but tonight that mother furka has been let on fire. I've been saying it. I've been saying it that they're that like despite the record that that I don't think that they are as good as their record in the case. They're 15 and 6 right now.

They're a game behind the Celtics for first place in the East. Yet when you watch them, I just don't think that they are at the same point in the race as the Celtics. I don't think that they are at a very, like, solid point in their development. I think that they're still very early in that there's a lot of things that they have to work out. And I'm going to take this out. I'm going to run with it. Like, listen. I don't know.

I listen. Well. So. I it's only it's only been an hour since the game so I don't have I haven't had enough time to fully run with it I promise you next week I got y'all they're fine it's going to fall apart I believe they're fine but to the heights that they should be at they're they're not fine at all yeah a coach's job in the NBA is to put your players in the perfect position the best position to win and on a consistent basis so far the season Adrian Griffin appears to not do that whatsoever. Why in the fourth quarter? They lost this game in the fourth quarter. They played okay throughout the first, second, whatever, third quarter. They eliminated that run because Damien Lutter went absolutely berserk and he came back to life or whatever. But if you

watch that fourth quarter, you know it's a lot of things. Of course, some like rosters, flaws. They need a pointed attack defender and all, and all that are the good stuff. But there's things like deeper than that. Why do I see guys like Chris Middleton, consistently bringing the ball up. Meanwhile, Janice and Damien Lillard are just lingering on the court. And they're playing more of an off ball role. You know what I'm saying? Why do I see Chris Middleton taking that, taking that type of assertiveness?

You know what I'm saying? And that's by design. It's not Chris Millington just being like, oh, that's not him. That's not his play style whatsoever whatsoever. That's something that's by design. And that needs to be questioned by Atrian. Were you going to say? I will push back on that a little bit just because,

like one like if you are if yonis is off ball like that's perfectly fine he's not he's not a ball handler in that way right so if yonis is off on you want to bring him into the action like pick a roll or do something like that that's fine right even even with dame if dame if dame is off ball if you have damien lillard in the corner and you run a pick and roll even if it's not with yannis and you run it with brook that spacing is going to let chris middleton go and honestly i'd much rather i know dame is going to get his. I know Janus is going to get his. I'm, I'd actually kind of prefer for Chris Middleton to be aggressive because I know that he's, that we're going to need him. Adrian Griffin really only played eight guys today, right? Their rotation is not deep. And so they're going to

need Chris Middleton to get into his rhythm a lot. And so him bringing the ball up, I'm cool with that. And even, even whenever they had Drew Holiday, he was, he was a facilitator for their offense. So this is anything. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. My only alarming thing is, like, now you have, there's, you have someone, you don't have Jew Hall anymore. You have someone several heights above that. It's the consistency in which Chris Middleton did that. And I'm sure that's not a him thing. That's a coaching thing, you know? And seeing how waffley Damien Liller was off the ball, just not making really any hard cuts or any real movement and Yon is doing the same thing. That is alarming. You know what I'm saying? Another way, another thing that's alarming. His vocab bag is deep today. Seeing the deep penetration that Tyrese Halliburton was doing just his basis to that 2-3 zone and then Adrian Griffin just being like, yeah, hold on to that. That is not. He's fucking nuts. You know what I'm saying?

I feel so bad for Milwaukee Bucks fans because Adrian right now is running this team as if they have no as if they're running into the ground. Not running into the ground, but it's like he's not utilizing the talent that he has on this team. It's bad. Question. Now, the only reason why they're not. The only reason why they're not that bad is because Janus is Juanis and Dame is and they're going to produce their numbers. But you're tripping. Yannis and Dame have two of the highest usage rates in the league. It's just hard to get used to playing with each other when you're two alpha-alpha guys.

And it's not that like Adrian Griffin is just like just fucking twiddling his thumbs. It just takes a lot of addressing from both of them that like you get over time. No, I think that he's just like, well, I have a question for you. Is Adrian Griffin on David Blatt time? No, I wouldn't say David Blattime Because they're not like, that's crazy He doesn't have LeBron If he had LeBron in his coach

For sure, he's cut, you know what I'm saying? But Janus is not LeBron He's not that type of personality That's a big adjustment There's an article actually written by The Athletics Bucks reporter today that I read Was incredible, I retweeted it If you guys want to go check it out

I'd highly, if you have an athletic subscription that is I would highly recommend you go read it It was an article where they interviewed Janice, Adrian Griffin, and Damien Lillard and did, like, a film breakdown of why their picking rolls haven't been, like, this unstoppable force that we all thought it would be. And, like, Dame explains it, like, and Yonis,

explain it, like, an incredible detail in that. And they were basically talking about how teams, when Yonis, when Dame runs a picking roll that is, they hard double him, throw traps. And then obviously he dumped it down to Yonis, who catches the ball, like, at the free throw line, and immediately has a help defender in his face. And Yonis isn't used to that, because previously,

when he was running picking rolls, it wasn't with the guard that was getting trapped. So it was more of, like, a normal coverage. So whenever they do that, Janus would like catch the ball down low and just like not know what to read because he's never been on situations in his life so they realize you got to like do a deeper pick and roll so that Janus can catch it with more space to operate without the center in his mouth so whoa pause but it's stuff like that that you know it comes with repetitions of like knowing

where to be on the court just because like you aren't those type of that's not the type of usage that yonis had in previous seasons with the guards that were next to him that type of stuff just needs time i think they'll be fine i'm my only alarming thing that's the only thing like i see I see what you're saying and that makes so much sense but even if you're running a different type of pick and roll why don't you run that more often?

Yeah, well that's because right that's it. Yeah, yeah. Either way, I know what you mean. It'll come over time and yeah, they have to figure out a lot of stuff still and right now like you guys are saying that right now they're not currently

level contender like the Celtics undeniable. The end of season bucks are going to be so much better. End of season bucks will probably have won this game if they were that good now. Yeah.

All I'm saying is, last thing, Bobby Porter's is the wrong person to get into an altercation with. Listen, Nicole Emeritus, he is texting that many Adrian Griffin right now. So, oh, whoa, whoa. That's funny. Okay, so what's your, let's move on in the next game. What are your thoughts concretely about Pelicans versus Lakers? Are you concerned about the Pelicans? Let's start there.

yeah uh concerned maybe honestly like maybe long term uh just because i we've had these questions for a while and this game isn't like the reason why obviously that i i would feel this way but we've had these conversations about the fit between b i and zion we've had these conversations about are there too many cooks in the kitchen right how does like young as valentunas fit into all of this And they're a very weird team. I think that a lot of things need to go right for them to reach their full potential. And in the NBA, it's very hard for everything to align at the same time. And so I think that they are, they're going to have to make some moves and kind of restructure everything

and really figure out if Zion is the, I mean, obviously he is going to be the person that they choose, if it's going to be between him or BI, but they have to figure out what direction they want to go in. Yeah. I'm concerned about playoff Zion what that's going to look like specifically with him next to Jonas Valchunis because tonight we saw the Laker that we talked about earlier

LeBron was incredibly engaged that was also defensively the way they had LeBron guarding Zion being the main guy sagging off of him and really forcing him to finish over LeBron with the head of steam which is not easy to do when your defender's LeBron James

who's also incredibly strong one of the few guys in the league that Zion isn't faster and stronger than necessarily yeah and they were guarding him one-on-one with lebron with ad helping obviously yonis van chunas is in the dunker spot so ad is close by to help off of him so zionion isolations were just not a thing zion got eight shot-ups this game he was six for eight was wildly efficient like zion always is he's mr efficiency man but he could not get to his spots and get shots because he had these two big forwards that were down there locking him up with no spacing because he's not playing next to a true spacing big and zion isn't an elite passer and you can't really shoot he can get his little flow loaders up like he did a one midrange pull up over lebron and lebron's kind of laughed even though zan made it was like what the fuck was that looked awkward but that's not his back he doesn't feel comfortable doing that so a big concern on what's going to look like throughout a whole playoff

series if people just do that exact same thing if you put erin gordon on him and then have yokitch roaming ready to help him what is he going to do in that situation because he's not a player with a ton of counters i think a counter that zan has in his game is his passing ability I would say it tends to be underrated. He's not the best pass in the NBA or the best passer at his position, not one of the 10 or 15, you know what I'm saying? But it still is the strength of his game. But you mask those strengths when you put a bunch of big ass,

Jonas Valenzhenius in this case, you put a bunch of big ass trucks in front of him. There are no passing. He can't get anywhere. You know what I'm saying? Everywhere is clogged up. And of course, like Brandon Ingram, he's like, I don't know, top 10 in the NBA and drives per game.

That's a big part of his game. And of course, it's on. That's all he does. And Yonis Malintu's naturally he's going to feast in the paint. Of course, now he starts his game out to the three point line. And he has been good over the entirety of the season. But overall, I'm going to agree with you. Like, in order for them to make, I don't want to say a playoff run, but be a productive

playoff team, make a productive playoff appearance. They're going to have to find some type of big who can shoot that you can put in place of Jonas Valenchu. This was competent enough. Yeah, like, Jonas is a great offensive player. They have Larry Nance when he's healthy that gives him more of a defensive look there and can do a little more mobility from that position, but he's not a shooter either. So the answer, the only answer they have on the roster right now is to put Zion at center. And I saw a tweet that said, I have never seen Zion get a defensive stance and get low

in his entire career. And I agree. That man is so upright and so straight. It's blown by every time. The first, the second bucket of the game was Delo blowing by him in an ISO. I was like, yeah, if I know what time I can't play sound at center. You can't play them at center. Your defense will be Swiss cheese. So I say to say, I don't think there's any answers to their biggest problems on their roster right now, which concerns me long term. Kelly O'Linnick, please come through. That'd be dope. That'd be a good fit. One day. Listen, 44 is just ridiculous. I still just can't get over. Also, this is very weird because last night, The Jazz lost by 50. And there's a lot of these games where people are getting blown out. You need to show up.

And I'm just very disappointed. You had five. They gave up. You had $500,000 on the line. And you get blown out by 44 points as a professional. And there's not going to do with that. Bro. He had an interview.

It was a pregame interview with him and Brandon Ingram. And someone asked, B.I. What are you going to do? What are you guys going to do once you get that 500K? and they both had like that close friend best friend moment where they both looked at each other and just started busted busted out laughing and i ain't gonna lie is on we we all know what happened over the past few months during a somber nasty man nasty man nasty man so he was that is

diabolical plan yeah listen he's in last if he would have wanted they would have been in las Vegas with five hundred thousand dollars oh my god he would have blew that bitch in one night so we got a young fan base Some of them probably don't understand the implications of what's being said. But just no, Zion would have to no good. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, man, back to basketball. Maybe the Lakers are just a really good match for them,

having LeBron James and AD as your two forward combos, because, again, the whole thing is like LeBron's old, so-and-so, and so-and-so. When he locks in length tonight, he is still a really good defender. And it reminded me a lot of the 2020 game before the season ended halfway through where they played the Bucks. Remember they beat the Bucks and the Clippers in back-to-back games, and Yannis was defended half and half by AD, half and half by LeBron, and they just, like, just punked them.

Like, it was just physical. The way that 2020 Lakers team won every game, you know, they were just more physical than you, had a top-tier defense and just paint-matched the whole game. They did that to the Bucks and defended Yonis the same way they did tonight against Zion. And that makes me think maybe this Lakers team has that top gear of defense to get into once we see them get more healthy with their ring rotation.

I'm feeling confident in them. Yeah. Listen, I think that, and we can move to the final because now the final is the Lakers and the Pacers on Saturday. I'm going with the Lakers. I think that Indiana, and while they have been like playing fast, you see that the way these games are going towards the end of the game, once the intensity like kicks up, it starts to slow down just a little bit. I think once you get there, it favors, it favors a locked in LeBron and a locked in AD. And the defense and the switchability that the Lakers have to put on Indiana, I think they're going to be able to slow them down enough,

get the first in-season tournament, add that Noste to LeBron's legacy, do all that stuff. At the Nogne's legacy, it's hilarious. I'm going to use this against my goat argument. That's hilarious. Yeah. Honestly, if I was to predict who would win between the two, I think I would lean towards the Indiana Pacers. It doesn't matter what type of defense you put on them.

Tyrese Halliborne is going to facilitate the fuck out of this game and just figure out a way to win. And honestly, also, I think the Lakers have a harder time getting up shots, getting up those attempts. And I don't know if they'll be able to keep up with such an explosive offense. You know what I'm saying? Now, I don't imagine the world in where they're going to necessarily, like, struggle. I don't think it's going to be a blowout for the Lakers.

But my prediction is, like, I think the pieces are going to win by, like, 12. Solid 12, you know what I'm saying? Oh, my God. Full-on munch mode. Let's do it. You know who I'm, you know who I'm fucking picking a win? I literally look down for two seconds and his outfit change. Get out of here.

Right now. You know who I'm fucking picking a win? Right. Right now, the Lakers are our favorites right now to win, to win the in-season tournament. Four. What are the odds? They are three-and-a-half-point favorites. Listen, spend a lot of time to start this pod,

talking about Tyrese Maxi. I mean, Tyreys Halliburton is him. Second coming, top three-point guard in the league, probably pushing top ten. He is absolutely the superstar level player that you want to see and want to bet on to win an in-season tournament. It doesn't fucking matter.

Lakers are winning by 20. Gross. That's wild. Gross. Nuts. Do you know what you're doing right now? That's ridiculous. That was just uncalled.

Gross. Let's get this move on. Let's get to this tier list. Gross. Let's get to this tier list. Oh, God. Doing wild. I'm about the transition, you know, where you're going to try and travel back to yesterday.

Please. We'll talk to you all later. Oh, my God. Welcome to yesterday. Now that we got that in season term of stuff out of the way, whatever we said, we don't know yet. It's currently Wednesday. Now we're going to do the part of the pod that you saw on the title.

We're going to put every NBA contender into a tier list. I think this is going to be real fun. This is what we do. We are about tier list is our bread and butter, right? I'm very excited to get into this. Because I really know. And listen, I know for a fact, we're not even going to get caught up on who's S tier. Right.

We're not going to get caught up on who's a tier. We are going to spend a majority of this pot on who is a D-tier contender. versus a C-tier contender and two teams that don't even have chances to win an actual NBA title. We're going to debate the shit out of the New York Knicks

the Orlando match like all these people that have no chance of winning that's going to be the main thing we're talking about. That's what makes us professional tier listers. We graduate a whole four years to make professional tier list on the app YouTube. This is going to be phenomenal. bags. Professional rankers is hilarious. It's what we do. Real discord time over here. Hell

yeah, man. This is what real man. The teams that we picked are essentially the top eight to nine in every conference. We put teams on here and gave them benefit for the doubt if they're just in the mix and have somewhat of a chance. Like I said, the Orlando Magic on here because they're starting strong. None of us are going to pick them to ever make the finals, but, you know, they deserve to begin the conversation. So it ranges from teams like that. all the way down to the Warriors around here, even though the Tensee because of the Warriors, then obviously the top teams,

the Nugget, Celtics, all that. Where do you all want to start? Man. Do we want to start with Orlando? Listen, because this is going to be a two-ed sword because like you just said, we want to give them their props, and I want to big them up.

