Latest / Small Ball with Kenny Beecham / Wrapping Up Trade Deadline, NBA Tanking Problem?

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Wrapping Up Trade Deadline, NBA Tanking Problem? · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to Small Ball with Kenny Beacham on today's episode.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to wrap up the NBA trade deadline.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: I understand it was about four or five days ago, but it is a very important part of the NBA calendar.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: At least traditionally, this is a time where teams get better, teams get worse, teams show their direction.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to wrap it up by talking about some of the things that I thought about over the last couple of days dealing with the trade deadline.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of the people that did get traded end up having their first game with their new team.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about that.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then I want to pose the question about tanking.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Because right now, tanking is going rampant.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not anything new, but again, we'll get to that a little bit later.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you are watching on the YouTubes, be sure to leave a like.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: If you are watching on the Peacocks, it is not too late to scan that QR code and get in on the live show that we're doing at All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's not too late.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's not too late.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: So let's get into it.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get into it.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get into it.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I think overall, you know, I pose this question on numbers on the board, but y'all know numbers on the board a lot of the times on our shorter episodes, I'm more of a mediator and a host than a guy that would give like a full-fledged opinion.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the questions I asked the guys, like, how would you grade the 2026 NBA trade deadline?
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: So a few of the guys, like, I'm giving it an A.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: I heard an A plus.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I think ultimately, ultimately, I'm going to give it like a B.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: It was, it was fun.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: The one thing that I enjoyed the most about the trade deadline was the surprise element of like the Jaron Jackson Jr.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: trade, the Anthony Davis trades.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Those trades were out of nowhere, right?
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: I said that if you are going to make John Moran available, there makes no sense, it makes no sense to keep Jaron on the team.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Little did we know Jaron was going to be the guy traded and not John Morant.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure that a trade uh happened in the uh deadline or the offseason, everything.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: And though we had rumors all season long about Anthony Davis, nobody pinpointed that the Washington Wizards were gonna be the team to get in on the fun.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: I remember early in the season there were so much Chicago Bulls, Anthony Davis buzz.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: The Bulls started off like five and oh, like, ooh, should they be buyers instead of sellers?
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, AD did once upon a time, said he wanted to play at home before his career is over.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Is this the time?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I swear to you, I hated every time that popped on the timeline.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so happy you went the other direction.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: But ended up being the Washington Wizards, another not-so-great team buying in on the talents of Anthony Davis.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: But also, the the one of the reasons why this trade deadline wasn't an A plus or an A for me is that a lot of the teams that are competing for the 2026 Larry O'Brien trophy didn't do anything significant.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: A few weeks ago on this show, we did an episode where I did my updated contender ranking.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: This was January 26th.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: So just a few weeks ago.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna read you the order I had a few weeks ago.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: The OKC Thunder, the Denver Nuggets, the Detroit Pistons, the New York Knicks, the San Antonio Spurs, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Houston Rockets, the Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Philadelphia 76ers.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: One thing that at least eight or nine of those teams have in common is they did either nothing or something very small.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the Detroit Pistons added a guy in Kevin Hurdle, who's probably the seventh or eighth man on the roster.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: And based on the few playoff experiences that he's had, he hasn't played amazing in that.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: So that seven or eighth man may not even be there once we get to a potential game seven for the conference.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh the New York Knicks added Jose Alvarado, which is a great get, but at the end of the day, it is a backup acquisition.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: You did lose Miles McBride.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I love the acquisition, but it wasn't enough for me to look at them, who I have as the fourth team on my contender ranking and say, ooh, they did something to jump into the top three.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: The only team of my top 10 that did something to jump up was the Cleveland Cavaliers.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because OKC made a move, but they, you know, you can't move up from number one.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: They were number one.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: The Cleveland Cavaliers are the only contender on my ranking to do anything of significance.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Anything that can make you say, hmm, that's interesting.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they can win an extra playoff series or two.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I was hoping for that.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: I was hoping that the Detroit Pistons, you know, bought in a little bit more.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: I completely understand why they didn't, but I was hoping for that.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: I was hoping a little bit that the San Antonio Spurs might make a smaller move instead of the big old move that some people were expecting.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: The Minnesota Timbulls did get better with the Ayo Desumu acquisition, but in my mind, Io on this team is more like a six-man, maybe he does start eventually, six-man and important playoff player, but not enough for me to say, hmm, they jumped from number six to number three.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: So we were kind of missing some of that at this year's trade that line.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I think a lot of that has to do with teams trying to uh make sure that their salary books are as clean as possible because being in second Apr team is detrimental in a lot of cases.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: So we only really had the Cavs as a team to take a big swing.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that was adding James Harden, who we'll talk about in a minute, uh, with his debut with the Cleveland Cavaliers because of Sacramento Kings the other night.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Another reason why this is maybe a B is because some of the bigger names that were moved, we probably won't see.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: And if we are gonna see them, we won't see them in the capacity of the full team.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like Zubots, I don't know, he's away from the team.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Congratulations to him and his wife.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: They they brought in the baby basically a day before the trade that line, which is like, you know, greatest day of your life to become a father.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then I don't know what it ranks to move from California to Indiana.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it ranks high because he's going to a team that in theory is going to compete for a championship next season.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: But we won't see that team really until next season, right?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Anthony Davis has already been confirmed that he's going to get shut down for the season.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: And though Jaron Jackson Jr.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: did also have his debut the other night, we won't see the full capacity of their team because instead of him starting alongside Walker Kessler, he started alongside Uusta Nurkic.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of the bigger names using the trade-down line, it's like, oh, Lucas gonna play next week.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Or so-and-so players gonna play in a couple games.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Nah, not this time around.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's it that that kind of tempers it a little bit.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: We also didn't get any what the F traits.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what is that GM doing?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Unless, unless, unless you look at the Bulls.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: And some people have graded the deadline as a WTF.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not one of those people.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't think it was a maze, but I also don't think it was a WTF.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: So depending on how you look at the Bulls' moves, um, not many WTF moments.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like every deadline we get a few of those.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: This time around, we got nothing.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Majority of the moves that we saw were money-saving moves, trading the way a player like Tyus Jones at some seconds to a team, and we just get under the luxury tax.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: The Celtics, though, they did get better by Adam Vusevich, a guy we'll talk about in a little bit.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Most of their deals were to mess with the tax.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: And that was the case, right?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: When you see small player, 12th man on the roster gets traded for a second round pick or gets traded for the rights to a player that will never come over to the NBA, those are the money moves.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: So it's more of those than anything.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: The only trades, if I'm gonna rank them, and I think there was 29 trades total.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: I got one, two, three, four, five, five trades where a team traded with the interest of getting better today.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Again, a lot of the trades end up being future views, right?
