Latest / Small Ball with Kenny Beecham / Do NBA Refs Have Too Much Power? Do The Warriors Have A Draymond Green Problem?

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Do NBA Refs Have Too Much Power? Do The Warriors Have A Draymond Green Problem? · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because the things that this man has been able to do when your organization was one of the bottom five in the entire league and he flipped that on his head, where everybody recognized the Warriors as one of the best franchises in basketball, you should be doing everything to keep that man happy.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome, welcome, welcome back to the Kenny Beachum podcast.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Last episode, when I opened up, I was telling y'all how I got voted onto this complex list: the 25 most entertaining people in sports media.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I recorded that episode before it even dropped.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: I was just giving y'all the heads up, like, hey, tomorrow something crazy is happening.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it came out, and the love from it was ridiculous.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I cannot express how much I appreciate the community we've been able to grow, whether it be on the Kenny Beach and Podcast or my other YouTube channels, whatever.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I think we we open up some eyes, man.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: I got some emails after that.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I think people starting to really realize our community and everything.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: So again, I just want to say I thank you.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: I know I say this at the pretty much at the beginning of every episode because we talk about how we chart amongst our peers and stuff like that.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: But again, I am so very appreciative to all the support y'all continue to show.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: And as long as y'all are showing support, I'm gonna continue to do my part, at least try to.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Today's episode, we got a lot to talk about, man.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: I was at a game the other night, Bulls versus Denver Nuggets.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I saw one of the most ridiculous, ridiculous ejections imaginable.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: We gotta talk about that.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: And while we're there, we might talk a little bit of Bulls because uh why why why not talk about my favorite team?
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: We also, of course, have our favorite segment, hashtag AskKB, why take some questions from the audience and give my give my opinions about all things NBA and sometimes things outside of the NBA.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Gilbert Arenas had some very interesting comments about the now, what, 21-game losing street Detroit Pistons that we want to address.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, it seemed like y'all enjoyed it last time.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Greg's eye test takes.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I think me and Greg were kind of like this on last episode.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see what he has to bring to the table.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Leave a like, subscribe, give us five stars.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get into the show.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like I mentioned, I was at a Bulls game.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: It was actually my very first Bulls game of the season.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because I have vowed that as long as this team looks like the way it does, I will not step foot into the United Center until somebody gave me free tickets.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like I wasn't gonna use my hard-earned money to go watch the Bulls, but again, they've been playing decently over the last couple of weeks, and I got free tickets.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, let's do it.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I did a shoot with the Chicago Bulls earlier that day, um, which was really dope.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Got to shoot around on the court.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it's always fun to, that's like a childhood thing of mine, dream of mine, to play at the UC.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, my skills are not good enough to actually play, play there, but like got some shots up and so on and so forth.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: And they asked me, hey, you know, Jokic and the Denver Nuggets are in town later tonight.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: You want to come back for the game?
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I contemplated.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm 96% sure we're gonna lose this game, but how often do you get a chance to watch the best player in the world?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: I was there for the ring ceremony for the Denver Nuggets this season and got to see him then.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: But other than that, and some all-star games, that's the only time I really got to see Yoke.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, okay, he's here in Chicago.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Let's do it.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Let's do it.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: And immediately as I arrived back to the UC, they were handing out these hats.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes, you know, teams do these promotions, hats, t-shirts, uh, bobblehead days, so on and so forth.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: They were these green hats that were really, really dope.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: And one thing I was putting together is that it was, okay, technically it wasn't Serbian Heritage Night, but they definitely catered heavily to the Serbian audience.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: For the people at home that do not know, Chicago has the biggest population of Serbian, Serbian people outside of Serbia.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: And that was something I didn't know until last night.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: So anytime Nikola Jokic is in town, they do it, they do it pretty big.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, the previous years when Jokic came to town, because you only get Jokic in Chicago one time, um, they did uh uh Serbian Heritage Night.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: This time they didn't.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: But this game was different than any other Bulls game, one of the most unique Bulls games I ever attended.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because it was almost, and I'm saying almost, equally split Bulls fans and Jokic fans.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying different nuggets, I mean Jokic fans.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: It felt like the only time I ever experienced this in UC is when LeBron's in town.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Where it's like it's it's 50-50 split.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: It is Bulls fans on one side and LeBron fans slash Lakers fans on the other.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: And Jokic had that effect here in Chicago.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: So it wasn't, it wasn't Serbian Heritage Night, but the Bulls did have a promo where they had a group ticket offer before the game actually tipped off.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: They had a Serbian performance.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: So they really, really went in on the fact that Nikola Jokic was in town.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: There were so many Jokic jerseys.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: It was actually kind of dope.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: And when his name was announced, it felt as though he was at home.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like it really did.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: And we get through what, the second quarter, things are going great for the Chicago Bulls.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: And there's two back-to-back possessions that cause Nikola Jokic to get ejected.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: The first one, he was called for a foul on DeMar DeRozan down low.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I try to be as um objective as I can when I'm covering the sport or talking things basketball.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: I personally didn't believe that it was a foul on Jokic.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: I thought he played it pretty well.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: They call foul.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Jokic didn't like that.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: He talked to the referees.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: I thought that was going to be it.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: The next possession, he goes down on offense and he doesn't get a call against Vucevic.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Also, me trying to be objective here.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't think Vucevic fouled him either.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: But I think the pot had boiled over for Nikola Jokic, and he looked at the ref and he said some words, and those words, I don't know those words were.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um some people are speculating when I watched all the post-game interviews of the players, the coaches, and even the referees, he used a word that starts with an M and ends with an ER.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: MF.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's what people are assuming.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: And he got ejected for it.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't like he already had one tech.