But at the same time, let's be real. Like, they're just not going to win the championship this year, but we should start out. I feel like we should start out talking about them what's like been making them go. And then- Know what we should do, actually?

on. Let's do Orlando first is the first big discussion point, but let's start off by what teams are automatically S-tier? It's set to standard first. Okay. I feel that is it, so Nuggets and Celtics are S-tier, correct? Yes. Yeah, Nuggets, Celtics, sure. Is it just them? I would kick in the bucks because they've been whipping ass as a weight, not in the ways that, you know, I'm saying, we would expect them to whip ass, but they're still doing so. And they've been looking pretty unstoppable as of weight. So I would put them at S because I know at the end of the season, be there. But as of today, we still have to see a little bit more. But I'll defer to you guys. Sounds to me like magic. I'm sorry. The buck's about to be our first big conversation because

Donovan, I feel like you disagree. I came into this knowing that this is going to be a talking point. And because obviously like it was one in our power rankings episode, you guys were getting on me talking about, listen, they're with the winning game doing all this stuff. Like how do you not have them in your top 10, that or that. I think that they are A tier. Like, that's why I think they are right now. If you, if you tell me they are S tier simply because they have this amazing ceiling with Yannis and Dame, I'm cool with that. And if that's where we want to go, I'm okay. But I think that there are a couple things in terms of like the way that they're playing that could put them in A, but I can see the argument for us. So. Okay. Yeah.

Mo is very clearly the S-tier. He's the highest on them out of all three at this point in the season, I think. It was the case in the power rankings. You're the lowest. I'm somewhere in the middle. I came into the season, probably the highest of us three, actually.

I was like, I think they're pretty, not pretty easily, but they're, for me, clear-cut favorites had to come out of the east before the season started. Now I'm leaning towards the Celtics. So I'm between y'all.

I'll be the time breaker. I'll let you all convince me. Mo, why do you think they should be S-tier? Me personally, I'll put them in S-tier because over the last few games, I've seen Chris Middleton look a lot more like Chris Middleton. It all started a couple, like a week and a half ago against the Miami heat. He had like a saw of what 17 points against them.

And then, you know, last night we just watched them. Was it last night or was it two nights ago? I don't remember. But on Tuesday, on Tuesday, whenever they played the Knicks. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, there you go. On Tuesday night, he had a pretty solid game. Put up like what, 12, 14 points. points, good efficiency, and that level of Chris Middleton is just enough for them to become serious contenders. Now, obviously, you know, like the bucks aren't the bucks of the old. They have a new play style and a whole new just prerogative out there on the court. They're more offensive. Yeah, they're more offensive oriented. And I don't know how I feel

about that because, like, you still have Brooke Lopez who's averaging like basically three blocks, three blocks a game. He's been fucking fantastic for the start of the season. He was a big concern and now he's he's elite he's the most elite version of brook lopez role player status um so yeah man like i love the i love the books and i love the way they're playing right now so i have to put him in two point eight blocks the game right now for brook lopez that's insane that's no it's pretty great especially when you think about the fact that they started this season not putting him in a traditional drop coverage that he's been dominant in they started the season trying to play like the raptors were last year under adrian griffin and playing this really aggressive hedging defense that

just didn't work then they had the little mini mutiny and we're like coach we got to let brook do this thing and yeah it's worked but the problem there is that's worked brook is still the shot blocking dominant force of the rim he's always been the defense is still 21st in the league right now so i i'm leaning towards s2 for what you said they're a very different team with to use your vocabulary word different prerogative because they're top three in offense 21st in defense which is just you know the polar opposite of what we've seen from them for recent years I think when it comes down to it I'm going to trust that in a playoff series

They can figure out how to have a good enough defense And we're seeing that you mentioned Chris Milton In that last game against the Knicks I was more concerned with the fact that we saw The Janus and Dame pairing Really come alive on offense and look like What you'd want it to look like Yonis had 35 and 10

I think 10 assists and 8 rebound or something like that Yeah, that's what it was And then Damien Lurred 28.7 assists Was raining from 3 Really that's kind of the story of that game they made a million threes. It was just a really, they looked like the Celtics

on their good days where they make 43s a game and you're just getting flooded even though you're playing a good game as the Knicks. That gives me encouragement that this team can be really good even what their defensive deficiencies

talent was. Okay, that's fair. Yeah, and I'll come back and here's my thing. It's not that I don't think that they can be S tier, but I think that they should be an A right now because both Denver and Boston

are both top five in that rating right now. Like they are more complete on both sides of the ball than Milwaukee is. And I think that in terms of like how their teams are, their systems, they have more continuity than what Milwaukee is and what Milwaukee has right now. And we're still seeing the Bucks put things together. And so if the playoffs started today, I would feel more comfortable with those two teams fighting for the championship because Milwaukee and listen like most said they've been they've been amazing over

the last 10 games they've put a lot of the pieces together and they're starting to look like the team that we thought they were but like you said they're still 21st in defense so there's still a lot that they have to overcome and so that's why I think right now they're A and they're not on that level that's fair I so I guess the question is there is are y'all okay so we need to take a step back for this tier list you know the point is contenders tier list it's not power rankings based on what we seen so far this season. Are we projecting on who we think has the best chance to win the finals, which if we're doing that, that would mean we're projecting to what we think

they'll look like at the end of the season? Or are we doing it based on what we've seen this year without projecting? That's like feeling important to clarify. I think the tiebreaker has to be the tiebreaker kind of, it has to be projecting. We're talking about contenders. We're talking about the NBA championship. That's the last thing that we're going to see. And that's what we're doing all of this for. So I, there you go. The bucks arrest here. Sorry, you said the bucks rest here. Yeah, we'll put them in S tears. There we go. There we go. We'll have to see it. Honestly, I was probably always going to do that anyways just because I'm dying on

this hill, but it had to be fair. You ain't alone. I'll die right with you. Yeah, I'm dying, betting on Yannis and Dame. I'll do it. Yeah, that's fine. I'll stand there. That's fine. There's a lot of things I don't stand 10 toes on. I'll go back and forth, based on new information. I'm standing with Yonis and Dame. I don't care. Okay. I'll flip-flop on some shit, but not this.

Yeah. What do y'all want to do with the Timberwolves? Do they deserve S-tier based on how dominant they've been? Well, okay, you don't have to say that. We all know, we all want to respect the Timberwolves. We all obviously have been surprised, and they surpassed all of our expectations regardless of how good and how much we wanted to believe in and sleep and Rudy Gaubert. You know what I'm saying?

Continuing to uphold the status of being one of the grace defenders in the pain of all time and all that stuff. But they're not S-tier, sadly. I don't think anyone would put any reasonable money to bet on them that they'll win a championship. Now, I don't know about that. May be a real conversation for them, but S tier is like, Oh no, they're minimum A.

They have to be A. What we've seen, like, they, how do I phrase this? We were very down on them coming to the year. We've more than admitted we were wrong. We're, I think all, I don't know why you moff or what you just said, but all high on them now and realize they're a legitimately great team that have figured out,

how to mask most of their deficiencies and have greater strength they did last year. That's to me, I don't think it's crazy if you put them in S. I think you can easily project a world where their defense maintains

in the playoffs. Anthony Edwards continues to be a go-to ball handler that has enough playmaking chops and shot creation chops to survive in a playoff atmosphere. Jada McDaniels anchors their defense and he wasn't there for the last playoff run. You know, the big man Depp of Nas Reid.

I think they have enough pieces barring cat doesn't have a meltdown that they can be an S-tier team. I also don't think it's crazy put them in A because they're still hub cat and they still have Gobert and we've seen these groupings of players not work out in playoff settings before that's and that has been phenomenal this year so far too exactly he has he has been but the same way that you guys are making the bet for yannis and dame on the bucks and you guys want to do that i am not going to do that for cat i don't

think that he has no like for real i don't think that he has earned that type of like oh my god That's actually Every fucking episode It's been the last three episode That's actually crazy I think it's funny It's ridiculous Throw her across the room

No she's too smart She's too smart Yeah But yeah Like I don't I don't feel comfortable Betting on on Cat in a playoff series

And so that's why I don't think That they should be S right now I'm counterpoint What's up Counterpoint They have enough going for them That it's not really betting on

Cat It's better on everybody else To Cat can afford to play poorly I think they're not so live and die by his shooting performances like they have been

in previous iterations of this team they have Nas Reid they have Ridicobair crazy death there they would never they wouldn't do this but like they could close a game without Carlton Towns

and be A okay as assuming Jayne McDaniels and Oz Reid are healthy like they weren't last year they aren't live and die by Kat I don't think I understand that but when Kat is like

that that much of like an integral part of your team you still in terms of winning a championship you are asking Carl Anthony Towns to be good for two straight months in the in the playoffs. And I don't know if he has that in him. This team hasn't made it out of the out of the first round in the last two years. Obviously, different, you know, different construction each time.

And this version looks like the best version of them. But I, the other teams that we've seen, the Celtics have made the finals. the Nuggets have won a championship and Janice, Brooke, and Chris Middleton have won a championship as well. They have earned some type of goodwill that the Timber Wolf just haven't yet and so that's why I don't want to put them in us.

That's fair. And we're not, we're not shitting on them and make them an A tier contender. It's not exactly a slight for a team that's never been there. Yeah. I think the biggest thing for me I'll be worried about is

I think their defense is going to have them give them a floor that they're going to be incredibly hard to eliminate regardless but I think when they're matching up listen this all comes down to them playing Denver we all know the conference goes through them they're going to see them in the conference finals if they can make it that far

I have a little bit of worries about their half-court offense being able to maintain in a playoff setting where listen in the regular season now cat's eating go bears figuring it out he's healthy they know how to play around that they're more of a jump shooting oriented teams

and they don't have the spacing they can figure those things out is that going to maintain in a playoff setting against really smart defenses that can game plan for those weaknesses that the two big lineups can bring and really force Kat to beat you, I could see a world where

their offense slows down a little bit in the playoff setting. Exactly, exactly. So I'm with you. Let's go away. Yeah, cool. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair.

At the end of day, I think a lot of this is contingent on how high of the gear can Anthony Edwards kick into once it's that time. And he's proven to do that last year. year with important guys like Nas read missing i believe and also obviously jaded mcdaniels so regardless of fact he is very impressive for them yeah and they're honestly

they're 18th and half court offense even in the regular season for how good they've been offensively 13th to the offense overall so that's not so good they have to be s tier i don't think yeah that's fair they're not i'm on the same page we're all going to lakers how do y'all listen we just saw came off seeing them the latest game we saw as the time of reporting this It's not Thursday yet. We haven't seen the semifinals of the in-season tournament. We saw the quarterfinals where they beat the Sons who don't have Bradley Biel. So that's a part of the equation.

But the Lakers defense looked really good. LeBron looked incredible. I have a good amount of hope for this team, do y'all? Yeah, I think the Lakers have found their identity prior to the season. They did the most hilarious shit ever and pictured Austin Reeves as a third star, specific exclusions. photos of him AD and Braun next big three and all this other shit Darbraham took put his ass on the bench

and honestly he's been thriving not honestly he's literally been thriving over there been efficient and of course he's been closing out games as he should we saw he hit a very clutch timely three to help it was one of the very clutch plays along with the referee to help seal the game and

um along with the referee yeah like having Osiris scoring punch coming off the bench along with guys like Max Christie and Cam Reddish, my beloved Cam Reddish He's been good, man

I like him now I was a Lakers fan Yeah, yeah, you like him I'm happy that you like him But I don't like that tone Fuck out of you Sorry Cam Reddish It's fuck you now

Because I want to get too much On a ship But yeah man I like the Lakers Newfound identity But I don't know if they belong It as just yet Something's missing

No no No definitely not ass They're not, they have to be A tier, though. For sure. They can't be B. No, I think they have to be A tier. If you look at them, they like, if you look at the, just like the numbers, their profile kind of like resembles the Timbles.

They have a very elite defense. Their half core offense is kind of mid. But the difference is, you have LeBron James on your team. And he is amazing. And he's, he's just can't stop, won't stop. And he's going to, he's going to come out here. And he's going to do what he does. And I don't think there's not like I can't count on one hand the amount of people that I would want in a playoff series more than LeBron or 100%.

You know, like if it comes down to it, like if the Lakers and the Tim Wolves played a seven game series today, I would I would pick the Lakers simply because. Oof, that'd be hard. It would be hard. But I don't. There's nobody. There's nobody in the league that can still control the game the way, the way that LeBron can. The way that he's shooting the efficiency, the efficiency that he's. has, which we've talked about before, it's off the charts. And so everybody else is

just locking in a place. They have to be a tier. And AD's defense has been this year and last year combined on a whole other level than we saw early in his career. He's always been a great defender, all-time level, great defender. And you know who we talked a lot about how he's put a lot of weight on? He doesn't hide the fluidity he has a ball handler anymore that has kind of made people frustrated with his offensive profile these days. Yeah. I think it's helped him defensively. He is as dominant as a defender I've ever seen from him, I meant to say. in this season like I feel like I'm watching another Rudy Gaubert down there in the pain

like he is incredible so if LeBron is still capable of carrying this type of offensive load and being this level of creative with the ball on his hand still and AD is going to man your defense and just decimate teams game plans like he did last year against the Grizzlies and Warriors they're going to be incredibly hard to beat

but Donovan you mentioned their profile similar to the Minnesota Timberwolves they're fifth and half fourth and half court defense right now even though all their wings have been hurt all season they've been whole for like two games all year Yeah, man. Yeah, this is what they do. They're locked down.

And that's Anthony Davis for you. Going back to what you said with like Anthony Davis changing the body and all his other stuff, there's pros and cons with the evolution that he's made over the years. If you go back and watch his very first game as a like you're bouncy as hell, quick as hell, super agile. He literally looks like a real power forward version or center version of Kevin Durant. But now he's more stockier. He isn't as quick or anything on that. Of course, age is an injury.

It has to do with that. but now he's not so bully he's not bullieable at all and he's actually doing the bullying on a night tonight basis so there's proven cons with it and having all time great defense who the hell can complain with that and the rick the lakers are right now like reaping all those benefits for sure yeah they're incredible i so i i'm willing to go a as well because we're projecting and they're going to keep getting better the more they have continuity everything they're doing right now to the four seed they're doing with one of the worst injury luck in the league so far this season actually they fell to seventh seed actually am i is this new no no i think while you're

refreshing i think they're why you guys are refreshing okay they're four they're four 13 and nine have a question go ahead what would it take for you guys to eventually move them to s tier what would you i don't think they i mean the offense the offense would have to like jump into top 10 range top eight that like they would have to match that a trade I don't listen to gain to S tier unless they just like really start clicking just win a lot of games

like maybe we're just underestiming them fully healthy I think they're going to firmly be a tier just for really just because the other teams are so loaded damn just comes down to that like it's not really a slight to them what it's been great deal's been great man we can go eight here at the Lakers there's nothing at all that they can do this season

they're capped out at their pretenses what you're telling me No, I mean, if they go on a 12-game win streak, yeah, we're going to move into S, but I'm not going to assume something like that happens. So to me, it would just be more of whatever is working for them now, if it continues to work, and we just see them click and gel, like I said, they haven't been healthy. Yeah. If we see that continue, their defense moves from five in the half court to one, their offense continues to get better. AD is having a poor shooting from the field to start to the season. Yeah, mostly randomness. That's going to recover.

if he is even better than he was, Reeves starts to continue to go on an upper trajectory, like stuff like that, where what's working now continues to work even greater, sure, it can happen, but I wouldn't really assume that's going to be the case. That's fair. Yeah, 80s only shooting 54% on twos right now.