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: The Wizards next season, in theory, should be a team that's competing for a playoff spot.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, same thing with the Utah Jazz, at least competing.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying they're gonna be in there, but competing for a playoff spot, which is valuable to the league in the long run.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: But today, those teams are uh taking an ass up.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: You feel me?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: IO to the Wolves is a trade to make the team better.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Voots to the Celtics is kind of a team a trade to make the team better.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: It was a position of need.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: They got that, but also it was a money move by going from a$27 million contract in Anthony Simons to a$21 million contract in Nikola Vucevic.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Kobe White to the Charlotte Hornets is to get them better.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Even though he's dealing with an injury, an injury that Bulls fans uh knew about, but didn't know it was enough for us to get the trade amended instead of getting three second round picks.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: We got to.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Good job, AK.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Jose Everado to the Knicks again is to get them better, and then James Harden to the Cavs.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't want to count Kevin Herter.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: No disrespect to Kevin Her.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: But the Kevin Herter to the Pissers is to get better, but like, you know?
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: So it was a B.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: In my mind, it was a B of a trade deadline, and that's not a bad thing necessarily, but it may be not the greatest thing either.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about some of these debuts of these top names.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: I got five different, or I'm sorry, four different people debuts, but it's kind of a collection because the Bulls acquired eight people, and I kind of want to talk about them at large.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: But the first one is Nikola Vusevich getting traded to the Celtics.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: He played his first game against the Miami Heat.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: I saw a tweet that this is the fourth game in a row that Vusevich has played against the the Heat because we had the three-gamer, because we had the one game get suspended because of condensation on the court.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: So he played against the Miami Heat four times, basically playing his own little mini playoff series.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: And in this one, I was very intrigued with the fit, obviously.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: And what you'll notice between him and Harden and a lot of the Bulls guys, when you get traded, I mean, this is this is human nature, you get put in a new scenario, you're really looking around, wide eyes, figuring out how can I fit in, what can I really do.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that basically was the Vooch experience for the first, let's say, uh half of his Boston Celtics debut.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: I do appreciate between the Celtics fans, the Thunder fan who um acquired Jeremy McCain, the standing ovation and the support that the fan base brings to those people immediately when they put on the jersey.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Vooch checked in and the crowd erupted with Vooch, which is just cool.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think Vooch deserves that after spending five years in purgatory.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: He's going to a good organization.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, good fan, we got good fans here in Chicago too, but a fan base that really values the the winning aspect of the game of basketball.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: So they give him the stand innovation, they give him the big Vooch.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: And throughout the course of the game, you can slowly see him recognize what his role should be and how he can fit onto this team.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that is very important.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: I love this trade for them initially when it happened, because even if Vucevic does not work out for you, he is an expiring contract, and you can figure that out a little bit later.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I had a lot of conversations before the trade deadline about these teams that were lacking center play between the Celtics and the Pacers.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: What would they really do?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: And we saw the Pacers do something big in Zubots, and I was wondering about the Boston Celtics.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: When we come back, we'll talk about how they can fill that void and how Vooch looked in his debut.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Before the season started, I looked at those two teams, the Pacers and the Celtics, as gap year teams, right?
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: Both of their star players had gone down with lower extremity injuries that will pretty much hold them out for the rest of the upcoming season.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't I don't know why I'd be trying to bury the lead.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of, okay, most of the times we're talking to Halliburton himself about like what's going to happen with that center position.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, he likes in Indon, they was really intrigued with the idea of bringing in a guy like Jay Huff, who in Memphis showed us bits and pieces of him being like a really quality player.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: And um I'm like, okay, and this is this is me talking on him.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like, okay, do we feel like Jay Huff can be the guy to be, you know, um on your team next season when you're trying to compete for a championship?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously Halliburton didn't know that answer.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm like, the the conversations that I'll be having with him, he don't be giving me a lot, which is good for him.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be trying to get into that locker room, trying to get in that front office.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what are they thinking?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: And he'd never give me nothing.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I I was putting to him like, hey man, the centers that will be available next season, um, we will have Vucevic because he's an expiring contract.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: You want big vooch?
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he never gave me a yes or no answer on that.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: But like Isaiah Hardenstein is potentially there, but I'm always looking at the paces, like, how can they afford to get a guy?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: And the only answer was to make a trade for that guy, and that guy ended up being Zubac, who we'll talk about later.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: And for the Boston Celtics, they lost their guys in like Porzingis and Al Woford, and they bring in, like, or they level up a guy like the Manscada, who's been really solid this season.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: They bring in Luka Garza.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: But when they're trying to compete for championships, do we feel like those guys will be ready to be those guys?
