Latest / Small Ball with Kenny Beecham / Building The Dream 2024 NBA Playoffs

Transcript

Building The Dream 2024 NBA Playoffs · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Y'all tell me if I'm bugging.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Did you do this exercise too?
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: You have 10 chips.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: Where are you putting them?
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm putting five on the Denver Nuggets.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: But five.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm putting three on the Clippers.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: Which is pretty that's pretty think about it.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'm putting one on the Suns and I'm putting one on the Thunder.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, I'm sorry for the people that got snubbed.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome, welcome, welcome back to the Kenny Beachum podcast.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Today we kind of looking ahead quite a bit.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're not even at the trade deadline just yet, but I want to start talking about the playoffs, okay?
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm in the dog days of the NBA season.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure once the trade deadline happens, I'll get back to it.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: But like I'm at a point now where, of course, I'm watching basketball, but I'm not looking at it from the analytical standpoint anymore, okay?
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I was I was strolling through my YouTube subscription box and I saw a video from Old Man of the Three, the JJ Reddit podcast with Tommy Alter, and they uploaded the video with Tim Legler on it and they they did their dream playoff matchups for the Western Conference.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: I thought, what a beautiful, beautiful idea.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I stole it.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna be honest with you.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: I stole it, JJ.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: My apologies.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: I hope I get another invite onto the show.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: But I will say I did not watch their episode.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: I went into it with my own personal opinions.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: I was not, you know, influenced by them whatsoever, other than saying, JJ, we appreciate the content, my boy.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I went through Western Conference and Eastern Conference and gave my personal opinion of what matchups I would want to see.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: When we dive into that, we're gonna dive into other things like coaches getting fired and other coaches getting hired, a 70-point game, a 62-point game, and a loss.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of things going on around the association, and we're gonna talk about them all right now.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: So let me let me tell you the way I was kind of thinking about this, right?
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: I was thinking about it in a sense that I want to have a dream matchup, but I also wanted to be somewhat realistic, right?
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna give you my dream matchup of a one seed going against a two seed in the first round because that two seed is not falling into the playing.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: So the teams that I start to put together had to be relatively close to the place I had them, right?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm thinking about history of these two teams going against each other, star power versus star power.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking about headlines and narratives.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: I want all of that, okay?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna start off with the Eastern Conference because honestly, the Eastern Conference was a lot easier than the Western Conference.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: The first matchup I would want to see, and this is probably the least exciting of these matchups, it is the Boston Celtics versus the Orlando Magic 1C versus 8C.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: Now, a lot of people might look at this series and be like, oh, that ain't nothing to really worry about.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I have a different opinion, okay?
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I do believe that the Boston Celtics will win this series in the regular season.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: The Orlando Magic have been somewhat of a kryptonite for the Boston Celtics over the last couple seasons.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I haven't been able to put my finger on why necessarily.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I don't really know why.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: But these games are usually grinded out and they come down to the wire.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: And though we can all agree that the Boston Celtics have the most amount of talent in this series, I feel okay about the Orlando Magic's chances to steal a game.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's where we're at right now.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: Still a game.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: And that would be amazing for the Orlando Magic.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta think about where they are as an organization.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: They are what, three years removed from them breaking things down?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Having a playoff appearance in the first place is a dub.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: But taking a game away from this juggernaut of the Boston Celtics, just one game in the playoffs, I would see as a success.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: I mentioned this on Twitter um a couple days ago.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: This is an extremely important trade that line for the Orlando Magic.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, they started off the season so very good.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: They were one of the best stories in all of basketball, and then they suffered an injury here.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: Markel Foltz went out with an injury, Wendell Carter went out on an injury, Franz Wagner missed a bunch of time and now he's back.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: But when they went through all of this, they started to struggle.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: So a team that was sitting around three seed, round four seed is now in the playing.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: Which again, if they stay at this point, they stay very consistent here.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: I would count this as a successful season for the Orlando Magic.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's just not as good as the way they started out.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: And when I talk about them as a trade deadline team, I don't look at them and say, oh, they need to go get a superstar.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: They need to go get the uh DeJounte Murray, who's not definitely not a superstar, but maybe the best name available on the market as far as we know.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not thinking about that.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking about them adding maybe smaller pieces here or there while looking at their salary book because they have Jonathan Isaac making$17 million this year and he's got a non-guarantee for next season.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: Markel Fultz, who has come back from his injury, but it feels as though he is one of the odd men.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now, there's been rumors about Wendell getting offers and them looking at a Wendell trade.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: But since then, Wendell's been playing pretty solid.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know where their mind is really at.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: This is a team that I watch.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: I have no question about the defense.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: They're one of the youngest teams in basketball, also one of the better teams of basketball when it went fully healthy defensively.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: The offense is a tough, tough watch.