That's just uncharacteristically low for someone who's a legitimately great rim finisher. That's going to come up higher as the season goes on. No one pays attention to that. He'll be straight. Ah, no, he's a bum. He doesn't want a bad enough. The Shaq Discourse. love it

listen what team don't talk about next they were telling him night one to go get a CDL and to work at Home Depot like people people care about that and when he has a good game they're like oh he should do this every night I'm not impressed

oh my god guys I have to be honest I was the one I was the one making those CDL tweets I'm sure you were you're in the lab I'm being AI generator

he's doing the worst by the way Four is beyond our comprehension. Leave a follow. Oh, great. There we go. Leave a follow. Drop a like on the stream versus,

not stream. I'm used to, oh my God. I'm in stream mode. Drop a like on the episode if you're still here. Subscribe, do all that. Shout out to Kiel. Shout out to the Kiel.

But while we're on that point, speaking of the Lakers, let's stay in the Western Conference. I want to ask you guys where you would put the Dallas Mavericks. I'm glad you brought them up. Yeah. So right now they're 11 and 8.

firmly sitting in the six seed they started the season six and oh and even before then we came into the season thinking they'd be like maybe six to ten range type of team in the mix they started the season six and oh looked incredible and we're all like

all right maybe this Luca experience with Kyrie and the shooters around him maybe this is what is working now they're back down to earth how do y'all feel because I generally don't know what to think about them I counted out the Dallas Mavericks from the start of the season

or before the season because I didn't see how they would survive throughout an 82 game year with all these other teams next to whom have gotten exponentially better. And although yes to Dallas Mavericks, they get better, I'm not sliding them, Derek lively, who would have seen him having a great rookie season this early, this fast and being a consistent staple to their offense and also playing pretty good defense too.

Grant Williams is the perfect signing for this team, you know? And Tim Hardaway, Jr., I don't want to say he's like the least. leading six men of the year, but he's getting a whole bunch of buckets from the goddamn bench. Average like 17, 16 points or whatever, you know what I'm saying? So it's great. But with all that being said, there's still massive holes and flaws to this team. And obviously, defense is one of them, it's the biggest thing for them. And their offense hasn't been elite enough to carry them through those woes.

Like we've seen it carry through hyper-offensive teams like the Sacramento Kings in the past or this year's version of Sacramento King the fucking Indiana Pacers or the Atlanta Hawks you know they're mid as hell I don't know why I mentioned the hawks pain but you get the point they're not even on this tier list yeah no I get it

I think if we're going to put them they are either going to be C or B but they would be like a low B but I would have them I would have them in probably C just because if you are going to have

the 25th defense in the league you need to have an all-time unit offensively. You need to be leading the league in offense to be able to offset that. And there's, I mean, there's just like better offensive teams than them. And they, like, most of it, like, they stab holes. I don't think that they are, I don't, I would not pick them to get to the second round of the playoffs. Like, we, we already in the Western Conference, there's three teams that we have above them.

And I think that if you're in B or above in my head, those are teams that, if you're, If they made the conference finals, I wouldn't be like completely shocked. And if the Mavericks did it, I would be 100% shocked. When we did our first pod after opening night, I remember it was literally after opening night, we recorded that night of the pod. So it was like instant reactions. I remember I said that the Dallas Mavericks won that game, but it should be a win that is almost like worrying for fans. Because there was a lot of downside that we saw in that game that would just ended up not mattering. they pulled out a win because Carlton Town had a horrible first game of the season.

And then after that, we did the power rankings when they were 6 and 0. And I was like, all right, well, maybe this team is just going to shoot the shit out of the ball and we're going to have Luca cooking and they're going to win. And it's what it is. It's going to be the best version of that. I feel in between that now. And I was worried about them after night one because this team is kind of like the Warriors in that they're just so fucking unathletic at a lot of positions. Really? And just don't have any athleticism and punch that can allow them to get to the rim and just have juice.

It's literally how I feel watching the Warriors. I think they're up there with warriors in the terms of a lowest rim volume as a team I'm looking at that right now but it's like they're so jump shot reliant and a lot of those wing players just haven't been particularly impressive Seth Curry hasn't been great

what's the name Josh Green hasn't been particularly good and he's out for two weeks now exactly and Maxi Caliba has only played a couple games and he's a big part of their big member rotation it's just like if you're going to be so perimeter oriented you got to be knocking the shots down

like the Kings did last year and if that's not going to be the case they're going to have to make a move at some point to get more room pressure and have more juice like I said that night they need their own version of Aaron Gordon just that foreman who can give them athleticism and punch down low this team sorely lacks that

the 29th in rim volume literally I pull that out of my ass they're literally the only team ahead of the Warriors I don't even know that that is the case no you didn't play out of jazz you were in your bag you got this statistics hit in your veins I test it the I test do can you pull something up what's their

obviously it's going to be back that they have the 25th defense. What's their rim defense looking like right now? I got you. They are, in terms of frequency, 14th. So in terms of how much other people get there, not too bad. But the 29th in rim accuracy allowed. Yeah, so listen,

you can't score at the rim and you let other people score at the room. That is, that's a recipe for a lot of losses. And so like, if we're talking about being a serious contender, a series basketball team, that's the you know, that's the number one way to not be one. And so like they're lucky, they're lucky that they have an NBA MVP candidate like Luca to keep them afloat and mask a whole bunch of stuff.

But that's just that's just not sustainable. And they're probably going to be in the playing at this point. So what, see? Yeah, maybe. So this is where I'm conflicted. They deserve C. On paper right now, they're a C team in terms of contenders, which means to probably be team overall. But do you want to bet against Luca in the playoff setting?

See, that's the main thing. at the same time, I think Luca can only take you so far but I've seen him at the same time take him so far. But then like, I sit down. Yeah, we're projecting, but then I sit down and look at the rest of the team

and I see, like, I mentioned Grant Williams, who's been good overall for the entirety of the season, but as late, he's been struggling with his shot and then I see him get cooked by smaller guard all the time, so it's like, ugh. So I'm like, bro. You know, he's, I know.

He can only really. do so. Yeah, he's cool. So it's like, I want to, I might want to put them in C because I know what it is. They also have a move in them. They're going to be a buyer, a player at the trade deadline. I'm comfortable putting them in B, but I'm not mad if you want to be conservative and go see. If they're a buyer, yes, when they, listen, when they make the move, we can revisit that. But as of right now, I think they are C. Never mind. They got Luca. I'm sorry. B. Please, please. No, no, no, no, no. They got Oh, listen, a bet on, hold on, hold on, hold on.

Listen, we'll revisit. We come back and lower them depending on the team. No, no, no, no, no, we're standing on this right now. A bet on, listen, a bet on this, like you just said, it's not, it's not just a bet on Luca. It's a bet on Josh Green. It's a bet on Maxie Kleber. It's a bet on Grant Williams to get you to the upper tiers of championship contenders. It's just B.

It's not A. Let's not do this. Let's not. Let's have them in C. Well, I'm with you. Let's go B, but I'm comfortable. I swear y'all do this just to spite me, just to upset me. Dude, dude, the magic are on this list.

The pelicans are on this list. The paces are on this list. There's so many teams that have a wide variety of uns seriousness in terms of contending titles and contending chances. There's got to be teams that you're going to be like, oh, I believe more in Luca than I do. You guys have a meeting pre-show just to say, like, how can we upset them today? And this is just another case. I see how it is.

Okay. No, man. You know me best, Donovan. I'm not going to be shocked if I end up on your side I got weak knees I don't stand on shit I flip flop every other day like a goddamn pancake all right

I am not standing on shit please let this be known the polar opposite of Donovan's I love it yeah okay so let's contrast this with the team that I feel like is similar where do you want to put the Knicks

I think they're a solid seat to be honest with you And this is why I, are they, do Donovan, before we get to this, do you believe in the Knicks or the Mavericks more to win a title? Hmm. Think about that. I'm not asking who would win in a series. Who is a better chance of winning for a series? This is going to stand on it or what, Donovan?

Well, listen, one, this, this has nothing to do with the tiers. They can both be in the same tier. But I think that I would, I would take Dallas just because they have Luca and you have that high end talent. And, um, and I, I trust him to be able to raise the Mavericks to a floor that is the only a handful of people can, can do. And even though that Brunson is fantastic, he's great. He's not Luca, obviously. So yeah, I would, I think I would, I think I would take the, take the Mavericks. Just I don't, I don't believe in Julius Randon in the playoff setting right now. So that's also, that's also, that's also, yeah, that's also what it is. Like, your, your top players, the Mavericks have

And then also when you go to the second players, I would also trust Kyrie in a playoff setting more than Julius Randall. And so there's there's that aspect. So but I do think we didn't even mention Kyrie. I trust Kyrie too. Exactly. But I would have them in the same tier and I would have them in C. See, that's just you just explained why they shouldn't be in the same tier in my opinion. But I feel I feel the same way but differently.

You said you trust Luca to give them a floor. I feel like all this only matters if we see these teams click to the point that they like, you know, that they, we think they can. things go well for these teams, and we see them be an actualized version of themselves come playoff time. And that's going to be the case for both teams. They're both standard to expectations. I think Luca and Kyrie, to some degree, give them a ceiling that you can reach with, to win a title, you need two one superstar at least, maybe two, to go fucking nuts and give you an all-time level run. We saw what Yokish last year. We saw it with Yonis when he won a title. You need that level of high-end talent to go crazy. And the Knicks, you could argue

from 1 through 10 are a better team than the Mavs on totality. Maybe they can win in a series against the Mavs, but they just don't have that high-end talent that can give them that reach to a fourth playoff series win. And that, to me, makes them clearly in a different tier. Well, I don't think the maps have that though. They do that. We look at like, no, I don't, I, listen, there is absolutely no universe where the Dallas Mavericks win a championship, right? I think that I probably agree, but it's more likely than Nix. Again, yes, I agree more likely, but what we're talking about here is tears and levels of stuff. And so I think that the,

I think that the ceiling for both of these teams, if everything goes right and everybody's going crazy, is a conference championship appearance. I think that that's kind of fair, right? I can agree with that. The Knicks, listen, the Knicks defense and the fact that they are one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the league

and that they can create so many, so many second chance points, that, right, that in itself also gives them a floor offensively and in a playoff series that, like, you can get a couple games. And if Julius Randall just isn't two for 14, and I understand that that's a terrible bet, but you look at that game six with the Knicks and the Heat last year where Jalen scores 41, and everybody else is going three for 14,

RJ is going, you know, two for whatever, Grimes can't shoot, nobody can shoot. If you have one other person to do that on top of the offensive rebounding that Robinson and Hartenstein provide, you can you can get to the third round if everything clicks and I think that you agree the nix or c tier right yes yes okay okay yeah so it's about the math mo are you with us c tier nix oh absolutely yeah I agree I think that's a perfect I think that's a perfect range for the nix now a report came out a couple hours ago today by either world or sams one of the big two

and it was noted that oh the big two nice there was noted that the nicks were in the market or they're going to be in the market the second that a major superstar tries to request is out there to request a trade and obviously I think if that happens I don't know who in particular would like help raise that ceiling if they land a Zach Levine though or something like that I'm going to be more compelled to put them somewhere in a B or if they land anything I don't even know you know I'm saying I might be compelled to put them in B I don't know by Zach Levine specifically but that report was fucking hysterical that was Shams on Fandall TV all he said was The Knicks have their eyes on adding a superstar.

Yeah. Fucking obviously they do. Because New York Knicks, they have been for a decade. It doesn't change anything substantial with the way anybody should view this team. Yeah, exactly. But I will say, if they do add another piece, considering how good their defenses and rebounding how scraity are. Yeah, but that still is like the best part.

Well, in my mind, that's what makes the Knicks to Knicks to Scragic. And I know as season as a season goes on, that should take up just a little bit. And so I'll be more compelled to put them at B. But for now, they're a solid C. Okay. What do you want to do with the 76ers? Oh, man. I'll go first.

They're at least a. I could be convinced of them being S tier. I truly believe. Oh, man. I believe in the S tier. You can be something like that. My bad, my bad, my bad, my bad. My bad.

My bad. I forgot we are firmly in. I almost let myself be. convinced by regular season Joelle and Bede again. That's why we're here to keep you in tech. We are firmly in the stance of Big Hardin is not going to work in the playoffs until he does. So never mind. He can't be S tier. But I think put Big Hardin aside, put Joel and B's resume of being hurt every playoff run aside. I think what Nick Nurse has done with his team

and how he's maximalized Joel Embed's passing, how he's brought Tyrese to start him. I think that has to be a tier. That is the way to start this conversation. Started with Nick Nurse first. Joel and Bede, he's having great, arguably, probably having a better season so far than his MVP season, which is absolutely nuts to say. But whenever you talk about Joeline Bede, there was a sour taste on the tip of my tongue. And I can't get away. I can't talk about him in a bright manner without remembering what he did just five months ago, six, seven months ago, whatever. You know, but the 70-6ers have had something that they haven't had in a couple years since I would say the Jimmy Butler era of the sixers, which is they have.

have a lot of big wings. They have better shooting. Tobias Harris is playing some of the best basketball in his career in a weird way. And then also, Tyrese might just be the best guard outside of Jimmy Buller that Joe NBeat has ever played with. So there's a lot going there. I also think, listen, when we talk about, this is explaining people that are new listeners. I mentioned how we write off Duelan B in the playoffs.

I say that because we've had a lot of discussion about I think it's mostly been me slandering him a little bit and being like, I'm done believing in Joel and Bede in the playoffs until he gives me a reason to because every year for some reason or the other, he has a playoff meltdown. I call him Big Hardin because it's similar to James Hardin where every regular season in his prime,

he was top three player in the league, playoffs come around, shooting percentage drops by 10% across the board. Joel and Bede's been on the same type of shit and it's been because, one, he's hurt every year, and two, he just malfunctions and the offense falls apart, he makes bad decisions and shoots poorly from the field,

all this. I do think part of that is because he was handcuffed by having Doc Rivers is his incompetent ass as his coach. And now with Nick Morris, I think...

It's a minus 10 attributes across the board, you're right. Exactly. So now that he has a real coach who's legitimately one of the smartest exes in those guys in the leagues

and knows how, clearly how to maximize him in the regular season, I have some faith that he'll know how to, you know, prevent him from falling into those characteristics

that have hurt him in the playoffs. I mean, that's cool. Do it in the playoffs then. Like, I just, that everything that you guys are saying is completely true. I just could not care less about what you're doing right now because you have, listen,

you have not shown yourself to be a respectable individual the moment April Fool's hits the calendar. And so for somebody who, his free throws drop in the playoffs, his field goal percentage drops I think and I don't know if Nikiel can find it off top but there was a tweet that we showed

whenever the Sixers flamed out again in the playoffs we were saying that MB is literally the biggest playoff dropper in NBA history in terms of regular season points per game to playoff points per game I need to know whether or not truly this is Doc Rivers or Nick Nurse and I just can't determine that

until April comes around So I'm sorry, like, what you're doing is Averbool. Shout out to you, but you have to prove it. You have allegations against you that you are big hearty. Yeah. Fix it. Figure it out. So I'm going a tier.

