The Deep 3 Podcast - We Put The Best Young NBA Stars In A Bracket | Ep. 176

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

Young NBA player bracket! #nba Check out the TD3 merch: https://the-deep-3-shop.fourthwall.com/ Listen on Spotify!: https://open.spotify.com/show/3elbbqVumwqz8wlIdknsLW Listen on Apple Podcasts!: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-deep-3-podcast/id1657940794 Follow us on TikTok!: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedeepthree Follow us on Instagram!: https://www.instagram.com/thedeep3podcast/ Isaac's twitter: https://twitter.com/byisaacg Mo's twitter: https://twitter.com/Mojo99_ Donnavan's twitter: https://twitter.com/Dsmoot3D 0:00- Intro 1:58- Jaylen Brown is the GOAT now 19:13- Young star bracket 1:00:15- NBA news rapid fire Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mo. What's going on, man? Today, we're going to talk about your favorite topic. Cream? I got Cream settled with me right now. Whoa. You said you can out creamy. You ain't ever out creamy me a damn in your goddamn life.

I don't see your like daily intake and cream ever. I do this shit. Well, now it's weird because I was going to say we're talking about your favorite topic. And that is the youth because today, as you see by that title, we are going to talk about a bracket. My bad. Of the best NBA stars under 25. My bad. I'm creamed up at 10 a.m.

I can't contain myself, bro. Sorry, I just got to prove my legacy. Welcome back to our second Monday episode. Second week we're doing this. We're going to do this every single Monday from here on out. And as you see about title, we are going to put the top 25 and under, actually, let me rephrase that, the top under 25 NBA stars into a bracket based on who we want to build around.

So, you know, we kind of know who the best couple of young stars in the league are. But through this bracket, we're going to have a lot of conversations that you've probably never seen some really obscure references to different debates. someone who you'd rather build around because you randomize this bracket as you see here we're going to get debates like Khalil Ware versus Alex Tsar

Klingin versus Lamello Ball all kinds of stuff like this Nobody's ever thought about this No one's ever thought about this Sentences are going to be said I've never been said before It'll be a fun time But before I get to that though

You guys know if you saw last week If you guys watched us our streams Watch us explain with the Monday episodes are going to be We're going to talk about the news Around the NBA that's happened Over the last few days You cut up on everything

You missed since our last episode Have a lot of fun We cream on Cream, cream, cream, cream, cream, cream, cream, cream. You're getting a little too excited. Slow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Slow.

All right. Keep the intro music. We're throwing it back. Whoa. That's crazy. He was bragging. I hope you didn't say. The cranium is crazy.

Oh my God. Thank you. All right. Crowd eaters rejoice. It is only right that we start today by talking about what I think is probably the most successful Aura Farm of 26. And I say that

because a few days in, it'll probably remain the most successful aura farm in 2026. And what I'm referencing is Jalen Brown did not win Player of the Month for December. This upset Jalen Brown. He goes on Twitter. He says SMH to the idea of Jalen Brunson winning Player the Month above him. Someone like you

probably says, calm down. The better Jalen won, right? Of course. Of course you say that. Of course you say that. Of course you say that. a lot of Celtics fans saying if Jaylon Brown can't get it now can he ever get it is rigged against him you don't want to give him his shine he goes on a Twitch stream and says no disrespect no dis to Shea or Brunson but neither of them had a better month than I had and he also said in the stream I feel like I'm the best two-way player in the NBA what else's reaction to this

go ahead go ahead say say your piece right you are everybody is allowed to have their opinion and for you you don't play the Knicks again until February 8 you really if you really feel this way, do something about it, right? That's, that's, that's all I'm going to say because, like, first of all, the, the, the Celtics beat the Knicks in the, in the last time that they played in December, shout out to you, you got that one. But it's a, it's a month-long thing. Listen, sometimes you just get beat and that's what it is.

At that point, after that was initial reaction, that made a total sense, right? It was okay. More, you're having a good year. You're happy to feel that way. I'm happy to say anything, gentlemen. It's better. It's cool. It's cool.

And then he came out and he drew up. 50 less than 24 hours later he came out and he gave my bad wasn't familiar with the game good grief jalen brown listen i understand this is his season to pre to prove everyone wrong like we all thought that they're going to be top three in the fucking tankathon you know we all thought they're going to be top three in the NBA draft and for him to come up so far this year's averaging what 30 points per game 30 point three he's currently having the single highest scoring season in celtics history so to say all this to do all those hoopla and be like,

I should have won that. That's a real slippery slope. People can very easily be like, all right, you're being annoying, shut up. Yeah. To come out and score 50,

not only score 50, lock up Kauai Leonard, who's coming off of a heater in which he's had some of the best games of his scoring career to do that after saying your best two-way player in the league, complete,

or if I'm gone right. This is one of the more interesting seasons that we've had from a star player in, in a while, just because one, like, there's been a couple like filler years in NBA history where yeah the team is obviously off off track tim's not here then your second star somebody has to come in be the number one

guy you do all that stuff right so we've seen like this version of a season before but jane and brown is taking it taking full advantage scoring 30 like you said all of that this or farming is particularly impressive yeah considering that we had the hairline scandal two months ago considering that that six weeks ago we were looking at jalen brown and like you are one of the corneous people in in the NBA you are out here with fugazi hairline getting it on everybody you're messing up the jerseys do you know what is your problem the other day on instagram an ad popped up and it was some hairline come some hair regrowth company or whatever that he partnered with he is tremendously up in every aspect of life right yeah not only it's an aura farm

it's a aura recovery because he had that loss played into the joke talked about about it a lot took the sting off of it by being like uh-huh you got me then he does this and after the game joe mazula said he texted him on thursday and said he's asking to guard kawai leonard in this game he said joe not only do i want to go out there put the team my backup into all season and give you 30 we'll give you 20 more this time i'll give you 50 i also want to lock him up let me show him the best two-way player in the league and he held kawai to 35% from the field he requested the opportunity to aura farm this is this is why you document things right this is this is why you need things you need a paper trail of things that are said because when

people talk about the 90s and the 2000s and you hear all these missing these stories and it's like yeah Michael Jordan called two hell tells to let them know that he's going to drop 50 on them and do this we're getting this this version of it from jalen brown yeah and the fact that Joe mazula said this or or that we know this this is exactly what you need yep exactly you got to build your own legend step by step and yeah you mentioned that we've seen gap years before we've seen similar things and star players get hurt and you have a weird year in between

this is shaping up one of the best ones in modern history and specifically because the Jalen Brown Jason Tabe dynamic for so many years has been contentious to say the least amongst Celtics fans there's a lot of infighting a lot of like tearing down Jalen to build up Jason because vice versa people were doing the opposite to tear down Jason Tatum you know so

there was always a lot of discourse baked into the season of if this team struggles and if the team is bad and Jalen Brown is like worse because he can't handle the efficiency he'll be slandered like always as a Celtics player will especially one who's had playoff moments in which the left hand jokes happen because he can't keep up with the pressure and all this stuff but if he succeeds like this more ammo to the people that say he's always been the peer of Jason Tatum he's always been underrated all those Celtics fans that have said if Jalen had the opportunity if he gave him the platform you could do more they're being proven

right tremendously yeah yeah and what's so interesting about his development, of course, is like he tied up his handle and all that. But I think the most like impressive thing about his game that he's been able to develop is specifically what he's been doing in the, from the midrange area. He's put up numbers that are only comparable to guys like Shea and Kevin Duran. He's on a generational run from the mid range area specifically. I think he's shooting like 50% from there or a little bit higher than that if I remember correctly. And that has filled out the complete area. of his game. He's always been like a fine three-point shooter. No one's going to call him elite.

No one's ever going to call him bad either. He's just like fine. But the mid-range game and seeing his creativity from that area just completes his arsenal with the type of, because of the type of score that he is. And I don't think any of us saw this coming. I think we talked about the idea of the Celtics this season as they're not going to be that great. And I expect they'll tank because what's to be game by being a mid-team, right? We said, Peyton pictures and get hell of shots. He's going to be a guy that someone we can take advantage of the opportunity. and prove he can be a starter. We made jokes about Jaylen Brown in the league in scoring.

We were like, he's going to get his bucks off now that Tatum's not here. We just said him as like, have jokes. Like, we thought he'd have a good year because opportunity, but that would come in line with them being an average team, like the six or seven seed or whatever. Even somebody who could have taken the jokes of us saying he's leading the league in scoring as seriousness and actually believe that he would do that, which I don't think any of us would have actually said that in seriousness, right?

Nobody could have seen this coming, though, being the third best team in the conference, having one of the best offenses in the league led by you, not only the leading Lincoln scoring for the opportunity, but doing it with a good brand of basketball that leads to high-level offense, having Joe Mazula take advantage of the gravity you have as a score on and off ball along with Derek White

to almost not lose a step offensively. This is truly the best-case scenario that only the greatest of J.B. Glazers could have possibly expected. This is like by definition, the season of him popping his shit and he's talking about the entire time on stream. We never seen the star player,

just be on stream like this to this caliber, having this level of the season. I don't believe so. And it's so easy to make that, you have to be lame, right? Yeah. So easily could blow back in his face and if he would have had some bad games and came out here at some stinkers to get off a Twitch. This isn't a Twitch stream, yada, yada. Like, you could imagine the jokes writing themselves. You can't say anything when he's averaging 30 and winning games with it. Like that's so crazy. And this is the, like you said, it's the best case scenario because now, and we've seen like, I think like the contentiousness between Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum, or at least the, like, idea of them playing together early on.

Like, you had that and then Tatum kind of put himself on a different level. But now, since everybody, since it's just like common knowledge that Jason Tatum is going to come back and play basketball this year, you don't have to force Jason Tatum back into this role of, oh, you have to come out here and score 27 a night and be, you know, one of the most versatile defenders at the most elite level every single night for us to win. You can, like, we can put you in positions where you can just kind of ease your way and feel your way back into into game shape because your your your homie over here is averaging 30 and he's and he's doing it and now this process of them being good this year being able to

contend this year and then also having next season and the years you know after this to fully build out everything this is the first time that it's legitimately felt like you have two like the way that people talk about both jacetam and jaylon brown this is the first time that it's felt like those conversations are right on both levels. Yeah, they're peers. Yeah. And you have these two legitimate top 12, right, NBA players. See, you have guys hit top 12 because we just did our top 40 players in the NBA

for a Christmas episode that we always do. And I think most of the years of the show, we've done three straight episodes on Christmas of us ranking the top players in the world across all positions, right? And I think the first if I were correctly, we ranked 10 around like 18 or something. It was the year they won the championship. And then last year, he had a bad year because he was playing through injury. Not necessarily up to that point in December. But I think we generally viewed him a little bit lower

because he was playing through injury for so long. And there was a long time where I don't think it was quite as understood the extent of the injury he was playing through. So we would rank him like 25, 28 at the low end, right? None of us would have expected to come in this year and rank him at 12 like we did a couple weeks ago. I think we all had him top 15 around that,

11 to 13 range, right? But now the conversation is getting even crazier because he just keeps getting better in the two weeks since then. He's contend to go crazier. Now people were saying, is this the MVP? Is he going to be an MVP convos? And I don't think he's the MVP for a mere,

period of reasons why he will be because people are missing games maybe i mean i don't know shay isn't missing up games for it to matter but nevertheless i don't think he's no win MVP i think he'll be on the ballot like this is legitimately like the most quintessential third or fourth place MVP finish that we say his MVP season salute he's having that with no glaze attached to that no like Celtics fandom needed to perceive it that way this is a top of MVP finished up a season yeah i agree he's definitely going to be a part of those conversations we can't avoid it we have to accept it and it's fine he deserves it And then on top of that, too, he's for sure.

