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The Clippers Might Be For Real · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

0:04
SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to another episode of Small Ball with Kenny Beecham.
0:08
SPEAKER_01: Today we want to talk about Damian Lillard's injury.
0:11
SPEAKER_01: I don't even know if you can call it an injury ailment and what that means for the Milwaukee Bucks.
0:16
SPEAKER_01: I want to talk about the Clippers because the Clippers are playing some great ball.
0:19
SPEAKER_01: And listen, it is March, and everybody tries to explain to you that March basketball means nothing.
0:24
SPEAKER_01: And I truly kind of somewhat believe that.
0:28
SPEAKER_01: But like some things you have to be optimistic about.
0:32
SPEAKER_01: If I didn't look at March basketball with a different lens, then there's nothing to pot about.
0:36
SPEAKER_01: So we got to talk about the Clippers and their great play as of recent.
0:39
SPEAKER_01: And we got to talk about the two-pot theory that I've mentioned on channels before, but I want to break it down even more because there are a few teams that I am switching pots on.
0:48
SPEAKER_01: Before we get into anything, I want to remind you to leave a like on the episode, subscribe to the channel, go over to the other shows in the network, whether it be teed up or Pierre Andreese, numbers on the board with Pierre Andreese, Kenny Beecham, Derek Miller, and Mike Hurt.
1:01
SPEAKER_01: You know, we got a lot of shows and a lot of content on this network.
1:04
SPEAKER_01: We actually just did a video.
1:05
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if this is spoiling anything, but we had a Chicago Bulls player come into the office and we shot a few different videos.
1:11
SPEAKER_01: So we got really cool stuff going on at Enjoy Basketball right now, and you do not want to miss it.
1:16
SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about Damian Lillard because as we were in the studio shooting this video with this Chicago Bulls player, I get my watch notification that says that Damian Lillard, um, they found out in so many words, they found out that he had a blood clot in his right calf and he's gonna be on thinners, but they're not really sure about his outlook for the rest of the season.
1:32
SPEAKER_01: There are some people that are reporting that they the Milwaukee Bucks today are optimistic that he might be able to come back this season, but um who knows?
1:41
SPEAKER_01: Who knows, right?
1:42
SPEAKER_01: My first initial reaction to that is damn, not again, right?
1:45
SPEAKER_01: We just lost Wimby um for the NBA season uh to a blood clot in his shoulder two months before this.
1:52
SPEAKER_01: And it's just something you don't expect, the notification you don't expect.
1:57
SPEAKER_01: So immediately um my my thought went to like, I hope Damian Lillard is okay and he can get through this, obviously.
2:03
SPEAKER_01: But once they found out that they caught it early, A, and that he's already on blood thinners and they believe this is not going to be anything that's too crazy, that that's cool, and then it reverts it to my mind going into the basketball aspect of it all.
2:13
SPEAKER_01: What does this mean for the Milwaukee Bucks?
2:16
SPEAKER_01: Last week we dropped an episode where we talked about the Warriors and Bucks at large.
2:20
SPEAKER_01: And basically, in that episode, in the short of it, I said that I just don't see the upside in the Milwaukee Bucks, right?
2:26
SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of good teams in basketball, and I do believe that the Bucks are one of those good teams, but I think you have to be a great team to win a championship.
2:33
SPEAKER_01: And I just did I just don't see that.
2:34
SPEAKER_01: I didn't see that with Damian Lillard, and now the small percentage that might have existed for them to go on a deep run, if Damian Lillard is not there, is completely there.
2:43
SPEAKER_01: And it continues this trend of the Milwaukee Bucks getting extremely, extremely unlucky right before the postseason or right as the postseason started, whether it be Chris Middleton, whether it be Giannis.
2:54
SPEAKER_01: I mean, Damian Lillard last year, he played in the postseason, but even he got injured later than it.
2:58
SPEAKER_01: It has been just unlucky battle after unlucky battle.
3:02
SPEAKER_01: It feels like the last time we saw the Milwaukee Bucks be healthy in the postseason run was the year that they won the championship.
3:08
SPEAKER_01: And I'll remind you, that was quite a bit ago.
3:11
SPEAKER_01: So now, again, whether there'd been a 1% chance, a 2% chance without Damian Lillard, that is completely, completely shut.
3:18
SPEAKER_01: And then you get to thinking about it.
3:20
SPEAKER_01: And I have been a guy that I like player movement.
3:24
SPEAKER_01: Do not get me wrong.
3:25
SPEAKER_01: I actually I love player movement, but there are certain players in certain markets that I don't look forward to talking about so-and-so player potentially getting moved.
3:34
SPEAKER_01: We basically exiled my boy DeMills last time.
3:36
SPEAKER_01: He mentioned Damian Lillard should request a trade.
3:38
SPEAKER_01: I mean, not Damian Lillard, Giannis should request a trade because I look at Milwaukee as a market as like they have done not everything right, but when you think about what it takes to build an organization, they have done more right than wrong over the last 10 to 15 years.
3:52
SPEAKER_01: Drafting Giannis outside of the lottery, making the Chris Middleton trade where Chris Middleton was basically a throw-in to this uh trade amongst some guards, you know, picking up Brick Lopez away from the Lakers for pretty damn cheap based on how he performed for them over the last couple years, finding Bobby Portis.
4:11
SPEAKER_01: Like they've done great thing after great thing after great thing.
4:14
SPEAKER_01: Even the Drew Holiday trade, who at the time you had some people very skeptical about what Drew Holiday could bring as far as the upper echelon of trying to win a championship.
4:23
SPEAKER_01: And the very first year Drew Holiday is on their team, they go on to win the ring.
4:27
SPEAKER_01: And then eventually they get stagnant, right?
4:29
SPEAKER_01: They go on a couple postseasons, as we mentioned, where injuries are happening.
4:32
SPEAKER_01: Drew Holiday has a couple series where he's not the version of him that he was in the championship run.
4:37
SPEAKER_01: And then they ship him out for Damian Lillard.
4:39
SPEAKER_01: This team has tried to do everything in their power to build the necessary team around Giannis to win.
4:45
SPEAKER_01: But with unluckiness, maybe some bad coaching decisions, and now this, I think you have to start thinking about what's next.
4:54
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, this conversation kind of came up after the last true holiday um Giannis team flamed out.
5:02
SPEAKER_01: Like, okay, what can you do next?
5:04
SPEAKER_01: And nobody really expected them to be able to pull off a Damian Lillard trade.
5:08
SPEAKER_01: Like, if you think about the assets that they had at the time, the fact that they were able to go out there and get Dame is actually a testament to like, I don't know, maybe John Horse just being being able to make some things happen.
5:18
SPEAKER_01: It was a big old three-team trade where Grayson Allen is a part of it.
5:22
SPEAKER_01: Drew Holiday, uh, two first-round picks to the Blazers.
5:26
SPEAKER_01: It's just a bunch of stuff.
5:27
SPEAKER_01: And then it turns into Monty Camaro and DeAndre Aiden going to the Trailblazers.
5:31
SPEAKER_01: It just ended up being like this craziness.
5:33
SPEAKER_01: But like when you think about the assets and the people that the Bucs traded away, it didn't feel like they gave up a lot to get Damian Lillard.