Something that I will say. Yeah, I agree. I want to put them at my Ater comfortably. Before the season, we all thought they weren't going to be even in this range. We all thought they were going to comfortably be a four, five, six, CETO conference. Simply based on the powers of Joel and Beding his regular season abilities. But having. all this depth moves me and also having Nick Nurse moves me well moves me as well and

you can only disrespect him to a certain degree so I think they firmly are and that degree is a lot we can disrespect him a lot but I'm being I'm being tame right now real quick before we turn the page is Kelly Ubray supposed to return in a few games from now I believe and if he I don't Kelly Ubray's been known to be a wildly inconsistent player throughout his entire NBA career and every single organization he's been in so But if they can get that version of Kelly Uber that they had prior to, you know, him getting hit by a car or whatever, um, I think that, you know, nah, I'm staying at eight year. I can't, I can't do it. I can't do it. You see this tweet? You see the tweet and the kid just put up? This is despicable stuff. This is despicable stuff. For the audio listeners, the tweet says, Joel and Bede averaged 33.1 points per game in the regular season and 23.7 points per game in the playoffs.

that drop off of minus 9.4 is the largest by that year's MVP in NBA history. We've never seen anybody fold the way that he did last year. It's never been done. So you are in a tier. You should be lucky that we even considering you in the upper echelon of contenders this year. Go do something about it. We can put an eight year. But I'm more moved by this six years team than I have been by six years.

team in quite a while. So I, when the playoffs come around and we're predicting series, predicting runs, I will be predicting the Sixers to win a lot of matchups. I'll say that. You know, I don't know about the bucks. I don't know if the, I don't know if the bucks are going to be one of those or not, but it's going to be a conversation for me. Do you know who we need to have a conversation about next in a team that's just been like so up and down and I want to believe in them so much, but I just can't fully bind to them just yet. The Cleveland Cavaliers. I knew, I agree to say the cast, I'm going to say that. Yeah, fuck.

I agree. I agree. Tell me why. Tell me your worries about the Cleveland Cavaliers. Now, earlier in the season, we all noticed, Isaac, you pulled up huge red flags of, you know, their defense, I believe, not being as on par. But we also notice, like, yo, Jared Allen has been in and out of the lineup. And also, same thing applies to Darius Garland and Max Drew's the new addition, who's fit like a glove pretty much. But so far this season.

same thing applies and I'm starting to have questions about their coach J.B. Bickersaff because I always see him. He's like running this team right now as if they're in like playoff mode and through all these injuries. It doesn't matter what it is. He's still playing eight players on the team. You know what I'm saying? Only three players. I didn't know. Only three players on that bench are getting some burn, you know? So it's like I don't know how to feel about the scene at all. their structure is still very appealing but I just don't know what to think about them and then there is going to turnovers

so it's like yeah I think at least last year historically I feel like I've probably been the highest in this team out of us three I no longer is the case I might be the lowest of us three I'm having serious worries about this team

you mentioned J.B. Bickerstaff I'm leaning towards it being a coaching issue too when I watch this team okay let me rewind When I was high on this team to start last year, it was because I viewed them as having potentially the most talented defensive front court in the league

and the most talented, one of the most talented offensive back courts in the league. That is like, you know, just an intriguing combination of talent that you don't often see. Like, they have those four players and those four positions. Like, that's just a unique combination of talent that you can see if it's maximalized

and then being really hard to beat. I don't feel confident about either of those pairings anymore. We saw in the playoffs last year that Evan Mobley's lack of three-point shot really hurt them. Their spacing was horrendous. You play a team like the Knicks who are just going to make your life hell, be bullies, make the game into junk.

It's hard to win with that type of spacing. I still feel that way. Last year, it was okay because they had the number one defense for a lot of the year, and Evan Mowgli was a DPOI candidate next to Jared Allen, who was also incredible. Evan Mowgli hasn't lost a step. He's still that, but the defense is only eighth right now. Again, we mentioned there's a lot of injuries, but it's not as great. There's a big difference to me in the best defense in the league and a top 10 defense.

That's not the same level of strength as it is before. Their offense is 23rd. And I don't feel confident that with this coaching staff and how they're being utilized, that the DeMitch and Garland pairing will ever really work. They just, they don't, they're, oh, it's almost like Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum time where they just don't really compliment each other.

You know what I, I'm going to take it a step even further than that. They feel like a suited up version of like the 2016, 2017, 2018, whatever version you want to use of the Portland Trailblazers with C. Jim McCollum and Damien Lewis. That's what it is. Yeah, not even though, because CJ McCollum was offensively at least really good at playing offball and finding ways to cook off a screen and everything and let Dame do his thing. He didn't, he was able to get his without detracting from Dame at all. And it just feels like neither one of them are particularly great

at those things. They can both shoot catch and shoot jumpers. So when the other guy's doing his thing, they can like not like hurt you on the court. But they're not helping each other at all. Like they both kind of want to do the same things and take turns. And while they don't prevent to each other from doing their thing, they're not magnifying each other's talents at all. Listen, man, if it didn't, if it didn't one thing, it's another. And with the, with the, with the calves, like, I was, honestly, I think I was with you in terms of, like, the potential that I saw for the Cavs last year, I thought that they

low-key could have been, like, the one-seat this year, just before, before, you know, some of the traits. But I thought that what Max Struz was going to bring to them and their offense was going to unlock what they do offensively, it was going to spread them out, and they were going to be able to combine that elite defense that we were talking about with an elite offense. And it's so weird. And that's, that's the word that, like, when I watch the Cavs, that's the weird, that's the word that just comes to mind the whole time. It's like, what's happening? Because Max Drews has been fantastic. And he's been everything that I thought that he should be for this

Cavs team, but it hasn't taken that next step, right? And I, Yeah, you know, the pairing, like you said, just isn't, isn't working and something's just off. And so I think, and I hope you guys feel the same way, I would have them as a D-tier contender. Damn, D-tier is kind of crazy. I wouldn't go that far because I think coaching needs to be under a serious microscope before you address them and, you know what I'm saying, stare at their structure and be like, no, this is D-Tor.

I wouldn't put it. I won't go that far. I just think that they're having like, you know what I'm saying, mainly coaching issues as of now, you know, I'm on the, I'm going to push back on that just real quick because would you guys both, I just said back, both y'all said that they actually have like roster construction issues in terms of the Garland, Mitchell pairing. And then with Mobley's inability to space the floor and him and Allen in a playoff setting, we've already seen that been a downfall of that team. So if you have four out of the five players in the starting lineup, not necessarily fitting perfectly together, and then you have the coach who now we're starting to look at and saying, is, is this a coaching thing? Where are you finding the, like, where are you finding it to where you say, oh, no, like, but I still think that they can be one of, you know, like an actual contender. I don't think it's a matter of, it's not that these players, you said it's a garage construction issue.

It's not that. It's a how they're deployed issue, I think. I think, I feel like J.B. Bickerstaff has a pretty hands-off approach offensively. They're a high pick-and-roll team. They let Garland and Donovan Mitchell do their thing in a very free-flowing way. Like, they both spam picking roles. That's kind of their offense. I think it's a way of deploying them as the issue, not necessarily.

It's not like they can't fit together. I don't think that's the issue. There's not, like, there's no world where any justice can be made, and there's not going to work regardless. That's not how I feel. It's the way they're currently being deployed that I've, feel like it's not working and we have to look in the mirror. That can change if, no, schematic change. So I still believe that can be the case. We've seen them click before. They were

a high seed last year. Like, we've seen them be a good team. They have an injury, like we said, you said Max Trues brought him everything that we hope that he would and they still haven't been that good. That screams to me that once everything else regularizes or normalizes, that's the word. I made a word right there. Was that normalizes and you have Max Trues in the mix that gives them a ceiling of being a legitimately really good team. In the playoffs, around, you can bench Jared Allen, close games, Evan Mobley at Center, and kind of negate some of those scoring issues. Yeah. I think that's enough that, like, they're not going to be this bad. They're going to turn it around. They're not going to finish the season as the 8C, I don't think.

Yeah, I agree. I'm personally, I feel like deep down there are roster construction issues, but I don't think any of these issues should be a reason why they're like 9 and 10 or 10 and 10 or whatever it might be. They just beat their Orlando Magic, you know? But for now, when it comes to these early stages of a team finding themselves into contention, yeah, you're right. I believe they need to look in the mirror, whatever is going on. I don't know what's going on in the locker room or whatever coach, J.B., for Bickerstaff is cooking, but I can tell that he's probably not cooking shit as an hour. I just hopped on the Cleveland Cavaliers Reddit, and the first things that I see is

FireJB, FireJB, FireJB, these fans are so deep in the pits of hell. Click on the Reddit post. Someone says, trading away Lamar Stevens was a mistake. We underestimate a good locker room presence. Lamar Stevens. You wasn't there. He sounds like a GTA character, man. All right.

Someone named Lamar, he was a great player last season. He was a menace on the defensive end, and at times you couldn't play. Isaac O'Carroll like that, he was a great socket, but he is not the reason why your team is underachieving on all levels. I'm looking at their tracking stats and their play types.

They're third in the NBA on possessions, that end with the shot or assist taken from a pick-and-roll ball handler. Third in the NBA, but they're only 55th percentile in terms of efficiency on those shots. So that just seems to me that their offense is very heavy, Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, oriented. Neither one. It's not working at the current moment as well.

Darius Garland has had a ridiculous amount of turnover to start the year, hasn't been as efficient as we've seen him do in the past. Donald Mitchell's been Donald Mitchell. He's still good, obviously, but it has been clicking like it was early last season when we were like, holy shit, this guy's playing like the best guard in the league. He made all NBA team because of it.

That is going to turn around. I have faith that they're going to at least figure that part out and they're both going to be able to get theirs. And that simple improvement of just, say the right word this time, normalization to the mean, that's going to lift them back up to being the fourth, fifth seed, whatever. I agree.

I 110% agree. But where I go back to the account of Miami of the Portland Trailblazers E is because of how the ceiling of their offense and how they're going to dominate. And I would like their offense to dominate in more ways than simply just spamming, picking roles. And that all comes back to like the development and growth of Evan Mobley. And I don't know if he's going to develop and grow to what I envision him or what everybody else envisions the perfect version of Evan Mobley being.

You know what I'm saying? And that's perfectly fine. I mean I'm wrong with that. But cats will be fine overall. I think right now they deserve to be firmly seen. I don't. Yeah, let's go see. Last point, last point, last point for why they should be indeed is I think that they should

actually be concerned about their playoff lives right now. Listen, it's still early, but Orlando's here and Indiana is also here and they can make any night in any game a very tough one. And so when you talk about those two kind of quote unquote surprise teams on top of the three teams that that we have in S and A tier, and then even the, even the Knicks doing something, we're looking at them. We haven't even talked about the heat. There's a very real possibility that the Cavs stay in the 8th, that they stay in the 7th seed, and that they're a playing team and their playoff hopes end before they even start. And so I don't know. I, I would, I would have them in Indy. Man, that'll, that, this is another one.

ass let's let's it's another projection the best the best argument there is because they're gonna be they're gonna be a playing team looking at now they're probably gonna be seven seed yeah they're not gonna beat one of the top two seeds so that makes it hard for them to be a good contender if they can't get past the first round

and if they're in the 70 for the first round I can promise you to not beat in the Celtics or bucks so there's that let's revisit them because you can convince me to knock them down once we see the rest of the layout of this tier list right listen we're we're an hour in we still got like 17s we gotta we're going to start rolling.

We are yapping. Holy shit, bro. I forget that there's a camera in my face. Hey, ground eaters. God. That's what we do. Okay, let's get some of the easy ones out of the way so we can narrow this down. Clippers.

We've talked at length about the clippers and I'm kind of fucking sick of it. I don't want to talk about. Ass F.D. Next. Orlando Magic. Let's be real. Orlando. Okay, yeah. So let's put the clippers in F just because we're not talking about them.

They're so garbage and just like, they came back and beat the Warriors. We'll give them credit there. That's because the Warriors are equally fucking unsurious. It was an unserious off. They played a home-in-home. Just two incredibly unsurious teams going back and forth, just taking turns, embarrassing themselves. Let's talk about the Warriors.

We talk about them at length, too. I'm fucking sick of talking about their trash-ass team that can't get to the rim, can't defend the rim, can't push the pace, can do anything. I'm putting them in D. Their D-T-Rs fuck to me right now. Oh, my God. That's funny as fuck, man. Oh, man.

Yeah, we can't do anything well. We'll put them, listen, they should. They should be F, but we love Steph Curry, so they're in D tier. Yeah, listen, they're in D tier because they've won so many chips together. The nucleus is intact. You can't write them off completely. They have some form of Miami heat voodoo black magic. Don't, they can't be higher than D, despite that.

Yeah. Ah, pain. They're coasting up the power of friendship. Like, 100%. Yeah. And that friendship is fractured because Clay Thompson sucks and Dremong Green can't stop hurting people. Yeah. Give Moses many more minutes.

Please. Please. But yeah, if you want to see us talk about these two teams, watch the last few episodes. Last episode actually was about teams that should panic. We talked at length about both of these teams, especially the Warriors. Go watch that episode if we'll hear more about it. But we're at least I speak for myself done believing in the Warriors. I have to be along that same page too.

I'm done believing that they have title chances. I used to think that, but not anymore. Yeah, they're cooked. Rapid fire. Who else is rapid fire in here? the Sons are I feel they're A right Um

Gosh Kevin Rans playing that elite Yeah we'll put a minute We'll put him in it It's a Lakers are A The Sons have to be A for similar reasons They have that top tier talent They're incredible Yeah if everything clicks the way you want it to

They're going to be incredible Yeah for sure Even without David I mean even without Bradley Bill Like if he never even just plays For the rest of the season And just has old man back or whatever I'd still put him at A

Because KD and D book Just like that And I don't want to say it but Grayson Allen is hooping. All right. You can say it. Devin Booker played like absolute piss in the in season tournament

game against the Lakers. He had like seven turnovers. He was like two for 17. It wasn't actually that, but it was something horrible. I can't remember. That's uncharacteristic of what we've seen from Devin Booker.

Over the previous two seasons, I was listening to Zach Lowe and JJ Redick's podcast together. J.J. Redd pulled out the record. I forgot what it was, but when Kevin Durant and Booker are together in the regular season. They're like 17 and 2.

I think it was 15 and 2. I think it was 15 and 2. I think it was 15 and 2. Yeah. They're going to be fantastic if Devin Booker can stay healthy. If Bradley Beal comes back, that's when we're looking at them pushing into S-tier and maybe being a tier one contender if things go well. They just at the Lakers, they deserve a tier for benefit for the doubt. Yeah.

I love it, man. All right. Who's next? Rapid Fire. Who else can be in the Rapid Fire round? No, I guess, I guess that is a rapid fire. I think the rest of these teams we need to talk about. Well, no, no, no, no.

Last one for rapid fire is the, listen, the magic are not going to win a championship. Yeah, that should be rapid fire. Yeah. D. But they're good. They're good, but they're not going to win a chip. And we know that. Like, what's the best case scenario for the magic?

You're right. Go D, go D. Yeah, they're going on. They finally found themselves as an organization. And I think they're on the exact same tier and par of like, okay, now you all want some shit. of like, well, I won't even compare them to any of the teams that we have list to put on this tier list. But so they're like a tier above under those teams.

But they're just now finding themselves. They're exciting. They're the new, like, there's one of the most fun seem to watch in my opinion in the entire NBA. But with all that being said, this team has like still major issues. We all know this. I said it like four, five, six months ago, whatever. They need shooters. They've been thriving without Marco Faults.