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: The numbers say it, the I test say that they need more people that can basically just shoot the ball.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: We believe in Paolo Bancaro.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: When we went over our all-star ballots, I mentioned that Paolo is one of the guys that's an absolute lock for me, right?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: I believe in Franz Wagner, not as an all-star talent necessarily just yet, but we know he can get there.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: But they need people around them that can be better shooters.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: And we're having a good season from Jalen Suggs, and we're having a good season from a bunch of different people.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you don't get to this point without seeing like a Gogobatazzi take a step out of nowhere.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: But they need more scorn.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: They need more offensive punch.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I like the guy like Terry Rogier for them, but obviously Terry Ruggier got traded to another team.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: We'll talk about a little bit later.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just looking around the association, and then there are some names to be got.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: Also, some of these names, even though I would love the fit, you may not want to attach your name to a type of contract like that because you still have to pay Franz, you still have to pay Palo, but you I don't want they're one of these teams.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: When I mention like a Evan Fournier or a Davis Berthands across the association, that if their team doesn't take advantage of that salary on their books right now and trade it for another asset and get in some real players, I will be disappointed.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: And that's kind of the way I'm looking at Jonathan Isaac.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't really have many opinions about Jonathan Isaac as the basketball player recently.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he's a guy that was one of my favorite dudes in this draft class.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: And that defense we saw when it was completely healthy, when they were completely healthy.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: But now when you have Franz and now when you have Palo, there's not a lot of room for Jonathan Isaac to really excel at what the things he do.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Smallball five minutes have been pretty solid, but for the most part, he's gonna be a backup.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd rather use that$17 million space that we're gonna have with his contract and go get somebody else that can really provide.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: But in this series, I do I need to talk about the Celtics?
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: No, not necessarily.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: That is a series that we're picking the Boston Celtics because if I look at the other teams around that that could end up being the eighth seed, do you want to see the Chicago Bulls in the playoffs?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: I don't.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh well, well, yes, I do.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: I can't even lie.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, my bias fandom is coming to play.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: But but realistically, I would rather watch the Orlando Magic.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: The world might rather watch the Orlando Magic as a young up-and-coming team.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what's gonna happen with the Atlanta Hawks and DeJounte Murray.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so I would rather just go with a young team that's making their first playoff appearance in some time.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: The next matchup is a 2-7.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: And boy, is this this is gonna be a good one because the Milwaukee Bucks, who are right now slated as a two-seed, um, and I feel pretty good about them potentially keeping that spot, they fired Adrian Griffin.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I I created a whole video on my Kenny for Real channel talking about things, but I'll talk about just a little a little bit more.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and maybe have the conversation that I didn't have the time to have on that episode about the the amount of input our star players should have with running an organization.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: This this new age, and and this sounds, I feel like an old hell when I say stuff like this.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: New age superstaring them is not just I'm really good at basketball.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's like I kind of want to help build the roster I think is best for me.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: I want to have an input on the major decisions, right?
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: And when the Milwaukee Bucks fired uh Coach Bud and they were going through their hiring process, it was Adrian Griffin, it was uh Kenny Atkison, and then it was Nick Nurse.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: And Giannis was a big guy that said, Hey, I want Adrian Griffin, right?
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: And the Milwaukee Bucks been in the position that they're in.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: Giannis is going on podcasts talking about he wants to be a winner and his contract is up in a few years.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: You do everything in your power to keep that man happy.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: So they did.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe they also did believe that Adrian Griffin was the right guy, but Giannis was the guy that went to war for him.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then they made the dame trade, and then eventually they got Giannis to sign on to that extension.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: But in that time, it was some scary stuff.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: They did what they thought was possible to keep their best player on the team, a top two player in the league on their team in a small market.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: But as we know right now, because they fired that man after 30-13 record, it was not the right decision.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: Nick Nurse is play is coaching Philly right now, and the Philadelphia 76ers don't have nearly the same amount of talent as they did last year or the year before that, but they look like a superior team in those previous years.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: You now have the coach that was coaching that 76er take and Doc Rivers.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not this Doc Rivers hater like some people are, or I don't really have any ill will to Doc Rivers, but the numbers are the numbers.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: The success is the success.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: Now, one thing you can't take away from is 2008.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: 2008, he's got his championship, but some some of y'all wasn't even around in 2008.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: I look at my I look at my demographic on YouTube.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: Some of y'all wasn't around to experience 2008.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's how long it has been since we've seen Doc Rivers be that type of coach.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: And we've always known Doc Rivers to be a coach that can coach you really well in the regular season.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: He's been the head coach of a bunch of teams that had higher seas in the playoffs.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: But he also hosts the record for the most 3-1 leads blown.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: He's also had a 3-2 lead in a bunch of series and haven't been able to close them out.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: He's blown some 2-0 series leads.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: He's have he has a really bad record and potential closeout games.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: Now, again, that's not all coaching.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, the five people that are on the court for you at the time of these games also matter.