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe they will be.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: But adding a guy like Vooch, even if it is just for the season, but I have a sneaky suspicion, based on nothing, that when his contract is expired, he will be back as a Celtic.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: Based on one game, y'all.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Based on one game, they'll be back with the Celtics, not on a$21 million deal, but something that's more team-friendly, maybe.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how we might get to him being the start and center.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: But they they had that hole in the center position as far as the high-level four playoff series center.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't say that Vooch is that guy, but I was very, very um excited about his second half because there's a few things that he was empowered to do with the Celtics that he was never given the opportunity to with the Bulls.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not even saying that's through coaching.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's through the lack of talent that he played with with the Bulls.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: The first one is there's so much space over there in Boston that he was setting screens against a team in the Miami Heath that really like to switch every single pick and roll.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: And he got a small defender on his back so many times.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: I lost count.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: And he also plays with players, at least three of the players on the court with him, can throw a really good entry pass.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: There was moments in his game where you would have thought that Derek White and Vucevic have been on the team together for a decade.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: They had a nice chemistry.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: So it was cool to see Vooch set a screen and seal, seal, seal his big, his small defender and just go over the shoulder with the pass or with the with the finish at the rim.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: And there were some times he would seal his guy, and you saw the Eric Sposha being Eric Sposha, make an in-game adjustment, saying, boom, if he seals, we need somebody to come help off the weak side.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Boom, the second guy comes, and then Derek White's cutting right through the lane, and Vucevic is able to showcase the passing ability, which is something we all knew Vucic had for the entirety of his career.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: And with this much space and this many shooters and this many smart NBA players, we're going to see more of that.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: The last thing I think they empowered him to do that he didn't have an opportunity to do in Chicago is crash the offensive glass.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because one thing you will notice about the Boston Celtics, because they've held their opponents under 100 points for five straight games, that number is up to right now, that they are just a weld oil machine defensively, where you can afford, as the big fella, to crash that glass because I trust my other guys to get back on defense where they don't need me in transition as much.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: So he crashed the glass, he sealed the small defender, and he passed very well.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: And Zach Lowe will be a guy to tell you that every other season, Nikola Vusevich is a good three-point shooter.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: This is the season he has been.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Last night in his game, he did not hit this solo three that he attempted.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: But the last couple years, Chicago, he's been a four and a half three-point attempt guy, four three-point attempt guy, four, four, four.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: So he's always attempt, let's say, four to six three-pointers since his all-star season or since he got traded to the Bulls.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: And again, he only attempted one in his debut with the Celtics.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I don't know how this will go.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: But he wouldn't be, in theory, the first big fella to find his way to the Celtics after being known as a shooting big to stop shooting threes.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's been one game.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: Next thing he might attempt 13 of them.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: I don't really know.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm thinking about like Lou Cornette got to the Celtics and he was known as a stretch five, and he got to the Celtics.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't attempt no threes.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Voots in theory is a better three-point shooter if the season would catch him right, because this year he's shooting 37% from three.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: But is there a world where Voots is more like a dirty work center all of a sudden?
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, but that is the exciting part of the trade that line.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: So an acquisition that I really liked for them in real time gets better based on that one game.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to I'm gonna temper the expectation just a little bit for Celtics fans because they were really happy with his first game performance.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: I think a part of that is because they were down by 20 and they came back to win a ball game.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, your adrenaline is high after something like that.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: You will have games where Vucevich will not look good.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: He's 30, what, five years old at this point?
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: 35 years old.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have games where he looks 35 years old.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: I promise you.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's just up to you whether or not you want to continue to ride the Vooch wave or you want to hop off before, you know what I'm saying, things get too bad.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: But shout out to Vooch in his first game.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of the former Bulls players, I'm excited to see them in new situations because you kind of get an idea of what a player is because of where they play and how long they play there.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: And anytime I see a switch up from a guy that I watch for five years, for you know, 82 games a year, um, I'm just excited to see what more can they bring to their game.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I saw a lot of good stuff from Vooch in his debut.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Next one, Jaron Jackson Jr.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: debuted um against the Orlando Magic, which was really weird.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: There was a time in this game where he had a switch where Desmond Bain was guarding him.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, I know if Memphis fans are tuned into this game, they may be teary-eyed because two of their guys who they loved for five years are now going against each other in different uniforms.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: It did feel weird to see Jaron in that uniform, but eventually it clicked.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: By the second half, I'm like, oh, snap.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of rocking with this.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the Utah Jazz are one of those teams that are unethically tanking, and we'll talk about that later in the episode.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: So Jaron didn't play a full scope of what his game may be.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: They're so, matter of fact, I'm gonna say the ethical stuff, unethical versus unethical tanking stuff.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: But Jared in his game looked exactly like Jaron has looked for the entirety of the season.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like it was not like a um Jekyll and High type of thing, or this guy looks different, like we just talked with Big Vooch.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: In his debut, he ended up with 22 points, four rebounds, um, one steal, and I'm sorry, one steal, three steals.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, and zero blocks.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: So a normal Jaron Jackson Jr.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: game.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: He shot it well from three.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: He got a lot of empty side um uh situations from the wing, from the block, and they kind of just gave him the ball and said, cook up a little bit.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't I think that I'm excited about him being there because of Will Hardy.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think his first game really showcased how dynamic Will Hardy could be used in him in the offense.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: These guys have never played together before and making a trade deadline trade and then being like, hey, we're gonna formulate this whole offense differently.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's just something you don't see.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm excited to see what like a full offseason looks like for Jaron with this.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: But one thing that I will continue to say about Jaron Jackson Jr.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: is that he just plays better when he is not the five.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: And yesterday he started the game and they had Yusuf Nurkic.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: And again, that guy will be Walker Kessler by all reports there.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna try their very best to bring back Walker Kessler.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: So they will have a lineup next season of Keontae George at the one, Ace Bailey at the two.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: And Ace Bailey, how do they got him listed?
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen so many different things.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: They got him listed 6'9, 200.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: So 6'9, Ace Bailey at the two, seven foot Larry Marking at the three, six nine, Jaron Jackson Jr.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: at the four, and then seven foot-one, Walker Kessler at the five.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Just a really gigantic, gigantic lineup.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes just that overall size, even if we don't have a ton of great defensive players between Larry Marking and Keontae George, and Ace Bailey still figuring it out, he's a rookie.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Even if we don't have the crazy defensive guys, just having the size and the wingspans is enough in a lot of cases to be a decent defense.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: And not to mention, we do on the back end at least, between Jaron and between Walker Kessler, have like good to elite level defensive guys, and some of those guys and like a Walker Kessler is elite at protecting the basket, and some of those guys in Jaron's action could do a combination of those things, but also it's more of a roamer.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, I'm really, really intrigued than what his fit will look like.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: I was also wondering how much he would play this season.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, he played his first game.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't a ton of minutes.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the actual number ended up being 25 minutes, which is actually more than it felt like in real time because I did watch this game completely.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: But that 25 minutes, if it stayed that way for the entirety of the year, that would be the least amount of minutes he's played since 2020.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so I'm sorry, that would be the least amount of minutes he's ever played in his career if that goes for the rest of the season.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, because that 2020, 2021 season the year he got injured.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm not looking at those 11 game sample sizes like, oh, he averaged 23 minutes per game.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm not, I'm not looking at it like that.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, really, the least amount of minutes he's played per game since he's come into the league.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: So um, I always wonder the mental aspect for a player like Jaron Jackson Jr.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: to go from a situation like that.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, we're not gonna act like the Grizzies were winning a bunch of games.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, I think when he got traded, they were like on a six-game loser streak.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: But like for the most part of his tenure with that team, they were competitive on a nightly basis.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: So to be like, hey, Jaron, we're gonna take your foot off the gas just for the rest of the season, how does he mentally do that?