The elephant in the room is bigger than ever right now They need to trade it as for some type of shooter In order to reach that next step and evolution As a rebuilding team so Do you think we just give them C just because they're the three seed Like is it disrespectful to put him D just like they've been legitimately good And it's not it's not Mickey Mouse neither like they had legitimately have a great defense And two to I'll say star wings quote you know maybe

Palloges jump right too say it yeah but Let's call them star wings maybe we're not all stars this year but they're clearly on that path to being a legitimate star wing combo. It's Boston Celtics light. They have two star wings and a great defensive foundation around them.

Like you said, they need a shooting to be able to really maximize the offense around those two guys. But they're a good team. It's not fake. I know that. We are all in agreement

that they're a good team. And we all like the magic. Let's be real for two seconds. They're not winning a team. You're right. You're right. Okay, okay, okay. Listen to this.

Listen to this. in the year 2023, guess how many threes they hit against the Cleveland Cavaliers? Six. Five. Donovan? Two!

Motherfucking two! Nobody could hit shit. Nobody. How many they take? 23. Only 23. So it's like, this team is in a hell

when it comes to shooting. Oh my goodness. It's ridiculous. They're the 2018 Western Conference Finals Rockets. That's great. Wow. And like, that's, that's why they deserve to be D for now.

That's, okay. I just, I just feel like if I was a magic fan and I saw the way they've been playing and I saw the way the cabs been playing and I saw my team in a tear below them, I've fucking ripped my hair out. It's like, condolences to this to magic fans. You're right. They deserve to be higher. But we're projecting and we're talking about when the conference finals come around, when the

second round comes around, which teams do we actually think are going to be projected to win these series? Shout out your good season. The magic just aren't going to be winning against these other top tier teams. Magic fans. I'm with you, though. Like, I think you guys should be in the same tier as the, as the cab. So don't get mad at me.

It's not my fault. Not my fault we're doing that. I love the magic, but I can be convinced, I don't know. I can't. I'm being real. Who's next? Okay, that is a rapid fire round. Let's talk about these teams.

Where are we putting the OKC Thunder? B tier. Oh, man. So they either deserve to be in B or A. They're the two seed, 13 and 6. They're legitimately really good. Yes. I think they should be in B tier.

okay yes i think so it's obviously between b and a they're not being c why do you think b instead of a i think that one with all the teams right the same reason that we talked about like lucca and being able to like have a star player that can raise the floor like she is she's fantastic right we you said on the on the stream the other day he walks out of bed and scores 30 right and it's and it's great the main thing that they were missing last year was room protection and an actual center. And then all of a sudden, Chet Holmgren is like, yeah, I'm, like, I'm actually, I'm actually back and I'm going to be fantastic at defending the room and I'm going to be able to space the floor. And I'm going to be able to create a little bit.

They have a lot of, they have a lot of ball handlers and playmakers. And the shooting from last season to this season in terms of who's around Shea and the ballhandlers, that's also stepped up with case in wallace with isaiah joe like they have guys who can space the floor for guys to get to the rim their defense is also fantastic they were i think they were 13th they were 13th or top 10 last year in in uh in defense that has remained the same and so i think when you have a star guard who can score 30 and and in and the top 10 defense that puts you in a in a tier that is towards the top of the league I'm not going to lie to you.

If they were going to play against the Timberwolves right now in a playoff series, I think I'd pick O'KC. Really? Do you realize you're a top five offense and a top five defense? Yeah, that's hard. Every time that's ever happened,

that team has been a legitimate contender. I don't give a shit that they're young. I don't care at all that their oldest player is 25 has never had a deep playoff run. They are legitimately extremely good and their title window is open. I know their GM started the season was like, oh, let's take it slow.

We're not a contender yet. we're so finding out what we are. We have found out what they are, and that is a legitimately great team. You said Chad Holmgren came in and gave them exactly what they needed. He gave them way more than they could have ever hoped from him in his rookie season. Already a top 10 center. Shea is a top 10 player in the league, at minimum top 12. One of the best guards, go-to-score. Better than Anthony Edwards, I think. So if we're going to give the Timberwell's credit for having that top-tier guy that can move up a gear, Shea is that and more. You said they have a lot of ball handlers. That's plenty of lightly. They have an incredibly inventive offense that is built

around the fact that when they're on the court almost all five guys are legitimate threats to create a shot on their own and can all play off of each other and not be damaging off ball. They can all shoot to a certain degrees. They can all run small, small pick and rolls. They're incredibly hard to deal with because you don't know

who's going to do what at any point of the game. And I think that's going to translate into the playoffs and make them I would not be shocked if they're in the conference finals. I wouldn't go as far to say. Let's go. Yeah, this man is doing. I love it. I love it though. And you know what? I came on.

They're good. I came on here and I was trying to be conservative because they are the young team. I feel the same way as Isaac. I think that they are really,

I think that they are really, really good and they have an opportunity to do something very special this year. So yes. They should ship Josh Giddy to Ascaband

and bring in somebody that can shoot and not be gross. But other than that, get him out to paint and this team is cooking. Like this team, there's so many times

where every line if they're playing is good except for Josh Giddy when he's on that. because he has not been a good fit this year he's been just bad he can't shoot he just clogs up what they want to do outside of that and listen he there's they're playing games now where he doesn't close it and Isaiah Joe plays more minutes than him yeah that needs to continue to be a thing and in the playoff setting we'll see how Isaiah Joe's defense can hold up he can be the piece

that lets them bench giddy and put him in line up and they don't have any weaknesses offensively they need to sacrifice one of them damn picks and trade for Zach Levine honestly I would have no issue with that because they have so many picks and it wouldn't you fucking matter at that point. No. They need a package six as motherfuckers to get OG. Thank you. That's what they need. That would be perfect too, but I don't think, I don't know if they'll sacrifice six. Sam Pressey is very, you have, you have the picks. You have the picks. Send 12. Who cares? Who cares? Actually, I saw a tweet. I saw a tweet about this. Um, good perspective I never thought about. He was saying maybe Sam Presi isn't going to package on a move a star and instead he's going to

keep those picks to always have cheap young talent around his core. And with the new second apron coming into play with luxury tax and this rush is going to get expensive that actually could be really smart to like every year have a late first run pick to draft an older rookie yeah

no yeah that's definitely that's definitely so yeah you're gonna do that for 12 years you know how many picks they have but that's how you'll be a dynasty that that's 12 that's great something like going to retire before then oh man

I I love the OKC Thunder and especially 10 homegram as much as you guys for every single reason I think Chet Holmgram is easily one of the most impactful players, rookies, excuse me, rookies, players overall in general, but rookies that I've ever seen over the last, what,

five, six, seven, whatever years, you know, on every single aspect, he's not lacking. He can create his own shot. He's a tremendous shot blocker. He can fucking shoot. He's a sniper, you know what I'm saying? He's good at finishing at the rim, you know, and he can pass as well.

So he has a whole nine. My only thing is that, of course, like the whole job, Josh Gagey thinks it's like a serious thing, but they have Isaiah Joe next to them. But I think the size might really get to them in the playoffs once they have, once they face a team like, of course, the Denver Nuggets, everyone has an issue. That's not the real point. But the real point is like, okay, I don't know if they can go ahead and overcome a team like the Minnesota Timberwolves because I think that's all that size might give them a serious issue. Just the other night we witnessed. Yeah.

You know what I'm saying? The Minnesota Timber was closed out a game without their best player. against the Oklahoma City Thunder. And I'm like, I can't say that so easily. I really want to. I really, really want to, but I need to see more of it. And I just don't think they're at a time, place, or space to have that. Unless they go ahead and buy a market and get a big body who can ensure, you know, I'm saying,

or give Chet Homeroom the reassurance that he needs on a consistent basis. I just need to see a bigger body in this team. Case and Wallace is awesome also. You can say the size of the Timberwolves would hurt OKC. I could say that they could stretch out the Timberwolves and run them off the court and make it really hard for Kat to defend all these small, small pick and rolls in space that make it, they have the defensive personnel

to shut down their offense because Chad Holmgren's a type of defender that can be down low guarding Rudy Gobert and affect every Anthony Edwards they have plenty, they have Lute Doort to throw at Anthony Edwards. Like, I think both these teams have enough advantages over each other that I think they're firmly in the same tier and A. Yeah, I can see the same tier. I can see the same tier also, but I just do not know

if I see conference finals ability to know and that's what a tier is and I'm trying to get myself over that last hump I just can't though that's that's I understand I understand also you guys you guys both like alluded to it real quick I think that's actually like important that we'd say real quick so I'm gonna say this and then we can move off from the thunder but like a lot of people have been asking like why like the you know like been talking about the Josh Giddy thing they're like look, it's a very serious thing. And I think that, like, for us, we're going to wait until more information comes out. The NBA has, like, they've started their investigation.

It would be irresponsible for us to just come on here and start talking and saying, making all these assumptions with a situation like that delicate. So we're going to wait and be like, you know, very hands off, see what comes out. And then we can, then we'll talk about it. But we're not going to make, like, any assumptions or come out here and try to make jokes about it. So he says after I say, after after, after, after. I said, sent him to Ask a band. Yeah.

You said that and then started talking about his play and that's why I thought you made. Yeah, I'll say that without any context. You know, so that's a serious case of slander that we're staying away from. Yeah, and not staying away from. We're going to, we're going to fucking talk about it if it comes out and we know the details and it is what it looks like. Yeah. Because if it is what it looks like, nasty man, he should not be named.

But we're going to wait because the story broke out via Twitter investigators and like Snapchat stories. Like, you know, like, yeah. Reporting has been done since then and we're starting to see more details. So I'll not say those details don't look good for Mr. potentially nasty man,

but we're going to wait until the NBA concludes their decision and then we'll talk about their decision and what all it means. You know what team? I remember what eight here for them? Yeah. I think that's fair. I confidently will say,

I believe in them more than the Dallas Marrits because there's so much more well-rounded and they also have that superstar. I believe in Shagoa Alexander. But next team, can we please touch on the New Orleans Pelicans because they are my newest, God, I'm so, like, I'm so engulfed in this team and everything that they do

and all the movies that are starting to come together. Man, it's gulping those pelicans. Yes, man. I think there'd be, I think they're with you. I'm very intrigued by them because they're getting their shooting back. And they started the season so just like ugly because they didn't have CJ here for a while, didn't have Trey Murphy. Zion started slow.

Now he's speeding up and looking like Zion again. I'm in on them being really good. I'm cool with B. Yeah, man. I'll go B. I think, yeah, B is fair. You know what I'm saying? That's like you were alluding to.

Isaac, they had so much going on at the start of the season on top of his arm being, coming in slow. C-D was out of collapse long. And then Brandon Ingram was also out of the lineup, too, for a certain amount of time. And now I think cross-fingers you can finally see the new Orange Pelicans go on that normal, healthy run that they should be going on now that Trey Murphy was fantastic role player. picture perfect role player that you can imagine alongside John Williamson and now he's awesome yeah man

and then also as awesome as he is too Jordan Hawkins is phenomenal too he's a sniper from hell and with all this shooting on the team now I feel like by the end of the season we might have to if they prove if they prove it of course they might be an eight year by the end of season if this run goes on yeah they have a

They have that level of potential. But I'm good with me for right now. Yeah. Cool. Yeah, again, I still, I want them to trade Jonas Valenna sooner rather than later and bring in a center that can, I say, let me start over. He's been good. Jonas has been very good, having a good year.

Not a good fit. Just long-term outlook for a potential playoff series. They need more defensive help because their best players right now are Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, C.J. McCollum, and probably Tray Murphy. Herb Jones. I'm getting there. I'm getting there.

Trey Murphy and Jonas. Those five players, none of them are good on defense. Tray Jones, Herb Jones is a fucking superhero defensively and holds this line up together. Just out here defending everything, rotating everywhere. He's going to be all NBA first team.

I mean, all defense first team. He needs help defensively. He can't do this at all on his own. He needs a viable room protector there. And that's just never going to be Jonas's game. Yeah, that's very fair. That's very fair.

And I don't think it'd be eight here without that. Yeah, I can agree to that. While, yeah, exactly, that's the biggest separator from between them and every other team in the NBA. But while you talk about like trading players, yeah, Janus, Yonis, I can't get over the hump of him too. But also, in the back of my mind, this is not a conversation for now. But sometimes I think to myself, damn, is Brandon Ingram like really a great fit next to Zion Williamson? I don't really know, you know. No, no, I think we do know.

He's not. Yeah, and I'm like, this is super premature because they have to make those strides first and see how far they can go with these two. But this is me speaking like two years ahead in advance or a year and a half ahead and advance or whatever. I can imagine a world and where they go ahead after a couple of seasons of whatever playoff failure or short comes or whatever. They're like, damn, we need to blow this duo up beyond the lines. And God damn it, if they're going to be on the lines. on the line with anybody they need to be on the line with a team like my Atlanta Hawks give me all the picks that you goddamn own you know what I'm saying give me all your

finest recipes of gumbo and I might consider giving you try you hey Dejante for kind of makes sense for both teams I will listen listen listen I'm going as far as trade depending on what oh that's what I'm saying and I'm saying that for the sake of trade the better minute of his career he's done with try young now I'm not done I'm done. I'm not done. This is just me being super neutral as a fan. No, I did not. This is me. I'm having an out of body experience right now. I am not Mo. Okay. I am not Captain Crayon Eater or whatever you want to call me. All right. This is just me. I got my, I got, I got different goggles, different visions right now. And I just see this becoming a thing in the future. But we can move on to the next team. Most I'll say I know facts I will say

I think Brandon Ingram and Zion are clearly not a good duo In terms of complementing each other skillsets Like I've said of previous duos on this list But he's also just good So like you can't do anything about it Until you're forced to Because branding is awesome And Zion is good right now

We don't we all know He's one of the least reliable stars in the league Probably the most least reliable Nothing to do with his on court play Just the fact that he's so injury prone Exactly You can't trade a Brandon Ingram until you get more solidity

of what this teams don't look like long term. Exactly. Who next? Where are we putting in the Miami Heat? Ooh. I don't need more. I don't know.

Okay, this is witchcraft right here. Just put them in A tier because they always figure out a way and just keep it moving. Like they're, they're, they're 18th. They're 11 at 9.

Who cares? Like, listen, they could be 11th season still find a way to get into the playing tournament and make a deep run like they listen bam has taken a leap whenever he's healthy hamahakis is fantastic and fits everything that they need they're going to be okay and they're going to be just fine and their infrastructure and their ability to just find ways to win they're again they're probably going to call somebody up in march and be like hey do you want to play

basketball tonight and then he's going to come in and drop 20 and defend like nobody's business this is what they do exactly exactly just put them in a I don't know I don't know what they are they're just

they just do it we just there's no announces on the heat anymore all we know is they're gonna win games and it doesn't matter what we think

because God's on their side just put a god you subscribe to whichever god you subscribe to they're all on the Miami Heat side they all love Jimmy Butler yeah they got a god on their side

and also a heavy a heavy law enforcement law enforcement presence as well they got the CIA picking up people in the lab right now so I mean like you can't go against him to be honest with you facts

I man two interesting teams left to close us out where are we going with the Pacers super interesting man I love this team arguably the most fun probably the most fun team to watch in the entire NBA all because of that man Tyrese Halliburton the offensive engine he is

but we all know they have obviously insane wolves and those wolves can only take you so far. So they're anywhere between C or B, but I want to kind of lean towards C There's no way that they touch B. They're not. I'm glad we're on the same page. They're between C and D. That's what they are.