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Chris Paul has had his fair share of stinking performances in the playoffs and when he was with the set uh the clippers and everything.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: Doc Rivers is your coach now.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: And he might have been the best person available.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: Kenny Atkison, who also is still just an assistant coach on the Golden State Warriors, there's no way you could probably convince that man to leave where he's at right now.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, the Warriors just went through a big travesty.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: He's not looking, he's not thinking about job opportunities right now.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: He he's trying to, you know, keep things with the Golden State Warriors and help them.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: You're not gonna get past an experience like this, but try to get their head above water to get back to basketball.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: And that's that's hard to do.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: So of the people available, the Van Gundys, Mr.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Rivers, maybe Doc was the right guy.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: But the best option you had was when you had the vacancy.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of good coaches on the market this year.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: And they went with Adrian Griffin.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna see how that goes.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: That two-seeded Bucks team that I have right now, I haven't gets the Indiana Pacers.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the Pacers have the opportunity after this trade to maybe make a little bit more noise.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: We haven't seen a bunch of minutes of Tyrese uh Halliburton and and Pascal Siakam together.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: They had the one game in Portland that wasn't pretty.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: The defense was really, really, really bad, but you make that trade to be better.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: And right now they're sitting at 70.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: They might end up 70, they might end up above it.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: But this matchup is gonna be legendary.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: This is a this is a a rivalry that has been brewing for this season.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: They played against each other five times this year already because of the in-season tournament and everything.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: And it feels like every single game, other than the first one, there was some shenanigans.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: We had the game ball issue.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: We had Jay, we had James Johnson getting a contract because of the game ball, the game ball issue.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: We saw Malik Beasley go on a podcast and say, if we go against them, because I know we will, we're gonna destroy them.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: Modern day NBA rivalry?
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: The only problem is it's not coming from Giannis or Dame.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's coming from Malik Beasley out of all people.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: And shout out to Malik Beasley.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: He's having a phenomenal shooting season.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: But Tyrese did hit the big shot on Dame and did his watch.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: And Dame said, pipe down, because you never really know you're gonna be on the other end.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then Dame proceeded to have two very stinky games against the Pacers.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: And that's not the Dame we know.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's not the Dame we know.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: So this series would be amazing now that we add Pascal Siyakim into the thing.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm so serious that I would take the Bucs.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'll be honest with you.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: Even though the Pacers have had their success against the Bucs this season, I'm still thinking about that top end talent.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be hard for me to put that aside.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that that's one blind spot in my my uh mind as an NBA viewer.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's like Giannis is so good.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes it's enough for me to pick them.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: It was enough for me to pick them last year.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: Didn't really work out.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: The one thing I'm looking forward to when I'm thinking about the Bucs is the um how much we see Damian Lillard and Giannis be used together.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: They were only running 10 picket rolls per game together under Adrian Griffin.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: I would hope that Doc Rivers spams that to hell, and we see that spread pick and rolls just dominate the association.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: Right now, they're close to the best offensive team in the NBA, and that was with Adrian Griffin not really not really using his two best weapons at their best, you know.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: So Doc will have the opportunity to do that.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm also curious to see what the defense looks like because Giannis went on a full almost eight-minute rant a few weeks ago about how they don't know what they're doing on a night-to-night basis defensively.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously he went through that rant.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: And that was the rant for the people at home where he was talking about um the equipment guy needs to wash the jerseys better, whatever the hell he said.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: That entire rant, never in my mind did I think, oh snap, Adrian Griffin is about to get fired.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't even think about it, but he was saying it that he wasn't feeling great.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: Bobby Portis, after the end season tournament, after their loss, was like, coaching gotta be better.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: Giannis had a game against the Boston Celtics where he checked himself back in.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't even talk to coach.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: All the writing was on the wall when nobody was really willing to say that he was about to it was about to get fired and he did, and now we're gonna see.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: Now, um uh Joe Prudy is coaching their game tonight, you know.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: So it might be a couple couple days before Doc is in town because they're trying to figure out his coaching staff.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: Nonetheless, we'll see we'll see what changes we see with the Bucs, and and that might make me feel a little bit better about them long term.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: My 3-6 matchup is is a is a good one.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: It is 76ers at three and six Miami Heat.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: Man, after what Joel Lam B just did, 70-point game, right?
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: Again, our third 70-point game we've seen in the last 16 months or so.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: I don't remember the time.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: He just put up 70.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: He might win another MVP award.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Who knows?
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: He's been the most dominant player in the association so far this season.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: And and and on Twitter, and and this is it's valid.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like everybody that has Joel and B criticism, I'm validating your opinions about him.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: Not that you need my validation, but I'm just saying I understand it, right?