Worst case in era, this rate going to be second team all NBA. There's not, like, going to be that many more names ahead of them that are, like, sure, fire. He might be first team low key. Like, it's super possible. He's trending towards that. He's trending towards that right now. And I think what's also, like, so important to talk about, going back to what you said, about how he was, like, hobbled last year is this summer, I completely forgot.

But he had surgery on his knee. I think he got, like, he had, like, a partially torn meniscus or something like that. And not having it. And not having a fully healthy season while doing this just adds to another layer of Yeah, and that was a repair of the injury he played through last year that hampered him. So like that was the remedy to him playing through all that. And I don't know, I guess it opens a question. Like, what does this remind you of?

Because I've seen people say that like this is like exactly like when Scottie Pippen had that team for two years when Jordan retired. I've seen someone draw comparisons to James Hardin when he finally got the opportunity after leaving OKC. It's a little different given the age of these guys and like the style of play. But it does feel like one of those seasons that like. I don't know what it's going to look like when Jason Tenon comes back. I still think Jason Tenon will probably be the better player, assuming he recovers well from Achilles. But actually, now that I say that, you can't assume he can recover as well from Achilles.

So Jalen Brown might just be the alpha score from now on. And I'm, I mean, obviously, like, I'm open to the idea of that being the case. I think it's more Scotty than James Harder because I think we all knew that Jaylon like, he wasn't a six man. He wasn't, he wasn't this guy that was kind of like on the backburned and very clear, like, okay, this is Kevin Durant's, like, franchise and everything. Then it's like Russell Westbrook's, you know, team and everything like that. So I think for for Jalen to look at this as like the Scotty era and, you know,

Jordan is on the way back, right? Tatum is on the way back. And now once he comes back, are they going to rattle off another, another championship run? Are they going to get another two? Like, we'll see how it goes, especially because all of the depth that you need to win a championship, it seems like the subjects have just replenished that immediately. And so as soon as Tatum comes back, you go out. and free agency, you get a couple pieces, you make one trade, and boom, you're right back

to the top of the league. And they're the third seed right now. They're half a game out from being the two seed. The Knicks have had a horrendous week. They've lost three in a row. If you can get up to two, potentially we'll see, like, you know, we should have so much left in the season.

Three and a half games is a lot. But also, if they got to the one seed, it wouldn't be the craziest thing in the world considering where the Knicks are right now, just the overall level of talent of the Pistons and kind of their, you know, construction, I can see a world where that happens and now the conversations about Jada Brown being in the MVP combo

and being like a finalist, top three, that becomes much more real to me if that happens. Yeah, I think you'd be third place. Like, first place will probably be Shea. Second place, if he plays enough games, will probably be Yolokic because the game is played, it'll be the difference. Let's say he plays 66 and Shay plays 80.

That's probably what I expect to happen. and right in terms of the voting breakdown, why can't Jalen Brown be third? Who's the obvious third above him? Like, Luca in the way the Laker season has gone, I mean, right now, Lakers are the fourth best record in the NBA, so you never know. Maybe they'll have this weird season where he stays close enough, but a lot of stink around Luca right now and the Lakers and their play style and how it is like open to criticism.

That might make it so Jalen Brack would finish above him. Who else is going to be in that combo? Like if the piss and get the one season, maybe Cade is third, I don't know. And it could potentially be there. I mean, depending on. I wouldn't even do that right now. Maybe Wembe, if they stay like the second seed, like, and he plays enough games? I don't, I don't know if that's probably not even going to happen either at this point.

Well, I mean, at this point he says healthy, but I don't, you got to stay real healthy. Like, especially with, I mean, with this injury, there's no margin for error anymore. So I'm not, I'm not sure about that. Yeah, I think like the other three guys would be, it would be like Kade and Brunson, honestly. Okay, Brunson is a good one. Just like, but, but again, if the Knicks continue to slide or if the Celtics are able to get the, get the two seed, If they finish over, over New York, Jaylon Brown's getting that nod over Brunson easy. Yeah.

And even if Luca does get third place because the Lakers stay is like the four seed or three seed, whatever, whatever. And Luca gets this like ceremonial third place he always gets. If Jailen Brown's fourth place in MVP in the one year, he gets to be one option, like, if it sustains for 82 games and let's say Jason Tim doesn't come back and he has a respectable first round playoff exit or second round playoff exit, whatever it looks like because the South East Street overmatched in the end. But Jailen Brown continues to play at this level, how would that change how you view him? Would you entertain him being the top 10 player in the world? Yeah, I think I absolutely would. It depends on how good Tatum comes back as well and how like there would to really balance each other out. But I would do that.

And also I would be looking at these two as like one of the greater duels of all time or at least like over last modern history. Potentially like, I don't know, 10, 15 years or whatever maybe. It's something to say. Yeah, definitely over the last 10 15 years. They're undeatably like high up there. That's a big difference in all time. but like if you extend some kind of middle ground there and be like modern history which like called that 2000 and now 1990s now whatever like it's tough for discussion

especially because the title window isn't closed like they get more it's in the most weird way possible because it's more so towards the back end of their career or mid to back into the career rather than like towards the front end we never really saw this happen before but it's doable yeah they already got a championship with the with the pecking order being tatum clearly the best player now we have this era if they come back and tatum post injuries, a little closer to like 1A1B and they get another title, which that's not ridiculous to say that Celtics get another title in the Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum era. Like, yeah, that's very, very, very likely.

So, yeah, they can be shaping up to have amazing careers that Celtics fans always said they could be or would be. And everybody was like, yeah, yeah, whatever. This is the most validation of their takes they've had for years that I've seen from a fan base. Like, to have this type of resounding victory, crazy. PR-wise, I'm saying. Yeah.

And the all-time stuff is weird for what you're saying, because it's on the back in and like the moment that they were trying to go for back to back, the Achilles goes out. Yeah. And so how much, I think the question for that would then be how much overlap between both of them at their peak would we actually get? Yeah, we'll see. Yeah.

Also, we keep saying back end. Like they're not, they're not 30. They're not even 30. It's not the back end. We're square in the middle. Like you said, last year they're trying to go back to back. This is not a back end. This is directly in the prime of what it should be.

Just like you said, the Achilles injury complicates things and where it'll go. it's all at this point all this we're talking about just hoping that tatum is still good post achilles which again we are taking it for granted because a couple because Kevin Durant really is the only reason to take it for granted it is not a guarantee he's still a star so we'll see yeah we can't we can't say that a lot yeah yeah we can't just temper on expectations in these type of conversations but apparently it doesn't matter if he comes back and he's just really really good but not a top five player anymore jbby got us regardless they're unbelievably up right now man yeah anybody's still holding jaylon brown stocks you're up

congratulations. Good job. Now with that being said, let's get to the main topic of this episode. Like you see by the title, like I explained up top, we are going to put the top 25 and under, I keep saying that, the top under 25 NBA stars into a bracket. We have 32 here put in a random order. That way it's not so chalk and we can have some conversations nobody's ever had before. Towards the back end of this, there's really like 26 young stars in the league.

So some of these guys in the back end, I'm very gracious with the star conversation. so there might be some asswopens in the first round. But nevertheless... That happens sometimes. Yeah, it is what it is. You know, you can't have 32 young stars under 24 and under. It's crazy. So I think we should frame this as

who you'd rather build your team around. If there's a redraft of all these guys, who you would take, not necessarily who's better because some of them are like rookies in second here. Okay. So starting off, our one seed, because again, it's randomized.

Con Cinnibble versus Evan Mobley. This is most... Khan, I love you so much, man. But you're out of here. Hey, man. Sorry, please. Listen, let's talk about it. I think, let's talk about it.

Okay, I think I agree, and I think I'm going to go Evan Mobley. Yes. I don't think it's ridiculous to say what you've seen from Conquerable. You want to think about it at least. That's because everybody keeps drawing the Clay Thompson comparisons. The numbers are closer to like Steph Curry as a rookie in terms of like the level in which he's breaking records for most threes made as a rookie, the level of insane efficiency he has, the way he can clearly do a little bit more with the ball in his hands than Clay could

at this age. Like, there's a world where he's a star offensive player because his level of shooting. And he is like a slightly. beefed up version of Clay Thompson offensively, which that sounds like it's a star in the making. And I don't think I've been able to be enough that you can't at least consider that to be a possibility that's a better player. A majority of the conversations

that we've had about every mobile just this year have been in such a disappointing light to where if your start player, and obviously DPOWI, like we know the defense is like that, but if your start player's nickname is 18 and 8, you're not, I don't know if I can get my fan base on board

with that. And so I do, I do think that for all of the shooting and offensive prowess that that con is shown already i think it's worth to at least look at it i probably i probably still would go mobly by like the slightest margin just because 18 and eight with amazing defense is still like a great place to to build around but it's not it's not crazy if you pick con yeah i you do have to be very high on con obviously you have to be like a 99th percentile con believer which i don't know if i'm going to go to yet just because well i'm sure he's going to be a great score and so i'm I'm confident he'll be a fine enough defender and like fine enough playmaker to be a well-rounded star.

That's not to me enough of a guarantee that I guess I'll go towards a guy that I know is a DPOI level defender and solid play finisher. That's enough that I'll go with DeMobly. But I fully respect you if you want to go con. Yeah, yeah, I agree. Like, shout to Khan. I'm, I love his game. I love what he's been doing so far this year. Like no one ever foreseen him becoming like being the rookie of the year for the first few months of the season.

And also like snack chain sense. snatching the fuck out of the mellow ball and being like pretty much now at this point in time he should be viewed as the face of the organization but in this conversation I wish if he had a more favorable matchup he would be further but you just going against the DPL right right now and some moves just a little bit more stable and more proven obviously in his NBA career yeah second round Kade Cunningham versus VJ Edgecombe so obviously Kate Cunningham's already a top 12 player at worst probably round number 10 or so for most people do you see that same for VJ Edgecom is there any argument for him

upset right now no and like you you can project out and really really be high on on vj i just think that like cade even with some of the efficiency concerns that all of us are like listen as long as they get a second star like that's kind of that that'll be that'll be fine i think seeing the heights and the level of success that the pistons have had the moment they've just turned competent yeah the moment that they've just got an actual NBA guys around kade That's enough for me to say, like, hey, gets this kind of easy. I wish Vij had a different matchup. I wanted to see how far VJ can go because in the past two weeks, he hit that little rookie

wall after the first 10 games. He has shattered through that bitch. He looks once again like he did the first week of the season, like a star in the making, like someone who I think we can almost guarantee will be an all-star. Like, it feels like it's hard to assume that with any rookie. You never know. This feels as safe assumptions as you can make. Yeah, I mean, you don't sound crazy.