5:40
SPEAKER_01: And now we're here, you know, about to be the end of year two of the Damian Lillard in Giannis era.
5:45
SPEAKER_01: You got to ask yourself, what do you do next?
5:50
SPEAKER_01: They made the trade where they traded one of their most beloved talents in franchise history, Chris Middleton, to bring in a good a good role player and Kyle Kuzma.
6:01
SPEAKER_01: And now you got Brooke Lopez up for a new contract this season.
6:05
SPEAKER_01: He is at the age of 35 years old, and Brooke Lopez still can give you really good minutes.
6:11
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's been pretty damn solid this season, but you have to think about what happens with Brooke Lopez, Bobby Portis on a player option.
6:18
SPEAKER_01: Who knows if he's gonna take that money?
6:19
SPEAKER_01: We know Pat Connison's gonna take his player option for$9 million because there's a zero marker for Pat Honnigan.
6:26
SPEAKER_01: And I'm looking at it and saying, man, they are in a bind right now.
6:32
SPEAKER_01: Again, these types of conversations were happening pre-Drew Holiday, Damian Lillotray.
6:37
SPEAKER_01: So maybe they can make something happen.
6:38
SPEAKER_01: They can make another splash.
6:41
SPEAKER_01: But it feels unlikely.
6:44
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not thinking that Giannis will request a trade.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: I'm not hoping that he requests a trade because, again, the market deserves a guy like Giannis Deta Cumpo.
6:52
SPEAKER_01: But every interview that you hear from Giannis, he's talking about competing at the highest level.
6:56
SPEAKER_01: He's talking about the championships.
6:58
SPEAKER_01: Even the most recent interview he gave with the Athletic, he talked about the MVP thing and he was like, hey, I've been top four in MVP.
7:04
SPEAKER_01: How many years?
7:05
SPEAKER_01: He said seven years, and I ain't Google it.
7:06
SPEAKER_01: Let me see, let me see.
7:07
SPEAKER_01: One year, two year, three year, four year, five years, six.
7:10
SPEAKER_01: Seven years he's finished top four in MVP and he's about to do it again, right?
7:14
SPEAKER_01: And he was like, that's cool, that's flattering.
7:16
SPEAKER_01: But at the end of the day, nothing is better than winning.
7:19
SPEAKER_01: And you know, Giannis is a little freaky guy, a Greek freak for real, where he compared it to intimacy.
7:24
SPEAKER_01: There's no, it's it's a better feeling than intimacy, is what Giannis said.
7:29
SPEAKER_01: And it feels like every two years, Giannis is trying to put pressure on the front office to make necessary trades, to kind of lighten the blow in case something super dramatic happened with him.
7:42
SPEAKER_01: Where I remember right before the Damian Lillard trade, he's going on his podcast tour, he said, Hey, I want to win another championship, whether that's here or anywhere else.
7:50
SPEAKER_01: So draw drop in comment from a guy like Jonathan Kumpo, and then they made the Damian Lillard trade, and then he signed his extension.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: So what happens next?
7:59
SPEAKER_01: Because if I say, let's say um knock on wood, because I truly, truly, truly do want to see Damian Lillard in the playoffs, man.
8:06
SPEAKER_01: There's not many greater playoff performers in my lifetime.
8:09
SPEAKER_01: But let's say Damian Lillard is not ready to play, come playoff time, or he's not conditioned well enough after taking so and so weeks off of hoops.
8:19
SPEAKER_01: Like I look at it and say, we come back next season, and then what?
8:24
SPEAKER_01: What do we believe will be better next season?
8:29
SPEAKER_01: When I compare it to last year, the one thing that I can say was better this year versus last year is that I think Dame and Giannis are more familiar with each other.
8:36
SPEAKER_01: So they do have that continuity aspect of it.
8:40
SPEAKER_01: But is that it?
8:41
SPEAKER_01: Is that that's all we're gonna see next year?
8:43
SPEAKER_01: Is that they're probably just a little bit better playing with each and playing on the team together?
8:47
SPEAKER_01: And even then, I feel like they don't.
8:51
SPEAKER_01: When the Damian Little trade happened, it was such a perfect deal in my mind, because we have this rim-running Power Four, who is one of the greatest forces in the history of hoops.
9:02
SPEAKER_01: We have a ridiculously good pick and roll player, one of the best of the modern era.
9:07
SPEAKER_01: You can blitz him cool, he can get that ball out of his hands.
9:09
SPEAKER_01: You can play drop Damian Lillard's gonna hit the three.
9:11
SPEAKER_01: You can set like these two dudes in theory mesh so very well.
9:15
SPEAKER_01: And then you watch them play.
9:16
SPEAKER_01: And again, we're talking about year two, the pick and roll, though it is good points per possession, it feels like we're not getting it as much as we should.
9:25
SPEAKER_01: Right?
9:26
SPEAKER_01: You think next year we're gonna get it more effectively where these two dudes will run together?
9:31
SPEAKER_01: Maybe, but is that even enough to win?
9:34
SPEAKER_01: I think we're past the point in the NBA where just two great players is enough to get it done.
9:40
SPEAKER_01: When you think about the teams that are competing, these teams are gonna win a championship this season.
9:44
SPEAKER_01: The Thunder basically have three All-Star Caliber players, but they have nine role players that you look at and say, damn, that guy could be a spot starter.
9:52
SPEAKER_01: Damn, that guy could come in and do this.
9:54
SPEAKER_01: Jalen Williams, at one point, there was the reporter that called him the no, they called Jay Dub the real Jalen Williams.
10:02
SPEAKER_01: And Jay Will, it's like they're like, damn.
10:05
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I guess, right?
10:06
SPEAKER_01: He's probably gonna be the all-star.
10:08
SPEAKER_01: But Jay Will has been phenomenal.
10:10
SPEAKER_01: Anytime you need Jay Will to play 24 minutes, he's doing that and he's giving you uh 13, 10, and 8.
10:17
SPEAKER_01: And some nights he just don't play.
10:20
SPEAKER_01: They have the depth, they have the star power.
10:23
SPEAKER_01: You look at the Boston Celtics, a team that just won a championship.
10:27
SPEAKER_01: Jason Tatum went out with his ankle injury.
10:29
SPEAKER_01: Get well soon, Jason Tatum in the Kings game.
10:31
SPEAKER_01: And then the next two days later, they play against the Suns, who at that point the Suns were hot.
10:35
SPEAKER_01: They had won five of their last six.
10:37
SPEAKER_01: No Jason Tatum.
10:39
SPEAKER_01: Dogged them.
10:40
SPEAKER_01: I turned the game off after the first quarter because it was over with.
10:45
SPEAKER_01: Baylor Scheiman, their rookie, not in this game specifically, Baylor Scheiman.
10:49
SPEAKER_01: When they sit in these really good players, Baylor Scheim had a 30-point game.
10:53
SPEAKER_01: Poor Zing is back from his injury, just gave them straight gas.
10:58
SPEAKER_01: So they have the star power and they have the depth.
11:02
SPEAKER_01: You think about the Cleveland Cavaliers, whether or not you believe the Cavs are contenders or not, they fit that as well.