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: This is his first tech of the game.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: And he got ejected for it.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the roar of booze that I heard was like no other.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Again, we're talking 50-50 split, 50% Bulls fans, 50% Serbian fans or Nikola Jokic fans.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Hell, I booed.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: I was a Bulls fan booing because I was there to see Jokic.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: It was so weird because I actually, a couple rows behind us, there was a lady there who had a t-shirt.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: It was a graphic tee that it said nothing but Jokic, Jokic, Jokic.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: She got up and walked out.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I was thinking, okay, her favorite player is gone.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: She's gonna go to a bathroom break, go get some more drinks, whatever, whatever.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: She never came back.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: It was one of the most egregious, one of the most egregious ejections I've ever experienced in my life on my own two eyes.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there's been a couple of those this season.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Jalen Brown got ejected earlier this season, his first ejection of his NBA career.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Jason Tatum got ejected earlier this season.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it got me thinking of like, the refs have a lot of power.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe a little bit too much.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you know me, if you watch my content when I'm talking about basketball, I've never been a guy to say, hey, X team lost because the referees didn't make the right call or they called too many fouls.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because I typically steer on the side of this is a job that these are real people doing.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: So there's 100% always going to be human error, right?
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot to go into the game of basketball.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: The referee, it might be a factor, but a lot of times it's not the determining factor on a win or loss.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I never really complain about a missed call or some bad call, but these are the things we're talking about removing a player from the game that I think that they have just a little bit too much power.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: When you think about all of the people that were there, that were specifically there to see Jokic and to see them taken away from them based on a word, it's kind of depressing.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: And if you were listening to the call, even from the Bulls fans' perspective, Adam Amin and Stacey King, they were upset about it.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: And again, they're calling Bulls games.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, your home uh commentary team is the most biased it's gonna get.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: They were like, yo, that's that's a little bit too much.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I think everybody shared the same sentiment.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Now, luckily enough for them, um, the Bulls weren't very good, and then everybody else stepped up and they still walked there out there with a win.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: But like the people that did put together their money for this group ticket offer to watch Nikola Jokic, they didn't get to see that.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Or at least they did for what 12 minutes?
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: And now I was just thinking about it for the last day since it happened.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what is the solution to the problem?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: What is the solution to the problem?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because at the end of the day, I do believe that the refs should hold the opportunity or hold the right to give these technical fouls or to eject players because hell, uh sometimes, a lot of the times, when you see an ejection, it is warranted.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's a player getting punched in the head.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Something we're gonna talk about later.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's you know, something like that.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, they should have that.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: When we're talking about just words, specifically after no warnings, that goes a little bit too far.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I've been racking my brain, what should they do?
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: What can they do?
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the only solution I could come up with, I personally still still don't like because it are the game already is as slow as it is with all the reviews.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: And now we got a coaching challenge that if you are successful, you get a second one.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: And now they're trying to figure out was this a block, was this a charge, was his foot on the line.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of stoppage in our game already.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: But the only solution I can think about is to have an extra set of eyes on an ejection specifically.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't mean the people that are on the crew right now because I believe that the people that are they're there with, I don't even know which referee it was that ejected him.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think ultimately his team will back him up.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Just on some camaraderie type stuff.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: But we already got people in Secaucus watching every single game.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Again, it slows the game down and more, so that's why I don't love it.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: But if we have, okay, boom, Jokic, I think you should be ejected.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: Secaucis, you get 30 seconds to tell me if I'm bugging or not.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I I can almost guarantee you that Secaucus would have been like, just give him a regular technical foul like you normally would any other player.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: There are players across the association that have such a long leash that they can yap, yap, yap, they can do the hand Moses and not get nothing.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: And there are certain players that have less of a leash.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that Jokic is one of those players with less of a leash.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Also, he has a bad whistle.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: He just does.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: I've watched plenty of uh enough Dever Nuggets game to realize this man has a really bad whistle.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: This is not a guy that's going into the paint trying to avoid contact.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: He leads the league and points shot or paint shot attempts.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: And he's not even close, near, not even close to the top of the list on fouls draw on those shot attempts.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's just surprising that he gets such a bad whistle for a guy that's a two-time MVP.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Usually you get those superstar calls.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: I've been on the receiving end of some superstar calls as far as like DeMar DeRozan during his heyday, you know what I'm saying, where he was destroying the league, hitting back-to-back game winners and stuff.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: But Jokic doesn't get that luxury where he has one of the worst whistles.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: And now you add the fact that he's getting ejected from games on these types of instances, just a little bit too much.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Jokic's comments after were very interesting, though.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: He said, um, he said, uh, thank goodness that this game wasn't played in Serbia.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: We don't know how they would have reacted.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: And people are like, whoa, that's kind of out of left field.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: But it's really not because the NBA has been trying to figure out how they have a game in Serbia because, of course, the game of basketball is so large over there.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a it's just too far away, I would assume, for the NBA to have a game there.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: But based on what Yoke is saying right here, Yoke might have to make one call, two calls, and it's wraps for everybody.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't really know what the solution is, but like to see that in real time, to be sitting there, and again, one of the reasons I did accept these tickets was to see Nikola Jokic.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: I was disappointed, as was probably the majority of people in the arena.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: While we're here talking about the Bulls, because we come on, come on, man.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna go a Kenny Beach and podcast without the Bulls being mentioned.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not just because they're my favorite team, even though that plays a big part of it, but it's also because they are just doing stuff for whatever reason.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: There's a report um from Mike Escato.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Escato, or is it Escato?