From the combination of skills, whether it be his ability to, shoot off the ball be great like secondary ball handler his ability to be on the ball make things happen and not be like a black hole he has a vision he can make ancillary passes and shit like that he's of course like a ridiculous athlete probably one of the i don't know 15 most more athletic guys in the league like he's OD promising so i can i can i would agree with you when he comes to penciling him as all starts where to say that for rookies we almost never say stuff like that but he screams that along with other guys like cooper flag and harper and all that but he just doesn't can't match up calil where versus alex sarah caloo i'm i'm taking

sorry and i'm not thinking twice i think it's fair to take i mean he fans will tell you where's better tell you it'll be better defender better shot blocker better rebounder which all that's probably true sarah is going to be such a good versatile defender i think with a mobility has that size and i think i was going to say it's obvious so have more offensive ceiling but where can shoot too he can be a good play finisher like it's probably closer to give you credit for i'll go sorry too yeah i think it's It's a pretty easy combo. Just the defense alone, I'm like, yeah, I'm fine with that. But wait, I think Wares gonna make a good defender.

But yeah, it's fine. I think really it's the stuff that we think Sars can be able to do with the ball in his hands is the main difference. Yeah. Clingin versus Lamello. I'm taking clinging. I'm taking cling in. Yeah. What?

I'm taking cling. We, what? We, because we live in the universe where, where the worst case scenario has played out for lamella ball. And the, the crazy part is, I don't think that this is like 99% is how bad of how it. could be i do think that if you sim out his career a thousand times that you will see multiple seasons multiple career arcs that go like this for lamello i don't really want to deal with this yeah and and the way that his career has gone give me clinging i'll figure out a guard situation elsewhere if you ask you all to build around lamello ball you're basically asking me to take a

pencil to stab my eyes out and not be okay y'all are being ridiculous you're taking it way too far how am i supposed to build around someone like lamella ball when i don't know how he's in to play and when you do play, like, I still see the same exact thing, same exact conversations that's been happening over the last like five or six years, he's not a, he's not a young player anymore. He's still young, of course, but you don't deserve that much grace anymore. I'm going with someone who I can look like clean. I'm like, okay, you right there, sir, you're one of the best offensive rebounds in the league. I can take that.

You, sir, right there are a good defensive presence. I can build around that lamello. Now, mind you, no, mind you. Don't think absurd right now. Mind you, I'm saying this, we're going to build a wrong clinging for like a year. And then we're going to get an actual guy to come in and build the team around. However, in this matchup right now, I just, I'm over the Lamello experience. You can be over.

I think you can be over in comparison to what we thought the expectations were and how frustrating it is. And like, we thought Lamello would be one of the like better offensive players in a league one day. And like, you can be over it in comparison to what we were at one point. Donovan Klingin? You don't need to calm the fuck down. Let me not build around him. That's what I'm saying.

And it would be something where, like, those expectations, I'm not even comparing it to what it was when he was drafted, which was six years ago. I'm comparing it to what we thought coming into this year and the things that we hoped for this year or what we talked about last year or at different points in the season last year. I'm talking about very recent memory in terms of what we have seen from lamella ball

and the inconsistency that we have seen from him. So for redraft the whole league, this was in front of you, and these were the best two players available, You'd pick clinging over Lamello? With what I know now, building, not around these guys, but between these guys. Yeah, I'm taking cleats. Put the call in. That's ridiculous.

I'm taking clinton. I'm outvoted. This is stupid. This is stupid as fuck. I go, I'm a little hater right now, but the PR is just so bad with him. Ridiculous PR. You're coasting off the first week when he played a, he played bad and got hurt. He's come back.

He's not playing with the worst playing the league or anything. I'm not saying that. Dude, he's shooting 40% from the field right now, right? He's just not a good bucket-getter. Donovan Clayton makes really go better like a genius offensive player. Listen, man. He leads the league in offensive rebounds. It's all I need.

He's big. He can shoot a little bit. Okay. Yeah. Keante George versus Jalen Suggs. The offensive slanted guy that plays no defense, but the scoring is going crazy. Or Suggs, the defender, that plays a little bit of offense. A little bit of well-rounded.

So polar opposite. I think I've got at this point, I'm thinking Suggs, but Kiante is taking such a leap. If you tell me that keeps going and he's like this feature star score, I can understand it. He doesn't play a lick of defense. That's, you got to be that type of archetype, you got to be an amazing, amazing score. And he's, he's like somewhat, you know, he's had, he's had a run where like he's been putting up numbers like that. It's on the past.

However, if that run continued, he would be one of the six best players in the one of if he's just scoring 35 every single night. I'm, I'm going to take Jalen Suggs here. Yeah, but it's close. If you tell me, you want to believe you want to buy into the trajectory of Kiante, I believe you, Suggs is way more of a sure thing. And I think very easy to imagine him fitting on like every single contender ever. Yeah.

Yeah, that's fair to say. That's fair to say. Scottie Barnes for Shaden Sharp. Give me Scottie Barnes and I don't want to have a long conversation. I don't want to have any conversation about this one. The bracket did Shaden Sharp dirty. We are not going to talk about that one.

I voted again. Again, this is randomized. How voted? You were thinking about Shane Sharp? No. You got your mind. Anthony Black versus J-Dub. Shout to the leap that he's having, but this is J-Doh.

All the way. J-Dadeb's having the worst season. It was a career right now, post-injury coming back. He's been fucking horrible. They just lost the buck. To the Bucks, to the Sons. He was fucking horrible again. He can't really have the conversation because he's still J-dub,

but there's ever a time for a J-dub hater to pick a young player over him. It would be this January Anthony Black who's surging. Oh my gosh, that's a nasty work. Yeah, shout out to J-Dab, but it's still not close yet. Yeah. So Jadab wins. Anthony Black, though, man, he's... No, he's getting there.

He's getting there. I don't know what the ceiling is. It's pretty high right now. He's the way he's slashing moving with the ball in his hands. Like, he's just as impressed to me as County George. Yeah, I mean, I think... Yeah. That's fair to say because

Loki a little bit more impressive Yeah, considering the team construction and the other players there like Keonti has mega usage and make opportunity to score in a great system and again plays no defense at all like Anthony Black is just as impressive

That's fair to say That's fair to say Reed Shepard versus Jalen Duren Damn, Reed Now here's the real conversation All right, let's sit up So Duren's obviously better right now Duren coming into, is this year four

for Dern or your three? I can't remember he's clearly better right now. Year two Reed Shepard better than Duren was at this age but it's an archetyte that we're seeing now these small guards that are offensive slanted while Reed does have some defensive talents

good playmaker hard to win with that versus Duren pretty goddamn easy to win with a hyperatholic big with a little bit of on ball scoring bag yeah I think I'd lean Duren but it is it is close because even with Duren he still has like flaws in his game he's obviously

he's never going to be a space of the phone that's not what you're asking to be and throughout the history of his career his defense has been up and now more so it's been up as of late i'm taking during i feel like you can very much easily envision a future where he's like one of your three best players and you could that could like lead you to deep playoff runs because he's what he's doing all around the game that's not even envision future that's now yeah like we expect they can make a deep playoff run he is their second best player clearly do you feel like reed can match that with the value

who brings the small guard with it's a crazy shooter yeah i think re can be i think re can be a starting important guard on a championship team like i think i think i think read is is that good i think the the level of shooter that that he is the coming into to this situation and the the biggest thing honestly that i have like taken from read this entire year has just been like his confidence and just the way that he's been able to not be scared to take any shot and and get to get to his spots like i really i really value that and i really i really like that but i do think that the Rockets team right now, it's okay if you have read as your point guard

because everybody else is 6, 9, 610, 611 and that specific archetype of team. Like, you can go out there, but a lot of times it's going to look like the Raptors from three years ago where you just have a lot of 16 guys and they don't really fit. They're just weird guys instead of what the Rockets have right now.

So I'll go with Jailen Derry. Yeah. Oh, yeah, it's pure positional bias and the type of things that we have. It's safer floor for the style of player. Yeah. Palo Ben Kerover is Zach Edie. I'm low on Palo right now

and he's, listen this year has not been the kindest to him or to my agenda trying to push him to the top of the league. I'm still taking him over Zachy. Zach Edy was a 19 year rookie instead of 22 and he was playing like he is, but the first 11 games of this season before he got hurt, if that was an age 20 season

I would have picked Edie so easily but he's damaged. Actually, is he older than Palo? He might be older than Palo actually. He probably. He probably is. So we'll go Palo Bencaro. But if he was a traditional one and done, which is obviously a big if because that means he would have been the best freshman player of all time.

Then I would have went to Ead, but now. Franz Wagner versus Sarr Thompson. Damn. Assar's had a good season. Defensively, of course, still a genius. Yeah, offensively, it's dicey, of course. Always going to be that, especially with how that team is constructed. This is firmly.

He had a clutch shot versus Cavs last night where he basically won him in the game on a putback. He jumped over who was trying to box him out. Can't remember who it was. but the play was Darius Garland his little ass. He was trying to box him out and then he jumped over him and did a put back. So it does have value even though he's a bad offensive player. It's got to go Fronzo.

Yeah. If you showed me like a month of shooter, I could probably like I can make much more of an argument, but I just haven't. You'll never get that month. Yeah, we haven't gotten it yet. Here's a conversation. Here's a fun one. Jalen Johnson versus Chet Holmgren. Two-way player versus someone who can, who has been one way

throughout the entirety of the year. Jailen Johnson? Who was once two-way. You're right. This would be a conversation if Jalen Johnson was still defending like he was last year.

Because the offensive leap, if he had last year's defense with this year's offense, that's a top 12 player in the world. Like that's an insane leap to be a 24 point per game score shooting 38% from 3 while still being a big

versus a lockdown wing. That's not the case. He's not quite a cone because I think if you're telling like ice on him, he can defend one-on-one. He still has his size, still has abilities.

Offball, the effort is not there at all because a lot of lapses basically an off-ball cone. Yeah, I think it's just one of those things where you can tell that he's just clearly gas and he's trying to conserve his energy through the scoring that he's going to have to make in the playmaking. Me personally, I would

take Jalen Johnson, of course, for clear biases. But I can understand why you take Chet. It's still Chet. But Shadow Jen and Johnson, he's, but it's a conversation. It's not insane. You can pick Jalen Johnson. Oh, no, there's no conversation in my head. It's not, you're good. Me neither. I can just, I, I said, no conversation. Because I know people hate Chet

and I know. No conversation. Chet's getting the Chet's kind of getting, it's a different style, but he's kind of getting the Rudy-Barre treatment where You say no conversation like Jalen Johnson to scrub. What is wrong with you? No, I'm saying if you're going to be this bad of a defender, you need to be James Harding. He's averaging a triple double right now. Inflation.

What is he averaging a triple double? He's that averaging a triple double right now. He's not. He averaged triple double for the month of December. Is he going to be one, is he going to be a perennial MVP candidate and somebody who we're going to look at is, and say you are one of the five best players at your position all time. All he needs is time.

