Latest / Small Ball with Kenny Beecham / The 5 Most Fascinating NBA Players This Season, Ranking The Top NBA Trios

Transcript

The 5 Most Fascinating NBA Players This Season, Ranking The Top NBA Trios · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

0:06
SPEAKER_00: Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back to the Kitty Beachum Podcast.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: We are here with another preseason episode of the show.
0:14
SPEAKER_00: I I gotta be honest with you, every single episode I'm trying to add something new to elevate the production, elevate the viewingslash listening experience to y'all.
0:23
SPEAKER_00: Because I was rewatching, you know, doing what I do, which is watch film.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: NBA players, all sports people, they watch film about their performances.
0:30
SPEAKER_00: I do the same thing, right?
0:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm watching the last episode, click it on YouTube.
0:35
SPEAKER_00: I sit back in my chair and I hear boom! Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: There was no grace period.
0:39
SPEAKER_00: You get slapped in the face with my voice.
0:41
SPEAKER_00: I ain't want that.
0:41
SPEAKER_00: I want to come in kind of chill.
0:43
SPEAKER_00: So that's where we get the intro.
0:45
SPEAKER_00: That's where we get the music.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: And listen, the song is not a staple yet.
0:49
SPEAKER_00: You feel me?
0:49
SPEAKER_00: We still trying to find exactly what that song is.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: I kind of want a soundtrack that is a Kenny Beach and podcast exclusive.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: I just don't know the right people.
0:58
SPEAKER_00: I don't know the producers that can be in the lab mixing something up that feels right.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: So right now, that's what we gotta do.
1:03
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
1:04
SPEAKER_00: Let me know what you think.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: Let me know what you think about the intro slashy intro song.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: Before we get into today's show, I told you last episode there's a whiteboard behind my camera with my goals for the 2023-2024 season.
1:18
SPEAKER_00: And one of the top things on my goal list is to become the number one basketball podcast in the United States of America.
1:26
SPEAKER_00: I don't know where we land in Canada, Australia, in the UK.
1:29
SPEAKER_00: I have no idea.
1:30
SPEAKER_00: But the United States, after dropping the last episode, we maxed out as the sixth highest ranked podcast, which is which is dope.
1:38
SPEAKER_00: I've been a creator on YouTube and audio, whatever, for a decade now.
1:43
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times, one of my faults is that it's hard for me to contextualize numbers like that.
1:47
SPEAKER_00: Think about how many basketball podcasts exist in the world.
1:51
SPEAKER_00: We jumped into the scene with a couple episodes, about a boom, bada bam, we are number six, and I appreciate that.
1:57
SPEAKER_00: But that whiteboard does not say become the sixth best ranked podcast.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: It says numero uno, and it's gonna be a grind.
2:05
SPEAKER_00: It might take years.
2:06
SPEAKER_00: I'm here for that.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: But I can't do that without your help.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: So if you're a person that goes to the YouTube, you'd rather watch it on YouTube, you like this face, go over to Spotify, go over to your i Apple, what is it, podcast?
2:18
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, iTunes Podcasting, Candy Beach and Podcast, download those episodes.
2:22
SPEAKER_00: Five stars goes a very, very long way.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: Shannon Sharp and Club Shay Shay is still sitting at number one.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: And I I want him to feel safe for now, but to know we got people on his tail.
2:35
SPEAKER_00: The last thing I should be trying to do is intimidate Shannon Sharp.
2:38
SPEAKER_00: But healthy competition to some man that's just coasting, he's killing the game.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: Shout out to him.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: I want that number one spot eventually.
2:46
SPEAKER_00: So I'm trying to get there, and I can't do that without your help.
2:49
SPEAKER_00: So I've mentioned before that on this podcast, uh, as of as of right now, it is a one-man show.
2:54
SPEAKER_00: I am the personal camera, I create my Bronx show, I do the audio, I do the visuals, I have done everything.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: But I realize I might have been off a little more than I can chew, y'all.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: I might have been off a little more than I could chew.
3:08
SPEAKER_00: Because right now, because we're still in the preseason, offseason, I've been dropping one episode a week and that's been fine.
3:13
SPEAKER_00: But once the regular season starts and the news is dropping, there's games to react to, games to talk about, we're upping it up to two.
3:19
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna say this aloud because I I think I do a good job of holding myself accountable, but why not help have y'all help me hold myself accountable by letting you know the official Candy Beach and podcast schedule for the NBA season?
3:33
SPEAKER_00: Mondays and Thursdays, when the NBA season starts, is the cadence.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: Now, as some of y'all know, part of my job does include travel, and those travel days may prevent us from dropping on a Monday, and hell, we might get it up on a Tuesday instead.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: Just regardless, the goal is that cadence, and I'm gonna try my hardest to stick to that because I realize how much I really enjoy doing this.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: Um, it is kind of weird talking to a camera with no guests or anything for 45 minutes to an hour, but y'all are enjoying it and y'all have been giving good feedback and using the comment section and using Twitter to help me elevate the show and have these overall conversations.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: So as long as y'all hear it and y'all enjoying it, I'ma do it.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: You feel?
4:13
SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about what this episode entails, right?
4:17
SPEAKER_00: Number one on the list, the first big topic, is me trying to break down the most intriguing players going into the 2023-2024 season by my own standards.
4:28
SPEAKER_00: Like there are a lot of players that are intriguing, a ton of players are intriguing, but I tried to pick out some that really this is an excuse for me to talk about certain players.
4:35
SPEAKER_00: Uh, are they the most intriguing?
4:37
SPEAKER_00: Probably not, but but it's highly inspired by Professor Zach Lowe of ESPN, of course, of the Low Post podcast.
4:43
SPEAKER_00: Every single year he drops uh an article.
4:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's now ESPN Plus so it's behind a paywall, but every single year he drops an article of his most intriguing players.
4:51
SPEAKER_00: I have not read his article just yet, but I'm taking inspiration from him.
4:54
SPEAKER_00: So shout out to Zach Lowe.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: The next thing we're gonna do after we get through our most intriguing players is every single episode, I want to have a segment where I talk directly and answer your questions directly.
5:07
SPEAKER_00: So I went onto Twitter, I said, hey, this is what we're doing, ask me questions, and y'all send hundreds of questions, and a lot of them are great, great questions.
5:15
SPEAKER_00: Every episode, five questions I will be asked, answering from you.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: So how you can get involved is you tweet with the hashtag askkbaskb.
5:27
SPEAKER_00: Nobody else is using the hashtag right now, so I would know every single tweet under the hashtag is geared towards me in the Keenan Beach and podcast about sports, about life, because we got a combination of things, and I want to be real with y'all as much as I can.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: And the last thing, when we were on our way out of here, I thought it would be interesting to try to do some content that can be clipped out for TikToks and shorts and stuff as we continue to try to grow this brand and grow this name.
5:48
SPEAKER_00: And I want to try to rank the top five trios in basketball.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: The idea came across my mind, I was like, perfect, boom, everybody likes rankings, whatever, whatever.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: And I started to do a little bit of research.
5:58
SPEAKER_00: I started to try to put together the top trios that I think are gonna hit for the 2023, 2024 season, and I recognized this is impossible.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: They are there are 11 different dude tree trios that I thought about.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: And I had to narrow it down a fad, and I might talk myself out of the fad that I got because I'm looking at my number six, and like, yo, they can be fad.
6:19
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna do that, um, and we'll see what the comment section is saying, too, because it ain't it ain't gonna be pretty.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: I think everybody's talking about duos right now because Dame and Giannis, but who's thinking about trios?
6:29
SPEAKER_00: You know?
6:30
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure a lot of people are.
6:31
SPEAKER_00: Let's get into our most intriguing player list.
6:33
SPEAKER_00: Now, again, like I said, this is kind of just an excuse for me to talk about some people that I've been wanting to talk about for some time.
6:39
SPEAKER_00: So bear with me, okay?
6:41
SPEAKER_00: Are they literally the most intriguing?
6:42
SPEAKER_00: Probably, probably not.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: The first player that I want to talk about is the player that I have all-star hopes for.
6:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, if it's not this season, I'll feel pretty good about it being next season because there might be a huge obstacle in the way preventing him from getting it this season.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: It is the young guy in Philly.
6:58
SPEAKER_00: It is Tyrese Maxie.
6:59
SPEAKER_00: Tyrese Maxi was recently on Old Man in the Three with JJ Reddick and Tommy Alter, and he gave a very candid conversation about pretty much everything in his NBA life so far.
7:09
SPEAKER_00: Going from his NBA draft experience to as of today, where they're dealing with their own turmoil with James Harden, and he was as honest as I think he could have been in those situations and didn't really hold back.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: I would highly recommend it for the people at home that are interested in hearing about Tyrese Maxie.
7:24
SPEAKER_00: But one thing it made me realize, just kind of listening to him, JJ, and TA talk, was how difficult Tyrese Maxi's NBA career has been so far.
7:34
SPEAKER_00: He was drafted in in the COVID year, and I can't okay.
7:40
SPEAKER_00: If you've been around for some time, you watch some of my other videos and my other podcasts, you know that one of the major reasons I have not been critical of Patrick Williams, or I'm still super high on Patrick Williams, is I always say that first rookie experience was taken away from him and everybody else in that draft class.
7:58
SPEAKER_00: But the reality is you got people like Tyrese Halliburton, who is now an all-star, Tyrese Maxie, who's going to be an all-star soon.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: Anthony Edwards, Lamelo, but like that class has had a lot of people in it that has been successful, given the same parameters, the same circumstances.
8:12
SPEAKER_00: So I can't keep looking at Pat and saying that it's because you ain't have a summer league, gang.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: Those other dudes are killing it.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: We gotta step up.