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: That would be tough for me.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: If I was like, you know, I've been doing six podcasts a week at this point for since October.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: If they just said, hey man, we only gonna have you do three for the rest of the year, I don't even know what I would do with that extra time.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: You feel me?
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just I'm just in my ways at this moment in time.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: So Jaron Jackson Jr., thumbs up in his debut.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited to see what it looks like.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, further than that.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: When we come back, the Bulls players, all eight of them.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna talk about their debuts and James Harden.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Stay tuned.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Before we go any further, I want to say thank you to my sponsor, DraftKings.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: You may know all about DraftKings pick six by now.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: You pick more or less the different players' stats for the upcoming games, put two or more different players into your pick set.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: Look at some stats aside, more or less on those stats.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Sit back, relax, and see if you made the right decision.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: As always, I'm gonna remind you to play responsibly.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm looking at the slate of games for tonight.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: And um, because we do have the break, the all-star break coming up, some of these nights have a ton of games, which I really do appreciate.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm I feel like leading up to the trade deadline, you kind of lose it a little bit.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like dog days because you don't even know if this team is gonna be doing anything next week.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: You don't know if they're gonna trade all their players.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: So you're watching the games, but you may not be watching, watching the games.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I appreciate now that we got the trade down, I can snap back into it, and then I get a little bit of break at the all-star break.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so the ways is gonna work.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: We got a couple bangers, y'all.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: We got the Pistons versus the hottest team in basketball, the Charlotte Hornets, who have one of the best net ratings in the NBA over the last 30 games, which is crazy because they're still sub 500 and they're like number three in that rating.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: This is my most anticipated game of the year.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: The Pistons is coming off a game where they destroyed the New York Knicks.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: The Hornets are coming off the game where they just won a bunch of them.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I just want to see two, yeah, Easter conference juggernauts clash, because this might be a first-round playoff series if you think about it.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: In this game, I'm actually gonna take two pieces into my pick set because I'm so excited about this game.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: Every time I've had Con Kipple on a pick set for me personally, Con Kipple has done some pretty interesting stuff.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I'm gonna go more again on Con Kipple's points in this matchup.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: It will be a tough one because he's gonna be guarded by some really elite level guys over there.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that he showed us enough throughout his career so far that.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: It don't matter who the defender is, he's going to be able to do some really interesting things.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: As a rookie, that is really impressive.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: And on the other side, even though we love Musa Diabate, I think they're 15-1 when they're starting unit, including Boosidiabate at the center of starting.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm interested to see what this matchup looks like for Jalen Duran, you know, him versus Mousa.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: And because of that, I'm gonna go more on Jaren's rebound.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, not Jaron, uh Jalen's rebounds.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: Jalen Duren's rebounds more.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: I like that a lot.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: So that's two pieces to my pick set.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: Here on Peacock, we have the Milwaukee Bucks versus the Orlando Magic.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: The Orlando Magic just had a game versus the Jazz, and a game with the Jazz were literally giving them the ball so they can win.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: And they got a little easy part of the schedule, if you will, even if it did feel like an easy win against Utah.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: The Bucks haven't played semi-decent recently without Giannis, but this should be a game for the Orlando Magic where they can continue to stay on track.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: And because of that, I'm looking at Anthony Black here.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Anthony Black more on points versus the Milwaukee Bucks.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's a really interesting matchup, even if we don't have Giannis suiting up in it.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: And lastly, the way we end the night here on Peacock on the coast to coast is the OKC Thunder versus the LA Lakers.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: Again, we know that Shea's not playing.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: We actually just found out that Shea is not even gonna play in the All-Star game because of his injury, and Alpert Shangoon is now an all-star.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out to Alpert Shangun.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but no Shea Gills, just Alexander.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I've liked what I've seen from Kasen Wallace in a few of these games.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: I've liked what I've seen from uh Aaron Wiggins and Kenrich Williams.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: But because they feel like a by-committee team with no J Dub and no Shea, I'm gonna steer away from them specifically, and I'm gonna look over to the Lakers and say King James himself.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going more on King James' points since Austin Reeves come back.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: King James been doing it.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe just Austin Reeves keeps everything together.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I'll be looking at Austin Reeves.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: But no, I'm gonna go King James and go more on his points.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's my pick set for today.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: But I also like I just see some interesting Atlanta Hawks versus Tim Wils is a very interesting game, you know?
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: In theory, I don't have any report about this.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: In theory, Jonathan Camingas should be debuting in this game.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: In theory, I would assume who should be debuting in this game.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: So that's actually one of my most watched games or most anticipated games.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then I can't even call this a tank-off game because the kid the Pelicans don't play for anything, but Kings versus Pelicans might be a little bit interesting.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, Cavs Nuggets?
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: Jamal Murray likes he heard his groin in the game versus the Bulls.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: I personally have not seen any updates about that.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe Jamal Murray doesn't suit up in this one.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: But James Harden, newly acquired versus a semi not really healthy Nuggets team.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: Bro, we can did we get spoiled with this?
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, we got spoiled on this Monday night.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: For those of you who haven't checked out DraftKings Pick Six yet, there's an exclusive offer waiting for you.