Yeah. Yeah. I love them. I am the biggest Tyrese Halliburton fan of the motherfucking world. They are sort of like the Orlando Magic in an inverse way where great regular season team, the Orlando Magic are propelled by the top defense in the league right now. We know they're not going to have the offensive juice to win a title or anytime soon

paces are the same way they're running it up offensively the best offensively by a wide margin piss poor defense that we know is just not going to be competitive in a seven game series their series might look more like four game series it's not going to happen for them this year

they need to find better defensive talent to fling Tyre's Halliburn over the years as they build this core out it's another year to make that leap yeah let's put them in deep their offense their offense reminds me of a fucking shotgun done with a switch on that bitch or RPG with a switch on some GTA shit just constantly bang big big big big you know what I'm saying but those bitches take a hell of a long

time to reload and their their kryptonite and reloading is their defense and anybody can get any type of point against them you want to dunk you got him you want a before you shot you got him in mid-range or bro any shot you want you got them you know I'm saying but when they're on they're fucking on yeah another team that we talked about at length before. Go watch our episode two episodes ago. The 10 NBA players are proven people wrong. We talked at length about Tyrese Halliburton and how I think he is just a straight-up star now. And he's been even better since then. In the game of the night in the end-season tournament, he went berserk and just took the Celtics out. Listen, you're listening to this

after the semifinals. He might have gone crazy again and he might be waiting for whoever's coming out of the West in the finals of the in season tournament. We'll find out in the first three minutes in the show, I guess we already know by then. Yeah. This is weird time travel. But I say, I also say, he's making a leap to easily be a top five point guard in the league, pushing top three conversations. So they're going to be nasty pretty soon.

Not this year. Let's go D. Yeah. Oh, D? Yeah. So, yeah. I mean, do you not think there's a world in where they might upset a team in the first round?

No, not at all. No, they're not winning as currently constructed. I mean, maybe. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. As currently can they be, can they beat, can they beat, can they beat the Knicks are the calves in the first round, maybe, but that's the extent I'm going. Wow. With the defense that they play, they are not

winning a playoff series. No, I mean, there's other unsurious teams out there. Like, if they have a high seed, which they very well can because they're a regular season type of team, they could beat the Knicks. It's conceivable. I wouldn't pick them. I'd pick the Knicks, but there's a world where they make the second

round and get just absolutely blasted. And stop talking about the Knicks like this. They are not losing to these. Dude, the Nick's, listen, if, listen, Jalen Brunson, not Jalen, R.J. Barry will average 30 points playing against the Pacers. Okay, every single night. They don't play defense.

I'm not, no, no mode. They're not winning a playoff. Okay, well, we're going to Pacers D. Sorry, guys. You're amazing in the regular season, but it's not happening in the playoffs. Shout up to you. Whatever. Last team, where are we going to Sacramento Kings?

Man. Listen, they're kind of tricky. A Loki. They're kind of, see your ass team. Loki want to put a B. D. That's crazy. They're the same team as a Pacer

with a better defense and they have a secondary star that's the difference. And they're more... You guys know who I feel about that secondary star. I don't believe in him with the shit come playoff time.

For me in my mind because I just, I'm standing 10 toes on being anti-kings in the playoffs. I'm like fucking F but they probably deserve C respect. Do they?

I don't know. I'm not going to argue for him. Oh, you guys are haters. They are right now, right now, in defense and that is bottom 10 in the league the offense and while those numbers are skewed because the aaron has been out for some time but the offense isn't as isn't as as great as it was last year you could have convinced me a little bit more last year that they were going to win a playoff

series against the warriors in the same way that they're like the pacer's i this year i would trust the pacer's to win a playoff series before i trust the the kings to win a playoff series I think if I ask you that question two months from now Once we see more time de Aaron You're not going to fill that way And listen I just like They are not impressed Obviously they're good on offense

But the level to which they are great Offensively does not match Their defensive skill If we're talking winning a championship I don't think that I can put them in the same tier As the Knicks or as the Cavaliers Well let me see What is their offensive rate?

been with the Aaron Fox on the court because that is that yeah that could be a telling him he's been he's been he's been the Kings he's been awesome he's been cooking and so like listen it probably is a little bit a little bit different but I just they have right now on courts good I right now another thing that like I want to I want to monitor is and I actually need to I'm going to check his name but No, no, no, no, no, no. No, not, it has nothing to do with, uh, with like a player. I want to see how they perform at home because of, uh, what I've been going through

these teams, a lot of what I'm seeing, and this has been the case for history. It's like, for you to honestly be in that upper echelon tier, you have to handle your business at the crib, right? Like the, the bucks are 10 and 1 at home, the nuggets, the Celtics, all of them have nine wins at home. The Tim Wolves are winning a lot of it. All right now. But no, but like these teams are handling their business at home.

And so for a team that actually has a legitimate home court advantage, right now, they're six and three. And again, that's going to change once the Aaron plays more games at home because they lost a couple while he wasn't there. But that's kind of, that's also something that I'm monitoring with them just moving forward. Yeah. I'm just wanting to give them to see because like you said, right now we're seeing on, green they have a 119.3 offensive rating with the Aaron Fox playing and that's not everything because every star has a high offensive rating when they're playing there's plenty of minutes where they're not playing but you know like we keep saying it he's missed a lot of games that it is what

it is they're going to be fine I think their version of fine to me is still not somebody I see winning a title by any means I think they're just not that serious yeah with the way their team's constructed I don't think that they have the defensive juice I don't think that they have the offensive juice around subonis because I just don't think see him as a playoff player that can hold that can carry you for three rounds without being exposed but let's let me get the cab see I think they're probably see as well all right yeah one thing I'm a state ten toes on is that I still think that they probably need to figure out what the hell's going on with Keegan Murray I'm gonna continue to stand on

this like yeah I know he's a year two player but also he's an old he was an older rookie you know so typically you see these types of players kick into that year of their NBA career a little bit sooner but you know what I'm saying I'm always someone who likes to give people time but with that being said I still think if they're going to go ahead and be a more serious team lean all in on offense be the number one offense in the NBA and trade for exactly me do it triple dog dare you all right man put them in C this is our tier list how are you feeling about this

and S tier I'll read it off for the audio listeners S tier Nuggets Celtics bucks we forget about that right yeah A tier is the biggest tier which maybe we gotta revisit

Timberwolves Lakers 76ers Suns Thunder Miami Miami is just like you know it's like a gift it's a meme so take it what you will do we feel about that tier

yes so far B tier Mavericks Pelicans Both ceiling plays This B tier is called Ify now can be amazing That's what this tier is

It's a swing factor for sure It's pure ceiling based on the strength of their best player C tier We have the Knicks Cavs and Kings Okay Middle tier playoff teams

I think that's fair D tier we have the Warriors Magic and Pacers Teams that we all agree Not happening for you this year For different reasons Yeah And then F tier, we got a special place in hell for the clippers.

I didn't even realize that we were doing this in the moment. And it's, it's so funny, like the clippers hate is just so ingrained in this. Natural. That we unconsciously just like, yeah, they're the worst team on here. Like, that's great. I love that for us. I love that weird, like, at that point. Yeah, it's natural.

This is a good list. I'm fine with it. I don't really want to tweak anything. Once again, a perfect tier list from TV. three. We don't make mistakes. We're perfect. We have the best basketball opinions in basketball media. This is great.

Yeah, yeah. 50% of people will say that in the comments. 50% would be like the one with the glasses, idiot. The one with the beard, moron. The one with the duag, stupor than dirt. Oh, hell, man. Oh, hell. But regardless of fact, we all know that they are wrong.

We have the best basketball opinions. I don't know about that. I don't know what that. Yeah, I'm just so on, I'm trying, but you know we probably do have the best of.

We have the best basketball TikToks in the universe. And I got the crayon eaters stay over here to reassure me that we have some it's TikTok time.

Let's go. As always, we're going to start with the draft. This week, we're flipping it back to the lineup draft. And today,

We're going to draft NBA lineups with only shooting guards, one through five. Should be fun. I need this. I need this. You need this? No. I need a win. I need this.

I've been on a three, four week drought. I'm like almost a month without a win. So trust me, I'm coming for your next. Wait, am I first for real? Hey, yo. Yep. Draft order is Mo, Don, me. Nice.

I like this. Okay. So, again, only shooting guards. Tell us where you're going first pick, Mo. number one overall pick I'd be wrong if I didn't pick the goat MJ Okay

All right Were you put my shooting guard Yeah put him at shooting guard No it's only natural Yep yeah okay All right sounds good I assume Donovan's gonna pick James Harden At my three

Listen If you think that you don't know me All right I'm not doing that At my three Give me Kobe Bryant Okay And if you know me

You know damn well I'm putting James Harder at my point guard, automatically. Are we counting him? Yeah, he's a shooting guard. Yeah, for sure, for sure. I thought he was a point guard. No, historically, he's known as a shooting guard.

He's going to go down as a shooting guard for sure. Yeah. And in my power forward, give me Dwayne Wade. Got a shot blocker, slasher, extraordinaire. It's going to be a great pick and roll partnership. Nice. Okay. Hmm.

Well, I want some. I want some more shooting with my shooting guards. So I have my two. Give me Ray Allen. Hmm. Ray Allen over Clay Thompson. Interesting. Hmm.

Very, very interesting. Okay. He can handle the ball. Listen, we were dribblers over here. Straight bag, one through five. Okay, cool. So with that being said, go ahead and just give me Clay Thompson. I'm going to put him at my three.

And then I wanted him to do that. At my four, I need some size. Give me Vince Carter. Okay, that's what I was, that's what I was thinking. At my four, give me his, please don't pick my pick. Give me his cousin. I want Tracy McGrady. Okay.

You can have nice. He's not defending nothing at the four. At my five, give me Clyde Drexler. He was on my list. Big body down low. Okay, cool. I'm a stand on Clyde Drexler's right, right, Sant. I cannot talk and I messed up the joke.

Dang it. Either way. Either way. It's not even going to be funny no more. It's okay. I'm going to just give basketball analysis. I'm sending Clyde Drexler left and he is going to look like a middle school basketball player. He can't go.

He can't go left. That's hilarious. Okay. Y'all need, I got my two and three left. Y'all got your twos. Hmm. I could go a lot of places with this. Do I want to win the heart of the fans?

or be smart. Dumb brain, dumb brain, dumb brain. You know what? I'm going for the most talent possible. No. Give me Alan Ivers next to James Hardin. Ew.

You didn't play no defense. That was my pick. These are all shooting guards. Nobody's playing defense. Gross. Listen, Dway's blocking shots on the other end. I'm good. You think D. Wade saving your life?

The flash only do you do so much. Now, I'm actually upset because Nikil's out here making making the graphic and by my name in parentheses he put Don Stutter and I'm very upset. I'm actually very upset at that. I don't like that.

I don't like that. We're going to be talking about that after the show. You got a nerve. Yeah. All right. At my one, give me Manu Janobli. Okay.

Good passer. Okay. Nice. I did not want him at all So at my five Give me George Gervin And then at my one Give me even more spacing

Reggie Miller Fuck I was gonna pick him Is over I won I should walk off this set right now But I'm not I don't know if I'd be as confident Yeah I know

You got Jordan But I don't know about the rest of the team All right Who is Okay Here is what we're gonna do Genobley's going to stay at the one Everybody else is going to slide down one

So I'm going to have McGrady at my center Kobe at my four Ray Allen at my three And at my two I want one of the original bad boy pistons Give me Joe Dumars Oh that's solid I love that

It's a sleeper pick That's interesting I would I like that You need that intensity on your team Yeah You know what Who?

Which would I go with this? None of you guys have a good defense on your team. I got plenty of scoring. Give me Tony Allen at my three. Oh, you're not cooking shit. You are not shooting at all. I'm locking down. You got Dway, Drexler, and Tony Allen.

Exactly. You listen. You don't understand. All of our teams are just straight bags. Tony Allen can handle one guy. He's not handling the other four. You should have worked for firepower. That's hilarious.

Yeah, man. I got Reggie Miller, Clay, Vince Carter, and obviously, MJ. There's only so many. Tony Allen, he's going to have a brain aneurysm trying to figure this to defense out. Can't do it. Listen, you got MJ. We know how it goes. Whatever.

You got to go in a very top heavy draft. We know how it works. The drought is over. I won. By default. Did he, though? Finally. Did he?

Yes. Probably. I don't know. Maybe we'll let the comments decide. Yeah. My team, though, for audio listeners, I have mine and Junoble at my point guard, Joe Dumars, at my shooting guard, Ray Allen at the three, Kobe at the four, and then Tracy McGrady at the five. Nice.

So for my team, audio listeners, point guard, Reggie Miller, shooting guard, MJ, Clay Thompson at my three, power forward, Vince Carter and center, six, seven, George Gervin. Ice, man. Let's do it. Nice. I got James Hardin, or, hold, I put out, Alan Iverson, James Hardin, Dwayne, Wayne Tony Allen Clyde Drexler yeah I like my team Alan Iverson's game posted up every play I probably I don't know me doing Dwayne Wade Tony Allen I got the biggest

front court and I think probably the most defense I mean I mean besides this has Hardin just Hardin but you do have the most defense could you have Tony Allen but like a I and that's not moving me the boy did Drexler down low I got size and shot blocking you honestly should put, I mean, listen, I know Hardin can play a point, but like, yonesty should put it hardin down low. Let, make it the powerboard. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Post-defense OD for sure. Yeah. I think you messed up. I love the Tony Allen pole, though. He belongs nowhere on this list, though, for sure. But I love him. He just said, fuck it at that point.

I love it. I would do the same thing about you. All right, man. Next video we're going to do, I think, let's change it up. Let's do a variation of 20 questions We haven't done this a long time Okay We're gonna do it

But instead of you have 20 questions To get to NBA player I'm thinking of You guys are gonna have one minute To get the player I'm thinking of Okay Okay Sounds good Unlimited questions

Who Yeah he's got 60 seconds And the kills and a pull of a timer right now Let's make a full screen It's like a nice and big And yeah I'm gonna How hard should I make this for you guys Alright listen don't

Don't be ridiculous Sometimes sometimes you're tired Thank you. It's 60 seconds. I can't go too crazy. Okay. Y'all have one minute to get the NBA player I'm thinking of. Go.

Is this player active? Yes. Active player. Okay. Is this player black? Is he a black? Yes. Okay.

All-Star. Yes. Previously. Are they a champion? Previously. Previously. Previously, all-star. Not a champion.

Not a champion. Ooh. Okay. Cool. Are they a starter? Yes, they're a champion. Yeah. Okay, cool.

Did they play... Speed it up, stop humming. Do they play mostly in the Western Conference? Split, right now they're in the East. Backboard player? Right now they're in the East. No, they're not a backboard player.

Okay, so their front court. Okay. Could this be... Power forward? He's a forward. I wouldn't say power forward. Were they drafted in the last 10 years? No, he's been a league for longer than that.

Damn, who the hell is this? Oh. Cook, Cook. Uh, okay, did he play for it? Hold on, shit. Uh, he's so, what's the country? Paid! Pacific Division.

You guys suck. Time up. Damar de Rosen, you guys did horrible. Oh my God. I didn't like this game, bro. Fuck this game. Wait. Wait, did you say, you say Eastern Conference?