11:08
SPEAKER_01: Where some of these games, when they're 16 games strictly, they just had, it was like, oh yeah, Donovan Mitchell not feeling too great.
11:13
SPEAKER_01: That's fine.
11:15
SPEAKER_01: You remember Dean Dean Wade was a starter at the start of the season.
11:18
SPEAKER_01: Now he just comes in on spot minutes.
11:20
SPEAKER_01: DeAndre Hunter can come out and give you 30 off the bench.
11:24
SPEAKER_01: The Bucks don't have that level of depth.
11:27
SPEAKER_01: And I also don't think they got he's they got that level of coaching either.
11:30
SPEAKER_01: All three of those teams I just mentioned, really great coaches.
11:35
SPEAKER_01: Doc Rivers, I can't say the same thing about in 2025.
11:40
SPEAKER_01: So next year we're gonna run it back.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
11:44
SPEAKER_01: All I can say is I want to see Damian Lillard on that damn court come postseason.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: Um, but now it makes things in the Eastern Conference a little bit less daunting, right?
11:55
SPEAKER_01: We had that three uh team race between the Pacers, the Pistons, and the Bucks for who's gonna be four, who's gonna be five, who's gonna win that eventual matchup.
12:04
SPEAKER_01: If the Bucks don't have Damian Lillard, I feel pretty good saying that if they did match up against the Pacers team, the Pacers will be the better team again.
12:11
SPEAKER_01: If they don't have um Damian Lillard and they play against the Knicks, I already hit the Knicks if they had Damian Lillard, but now the Damian Lillard's not there.
12:18
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
12:19
SPEAKER_01: In the games that they've played against each other, the Knicks versus Knicks and Bucks, I think the Knicks have won by like an average of 20-something points.
12:24
SPEAKER_01: They've been dominating the Bucks.
12:27
SPEAKER_01: So it's a weird spot to be in.
12:30
SPEAKER_01: And then you start to think about okay, in this fictional hypothetical world, what would a Giannis Detecumpo trade look like?
12:39
SPEAKER_01: Because Giannis, again, just signed uh a super max extension.
12:42
SPEAKER_01: Let me let me see what these numbers look like.
12:43
SPEAKER_01: Supermax extension where he's done uh through this season, 48 million next season, 54 million a year after that, 58 million, then he's got a player option for 64 million.
12:51
SPEAKER_01: So if hypothetically a trade does end up happening, whatever team is getting him is getting him for two years minimum, and then again a player option on that last year.
13:00
SPEAKER_01: You think about the type of assets that need to be returned, because Giannis, in my mind, is still a top three player in this world, he's probably number two.
13:09
SPEAKER_01: So the assets have to be deep.
13:11
SPEAKER_01: If you look across basketball and say, okay, this team has that, this team has that, because you have to be able to buy in on Giannis while also not gutting everything else you've already built to win a championship.
13:22
SPEAKER_01: And it's not a ton of teams that you can say that about.
13:25
SPEAKER_01: The two teams that come up immediately are the number one and number two seed in the Western Conference right now, where the OKC Thunder could pretty easily pull off a Giannis trade and still have the depth to go into next season and win a championship.
13:40
SPEAKER_01: They have every single draft pick that ever existed, and then they have Isaiah Hardenstein's contract, and they have current young players that you would be like, oh, I'm I could be interested in Nicole Topics.
13:49
SPEAKER_01: He got zero minutes played in his NBA career coming off a big injury.
13:51
SPEAKER_01: I can convince myself if I'm the Milwaukee Bucks that he could be a building block.
13:55
SPEAKER_01: I can convince myself that I don't know.
13:58
SPEAKER_01: Anyone still interested in Uzma Jay?
14:01
SPEAKER_01: Anyone?
14:02
SPEAKER_01: Aaron Wiggins saved basketball.
14:04
SPEAKER_01: Could he save Milwaukee?
14:06
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
14:06
SPEAKER_01: And then the Houston Rockets are in a similar thing where they have they have Sons picks, they have their own picks, they have a lot, and then they have young talent from Cam Whitmore to Reese Shepard to Bari.
14:15
SPEAKER_01: Amin Thompson's not in that trade.
14:16
SPEAKER_01: I don't I don't think you do that trade if Amin is in it, which is crazy to say.
14:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh you just have everything.
14:22
SPEAKER_01: And then I think about the overall fit alongside these dudes.
14:25
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, damn, uh, Shin Goon and Giannis does fit very well.
14:31
SPEAKER_01: She Holmgren and Giannis might be the best fit, but I also said that Dame and Giannis is going to be a great fit.
14:37
SPEAKER_01: But like, might be the best fit for a front court in basketball right now.
14:41
SPEAKER_01: And it's kind of it.
14:43
SPEAKER_01: And I look across the other teams and hoops.
14:45
SPEAKER_01: Either you just don't got the future assets, you don't have the young, exciting players that we can convince our fan base about.
14:50
SPEAKER_01: But again, I'm living in a super fictional, hypothetical world.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: I'm also not against Giannis just chilling in Milwaukee.
14:59
SPEAKER_01: If it ends up being one championship for his career, it's still one championship for his career.
15:04
SPEAKER_01: He still can walk out of his at the end of it and say, hey, I'm a top 15 player of all time.
15:11
SPEAKER_01: So you let me know what you think about Damian Lillard's injury, uh, but more specifically, what that means for the Bucs and the Bucks long term.
15:24
SPEAKER_01: I want to talk about the Clippers.
15:27
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to talk about the Clippers.
15:28
SPEAKER_01: The Clippers were a team coming into the season I did not have any faith in.
15:32
SPEAKER_01: I think I put them when I was projecting my standings, I think I had them 12th.
15:37
SPEAKER_01: Uh the question mark about Kawhi Leonard's injuries and history uh going into the season, them losing Paul George, which I overshot that.
15:45
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they don't miss Paul George one bit, I ain't gonna lie.
15:47
SPEAKER_01: But I did not have a lot of hope that this team would be good enough to make the playoffs.
15:53
SPEAKER_01: Um and now they're sitting at the sixth seed.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: Because with the Warriors not looking great without Steph Curry, who should be back soon, but still not looking great right now, the Timberwolves also losing their last game and the Kings just free falling.
16:06
SPEAKER_01: The Clippers are now the sixth seed.
16:09
SPEAKER_01: They're 8-2 in their last 10.
16:11
SPEAKER_01: And since March 1st, again, trying to figure out what the hell is real in March, what's not real, since March 1st, they have the number one offense and a number five defense.
16:19
SPEAKER_01: They're playing amazing basketball.
16:21
SPEAKER_01: But I think the reason why this is more intriguing to me than any other Clippers run, because it's not the first time the Clippers have looked good this season, right?
16:27
SPEAKER_01: We're 70 games in and they have 40-something wins.
16:30
SPEAKER_01: So they have had spurts where they've looked really good throughout the year.
16:33
SPEAKER_01: But the recent play of Kawhi Leonard changes everything.
16:40
SPEAKER_01: And absolutely changes everything.
16:43
SPEAKER_01: Because Kawhi Leonard so far this season is averaging 20 points per game, six rebounds, three assists, 48% from the field, which is not his normal efficiency, right?