• 24:44
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• 24:50
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• 24:54
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• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: So don't be afraid to get in on the action.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: Right at the upside with Pick Six.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: So the Bulls were one of the most active teams at the deadline.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: As you know, they pulled off, what, nine trades, brought in eight different players, and you know, the Bulls continue to be the laughing stock at the NBA because they brought in of those players, eight players, six of them are guards.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: Six of them are guards.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: No big deal.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: Everything's okay.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, I'm gonna give credit to Billy Donovan here.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because with us having a gazillion guards, in my mind, I felt like it would be impossible to work through this rotation.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think through the first two games, Billy has done a pretty interesting job in the rotations.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: Also, we don't have Trey Jones or Josh Giddeys.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: So when those guys come back, then it becomes a madhouse.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: But um, Madhouse or Madison, that's what the look at me making puns without even trying to.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just quickly, because I know 90% of y'all don't give a damn about what the Bulls did at the deadline, but this is small ball with Kenny Beats and Kenny Beachum loves some Chicago Bulls.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um happy the fact that the Bulls have picked a direction and trying to lose games, even if it's not in the way that some of these other teams are, as far as uh, you know, benching the top players.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: But one thing I do want to say with all of these moves, Modus Buzales feels more empowered to be Modus Buzales.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: He's given us like 20 points over the last couple games, which is pretty interesting.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: Jaden Ivey may have gone viral because of his baseball, football throw to a guy four feet in front of him, but I've been very excited about what we saw from Jaden Ivey.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: His last two games were the most minutes he's played all season at 33 and 30.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I don't know what it looks like, you know, for the foreseeable future, but I'm excited to see what it ends up being.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that he, I wish that he didn't pick the number 31.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: It just don't have a lot of aura.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how to explain it.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: If you know, you know.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: The more the most intriguing piece that we got at this deadline, um, it wasn't Anthony Simons, who's been fun to watch so far.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's not Kotlin Sexton, who's impossible not to root for when he's on your favorite team.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: It has been Rob Dillingham.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: Rob Dillingham made his debut.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: In that debut, he was three of seven from the field, one from three from three, nine points, four assists, three turnovers to match it.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: But I made a tweet because Rob Dillingham was asked about his confidence level, you know, leaving Minnesota.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: And in it, in so many words, he was basically saying that it was hard for him to stay confident because he had a short lease in Minnesota.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: And that makes sense.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: The Minnesota Timbulls are a team that is trying to win a championship.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: And though they traded a future first-round pick to move up for Rob Dillingham, they couldn't really afford to have him play through mistakes.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: The Western Conference is that crazy.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the difference between Rob Dillingham having a good game and a bad game and a win and a loss could be the difference between you being hosting a playoff series versus not hosting a playoff series.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: So he did not have a long leash.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: But here in Chicago, in my mind, he probably does have, he objectively has a longer leash, but it gives him an opportunity to find that confidence.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: He says something about the love of the game or something along those lines, and he could potentially do that here in Chicago.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: I watched a ton of Rob Dillingham on obviously because I love watching Minnesota Timberwolves basketball.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I always looked at Rob Dillingham in the context of the team that he was playing for.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: Rob Dillonham, let me see exactly what he's listed at.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: He's listed at 6'2 on my kids.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: He is not 6'2.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, bro, we interviewed Rob Dillingham.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: That brother walked into that room.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: Me and him was looking eye to eye.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: He is not no damn 6'2.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: They got him listed at 6'2, 175.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: He is a small basketball player.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: There's a game earlier in the year versus the Spurs that I will not forget where when he checked into the court, De'Aaron Fox wanted him every single possession, posted him up on occasion.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I looked at him in the context of the Timberwolves that, hey man, this team is going to a playoff series.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I just couldn't see his little small self going into a playoff series and not getting picked on.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: And the offense wasn't any good.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: So it didn't incentivize Chris Finch to play him in the postseason, right?
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: But now that that context lens has changed where he's playing 14, that's not playing for anything, he has an opportunity to go do some interesting things.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: He is an interesting ball player.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: Even if he's average in three points, one assist, one rebound, or 33% shooting right now.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: He's an interesting ball player.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: Two years ago, Rob was the man.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: You can't tell me he can't replicate some of that stuff here in Chicago.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: I love that he was able to get 20 minutes last night, even if the last three of those minutes were in garbage time because the Bulls lost that game.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited for him to.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: His 22 minutes, that 22 minutes that he played last night, was the most minutes he's played in the game all season, I think, is what they said on the broadcast.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: So like he just hasn't even been given a fair shot.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe he turns into nothing.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to act like Rob Dillonham is about to come to Chicago and he's about to be the savor of the Chicago Bulls.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: Very far from it.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: But we have an opportunity to see what that looks like.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: We have not just this season, but next season, the year after that, before you have to think about what he could potentially be valued across the association.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: So Rob, we like this now.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: When we interview Rob, you know, Rob said that he was not from Chicago, but he's Chicago adjacent.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: He got family that live here so much so he knew all the restaurants.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: He knew about Uncle Remus, he knew about Harold's, he knew about sharks, he knew about whales.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know how into Chicago you got to be to know about all of those spots.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: So he got fam here.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope that everything works out.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um but of the guys that were acquired by the Bulls, I was trying to explain to my wife as we watched them win uh lose a game to the Nuggets, because she always tries to stay attuned with the Bulls.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: And she was sad about IO and Kobe and Vooch and everybody else can trade it.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: But I was trying to explain to her, you shouldn't get too attached to these players for the next 29 days or 29 games, because the only ones that I'm positive will, well, not positive, that I'm almost positive will be on the team is Rob and Jay Nyvey.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Kyle Sexton expiring, Nick Richards expiring, um, Anthony Simon expiring.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: Don't get attached to these guys because the likelihood of them being here is pretty, pretty low.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, Gersha Yabusele expiring.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, without what what without me saying it, by the way.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: Watching the game versus the Denver Nuggets.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: The wife says, he's not built like a normal basketball player.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, Yabu, um, the world notices, man.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: The world notices.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Chicago.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: The last big debut that we had was James Harden having his debut against the Sacramento Kings yesterday.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and just like with Vooch, the start of it didn't look amazing.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: I felt like him and Donovan Mitchell are both trying to feel things out.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: Donovan Mitchell was so off the ball that it was like, oh shit, I forgot that was even possible for Donovan Mitchell.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: He was so off the ball and letting James cook.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then by the third quarter, no, I'm sorry, by the fourth quarter, both of them look like the players that the Cavs were trying to put together.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: Where James ends up, I think, four for four in the fourth quarter.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: He hits two big threes off the catch.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: And James Harden has been a great catch and shoot shooter.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: His career this year I looked it up.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: He's shooting uh 40, I'm sorry, uh 34% from three on catch and shoot.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think that number probably is gonna get up throughout the course of the rest of the season with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: But by the end of it, you look at that backcourt, you say, oh, snap.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's only one game and it's against the Kings.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: And but also by the end of it, the Kings weren't playing any of the players.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out to Russell Westbrook.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, um ethical, ethical tank commander.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: As the good and the bad of the Russell Westbrook experience, you saw all of it in this game.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: Where the last minute and a half, Russell Westbrook took a 29 foot three, as you can imagine, how that ended.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: They got an offensive rebound, he relocated to the wing, shot another three.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: You can expect you understand how that had to end it.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: They got another offensive rebound.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: They said, hold on, timeout.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna we're gonna draw something up.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: Out of the timeout, he got another opportunity and he missed that one too.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: So you got all of the Russell Westbrook stuff.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out to Brody.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: He's only helping Kings fans win by losing.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it was it was cool to see James in um Donovan Mitchell their post-game interview with with um Miss Winters, right?