Yeah, I say he's in the East right now. Oh, I heard. Oh, okay. Oh, he said he's played majority in the West. He's like, no, it's split, but he's in the East right now. Oh, you said it's flip. I thought you said it's split as if, like, he played half and half and half. No, he's just, he's been in both like, I know what she's. Okay. I thought you

like you spend an equal time in his career for me. Now, man, listen, you get the timer on you question to start. Yeah. The timer is yeah. It's formulated. It's, it's hard. It's like a gun to your head. Let's do it again. Donovan you go. Let me try and guess. See if I can do better. All right. Hold on wait. I mean, I didn't make it too hard. I think no, no, no. That was, that was good. That was good. All right. Wait, let me get these guys. These guys's numbers up so I can answer. Okay. We're good to go. Are you guys ready? Okay.

Yep. All right. Three, two, one, go. Is he a current player? No. Okay, he's tired. Do you play in the East? Uh, no.

Do you play in the East? No. So he didn't. West Coast player, right? No. Is he a guard? No. He's a center?

Yes. Did he make an all-star team? Yes. Is Joaquin Noah? No. The Marcus Cousins. Yes. Damn

I told you this shit is easy 25 seconds He got it He got it You got it All I hear folding This shit is easy Yeah man

This game is not for me You do a dark I said Joe can you know That was my best guess I wasn't a bad one either That's hilarious I don't even know

If I'm make a TikTok I was so fast And so just go Go go go Yeah no It's a terrible I didn't even think I didn't even think

Yeah it's a terrible Okay, talk. That's hilarious. Well, listen, we just, we just did that for us. Just to see if we can stay sharp. Yeah, exactly. We're just, you know, iron sharpens iron. We got to stay on top of our game.

Just practice. Not get washed on the 20 questions game. All right. Next thing we're going to do, I'm going to name. We're going to talk about all-time rankings. You know, everyone, Donovan's favorite thing you talk about notably. Love it. And I'm, but it's not going to be about your current all-time rankings.

Okay. I'm going to ask you about current players and where you think they're going to to rank by the time they retire okay okay so a little projecting to when they're done might be some hayton yeah so this player's playing now where do you think they'll rank all time when they retire first up luca donchich lucid don't just could easily be top 30 okay i don't want to say easily but he could be top 30 oh he could definitely be top 30 he's listen five seasons four first team all NBA's top 30 is very reasonable he could retire right now he needs a hall of famer yes that's that's true he can get

Listen, I think that God, Lee, I cannot talk today. I think he can easily be top 30 whenever he retires. But he's, that's the floor, I think. He's going to have to get some championships. He's going to have to get some MVPs, right? A finals appearance, maybe step it up. If he can give us two MVPs at least in one championship, just one, then I think he solidified himself in history of the top 30 player.

If he continues, this insane run that is going on. I mean, listen, James Hardin's like the 30th best player of all time And he can easily surpass that without a championship Yeah, he was two MvPs and went to championship And is this level of player for 10 to 15 years He might be top. I think that's gonna be a top 20 player at least I was gonna push him to say he might be top 15 if he can play a championship and two MVP It's hard to get there and top top 15 is got a pushin it

But listen we we talk about Yonis maybe being like 19 or 20 right now same with Yokish Like if he gets a ring and two MvPs he can be in that same range Yeah, I agree I agree Is he going to pass? Top 20. Is he going to pass Jerry West? Who knows? Get out of here.

All right, man. Next up, Janus. I mean, we already talked. He's already. Yeah. He's already high. He's already kind of top 20. He has the potential to be top 15.

I would agree. Top 15. Top 15. I mean, that's easy to project. If he keeps doing what he's doing, maybe gets another ring. Is there a world he cracks in the top 10 ranges? The only way he cracks in to top 10 if he goes again a back-to-back MVP, maybe a back-to-back MVP along with a DPOI along that and also a ring.

That right there, that's like, okay. You want him to have four NEPs and two DPOIs? No, either MVP or MVP with a DPOI and then a championship as well. So it's like, he has to do a lot and it would crack that top 10 list. Yeah, it's also hard because of this style of play. It's hard to imagine him having like LeBron, Currie. type longevity. So maybe top 15 is like where he's going to end up. Yeah. And that's not bad at all. It's insane. Yeah. He also might just stay top 20 and kind of where he is now. Like maybe this is

just going to be where he's at. Maybe his major accomplishments are done. Even if he adds one more ring, I can't see him. I can't, I can't really justify putting him in top 10, top 15 like confidently. Yeah. Even if he wins one more. There's going to be at least like 15 players that are better at their peak than him. He'll have to just have like a really, really, really great resume to be in those conversations. So I don't really see it. He got low-lord on his scene now. Anything is false. Don't fumble. Don't fumble.

All right. Next up, his all-time running mate, Nicole Yokic. They're neck and neck. About the same range. Like, they have. This man could be top 10 if you really wanted to buy them in his career. And I just don't, I just don't know if he'll have

the longevity. It's as hard as in the game. In the game, I don't know. because he likes sources way too much. But, oh my God, shut up. Listen, he already plays old man basketball. So his game isn't even based on like athleticism like that. So he's going to move around. Yeah.

I think he's a higher peak all time potentially because that little offensive player that he is is going to age gracefully. He can continue to do this. We're just seeing him enter his championship window. He's going to be able to be argued for having one of the best peaks of all time in terms of his skill and he has opportunity to stack up championships. Top 10 ceiling, but maybe top 15, top 24. Fact.

Yeah, top 24 for sure. Top 24 for sure. Yeah. But he could easily walk into top 10 by the end of his career. Yeah, he's a lot of room to go, but he can get himself onto like pushing Mount Rushmore of center stocks. For sure. Two more championships, and I might put him there. A long way to go though, so we'll see.

All right. Next up, Steph Curry. Listen. And we're actually He isn't doing Top 10 talks Listen he's not Listen

Another ring Will not touch Steph Curry's hands So I think top 10 Is a very fair place to say So you're saying

Where he is now Is it where he's gonna say Yep Yeah There are no woman There's zero chance In hell He goes ahead

And wins another championship Unless he switches teams But that ain't Happening in a million years So he's pretty much Going to be Top 10 for the rest of his life What if he has

Lebronge type of longevity What if he has like LeBron type of longevity and he's this good when he's 40? Is that going to change your few? The war is still going to be ass. So no. They're never going to be bad enough as long as he's on that team even with that longevity to net out a high draft pick. And on top of that, who knows what Clay and Jermon's going to be at?

And it's just not realistic. Yeah. At this point, I guess he's getting as high as like seven or eight. But top five is going to, I don't know if he's going to be able to build his resume well enough. Yeah, it's about hardware in this. Now, what he can do, though. if step if step messed around and got another MVP to his name that would be kind of crazy so that that could be that could be the one thing okay well it seems like we all think

top 10 he's probably going to stay here yeah yeah top 10 it's fair okay next up anthony davis fat man himself i mean listen he can stay on like he could stay on the NBA 75 like he could yeah i don't he's obviously the top 75 player he's probably pushing he's probably pushing top 50 right now he's probably like in the 60s he's probably like in the 60s or so can you see him getting to the top 40 no there's no way he does that unless like the lakers won another championship and he is the best player on that team but i do not envision that happening at all so 50 60 70 it doesn't matter he's in that range i'm not doing this well damn i'm not no i'm just not i'm just not doing this he's not gonna be

top 40 i don't think yeah i don't think that's his range He's he's great He's not like that though Top 50 Everything would have to go right Listen You guys are giving me nothing in this one I'm just going to go

Listen let me get Listen let me get back to back games In the playoffs With 30 points Let me stop all this up and down stuff And then maybe you could be top 50 And maybe I'll think about it All right

Next up Kauai Leonard He's a tricky one He's so weird to talk Very hard. Incredibly hard to rank. This is a question that we have to ask. Does he even want to be in the top 50?

Look at this face. He looks like he doesn't care about anything. We can leave him. We can just leave him on the list just because he doesn't care and put somebody else in. Andy Davis could take his spot. We could do that. Andy Davis can take his spot. I mean, right now he's probably like, what, in the 35 to 40 range or so?

I would say he's top 30 on the lower half of 30. Okay. If he's top 30, he's barely top 30. Yeah. Is it, are we at the point now where his best days are behind him? We don't really see him going up any higher. Oh, 100%. What if he won another championship, though, an MVP?

He's not winning an MVP. What if an MVP? What if that happens? Mo. He is playing for the Clippers right now. And they just traded for James Hardin. Do you think a championship is going towards his resume anytime soon? Not at all.

It all comes back to the Clippers, I guess. Never mind. Listen, all right, so Top 30s is ceiling Top 40s is guaranteed You are not moving Up the all-time list, Kauai Leonard I'm happy

You're happy Let's happen Listen, he's enjoying Sunny California That's all that matters Exactly Alright next up Joel Embed

Ew I don't know The MVP is nice But he is not winning Any more of those Unless he has a successful Playoff run make it past the second round challenge

I dare you until then I don't know what you were to rank fuck the bucket of ice if you can make it pass one second round challenge I'll do it on a million dollars or charity of your choice

yeah our audience is not going to understand that reference at all they're not they're not they're not it's okay it's okay what's not okay

if you guys understand that reference comment where that's from let me know What's not okay is Joellen B choking every time he gets into the playoff. So like I'll say like what top 60 right now. Shout out to the MVP, right? Listen, send it back to Kendrick Perkins.

He got it to you off a race relation. So like, that's cool. But no, I think top 60s where he's at right now. If he miraculously- If he miraculously has a single run where he wins a championship, then I can say he's top 50 like for sure comfortably, you know? Yeah, he needs a chip and the problem is it's hard to envision his style play with his body type aging incredibly gracefully So I don't know how many more years MVP level play he has

But let's say he wins one more MVP never win the championship Top six 65 70 That's fair it's listen that's a that's a cool career if you did that in 2k I'd be very happy with how I play He'll buy not in the same range a D Yeah, doing that in 2k. That's shameful 2k now for No tip you said the worst 2K player of all time, what? All right.

Next up, Jason Tatum. He's hella young, hasn't won an MVP yet, hasn't won an NBA finals, but he's consistently, he's knocking on those doors up. He better do it. He better do it. He better do it. Listen.

He better burst in. Exactly. Right now, I would say, I would say top 75. He has the ability to get there. Like Moe said, win something. Do something. Listen,

next year, I know you just got bounced out, get an in-season tournament, right? Get an NBA Cup, get a scoring championship, get an NBA Cup. I don't know. Oh, my God.

Get an all-star game MVP. Jason Tatum, can you get one trophy to put in your trophy glass? It's empty, right? He got an all-star game. You better rack up those Eastern Conference Finals,

MVP's. Oh, he's making his money off of those. Oh, he's going off. Sad. No, he's definitely,

he'll probably be like a top 70 player all time. maybe. If he gets hardware, he can get higher. Cool, dude, though. He hasn't even started the hardware yet. I wonder if he could ever be one of the two best players in the NBA, just like at its current stage.

No. At whatever stage in his career. And I don't think so. So that's a cute team to his career. Yeah, I agree. That's a good way to put it. He's never going to be one of the best players alive, which is minimum necessary to be like a top 30 guy.

Yeah. He's always in that one of the best six to seven, probably five. Yeah, exactly. So it's going to be hard to put in there. Jason Tato, I hope you hear this. I hope you hear this. What are you prepared to do? Nobody.

Nobody believes in you. You're going to let somebody come into your house, eat your meal. What are you prepared to do about it? What was the recipes? I believe in you. And so does deuce. We're with you. The power of fatherhood is not making him top 40 all that I'm sorry.

Are you kidding me? Listen, Craig Van Blee won a championship because he became a father. father. He need to have another kid. He might do this is like five. It hasn't worked yet. If he gets another kid, he might get a three p. Who knows? That's hilarious. We can move on in the next video. Next thing we do, listen, I know this pod was a long-ass tier list. That's not a tier list for shorts. Right now we're going to do two lists specifically four shorts. And Mo, I think you have some NBA celebrations to show us. Yeah, man. We did this a couple of months ago. it was a hit everyone loved it and now this time we're going to go ahead and put these NBA

celebrations into a tier list summer old school summer new school we're just going to go ahead and see what the vibes are at so first up what do we got well this is a new classic tray young's it's too damn cold in here it's a shiver this is hard i'm not going to lie i'm not the most pro Trey young person in the world, but he made a good celebration when he made this. This is tough. Listen, it's cool. I would want to put it high up, but he doesn't do it anymore because he can't celebrate because his team be losing. So let's drop it down. Oh, no. No, the celebration is washed. No. Hell no. Y'all are haters, but this should be actually. He hasn't done this since 2021. Look at

the jerseys. Listen, I ain't go why yet his gift is old. But he hasn't done this just his Trump was in office. Bro, that got to be at least an A tier or B tier at minimum. Stop it in C. It's washed. Cook. Ah, you guys are haters, bro. Exactly.

There you go. C4Cooked. Oh, C4Cooked. That's hilarious. What's next? Oh, yeah. Next up, we got Robin Lopez's cup of tea. What the hell is he doing?

Role players having celebrations should be banned. This is stupid. This is tough. This is all. This is incredibly irritating. If we're ever playing basketball and I see you doing this, we're done playing. Go home. I'm sick.

It's like he's telling you off in style language. It's like, what are you saying to me, man? Are you trying to curse at me? You know what this is? Put my monocle on. It's classy. Give this an A. That's hard.

This is C for classy. This is C for classy. That's what that is. I'm going to meet you guys in the middle. Let's put it at B. B is hard. There we go. He's the worst player to ever have a celebration.

And I commend him for that. This is so dumb. Yeah. What's next? Oh, next up, we got Jalen Brunson's three-point celebration. I'm going to say it right now. This shit is an F. This is S.

It's terrible. What is this? What is this? How many fingers is he holding up right here? That is four. Yeah, no, no, what's going on either. That is four. And he just hit it. He does it when he hits threes.

The calculations. What is he not calculated? Listen, nobody knows what it means, but it's provocative and it's hard. Put it in A-10. It doesn't make sense, though. If you're going to do some, make it make sense. You know what? When you see this, you know what you just saw.

You saw greatness. You see it more than, more than this. That's good. This is D. This stinks. This reeks. Who the hell is actually doing this in public? If you do this, something you have already knows and you're just trying to run away.

Yeah, let's think of a bloody nose. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Like a geek. It's trash. Y'all hate grating. Excuse me? Y'all hate grating.

You smell the most vile shit ever. Meanwhile, he's just watching Julie's Randall ISO for a break on top of the board. P.O.V., your teammate is R.J. Barry. Mo, don't you start. Don't you start? Don't you start? Well, you want to start these DeAndre Hunter versus R.J. Baird debates?

I'm with it. I'm with it. Mid off, mid off. Let's not start. Turn it up. All right. Let's move on. Oh, man.

Next up, we got Malik Beasley doing a thugshake. Shaking that ass in your face after he hits a three-pointers. He is twerking in your face. What do you do? I miss this. Wow. When did he do this? He's been doing this since Minnesota days.

Did this with the Lakers, too. I'm a man. who likes audacity. This is some audacious shit coming from Malik Beasley. Put this in S-tier. I don't care. It's already hard enough

to play defense in the NBA. If you shoot a three in my face and I turn around, you're not trying to play defense instead you're shaking that ass in front of me. I don't want to play basketball no more. My shoes going up side of your head. Listen, if I was Pat Conantin

and I was running past him, I'd hate this shit. But as a passive observer, this is hilarious. Put this an S-tier. No, man, what happened to the game that I love? Well, what happened?