No. Every single time that he put expectations on him, he just gets better and better. Well, because he's not that. If he gets better and better one more time, then you can have it. But for now, it's Chet. Again, if he gets better and better,

he's the MVP in the league. Like, that's where he's out. If he gets better and better, he's in Anthony Edwards' conversations next year. So if that happens, then you can have it. You can victory lap. For now we'll go towards Chet,

who is one of the best defenders in the planet and gives you a cool 19 points per game. Never wrong. Just early. Derek Queen Ristophon Castle This is so This is even closer

I don't know what the answer is I think I'm probably going to lean towards Derek Queen just straight off of hope and projection Yeah I would say it's hell projection But Castle's also year too And he's better now

But he's in a very good environment For him to be a play finisher To focus on defense Honestly he's going to a little bit Playmaker lately He's the only one that can throw lobs The Wimby He's so a slasher

who specializes in lobs And on ball defense Is a very viable archetype Derek Queen is either going to be much worse than Stefan Castle or a million times better. I struggle to see him between. He's either going to be a superstar or going to be Nazaree with some handles and some better passing. I'm taking Castle. I think Derek Queen, like, like you say, he might be worse. He might be better. Building around him, I feel like it's going to be a very interesting

and unique team build in which like you're going to have to be perfect. I think, I think for for Castle, especially because the playmaking has gotten better and the defense is where it's at. I feel much more comfortable about you being a league guard on my team and being this guy that we're actually

building around. And having him as like the guy or whatever, it gives you more room for error than if you have been all stars. Yeah, that's true because... I think they can both be stars. Yeah, I agree. And I think though they could be like the same level of stars as well. A little different. So you're going Queen, you're going Castle.

If I want to be conservative and have it today The comments be like You guys got it right I'd pick castle Yeah But if I'm trying to, this is about building around And if I'm trying to think five years or now There's probably a better chance

Queen is the franchise cornerstone The castle is They're both older rookies too So neither one of them are like Queen's not an older rookie rookie Queen yeah he's older for his class He's only played one year but he's on the older end He's a year older than Cooper Flag

Which most people are like a few months A few months old than Cooper Flag He's his youngest He's almost two years older than Cooper Flag He's like weirdly old. I think it's already 20. No, that's fine. So they're both on their older side. Obviously, Castle played two years. Queen's just older for his class. I still want to lean queen. I think it's queen.

We're going to strictly sealing at this point. Yeah, strictly ceiling. Yeah. Strictly ceiling. But we might look stupid. I feel like for Castle, we're, like, if we did this last year, I probably would have went queen. I think Castle was showing us that his ceiling is higher than what we probably initially thought. I don't know. Nah, I wouldn't think he. Well, I remember there's a point where I I remember we did a video before the year and I said there's a world

he's an all-star and you were like fuck no so I think it's higher than you thought I think this is about I know I think he's closer to a ceiling faster than we thought

but I don't think because the real the ceiling limit is like the shooting and stuff like that and that hasn't changed we can get there I mean we're not

sure you know like we're not gonna make all the leaps in one year sure sure like it's possible but I haven't seen like some like crazy midi game develop

where I'm like that's gonna be a different archetype of player than I think he is so I think the ceiling is probably still what we thought okay flag Cooper flag versus Dylan Harper

Number one and two pick I hate this so much I wish Dylan Harper could have went further They did them dirty I would have loved to see him make a run But we know what the answer is Yeah Cooper flag continues

Tough man Josh Giddy versus Victor Weimum This is hard as well man Is there anybody on here You would have picked Josh Giddy over so far Um

Asar No Actually I mean I guess I would have taken I guess you'd argue that I would have picked this are, but I can understand somebody arguing for getting it's his offense versus defense.

Alperin Shangoon versus Amin Thompson. How lucky are we that we get to see this on this bracket? Treacherous twins. Obviously Shangoon is the best player right now. Yeah. Do you still think there's a world that men becomes better than him? Knowing what we've seen now, a man still doesn't have a good handle. Still isn't shooting threes.

Still isn't like a crazy passion makeup for it. Very limited player. Yeah, the vision can be very dicey. But I still am like very much. a believer in a world and where he is an all-star. That's very possible. But Shangoon is that right now. Shingun is not just as young, obviously, but he's still young and there's still levels to

his game that he can fulfill. Meanwhile, there's just, I feel like there's just too many gaps. And the type of gaps that I see in a men's game, I've seen before in other players, and those things don't necessarily connect. And you're just like an Uber fun role player compared to someone like Shangoon who I can build around you and I can expect, like, a certain level of playoff production. lean on you as like the star for a man that she can bounce back in your face yeah it's kind of the same thing with with castle it's like i wasn't expecting to have all of your flaws fixed in

one off season but i need to see a little bit of of i needed to see some improvement in one of those areas and we haven't really gotten that and so because of that i'm gonna go with shingling okay yeah yeah fair i think this could still be open and changing but for now there's no real reason to still think a man's on a pass him up with leaps made but if you tell me that changes it's not ridiculous. Anthony Edwards versus Brandon Miller for the last

matchup of the first round. Yeah, go ahead. Let's get to the second round. Sorry, Brandon Miller. You barely made the list. Let's start that off. Back to the second round.

Up top. First matchup we have. Evan Mobley versus Cade Cunningham. Age old debate that for a couple of years was looking like Moble believers had a case.

Cade's lapped him right. Yeah. And he's never looking back. He's never looking back. Cade is getting closer to Aunt Conversations than Mobile Conversations. Yep.

Things are never going to be the same. Alex Saar versus Donovan Klingin. I can't believe y'all like Klingin in the second round. Because you know Lamella versus Sars are a much better debate. This is so stupid. I mean, not really, man. Oh, whatever. But I think we all think Alex R is going to be the much better offensive player. And then put Klingin in the next round. Alexar is a much higher selling offensively, I think. And defensively, obviously I think

Klingon's a better rent protector. I think the mobility star brings, they could be comfortable level defenders, even if Klingin is like truly elite. Yeah. I think Klingin might be, he might end up being like the more. valuable defender, but they could both be all NBA. All NBA is all NBA defense. Yeah. Jalen Suggs versus Scottie Barnes. Listen, for Vives purposes, I want to pick

Jayland Suggs so bad. What? I like Jailen Suggs. He liked the choker. He worried chokers and Alice. I like his style of play. He's cool. Okay. But it's Scotty. It's Scottie. Yeah, not particularly close. Shout out Jalen Suggs. One of the best role players in the league. Scotty Barnes is a star because I wasn't

I wasn't by the way you was no I wasn't why I don't know it was like for what it's a little edgy I feel like if if he was doing that he should did it the whole game instead of instead of just like at the start yeah like if you're gonna make that choice to wear the headband around your neck

all right that that's just what you do right I need 48 minutes of the headband around your neck J-dub versus Jalen Duren now J-Lan's having a breakout year J-Dub's having the worst year of his career terrible off the hand injury is there any world

would you want to go Darren shout out to during man he's going to be an all-star but I can't know what that means if you get a shout out you are not moving on to the next round I'm just starting off your funeral we'll go J-Dove

he better bounce back sometime soon because it's been dreadful and I'm sick of watching it but we'll give him benefit of the doubt we've seen it for several years now man he's been so bad I'm so mad watching him every time no that game we're so I hate watching

J-D play right now he's such a bum right now Palo Ben Carover's Franz Wagner people have wars about this man they've been having wars for the last few years and the question is who you'd rather build around right now

so if everybody everything's redrafting you're having a chance to make your decision over again who are you picking now mind you before you guys

follow you guys has been hooping these last few games he's playing the Pacers twice playing the Raptors and ask you all that it was Raptors

Pacers twice I forget the fourth man he really is crazy like he's he's he's in the end he's like oh my goodness that's what you need you need right games

I'm meeting good do we still go Palo and still hope for the ceiling hope for him to get right or do you cut your losses and go towards a guy at the higher floor I think we cut our losses

I think it's time to go France wow man I think the fact that we are at this point in the year and honestly this point in the overall development and we're talking about get right games

against the Indiana Pacers to get you on on track to we also can't overreact to a really bad slump come off injury like we can't take Palo's worst case scenario

of face value 100% He is shooting so poorly right now. But he's not going to maintain that, obviously. So it's so bad we can't even treat it as fact. Because, like, he's clearly not that bad of a shooter. Listen, man. Don't be clouded by the clanks, man. Don't let the ugly games convince you that he's worse than last year.

At best, he's stagnant. He's not going to be this bad. The problem is, the problem is, like, overall with Palo, when we start having conversations about your overall play style and just how you like to play basketball, that's the real issue. That's a better argument for me. So fuck it, let's go Franz. Not because Paolo's shooting 10% from three this year.

That's not going to maintain. But I feel confident that Franz is an easier player to build around. Is he actually shooting like that badly from three? I'm kidding. It was like 19 or something for a while. Wow, man. Because he's last few games is probably better now, but it was bad. It's probably like 25.

And the midrange is also horrific. But that part is obviously not going to be sustainable. He's a good mid-range shooter. He's an average mid-range shooter most of the time. Jeez, 26% from three this year. God, that's brutal. How many games? It's been 26 games.

It's a good amount of games. Yeah. But every time he gets hurt, he comes back garbage. Like, he really needs time to get going. Same as J-W, apparently. They both suck off of an injury. Interesting. Get right.

Some players that just happens, that are different. Chet Holmgren versus Derek Queen. Listen, man, I think we all think Derek Queen to start upside. He has to be incredible offensively to offset the defensive value. And at this point, though, we said that about, about Derek Queen with the trade. It's like, yeah. Listen, he's going to have to be. real good for it to make sense for the pelicans and then he was just real good so we're in this

conversation and we we need a certain level of offensive production and day queen is like i got you he has to be like better than shangoon like he has to be like truly truly one of the best offensive bigs in the NBA that feel i think he'll be really really really good that feels like a lot of dip to assume yeah earlier today um before we press record i sometimes just get curious and i look through random stats and i saw who led the league in files and top 10 you usually to see all the elite super physical defenders, Rigo Bears up there. And Queen was up there.

I think it was like top six or something like that, which was hilarious to see. So, yeah. I think we still go chat. I'm taking chat. We still go chat. But listen, Derek Queen can breaking these conversations next year.

It wouldn't be crazy to see, like, Queen be better than, I don't know, two or three years from now. It'll be a little crazy, but it's not impossible. I'd be shocked, though. I'm not going to assume he gets better than chat. Yeah, but I could see a word and where that's happening.

Yeah, it's definitely not impossible. Cooper Flag versus Victor Wenbenyama, Who would you rather start your team with? I mean, we kind of know how this entire bracket is going to end up just because of this guy. Wemby can't play 65 games. Cooper flags the truth. Somebody might have some conversations. If you want to start having those conversations, then it may be okay.

But the fact that Wemby is not only changing the Spurs life, he's changing the NBA's life. He's changing, he's bringing European soccer culture and pure fandom into... Keep it over there. We don't need it. Into San Antonio. He's changing everything. I'm taking Wembe. Yeah, it's got to be Wemby.