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, sideline interviewer, and then Travis Scott pulls up.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: I I had been like half watching his game in real time, not watched it again this morning.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: Travis, bro, the amount of juice James Harden has to have Travis Scott fly to goddamn Sacramento for a regular season game is nuts.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: I know that's his boy, but I got a lot of boys personally.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't even get them to come to the damn kickback.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: He got Travis Scott to fly to Sacramento for a regular season game, and Travis Scott is as hype as anybody.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I love what I saw.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: I love the opportunities that were set up between the two of them and Jared Allen.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: I cannot wait to see Evan Mobley in the context of this team.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: They had a lineup, or this actually started this way, but they closed out this lineup with four guards than Jared Allen.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it was like, cool, it's the Kings.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so imagine when that becomes Evan Mobley.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um been been really, really love what I saw.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I love more the post-game stuff, all the interviews that James has been given, because when he when we saw the report about him and Diricharland potentially be traded for each other, I said, like, man, shout out to James Harden.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: He's always giving us content.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: In our mind, as the NBA fan, we just assumed that this was a James Harden request out because James Harden has requested out of every situation over the last five teams.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: But by his account and by the Clippers account, he didn't request out.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: But it was the most professional type stuff I've ever seen.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: Just saying, like, hey, I understand why they would do it.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm happy to be here, and and I'm happy to be alongside Navar Mitchell instead of being the guy.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: All the times he's talked about being the system, and he has been right throughout all of his career.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: He is the system.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: Here with Cleveland, he's not the system.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it feels like, based on all of those interviews, he recognizes that and is excited for what that looks like in the context of this team.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: So shout out to James, man.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: It does feel like I saw Nikai's Duncan tweet this.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: Excited to watch James debut.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but taking a second to think about the fact that James Harden is in a Cavs jersey and Russell Westbrook is in a damn King's jersey.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: That happened last night, y'all.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's so, so nuts.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: So his debut was great.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: As we mentioned, he got another one tonight here on Monday.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we'll see what it looks like.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: When we come back, let's talk about tanking.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: As somebody whose favorite team is not good, I load up Tankathon every single morning.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: We go take um, we go to the bathroom when we wake up, I'll just say like that.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we go to the bathroom when we wake up.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: We make sure the kids are good.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: Usually I wake up before the kids, so I just make sure they they're doing all right.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: You go downstairs, you get some water, drink water, kids, and then you check tank-athon.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: That is my exact routine every single morning.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: And after the trade deadline, I'm looking at it and saying, oh my goodness.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: There are so many teams that are actively, actively tanking.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: And we got unethical tanks out of this world this season.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, the worst team in the league is the Sacramento Kings.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: And yesterday, their loss to the Cavs was a hybrid, a hybrid tank job, you know?
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because this is the thing.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: Duck Christie has not been shy of benching his guys if they're playing like trash.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: So it may look like a tank, but maybe it's not.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe this is completely ethical tank.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: But like Daquan Plowden is playing over DeMar DeRozan sometimes.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: But also DeMar checked out and then checked in, hit a three to keep the game within one, and then he checked out again.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's a confusing thing over there.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm gonna put them on the board of ethical versus unethical because in their last game, they literally then play Zach Levine, Russell Westbrook, or DeMar DeRose for the last eight minutes in a game that was close on national TV against the Clippers.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes it's ethical, sometimes it's not ethical.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna put them on the board.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: The next team, the Indian Pacers, has been an ethical tank team.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: But if there's any team that should be incentivized to start unethically tanking, it's them because they traded their pick and it's only top four protected.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: And you look at the teams behind them, you're like, oh, those dudes are bitching all of their guys.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: So we don't we don't want to drop to the fifth best odds because then we only have what a 14% chance of that pick being number one.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: So far they've been ethical.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: But if they decide to go unethical with it, I wouldn't even be too mad at them.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: Then you get the Pelicans, they're just pelican it up.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_00: I they're not even a team that we should talk about in the context of this because they don't even have their own pick.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: The Washington Wizards just take the game so crazy.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: Do I have the screenshot?
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: I do have the screenshot in my nose.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out to me for being prepared.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's not always the case.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, we know AD and Trey Young are not playing for the rest of the season.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: They had a game against the Brooklyn Nets.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: And at this time, the Brooklyn Nets and the Washington Wizards had the exact same record.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: And with that, and they might end up with this exact same record.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: So when that happens, the team that owns the tiebreaker, which means they won the most head-to-head battles against each other, ends up being higher in the standings.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: So the Wizards said, we might end up with the same record as the Brooklyn Nets, right?
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: We don't want to have that tiebreaker.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: So we already got our star players out for the rest of the season.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: But guess what?