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: The Chicago Boys are looking for a win now players on the trade market.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: They're looking for players that can help them win now and maybe a pig down the line if they can add it to the cut their cupboard.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, okay.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's just not what we want.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, this team has an obvious ceiling.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: I understand a retooling, but an idea of standing weird win now, getting win-down players is just interesting.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: Especially when you consider every other report that talks about the lack of market for Zach Levine.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: If his market is as bad as it is, you're looking for win-down players.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: How are you acquiring those players?
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Are you trading some of the young guys?
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because I hope it ain't Kobe White.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because the last 10 games telling me that we need to keep the ball in Kobe White's hands.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: In the last three games, Kobe White is averaging 23.3 points per game, five rebounds, five assists, 51% from the field, 53% from three.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to me a lot.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to me one more time.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: 53% from three and 91% from the free throw line.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now, obviously, this level of efficiency is not gonna last forever.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody's ending up a season on a 50-50-90 shooting splits.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: It just doesn't happen.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: The league is too good, and he's he's on a burner right now.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: But there are a lot of things that I look at and I can take away and say, not maybe again, not these shooting splits, but I feel pretty good about Kobe White's development now that we finally have given him an opportunity to be the primary ball handler.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of insane.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: We think about we drafted him with a top 10 pick as a scoring guard, a scoring point guard out of uh out of uh UNC, and we never gave him the opportunity to be the scoring guard out of UNC.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: And now he has that luxury because Zach is no longer there or injured, and we just don't have a lot of other offensive options, and he's doing it, and he's doing it super efficiently.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm looking at these last 10 games, I'm like, can he be most approved player?
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's where my head was at a couple days ago.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I determined myself, yeah, he should he sure can.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um if you look at the odds on FanDuel's FanDuel Sportsbook, right now he has a plus 3,000.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: Which is, if you look at all the other options when you talk about a long shot, that right there feels like the best one.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Hell, I got in on it when it was a plus 5,000.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: I put a little 50 ball down.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: A little 50 ball to get two, two, two, uh, what is it, 2200 back, 2500 back?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, yeah, why not?
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, Tyrese Maxie is the guy that's up front because he should be.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: Other than tonight, as I'm recording this, he's been on the burner too.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: He's been as as good as you can imagine.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: But if you look at the long shots, the people outside of Tyrese Maxie, I have a lot of love for Kobe White here.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: And also part of it is, again, it's my favorite team and one of my favorite players on my favorite team.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: But if he's consistently doing this, we're talking about last year, he had a down year as far as the scoring goes.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking about a big jump in points per game.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now, again, Tyrese Maxie will probably still get the love because he's he's doing what he's doing.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: But Kobe White's not a bad pick at plus 3,000.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Quickly want to get back to this to this bulls thing, though, because I'm I've been trying to rack my brain around this one as well.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, this broke as I was on my way to United Center.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm thinking about watching Nikola Jokic and I and I'm thinking about how the hell are they gonna make win now moves with the team that they have currently?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it scares me as a Bulls fan.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: It does.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what the market is gonna be like.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there was also rumored that DeMar DeRose and the Bulls are far apart on trade negotiations or contract negotiations.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: So how do you make win now moves with this roster?
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: This feels like a team that just refuses to accept the fact that the previous moves were wrong.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: The Vucevic trade was wrong.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: The Zach Levine extension, a little bit more pricey than we thought.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's just uh, I hate that we're gonna be stuck.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be stuck in his place of mediocrity.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's been that way for a lot of my life as a Bulls fan, so I guess I should be used to it.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Golly, is it is it becoming overwhelming?
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: This portion of the Kenny Beach and Podcast is brought to you by FanDuel.