8:20
SPEAKER_00: Even though today, I guess the Bible Nuggets in the preseason game, he hit a mid-range post-like Carmelo Anthony.
8:26
SPEAKER_00: In that one play specifically.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: But he did end with 20.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: He did end with 20, and we're excited about Patrick Williams and Kobe White.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: That is my Bulls.
8:34
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
8:35
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
8:35
SPEAKER_00: Tyres Maxie was drafted um during that year.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: So because of that, he didn't have a traditional rookie season.
8:41
SPEAKER_00: He didn't have a traditional rookie experience or draft experience because it was all done via Zoom and the internet.
8:46
SPEAKER_00: So he didn't get to uh be in the green room, shake the hands, and then do the interviews like that.
8:51
SPEAKER_00: And it was a rough time for him.
8:53
SPEAKER_00: And then he gets to Philly, and of course, Philly over the last couple seasons, every single year, there's one major talking point that's gonna cloud its way over Philadelphia completely.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: From Ben Simmons wanting out to now James Harden won it out, or even before James Harden wanted out, them trading for James Harden and completely changing the way he had to approach the game of basketball.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: Tyrese Maxie is a player that I didn't really think about how versatile of a basketball player he was until I was really sitting down and and reading things and looking at stuff associated and listening to things associated with Tyrese Maxie.
9:28
SPEAKER_00: Now, the way me and Professor Zach Lowe run our things are gonna be a lot differently because from my experience of reading his articles in the past, high on numbers when he gives his most intriguing players gang.
9:39
SPEAKER_00: Not a single number is in my list except for how much money one of these players made this offseason.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: We hey the Kenny Beach and podcast slog slogan should be basketball strictly on vibes.
9:52
SPEAKER_00: Basketball strictly on vibes because that's the way we we tackle these things.
9:55
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
9:56
SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of fun, we enjoy the game, but at the end of the day, it's on vibes, and that's kind of the way we feel with Tarys Maxie.
10:03
SPEAKER_00: Now, the Philadelphia 76er organization, I I feel like most people are not recognizing how much pressure is on Tyrice Maxie's back because there are a lot of different ways, there are a lot of different ways these next couple years can look for the Philadelphia 76ers, and every single crossroad, every single route that they could potentially go down all ends with them needing Taries Maxie to be not good because boy is he good already, but being great.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: And we could talk about some of those avenues.
10:33
SPEAKER_00: The first avenue is boom, we trade James Harden right here, right now.
10:37
SPEAKER_00: Unlikely, but I mean I mean I literally I mean literally right here, right now.
10:40
SPEAKER_00: Unlikely.
10:41
SPEAKER_00: But if they do that, everybody in the world outside of Darren Mori recognizes that James Harden's value is not the type of value that he might be asking.
10:49
SPEAKER_00: Now, it might not also be as low as what the Clippers are offering, but him doing the whole, I'm gonna trade Ben Simmons for another all-star, all NBA player thing, it's not out there for last year of his deal, James Harden.
11:01
SPEAKER_00: It's just not the case.
11:03
SPEAKER_00: So if they trade James Harden right here, right now, Tyrese Maxi goes back to being the number two dude, and that number two dude could potentially hold the keys to figure out what the hell happens with Joel Embiid.
11:17
SPEAKER_00: Now, if they are trading away James Harden for expiring contracts and a draft pick, or even if they're keeping James Harden for the entirety of the season, another unlikely scenario, they open up quite a bit of money this offseason.
11:31
SPEAKER_00: So, you look around, if you Joel Embiid, and he's already not hinted at things, but he's given some remarks about him wanting to win a championship no matter where it is.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: Like, come on, man.
11:43
SPEAKER_00: I know some people like don't read into it.
11:45
SPEAKER_00: He's Joel and beat, he's trolling.
11:46
SPEAKER_00: He took Troel out of his bio.
11:49
SPEAKER_00: He's an adult now.
11:50
SPEAKER_00: He's he's not trolling as much as he was three, four years ago.
11:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, but Tyrese Maxie's ability to elevate this team with them having the amount of money they could potentially have to bring in a third player matters a lot to the future of Joel and B.
12:07
SPEAKER_00: Let's say hypothetically, don't matter.
12:08
SPEAKER_00: Joel and B's like you traded James for nothing.
12:11
SPEAKER_00: I'm really out of Philly.
12:13
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to be here no more.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: Again, it goes back to Tyrese Maxie, because if you're trading away Joel Embiid, if Tyrese Maxi's hitting stardom and all stardom at the same time, of course the blow is gonna hurt, but it's gonna hurt less because you have a building block already there in Tyrese Maxi.
12:30
SPEAKER_00: Because when Tyrese Maxi is looked at widely across the league as just a tempo pushing guard, and in reality, he's so much more than that.
12:39
SPEAKER_00: He's a player that went from a really bad three-point shooter's rookie season to just in one year he became a really plus three-point shooter.
12:46
SPEAKER_00: Then a year after that, he became one of the greatest catch-and-shoot players in all of basketball.
12:50
SPEAKER_00: But that's not just his role, that's his role when James is on the floor a lot of the times, right?
12:55
SPEAKER_00: Because James Harden is a guy that wants to run the offense, and James Harden as the offensive engine, at least in the regular season throughout the course of his career, has been a way to win a bunch of basketball games.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: Now, that same thing has fallen apart a couple times in his NBA career, but that has Tyrese Maxie on the wing with James Harden and Joel and Bede running the pick and roll and getting so much attention.
13:16
SPEAKER_00: The Tyrese Maxie's job, it's not easy, because I couldn't do it, but he's getting a lot of open looks.
13:24
SPEAKER_00: But also, when James is on that bench, the numbers back it up.
13:28
SPEAKER_00: And did I write the numbers in the in the list?
13:30
SPEAKER_00: Am I running a show?
13:32
SPEAKER_00: Nah, I ain't write them numbers down, gang.
13:35
SPEAKER_00: So the numbers will show you if you look it up.
13:38
SPEAKER_00: The pick and roll with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxie is damn good too.
13:43
SPEAKER_00: So when the when Tyrese is the primary ball handler, he's able to hold his own.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: So he is able to do both things and be good to great at both.
13:56
SPEAKER_00: The next thing is like, okay, how can we elevate his trainer?
14:00
SPEAKER_00: I think it's Drew Hanlin is his trainer said, Hey, if Tyrese don't average 25 points per game, I'm disappointed.
14:05
SPEAKER_00: That's a bad season.
14:06
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, man, okay, does Tyrese Maxi have the opportunity to even get to 25?
14:11
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
14:12
SPEAKER_00: He does.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: With or without James.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: There's, of course, been this huge cloud, and Tyrese has talked about how um how how excited or how different it is with the professionalism surrounding James and his teammates, given the fact that he wants out.
14:29
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, his only experience with a player wanting out has been Simmons a year before that.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: So he doesn't, he thought that that was the norm.
14:36
SPEAKER_00: He thought that when a player wants out, he comes to practice with his phone in his pocket, he half-heartedly does his stuff.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: And he said, No, James Harden appeared, and he was giving Ricky County the fourth real tips when in reality he don't even really want to play with brother, but he's treating as if the season is starting.
14:50
SPEAKER_00: Um, so we don't know what's happening with James.
14:52
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, nobody really does.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: But James also went to the media a couple days ago and said the relationship cannot be amended between him and um Darren Maury.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: Darren Mori is still a liar.
15:03
SPEAKER_00: He ain't say that, but that's basically what he said.
15:05
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but he's here to hoop because that's his job, which I can respect because not everybody is willing to do that, as we've seen.
15:14
SPEAKER_00: But whatever Tavres Maxie turned into, it's hugely important for Philadelphia basketball because he could be the stopgap if the worst case scenario happens where the MVP of the league requests out, or he could be the person that's convincing the MVP of the league to stick around so we can spend our money to go get uh OG Ananobi and some stuff.
15:35
SPEAKER_00: I'm just thinking the free AC class is not great.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's OG Ananobi, it's Pascal Siakam at the moment.
15:41
SPEAKER_00: A lot of the people that were going to be free agents are no longer on the board because of some old other trades and they might be signing extensions, but it's those guys, it's like Paul George and Kawhi Leonard technically.
15:51
SPEAKER_00: Um Klay Thompson, there's a report earlier today that Klay Thompson and the Warriors have not made any progress on his extension.
15:59
SPEAKER_00: Mike Dunnivis Jr.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: What's going on?
16:01
SPEAKER_00: So it's not like there's another super duper star out there, but there are some all-star caliber dudes that could potentially be on the market.
16:07
SPEAKER_00: And can you convince one of them to come to Philly to play alongside Tyree Smack and Joel Abi?
16:12
SPEAKER_00: I think maybe, but it's really dependent on whether or not Joy LeBee really wants to stick around to go through what the fourth iteration of a team built around him.
16:24
SPEAKER_00: It was this will be the fourth or right.
16:26
SPEAKER_00: Sheesh, because I'm only I'm only gonna count the years where they were actually in contention.
16:30
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to talk about like his rookie seasons and stuff, but like you got the Jimmy Butler year, right?
16:35
SPEAKER_00: That's that's one orchestration.
16:37
SPEAKER_00: The second orchestration is no longer Jimmy Butler, but Tobias Harris is there, and I guess Josh Richardson is traded for Jimmy.
16:43
SPEAKER_00: That's still a trait that I cannot grasp, and it's been five years at this point.
16:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, but that team was still with Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid and all of that.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: That team was still good enough to compete.
16:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, obviously, you got the now version with James Harden, and the next version is like, man, do I want to go through a whole nother version and give them another year?