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: Zero conference finals appearances this late in his career is unheard of for a guy as good as he is.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: And as it's not like he's been a really good player on a bad team.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he's played with Benny, he's played with Jimmy, he's played with James in the past, he's had his fair share of really good teams, right?
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, zero conference finals appearances is unheard of for a guy of this talent.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we've seen his points per game drop in the postseason by 10 plus every single season.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: I understand all of that.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's all valid.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: You believe in that he draws or tries to draw the fouls too much, valid, valid criticisms.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: But when a brother drops 70, I'm not thinking about that stuff.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: Personally, just me.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: When somebody is putting together a legendary night, I am not thinking about last April where he flamed out in the playoffs.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, fandom is like that though.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: Fandom's like that.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody's gonna view the sport their own way.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to convince you what you should do or what you should not do.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: But me personally, watching this man get ducking after duck-in, hit mid-range after mid-range, be virtually unguardable.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, literally, you chop 70, literally unguardable for a whole game.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: The last thing on my mind was what he did in the playoffs last year.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's just the way my mind works.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to appreciate what we're getting right now.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: We don't know what's gonna happen with Joe Well.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, this matchup right here versus the Miami Heat, I can't even say with full confidence that the 76ers would come out of that series.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: Just thinking about the history.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: But still, I'm looking at 70 and I'm saying, man, that's a bad, bad fella.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: I try my hardest with my fandom and my view and experience to not neglect the past and neglect the history of these things, but also try to stand in the moment for the time being.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: Just try to stand in the moment for the time being.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect example is this is I had I had a bunch of interactions on Twitter.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I try when I'm having a good Twitter day, I'm trying to interact with as many people as possible.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: Some people think I'm just replying to like the craziness.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: No, I'm I just gotta keep looking.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm replying to a lot of stuff.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, where we were we were talking about, I was talking about Joel Lambiad, and a deep playoff run goes a very long way for him, right?
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh a conference finals appearance for one, but obviously a ring does so much more.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I made that tweet, and um, there was just a lot of conversation about oh, when when a certain player got their respect, what did Giannis have to do to get the respect of everybody?
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: What did Jokic have to do to get the respect of everybody, and so on and so forth.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: And what I kept seeing was a lot of people basically misremembering history.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't have the best memory of myself, but the best thing I have at my access is the internet.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: So people are like, um, Giannis didn't get the respect until he dropped 50 in an NBA finals close out game.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, really?
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: All right, quick, quick Google search.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: Let's just let's just look at the top 100 players in basketball the year before he won a championship, right?
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: ESPN, Bleach Report, Sports Illustrator, may rest in peace, the ringer, all of these people put together their top 100 players in basketball every single season.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: So the year before they won a championship, I'm like, okay, am I misremembering this?
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Was Giannis getting respect of the best player in the league before he had a ring?
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, he was.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: And if you opted to listen to somebody call him Robin instead of Batman, that was your decision.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: But on a grand scale, Giannis was deemed to be the best player in basketball before he got his championship.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: Now, at that point, he had two MVPs, he had a DPOY, he had a conference finals appearance.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like he had his resume, it was a lot better than Joel and B.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: Do not get me wrong.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: And when I say that run for Joel and B matters, I don't think that a run to the conference finals makes him the best playing basketball.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: Jokic has that in his pocket right now, you know?
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying the grand scheme, the conversation around Joel just shifts a little bit, right?
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: So uh Bunts fans were like, Kenny, we don't think that's true.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, you're living in the fandom and you're recognizing what's going on with your team.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: I respect that, right?
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: And there was one particular tweet that somebody was saying, yeah, because when Giannis dropped 50, people on Twitter was talking about Kevin Durant being the best in the world.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, bro, do you know how good you had it that night?
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of us, a lot of us have not had the pleasure to experience our favorite team win a championship.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: Your team won a championship, your favorite player dropped 50 in a close-out game where he turned to Jose Calderon from the free throw line when he's normally close to the to Shaquille O'Neal.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: That was one of the best performances I've ever seen of basketball.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: They won the championship.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: And you couldn't completely enjoy it because Joe Small on Twitter was talking about Kevin Durant.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: It blows my mind.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: I want y'all, this is this is some homework.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: When you with you with your fandom, try to live in a moment a little bit.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: Just try to.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: If for whatever reason in 2026 Kobe White turns into Kobe Bryant for a playoff run, and I'm hoping that in 2026 the Bulls are in the playoffs, but who knows?