• 15:53
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• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: That is$150 in bonus bets if your team wins.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: What I would do is look over the full slate of games and try to pick out ones that I think there's a wide margin in talent.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: For example, the Milwaukee Bucks are going against the Chicago Bulls.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: The Bucs are playing some of the best basketball in the Giannis and Damian Lilla era, and the Bulls are waiting for their era to end.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: A$5 moneyline bet on Milwaukee, if they win, can turn into$150 in bonus bets for you.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Or if you don't love that when the New York Knicks are going against the Detroit Pistons.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: The Pistons have submitted themselves as the worst team of the season so far, and the Knicks are starting to find their groove.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: But that's just two examples.
• 16:35
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• 16:37
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• 16:38
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• 16:44
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• 16:46
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• 16:48
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• 16:54
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• 16:56
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• 16:58
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• 17:00
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• 17:03
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• 17:08
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• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: Gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit fanduel.com slash RG.
• 17:16
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• 17:22
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• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: At 1-800-9 with it in Indiana.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: At 1-800-522-4700 or visit at KSGamblingHelp.com in Kansas.
• 17:44
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• 17:48
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• 17:51
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• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Or call 1-800-522-4700 in Wyoming.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Hope is here.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: Visit gambling helplinepa.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: Or call 1877-8Hope New York or text Hope New York in New York.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get to my favorite segment.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: Ask KB.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Go on to Twitter, X, go in the comment section of these episodes and use the hashtag AskKB.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I try my hardest to answer as many questions as possible.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: Today we got three lovely questions from three different people.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: The first one comes from James.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Hashtag AskKB.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: If the Warriors keep decline declining past this year, does Curry eventually find himself on a different team, whether it's on trade demand or mutually partying?
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: No, I don't.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think the chances of Steph Curry going on a different team is nearly zero.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: But they're in the news quite a bit right now.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because it ain't looking good.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Draymond Green um hit Yusuf Nurkits in the face.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: And he came out and said, hey, it was an accident.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know it was an accident because I apologize, which is, again, just crazy things to say.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: And he had been suspended indefinitely.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: And for there was like a 10-minute span after that original report of indefinitely, where I was like, oh my God, that can mean anything.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: And later they came out and said that he's going to go through some counseling and they don't want to put an exact number on it.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: They want him to take his time, so on and so forth.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Whether you think this is a good idea or not, it's not really relevant.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: Draymond Green is going to be out for X amount of time.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that all things considered, this is maybe the best case scenario for Warriors fans because there were some people in the media that were speculating, like, hell, this could be 20 games.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: This could be a full season.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: And though indefinitely doesn't tell us anything, I've seen people have to go away from the game indefinitely and come back in 12 games, in 10 games, sometimes even less.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know how realistic it is to think that Draymond's going to be out for a long amount of time, but I wouldn't hate it.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: Felt like he crossed, he crossed the line again.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like I just talked about him crossing the line where he had Rudy Gobert in the stranglehole.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: It happens way too often.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: To get back to your original questions, does Steph Curry end up on a different team?
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: But this was something I mentioned yesterday on a YouTube video that it is time for Steph Curry to kind of take the initiative of being an aggressor in the front office.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: He's the babyface assassin at the end of the day.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: He's a guy that's so even keel.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, hey, these are my guys, Draymond Green and Clay Thompson have been with me since the very beginning, basically.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: And we got how we how many championships we got?
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: We got a lot of those things.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: But now, uh Father Tom, he only been losing the battle with a couple different people.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: He's losing the battle to LeBron actively.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: He's losing the battle to Steph Curry, Kevin Durant.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: But the rest of the people, once you hit your 30s, mid-30s, the climb is very regular.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: Clay Thompson playing at the level that he's playing at.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's pretty regular for a player to play like this at this age, specifically after those injuries.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Draymond Green, who hasn't been a real offensive threat as far as scoring go for some time, his regression is normal.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: And the Golden State Warriors front office had done a poor job of bridging the gap and kind of just saying, like, hell, they might age great.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: They might age great, and that's just not the case.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: Steph Curry is still, he's 35, 36 years old, putting up 30s nightly, doing what he can do.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: But the people around him are not.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: Wiggins, off a cliff.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: Klay Thompson, not as good, even though better recently, but not as good.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: Klay Thompson got benched for the majority of the fourth quarter game that was relatively close for some rooks and some sophomores and some junior year players.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's not normal.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: So you ask if Steph Curry's gonna find his one on a different team.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: But Mike Donnelly Jr.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: has an opportunity to make some changes.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: And the thing is, I I know one of the reasons why Bob Myers left.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if he would publicly say this.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: I actually should text Bob.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: You see, I did that.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: I I I I don't want to name drop, but um, and ask him to come on the show to talk about some stuff.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: But Um, I think one of the reasons why Bob was like, Hell, I'm out of here, or Joe Lacob said, Hell, you're gone, is Bob didn't want to be the guy to break it up.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: And Mike Donnelly going to his first years as the front office guy, breaking it up is gonna be a tough pill to swallow.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: But if you want to stay competitive and compete for championships, you're probably gonna have to do that.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's currently constructed, it's not enough.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: Klay Thompson is the same player he was you won a championship.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: Draymond's not the same player he was when you won a championship.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: Hell, Wiggins is not the same player he was when you won a championship.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: Those three dudes were very crucial to that championship run.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not like there's an overbearing favorite to win right now.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the time they should be trying to put their foot on the gas to get that last one.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because you look at the Denver Nuggets as though they're great.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: They don't put no fear in your heart as a defending champions because you believe that you can beat them.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: It ain't like they're not like the Heatles of previous time.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: They're not like the Bulls of the 90s, at least not yet.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: They might go on a dynasty run.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: But as of right now, they feel like you can beat them in a seven-game series.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: So going into the trade deadline or whatever, the same way the Warriors normally do would be terrible for Steph Curry's uh uh championship odds, or I guess your championship odds.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I think he's in a he's in the class of his own.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I guess like LeBron, I guess, and and Giannis, I guess.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: Where you do everything in your power to make him happy.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because the things that this man has been able to do when your organization was one of the bottom five in the entire league, and he flipped that on his head, or everybody recognized the Warriors as one of the best franchises in basketball, you should be doing everything to keep that man happy.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: You should be doing everything to not have a down year in this man's again, prime?