16:50
SPEAKER_01: He's usually an efficiency monster.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: But in his last month, he is personally 25 points per game, seven and a half rebounds, three and a half assists, 52% from the field, 40% from three on five and a half attempts.
17:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
17:03
SPEAKER_01: That's the that's that's the Kawhi Leonard that um a lot of us were waiting for.
17:09
SPEAKER_01: A lot of us think if this Kawhi Leonard is true come April 18th when the postseason starts, April 16th, then they could be a team that plays spoiler.
17:25
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what it means for the overall, like we did the floors and ceilings of teams, right?
17:29
SPEAKER_01: And I think I had their floor as a first round exit and their ceiling as a second.
17:34
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know if I'm wavering off that too too much, but if Kawalan is playing like this, he changes the whole idea of their ceiling, right?
17:42
SPEAKER_01: And then you look at it like this.
17:43
SPEAKER_01: I watched their game recently against OKC.
17:46
SPEAKER_01: Not only watched it, I like really, really was like locked into it.
17:49
SPEAKER_01: It was my wife's birthday, so I'm I missed the game live.
17:52
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but I went the next morning and watched it and wrote down a bunch of notes.
17:55
SPEAKER_01: Now, OKC in this game is missing J Dub and they're missing Chet.
17:59
SPEAKER_01: But I'm watching them because in my mind, this is a potential first-round series at this point.
18:04
SPEAKER_01: Again, the Clippers are the eighth seed, and they've won a couple games since then.
18:07
SPEAKER_01: But the Clippers are the eighth seed going into this one.
18:09
SPEAKER_01: And I just wanted to see how they guard Shay.
18:12
SPEAKER_01: Right?
18:13
SPEAKER_01: When you have a guy like Shay, who we've mentioned on the show a hundred different times, is one of the best isolation, the best individual scorers in current basketball.
18:20
SPEAKER_01: And if he continues on this trajectory, he will be remembered as one of the best scorers from the guard position ever.
18:25
SPEAKER_01: Like, and he probably is the MVP of the league right now.
18:28
SPEAKER_01: And I always like to see Shay play against not just good teams, but great defensive teams.
18:34
SPEAKER_01: And that's what the Clippers are.
18:36
SPEAKER_01: And you think about how many bodies.
18:37
SPEAKER_01: Again, this is me gearing myself up to watch this game.
18:40
SPEAKER_01: How many bodies they could throw at Shea.
18:42
SPEAKER_01: They got Chris Dunn, they got Derrick Jones Jr., they got Ben Simmons, they got Kawhi Leonard, they got Nick Batum.
18:49
SPEAKER_01: And then as we could, as I start to watch the game, you got James Harden, who's not obviously in the same tier as the five defenders I just mentioned, but James Harden is a big body, smart defensive player.
18:59
SPEAKER_01: And like they just have so many different big wings that they could throw on a Shay or other um star guard across basketball.
19:07
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, boom, okay, cool.
19:09
SPEAKER_01: What would they do?
19:10
SPEAKER_01: Because Zuboch, who has an all-defensive case this season, is a heavy drop coverage big.
19:15
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, hey, uh Shea Gilders Alexander eats drop coverage, he kills it every single night.
19:21
SPEAKER_01: So if this potential series ended up happening, how can the Clippers slow down Shay if they're playing drop coverage full time?
19:28
SPEAKER_01: Well, they have to change their defensive scheme where Zubach is not as involved.
19:33
SPEAKER_01: You know what the answer was?
19:35
SPEAKER_01: This is something that I've been asking for for years.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: Or I asked for for years, when Rudy Gobert was in Utah.
19:43
SPEAKER_01: Again, Utah was a funneling defensive team as well.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: Drop coverage to Rudy Gobert and let Rudy Gobert handle the rest.
19:50
SPEAKER_01: The problem was that when they played against these elite offensive players in their era, that is James Harden, right?
19:56
SPEAKER_01: James Harden absolutely cooked every Rudy Gobert-led defensive unit.
20:00
SPEAKER_01: But the reason for that is they never sent help off strong or weak side, that they continue to sit on these corners.
20:09
SPEAKER_01: And the only time that you saw a team take advantage of that is when you saw the Clippers go super small in their Utah Jazz series, where they said Terrence Man, take over if you can, and Terrence Man did take over.
20:19
SPEAKER_01: But other than that, they were attached to the offensive players.
20:23
SPEAKER_01: So it really is a two-man game for the rest of this one.
20:27
SPEAKER_01: It's James Harden, hard screen from Clink Capella, and then a drop coverage for Rudy Gobert.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: No tags, no nothing.
20:36
SPEAKER_01: And what the Clippers did so great in this game, ended up being Shea Gibbs Alexander's worst offensive game of the season.
20:41
SPEAKER_01: I think he still ended up with his, you know, his 28, 20, whatever points, but like he shot it as inefficient as any time of his uh season so far.
20:49
SPEAKER_01: When they got into a pick and roll, and then you saw some mind games and some chess being played, and I'll talk about that in a second.
20:55
SPEAKER_01: When they got into their pick and roll, you got most of the time it was from the strong side, just a hard, hard help off of whatever player is on strong side for it to be James or Pat or Norman Powell or so on.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: To basically now, while while Zubots is playing drop coverage, uh guy's trying to um get back into the play from the screen, you got the guy from strong side stepping in.
21:19
SPEAKER_01: And now we kind of are like trapping him in a in a late action.
21:22
SPEAKER_01: And that worked time and time again.
21:24
SPEAKER_01: And then Coach Mark Dayton calls his first time out because the start off this game, we saw Shea off the ball more than any time.
21:30
SPEAKER_01: Um, and they're they're getting Shea involved in secondary actions, which is something I'm interested in, because again, postseason, they're gonna have to do that a lot.
21:35
SPEAKER_01: And then eventually, as they're playing this drop coverage with the help on the side, it's like, okay, Mark Mark Dayton decided we're not even gonna run Zubach in the pick and roll anymore.
21:43
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna do a small for small thing and see how they adapt there.
21:46
SPEAKER_01: And every single wrinkle that Dayton all threw at them, the Clippers had a counter for.
21:50
SPEAKER_01: Ultimately, they end up the Clippers ended up losing this game.
21:52
SPEAKER_01: That's that tells you how ridiculous OKC can be at times.
21:55
SPEAKER_01: But I thought they did a pretty good job of nullifying Shay and getting the ball.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: Out of Shay's hands when it mattered the most.
22:02
SPEAKER_01: It's unfortunate for the Clippers that other people made plays.
22:05
SPEAKER_01: It's also unfortunate for the Clippers that a big foul call was missed, right?
22:09
SPEAKER_01: But I again going into this game, I'm not thinking about wins and losses.
22:12
SPEAKER_01: I'm just thinking about schematically how could this series look?
22:14
SPEAKER_01: And I'm just, I was just curious about it because the Clippers, of course, have Tyron Lu, one of the best in-game adjustment coach and one of the best game-to-game adjustment coaches he showed us in postseason after postseason.
22:24
SPEAKER_01: And then they got Van Gundy on the bench, who they called their defensive coordinator for this season.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: So it was fun.
22:31
SPEAKER_01: And now, as I talk about it, Kawhi Leonard playing like he is, it's gonna be a tough out.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: It really is.