If Cooper Flag would have went against almost anybody else He could have made a run to the top of this bracket Wimby's the one matchup of the second round You couldn't escape. Shangoon versus Anthony Edwards This is a good conversation Thinking basketball did a video a couple weeks ago Where they ranked the top 25 under 25

Or they drafted it I think they drafted Shangun over Anthony Edwards Wow That's crazy work That's crazy I didn't watch it So I don't know I just talked about on Twitter So I don't know if they get reasons or not

Crazy to me I feel like it's clearly aunt I feel like there's no reason to like How can you even justify that What's the best argument for that? Up for trajectory and youth and like Shingu is not close to peeking yet. And like, I guess you're one of the people that are down on Anthony Edward compared to consensus

because I think a lot of the Anthony Edwards value is very like aesthetic and big moment driven, like making these deep playoff runs and like have these big moments. Oh no. But there's a lot of in between and like there's a lot of bad stretches and like bad playoff games that we kind of ignore because he always rises. So I guess you could say that people overlooked and downsize too much at Ant. like last year you couldn't make a layoff

and everyone still talked about him like an elite finisher yeah that's that's fair a lot of his weaknesses get glossed over compared to his peers because he's or man that that's fair but also at the same time even with shangoon like if you're looking at a team last year that like offensively had to start getting it completely out of the money

and had to swing so far into this like we are going to bully you offensive rebound type of basketball because yeah it shangoon led offense even obviously the level of shooting wasn't great around him but if you're just trying to play regular NBA basketball your offense wasn't going to be at a great level so you had to go so far into the other into the other direction to make it um to make it like passable i'm not sure if that's fair to hold like the the rising you know like you're a rising merchant kind of against

in this debate against shangoon i would still take it rising merchant's a wrong way to frame but yeah either way it's not it's not a conversation yeah okay there's no world we're talking shing good over and oh no we're making the conference finals yeah that's not the point oh okay

I told you conference finals man it's on the way it's on the way round you got one more time man top eight we are here Kade Cunningham versus Alexar

listen Alex you made a pretty goddamn far salute to you this is great this is further just going to make it a list like this, bro. You're getting swept, man. I'm taking care.

The bracket broke your way, but here we get a real superstar. We're going cake-cutting him. Sorry, man. Not a real conversation. But shout at him, he made it very far. We see the improvements in his game. He got a lay-up because there was an upset in a round one. Yeah, pretty much.

Scotty Barnes versus J-dub. Okay. Interesting. I think if Scottie Barnes was also the sidekick to a guy like Che, he would also be pretty goddamn incredible. He's also perfectly suited to be in the exact same role as J-dub. he doesn't have as on obviously he doesn't have as much on ball juice as jada you say that man jada's on ball juice is not the strongest he's a great off ball but like the on ball stuff especially

post injury it's force a lot his handle isn't good either yeah but it's his handle isn't good but by by the means of how he just his ability to go in the explosion that he offers offensively it's a seismically different than someone like scottie off ball i guess he's a really good cutter On ball, he doesn't blow by people a lot. It's really relying on his jump shooting, which is why he's bad games so when the mid he isn't falling, he doesn't create good separation.

Godfrabil is to do that with Scotty. Can't do that either. Yeah, so honestly, they're real similar. Yeah, both fantastic defenders. Scotty, he has that. He takes that all day this season specifically. I think we lean J-Dubb, though. I think we lean J-Dub.

I can never imagine a world where Scotty Barnes drops 40 points enough in the finals, bro. I can't do that. Yeah, I don't care too much about that. one game. He had some stinkers too that led there and why they're in a game seven. Of course. So I can imagine a world in which he does the same. The outcome could be the same. I think they'd also

win a championship. He'd also be considered top 15 player being the best sidekick in the NBA playing off a Shea. And the question is who'd rather build around? So who you're taking? I feel like that implies a little bit of first option this. Do you think J-Dow was a better first option than Scotty? Maybe a little bit, but I don't know. I think

from that perspective, I actually would say no. Really? I think J-dub until his handle gets legit then I don't know if the first option this is there and

I mean because maybe you should say neither one unless your first options and if they're both second options maybe J-Dub shooting makes him a little bit better we both we already seen Scottie Barnes as a first option we've seen what obviously like the team hasn't been built perfectly

he doesn't have the house his it might look the same for J-Dub And I, there's, there's been several moments where Jado has had, even though he's like the second option, there's been moments where we've seen Jada be just guarded well and like you have to do a lot of the creation stuff. And it hasn't gone well. And so, and I feel like even if we extrapolate that over an 82 game sample size, it's probably going to look somewhat similar. I, I think for if we're just, if we're just judging it off of who's going to be our number one option, I think. I would go Scotty over Jado. But I think that Jadab is better because he is better as a second option than Scottie. Okay. We'll go Jad up. But this is close.

It's very reasonable to pick Scottie Barnes. Okay. Franz Wagner versus Chad Holmgren. This is a real good argument right here. Honestly, you guys could like swindle me either way. I don't feel any real reason to go Franz personally. Franz isn't good enough on ball. Like he made it past Palo because of the flaws in Palo and how we perceive him and like our own.

biases against the play style. I don't think Franz has been quite good enough offensively to make up for the defensive gap especially when Chet is also a very good second option, third option, offensively that's a great play finisher. Franz would have to be either a better passer or a much more reliable off the dribble two point shooter

or even mid-range shooter for me to give them the not over Chet. Yeah. I can see that. I mean, there's... Either get to the line like Denny, hit some mid-range jumpers, have a more reliable three-point shot. I need something to make up for the rim protection. you saying let's do it i mean let's do it i think i think if you put franz in a situation where

it's his team for a whole year i think you can start having those developments in his in his game i think like that's not going to make him i don't know not not to not to shoot better but like well one maybe but two uh even like even getting to to the line and that being something where you go into an off season and now you're like okay this is this is really going to be an an area that we need to work on that we need to elevate our game there's been moments where franz has been a number one guy and it's it's been good and it's been like you know at an all mba level like i don't think it's it's crazy to take franz over chet if that's if that's what you want and if you want to find a guy who who can score 25 who can get you six assists as your as your number one guy the defense is

solid like that's that's not a bad starting spot to build your team right of course not These are top eight. They're all not bad starting spots. Yeah. But do you, you're looking on the draft board right now. You see both these two white boys. Which one are you picking?

I'll take to Germany. Franz is shooting like a career high from the field at 49%. The best three-point shooting year that he's had. He's gone. He's getting to the line seven times a game. I didn't know that was that much, first and foremost, that's kind of crazy.

It's hard. It's a hard conversation. He's really good. I would lean towards Chet right now only because I want to see Frans get more reps in. And also the playoffs stuff is a whole, and different conversation for Franz.

Chet, he will be valuable no matter what and I think I can see a world where Franz, his playoff volatility just like could tank your team overnight and he would lose you a series. Chet can't lose you a series alone because I mean if Chet was the number one guy like he probably

could lose you a series. But he's hard because he's a big man. He's never going to be your main ball handler. It's like never going to be the style of play with the big you know? So like the level of responsibility he has defensively will never allow him to use. he will never lose your series he can't it's just like impossible no i just on the defensive end he just can't it's i think it's impossible because you you're never going to build a team when

you ask chet to be the main on ball creator you know it's just like not his position so like but also i guess it's not really fair to hold against fronds because chet just can't do that so i don't know we'll go chat but just very narrowly it's slim it's slim it's slim it's slim when b versus anthony edwards this probably should be the grand finals we got it here in the lead eight damn damn so i ranked Anthony Edwards, higher. I was only one way to do that here in our top 40 list. I was very clear that this could be completely different at the end of the season.

And right now, Wemby's Hurt again, I still feel kind of similar. But Wembe's Wemby, there's no losing argument here. This is the first time where I'm like, okay, like, I think it might be in. The, the, the, the, the, the injury stuff is kind of concerning. And just, just because we've seen a history of guys who are 7 and 5 have just like weird stuff happen to them all the time. I think it's been obviously like a little bit more durable. And the fact that Ant and the Timberwolves have still been able to find success,

even though that the entire team has been in complete flux, you, you trade cat one year. You trade for, yeah, you trade cat one year. You trade for Rudy Gaubert another year. You have the two people trying to own the franchise or going back and forth. Like nothing has been stable in Minnesota and they have been, they have been good. And at this point, like, we are going to look up and they're going to be in the second round and they're going to have a chance to get back to the conference finals. I think there, I think that has this like floor raising ability that not to say that like Wembee doesn't have it,

but you might get that a little bit more often, and it wouldn't be crazy, I think. You say all that, I'm still, there's no world in which I'm not picking Wemby to start my franchise. Shout out. It sucks that he turned his calf a little weird and he's missing a couple games,

but like, there's no world in which I'm not going to try to harness the Pirate Winby and hope I can get a championship out of it, even if the run is shorter. Having Wimby gives you such an astronomical advantage to winning a championship. There's no world at which I'm passing up for anybody that's not named Yokutcher Shed.

Yeah, and my top, these are two different questions for me. In my top 40, I thought Anthony Edwards was a better player at that point in time. Still probably is, but I'm still building a team. Yeah, I'm taking Wemby. Long term, 10, 12 years,

I have an opportunity to be with one guy. I'm taking with you. Yeah, there's no world in which I'm overreacting to some small injuries, which might always be a thing. He might play 65 games a year

and not ever play 80. I don't care. I'm still picking Wemby. The gap when they're on the court, and especially when you factor in the age of Wembe and he still has several leaps to go, presumably, there's nobody I'm passing him up

besides Yokich and Shea. And even then, you could still, you can tell me you go Wemby. Yeah, I mean, I take, obviously, especially for, for, for, for, well, I think building a franchise, I'd like, I would take him over Shay. Who? Wembe. Oh, okay. Then why would you, if you take Wemby over Shea, why would you not pick, then why would you pick, you're taking Anthony Edwards over Shay?

Ah. Oh, that is, it makes sense. I think it's also a conversation. Why? I'm just saying, like, right now, this is the closest that I've been. Twisting. No, I'm, no, just, overall, this is the closest that I've been to picking anybody over. I do think it's the toughest conversation that we've had because of all the things that

has and the things that he has in in his like argument. And that's why that's why it's tough. Yeah, you know, definitely definitely. It's a little bit closer to the class we have. Those are two best players on this list. Damn. Cade Cunninghamper is J-dub. J-Dubb. J-Dubb, you made it far. Yeah. To be thankful. He's been going up against number two's. Yeah. Now you get to a real number one. It's over. Now we get real spooky J-dub. Worst year of your career. You made it much further that you deserve in this moment's Kate Cunningham, you get it. Final four appearance, you can hang a banner for that.

You can hang a banner for that. Chad Holmgren versus Victor Womenyama. Yo, if Wembe was to hear this right now, he'd be so mad. You fucking beat us for daring to say this. Obviously, Victor Womondiama goes to the top. If you can get past Anthony Edwards, you can damn sure get past Chess. There is not a singular universe out there. That will favor chat at all.

Yeah, he's slapping Chet on the back of his head on the way out to. And our final matchup in our bracket, Victor Wimbled Yama versus Cade Cunningham. Go ahead, put Wembe on at the top. Yep, Wemby wins. Again, you made it past and the bracket was yours. It was never going to be a conversation. Damn, damn, damn.

Shout out Kate, though. He's probably the three seats. This wasn't randomized. He probably should have been in the final four. He got to duck Anthony Edwards as well. His two ops took care of each other. He made to the finals. It was good stuff.

Wow. J-Dadeau made it before. Cooper Flag should have been there in J-D spot if the bracket was seated. Yeah. And there you go. Surprise, surprise, surprise. Richard Momoyama gets the victory to the surprise of absolutely nobody.

Good bracket. Interesting stuff. It's always interesting to see where like these young players, these super young players, how much they're able to develop and whether or not like they stay stagnant somewhere to Mowgli or if they're like kind of influx like lamella ball and we're just like, NMELA ball and we're just tired of you at this point. Yeah. Well, with that being said, we are past our main topic this episode.