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe he's still great.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: A year lost when the man is 35 is too many years lost.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: So you gotta make some decisions.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: I like the Prajimski, I still can't pronounce that brother's name, AirPods.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: He's been hooping.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: I like him a lot.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I've like what I've seen from John Thickaminga the last three or so games.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: I like that, you know, they uh Steve Kerr felt okay with letting Klay Thompson ride the pine because the younger guys are playing better.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: I I like that from Steve Current because that's notoriously not something he's been doing.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, it didn't end up in a win, but play the players that are helping you win.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: James, to get back to your question, Steph Curry's gonna stay around, but the people around him probably not.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: The next one comes from Shane.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is this is a fun one.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't a fun one.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you had to show aliens coming to Earth one player highlight reel, who would it be?
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought about this from a couple perspectives, right?
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: Let's let's have let's have a little bit of fun.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: I am personally definitely afraid of the idea of aliens.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that I mean, I don't think that we're the only people in this universe.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: I could be wrong, but the idea of aliens scare me a little bit.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm looking at it from the perspective as this higher being from a different planet, a different atmosphere, a different universe or galaxy is the word I'm looking for, comes to Earth.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: I want them to fear us so they don't see us as inferior.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: So who is a player that I can show highlights of and it'll scare the people that know nothing?
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: Or the things, I guess, the aliens that know nothing.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: Give me Shaquille O'Neal highlights.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: Show get show him the clip of him dunking on the boy and pushing him down.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: Show him the clip of breaking backboards because I want them to believe that is what an average uh human looks like.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, I'm gonna tell him, yeah, this is just a normal, he's below average.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: He was uh slow in his development.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: I want I want them to think that what Shaquille O'Neal was doing was just normal or less than normal.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm a little bit afraid of that.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'd watch too many horror movies, I'd watch too many alien movies where them boys come to Earth and they like, this ours now.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: Y'all got resources, this ours now.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: And when you show Shaq highlights, they're gonna be like, hold on, I think we in the wrong spot.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: I also thought about it like from the idea of to get like like you imagine you show highlights to this alien life form, and they say, Wow, this sport looks amazing.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: We wanna play.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: How how technologically advanced, because I mean, if they made it to Earth from a different galaxy, they must be, you know what I'm saying, technologically advanced.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: So if that is the case, Steph Curry is the guy I was thinking of, you know, but also because you don't have a frame of reference of what basketball really is, that might just seem normal.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: Him shooting from half court because you've never you didn't see people play inside out before.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: You didn't see Kobe Bryant shoot mid-range jump shot for 10 years and to see it expand that much.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe Steph Curry's not the one.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's a good question.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: I again, I think originally Shaquille O'Neal is the one.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: You will fear us.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's the best we really got to put fear in somebody's heart.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: The last question is from J.R.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: Blanks, and it's a very good one.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: So far this season, are there any all-stars from last year that you think won't make the cut this season?
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I do.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's three that as of right now are pretty clear cut, probably, like I can't say clear cut and probably in the same sentence.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: But I if you were asking me today, are they all-stars or it's not, I'm gonna say no.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: First one is John Morant.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: When he comes back, not enough games unless he's like a super fan vote.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: I bet Adam Silver would be hot about that.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: But I would assume that obviously he's not gonna make an all-star game.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: So he's out.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: DeMar DeRozan, been all right.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, his three-point shot looks a lot better this year, any year of his career, but he's not an all-star this year.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: The Bulls are bad.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: The Bulls don't get an all-star.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: Pascal Ciaka, and I'm saying this at the wrong time because Pascal just had a really good game against the Atlanta Hawks tonight.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't think that uh Pascal would be the priority.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I feel like if the Toronto Raptors did get one, it might be Scotty, but it's not like Pascal's having a bad year.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: But when you compare it to all-star level years and considering the competition, I feel as though he might fall out or be borderline.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: Also got three players that I'm still trying to figure out.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Jaron Jackson Jr.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: just had another, what, 40-point game tonight?