17:00
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, uh he's got a lot to deal with himself come playoff time, but just losing something of that caliber.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm not a person that believes that because Joel Embiid has struggled come playoff time, and struggle I use in the sense that there's always the old saying that the best players improve their play come playoff time.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, NerdCess just did a video about this when they were talking about Devin Booker versus Jason Tatum.
17:27
SPEAKER_00: And though I don't agree with all of the stuff uh brought to the table, they didn't make one good point about a guy like Booker who has year in and year out, and again, it's only been three years of his playoff career, has been able to elevate his game.
17:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, and once, especially once you look past the the way they close out the losing series, where they lose by 100 points every single time.
17:47
SPEAKER_00: But he is a player that has elevated his play come playoff time.
17:50
SPEAKER_00: Nikola Jokic historically has been a player to elevate his game come playoff time.
17:54
SPEAKER_00: Luka Doncic is a player that historically has been able to elevate his game come playoff time, and we haven't got that from JoJo just yet.
18:02
SPEAKER_00: And listen, Kenny, he's about to be 30.
18:05
SPEAKER_00: If it ain't happening yet, it might not happen.
18:08
SPEAKER_00: But I do believe that a lot of the times these streaks that players go on, the championship run, a conference finals run, is low-key lightning in the bottle.
18:17
SPEAKER_00: Right place, right time, right situation, great week.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: And Joel Abe hasn't had that yet.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: And maybe it's coming.
18:25
SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying that I'm not writing it off like maybe some people are, as all.
18:29
SPEAKER_00: So Tyrese Maxi, best of luck.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: I'm rooting for you.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, I'm I'm gonna try to draft you in fantasy in the next week.
18:35
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if he'll be a great fantasy player, but I just like the draft players that I enjoy watching, and Tyrese Maxi's one of those dudes.
18:43
SPEAKER_00: The next guy doesn't count as one single dude, and we're only gonna spend a couple minutes on it because it's two of them.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: I just wanted to talk about the Cleveland Cavaliers front court of Avan Mobley, and I got it just JA in my notes, and I almost said John Morant and Jarrett Allen.
18:57
SPEAKER_00: Um the way they ran their defense last year was Stella, right?
18:59
SPEAKER_00: They became they were the number one defense involved, and and you think about that and you look about, think about the team that's on paper of a small Darius Garland and a small Donovan Mitchell, who was 6'1 and 6' respectively.
19:10
SPEAKER_00: And like there's no way in hell that team should have been the number one defensive team in the regular season, and they were.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: And you watch the games and you recognize oh, they have a really good scheme for the regular season to be a great defensive team.
19:25
SPEAKER_00: The scheme is we're gonna run you off the three-point line because that Twin Towers back there, those two seven-footers, one of them all the all defensive, one of them all-starred last year, we trust that their ability to lock all of this paint up.
19:40
SPEAKER_00: So our guards, our wings, we're gonna run you off and force you to go to the basket.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: We want you, oh, we dare you to shoot at the rim because we have people down there that can do that.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: And when you look at the numbers, when you also look at the fact that their rebounding was so bad, they make no sense.
19:56
SPEAKER_00: If they were a good rebounding team with the same scheme and efficiency level, they would have been the best defensive team, barring like not nobody even in their vicinity, because they would be able to close our possessions better.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: But that's just that just wasn't the case.
20:09
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it is this year, I don't know, I don't know.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: But that's handom of Biggs.
20:14
SPEAKER_00: As good as it was in the regular season, was one of the main reasons they were unsuccessful come postseason.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: See, when you have an abnormal lineup that is fresh with each other, the best coaches of the best coaches are gonna find a way to exploit the things that should be exploited.
20:32
SPEAKER_00: In a full 82-game season, oh, we got the Calves on the back-to-back.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: We ain't really got time to put together a full, full game plan.
20:39
SPEAKER_00: But Tom Thibodeau is a guy that over the last couple seasons, uh last decade or so, has been widely considered towards the top-ish of NBA coaching when it comes to making adjustments defensively, especially because the offense, uh historically, not the greatest, but uh defensively, he built the thing that was a 2008 Boston Celtics, and then he came to Chicago, and the Bulls just were on top of the league defensively.
21:02
SPEAKER_00: No Derrick Rose, still were a top seed.
21:04
SPEAKER_00: Hey, listen, we can ribbon this all we want.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: He's been able to make adjustments when it needed to, and in that series versus the New York Knicks, they absolutely dominated that defense that was so very good come playoff time, or so very good in the regular season.
21:20
SPEAKER_00: And you wonder to yourself with Jared Allen saying that the lights became too bright, just being self-aware, first of all, we respect somebody with self-awareness.
21:27
SPEAKER_00: Shout out to Jared Allen.
21:28
SPEAKER_00: I I hope, I hope your guild is doing great, my boy.
21:31
SPEAKER_00: I I know I know that brother being the guilds on the RuneScape or whatever you want to call it.
21:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, as good as it was in the regular season, it did not have nearly the same efficiency level come postseason.
21:42
SPEAKER_00: So the question that I have, and I don't think that Cavs fans hold the same question because they hold their players dear to their heart as they should, is what do we do hypothetically if we have another postseason that ends prematurely because us not?
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Being able to, I guess, switch up the way we played defense.
22:04
SPEAKER_00: Because what well the defense wasn't necessarily the biggest problem.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: The biggest problem was the lack of offense because of the defense.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: Because you needed both of them on the court.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, man, they they they they we can't score now.
22:17
SPEAKER_00: We cannot score now.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: And um the way they've been playing their preseason, and yes, I'm watching a lot of preseason and kind of digging into what's different this year compared to last year.
22:26
SPEAKER_00: If they've been using Evan Mobley a little bit more as a hub, I would say.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: And again, it's a small sample size.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: What did I watch one Cavs game?
22:34
SPEAKER_00: I didn't watch the first Derrick Garland game where he was when he didn't shoot the ball well, but I watched the second one against the Orlando Magic.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I saw Evan Mobley with the ball a little bit more than I anticipated.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: Like, oh okay, maybe they're gearing towards the part where it is just him.
22:47
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm a guy that projects that Evan Mobley is going to be the full-time five once it matters the most.
22:52
SPEAKER_00: And Jared Allen, as good as he is, he has his deficiencies.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: I mean, both of them do.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: We're talking about Evan Mobley and he's going into what?
22:59
SPEAKER_00: Is this year number three?
22:59
SPEAKER_00: He's going to?
23:00
SPEAKER_00: I don't even remember.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: Is this year number three?
23:02
SPEAKER_00: He's a super young NBA player, as is Jared Allen.
23:05
SPEAKER_00: Older, but still a young NBA player.
23:07
SPEAKER_00: And the question is, can they either make it work or will they have to make the ultimate decision?
23:15
SPEAKER_00: And if you're asking, which one do they keep, you know the answer to it.
23:19
SPEAKER_00: The guy that was just all defensive.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: It's just still be really good in the regular season.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: They tried to fill up those holes with Max Screws coming into town, George Niyang, which I'm interested to see the minivan play some four.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: I wonder if how many games they close out where either Jared Allen is not on the court and they they they opt to have like a George Niyang out there because defensively he's been able to do it.
23:39
SPEAKER_00: I saw the stat that George Niang has the most regular season wins over the last however many years, which is just a crazy stat.
23:47
SPEAKER_00: And you think about all the teams he's been on, it's like, yeah, the the brother knows how to pick what teams to go to.
23:53
SPEAKER_00: You feel me?
23:54
SPEAKER_00: He just knows.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: And then now this season he was added to a team that won 51 games.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: So his streak of being the winningest player of this generation shouldn't shouldn't waver at all.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, but that was just a small segment about that team.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: I just, as you know, if you've been around, Evan Mobley is one of my favorite players, young players in all of basketball.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: And the moment he starts to be even better on offense is the sky is the limit.
24:18
SPEAKER_00: You know, I I saw a lot of good things last season with his playmaking out of the short roll um happening in glimpses, but it was really good when it happened.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: And I'm excited to see if they elevate that by letting him do that a little bit more, open the game up a little bit more.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: The next guy, one of my favorite guys.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be honest with you.
24:37
SPEAKER_00: This guy was one of the main reasons why I decided to do this video or this episode today.
24:44
SPEAKER_00: The Atlanta Hawks, man.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: The Atlanta Hawks, the Atlanta Hawks, the Atlanta Hawks.
24:50
SPEAKER_00: Last year I went on this podcast, shout out to my guys over at the Deep Three, and of course, this was after the DeJounte Murray trade, and we were talking about where the standings would lie come regular season.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: And Mo over there is an Atlanta Hawks fan, and he was so very optimistic that there is no way they don't make the they uh end up in the play in, so on and so forth.
25:10
SPEAKER_00: And as we know, they made the play-in um and got eliminated in the first round, but they were not as good as maybe some people anticipated.
25:18
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't extremely optimistic about the fit of Trey Young and Jonte Murray.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: Going into year two, though, I'm a little bit more optimistic.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: I'm a little bit more optimistic, and it's partially because this player, Jalen Johnson.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: Alright?
25:36
SPEAKER_00: Jalen Johnson.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: I don't listen, I don't know, I don't know if he's gonna start, I don't know if he's gonna come off the bench, but he is super intriguing to me because as you know, this offseason, John Collis out the door to Utah, and now there's this open spot at the fourth position.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: Last year, the deadline they traded for Mr.
25:54
SPEAKER_00: I scored 50 in an NBA game, and you forgot about it, Sadiq Bey, and they let Sadiq Bey play, and he played damn good for the Atlanta Hawks, at least got back to shooting the ball as good as we thought he was going to be able to, because his last year in Detroit was not shooting nearly as good as before.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: And now with John Collins gone, there's an open spot for the starting four on the team.