It is time to do our lightning round of NBA news. talk about all the little news stories we have that aren't huge topics but spend a few minutes on each of them first quote we have today react to Anthony Edwards says that Timberwolves don't listen to their game plans most of the time we're to listen to the game plan when we listen to it we're pretty good

he looks tired man he looks like someone's daddy man just tired just saying the same thing what did you guys think about this because obviously some people were like this is your star player saying they don't listen to the coach or fire the coach some people were saying it's good self-awareness

saying we got to be locked in to our coach's messages what would y'all's reaction this? My reaction was I'm looking at Chris Finch once again and saying, what do you do? Yeah. And also because, like, the wolves have, I'm really not trying to, like, make the conference finals thing,

like, a slight. But when you do get to a certain point and you keep, like, running into the same hill, whether it's, like, fair or not, if they play the Thunder three years in a row in the conference finals and they lose each time, the franchise is going to look at whatever you have and you're going to say, how can we get better?

What can we do differently to get to where we want to go? And obviously, depending on the money and the flexibility, we'll see how the roster shakes out. There's a very real scenario where if the Timber was underachieve to whatever their standards are, to what their perceived standards are, Chris Finch could be out of here. And I do think that, like, having these kinds of moments where you have aunt saying this last year and in previous years, you have this team.

that is very prone to blowing leads in the fourth quarter that you get them in certain situations and they look very unprepared. I'm looking at Chris Finch right now and I'm like, hey, everything needs to tighten up. That's how I'm taking this. I'm not taking this as like, oh, it shouldn't be saying any of this. Yeah, I think both things are true in that terms of you're right. Chris Finch has a very short leash. He's not a great coach that if things go poorly, he can certainly be fired.

If they don't make the conference finals, I think you probably will be fired if they losing the second round this year. Also, this quote doesn't mean much to me because I think this is more prevalent people think. I think there's a lot of teams like this that a problem is a team listening to the coach and like staying on the game plan, do perfect execution. And I think this is a good example of like what separates the well coach teams is it doesn't happen. I promise you the spurs don't feel this way.

I promise you they are on a string. I promise you the sons don't feel this way. They are on a string. They listen to their coach and they execute to the highest degree. A lot of these teams, this happens a lot. And I think over the course of 82 games, it's so. easy to just like roll the ball out there and play whenever you played 10 times this month and you just have the holidays and there's all the stuff going on like losing sight of the vision

your coach says like this probably happens a good amount yeah I promise you that the lakers feel like this oh yeah poster boy for that absolutely I promise you that I don't know the warriors feel like this too often every year exactly like this is just normal stuff and I don't I don't look at this is nothing for real yeah but I do think it's it's nice self-awareness to hear from aunt to be able to say like we need to listen to our fucking coach. Like, what are we doing? Like, that's, I think it's a good sign more than anything. This is a nice little headline that I'm sure brought you good joy, Mo. The Dallas Mavericks have been looking for ways to acquire the Pelicans' 26 first-on

pick from the Hawks per S.I. Chris Mannix. I can tell you with certainty that the Mavericks have been trying to pry away that Pelicans pick from the Hawks for some time now. That's been on the mind of the Merrick front office for some time now. And I'm assuming this is in relation to Anthony Edwards talks. I mean, my bad. To Anthony Davis talks, the assumption is probably they want that pick for Anthony Davis. What would you do if the Hawks traded that pick? Time about I'll speak for you. I'll speak for him.

If Cooper Flag is not in this deal, you can't get this pick. I got you. I listen, I'm a gym. I'm in a gym. I got you. You put Cooper Flag up for trade and then we can talk. Outside of that, you are not getting in this pick for a damn thing. Nobody's getting this pitch.

What are we talking about right now? This is a hilarious headline. Yeah. I'm sure they would love to have a top three pick in the draft because the Pelicans getting the picture. best odds possible. I'm sure every team wants this pick. Whoever the inner GM, he's just trying to do it so hard to mingle like he's doing work. You're not doing a damn big ring. He's just moving his head fast. Yeah, exactly.

Everybody wants this pick, I'm sure. It's probably one of the most coveted assets in the league. What would you even like every trade we talk about with the Hawks is never discussed. Would you trade this pick? Like it better be Janus and even then we might try to give you everything but this pick for John's. Yeah. It's one of the more it's one of the three four most valuable assets in the entire league right now and for a team that's made so many mistakes over the last few years you think we would give up this pick right here we don't have any we don't have our picks or full control of our picks over the next few years because what we did with san antonio a couple years ago you are out of your damn minds makes no damn sense and obviously that's you know

that whole conversation is probably linked to the anthony david stuff where the hawks have been very very linked to him more than any other team uh like yesterday was reported that there's no traction right now ahead of the deadline so maybe you won't be tied to the to the anchor of the Anthony Davis contract going forward. Maybe you're going to duck that. Well, I want to need a few more losses, and the rumors might pick back up. Ah, please. K.P. just came back.

Let me just have one big who's injury prone. Having two is crazy. Oh, no, you trade one for the other. Please know. On top of that, though, you know, the anti-David's conversation has been around the air. People deciding trying to debate what they should do is to trade him or keep him. Zach Lowe throws this out there that this is just his opinion, but I think Zach Lowe says opinions with very, very informed glasses.

I'd keep an eye on the bucks and the clippers just for the desperation desperation factor, talking about Anthony Davis. That is the most clippers thing to do ever. And again, this was just him saying, like, feels right to me. He wasn't reporting or anything. I think he hears some things.

What do you want to see these teams? Try getting Anthony Davis. I think the bucks more than, more than the clips. You want to see that? Really? Really? I think for their sake, I actually think it makes the most sense

for, for, for, for, for, them. At this point in time, if the clippers do anything to try and win now or go all in even more pot committed than they already are, I think it's stupid and I think it's irresponsible for them to do that. And we've talked so much about how much non-control that they have over their future. And clearly, this is not, even if you think, oh, maybe, you know, Kauai could be healthy and Hardy can be healthy and we can have a nice platform. What does that mean? Like, you win a series? Like, you're not beating the thunder. You're not getting out of the West.

That's not happening. Let's try and figure out where we can be at the end of the decade when we get our picks back. And for the bucks, anything that you can do. You're obviously in full desperation mode. Listen, you get on your hands and knees, you start singing in the rain. You bring the boombox out in front of people's house. You do what you can to keep Janus in Milwaukee.

Outside of that, it is what it is. I don't know, man. You have to try. In terms of having no control your future, the bucks are in the same exact conversation as the Clippers. And with the whole yonest thing, just dangling over your head, I'm good trying to appease this, man. I don't want to do that more. Devin Booker gamed the Oklahoma City Thunder last night, hit a game winning three over Alex Caruso and another defender, too. I forgot who else was there.

He's hit it over and Lou Geert. Yeah, Lou Dord was just flying over there. Devin Booker has not been making no threes all year, hits a game winning three against a thunder to send them home. How do y'all feel about this game? Mostly what I'm asking is how you all feel about the Thunder being 6 and 5 in the last 11. Ooh. Start 25 and 1, 6 and 5 in their last 11.

The 73 win hope is entirely dead. Ironically, they are on a 68 win pace right now exactly where they were last year. Feels about right. It feels about right. The dream of them leveling up after the championship season feels about dead. They feel like they're probably about the same team as last year

with JDA playing absolutely horribly and Arzei Hartnstein missing some games now. So in some small ways right now in January, they're worse. Kind of feels like conversations are back again. Should they make a move? Should they address the offense? They have to make a move. They have to make a move.

Their bench was two of ten from three in this, in the Sun's game. Casein Wallace had like three points. Caruso had two points. Yeah. These other guys that you need not, I don't need 20 from Case and Wallace. Let me get eight. Right? I don't need that.

I don't need 23 points from Alice Caruso. I need six. I need two threes and I need to be able to feel fairly confident and I don't feel confident in either one of those guys or even Lou Dorr with the season that he's having from three and being consistent shooters and the guys that are your consistent shooters like Isaiah Joe who is a really good shooter he can't play on this team because he's not he's not a great defender so you have to you have to find somebody who can come in here and you know I can get you five three five three point attempts a game and you are semi reliable

This offense is a problem. They were playing at an all-time great level, all of last year, and then 25 and 1 start this year, you know, taking advantage of the relatively easy schedule, were dominant without J-Dub there because it was full heli-centric, Shegel to Slexander basketball, and he was remarkably consistent.

He has played three games this year in which he shot less than 45% from the field. Overall, in December, he shot 59% from the field. That's insane, right? In the three games, he shot lower than 45% they've lost. This team goes offensively exactly as far as, far as Shea will take them. The supporting cast offensively around him has been dockshit.

Thank God they have the best defense in modern NBA history. They need to have a better slant here. They need to have some semblance of offensive creation around Shea. You can't have him have to have such a tremendous burden that he can't even have a below average night, let alone a terrible night. Those means people used to say about Jason Tatum can go 410 from the field or 420 and still win the game. She is the complete opposite of that.

If he shoots 45%, which is like just an okay game, cooked. Yeah. Like, OKC needs Shay to constantly be groundbound Jordan. If he's not groundbound Jordan, then they're going to lose. It's an easy conversation. J-Dap didn't even have that bad of a game. You shot like 9 from 13 from the field or whatever. And Chet also had a good game as well.

He had a very clutch turnaround fading to off of an offensive rebound late in that game as well. He shot well from the field because he can't get to anything. Every time he drives right now, It's just straight into a brick wall. He has to try to throw up a lot of shots. There's so many empty drives and he's the main on-ball creator. So in this game, he shot them well because he shot less than he has in recent games. But his ability to create offense has been zapped post-injury so far.

To each his own, yeah, that's fair to say, I guess. But at the end of the day, like, yeah, you have to make shots. In this game, he made enough shots. And so I wouldn't put this game necessarily on him, but rather around like all the, well, around the other answer their pieces in case in wall is three points. Lou door three for nine from three which isn't terrible when it's not the best either there's just so much missing gaps

in this game for them. I know the reason they lost is because Shea shot poorly and when that happens they lose and if J-Dub's not can be able to create at all to be a secondary ball handling whenever Shea plays poorly or even on a regular basis the game's been tough as of late because J-Dubs come back he's demanded more usage. She went from like

49% on ball to like 32% on ball percentage. Huge drop off because they're putting the ball in J-Dub's hands trying to get him back in the game shape and he hasn't been anywhere close to good enough. Caruso hasn't been quite as good of a shooter, which was incredibly important to the run last year in the playoffs. Ludo has been fucking abysmal offensively for most of the season. A lot of the swing factors that went well last year, Ludo shooting 40% from three, Caruso playing great, J-dub having a good season overall, have gone the other way right now. And there's just way more just responsibility on Shay's

that sure he can handle it. Most of these games they win for a reason. Throughout the course of four playoff games when all your opponents have gotten better over the off season trying to chase you you've done absolutely nothing and just swing factors are worse now in the world last year yeah they got to make a trade yeah that's the thing like they're supposed to be better their offseason acquisition is just like internal growth they're like this NBA championship team ever but and actually like I usually I'm I'm over here saying like okay I see every team in the west conference getting better and better every single year I'm big on trying to get better yourself but for okay see they were the only team ever for me person that I'm like okay you don't need to add anybody like you're good and I

kind of still feel like that right now but that's entirely contingent on jadab and how we's gonna look over the next few months regardless jadip I don't feel the way at all they can still win the championship to do nothing clearly they won last year they could win again it's depending on how things break you never know they could have lost last year because of the shot variance because they had these cold games whenever shay is getting this gap help and is unable to create quite as much and has to be a playmaker and then casein wallis jadub door chet all these guys go bricks from three. That can happen again very clearly.