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: Balau Koulibaly, you're not suiting up today.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: Keyshawn George, you're not suiting up today.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Trey Johnson, you're not suiting up today.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: He was not with the team.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know what that's about.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: Alex Saur, you're not with the team.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: Four of their top five players this season, four of their top scores were just out.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: And the Brooklyn Nets, they played their guys and they spanked that ass because of it.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm I tune into this game because it's the first game of the day the other night.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just patiently waiting for OKC versus the Houston Rockets.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, okay, even though I know these teams are not very good, it's an NBA game at the end of the day.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: There is a guy that checked into the game, and this rarely happens for me, y'all.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_00: It is my job to follow the NBA.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I take pride in my job.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_00: I try my very best to be the best at my job possible.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: There is a guy that checked in for the Wizards in this game that I audibly said, who the hell is that?
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: His name?
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: Keyson Gilbert.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't mean that in any disrespect to Keyshawn himself.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: I looked it up.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: He had just signed a 10-day contract.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just, you know what I'm saying?
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: So he's this is his literal first game of his NBA career.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um so shout out to him.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: Congratulations on making it to the league because everybody, not only 0.1% of people can ever say they did that.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you did that.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_00: So congratulations.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: But that is where they were in their tank.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_00: Not only was this his debut, he played nearly 30 minutes.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: 30 minutes.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_00: They started Tristian Vucevic.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: 30 minutes.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: So they unethically tank it.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: Unethically.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: The next team on the list is the Brooklyn Nets, who I'm not, I'm that I think their tank is ethical.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: Michael Porter Jr.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: played last night.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: He played like played play last night until the game was down by 40 and Watt play him any further.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: They could one of the races because they don't really have like crazy talent in the first place.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: The only guy that could bench is MPJ, and maybe they will do that throughout the course of the season.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: But as of right now, they're ethically doing their thing.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: They're letting Noah Triore and Gager Demon, who had a really good game together a couple nights ago, they're ethically doing it.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_00: The Utah Jazz, unethical as hell.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: Larry Mark and playing the last 17 minutes of their game two nights ago.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_00: Jared Jackson Jr.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_00: only played 25 minutes, as we mentioned earlier.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: They're really benching their guys.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: And yesterday, I'm telling you, bro, in that game versus the Orlando Magic, they basically, I don't even have a basketball here.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_00: They basically was just saying, here, take this, go score.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: Here, take this, go score.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_00: Here, take this, go score.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_00: And it was like, and the funny thing is, the Orlando Magic almost didn't do it.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: The Orlando Magic almost lost this game.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_00: Not only were they saying take this, go score, they were saying, I, Ref, I found him.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_00: Why you didn't blow your win?
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_00: I found him.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_00: They was getting them to that line, bro.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_00: And it's so crazy to watch in real time.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I can, I bet Adam Silver's not happy about it.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: I bet he's not.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because one of the reasons of shrinking the odds is to prevent stuff like this from happening.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it's literally happening to the highest degree.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the Dallas Mavericks aren't tanking, they just don't have a ton of talent.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_00: And in my mind, that's an ethical tank.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: They're not benching Cooper Flag down a stretch if the game is close.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: No, Cooper Flag, I watched Cooper Flag last week take two game winning attempts and miss them both.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: But like they were in those games.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: They just happened to lose.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: So ethical tank.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_00: The Memphis Grizzlies just blew their team up.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: They don't have anybody to bench anyway.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: Ethical tank.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: The Monkey Bucks, ethical tank, even though they're on a three-game win streak.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: They're not, they're literally not tanking.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: The Bulls, ethical tank.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason I'm bringing all of this to your attention is because I think I think the NBA should should should um okay, I was about to make a joke about rigging it, but I recognize everybody that that joke wouldn't hit too well with everybody.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: But something has to be done with the tanking system, I think.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't have a suggestion of what that is, right?
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think the NBA itself is to blame for the tanking.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I just I don't know how we could fix what is happening.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe the fix is is simply don't watch those teams for the last 30 days.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_00: This is where, like, where we're at right now or leading up to the the all-star break, or maybe right after the all-star break, that is where people like my dad get into the NBA.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_00: And he's not gonna tune into a Wizards game, regardless.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things for the casual fan.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_00: But I just be thinking sometimes I try to think through the lens of the casual fan.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if I am a guy that's trying to keep up with the league, yeah, maybe I don't care that the Wizards are not playing any of their guys.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: Huh.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe it's not a problem.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: It is also funny that over the last few seasons, because of the shrinking odds, that the worst team has not got the first pick.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_00: The worst team hasn't got the first pick out of the last couple of years.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like it just doesn't happen often.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like the Detroit Pistons were trash for three years in a row and they ended up with the fifth pick all of those years, except for the K year, except for the K-year.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_00: But like they got the fifth pick so many times and not.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then last year, Cooper Flag, of course, is a jump up.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_00: They were they were barely a lottery team.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the Atlanta Hawks, when they got Richasset as a jump.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, let me look.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't watch their last game.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: So before I speak out of tongue, let me look and see what Zachary Richasset did last game.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_00: He had 18 points.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_00: What a great bounce back.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_00: They ended up losing to Charlotte because Charlotte's the greatest team ever constructed.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: But shout out to him because I watched their previous game against Utah.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_00: It was a down to the wire, interest and interest a game, even though, again, the Jazz weren't playing anybody.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_00: Other than Isaiah Colyeer, who's basically John Stockton, if you didn't know.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_00: And in that game, he played 19 minutes.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_00: He was all eight from the field and he did not score.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, damn, bro, this is the first overall pick from just a year ago.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_00: And the Rising Stars game is in a few days.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_00: And Zachary Richard say the first overall pick didn't make the rising stars game, man.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: Is that not insane to anybody else?
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm like watching, like, man, man, man.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I think he's an intriguing young player.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think he projects to be a long and like long have a long NBA career.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's just normal.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_00: Normally, when you have the first overall pick, you look at that player with the context of like being an all star one day or being an all NBA player.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: Hell, being a superstar in some cases.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_00: Reshaus.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's because of the draft class that he was in.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: You don't look at him through that context.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what Hawks fans is like, yeah, he's gonna be an all-star one day.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of Hawks fans look at him and say, hey, he's gonna be maybe the starting small forward here for some time, but maybe never make an all-star appearance.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of the comps that I remember seeing before the draft was like Harrison Barnes.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_00: Harry Barnes never made an all-star game, but Harry Barnes is a feel like 20-year vet at this point and is an NBA champion and everything and has always been, you know, a full professional in this league.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe that's more of the Rejasse thing, but I don't know.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_00: They may hit the lottery again.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: Who the hell knows?