26:13
SPEAKER_00: And the candidates are Jalen Johnson, Sadiq Bey, and sneakingly, sneakily, but very, very unlikely, Anyeka Kango.
26:23
SPEAKER_00: I see Anyeka Kangu's more of a five, but in the last preseason game against the the Pelicans, they ran him and Bruno Fernando together a ton.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: They even started together.
26:30
SPEAKER_00: So I wonder if they're thinking about Aneeka Kangu being more of a four because he has shown the willingness to shoot the ball a little bit this this um postseason or playoffs.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: Nope, neither of those.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: This preseason, so maybe, maybe, because he has the versatility to guard the fours across here.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: So I don't know.
26:47
SPEAKER_00: But the job is up for grabs, at my personal opinion.
26:50
SPEAKER_00: And I wonder if Jalen could take it.
26:53
SPEAKER_00: Now, I think at the end of the day, Quentin Snyder's gonna pick the guy that fits the most with Trey Young, DeJounte Murray, and Click Capella, and DeAndre Hunter.
27:01
SPEAKER_00: Because those are the guys that we're pretty sure are gonna be the staple for.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: Which guy fits the best full time?
27:06
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that's Jalen Johnson just yet, and because he has the biggest hole out of the other guys, which is his unwillingness to shoot threes, and when he does shoot threes, he does not hit them.
27:16
SPEAKER_00: 20-something percent from three-point line throughout his career so far.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: But the good thing is, once they got brother out of the dough, Nate McMillan out of the dough, and once Joe Prudy was done and they brought in Quinn Snyder, the amount of minutes that Jalen Brunson was getting Jalen Johnson was getting was elevated.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: He he went from a guy that was averaging like 10 to 12 minutes per game to getting genuinely 20 minutes per.
27:41
SPEAKER_00: And if you read any article or listen to any conversation that Quentin Snyder has about Jalen Johnson, he is very optimistic about what Jalen Johnson can be.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: And as am I.
27:50
SPEAKER_00: Because though he cannot shoot, there are a lot of things about Jalen Johnson's game that I'm super interested in.
27:56
SPEAKER_00: A, he has this combination of transition, playmaking, and defense.
28:03
SPEAKER_00: Again, he's missing a three-point shot, and that might be the determining factor why he might not start this season.
28:09
SPEAKER_00: But I want to I want to tackle all three of these things when it comes to his transition play.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: The numbers say that there are not a lot of people that are as effective as he is in the transition.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: And the I test say that as well.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: Because when a rebound is up and you see Jalen Johnson go, you better give that man the ball because he will finish at the basket.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: And if he's not finishing around the basket, his next thing of the playmaking comes into play.
28:33
SPEAKER_00: In this one game against the New Orleans Pelicans, I'm watching, I didn't watch it live, but I rewatched it.
28:38
SPEAKER_00: And I was so very excited.
28:42
SPEAKER_00: I saw one clip on Twitter where he threw a lob pass when he was the role made, threw it up to Yeka Congo.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh, that's nasty.
28:48
SPEAKER_00: And it made me go watch the full game.
28:50
SPEAKER_00: And he had plays like that every once in a while last season.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: Like, if you watch the Atlanta Hawks ball or you're an Atlanta Hawks fan, you recognize that Jalen Johnson has playmaking chops.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: The numbers don't necessarily support that.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: I think the assist to turnover ratio is like one almost or something like that.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: So the numbers are saying he's turned the ball over pretty uh evenly to where he's passing.
29:10
SPEAKER_00: But a lot of his passes don't necessarily lead to a direct assist of more of hockey assists, right?
29:17
SPEAKER_00: And I personally like a big old forward that has vision.
29:21
SPEAKER_00: One thing, that capella, that that John Collins that that DeAndre Hunter failed to have is the playmaking.
29:29
SPEAKER_00: It has been on Trey Young's back the entirety of his career.
29:32
SPEAKER_00: That is the way they've geared Trey Young to play.
29:34
SPEAKER_00: I don't like the style of play.
29:36
SPEAKER_00: I was hoping that last season you kind of got off of that a little bit, but you didn't.
29:39
SPEAKER_00: They ended up having the least amount of passes per game last year, which is a statistic.
29:43
SPEAKER_00: I didn't even know somebody was joting down, but somebody is.
29:46
SPEAKER_00: They play a heavy, isocentric ball, at least they did with Nate McMillan.
29:50
SPEAKER_00: And I'm hoping that based on who Quint Snyder is and his ability to build up other teams like the Utah Jazz and how free-flowing their offense was, that that would translate and allow Jalen Johnson to showcase some of his playmaking chops because it won't be I'm gonna stand here, get the ball, and make a decision in two seconds to either pass it to the next guy in the corner or drive.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: Because right now, that's all his job is right now.
30:13
SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of limiting the player that he could potentially be.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: So I'm hoping that Quinn has them running a little bit.
30:20
SPEAKER_00: And listen, I watched the game.
30:21
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm gonna say, I watched the game.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: I saw Trey Young move off the ball a little bit.
30:25
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't He never ran as a decoy.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: Like when Trey Young was moving off the ball, you were 100% positive that the play was called for him.
30:36
SPEAKER_00: But that's to step up in the right in the right direction.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: The moment Trey Young can become a decoy is the moment they unlock this Atlanta Hawks offense.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: And that's saying something because they've always been a really good offensive team.
30:47
SPEAKER_00: They've always been, or at least when you get rid of the pairing of DeJounte and Trey Young starting off.
30:52
SPEAKER_00: But like the previous years, Trey Young, as an engine, was a top five offense multiple years in a row.
30:58
SPEAKER_00: So having a guy that can run in transition, that can playmake like hell from the four position, and also guard multiple positions is great.
31:08
SPEAKER_00: One thing that's hindering him from being a really, really good defender, well above average defender, is he can't keep his hands to himself, is a dude that stays in foul trouble.
31:16
SPEAKER_00: And we're talking about a player that averages 20 minutes per game on a good week, stays in foul trouble.
31:21
SPEAKER_00: But it's also a virtue of him being last year in his second year as an NBA player.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: And did I mention that he's not even 22 just yet?
31:29
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if I'm not predicting a breakout Jalen Johnson season, but I'm predicting that he's gonna be a regular part of the Atlanta Hawks organization.
31:37
SPEAKER_00: And if Quentin Snyder puts him to the place where he can play by his strengths, then he could potentially be the starting four on the Atlanta Hawks team that Trey Young says he's ready to win a championship.
31:50
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
31:52
SPEAKER_00: Trey Young said that, and he should be ready.
31:55
SPEAKER_00: The roster around him is not, and I'm curious if Quentin Snyder is the guy to get Jalen Johnson in the right place.
32:02
SPEAKER_00: Sadiq Bey is a very good option as well.
32:04
SPEAKER_00: As we know, he can shoot the hell out of the ball.
32:06
SPEAKER_00: I don't really love the idea of Anyeka Kongwell being the starting four again, but they have rented a little bit.
32:13
SPEAKER_00: So I don't know.
32:15
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I'm premature on this.
32:17
SPEAKER_00: I feel like every single year I go to look at look for a third-year player and see if he's gonna be the one to take the jump.
32:25
SPEAKER_00: I'm not shooting a great percentage.
32:27
SPEAKER_00: You got me.
32:27
SPEAKER_00: You got me.
32:28
SPEAKER_00: Go watch the other videos, you got me.
32:30
SPEAKER_00: But when I hit, I hit.
32:32
SPEAKER_00: You feel me?
32:33
SPEAKER_00: Let's hope that this is a hit for the sake of everything.
32:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm not predicting a huge breakout.
32:38
SPEAKER_00: One of my last guys that is super intriguing to me is one of my favorite players in the league.
32:43
SPEAKER_00: It is Wendell Carter Jr.
32:46
SPEAKER_00: Wendell Carter Jr.
32:48
SPEAKER_00: is a guy that, of course, I got to see get drafted here in Chicago, and I was always intrigued about him being a full-time center.
32:54
SPEAKER_00: There is rumors around the association when he was with the Bulls that he was telling the telling the front office and stuff that I want to be a power forward in this league.
33:02
SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, Wendell Carter is a 6'9 big.
33:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, and when you compare him to the other great bigs around the association, he is an undersized center.
33:11
SPEAKER_00: So it would make sense to me why he would say, hey, I want to run the four.
33:14
SPEAKER_00: But that time, he was not given the green light to become a four.
33:18
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't given a green light to shoot the ball.
33:20
SPEAKER_00: He was just a dig and dump center where he got the ball at the elbow, maybe, maybe made a dribble, and then a floater.
33:27
SPEAKER_00: And that was his job here in Chicago.
33:29
SPEAKER_00: The best thing that could have happened to Wendell Carter's career is that he was traded to a place where he was allowed the freedom to grow as a player, which is stupid to say because the Bulls were awful in a tanking team, but they never allowed their lottery picks.
33:42
SPEAKER_00: Here's the Bulls talk.
33:43
SPEAKER_00: They never allow their lottery picks to explore who they could be as a player.
33:48
SPEAKER_00: And Wendale is still a super young center in ball, but he is also, for what his team needs, a super impactful player.
33:56
SPEAKER_00: Last year, well not last year, Wendell Carter, one of the major knocks on him is his lack of health.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: Seems like every single season he's gonna get to miss 20 games.
34:05
SPEAKER_00: And obviously, if you're building a playoff team, you're building a team that eventually wants to go out and compete for championships.
34:10
SPEAKER_00: You need people to be Ironman.
34:12
SPEAKER_00: You need people to play as many games as possible.