If you're not going to have the same level of advantages around like you did last year, I will, especially with how Dort's playing and the trajectory he's on at this age, if they don't trade Dort salary plus two first round picks and a swap because it doesn't fucking matter because you have a million for a good shooter, like an MPJ or somebody else cheaper, it would be, they need to do that.

I think it's vital to give yourself the best chance to go back to back. Yeah, I think for them, I don't know, I think for them to go back to back, it really is on on jadob like i think there's your your shooters are going to be streaky and if you want to if you want to be that way that's okay but the moments last year where you were really on the ropes jadip came through and jadip played like the player that they want him to be that he's trying to get

back to there's a there's a reason why like in game six in the conference finals jadip goes crazy right in the finals he has that that 40 point game and you see you see him also being able to to elevate. If you assume that J-Dub is just going to be like this the whole year because if the wrist is cooked, then... Well, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a bigger issue. Yeah, that's a whole other thing. I'm praying that is, I'm not assuming that.

If that is the case, then you definitely need to make a trade. That's a, that's a big issue. I think even, even looking at at the way that you've operated for the last couple years where you really been set on, hey, we're fine. Like, we are, we are, okay, we are okay. You see this, this kind of progression in, you know, championship teams or back-to-back teams all the time where normally it comes after like two years and then you add in another wrinkle the way that the NBA works right now everything is so fast people catch up so much

faster that you might have to make an in-season trade during your title defense to be able to keep up with the pressure that everybody else is putting on you so I don't think it would be crazy and they probably should make a move for somebody else what you just said is the point there that the first 25 games of season it seemed like you know the natural comparison everybody's making was are they going to chase 73 the Warriors won the championship in 2015 and then got better took a level up because of internal development and adding some different role players but were the same style of team

but took another leap forward most notably led by their star MVP taking another leap. Shea's in the same thing. He's better and more efficient than he was last year. It felt like you're on the same trajectory, right? Where this is a more dominant version you've nationally progressed

as the years go on as your players get older, that's dead. That is not the case anymore. Now we've got to view them as a normal champion that needs to do exactly what you said needs to find a way to continue to evolve. This isn't one of the most outlier development stories like 2016 was where they get better. This is a regular championship team that has to put an effort to stay on

the same level and not face regression. Yeah, this is the first time where we've seen OKC outside of like obviously last year, I guess, both game sevens or game six and game seven where they have like feel mortal and very getable. And it felt like they were in a league of their own. And in just like a month span, the whole entire conversation is flipped on its head. And yeah, I agree. I would not want to go ahead and bet on Zadab just naturally getting better as time goes on. This is, Compared to last year, I won 110% I feel like I would make a trade and get that secondary shooter,

a secondary creator, tertiary creator, whatever it might be. And I'm fine, assuming he gets better. But even last year, like, we're saying he had these big moments in Game 70 comes clutch and all this stuff. Yeah, because he helped dig them into the holes because he played so poorly in some of the games leading up

and had the same issues all the rest of the shooters had where they were going cold and Shay had no help. And he was a big part of that for some of those games. He had a fair amount of stinkers early in series where he made them go down, not by himself, didn't do his job to the utmost degree of being the second star and then of course clutched up in the end just like shade did but i would like to not go down in these series because my shooting

gets so bad yeah yeah that's fair and mpj makes a lot of money but that's that's always the easy plug in say like go get this big shooter guy doesn't have to be him there's other names out there but it needs to be somebody yeah like you're like tray murphy man let's make some shake sure i don't know if you fit so defensive ethos but if we can get him to buy in honestly someone man they need someone he's also like not as good shooter on paper we have this many good defenders and we can't withstand like one guy who's not like all all NBA level defense that's a that's also a bigger problem if we can't if we can't hide one guy on defense and everybody else is doing a job I think the NBA thing to make a lot of sense because you can get off the dort salary and give

them picks to make up for it and either you pay him and in a couple of your next summer you get off a heartenstein or whatever or you let him walk eventually when this contract is over because at some point you got to shed salary anyways and it'll probably be dort when that happens so give up some picks give yourself a better offensive advantage now and then either way that small four is getting shedded whatever the secondary opinion looms anyways so yeah I think it'd make a ton of sense and guess what like they have so many

lottery picks and things that could eventually swing their way they got citrus picks they got clippers picks they got everybody's picks at this point so why not yeah then they need to do it they do something or they can go back and win 10 in a row and maybe we can say all was right but even then even then they need to do something just like we were saying

this last year too they won anyways we were saying at the deadline like go get liar marketing and go get so and so like well actually the line market was two years ago because you couldn't get traded last year but it was a lot of those names we were one of the people

that were saying don't stand pat it ended up not mattering but I think we've always been in the opinion anymore offense yeah yeah I agree Jason Kidd wants Cooper Flag to touch rub and hold onto that rookie wall he's got to touch it

he's got to rub and hold it he's got to embrace it that's just the mental thing for the great ones they touch it this would have been a part of the coaching segment that we had in last episode 100%

for the great ones they touch it yeah kid you're a weirdo man something about getting old where you just start talking just like every sentence in your life becomes a mad limb where you just start pulling

random words and verbs and stuff like this because what do you mean by like this is outlandish like I get the sentiment you don't have to say it like this I only kind of I only kind of get the sentiment is he saying like embrace that things get hard

and like you have to develop you yeah okay the verbiage that was so like that's what I'm saying it's so it's so outland hold on to that rookie wall like I don't really

again I get the sentiment I guess but like I don't need what he's saying with these with these analyses you have to do it you have to experience it yeah you have to experience it let it make you better

hold on to that and make sure you learn from it okay sure true he's back to playing point guard which I hate didn't have a good stat line naturally oh my god but whatever

let's talk about Palo Bancaro somebody who we talked about earlier than their bracket is coming off with the worst start stretch of his career pretty easily he's been shooting absolutely ridiculous and over the last four games

he's had his get-back games he had 23 15 and 10 against the New York Knicks is that New York Knicks not about against the Raptors that in that game crazy triple double wasn't super efficient

but you know put the stats up the play making a little bit better and he proceeded to play the Pacers the Bulls and the Pacers again and lit them all up finally had three straight big scoring games in a row with good efficiency

the shots starting to fall is looking more comfortable looking more like Palo Van Carrow of last year thank god nice man streets streets needed this thank god thank god folks over here calling you pb no j or whatever it is come on man the nicknames are getting more creative yeah streets are scarier and this is the point we've been talking about him over recent weeks is that can't overreact it's hilarious it's so good still question marks only four games still want to see him develop from where he was last year not get back to where it was last year but again he was never going to be as bad as he was in this past

month that was like he's not kevin knox he's not going to be the worst score in the NBA like that wasn't sustainable yeah he of course is going to have his splash games and get back to being the average to below average efficiency volume score he was for the last three years that's looking like that's back now can we see more progression you get better than you were last year that's the no i need no i disagree i need to see him get back to where he was last year sure sure that's the baseline at this point that's what i'm saying we're on that path now but we want to see more dude he's so heartbroken by palo it's so crazy he's so bitter i'm going i'm going i'm going back and forth. I go back and forth every single

week because sometimes I look at Palo and I look at this game and I'm like man I'm sorry I have to let you go but then other but the other times we have stretches like this where it's like oh you you play the Pacers two times and five nights who cares you got buckets welcome back to the family

and I would like to see a little bit more consistency obviously but this is this is where we're at with the Palo Baguer experience honestly with the magic like this entire year has been really interesting offensively because they like you haven't

it's this year but also kind of this entire tenure where it's can we get two weeks of everybody playing their best offense at the same time and if we can get that then we can get an honest look at what this team is and what we need to do and where we can go and we just hasn't been there. Yeah, we'll see when Franz comes back

if they can maintain it but yeah again the schedule's been easy for these last three games that's what you want to see. you want to see your star be able to be a bum slayer and be able to take down these terrible teams and have get right games. He wasn't having get right games before against a bad team.

So this is positive, even if it isn't, whoa, we got to say he's back to being top 15 in the world or whatever. You got to see progression at some point. This is that. So hopefully it keeps up.

I'm going to show you guys the best and worst lineups in the league so far this season. You're going to start with good or bad? Bad. Okay. These are the worst lineups in the NBA this season.

Thank you for showing me this. Basketball University. Kings have two of the top four Where's lineups in the league? Oh my God. Two of the top. Two of the top four. And look where the Lakers starters are.

Fifth worst starters in the league. The Lakers starting lineup is absolute atrocity. I can't believe they're still starting this when everybody's healthy. If Rui Hachamore does not come off the bench and he comes back, J.J. Reddick, I'm going to rip your hair out. Also, he's experimenting. He's experiencing the Andre Hayton roller coaster. DeAndre Aidan is the least of my worries. If they continue to start, Austin, Reeves, LeBron, and Rui together, I mean,

LeBron and Rui, three big power forward-sized bodies that all they can do is help with the rim because they're not going to be screen navigators, on ball offense, anything like that. If they start all three of those guys, no center in human history could save us. Give it two more weeks. He's going to see another DeAndrean, three-rebound performance, four-rebound performance, two-rebound performance. Watch. Time will tell. I won't even care because, like, I'm not, again, he is not wore my linchpin of, like, this is going to save the team. Like, I'm not expecting as much from Deandre Aiden as people seem to think I am.

$8 million a year, be average. I mean, you said he was going to be an all-star. So, like, how do we get you? Fuck off. Like, he's going to have bad weeks and have good weeks. I'll live with that up and down. If my coach decides, Ruri Hachamore needs to be the starter with these other four guys, now we're talking about a loss cause.

You know who else I see on here? Who? I see a lineup with Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, and Evan Mowgli on here as one of the worst lineups in the NBA. Yeah, you do. This is not too fair for real because that version or this version of Darius Garn earlier in the year was really bad. And he's been better as of late.

But still, regards to the fact like you don't, you never want to see this. This shouldn't be the case. And that's the one I'm probably most confident over the course of season to get off this list. Because like you said, Dary's Gone is looking better as time goes on. But man, it's not great. Very telling. No, it does make a lot of sense. The Bulls being on here.

Of course. Yep, yep. That's hilarious, man. And it doesn't make sense. The Grizzies being on here, their starters. Actually, that's Sontel Dama there. So usually they're starters. Damn.

Imagine being a Kings fan, man. King's fans, I think they're, like, in terms of overall, just heart for your team and reppping your team and just passion. But I think they're, like, top seven most passionate fans in the league. And it don't matter what assortment of guys you have. You're always going to be one of the worst in the league. Also, the Pelicans being up there. This Pelicans roster, man, it's so crazy that.

they thought they were going to be a playing team. Even like Zion's playing well now, by the way. Yeah. I didn't even put it on here. He's been playing extravagant with the past five or six games. Like it looks like Zion again. But guess what? Has it matter.