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: That Pelicans pick is that is that crazy?
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: Is that valuable?
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it did blow my mind when they released that and they were like, yeah, Rechay didn't make it.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, 11 points per game, it's not a lot of spots over there.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_00: 11 points per game with no playmaking stats and not much of a rebounder.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, yeah, maybe he's not, maybe he's not a rise of stars guy.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_00: Another winner, really quick before we go to our last break.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_00: Another winner of this trade-in line outside of the the teams around him not making moves.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_00: OKC got that Clippers pick, and the Clippers just may lose more games than before.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_00: They were a team that was climbing and maybe making a playoff appearance at this time.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_00: It just don't feel like a playoff team.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_00: So another lottery pick potentially coming in for the OKC Thunder.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_00: When we come back, I'll be here talking more hoops.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you know what the show's about.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_00: To wrap up the show, I just want to give some flowers across the NBA.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, just just saying, hey, I see you and I appreciate the performances you've been putting on.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_00: The first one, um, I mentioned it earlier.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_00: The Boston Celtics in this five-game win streak, their opponent has not scored over 100 points.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_00: The the year is 2026, I'm gonna remind you.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_00: The league is almost as fast as it's ever really been.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_00: The scoring is up to a ridiculous place.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_00: So holding a team to sub 100 for five straight games feels like we should be talking about it just a little bit more.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_00: So, shout out to them.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out to our Charlotte Hornets, man.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_00: They have officially overtaken the Bulls.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_00: They're now one game above the Bulls for the 10th spot in the Eastern Conference.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_00: They also did just beat the Atlanta Hawks yesterday, which means they're now a half a game away from hosting that 9-10 playoff spot, but they're only two games away from the Miami Heat, which means that maybe they can get up to the eighth spot.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_00: They're only three games away from the Orlando Magic, so maybe they can get up to the Bro, I don't know how to temper the expectations for a run like this because nothing about it feels like, you know how sometimes the team goes on a win streak, you're like, oh yeah, their opponents are shooting 25% from three.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: Of course they won four games in a row.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's not the case with this Hornets thing.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure, yeah, there are a few stats that maybe showcase that some of these wins maybe should not have been wins, but the wins are the wins at the end of the day.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_00: The offense has been elite with that top five team or that uh five-man lineup of Lamelo, Brandon, Khan, Miles, and Musa.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_00: 15 and one is nothing to play with.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_00: And not even like 15-1, and they're going against the Pacers every night or the Wizards every single night.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_00: We got wins against the Rockets.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_00: We got wins against who else is on the streak?
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh wins against the Rockets.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_00: It was a couple really good wins.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um either way, either way, gotta give the flowers because they continue to be good.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, it's been a minute since we since we've had like a, I feel like the Hornets are always fun.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_00: They're just never good and fun.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and now we got both.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope this stays the course because I said again, I would rather see them in a real playoff series over Atlanta, over Miami, over even um Orlando at this point.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm hoping that wherever they fall in the sand is they can win the necessary amount of games to end up with a full playoff series.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it would be great for the city and great for the organization.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Jordan Bede continues to dominate.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_00: He just he's just putting up stats and he's they're winning ball games here with it.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um I know Philly fans are not too happy about their deadline, obviously, trading Jared McCain and basically getting nothing in return other than a protected pick.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but man, Jordan Bede continues to look great, and I got to give my flowers to him.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_00: Give my flowers to Stefan Castle.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_00: While I didn't watch their game against Cooper Flag and the Dallas Mavericks the other night, I saw that box score.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_00: Matter of fact, I'm getting the notifications like, oh, he got a triple double, cool.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, he got 30, cool.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, he got a 40-point triple double and 86% shooting.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_00: What the hell?
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's something that don't happen often in the NBA.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_00: So, congratulations and shout out to Stefan Castle.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_00: While that team, I feel like all the other teams below them, in Denver and Houston and LA and Minnesota, all of these teams have had like rougher spots of the season, right?
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_00: Where right now is a really rough spot for the Rockets.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, currently the Nuggets are still fighting through all those injuries.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_00: Minnesota had a four-game losing streak just recently.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_00: The Spurs, even with their youth, continue to just be good.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's a two and a half game difference between them in the two-spot and the three-seeded Denver Nuggets.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's pretty cool.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_00: Give my, not really give my flowers, but I just want to say I was really excited to watch um School Henderson in his debut.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_00: They played it up very well in the broadcast as if like Michael Jordan was coming back from retirement, which I appreciate.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I don't know what he is as an NBA player or what he will be as an NBA player, but I've just been missing him.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_00: Even though it's not, he's not Dame, he's not Halliburton, he's not Tatum.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_00: I've just been missing watching School Henderson play.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_00: So it was cool to see him come back and have a game where, like, you know, a lot of these guys start off slow.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_00: His first game in what feels like three years.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_00: It hasn't been three years, but it feels like three years.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he started off slow, but to have a couple great passes and a couple May baskets, congratulations to him.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_00: And shout out to Austin Reeves.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_00: Austin Reeves comes back, and it just feels like things are just better in Laker Nation.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_00: I just I don't know how to explain it.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_00: The man just comes in and he hoops and his hooping has led to two wins.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_00: His last three games, and since he's come back, they've been undefeated.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_00: And in these games, he had a 15-point game in his first game.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_00: That 35 against Philadelphia was elite.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then 16 uh last night were also getting concussed by Draymond Green, it looked like Draymond Green just setting screens and extending those arms.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um setting screens and extending those arms.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_00: So those are some of the people I want to give my flowers to, you know what I'm saying?
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't wait to watch, you know, Ayuda Sumu's debut.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to watch Kobe White's debut when it eventually happens.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_00: Those guys know I sent them the DMs, even if one of them didn't read it yet, that I'm 100% always rooting for them.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_00: And hopefully, you know, they could go out there and win some things and do some things that they were never able to do here in Chicago.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, this is another great episode of Small Ball with Kenny Beecham.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_00: Be sure to leave a like.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see y'all next week.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_00: Peace.