22:40
SPEAKER_01: They have this ridiculous balance of all six of those defenders, those perimeter defenders, wing defenders that I mentioned, but also they didn't sacrifice shot creation in order to build that.
22:51
SPEAKER_01: When you think about teams that have had big wings or big defensive players, usually those type of teams have a guy, and that guy is all of the offense, right?
23:00
SPEAKER_01: You think about um some of the previous Luca Donces teams before he got to LA.
23:03
SPEAKER_01: Of course, you had Kyrie Irvin on his side, but he also has a Derrick Jones Jr.
23:07
SPEAKER_01: who's not known as a creator.
23:08
SPEAKER_01: P.J.
23:09
SPEAKER_01: Washon, who's most part when he was with that team, is not known as a creator.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: So you sacrifice some of the creation because in your mind you have Luca or you have Kyrie Irving, who's cream of the crop.
23:18
SPEAKER_01: They didn't sacrifice that because they have creators in Harden.
23:22
SPEAKER_01: They have creators in Y.
23:24
SPEAKER_01: They have creator in Bogey Bogdanovich, and they have creators in Norman Powell.
23:28
SPEAKER_01: So they have shot creators, which I firmly do believe you need that in the postseason.
23:31
SPEAKER_01: And they have big ass defenders as well.
23:34
SPEAKER_01: Like it's just it's making me excited about seeing them in the postseason.
23:39
SPEAKER_01: And then the one little wrinkle, the like offensive wrinkle that you could point at is the shooting variance for um Chris Dunn.
23:47
SPEAKER_01: Chris Dunn's making shots.
23:48
SPEAKER_01: He can stay on the court.
23:49
SPEAKER_01: If he's not, then he can't.
23:51
SPEAKER_01: But when I mention the six guys defensively, I'm gonna keep it at five.
23:55
SPEAKER_01: Shout out to James Harden.
23:56
SPEAKER_01: The five guys defensively, if KD can't hit a shot, and I'm talking about Chris Dunn, KD, not Kevin Durant.
24:01
SPEAKER_01: If KD can't make his shot, then you feel okay with replacing that with so on and so forth.
24:05
SPEAKER_01: They may not be able to bring the same level.
24:07
SPEAKER_01: If one thing that Chris Dunn does is he's hounds these guards better than anybody else on those teams.
24:12
SPEAKER_01: He might, the guy that you're replacing with might not be able to do that, but you still feel good about whatever five-man defensive unit you put out if Chris Dunn cannot play.
24:20
SPEAKER_01: But if KD's hitting his shots, I don't know.
24:24
SPEAKER_01: So I'm very intrigued by the Clippers.
24:26
SPEAKER_01: I've mentioned, I think, on this channel before from Rome Report that I saw years ago, you know, what you do at the end of the season is not the best indicator of how you will perform in the postseason.
24:35
SPEAKER_01: It's more, it's a better indication is what you do at the beginning of the season.
24:39
SPEAKER_01: But remind you, the Clippers didn't have Kawhi Leonard at the beginning of the season.
24:42
SPEAKER_01: So I can't even look at that and say that's who they are when this version has Kawhi.
24:47
SPEAKER_01: They're still fighting for their playoff seeding.
24:49
SPEAKER_01: Right now, again, like I mentioned, they're six, but they have a tie with the Warriors and then a half a game above the Timberwolves.
24:57
SPEAKER_01: I still don't know exactly how it's gonna play out.
25:00
SPEAKER_01: But the Clippers have been have been interesting.
25:03
SPEAKER_01: They have been interesting.
25:04
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna underestimate the Clippers next season.
25:07
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna do it next season.
25:08
SPEAKER_01: And then watch it blow up in my face.
25:10
SPEAKER_01: All right.
25:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, before we get into our two-pot theory, I want to I want to talk about the Eastern Conference and where we sit right now.
25:18
SPEAKER_01: If you go to FanDuel Sportsbook, you'll find out that right now the Boston Celtics are still the favorite with a minus 135 to win the Eastern Conference.
25:26
SPEAKER_01: And then the Cavaliers are there with plus 70.
25:29
SPEAKER_01: They got the Knicks, the Pacers, the Bucs, and the Pistons.
25:32
SPEAKER_01: Let's be real.
25:33
SPEAKER_01: I think it truly is between those top two teams.
25:35
SPEAKER_01: And the fact that the Celtics are minus money makes too much sense as they continue to get healthier and healthier.
25:40
SPEAKER_01: And again, they miss uh Jason Tatum and they might miss Jason Tatum for a little bit of time.
25:44
SPEAKER_01: As Porozingis has got back into that lineup, I am completely reminded that, oh, yeah, this team just won a championship last season, and they probably should be the favorite to win it all again.
25:53
SPEAKER_01: Especially if they could come in and be um healthy.
25:57
SPEAKER_01: You know, Porzingis is one of the biggest flyers in all of basketball right now.
26:01
SPEAKER_01: So if he is healthy, I feel pretty good about the idea of the Boston Celtics going out there and winning the ring or winning the Eastern Conference.
26:09
SPEAKER_01: Because you think about it as of right now, first round in the playoffs, they're playing against like the loser of Orlando, Atlanta, or the Chicago Bulls, I guess.
26:19
SPEAKER_01: But let's say they're playing against Orlando in the first round.
26:21
SPEAKER_01: They should be able to take care of business there.
26:24
SPEAKER_01: And then they got the Knicks or the Bucs.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: The Knicks are without Jalen Brunson as of right now.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if Jalen Brunson will be the type of dude that can come back from his injury and immediately be back all NBA.
26:37
SPEAKER_01: And then the Bucs, like we mentioned earlier, don't have Giannis.
26:40
SPEAKER_01: So they might coast their way to the conference finals to play against a potential Cavs.
26:44
SPEAKER_01: Say, and personally, in that seven, I'm taking the Boston Celtics.
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27:48
SPEAKER_01: Before we get into the Ask KB, I want to go over this two-pot theory that I mentioned just a couple weeks back.
27:55
SPEAKER_01: I talked about how my Chicago Bulls have been one of the more exciting teams in basketball.
28:01
SPEAKER_01: They're eight and two in their last 10.
28:02
SPEAKER_01: Three-game win streakers.
28:03
SPEAKER_01: I'm recording this.
28:04
SPEAKER_01: They go against the Lakers tonight.
28:05
SPEAKER_01: Who knows?
28:06
SPEAKER_01: The Lakers are on a second night of a back-to-back, so maybe we have a little bit of an edge there, but we'll see.
28:10
SPEAKER_01: We did bust a ass uh two weeks ago.
28:13
SPEAKER_01: Then when I was talking about the Chicago Bulls, I talked about the two-part theory that I think there's two different types of sports fans, I guess.
28:23
unknown: Sorry.
28:27
SPEAKER_01: Pot one is where I find myself most of the time, which is looking at these teams and these organizations from a broader view, thinking about potential trades, potential signings, free agency, draft lottery, so on and so forth.
28:40
SPEAKER_01: At the end of the day, we want to see our team be great.
28:42
SPEAKER_01: And the way your team becomes great is by making some adjustments on those things that I mentioned.