It hasn't matter at all. Seven straight losses. Seven straight losses. This roster is so fucking bad. Like it's crazy that there was expectations they'd be better than like the nine seat at best. From who? It wasn't internally. Joe Dumas said we're far away from the playoffs.

And he still traded that guy. He said that. Yeah, he did. But like it's like, it's crazy. Like obviously Derek Queen is a rookie big. He's not going to be some great defender. Jeremiah Fears has flashes pretty bad at a lot of the ancillary stuff you need from a guard like not a great passer or defender or any of the offball stuff yet and those being

your two biggest players Jordan Hawkins I don't know what he does because he got his name snatched yeah it's so saddick bay he's been one of their better players he's Siddique bay yeah like there it's crazy how the lack of talent up and down this roster they are incredibly far away this is Sadiq Bay Alpha TOR ACL too so crazy like how's he one of your best players. Which I'm saying that's all to say. They need to tear this bitch down. They need to trade Herb Jones, not getting younger. Elite defenders have such a lifespan that should probably trade down if they can. Chey Murphy can go either way with his age and archetype. They are far, far away. This isn't going to be a one or two year turnaround. Yeah, man. This team,

you guys are going to love Seattle, man. It's going to be fantastic. Those are the worst teams in the league, worst lineups. Let's look at the best lineups in the NBA so far. Who do you think is number one? Shocker. I saw it. No. You love. you don't know to close your eyes motherfuckers number one obviously the Oklahoma City Thunder as well as number four

the inverse of the Kings okay up there with who did it thought their single big lineup that I've been shouting from the rooftops needs to be their main lineup number one in the league

double big is number four in the league actually the Knicks are so interesting because there's no Ogen and Obey in there that's Duce in there instead that's crazy he's like that that's actually I love Dues

but man that's shocking he's like that man the magic starter is up there so that leads credence to the fact that just let them get healthy let them get their whole five together without recovering from injury

they have something to go a little shout out the buck staying up there with Yannis unbelievable how different they are when Yannis plays versus doesn't play so that stands to reason look at the suns up here also Yannis and A.J. Green

have the craziest on-off numbers of those two together they're unbeatable when those here on the court. They're like plus 37 when those two share the court together oh my God they have crazy synergy

that's good I'm sorry I'm just caught up on the suns being up here They have no business being up here. It shouldn't be, again, it shouldn't be like this. Jordan is the truth, man. It shouldn't be like this. Wow, man.

That's so crazy. That's without Dylan Brooks. Your most developed player of the year. Hey, man. That's how good this team is. Shout out for Sunil. That's funny. So, hey, tell me, listen, Dylan Brooks is out here taking double step back three.

He's lit. Oh, yeah, he took a step back three against Shea dotted him, bro. Jeez, awesome. I was like, I'm in hell right now. Everybody sees Shane, like, all the, the, the Canadians, they see Shane and they're like, I've done this in practice so many times. They go after him. David Adelman, they just played the Nets versus the Nuggets.

He was talking about Michael Porter, Jr. Asked about him, obviously. We haven't been traded them this summer. He says he misses Michael Porter Jr.'s personality in the locker room. I listen to this quote carefully. I miss the conversations. I think a lot of people are scared to be themselves nowadays. Mike is not.

People scoff at that sometimes. because maybe they're scared to say what they actually think. Mike's going to say whether you agree with them or not. What do you think he was saying in his locker room? I mean, I don't think that anything and everything. Yeah, I don't think that that's crazy. You know that Michael Port Jr. is going to bring discourse. Facts.

And so sometimes a certain type of discourse, it just brings everybody together, right? Because you start laughing. You start joking. And now the team camaraderie is at an all-time high. Listen, I don't know if Cam Johnson is like that. You know, Cam Johnson, he's. pods too. He's not the same type of potter that MPJ is. So the

conversations are a little bit different. MPJ pots for the culture. Maybe. Maybe. You know, he's speaking up for the voiceless. Voices. I don't know, man. Cam Johnson fits perfectly old man the three. That is his lane. MPJ

probably fits better on the Rory Malsha. Like, who do you think? Do you think Yokin is having more fun with MPJ or with Cam Johnson? Oh, MPJ. He's having Worfell. Yolich? Yolich for sure. Do you think, I feel like, because he's just a dummy. Do you think Yolkish indulges in these conversations? Joe, if Yolkish who is having shade room bird talk, oh my, he would beat my goat instantly.

After that, Michael Borgianian had a good quote that won't read the whole thing. It's a wall of text. He was asked about his situation in Brooklyn compared to the Nuggets. And basically, oh, no, he was asked because Adelman said that he feels they were using APJ correctly last year, but he expects that Michael Porgyneur disagrees because obviously Michael Porgyneur believes he can be a bucket as he's shown this year. He was asked about that and he said a good response. He basically said yeah, they did use me right last year. They didn't need me to run off screens because they have Yolk and Jamal Murray who can get the most efficient shot in basketball every single time down. So as being a good team with good depth, they just didn't need that for me. Whereas this team

has more of a need for that. So I've stepped into that. But if I was on a really, really good team, it would be natural for me to step back. Very good, very self-aware response to Michael Yeah. He also had a piece in this, I believe, or maybe another interview after this, or a question after this, but he was talking about how when he was drafted, he felt like he was going to be the best player in the NBA. That's what he, that's what his expectations were at that point in time. Really not because the injury was caught up and that's why he slid in the draft. But regardless of the fact, things panned out the way he did won a championship, damn near, like, damn near won a championship last year by pushing OKC to seven games. If it wasn't for his torn shoulder to shoulder, he may have been an NBA championship. So very valid response. And I say this will say, I bring this up to say, I would love to see him somewhere in the middle. I want to see him get traded again. And I want to see him not be the number one option gun in on a bad team that he'll get his numbers, but who's paying attention because the Nets and not fourth option, staying in the corner, don't do any Oscar in actions. I want to see him nice and in the middle.

You know where. The Pistons or the Thunder. One of those two. Detroit, make the move. Detroit or the Thunder. I want to see one of those two teams. Go get him. He'll be so nasty.

OKC would be so interesting. I think it would work really well He would be such a bad influence on Chet, man And this is what I'm saying The conversations and the discourse that would be had Between those two It would be We can't have that happen

I think we can't have that I think we say this a lot But MPJ in these conversations Loki I kind of want that I think it's a good edge I think they need to be these like bad boys But they're like Dude OKC fans already be talking about

How Czech comes into the games fried half the time They need to be disgusting brothers theory Oh gosh no man They need to be the two two dumbest, most talented big men shooters in the league that are out there just like treacherous twins. Yeah. I think we need that.

This entire team. Because an edge they need. That's what I'm saying. This entire team is already like a, they need to go full crayon eater because they already make, make TikToks like crazy. If you add the TikTok aspect of their game and now you get podcasting into their game, they're unbeatable from that, from that standpoint. Then you add the defense on top of it.

That's what the thunder need. They need this. Man, they need MPJ. They need MPJ bad. I got to figure out the exact salaries and you need to put it together. They didn't MPJ bad.

You're going to email it to Sam Presti. Give me an interstate. I already got it done for you. And again, they're not going to do it because they're going to stand pat right or wrong.

Maybe with a win of the championship. It'll annoy me either way. Okay. Last thing we're going to do before I get out of here, we are going to put all-time Celtics

into this blind pyramid. First name up. Drew Holiday. Shout if you. Put him at 4. Get on that 4th. You think there's how many spots around here? Yes.

Don't matter how many. You think all nine players here can be champions of? I think you can have nine players that are better, quote-unquote, Celtics than Drew Holiday. Okay, so that's what we want to do it off of the Celtics career? Yeah. Yeah, I think that's fair. Okay, fair enough. Next up, Ray Allen.

Three. He's on a higher level. Now, if you want to drop it because you're still hurting in your heart about him leaving, that's fair. That's a good point. They turned on him. So if we're doing based on your Celtics career, and how much the Celtics love you, how much you represent the Celtics

got before. But they've made up since then. Yeah, but it's still steam. They didn't make up while he was playing. The scars remained. That's what I'm saying. You forgive, but you don't forget. Exactly.

Four. Next up. Jones. Mm-hmm. That's two. Two. Two. You don't go three?

You don't want to save it for like if we get the three goats? Nah, that's a lot. I mean, they cut so up. I think it will probably will show up. Listen, anybody in, if you see anybody in a picture that looks like this, they've won eight championships

I think we probably get like they've done a lot of winning for the franchise Tatum's gonna be above Casey Jones so I think we'll probably get like Bird Russell and Tatum like it might get all of them so I think we go three okay we go three just to be just to be safe

that's fair no I do respect the the older the picture of the higher they go but I think we can go three for this one like nobody's more successful than these guys I know how many rings does he have was he there for all of them I don't know but probably 12 Casey Jones rings

Casey Jones I'm an idiot Sam Jones there's a lot of Jones I do wrong one How many rings do you think he has I really don't know I'm gonna get six Sam Jones rings I see five 10 Sam was the 10 rings

Jesus Christ Jesus Christ man You gotta be on two Sam Jones Sam Jones tier three Oh my God Rajon Rondo They still love Rondo Got before though right Yeah, he's four-level talent.

He also left. He played for the Lakers. Drop him. Four. Sorry. Bill Russell. That's one. That's one.

Maybe birds here. You can have your little debate. We'll go, but Russell wants to be safe. Next up, Kevin Garnett's. That's two. Kevin Garnett, especially because the Timberwolves have, because they were separated for so long, he, like, for so long, Kevin Garnett was like, I'm a Celtic. Like, this is what I am.

They love him. I'm going to. So Tatum and Burbush. still both on here, you'd put Kevin Greta over Tatum? Yeah, I would. I would. Okay. Kevin Garnett, welcome to tier two. Isaiah Thomas. Four. Tier four. Got to be there. Closing out the bottom tier. We love 215, though. Paul Pierce. Three. You don't want to say, you save the spot for Larry Bird, assuming he's here.

Either Bird or Tatum. Yeah, I agree. Okay. So Paul Pierce, level three. Even though he probably should be right next to Kevin Garnett, but we've already laid our bed. Dang. Walker Everybody's favorite early 2000s bucket getter You definitely should have been

Tier 4 Damn But they Ray Allen I'm sorry My bad Rondo Ray Allen Ray Allen you shouldn't have left The way that you did

Damn It's not our fault This is your fault Too much dip in our shit Well I'm gonna tier 3 He average 20 a couple times Please And Jalen Brown tier 2

Okay We take that So Paul Pierce should have been Two Probably But listen they both have one chip Not bad They both had one chip

One final's lost One chip Dylan Brown's average in 30 right now I think Paul Pierce did that Hey man Who's to say they're not the same player Who Okay so we didn't get this one right

Well actually Sam Jones should have been tiered too Yeah he should have Sam Jones definitely should have been tiered too We were disrespect to San Jones damn Damn it I called him other wrong name Confused him with the other Celtics Jones

Put him in tier three Today we disrespect the Sam Jones If you're still here at the end of this episode Comment shout out Sam Jones Damn man we were right there too that's so funny we had to get Larry Bird or Tatum yeah

we got one off time yeah I mean Sam Jones should have been about Tatum too man man Tedries are so many but like come on both hands that is crazy this many

damn come on well if you're still here comment shout out Sam Jones we will see you all on Friday for the next episode