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: And we go on to win the Larry O'Brien trophy.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: There's 0.0.2% chance of this happening.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: The last thing I'm doing is being upset to somebody on Twitter talking.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's a moment a lot of fans do not get.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: Just think about all of the associations and just our league that have not had a championship just yet.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: Been around for 60 years in the organization.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: Some of them have been around for 70 years as an organization.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: Zero championships.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: Your team didn't win a championship for 50 years.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: You had to live in that moment.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: Either way, either way, the Miami Heat just made a trade to pick up um Terry Rozier, which right as I'm as I'm recording this, Terry Rozier is having his NBA uh debut with the Miami Heat.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: I felt kind of bad about this.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: I just felt kind of bad about this.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: This is a really good trade, if you ask me, for getting Terry Rozier for the corpse of Kyle Lauri in a uh first round pick that this lottery protected in 27 and unprotected in 28.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's a very good pickup.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: It is a cheaper pickup than going out there to try to get a Zach Levine or going to get one of the other bigger um trade pieces on the market.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: I think he fits pretty well.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: Again, I don't know for sure.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not watching their first game just yet, but just on paper, I like that fit to have another guy on the offensive side of the ball that can do things.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: Kyle Laurie, um, his his tenure as a part of the Miami Heat, you know, it was something.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was definitely something, and it ended very poorly.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like um, he fans will tell you that at one point, a couple days before he got traded, he had taken the Miami Heat out of all his bios.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: He had unfollowed all his teammates, he had known that he was about to get traded.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: And DeMar DeRose was just asked about this in his shootound um at UCLA with the Bulls, and he mentioned how he had to try to be the rock of Kyle Lowry because he loved Miami so much and he felt bad about being traded.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but recently Kyle Lowry was playing the worst basketball of his career.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: He went through a five to 10 game stretch where he couldn't put up over six points.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: And when you're a team like the Miami Heat and you're trying to win chiefs.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Championships.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: I know you have your loyalty to like a guy like Kyle Larry who's been there for the last couple of years.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: You got to do what's right for your organization.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: I hope that Kyle Lowry either gets traded or bought out and he can go to a team that he can compete.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: But they needed an offensive punch.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: And guys like Tyler Hero and Duncan Robinson had been virtually untouchable in a trade like of this caliber, which is funny because Duncan Robinson, they were like, please take Duncan last year, and nobody wanted him.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: And now he's really good.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: But I really like the get for the Miami Heat.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: I think in his first game he was coming off the bench.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if that's going to be the plan full time, but they have air exposure as a coach.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure it won't take a lot of time to figure out what exactly works or what exactly doesn't.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, the Miami Heat getting that piece, hopefully that can help them turn the corner offensively because I was looking at their advanced stats the other day.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: And only like their like their 10-game rolling stats, they need to help ASAP.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: And Terry Rozier is far from the greatest of all time.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: But one thing Terry Rozier could do is get you a bucket.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: He's hit some big shots and some big moments in Charlotte.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: He can get you a bucket.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: He hit a big shot the other night to spoil Carthony Towns a 62, 63-point game.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like Terry Rozier could get those buckets, so I like it.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: And you didn't have to sacrifice anything that you really care about too, too much.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: Now the last playoff series is a rematch from last year.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: It is the New York Knicks versus the Cleveland Cavaliers.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: The Knicks obviously just called in reinforcements, getting old John Anobi.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: From all reports, they're not done making trades and stuff.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll see what else they do because they still have the Evan Fournier contract.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: They still have Quentin Grimes, who is on the market.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: And some reports are saying that they'd rather trade him to a Western Conference team.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: That just makes me look out on the Western Conference teams to figure out, okay, who's available?
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's Malcolm Brogda, man.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: Make the Malcolm Brogda trade ASAP, bro.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: Just make it happen.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: And they would be a perfect case study to the Becky Hammond.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: I guess Candace Parker had a comment uh yesterday, too, that didn't go over well in Knicks fandom, um, which I understand.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: She's she said that he didn't have a great second um playoff run when he averaged like 31, 6, and 6 on great efficiency.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just misspoke there, I'm assuming.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it'll be a great case study because as far as we have been fans of this sport, you needed like a top 10 guy to win a championship.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: Other than 2004, you've needed a top 10 guy.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: They don't have a top 10 guy, but they got the best collection of talent that doesn't have a top 10 guy.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: So them adding a guy like Malcolm Brock, and again, Malcolm Brock doesn't have the craziest track record on playoff time.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: He doesn't have the craziest track record in stand healthy, but assuming health and assuming his production doesn't fall off a cliff, I like them getting him and I like their chances to be like inserted into the contender conversation if they get him.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: Just that one beast.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then I got the Cavs, who's like the hottest team of basketball out of nowhere.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a lot of different factors.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Trisha Thompson just got suspended for PEDs, which it doesn't happen in our sport too often.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: But when it does happen, it's always a surprise.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: Let's just say that.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so that now they have a hole at the backup center position because Trisha Thompson's playing real minutes for them and playing relatively good for his age, even though it feels like Trisha Thompson is like 39 as well.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: He's relatively young still.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: He's just been in the league for a very long time.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, they've been playing their best basketball.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: Sam Morrell went from Mr.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: Irrelevant as a 60th overall pick to one of the best.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, he was already a really good shooter, but now he's doing it to a higher tier.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: I read a statistic the other day that like his per uh per 100 uh per 100 possession three-point making is on the same level as Unanimous MVP Stefier.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, think about that.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh is he gonna cool down?