28:47
SPEAKER_01: And then pot two is just looking at the team for what they are right now and thinking to yourself, hey, I want to see my team win today.
28:55
SPEAKER_01: And whatever happens on in pot one, we don't give a damn about.
28:59
SPEAKER_01: I'm a Bulls fan.
29:00
SPEAKER_01: And though we might be squandering away our lottery odds, they're really good right now and really fun right now.
29:05
SPEAKER_01: And that's all.
29:06
SPEAKER_01: There are two teams in basketball that I would originally look at them from a pot one perspective, then I'm shifting to a pot two, y'all, where it's gonna be hard not to be in the contention to win Cooper Flag, but reminder, only one team could get Cooper Flag.
29:26
SPEAKER_01: When I look at the Bulls and I look at the Trailblazers, those are my pot two teams.
29:32
SPEAKER_01: Before the season started, I mentioned that I thought that if the Trailblazers were in the Eastern Conference, that they would for sure be in play-in team.
29:41
SPEAKER_01: And record-wise, if they were in the Eastern Conference, they would be a play-in team.
29:45
SPEAKER_01: But deeper than that, I just thought that they had really good vets over there and some intriguing young players.
29:53
SPEAKER_01: In the month of March, um, or I guess since the trade that line, both of these teams have been performing pretty damn well since the trade that line, the Trailblazers have the fifth best defense in basketball.
30:03
SPEAKER_01: The Chicago Bulls have one of the best offenses in the top 12 defense.
30:07
SPEAKER_01: Both of these teams are young with some vets, but we're a young team that should not be playing this well if you're looking at it from a pot A perspective.
30:16
SPEAKER_01: Because right now, if you go to Tankathon, both of these teams are basically telling their audiences that we don't really give a damn about having good odds.
30:23
SPEAKER_01: The Trailblazers right now have the 10th best odds, and the Bulls have the 11th best odds.
30:28
SPEAKER_01: But if you look at it from a pot B perspective, it becomes so much easier to be a fan.
30:32
SPEAKER_01: It becomes so much more fun on a night-to-night basis.
30:35
SPEAKER_01: What Denny Abdia is doing for the Trailblazers right now is ridiculous.
30:40
SPEAKER_01: And if you're looking at it from pot A, you would think, damn, man, we're we're not able to draft our next superstar.
30:45
SPEAKER_01: But pot B can convince you, hey, Denny's play right now, I don't want to go superstar level, but Denny's play right now, if some of it, if 80% of it is sustainable, then that's like an all-star player.
30:58
SPEAKER_01: He's leading the league in um in and one since the trade net line, since the all-star break, he's leading the league in and ones.
31:05
SPEAKER_01: He's averaging like 23, 10, and 8, like seven.
31:08
SPEAKER_01: Like he's playing some ridiculous hoops.
31:10
SPEAKER_01: And then now you get people like School Henderson continuing to turn the corner.
31:14
SPEAKER_01: Um, we we saw basically the best game of Donovan Clink's career not too long ago.
31:17
SPEAKER_01: They ended up losing that game.
31:19
SPEAKER_01: But you can say, hey, our core is this.
31:21
SPEAKER_01: We're young, we're fun, we're exciting.
31:23
SPEAKER_01: Chauncey got these dudes hooping.
31:25
SPEAKER_01: And then before the season started, I was asking my boys, like, do you see a world with Chauncey Bills as the coach this year?
31:30
SPEAKER_01: And all of us are like, not really.
31:33
SPEAKER_01: And the way he's got them hooping for the last two months, you have to consider whether or not Chauncey Bills should be the coach next year.
31:40
SPEAKER_01: I read an article on the F5, Owen Phillips' um Substack.
31:45
SPEAKER_01: Shout out to him.
31:46
SPEAKER_01: He's one of the better writers in basketball right now, where he was talking about the Portland Trailblazers defense and how they're forcing the most 24-second shot clock violations this year defensively.
31:56
SPEAKER_01: That's amazing when you think about how young the defensive units are for the Blazers, where they haven't guys like Schrew Henderson, Tumani Kamar, or Denny Abdi are picking people up 94 feet and making teams get into their action late.
32:08
SPEAKER_01: And because they're getting to the actions late, they probably don't have time to do secondary actions and they're forced to take either a bad shot or no shot at all.
32:14
SPEAKER_01: And you when you watch them play, you see that.
32:17
SPEAKER_01: Not to mention, I fucking love the broadcast crew.
32:19
SPEAKER_01: So the Trailblazers are just a good watch.
32:21
SPEAKER_01: And pot two lets you realize that.
32:24
SPEAKER_01: And if you were still in pot one, you'd be like, how do we get our next star?
32:30
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not trying to trying to say that Denny Abdia is the next star or that the next star is on the roster right now, but I think there has to be some value to having a young team look fun and good.
32:42
SPEAKER_01: And then I went I went through our history trying to convince myself that that was like, like, this is what I did.
32:49
SPEAKER_01: I looked at the way teams played in March and April to see if a bad team has a good stretch in those months, if they can carry it over to the next year.
33:01
SPEAKER_01: And I went through 20 years of history taking notes, doing this, doing that.
33:06
SPEAKER_01: There's no correlation, unfortunately.
33:09
SPEAKER_01: Man, would it have been a great experiment if it was, if I could tell you that, hey, the Bulls in their season, I don't know, let's say, let's say 13 and 8 in their last 21 games.
33:20
SPEAKER_01: They were 13 and 8 in their last 21.
33:22
SPEAKER_01: Historically, teams that play that well in the last month carry over to the next year.
33:25
SPEAKER_01: That's not the way it works, uh, unfortunately.
33:27
SPEAKER_01: But I oh, I swear I tried to make it work, man.
33:30
SPEAKER_01: Um, so I don't I don't know what it means for, again, pop one, the long term of these franchises, but if I'm looking at it from a pot B perspective, it's been super fun.
33:38
SPEAKER_01: My bull, this is the most fun I've had as a Bulls fan since I mean the the three months when the Bulls were the one seed out east when DeMar, Zach Levine, um, Vooch, and Lonzo them.
33:48
SPEAKER_01: And then before that was like when Derek Rose was on the team, right?
33:52
SPEAKER_01: The Bulls are have one of the youngest rotations in basketball, right?
33:56
SPEAKER_01: The only old guy that's playing right now is Vooch.
33:59
SPEAKER_01: One of the youngest rotations in basketball.
34:01
SPEAKER_01: Josh Giddy's playing like an all-star.
34:02
SPEAKER_01: Kobe White's been player of the week back-to-back weeks.
34:04
SPEAKER_01: And then you squint, you squint, you're like, hold on.
34:07
SPEAKER_01: Could one of these two dudes be the guy?
34:10
SPEAKER_01: It's unlikely because March basketball is mostly fake.
34:14
SPEAKER_01: But I'm having so much damn fun.
34:17
SPEAKER_01: The vibes are high in the locker room.
34:19
SPEAKER_01: Like I mentioned, the player came through and we I was asking, like, y'all really in there like turning up.
34:24
SPEAKER_01: He's like, hey, bro, we haven't a time of our life because the guy that was in here has been a bull his entire career.
34:29
SPEAKER_01: He ain't really, you know what I'm saying, seen a bunch of greatness.