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's back-to-back 40 pieces or something like that.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: He's been playing better basketball now versus, let's say, three weeks ago.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: Also, the Memphis Grizzlies defense is still top 10 in the league without all of the people.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: So he might still, he's like a borderline guy that if he didn't make it, I understand because they're not good.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: But if he did make it, I'm like, yeah, him and Desmond Bain are like the two bright spots as of right now.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: The next was Larry Marketer.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: Larry Marketing is having a very similar season to last, but last year or at the trade that or the all-star break, they were two games under 500 and it was in Utah.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't have that luxury of having those two things anymore, you know?
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: So he's borderline because it's the same, it's statistically, it is a very, very similar year, but but he does not have the luxury of having some of the other stuff that helped propel him.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: And the last one is Julius Randle.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: Last month or so, Julius Randle's been really good, close to the All NBA version that we've seen.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think that the first couple weeks or so where he started off the year so very bad, might have people thinking like not so much.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: And also, if Knicks get one, I think it might be Jalen Brunson over him this year.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a those are my borderline six.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: I guess Zion is in there too, but he's still good.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: He's just maybe not.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know the conversations around Zion, right?
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: But the people that are replacing him, this is my short list of guys that are gonna be uh close to replacing him, right?
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um Tyrese Maxie, lock it in.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: If he continues to play like this to the All-Star break, that man's an all-star.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: Palo Bancara, I don't think you could be one of the top three seeds in the conference and not have an all-star.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: Even though his uh standard numbers don't look too crazy, I think that he's probably gonna not.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: Jalen Bronte, like I mentioned, for Julius Randle.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: Cartenthony Towns is back to being an all-star.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: Rudy Gobert is probably back to being an all-star, which means that the Minnesota Timbows might get three.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody might have to lose out, and it might be Rudy Gobert.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's just the reality of the things.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Anthony Davis did not make it last year.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: That guy's an all-star.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: Just stay healthy.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: Anthony Davis is an all-star.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: He's an all-star starter at this point.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: He's been playing phenomenal basketball.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then the last two at the bottom of the list is like Chet and Shingle.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's like my short list of guys that didn't make it last year that should be in conversations right now.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I'm missing somebody, but those are the guys that come to mind.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: But I again, those top three.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: Last year we had, I think, 11 different players make their first all-star appearance.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: And part of that was like injury replacement and so on and so forth.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: And every year there's gonna be a handful of injury replacements.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's just the way the game goes.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, because you still get your all-star title if you get selected.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: It don't play.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but this should be a year where we get a couple first timers.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: Maxie's first timer, Paolo, Jalen Brunson.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, that's kind of it.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: Man, I feel like I'm forgetting somebody.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: It is what it is.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you to all everybody that submitted questions.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, it's hashtag ask KB if you want to be featured on the next one.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: This portion of the Kenny Beach and podcast is brought to you by SeatGeek.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: With over 28 million different downloads, SeatGeek is the number one ticketing app on the market.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: I personally have been to a ton of live events.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking sporting events, concerts, festivals, comedy.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: I've been to it all, and I've always bought my tickets on SeatGeek because it takes tickets from all over the internet and puts it in one central location for you.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: So my bulls aren't great, but there's nothing better than a live sporting event.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: So you'll catch me at a few games.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: I pick the game that I want to go to, I see the venue, I find a seat, and every single ticket is rated on a scale one through ten.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: The closer to ten, the better the deal for you.
• 31:19
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• 31:20
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• 31:27
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• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: I want to say again, Seageek, thank you for sponsoring this portion of the podcast.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: One of the last topics I'm gonna talk about is a conversation that happened on uh Gilbert Arenas' show.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I do want to say right up front, I got a lot of respect for Gil.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think that they put together one of the most entertaining basketball shows there is.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh full stop.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's one of the top ones for sure.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: But he had a very wild take that I just can't get behind.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: And this is just me.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: But it is reality.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: You're 2020, you're 20 turning 21, averaging 10.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: You're not in my future.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_02: As a GM?
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: As a GM.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: You're a 20, you're about to be a 21-year-old rookie.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: You you're so far.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, if I'm gonna have him as a defensive player, okay, cool.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean, if I'm gonna say make him like a cornerstone, like he is the cornerstone of my future, who's who's 20, who's 2021 right now?
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, shit.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_02: Think about it though.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_02: If you from what you just said, if he's averaging 10 as a first-year player, that means he's gonna do pretty good for later on.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_02: Nah.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_02: Once he gets used to the league.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: Name me the best 20-year-old in the in the in the in the in the world right now.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: In the world or NBA?
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: In the NBA.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very good thing that Gil is in the the world of content and talking who's versus being the GM.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like that, like, it's just this is as bad as it gets.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm not here to act like um a Sark Thompson's a dude that's gonna turn into LeBron or anything like that, because hell, we don't really know.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: But like, man, can we watch some of the games?