What happened to men? They used to be bored. He's even worse. We used to build houses. It's even worse, bro. He'd be putting his hat on the hands of his head, shaking that shit, too. Having mad turbulence. I'm like, yo.

Even as Damien Miller doing this shit, bro. Dame Dalla, the rapper. God. All right, let's move on. That's too. Oh, next up, we got Russell Westbrooks. That's my son. This is S tier

This is S tier Everybody the influence from this celebration Is unmatched He everybody wants to do this And it doesn't matter If you are the smaller person You get a paint You get a bucket in the paint

You do this This S tier Yeah this is like his variation Of too small Took it to a hold of the level He's innovating on his previous classics Exactly what you want From a celebration maestro

Yeah This is demoralizing man This is demoralizing And it would have to It would have me questioning my manhood if this happened to me on the park. And sadly, it has. I thought you were getting posted up by a 14-year-old putting you in hell. Bro, I met a 14-year-old person who watched our videos.

Bro, was like 6'5 putting me in the paint. Swear to God. It was ridiculous. It's like the Marcus cousin in that bitch. It was ridiculous, but I still be enough. All right, S-tier. Yeah, what's next? That's S-tier for sure.

Ooh, next up we have the all-time classic Matumbo finger wag Back-to-back ass tears I don't even want to hear any words discussing it This was something so great It transcended basketball culture This made its way into American pop culture You saw it in commercials everywhere

All-time celebration Nothing but facts This will be something that our kids kids Kids will be doing For many, many years and generations to come Before I knew who Matumbo was I saw a commercial him going Uh-uh-uh and I knew about him

Facts That's hard What's your? It's hard. Yeah. Facts, exactly. What's next?

Who, next up, we got Steph Curry's No Look 3. Easley is probably the most disrespectful celebration. Is this a 3P and S celebrations? I think it might be

because this is some douchebag shit and I love it. I love when Steph Curry is in full asshole mode and this is just like the best version of that. To have the confidence to do this in an NBA game

is just absolutely Exactly. Ridiculous. Exactly. Like I said, re-reward audacity. And you can't be more audacious because this literally can result on you looking so unbelievably stupid. You're a meme forever like SwaggyP.

And he does it all the time. All the time. He risked this night and night out for us. You telling me, I'm trying to play my hardest on defense. And before the shot even going, you don't even pay me no mind and you're already running around the other end. Who am I? That's so disrespectful.

Yeah. Who am I? This is an easy ass, bro. And not everybody can do this, too. it's only him. Yeah, nobody else, again, nobody else is this type of level of douchebag to do this type of cool shit.

It's impossible. Yeah, exactly, you're right. This is easy S. Probably the best. Yeah. What's next? Oh, and I think that is it. That's all of them.

That's our tier list. Listen, we opted to let you see the plays instead of seeing the tier list. You just got to imagine where everything is laid out right now. I don't fucking remember. That was great. next thing we're going to do we're going to do something

kind of like a variation what we did earlier when we talked about where they're going to rank all time but instead of talking about where NBA player's career like ranks up against other people I want to know that if you were an NBA player oh I could not talk I'm on dawn time if you're an NBA player

which NBA player's career would you rather have so simple this all stems from one specific Twitter debate so that'll be in here you guys will see I already know what it is And I'm going to stand on it. Who had the better career? Alan Iverson or Paul Pierce?

Easily. As much as I don't want to say. Oh, really? Alan Iverson? Yeah. I was so sad and was a journeyman, bro? He won an MVP, lost in a finals, and people still consider that. He won one game in a final series.

And people consider that to be a major accomplishment. People cloud on Paul Pierce every day. People forget they get like a great player. No, I want to be Alan Iverson. You can keep that fucking ring. Paul Pierce will be known in the legacy forever for shitting himself, for not being Kobe, for not getting a farewell tour,

for shitting himself, for everything besides being good at basketball. Meanwhile, Alan Iverson has the most propaganda ever. Yeah, exactly. Meanwhile, Alan Iverson has the most adoration I've ever seen from an athlete. I would love to be Alan Iverson. He's Teflon in any city he goes to forever.

Bro, he has players who are greater than him, saying that you are the reason why I am the player today. Al-a-D. Wade. Yeah, I'm going to Island Iverson for sure. Yeah, that's easy. The most glazed NBA player in history. It's fantastic. I would love to be him.

And you would love to. Same. Yeah, for sure. I mean, you're right. It goes from the play style to the braids, the tattoos, and all that shit. It's the truth. He is the first player in NBA history,

or maybe a second. player in NBA history who at all time aura it starts with this man right here oh he's the origin of aura he is the originator of this genre player yeah all right next up carmelo anthony or Andre Godala so this is hard man so are you bought so bucks or do you want to go out with the win listen we play the game to win it's all about hardware but I don't know Carmelo Anthony made a lot of money A lot of points scored He did

He did make a lot of money But I think Iggy Kind of has a combination of both Because there was a point where Iggy Like was actually Like that And he was disgusting And so to have that portion of your career

And the version You can go be like the best role player In the game and win several championships I think I might take that Ah yeah That is true But for it's not a championship He's an integral part of the greatest team of all time.

Like, he's going to be remembered forever. Yeah, he is going to be remembered forever, but not for like influential purposes. Because being real, who the hell wants? Who the hell's growing up, be like, I want to be like Andre Iguadoa. I want to have the same exact play style as Andre Iigodala. Nobody in the history is doing that. Although a lot of people in history would love to have. Carmelo's favorite player is Paul George.

Yeah. Hey, not too much on Kayen. Not too much Akaya. No, I'm just saying. like kids that they aren't growing up like oh i want to be like mellow like he didn't the reason that's because they don't know what real basketball is is iac okay they don't understand that you have to cast the ball at the high pose at the elbow jab step six seven times right understand angles they don't know what that's light they don't understand that okay i think being

you're going to be hyped up for no reason having andre udala's career will be will put me at the most piece also he got a bro iggy has a finals MVP that is true that carries heavy weight heavy weight I guarantee you Mello would love to have one of those Let's go A hundred percent Yeah, Iggy's easy But also I'd definitely rather be mellow

Just cool Next up Anthony Davis versus Kyrie Irving Ooh this is a good ass matchup It's not Is that his not a matchup Listen

Anthony Davis has always been the better player Doesn't fucking matter One of them is the most hated star In recent NBA history One of them is like Alan Iverson Where he's Teflon forever Kyrie can do anything he wants He will be adored by the masses

Give me that livelihood Over being Anthony Davis Where Shaq's calling you a bitch Every time you have a decent game Yeah They both already won a championship So at this point Who is cooler?

Who's made the most money? Maybe AD may make a little bit more Because of longevity purposes But I'm taking Kyrie Irving He's set for life Listen, it doesn't matter What Kyrie does For the rest of time

Everybody who plays basketball is going to say Listen, if we're going pound for pound Karee's the most skilled player of all time He gets that label So yeah, I'm a crazy label There's just one random day in 2018 Where everyone's accepted that that was facts forever And nobody looked back

This man just became He's just like AI Eventually somebody decided AI's most influential player ever And we never argued it They're the same guy But also Karee has one of the most important shots In NBA history In a game 7 to beat a 73 and 9

team like yeah he got it and after that his career ends and nothing else matters and it doesn't have to matter that's why I'm taking Cairo Irving nothing has mattered for six years exactly Anthony Davis could win two more championships and no one's gonna give a damn about that bro someone's gonna say you shot one four it doesn't matter he's actually he should have won a championship every two months like he's gonna be something every time that impression was hilarious You need to stop settling

Girls He doesn't want a bad enough That was me I'd be talking If you know Keep going Keep going Alright next up

Russell Westbrook Or Tony Parker Oh Tony Parker was a bastard He was hitting this teammates wise I don't want to go down like that Give me Russell Westbrook

That's the truth You can, bro, you went out so sad and you tired as a Charlotte Hornet. Yuck. Gross. Listen, listen. If we're talking about going out sad, we've had a going out sad tour for Russell Westbrook for like a year and a half now. Like, he's better now, but like, still. We gave him redemption because he went to the clipper as an average, like, I don't even know how to have his stuff.

Listen, it is okay, though. I give me Russell Westbrook's career. I was an MVP and I made more money. I'm taking that. Yeah. Give me the infidel. Tony Parker is the man in his country He is a French legend

Part of a dynasty Brought them the most glory French French Brought them the most glory That French basketball has ever seen Give me his career The only thing Are moved by Evil Longoria

That's what that is That's what that is I don't know In fact about the equation That's hilarious Yeah not The only thing about Westbrook's career

That's like The only reason why I might pick Tony is because people ain't going to be slandering my last name at my children's school. That's not going to happen. That's embarrassing for a lifetime.

Tony Parker is the man where he's from. He can just live in peace and chill forever and just be that dude. He's a dual citizen in San Antonio and in France. He can do no wrong. He's going to have a statue in both. I bet he already does.

This man runs the number one. Bro. Truro. If someone notices that your last name is I can't even say it. Yeah, that's hilarious. I can't talk. Yeah.

Oh, man. All right, man. That's the end of that segment. We got one more video left for we get out of here. Moe, I think you once again have something to show us. And this time I heard a little bird you told me that we're looking at some NBA tattoos. Yeah, man. Whoever that birdie is, you're a snitch.

But yeah. We're looking at an NBA tattoos. And we did this a couple months ago. It was a hit. Some are going to be good. Some are going to be bad. And we're here to go ahead and be the judge of them all, ground eaters. Let's do that.

So what are we going to do? Are we going to rate them? We're going to rate them from one to ten. All right. Okay. Let's do it. Say less. Actually, no, screw that.

Let's grade these NBA tattoos. Okay. First up. Audible. we got Marbury Starn This is an A And I don't care what anybody says

Having your own logo Tattooed into the side of your head Free promotion for life Okay And also as somebody who used to wear these shoes That's hard No one makes it great I'll go A

Just because he paired it with the baldy Like he went all in Iconic look With the logo smacking the dab Where you're gonna look Like, it's such a, it's such a swing that could have very easily been a miss. Yeah, it could have been bad. The tattoo is great too.

Tattoos back then were all so poor. But if it was in the NBA today, the NBA would literally have him put a fat-ass bandage on his head. Oh, yeah. And that's just so bad. Adam Silver would have had him put in prison. Yeah, exactly. Listen, this, this tattoo is so unhinged, but there's nothing else that you can expect from a man who eats Vaseline. So, yes, I love this.

So is this A? Yeah, no, it's an easy A. It's easier. No question. This is A. Yeah. This is a great tattoo. What's next?

Oh, next up, we got Mike Muscalo's Mario tattoo on the side of his shoulder. Listen, I don't know what history this man has with Super Mario. But as far as Super Mario tattoos go, that's pretty high quality. This is hard as hell, man. This is so creative. Listen, if it was like a star player, I would probably give it an A. But this is Mike Muscala. This is weird.

That's crazy slander. This tattoo sucks because he's a role player. You go to the greatest lengths to hate on him. You fit to pull up his career, Ab and C. He's like what, six points. I love him. You got the Muscala tax is crazy. Being real, this is a solid beat, bro.

Maybe it was good. I guess Donovan, he might be an A. No, that's cool. It's cool. This is B. Listen, you get your 2.4 percentage of both 40% consistently. Maybe I'll give you a B to your tattoo. Damn.

So we go and see? Maybe. No. Damn. What is it? See, B? I don't care. I don't care.

I don't play Mario like that. Next. Oh, next we got Wilson Chandler's tattoo of his daughter on his throat. That's a crazy place in for a tattoo. Do you know how much that most fucking hurt? tattoo on your Adam's apple you gotta love the shit out of your child this is an A for pure dedication I would never do that for my child I'm never getting my neck tattoo for my child this that's not happening I'm not getting in my Adam's tab to yeah I'm not getting my

Adam's apple tattoo for anybody yeah not man it has to be an A just for the dedication though 100% yeah that's that's he went through pain for his daughter this man is the best dad of the year. Yeah, best out of the year, but, ah, man, I just couldn't do it. Couldn't be me. Yeah, what do you want to put this? It's a, it's an A, but like, bro, just put your daughter on your screen tape. Like, you didn't have to go. Yeah. Is that a scrapbook? Try hard. No fact. It is. He's a family, man. Can't hate. What's the next up. Next up, we got. Next up we got Stevenson's $5 neck tattoo. No, I'm not going to say what I want to say.

Back to back Adams Apple? He got Abe Lincoln in his throat? Yeah. That is a crazy statement. What? I just do not understand the logic, man. I do not understand the logic. He thought that was a hard.

He thought he's the hardest motherfucker to hit the street since he got that tattoo. It's not the truth, man. That is, that is F. I'm astounded. This looks like... First F. It looks Photoshop. This looks like something that you would put on a bad mixtape album cover.

Facts. Is that two chains cover? I can't believe this. This looks like that meme is a guy going no regerts with a bad tattoo on his neck. It looks like he's playing in a practical joke on us. Yeah, no, man. This is sad. But this is his life.

It's on his neck for the rest of his life. He's cooked when he's 80, bro. It's done. for. Can you imagine having a saggy A. He's done for now. Yeah. Abe Lincoln. Yeah, I'm giving this a D. Put this an F. I'm giving this an F. I'm giving this a D for dumb.

D for dumb. I'm with it. Let's do it. What's next? Next up, we got J.R. Smith's Swish tattoo right under his chin. I didn't even know about the Swish. You're worried about Swish. Why does he have a young money tattoo

on his throat? What is up with all these third Tattoo. Were you not a fan of young money? Not that much. You didn't believe in Weezy? You're terrible. Listen, I like a little twist back in the day as much as anybody, but I'm not going to get it on my

throats. Yeah. This will be better if it wasn't multicolored like this. No consistency. Yeah, exactly. It's a little wild. Let's call a spade of spade.

This is an awful tattoo. Whoever did this is a criminal. No, it's terrible. It's terrible. This is an F. Truly abhorrent. This is disgusting. They should be imprisoned.

Of course. Okay. It's a prison tattoo. F it is. What's next? Next up. That's the end of it? Okay, that's all right.

There we go. Great. What a way to end it with just the worst tattoo I've ever seen. This is diabolical. Kind of eye cancer right now. Damn. I'm kind of having a bad night now. Like, I wish you didn't show me this.

Yeah. Can me? Anyways, if people were so here, what should they comment? Mo, you decide this time. Hmm. What was the highlight of this? Actually, actually, actually. Sorry.

Last time we did this, we used this opportunity to slander to kill. Nikiel, why does you unmute and tell us whether people should comment? Yeah. It's your moment. Hop on the main stage. What should people comment? What are we doing? Y'all really putting me on the spot here.

The lights are too bright. Turned off the lights. Turned off the lights. Prove me wrong, Nekeel. No. Boo! I got it. I got it.

Comment, shout out Lincoln. Shout out Lincoln for Abraham. Shout out Abraham Lincoln. We're paying homage to Abraham Lincoln to the comments today. Yeah, gross. Yeah. I wasn't taking somewhere crazier than that,

but let's just end it there. That's what I was saying that we were going to do. I'm like, let's just, let's calm down for today. Yeah. Shout out Abraham Lincoln, if you know, you know. We'll see y'all later.