34:15
SPEAKER_00: Last year, he missed a total of 25 games.
34:18
SPEAKER_00: And in those 25 games, the team was 8 and 17.
34:21
SPEAKER_00: Awful.
34:23
SPEAKER_00: I want to tell you in the second half of the season, the Orlando Magic were a good basketball team.
34:27
SPEAKER_00: They were one of the best defensive teams in ball.
34:29
SPEAKER_00: They were a 500, slightly above 500 team second half of the NBA season.
34:33
SPEAKER_00: They were decent.
34:34
SPEAKER_00: But when Wendell wasn't there, they were bad.
34:37
SPEAKER_00: Now they could be a combination of two different things.
34:39
SPEAKER_00: Either Wendell is just really like that, or the guy that was backing up Wendell is awful.
34:45
SPEAKER_00: It could be that too.
34:47
SPEAKER_00: But Wendell Carter has become a jack of all trades throughout the course of his NBA career.
34:53
SPEAKER_00: He's a decent enough defender to hold his own.
34:56
SPEAKER_00: Again, he's undersized.
34:57
SPEAKER_00: So when you get to one-on-one matchups with a Joel Embiid with the Jokics of the world, he's not gonna do well.
35:03
SPEAKER_00: But who the hell is at the end of the day?
35:05
SPEAKER_00: He's not a guy that puts fear in a lot of players' hearts, you know, as much as they my fandom breaks out every single episode.
35:14
SPEAKER_00: As much as people around the association would say they're not afraid of Rudy Gobert, the numbers say otherwise, that his rim deterrence numbers are insane, and they always have been.
35:22
SPEAKER_00: Wendell Carter does not have that same luxury where teams are able to get to the basket and not think twice about getting to the basket of him.
35:29
SPEAKER_00: He's he's undersized.
35:30
SPEAKER_00: But over the last season, the most intriguing part about Wendell Carter is he has developed a three-point shot in Orlando, something that he told the world he should be able to do one day.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: He was he just needed time.
35:43
SPEAKER_00: And the Orlando Magic gave him time.
35:46
SPEAKER_00: And his last game, against I want to say the Pelicans, he was four for five from three, most of them in a corner.
35:53
SPEAKER_00: And the reason why that's interesting to me because it opened up the game so much more for the people around him.
35:59
SPEAKER_00: In that game, Palo Benquero had four or five passes that I was like, what the f you feel me?
36:07
SPEAKER_00: Left-hand cross-court pass to a guy streaking up court on the money.
36:11
SPEAKER_00: Three-point shot Franz Wagner.
36:13
SPEAKER_00: Pick and roll Franz with Franz Wagner slipping it to him with with the the the degree of difficulty was so high that the amount of room he had to get the ball in was like six inches.
36:23
SPEAKER_00: He got the ball in there.
36:24
SPEAKER_00: Swoop.
36:25
SPEAKER_00: And one of the reasons why it was so effective, because you know who was sitting on the on the corner ready to shoot threes and opened up the offensive game for the rest of them?
36:34
SPEAKER_00: Wendell.
36:35
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm not I'm not advocating for Wendell Carter to now become a spotter three-point shooter because he is also a valuable screener and a somewhat valuable playmaker.
36:46
SPEAKER_00: Another guy where I feel like he has playmaking chops, but hasn't been able to figure out when and when not to use it, right?
36:53
SPEAKER_00: And that that comes with growth as a player.
36:54
SPEAKER_00: Because again, his assistant turnover ratio is about one to one.
36:58
SPEAKER_00: But if you watch Orlando Magic Games where he's given the ball on a short short roll, he sees it.
37:04
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't always make the right decision, but he sees it.
37:07
SPEAKER_00: And he saw it a lot last season.
37:08
SPEAKER_00: And I'm hoping that we get a combination of all of these things for Wendell where he is a three-point shooter.
37:13
SPEAKER_00: Because last year he shot 35% on a couple attempts per game, which is really, really good.
37:17
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he increases it by a couple percentage points where he is now one of the best three-point shooting bigs in all of all.
37:22
SPEAKER_00: Because it don't take it don't take much.
37:23
SPEAKER_00: When it comes to the center position, it does not take much to be considered one of the best three-point shooters at that.
37:28
SPEAKER_00: Be slightly above league average on decent value.
37:31
SPEAKER_00: You got it.
37:32
SPEAKER_00: You got it, Wendale.
37:33
SPEAKER_00: But I also want to see a lot of situations where he is the roll man and getting the ball on the short roll and having to make decisions.
37:40
SPEAKER_00: Because a center that is not one-dimensional is the most dangerous center in ball.
37:44
SPEAKER_00: A center that can set a hard screen to allow the ball handler to get around the corner, but also can pop and can also roll because he's got good hands that can catch the ball and dunk it if he needs to.
37:56
SPEAKER_00: He has so many tools to be a high-level player.
37:59
SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't know if he'll ever get to the point where he's in the top third amongst centers because the center position is insanely deep in the NBA right now.
38:10
SPEAKER_00: Right?
38:11
SPEAKER_00: But they don't need him to be in the top third.
38:14
SPEAKER_00: If he can be number 12, if we can get Wendell Carter to the 12th best center in ball, with also recognizing who Franz or Palo can be, then that team can be insane.
38:25
SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't think all of that's happening this season.
38:27
SPEAKER_00: Progression is not linear.
38:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm not counting on anybody to get to get better completely, because again, progression is not linear.
38:34
SPEAKER_00: But if they do, if Palo does take the step, if Franz does take the step, if Wendell does take a step, this is one of those teams where I'm watching as many games as possible.
38:42
SPEAKER_00: I don't think they're gonna be my Sacramento Kings because Kings ball last year.
38:46
SPEAKER_00: Yo, I ain't missed games.
38:47
SPEAKER_00: I'm in I'm in Midwest.
38:49
SPEAKER_00: They're two hours behind.
38:51
SPEAKER_00: Them games was clocking in at 10 p.m.
38:53
SPEAKER_00: I'm in this chair.
38:55
SPEAKER_00: Let's get it, let's get to it.
38:57
SPEAKER_00: Watching the whole thing.
38:58
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if they're gonna be that, but they are East Coast State, so their games are normally early.
39:02
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they will be, I don't know.
39:04
SPEAKER_00: But the the ceiling of Wendell Carter is the perfect center to have alongside Palo and Franz, considering the Orlando Magic as a whole is a negative three-point shooting team.
39:17
SPEAKER_00: Right?
39:18
SPEAKER_00: Having as many threats as possible is just gonna amplify the amount of space Palo and Franz has to do what they do, and Markel Foltz, too.
39:26
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to discredit Markel Foltz.
39:29
SPEAKER_00: Those are five, because I guess Mobley and Jared Allen count as individuals too.
39:35
SPEAKER_00: Five of my most intriguing players.
39:38
SPEAKER_00: I could have done a segment about Kobe White, and maybe one day I will.
39:42
SPEAKER_00: Desmond Bain was also on my list.
39:44
SPEAKER_00: $207 million.
39:46
SPEAKER_00: And with John Morant not being there for 25 games, can he hit that next step as a primary ball handler?
39:52
SPEAKER_00: And he's looked pretty good in preseason doing that.
39:54
SPEAKER_00: The time will tell, but I didn't have enough info or enough things to talk about to add him as a full segment.
40:00
SPEAKER_00: But Desmond Bain is one of those dudes.
40:01
SPEAKER_00: Can he hold it down while John Morant is serving his suspension?
40:06
SPEAKER_00: Let me know who you think the most intriguing players in ball are this season.
40:11
SPEAKER_00: As you notice, I didn't add any current all-stars.
40:14
SPEAKER_00: I got some guys that could be all-stars soon, like Maxie or Bain or Jared or Evan Mobley, because Jared Allen's been a few years now.
40:21
SPEAKER_00: But don't credit the the all-stars.
40:23
SPEAKER_00: Because you know who's really intriguing?
40:25
SPEAKER_00: Damian Lillich fit with Giannis.
40:27
SPEAKER_00: They played their first game tonight.
40:28
SPEAKER_00: Looked alright.
40:29
SPEAKER_00: Everybody knows that's intriguing.
40:30
SPEAKER_00: Let's let's get a little bit deeper.
40:32
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about these questions, though.
40:34
SPEAKER_00: At Kenny Beach and Podcast or hashtag askKB A-S-K-A-S-K-K B.
40:42
SPEAKER_00: I may have to change that, brother.
40:43
SPEAKER_00: Okay, spell it.
40:44
SPEAKER_00: You feel me?
40:45
SPEAKER_00: Alright, let's talk about these questions.
40:47
SPEAKER_00: The first one comes from Arian.
40:49
SPEAKER_00: And he says, What are your thoughts on the in-season tournament?
40:52
SPEAKER_00: And I love it.
40:54
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely love the idea.
40:55
SPEAKER_00: Now, I can't say I've always loved it, you know.
40:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I might be in a minority because I have talked to NBA fans.
41:01
SPEAKER_00: They just don't see the reason for it.
41:03
SPEAKER_00: I know a lot of NBA players may not have been public about it, but they're not, they don't really give a damn about it.
41:09
SPEAKER_00: But the reason I enjoy it, I like any excuse for high-stakes basketball.
41:14
SPEAKER_00: Now, again, will these players treat it as such?
41:17
SPEAKER_00: Where coaches around the association treat these games where their star players play an extra amount of minutes because they want to go and get the what do they call it?
41:25
SPEAKER_00: The Stern Cup.
41:26
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it has a real name.
41:27
SPEAKER_00: Is it the David Stern Cup?