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: Just a couple of them?
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: He he asked, who is the best 20-year-old in the world at the end of the clip?
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: Who is the best 20-year-old in the world?
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, yeah, that's a very good question.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: Who is the best 20-year-old in the world?
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think he overestimated how many really good 20-year-olds there are in the game of basketball right now.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: The top three 20-year-olds as of today in the association: Shaden Shark, Jalen Dern, Jabbar Smith Jr., all of them decent NBA players, better futures than present.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: But it's not like we don't have no 20-year-old all-stars right now.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now we got some 21-year-old all-stars, but we don't have no 20-year-old all-stars right now.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think he widely underestimated what a 20-year-old player in the NBA is right now.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then he says, at 10 points per game, at 20 going on 21, you're not a part of my future?
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't even go far.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: I did not go far whatsoever.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: But I thought about a couple players off the top of my head that was like, I know for sure they were averaging 10 or less points per game in their rookie season.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: And now they're stars, or if they're not a star, they're right beneath it, which means that they're a part of the future, right?
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, right?
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: These sites or these things that put these clips, uh, a lot of these are aggregation sites.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I did go on to watch the full thing and try to get the full context.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: There's no context that needs to be said that makes you think anything other than this.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: The Detroit Pistons, undoubtedly 21-game win streak.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: They definitely need to start making some adjustments and make some trades and make something so that their fan base is not as down as they really are.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: But thinking about trading a 20-year-old guy because he's only averaging 10 points per game in his rookie season's asinine.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: Shea Gilles Alexander, 20-year-old rookie, 10 points per game.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, oh no, Kenny, that's unfair.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: We saw that Shea had the ball handling ability, yada, yada, yada.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: Doc Rivers went on to Bill Simmons' podcast and said that he knew the moment he saw Shea that Shea was going to be a star.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's fucking cap.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: But let him tell it.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, uh, Mikhail Bridges.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: Mikhail Bridges is a borderline all-star caliber player.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, I should have mentioned him in the last second because he's been hooping great, right?
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: He's averaged like 24 points per game right now.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: Mikhail Bridges, 8.3 points per game as a rookie.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: The brother was 22 when he was a rookie.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine giving up on 22-year-old Mikhail Bridges because he only averaged eight points per game as rookie year.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, Kenny, that's unfair too, because Mikhail Bridges had a jump shot at that point.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: Asar Thompson don't.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: Fair.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: Jimmy Butler came into the game as a uh a 22-year-old rookie, right?
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: The man did not average double-digit points until he was 24 years old.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: He averaged 18%.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: He shot 18% from three his rookie year.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know who averages nearly 18% from three his rookie year right now?
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: The guy that we talk about, L.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: Thompson.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like again, I understand that the Detroit Pissers are awful.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: They're really, really, really bad.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: And trades and adjustments need to be done.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: But the idea of trading the 20-year-old top five pick right now, based on the fact that he's old and only averaging 10 is crazy.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: People on Twitter were quick to tell you that Gilbert Arenas himself averaged 10 points per game his rookie season.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: And Gil turned out to be a phenomenal player.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a crazy way of thinking.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: Even with the context of them losing 21 straight games, you trading Asar Thompson is just gonna band-aid over the problem and it's not gonna resolve it.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: Asar is gonna have some good trade value, right?
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: Hypothetically.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: Hypothetically.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: If Trey Weaver was like, you know what, Gil, you're right.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know what, Gil, you're right.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: We do need to trade the 20-year-old rookie that has only played against adults for uh 26 games of his life.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: Let's trade him away.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: He will have some good value for sure.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: But the value that you're getting, the players, the players slash players you're getting back, that ain't gonna help you be a 20-win team versus a 14-win team.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: All right, here you go, season ticket holders.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: Congratulations.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go watch Asar Thompson on a different team blossom.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I don't know what Asar is gonna be like.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what he'll look like at 25, 26.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_00: Hell, Jalen Brown didn't average double-digit points until he was 23.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like we can go on and on and on.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's shit, I think it's just unfair to look at the 20-year-old and say, hell, you just not a part of my future because we suck.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: He's one of the few people that should be safe.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: Safe.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because I don't think that untouchable is like a real thing unless you're Steph Curry.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_00: You're Giannis, you're Nagoliokic.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: You don't get untouchable as a rookie, but um, at least in most cases, at least in most cases, there were some untouchable rookies for sure.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I didn't this was not a great take, Gil.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: Not a great one.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_00: Last episode, we brought in producer Greg to give us some of his eye test hot takes.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: Y'all seem to enjoy them, so we back, Greg, with another another group.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: What you thinking today?
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_00: Let's do it.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, first, this this one might be a little spicy.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, I've been thinking about this for a while.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_03: I think currently, and probably for his entire career, LeBron's skill level when it comes to handle, footwork, shot creation, just pure skill level is around league average.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: League average for Braun Braun, eh?