34:32
SPEAKER_01: So the fact that you have a two-week stretch of some greatness, damn it, he's on cloud nine.
34:38
SPEAKER_01: I also feel bad for Zach Levine, though, because he did, he has played for just some really poorly ran organizations in his career.
34:46
SPEAKER_01: Played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, who had all of the turmoil, none of the goodness gets traded to the Bulls.
34:52
SPEAKER_01: And throughout his Bulls' tenure, he's able to make a one postseason run before they traded him away.
34:56
SPEAKER_01: And now he's in with the Kings and he's going to the podium saying that the vibes are all off.
35:01
SPEAKER_01: They're in a four-game losing streak right now.
35:02
SPEAKER_01: They're 2-8 in their last 10.
35:04
SPEAKER_01: Everything is bad.
35:05
SPEAKER_01: They're sub-500.
35:06
SPEAKER_01: They're sub-500.
35:08
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he got a big ass bag to hoop, but he is not very happy as a ball player.
35:13
SPEAKER_01: I would love to see him on a team where we can look and say, hey, that's a playoff team.
35:17
SPEAKER_01: It just never has happened in this career.
35:19
SPEAKER_01: He's never, and you know, that will people will try to fault him for that.
35:23
SPEAKER_01: But there's never been a team where Zach Lee was on that you looked at to be a playoff team.
35:28
SPEAKER_01: It's like the same conversation with like some of the Carmelo teams or like uh Tracy McGrady, and we talk about postseason success, where it's like, yeah, those dudes, I mean, Melo did have his first year where they went on that run, but not many there.
35:39
SPEAKER_01: I think there's only one series in Mello's career where his team was looked at as the favorite and they lost.
35:45
SPEAKER_01: So it's like, how much can a can a brother do?
35:47
SPEAKER_01: How much can T Mac do if every single series he was the underdog?
35:51
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
35:52
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
35:53
SPEAKER_01: All right, that's enough yapping.
35:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, let's get into some of these Ask KB questions.
35:59
SPEAKER_01: These come from people over on Twitter, and we do have one from the audio people.
36:04
SPEAKER_01: So hit us up on Instagram, enjoy b ball.
36:07
SPEAKER_01: I think it's the at Enjoy Small Ball, maybe.
36:09
SPEAKER_01: I don't really know.
36:10
SPEAKER_01: Hey, we just we just out here.
36:12
SPEAKER_01: The first one comes from Zach.
36:13
SPEAKER_01: What if instead of an in-season tournament there was a March Madness style tournament where the teams are ranked one through 16 in each conference, the one gets a buy in each conference, and then you get matchups like two versus 15, 3 versus 14, 4 versus yada yada yada.
36:26
SPEAKER_01: Um, I I'm a firm believer that if the players are interested, then it would be interesting.
36:30
SPEAKER_01: They could they could do a mini hoop series, and I'll be like, yep, that's the one.
36:35
SPEAKER_01: If the players are invested, you know, we're seeing some in-season tournament investing, right?
36:40
SPEAKER_01: Year number one, you see LeBron and the Lakers go all that way.
36:42
SPEAKER_01: And then the interview that I referenced earlier with Giannis, he talked about the in-season tournament as being a championship, right?
36:48
SPEAKER_01: So, like, if our top-end dudes are looking at any tournament as a positive, then it's cool.
36:54
SPEAKER_01: I think it's unrealistic to do it this way.
36:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I doubt we would ever get to that point because you don't want to try to copy like because the NBA has conceded to the NFL earlier in the season, and they've conceded to March Madness at this time of the year, where like the day March Madness has started, the slate of basketball games were objectively assed.
37:15
SPEAKER_01: They only had like three games on because they knew that 95% of basketball fans, whether you're college hoops guy or not, was going to be watching March Madness.
37:22
SPEAKER_01: So I don't think they would try to compete with March Madness by replicating March Madness.
37:28
SPEAKER_01: Um, the next one comes from Ava, who says, Who is a bench player that you can see becoming an all-star level player in the next several years if they're given the right opportunity, like Jalen Brunson type?
37:38
SPEAKER_01: This was a really tough question for me to get to, man, because it's it's real tough.
37:43
SPEAKER_01: Now, when you when you see these guys play and warm up, you recognize that like all of these dudes are really, really, really good.
37:50
SPEAKER_01: And you kind of see that Norman Powell was a good example of this, where Norman Powell was not an all-star this year, but he took an all-star level jump.
37:56
SPEAKER_01: And part of that was just more opportunity, right?
37:58
SPEAKER_01: You know these dudes are just bona fide hoopers.
38:02
SPEAKER_01: So thinking about guys that I think can make an all-star level jump, I do want to remind you that what Jalen Brunson did was kind of an anomaly, right?
38:10
SPEAKER_01: It's not something that happens often throughout history, so it takes a very special type.
38:14
SPEAKER_01: And this is not going to answer your question.
38:17
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
38:20
SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
38:22
SPEAKER_01: I don't, I don't know.
38:24
SPEAKER_01: The one guy that gave me a little bit of hope in the postseason last year was uh Andrew Nim Hart, living in the moment.
38:29
SPEAKER_01: You remember Tyrese Halliburg went down with his injury in the Boston Celtics series that Nim Hart almost wheeled them to a few different wins, hitting some big-time shots here or there.
38:37
SPEAKER_01: It's like, oh yeah, if you put the ball in Nim Hart's hands more, he could probably be really, really, really productive.
38:42
SPEAKER_01: And he has been really productive this year, but that's not really that all-star level jump.
38:46
SPEAKER_01: Like if he ended up on the Wizards or another the Utah Jazz, do I think that Nim Hart's gonna make an all-star game?
38:55
SPEAKER_01: Probably not.
38:56
SPEAKER_01: But that's one of the best names I could come up with.
38:59
SPEAKER_01: It's not it's not a lot, man.
39:01
SPEAKER_01: It's not a lot of guys.
39:02
SPEAKER_01: Uh the last one that I have here is from I'm stalling.
39:08
SPEAKER_01: Hornets Muse.
39:10
SPEAKER_01: Hornets Muse.
39:12
SPEAKER_01: Man, you know, we don't rock with music counts over here.
39:15
SPEAKER_01: What first round playoff series do you want to see uh the most for the East and the Western conference?
39:20
SPEAKER_01: This is this is very, very, very, very simple for me.
39:23
SPEAKER_01: Um I'm assuming you mean like if I could change things, because right now, of course, there are some blood baffs and beat both conferences for the seedings.
39:30
SPEAKER_01: Um before the Damian Lillard injury, it was 100% Pacers versus Bucks.
39:36
SPEAKER_01: Because I just thought that was gonna, they had the opportunity to be really, really fun.
39:39
SPEAKER_01: These two teams already hate each other based on the game ball stuff and so on and so forth.
39:46
SPEAKER_01: But but first round Eastern Conference, the thing that I think is the most intriguing would be Knicks versus Pistons.
39:51
SPEAKER_01: Um, specifically if Jalen Brunson is not able to get back to all NBA caliber, because I think that's a real series, right?
39:57
SPEAKER_01: We got these Young Bucks versus a team of vets.