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: Who the hell knows?
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: But they got that, and they got Donovan Mitchell.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of the comments, um, spoiler alert, we don't have Ask KB today, my apologies.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, a lot of the questions that I did get for Ask KB is revolving around the Cavaliers situation.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: No Evan Mobley, no Dear Scarland.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: This is the best they've looked.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: So when those boys come back, what do you what do you really do?
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: We're not talking trades, we're talking about rotations, we're talking about this or that.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: And the reality of the situation is when we saw Jared Allen and Evan Mobley play together, those two players only played about 16 minutes per game together.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: Other than that, they were split across where was Jared Allen playing full-time five, or was Evan Mobley playing a hybrid of full-time five and some four, depending on who's on the court with them.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: So together, they played again, about 16 minutes per game.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: And then the rest of those minutes, we saw Jared Allen do his thing and we saw Evan Mobley do his thing.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think we're thinking big time trades right now.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think we let it go and see what can happen in the postseason.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: But watching Donovan Mitchell work with all less space in a rim runner has been beautiful.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: And you don't have that when Evan Mobley and Jared Allen on the court together.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not I'm not thinking about them as trades, one of those two big pieces.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: Those 16 minutes we're referring to some of those minutes, a lot of those minutes come at the end of the game.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I have not looked at their clutch stats from last season or this season to compare, but we're probably not seeing the same level of production because it's a little bit more clawed because Evan Mobley has not developed his offensive game enough.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's a lot to ask for what a year three player to turn into a stretch big when you don't have the history of doing that.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why I'm I'm I'm giving the pump the brakes on everybody that's like off Evan Mobley Island.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm still there, but just pump the brakes.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm assuming that he'll get there someday.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's just it takes some time.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: It took Blake Griffin a long time.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I know that's an obscure comparison, but it took Blake a long time.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: Blake told me that he was he was shooting behind the scenes during practices and during offseasons, just waiting for the moment to break out the three-point shot.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe Emo is doing the exact same thing.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: But watching Donovan Mitchell create for himself and others and to see them have the minivan out there and see them just have a bunch of shooters around Donovan and Jared Allen looking like a damn all-star game.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's been a it's been a good watch.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: And that was a team that when I saw the injuries come out, I was like, oh, this team's about to be boring as hell.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: The exact opposite.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_01: I need to stop doing that.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: I need to stop doing that actually.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: A player goes down with an injury, a significant player, I'm like, you know what?
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: That team is on my do not watch list until that player gets back.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: I need to stop doing that because I missed out on some good Cavs games because of it.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but in that series, whew.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: Last time the Knicks swept the floor with him.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely just the lights are too bright for Jared Allen.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what happens, you know.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: Now, some of you, you you astute listener, you astute watcher, may have noticed that my dream playoff matchups in the Eastern Conference are exactly the standings today.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: That's just that's just what it is.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: That's just the way it worked out, okay?
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's just the way it worked out.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, before we get to our Wisconsin conference, I kind of want to talk about this rookie of the year race because today, as I'm recording this, we're gonna get Victor Wimanyama versus Chat on Rivals Week in the Association.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: They're trying to make this a rivalry, and you know what?
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: I'm here for it.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: Now, OKC obviously is a lot better than the Spurs, but I think they're just thinking about this big old tall center versus this other big old tall center.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: Let's make that the real rivalry.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: And right now, if you go to FanDuel Sportsbook, we have Victor Wiminiama.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: He's taking the favorite twin rookie of the year game.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: He's at a minus 125 and just a plus 100 for Chet.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: These things have been flip-flopping all season long.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: It is a two-man race because how many hockey is what?
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: Is that plus 30,000?
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: Is that plus 300,000?
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: Don't even worry about it.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: It don't matter what it is because it's a two-man race.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I was on FanDuel's running back this morning and I was asked, like, what do I think about the rookie of the year race?
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, if it was ending today, Chet Homer is my rookie of the year.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: But if we wait until April when the season is over, I'm I feel pretty good about Wemby having the award because he's trending upward.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: While Chet, though he has not been bad, he's kind of plateaued his play.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: And his plateau has been good.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like a rookie wall is real.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: His plateau has been good, but Wimby's like, oh, here he goes 33 and 7.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: Now, granted, I did give up 7D to Joel and B, but here goes 33 and 7.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: Here goes 28 and 10 in five blocks.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: I think that he's trending more upward.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: The conversation is do you value this the winning aspect of check?
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: Does that matter to you in a rookie of the year race?