41:28
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
41:29
SPEAKER_00: But any chance we get to amplify this crucial and long regular season, I am here for it.
41:36
SPEAKER_00: And I also recognize that it probably won't be good to start off with.
41:40
SPEAKER_00: It's not like the play-in where it is winner go home.
41:43
SPEAKER_00: We're talking regular season, we're talking in the beginning of the regular season, really.
41:47
SPEAKER_00: Can we convince people to care?
41:48
SPEAKER_00: I will be stupidly locked in on it.
41:50
SPEAKER_00: I'll tell you that much.
41:51
SPEAKER_00: And I think that if it goes well enough and people tune into these special games with the special patch on the jersey, and players start to buy in throughout the course of history, if it sticks, then this cup thing, this mid-season cup thing, can become something that you see across other sports, specifically soccer.
42:11
SPEAKER_00: Why am I not like this other sport?
42:13
SPEAKER_00: Specifically soccer, or the WNBA who just did it, uh the Commissioner Cup, where there's other things to really care about.
42:21
SPEAKER_00: I like seeing teams from different leagues, again in soccer, play against each other for a goal that's not the end-all championship, you know?
42:32
SPEAKER_00: I would be happy if my favorite team won the Commissioner Cup of the NBA.
42:39
SPEAKER_00: I would.
42:39
SPEAKER_00: Now I wouldn't be as happy as the NBA Championship because at the end of the day, the ring matters the most.
42:44
SPEAKER_00: But if we can get it to the point where it is successful enough to maybe the payout of it is a viable option for NBA players and they start to care and they want to play 44 minutes in this random game, I am completely here for it.
43:00
SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, one of my favorite things about the NBA is they're not afraid to take chances, at least over the last couple years.
43:06
SPEAKER_00: Now, that has not always been the case, but they're not afraid to take chances on an in-season tournament on changing up the all-star format to to where uh what is it called?
43:16
SPEAKER_00: I forget what it's called already, where they have a set number of uh points they need to hit come fourth quarter.
43:22
SPEAKER_00: All of these little adjustments, some good, some bad, just elevate the game.
43:26
SPEAKER_00: And if it sucks, get rid of it.
43:29
SPEAKER_00: This is one of those things that I don't think is going to going to suck.
43:34
SPEAKER_00: It's just a matter of will the fans watch the finals.
43:36
SPEAKER_00: Because at the end of the day, these are normal games in the regular season.
43:38
SPEAKER_00: You feel me?
43:39
SPEAKER_00: These are just normal games.
43:40
SPEAKER_00: The only extra game is that final in Las Vegas, right?
43:43
SPEAKER_00: So if the fans tune into that final and they sell it well, and we can get people to care, like the G League players do when they win these type of things, then it's gonna be fun.
43:53
SPEAKER_00: All basketball is good basketball.
43:55
SPEAKER_00: That's my opinion.
43:56
SPEAKER_00: And if we can add another element to it, I'm here.
43:58
SPEAKER_00: The next one is from K.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: Cam, what's been the most challenging part of growing your personal brand throughout your career?
44:06
SPEAKER_00: That's a tough one, Cam.
44:08
SPEAKER_00: The most challenging part for me is recognizing that that's what I'm doing.
44:13
SPEAKER_00: For the first, I've been doing this for 11 years now.
44:16
SPEAKER_00: For the first eight years, I'm not thinking about no damn brand.
44:21
SPEAKER_00: I was creating YouTube videos, having fun, making money, trying to build wealth for the family.
44:26
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't thinking about a brand until the last couple seasons.
44:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
44:32
SPEAKER_00: I have to think about the way I carry myself.
44:34
SPEAKER_00: I gotta think about what I say because there are people, kids, that are watching videos and taking inspiration from the things that I do and say.
44:43
SPEAKER_00: Now, I would like to think of myself as a good person.
44:46
SPEAKER_00: It's not like I had to completely get rid of part of my personality.
44:48
SPEAKER_00: This is just who I am, but I'm just more cognizant of those type of things.
44:51
SPEAKER_00: But on the bigger, on a bigger scale, on a bigger scale, when we talk about in sports media, I am trying to do something that a lot of people have not tried, and a lot of people have not been successful at.
45:05
SPEAKER_00: A lot of the times, the the way you get to do the major things of sports media is you go to school for journalism or broadcasting or whatever it may be.
45:15
SPEAKER_00: You intern at a place, you write, you do whatever behind the scenes for a decade, 22 decades before you ever get a chance to be in front of a camera.
45:24
SPEAKER_00: I got I didn't do any of that.
45:26
SPEAKER_00: I went to college for a couple semesters.
45:28
SPEAKER_00: I don't have it, I don't have a like a degree that says that this guy should be on TV or that this guy should have a following around sports.
45:35
SPEAKER_00: And I was able to do that, right?
45:37
SPEAKER_00: I I've had time on first take, I've had time on inside the NBA, I've done NBA TV, right?
45:44
SPEAKER_00: Getting rid of the entire middle process.
45:47
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, okay, if I'm able to do that, what else can I do?
45:52
SPEAKER_00: So I started I started a genuine brand, the Enjoy Basketball brand, right?
45:56
SPEAKER_00: It's like, hey, I am a guy that kind of look uh tries to look at the positive side of ball at all times.
46:02
SPEAKER_00: What if we turn that into apparel, turn that to a community?
46:05
SPEAKER_00: And we're able to do that.
46:06
SPEAKER_00: Our newsletter, the Enjoy Basketball newsletter, has 51,000 viewers.
46:10
SPEAKER_00: That on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, they open an email to see writers from our brand and read what's going on around the association.
46:17
SPEAKER_00: We've dropped six or seven different Enjoy Basketball merch drops, basketball hoops, hats, t-shirts, shorts.
46:24
SPEAKER_00: Every single one of them have sold out in the first hour.
46:27
SPEAKER_00: Every single one.
46:29
SPEAKER_00: And I that was something that I didn't even think was possible until the last couple seasons.
46:34
SPEAKER_00: My brain is always in basketball mode.
46:36
SPEAKER_00: And the last couple years.
46:37
SPEAKER_00: So it's like now I'm in these meetings talking to influential people, people with money, people that want to invest, and I gotta figure out is that my partner?
46:46
SPEAKER_00: Is this somebody I have to trust?
46:47
SPEAKER_00: That is the hardest part about all of it.
46:50
SPEAKER_00: The easy part is this talking to the camera.
46:53
SPEAKER_00: I could do this all damn day.
46:56
SPEAKER_00: But it's what happens after this video is done.
46:58
SPEAKER_00: It's the upload process, it's trying to sell ads on this show.
47:02
SPEAKER_00: I have you noticed, I ain't done an ad yet.
47:04
SPEAKER_00: Not even a YouTube video, it's not an ad.
47:05
SPEAKER_00: There's no pre-rolls yet.
47:08
SPEAKER_00: But we're in those meetings and we're trying to do it as ethically as possible and put together great content.
47:16
SPEAKER_00: Get the ads that matter to my community and make wealth where everybody walks out like, man, this is great.
47:22
SPEAKER_00: You feel me?
47:23
SPEAKER_00: You feel me?
47:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I didn't even know.
47:26
SPEAKER_00: Did I answer your question?
47:27
SPEAKER_00: What is the most challenging part?
47:28
SPEAKER_00: The most challenging part is the stuff that y'all don't see behind the cameras when they're not on.
47:33
SPEAKER_00: That is the most challenging part.
47:35
SPEAKER_00: Back to basketball from Val.
47:37
SPEAKER_00: Do you think Detroit's rebuild is over following the return of Kate and the acquisition of Asar?
47:43
SPEAKER_00: I do want to say I watched Asar play one of his preseason games, and I've watched him at Overtime Elite, and I watched him in the Summer League.
47:52
SPEAKER_00: This man is as hard-nosed as a defender as a rookie could get.
47:56
SPEAKER_00: And there's a couple of them in this draft class.
47:58
SPEAKER_00: Between the Thompson Twins and Casey and Wallace, there's a couple guards that's coming into the league.
48:02
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm going to lock you up.
48:03
SPEAKER_00: I don't care if your name is Shea Gilles Alexander or your name is, I don't even want to throw no shade at nobody.
48:09
SPEAKER_00: I don't care if you Shea.
48:10
SPEAKER_00: I don't care if you're Dame.
48:11
SPEAKER_00: My job is to clamp you up.
48:12
SPEAKER_00: And listen, he's not going to be successful.
48:15
SPEAKER_00: Because the offense in the league is so crazy.
48:17
SPEAKER_00: But he's going to be one of the best defenders, perimeter defenders in the league.
48:22
SPEAKER_00: I think the moment he steps on the real NBA floor, like an actual game, that matters.
48:26
SPEAKER_00: Now, what's the ceiling of that?
48:27
SPEAKER_00: Could he end up being the number one perimeter defender of all?
48:29
SPEAKER_00: Maybe.
48:30
SPEAKER_00: Maybe.
48:31
SPEAKER_00: But your question of asking, is the rebuild over?
48:34
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to tell you to pump your brakes.
48:37
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm just going to, I'm just going to be uh realistic here.
48:41
SPEAKER_00: The likelihood of Kay Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Asar Thompson, Jalen Duran, and every single young player that you've drafted, the likelihood of all of them hitting is not very high.
48:55
SPEAKER_00: Do I like the chances on Valladia players?
48:58
SPEAKER_00: Hell yes.
49:00
SPEAKER_00: But the likelihood of them all being the ones to be there when you're making the playoff puss is pretty unlikely.
49:08
SPEAKER_00: I think it comes down to semantics, right?
49:10
SPEAKER_00: What do you consider a rebuild, right?