39:59
SPEAKER_01: Um one of these teams is known more for their offensive firepower in the half court in the New York Knicks and this other team, this young feisty team that will get under your skin, but more known for their defense.
40:09
SPEAKER_01: Those two teams, I think it's still possible that we do get that series, but those two teams are kind of like a matchmade of having to go against each other in the first round.
40:17
SPEAKER_01: And it will be an amazing experience for the young Pistons team, but it also will be a good um starter series for the Knicks, assuming that the better team just wins and the Knicks, it will be a great way to start the playoffs and recognizing that this is about to be a bloodbath.
40:32
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna have to play hard every single night because the Pistons are a team that forces you to play hard every single night.
40:37
SPEAKER_01: And then on the Western Conference side, not out of the realm of possibility to get Lakers versus Nuggets in the first round.
40:43
SPEAKER_01: It's not out of the realm of possibility that we get Lakers versus Warriors in the first round.
40:47
SPEAKER_01: It's one of those two teams.
40:48
SPEAKER_01: It's either Steph versus Braun or Braun versus Jokic.
40:53
SPEAKER_01: 100% the first round series that I would want to see most.
40:56
SPEAKER_01: Um I think there's a I'm not a math major or a probability type of guy.
41:04
SPEAKER_01: But we're probably getting one of those series.
41:08
SPEAKER_01: And I would take either one.
41:10
SPEAKER_01: I would take either one.
41:11
SPEAKER_01: Um is it Braun versus Jokic or Luca versus Jokic?
41:16
SPEAKER_01: Is what Greg is saying.
41:17
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna say Braun versus Jokic just because of the recent history of like the Nuggets busting their ass in the postseason every single year.
41:24
SPEAKER_01: Luka versus Jokic is pretty cool too.
41:26
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
41:27
SPEAKER_01: Let me just double check this really, really quick.
41:29
SPEAKER_01: Have we seen Luka Doncic in a series for I'm I'm drawing a blank.
41:34
SPEAKER_01: Have we seen him in a series versus Jokic yet in the postseason?
41:37
SPEAKER_01: Off the top of my head, I'm gonna say no.
41:39
SPEAKER_01: No, they never played each other in the postseason yet.
41:42
SPEAKER_01: So maybe it is Luka versus Jokic, I ain't gonna lie.
41:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, they got nothing but love for each other.
41:47
SPEAKER_01: They like homeboys.
41:48
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
41:48
SPEAKER_01: Maybe that maybe that friendship ends if Luka hits a big three and yells in Jokic's face on a switch.
41:53
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
41:54
SPEAKER_01: All right, we got one more question.
41:57
SPEAKER_00: Hey Kenny, big fan of both pods.
41:59
SPEAKER_00: I've heard a lot of people talk about a 1v1 tournament and what NBA players would succeed in that.
42:04
SPEAKER_00: But what if there is a 10v10 tournament with an expanded court?
42:08
SPEAKER_00: What NBA players do you think would excel there, and what interesting things do you think could come from that?
42:14
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
42:16
SPEAKER_01: A 10v10?
42:18
SPEAKER_00: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
42:23
SPEAKER_01: This Craig, you think he means 10 players on the court at the time versus 10 other players on the court?
42:28
SPEAKER_01: What the hell?
42:29
SPEAKER_01: What in the NBA street is that?
42:33
SPEAKER_01: No, hell no.
42:36
SPEAKER_01: Man, 5v5 sometimes say like trouble to NBA players.
42:40
SPEAKER_01: You want to go 10 v 10?
42:43
SPEAKER_01: I don't even know what you could even do there.
42:45
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I know you said expanded court, obviously.
42:48
SPEAKER_01: But what?
42:52
SPEAKER_01: You would have to double the court.
42:54
SPEAKER_01: Because even now, sometimes I'd be like, damn, this NBA court kind of small, bro.
42:57
SPEAKER_01: You put five big wings on the court, I feel like you can't do nothing.
43:02
SPEAKER_01: It is a fever dream, Greg.
43:04
SPEAKER_01: I I don't even know.
43:06
SPEAKER_01: Nobody was sick, nobody would excel at that.
43:10
SPEAKER_01: Nobody would excel at that.
43:13
SPEAKER_01: What an awful idea you just put into my hair.
43:16
SPEAKER_01: And I'm actually upset that you made me think about it.
43:18
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm joking.
43:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh 0% chance that anybody would ever sign off with that idea.
43:24
SPEAKER_01: And I don't think the fans would enjoy it.
43:26
SPEAKER_01: I think the novelty will wear off really fast when no team can score.
43:32
SPEAKER_01: Because there's no spacing, even with the expanded core.
43:35
SPEAKER_01: Um, everybody be calling me, not everybody.
43:38
SPEAKER_01: A few people on Twitter be calling me a Thunder's Glazer.
43:40
SPEAKER_01: They're fucking great at basketball, y'all.
43:42
SPEAKER_01: What can I say?
43:42
SPEAKER_01: I like watching the Thunder.
43:43
SPEAKER_01: They're a great basketball team.
43:45
SPEAKER_01: They got the most depth in the league, right?
43:46
SPEAKER_01: So if we talk at 10v10, you got Chet Holmgren on the court with Isaiah Horstein and Jay Will.
43:53
SPEAKER_01: Come on, that's a lot of that's a lot of passing, a lot of defense.
43:59
SPEAKER_01: But an awful idea.
44:00
SPEAKER_01: Thank y'all so much for watching or listening to this episode of Smallball.
44:04
SPEAKER_01: Um, Mar March, hey, let me peek behind the curtain.
44:08
SPEAKER_01: March is always really tough as a basketball creator because a lot of these games don't end up mattering, right?
44:16
SPEAKER_01: And I don't mean between these top teams because again, one loss can drop you from the four seed to the five seed.
44:22
SPEAKER_01: But it feels like half of the game, more than half of the games every single night have zero stakes at all.
44:27
SPEAKER_01: So Wizards versus 76ers, shout out to Alex.
44:30
SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
44:31
SPEAKER_01: I actually might do this next week where I'll go over some of the rookies and rank my favorite or the most intriguing rookies from this last year's draft class.
44:38
SPEAKER_01: But like that game, zero stakes, zero anything.
44:41
SPEAKER_01: Raptors versus Nets, another one.
44:43
SPEAKER_01: Um, Nuggets versus Bucks, but no Giannis, no Dame.
44:47
SPEAKER_01: And then like, so it's becoming increasingly harder to find new things to talk about.
44:51
SPEAKER_01: And remind you, I got this, I got Kenny for real, and I got numbers on the board, and I'm trying my very best not to replay topics and replay things.
44:59
SPEAKER_01: So bear with me through March, man.
45:02
SPEAKER_01: Bear with me through March.
45:03
SPEAKER_01: Uh, because this is gonna be is gonna be a rocky ride.
45:06
SPEAKER_01: I think I just gotta get my creativity back.
45:09
SPEAKER_01: Like I said, going over rookies, not doing anything about the current state of the league, but just going bigger picture and some stuff.
45:14
SPEAKER_01: Maybe that's the maybe that's the thing.
45:16
SPEAKER_01: If you have any suggestions, let me know on Twitter.
45:18
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate you, love you, and I will see you next time.