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's for everybody's interpretation.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_01: This is the closest rookie of the year campaign we've had since Scotty Barnes versus Evan Mobley a few years back, where I think Scotty Barnes won by just a handful of votes.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I think we're gonna get a very similar situation here.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_01: I don't hate either of the guys because they're both really, really good.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: Whoever you got, I respect.
• 30:07
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• 30:24
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• 31:01
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• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: Now let's get to the Western Conference because things get a lot more complicated.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the Eastern Conference, we kind of have teams, not where they will finish, but there's some gaps, right?
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: There's the top talent, there's the mid-tier talent, and there's the bottom guys, right?
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: We kind of have an idea.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the Western Conference is in a situation where a really good week can have you from one of the playing teams to like, oh my God, I am fighting for a home court advantage right now.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: So again, these are my dream dream scenarios.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: This is not in a world of super realism.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: Again, I did I didn't just pull a team to the one seed that's an eighth seed in real life, but just just just bear just bear with me, bear with me.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: People will be eliminated.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's just the way it is, okay?
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now, we got the Denver Nuggets first, right?
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_01: I believe that there's a world where the Denver Nuggets keep the number one seed.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: Right now it's a three-way tie for the one seed, which is so crazy to say aloud this late into the season, but it is a three-way tie for the Western Conference first seed.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just gonna give the benefit of the doubt to the best team in the conference, in my opinion, and the Denver Nuggets.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: And they don't really have no crazy, crazy rivalry.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I guess they just kind of go to work, get the job done, and go home, you know.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, the ones that I could potentially think about are teams that are not necessarily on the end right now.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_01: The Lakers are the ninth seed.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's possible, hell yes, possible they could take the eighth seed.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's the Lakers.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: They have LeBron, they have Anthony Davis.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: They're probably gonna make a big time swing too at the deadline.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: But I also just wanted it to be the teams that are in right now, right?
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: Let's just assume that the higher seeds won the play-in.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: So sorry, Lakers, uh, sorry, Rockets, sorry, Jazz who are on the outside right now after a really hot streak.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going with just the people we know in the time being, right?
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: So the best thing I could really get for the Denver Nuggets, and I honestly do believe they're just such a superior team to a lot of the teams that are in this uh this little place.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: I got the Kings and Nate C.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: I think the cool part about it is could be it's very similar where their star power sits, right?
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's like a really, really good center in Jokic versus a really, really good center in the Matsabonis.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_01: A really, really good point guard in Jamal Murray versus a really, really good point guard in De'Aaron Fox, and that's kind of the way it is.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_01: I again, I still think that the Denver Nuggets are walking out of there victorious, but I think it could be a fun, up and down pace.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure the Sacramento Kings are gonna get them a run for their money here.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_01: Again, they were a seven-game series for the the Warriors last season.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the roster is relatively the same.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_01: Are the rosters around them?
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe not so much.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: And they were a three seed last year, maybe an eight seed this year.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_01: But again, they can go on a big run too.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_01: They can make a trade at the deadline.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: I it's not the perfect fit, but it's the one we went with.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_01: The next one, it's like my two favorite watching watches in the Western Conference.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: It is the OKC Thunder versus the New Orleans Pelicans, y'all.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: The Pelicans' office offense is ridiculous.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: And you know what?
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_01: The Pelicans are a team that I watch every single night.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, not every night, but when I get a chance to watch them, they're a team that I'm like, man, man, man.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_01: If they had two years ago Zion on this team, I don't know what to tell.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: He's not the player.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_01: And that don't make him bad because he's still really good.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: But if they had two years ago Zion, 60% from the field Zion, 27 points per game Zion, if I miss, I'm getting my own rebound, Zion.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, this team be at a whole nother level.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I've mentioned this before.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think that the Pelicans have the best depth in all of basketball where you can have a player miss a game or two or 10, and you feel Little Sue's pretty good, and they're finally getting to a point where they're relatively healthy.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and I like the way they play.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they they put the most points of franchise history up a couple nights ago, and that wasn't even Zion or Brandon Ingram having extremely crazy games.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: It was CJ McCullum with 30 plus and an everybody else provider.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I love it.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: I love this team.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's a it's a good matchup because the Pelicans obviously have some playoff appearance uh experience.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_01: CJ obviously has a ton, Val has a good amount, Brandon Ingram, and then these guys that have had playoff experience.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the OKC Thunder have Lou Dore.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_01: There's Davis Bertan so again, we don't know if he's gonna be on the roster.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: And what one two series from Shea Gales Alexander?