49:12
SPEAKER_00: If your consideration or your definition of a rebuild is tanking to get draft capital, to get young players, to turn those young players into a championship roster, if that's your definition, I don't think you're done.
49:27
SPEAKER_00: I don't think you're done.
49:29
SPEAKER_00: But if your definition is like, okay, rebuilding is finding your core group and investing in those core groups, maybe you are.
49:37
SPEAKER_00: But I think it, I think it all boils down to semantics.
49:40
SPEAKER_00: I wish you and every fan base nothing but success, but the likelihood is you're not gonna hit 100% on your draft picks.
49:47
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you see that with Killian Hayes.
49:49
SPEAKER_00: Even though Killian looked damn good in those two preseason games, do not hey, I I'm not saying I'm I'm not saying nothing.
49:56
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying nothing, Killian.
49:58
SPEAKER_00: I ain't see it, I ain't see it, they ain't seeing it.
50:00
SPEAKER_00: I still got a little bit of stock there.
50:03
SPEAKER_00: I sold most of it at an all-time low.
50:05
SPEAKER_00: I got a little bit of stock there on Killian Island.
50:07
SPEAKER_00: Not even that he's gonna be a star, but can he stay in the association?
50:11
SPEAKER_00: That's the real question.
50:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, but if I'm answering your question as genuinely as possible, I do not believe the rebuild is over.
50:17
SPEAKER_00: And that's okay.
50:18
SPEAKER_00: And that is okay.
50:20
SPEAKER_00: You gotta remember where you started and how long it's taken.
50:23
SPEAKER_00: The rebuilds typically take a very long time.
50:26
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if you're there just yet.
50:28
SPEAKER_00: The next one is on a personal level, comes from Caden.
50:31
SPEAKER_00: How has your perception of fatherhood changed from when you first had your kid compared to now?
50:38
SPEAKER_00: Now I know there are, I get the I get the messages, y'all.
50:41
SPEAKER_00: I read the DMs.
50:42
SPEAKER_00: There are a few, at least, that I've read recently, expecting fathers out there in the in the community, one of them being my boy D.
50:49
SPEAKER_00: Mills.
50:50
SPEAKER_00: His his kids could be here in two weeks, which is next week, which is crazy.
50:56
SPEAKER_00: Um everything has changed in my mindset from when my daughter was born to now.
51:02
SPEAKER_00: When she was born, I was afraid, anxious, timid, everything.
51:09
SPEAKER_00: I became the exact opposite person that I was before she was born.
51:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, I I mean, I guess I've never been this guy that was ultra confident walking to a party life and a party dude, but I just genuinely became scared about her future as a person and our future as a family, and it made me think about my work a lot differently.
51:27
SPEAKER_00: But now, she's like 18 months or so, she's walking, she's talking, she has a personality, and all of that has gone away.
51:33
SPEAKER_00: My anxiety around fatherhood has subsided for the most part.
51:37
SPEAKER_00: Now, obviously, this world is a very, very scary place.
51:40
SPEAKER_00: There are there are things that go through my mind all the time about the safety of my child, especially here in America, with her eventually going to school one day.
51:47
SPEAKER_00: Like those things are always gonna be in my mind, regardless.
51:50
SPEAKER_00: But the day-to-day anxiety that I experienced when she was first born has mostly subsided.
51:55
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be candid with y'all.
51:57
SPEAKER_00: When she was born, I had this anxiety anytime she was feeding.
52:02
SPEAKER_00: I one of the biggest fears I had growing up was of choking.
52:06
SPEAKER_00: I have a story where I was in the backseat of my auntie car eating some peanut MMs.
52:11
SPEAKER_00: And the way I eat it, I ate eat it.
52:13
SPEAKER_00: Ate peanut MM's back in the day was I'm gonna suck all the chocolate off and then I'm gonna I'm gonna bite into the peanut.
52:19
SPEAKER_00: Well, this day, the the peanut got lost in the throat, and she had to pull over driving, and it wasn't a Heimlich maneuver or anything, but like I I choked that day, and I was fearing for my life, and I know what that is like.
52:33
SPEAKER_00: So when she was a kid, well, she's still a kid, when she was a baby baby, anytime she was feeding on on even the smallest little thing, I was afraid.
52:42
SPEAKER_00: And now that thought doesn't really cross my mind.
52:44
SPEAKER_00: Of course, we're very uh present with her when she's eating, just to make sure, but like that prevented me from being a present parent in a lot of cases.
52:54
SPEAKER_00: Where I kind of needed at my time my fiance to be there when she was eating because I was anxious, you know?
53:02
SPEAKER_00: And now it's it's not gone again, but it's subsided quite significantly where that is generally my best friend.
53:09
SPEAKER_00: And I know everybody loves their kids, but my kid is special.
53:12
SPEAKER_00: That's all I gotta say.
53:13
SPEAKER_00: Let's get into the very last question.
53:16
SPEAKER_00: It comes from the real one, JK.
53:18
SPEAKER_00: JK21.
53:19
SPEAKER_00: Are you saying that you're not the real one, or is your initials JK?
53:21
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
53:22
SPEAKER_00: He asks, or they ask, how high up the ESPN 100 lists can Wimby climb by next season?
53:30
SPEAKER_00: You had to know that we had to talk about Wimby here.
53:34
SPEAKER_00: I dropped a video on my Kenny for Real channel talking about how impressed I have been with Victor Wiminyama as a person that did not watch him a ton.
53:44
SPEAKER_00: Really, the only thing that I've seen is like other people break down and stuff, but full games was October 4th, 2023 or 2022 when him and Scoot Henderson played against each other in Las Vegas.
53:54
SPEAKER_00: Only reason I know the exact date, it's my birthday.
53:56
SPEAKER_00: I spent my birthday watching Scoop versus Wimby, and I ain't regretted one bit.
53:59
SPEAKER_00: That game was electric.
54:01
SPEAKER_00: And then I watched him in Summer League.
54:03
SPEAKER_00: And Summer League, he he what do you say?
54:05
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know what I was doing out there.
54:06
SPEAKER_00: Like he was candid about that too.
54:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, but through the first couple preseason games, boy.
54:12
SPEAKER_00: I I knew immediately that he would come into the association and be a good to great defender.
54:17
SPEAKER_00: When you have a 7-4 height in the wingspan of a pterodactyl, and you have the defensive instincts that he has, there was no world in my mind where he wasn't gonna immediately impact the defensive side of the ball positively.
54:31
SPEAKER_00: But even that is on a whole nother level than my anticipation.
54:35
SPEAKER_00: If he's able to score the ball at the same rate as he has throughout the first two preseason games, I don't even know what to say.
54:42
SPEAKER_00: Now, the first preseason game is going against Chet Holmgren, another thin-frame, skinny young player across the association.
54:48
SPEAKER_00: And in game number two, he's playing against the backups of the Miami Heat.
54:51
SPEAKER_00: So, yes, his level of competition hasn't been Jokic or Embiid or anything like that, but it is extremely, extremely impressive.
54:57
SPEAKER_00: I think the ESPN top 100 anticipates him being the 47th ranked player at the somewhere in those lines after the end of next season.
55:06
SPEAKER_00: He there's a world where he's top 30.
55:09
SPEAKER_00: Genuinely.
55:10
SPEAKER_00: There's a world where he's top 30.
55:12
SPEAKER_00: And I want to remind you, I am a dude that is always preached.
55:17
SPEAKER_00: Give the kids time, do not add expectations to a 19-year-old because 19-year-olds historically don't know what the hell they're doing.
55:26
SPEAKER_00: You feel me?
55:28
SPEAKER_00: But Wimby is the one that I'm like, man, I'm willing to put those expectations on because I think he can handle it.
55:34
SPEAKER_00: His play is as good as I've ever seen.
55:38
SPEAKER_00: But the problem is, we don't know if he will stay healthy.
55:42
SPEAKER_00: And it's not like historically throughout his career he's dealt with this injury, this injury, but just people his size in the association haven't held up.
55:49
SPEAKER_00: But if he could be the exception there, he will be exceptional on the court bars bars.
55:56
SPEAKER_00: So hashtag ASKKB, ask your questions, life, basketball, other sports, I'm here for.
56:04
SPEAKER_00: The last thing we want to do before we get out of here is try to rank the top five trios in basketball.
56:13
SPEAKER_00: Simply put, the teams that have the best top three in their organization, and boy, oh boy, was this hard.
56:21
SPEAKER_00: Because there are some teams, like the LA Lakers, right?
56:24
SPEAKER_00: That their top two players, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, are all NBA calibers, widely considered top 10-ish players in basketball.
56:30
SPEAKER_00: But the third player is like Austin Reeves, who's good.
56:33
SPEAKER_00: He's not an all-star, though.
56:35
SPEAKER_00: So how much do we weigh the two top 10-ish players versus a player that's outside of that, significantly outside that?
56:41
SPEAKER_00: Where, like another team, like, okay, let me, let me, let me think about it.
56:45
SPEAKER_00: Let me think about it.
56:46
SPEAKER_00: Zion, Brandon Ingram, and CJ McCullum.
56:48
SPEAKER_00: Zion is uh a top player in the league when he's healthy.
56:51
SPEAKER_00: Brandon Ingram is a top 30 to 40-ish player.
56:54
SPEAKER_00: I don't know where you're gonna put him, but you recognize that Brandon Ingram is really good.
56:57
SPEAKER_00: And CJ McCullough's never been an all-star, but we're gonna ask his bucket getters.
57:00
SPEAKER_00: Like, that is a well-rounded three.
57:02
SPEAKER_00: Would you take the top end talent of LeBron James and uh uh Anthony Davis over those three, even though they might be more consistently their average rank in the basketball might be somewhat lower because Austin Reeves doesn't compare.