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: Who um I think the eye test is lying to you now.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because LeBron undoubtedly is above league average.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: Would I put him in the top 1%?
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_00: No, probably not.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_00: But I think because he is such a force of nature, some of the other stuff get kind of lost, right?
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: When when LeBron James is playing in the post, that's like the footwork and the skill that I really think about.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: And there was a time um in his early Lakers days, or I guess a little bit now, where he was going to the post very, very regularly.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I just think that he has the ability to get to the basket at will because of his size, then you might not really think about the skill level.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's like, why should I open up the bag if just running to the basket and being powerful could get it done?
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: But the times where he's needed to show off that skill, that creation, that footwork, that handle, he doesn't.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now he ain't no Paul George with the handle.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_00: But for his size, yeah, I think the IT test lats you on that one.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_03: So that little look down step back is part of that bag for you.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we nowadays LeBron's skill level is probably lower than what it was, let's say, even three years ago or so.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because even three years ago, he won doing the the LaFr- Lo, what is it called?
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: The Lafuck You James shot.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: He was he wasn't really doing that like that.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: But if we talk about like in his prime or even slightly past his prime, I do think that his his skill level was still pretty damn high.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_03: Next one.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_03: In my opinion, the following players all had a better mid-range game than Carmelo Anthony in their respective primes.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_03: And just let me with the caveat is that some of these players are still in the prime or not even in the prime yet.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um, Devin Booker, Kawhi Leonard, DeMar DeRozan, Kevin Durant, and Sean Livingston.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out to Sean Livingston.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_00: We got a lot of love for Sean.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, for him to be in this conversation is funny.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: But he had he had the midi.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: He definitely had the midi.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: There are certain players on this list.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna say the eye test is telling you right.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: The players like Kevin Durant and DeMar DeRozan, I think you got a good case for.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: The rest of them, not so much.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think Booker could probably get there, but it's just just too early.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking about the prime of Carmelo Anthony.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking like 2012-2013 season.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_00: He averaged 28.7 points per game.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_00: And the one thing that he didn't have the luxury of with some of these other players is the spacing.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_00: In 2012, 2013, his team had pretty much negative space in the most used lineup was Raymond Felton, uh J.R.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_00: Smith, Mello, Amari Steidemeyer, and Tyson Chamber, right?
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: And in this season, he shot 45% from long two, not all twos, but specifically long twos on 650 attempts.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you go through all the other players that you named, some of them shoot 45%, 48% in their best years on one-third the volume.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I still, I'm still taking Melo's mid-range game because he got the attempts up and the percentage was there to match it.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: But like Kevin Durant and DeMar don't get the attempts, but the eye test on KD said, like, there's nothing you can really do about that.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: And DeMar DeRozan has a different level of difficulty on his jump shots because he is a guard versus uh uh having Carmelo, who's 6'7, or having Kevin Durant who's damn near seven foot.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: They could kind of just shoot over a lot of defenders.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: DeMar didn't have that luxury.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I give those two the nod over Melo, but the other guys book a little bit too early.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: Sean just such low volume, but he had the ability to shoot over people too.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_00: I got love for Sean.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think I think you kind of had you like split there on that take.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_03: Last one for today.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so this past summer in the offseason, Jeff Van Gundy was let go from ESPN.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_03: In my opinion, the NBA as a whole, us fans are really missing him as a color commentator this year.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_00: The Mark Jackson, Van Gundy, and Mike Breen three was S tier.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you don't really think about what you got into is gone.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_00: You kind of take it for granted, that that commentary crew.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I I can play agree.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to throw no shots at anybody, obviously.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the the replacement calls aren't nearly as electric or as good.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the commentary from from Van Gundy was always insightful.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, he was kind of like the cynical guy when it comes to today's today's game, and I kind of enjoyed that to an extent.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we're we're 100% missing him.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_00: That whole group of layoffs, there's a lot of people that got laid off that I'm like, you know, in different positions here and there.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_00: Some of them got podcasts now.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh man, they let go the wrong people.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_00: But it wasn't it was an S-tier.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was an S-tier commentary group.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_00: When you saw those three in the booth, you knew something funny might happen.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_00: You were gonna get some really good calls, and Jeff was gonna be complaining about something, and I mean that in the best way possible.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out to producer Greg for three i test takes.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, actually, I'm curious to what y'all i test takes will be.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_00: Leave them in the comment section or on Spotify.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you for watching or listening to this episode of the Kenny Beach and Podcast.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: We will be back in a couple days with another banger episode.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, tonight we got to see Phoenix Suns play their big three for the first time.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_00: And unfortunately, I'm filming this during that game, but I I man, I can't next episode, hopefully we get a chance to talk about it because I'm so excited to finally watch KD Bradley Beal and Devin Booker play together.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's like the biggest story imaginable.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess we'll kind of get a better understanding of what the Draymond Green suspension means a little bit more as time time goes on.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, again, I want to thank you.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: Leave a like, subscribe.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see y'all in a couple days.