57:16
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
57:17
SPEAKER_00: It's a conversation.
57:19
SPEAKER_00: The one team that I'm pretty good at putting number one, almost undisputed, is the Phoenix Suns, Kevin O'Reilly, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal.
57:28
SPEAKER_00: Now we've only seen a handful of minutes of these players playing together, so this is the theoretical version of these players.
57:34
SPEAKER_00: Talent for talent, top three.
57:36
SPEAKER_00: Nobody's messing with them.
57:38
SPEAKER_00: Now you can argue overlapping skill set.
57:40
SPEAKER_00: I don't give a damn.
57:41
SPEAKER_00: Skill set is barred, like nobody's compared, right?
57:45
SPEAKER_00: My number two is between two different teams.
57:49
SPEAKER_00: It is the Milwaukee Bucks, and it is the Boston Celtics.
57:54
SPEAKER_00: So the Bucs, I had a hard time even determining who their third player was.
57:57
SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of people put Chris Middleton based on reputation, him being a I think he's a multiple-time all-star, and him just being an absolute bucket.
58:04
SPEAKER_00: But for the sake of argument, I went with Brooke Lopez because he's been the more consistent player over the last couple seasons, just because Chris Middleton has dealt with the injury, and because Brooke Lopez is a top three defensive player of the year candidate.
58:16
SPEAKER_00: And I vow I value that over some buckets at this point in time.
58:21
SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, the Boston Celtics have Tatum Brown and Drew Holiday.
58:24
SPEAKER_00: The Celtics have been in the conference finals a hundred of the last uh 107 years, at least that's what it feels like.
58:29
SPEAKER_00: And then Drew Holiday again just got off an all-star appearance last season as well.
58:34
SPEAKER_00: So it's like Giannis is widely considered one of the two best players in ball, right?
58:38
SPEAKER_00: Damian Lillard is in the top 10-ish, maybe he's 14-ish.
58:43
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
58:44
SPEAKER_00: And then Brooke Lopez is significantly lower than that, but he's still not an all-star player, but he as he's as close to a borderline all-star player as you can be.
58:53
SPEAKER_00: While the other three are like three all-stars.
58:56
SPEAKER_00: And I'm kind of talking myself into the Tatum Brown and then Holiday.
59:01
SPEAKER_00: I think the fit of the other three, the Giannis, the Lillard, and Lopez is probably smoother.
59:06
SPEAKER_00: But the talent of Tatum Brown and who is this, Holiday?
59:11
SPEAKER_00: It's just maybe better.
59:13
SPEAKER_00: So I'll put Celtics two, Bucks three.
59:18
SPEAKER_00: Now, after this, we have two more spots.
59:21
SPEAKER_00: And I want to read you the teams that we are considering.
59:24
SPEAKER_00: The Pelicans, a team that we just talked about.
59:27
SPEAKER_00: The Lakers, the Miami Heat, the Grizzlies, who I'm kind of getting rid of because Ja won't be there for 25 games.
59:33
SPEAKER_00: We're talking about next season.
59:34
SPEAKER_00: Donovan Mitchell and the Cavaliers and Company.
59:37
SPEAKER_00: The 76ers, who I might get rid of just because we don't know what James Harden is going to be.
59:41
SPEAKER_00: We have the defending champions, and then the Golden State Warriors, who should just get the respect, even if their three aren't in their prime anymore.
59:49
SPEAKER_00: Steph Curry's still in his prime, but the rest might not be in their prime anymore.
59:52
SPEAKER_00: I might be giving the nod to the defending champions.
59:56
SPEAKER_00: And their three to me is Jokic Murray Gordon.
1:00:00
SPEAKER_00: Gordon showed his value over the last couple seasons once he got there.
1:00:03
SPEAKER_00: And then last year, I mean in the NBA Finals, he had the one game where he went supernova.
1:00:07
SPEAKER_00: His defense has been great.
1:00:08
SPEAKER_00: He's the perfect player to put alongside Nikola Jokic.
1:00:10
SPEAKER_00: I cannot express that enough.
1:00:11
SPEAKER_00: Jamal Murray, zero all-star appearances.
1:00:14
SPEAKER_00: But what the playoff numbers say.
1:00:18
SPEAKER_00: Show what the playoff numbers say.
1:00:19
SPEAKER_00: I don't care if he has zero all-star appearances.
1:00:21
SPEAKER_00: If he gets to the playoffs and he turns into, I don't know, Alan Iverson mixed with Michael Jordan, mixed with I don't know who, then I value that.
1:00:30
SPEAKER_00: And I think you deserve to be on the list regardless if you are the definitive champions.
1:00:34
SPEAKER_00: Because these other teams, so okay, the teams above them didn't exist last year.
1:00:39
SPEAKER_00: But the teams beneath you, for the most part, all existed and they couldn't beat you.
1:00:43
SPEAKER_00: So I'm putting you in the fourth spot.
1:00:44
SPEAKER_00: I'm giving you your respect as the fourth spot.
1:00:47
SPEAKER_00: So this last spot I have to pick between the Cavs, which is Evan Mobley, Darius Garland, and Donald Mitchell, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, and then Bam Montabayo, Jimmy Butler, um Tyler Hero, and then LeBron, Anthony Davis, Austin Reeves.
1:01:03
SPEAKER_00: Sheesh.
1:01:05
SPEAKER_00: This is really, really tough.
1:01:08
SPEAKER_00: This is really, really tough.
1:01:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm kind of leaning towards Braun A.D.
1:01:16
SPEAKER_00: and Reeves.
1:01:17
SPEAKER_00: And I don't feel good about it.
1:01:20
SPEAKER_00: Because Curry Thompson the Green deserve the respect.
1:01:23
SPEAKER_00: But we are talking about 2023-2024 and not really thinking about the last couple years.
1:01:30
SPEAKER_00: Um that Lakers 3 beat the Warriors 3, so maybe we think about that.
1:01:34
SPEAKER_00: But also that Lakers team got swept by Denver, where at least the Miami Heat took a game or two.
1:01:44
SPEAKER_00: The Heat didn't have their big three and still took a game or two.
1:01:48
SPEAKER_00: Oh boy.
1:01:49
SPEAKER_00: Oh boy.
1:01:51
SPEAKER_00: I know I have somebody penciled in here.
1:01:54
SPEAKER_00: But I'm trying to figure out if I want to change it.
1:01:56
SPEAKER_00: Alright, I'll tell you right now.
1:01:58
SPEAKER_00: Penciled in was the Warriors.
1:01:59
SPEAKER_00: I penciled in the Warriors, but now thinking about it, I might put the Lakers.
1:02:04
SPEAKER_00: Because Austin Reeves might not be an all-star caliber player, but he's damn good.
1:02:09
SPEAKER_00: Tyler Hero, also not an all-star caliber player.
1:02:11
SPEAKER_00: Damn good.
1:02:12
SPEAKER_00: Um Klay Thompson hasn't been an all-star caliber player since his injury.
1:02:16
SPEAKER_00: He's been good.
1:02:17
SPEAKER_00: Led the league in three-point makes.
1:02:19
SPEAKER_00: Draymond Green, good.
1:02:21
SPEAKER_00: I might put the Lakes show, man, and just say, hey, the talent of LeBron Anthony Davis is gonna overpower the rest.
1:02:28
SPEAKER_00: Mitchell Garland and Mobley.
1:02:30
SPEAKER_00: Give it a year, y'all.
1:02:31
SPEAKER_00: Give it a year.
1:02:33
SPEAKER_00: But I am projecting, and I do project that Evan Mobley's gonna be better.
1:02:36
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna stick with my Lakers F5.
1:02:40
SPEAKER_00: Is that good?
1:02:42
SPEAKER_00: It is the Suns, it is the Celtics, the Bucks, the Nuggets, and the Lakers.
1:02:48
SPEAKER_00: Trios and basketball.
1:02:49
SPEAKER_00: How do we do?
1:02:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we we snubbed DeMarta Rose and Zach Levine and Nicola Vusevich.
1:02:54
SPEAKER_00: I understand we snubbed them.
1:02:57
SPEAKER_00: But I I feel good about it.
1:03:00
SPEAKER_00: Not great, but I feel good.
1:03:03
SPEAKER_00: Always up for interpretation.
1:03:05
SPEAKER_00: Always up for the conversation.
1:03:07
SPEAKER_00: Um also I had on this list Doncic Irving and Tim Hardaway question mark.
1:03:12
SPEAKER_00: Knew they weren't gonna make the top five.
1:03:14
SPEAKER_00: Uh Anthony Everett Cat and Gobert question mark?
1:03:16
SPEAKER_00: Or do we put Jaden McDaniels instead of Gobert?
1:03:20
SPEAKER_00: That fits more than I than Rudy Gobert.
1:03:22
SPEAKER_00: This is tough, man.
1:03:24
SPEAKER_00: And then if John Moran wasn't out 25 games, that's even tougher conversation.
1:03:28
SPEAKER_00: But we we could just go give ourselves the easy route by not including him at all.
1:03:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm gonna stick with it.
1:03:34
SPEAKER_00: It's all it's all for content.
1:03:35
SPEAKER_00: You let me know in the comment section or hit me up on Twitter.
1:03:38
SPEAKER_00: Uh I appreciate you as always.
1:03:40
SPEAKER_00: Be sure to leave five stars, and I will be back.
1:03:44
SPEAKER_00: I cannot wait for the start of the season where we're doing two times a week, ladies.
1:03:47
SPEAKER_00: I can't wait.
1:03:48
SPEAKER_00: I'll see y'all soon.
1:03:49
SPEAKER_00: I'm out.