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a ton of playoff experience versus a decent amount of playoff experience.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to see what OKC does in a postseason to try to stop the high-powered offense, which is crazy to say about the Pelicans that's been going on recently.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I also think the Pelicans are probably gonna struggle to guard them as well.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what that's what makes a really, really good series.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the two middle series, those are the ones.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: It is about to be an absolute bloodbath in the Western Conference.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_01: I guess Eastern Conference too, but the Western Conference, whoever comes out of victorious now, they don't get a Larry O'Brien trophy, but they they need like a chain or something.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_01: Western Conference winner with a spinner on it.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like something.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because you're gonna fight very hard to get through those series.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_01: My 3-6 matchup is some good old beef, some good old history.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's the Clippers versus the Mavericks.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_01: Y'all had to know it was coming.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_01: You had to know it was coming, man.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_01: Luca Dante has seen these boys in the playoffs a few times in his young NBA career so far, and sometimes he absolutely torched them.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes, well, I guess most of the times he absolutely torched them, but that didn't necessarily result in wins all of the time.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: But the Clippers, like they are the one of the best teams in basketball.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you ask me, you have, oh, this is this is a good one.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_01: This is a good one.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: You have 10 chips.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_01: You have to put 10 chips on teams that you think could win the Western Conference, right?
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_01: But you can't put them all on one.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_01: You can't just say I want all 10 on Denver.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_01: This is this is the way I would probably divvy up my chips.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_01: And y'all tell me if I'm bugging, did you do this exercise too?
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_01: You have 10 chips, where are you putting them?
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm putting five on the Denver Nuggets.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: Put five on the Denver Nuggets.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'm putting three on the Clippers, which is pretty think about it.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_01: Putting three on the Clippers.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_01: I'm putting one on the Suns.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_01: I was putting one on the Suns and now I'm thinking about it again.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, we're talking about winning it, winning it, winning it, winning it.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_01: Not just going on a good run, winning it.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm putting one on the Suns and I'm putting one.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_01: My flyer.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's not even really a flyer because they're a really good team.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_01: On the Thunder.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, I'm sorry for the people that got snubbed that I didn't bet my money on.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, Wolves fans.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, Mavericks fans, or Pelicans fans, or Kings Lakers fans, or Utah Jazz fans.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's what my confidence is right now.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm confident in the Denver Nuggets, but the Clippers are creeping up, man.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_01: And if you ask me the same thing in about a month or so, I might take that chip away from OKC and say, here, here Clippers, you got four chips now.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_01: You got four, Denver has five, Phoenix got one.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_01: But if the Clippers been that good, they've been that good.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: They've been really that good.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_01: The only thing that is really stopping them is health.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: General health.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_01: Can they get healthy?
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: And will they stay healthy for a full playoff run?
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because everybody's playing.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_01: Paul George has been amazing.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_01: Kawhi Leonard just put up a triple-double the other night.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_01: Now, granted, it was against a LeBron James list LA Lakers team, but a triple-double is still a triple-double, especially when you shoot 71% from the field while doing it.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_01: They're just rolling and they're doing that without Zoo, who's still out with his injury, and it has not mattered.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_01: And a little birdie told me they're not done.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_01: They got some names on their list.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know those names.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_01: Don't trust, trust.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know the names.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_01: But the word but they're saying they're not done doing some trades.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_01: Now, they don't have a ton of assets.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think they have one tradable first-round pick, but they have some contracts.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_01: I know some people that I kind of like as a fit for them, um, but I don't want to speculate too much.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see if they end up getting those conversations.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: But the Mavericks, the Mavericks have been playing uh good basketball too.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_01: It was a team that I was kind of indifferent about going into the season, uh, mostly because I just didn't know what to think about it.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_01: The sample size we had of Kyrie Irvin and Luka Doncic was very good offensively, but also not very good defensively.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_01: And eventually they called it in and said, hey, we're gonna compete next year.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then next year came around and they had a pretty good offseason, all things considered.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_01: Making the trades to draft Derek Lively.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they went out to get Dante Eksum from overseas.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: Deere Jones Jr.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_01: on a minimum has been one of the better value contracts in basketball.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_01: The Grant Williams experience experience hasn't been amazing so far.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: He's had his ups and downs, but I don't hate that uh that thing either.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_01: Because I've seen, I've seen Grant hit seven to eight threes in a close-out game before, you know, and I'm not saying that's what he's gonna do in Dallas, but he has some of that.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_01: He got some of that.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_01: He added a little chip to it.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I see him arguing almost every day with people.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_01: He gonna he got the nerve to say, I don't start no fights.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'll be watching.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'll be watching.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'll be Liberita.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_01: So they they had a really good offseason all this because obviously they brought back Kyrie, which is the big thing, right?
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_01: They could have lost Kyrie, and there was rumors that the that uh Kyrie wanted to team back up LeBron, but instead he wanted to try to convince Bra to come to Dallas.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: What a timeline that would have been.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_01: So the last matchup is the Minnesota Timbus versus the Phoenix Suns.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, I don't know why I think this will be one of, out of all of these series, and this is eight different series that I've created, this right here would be one of my favorite ones.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think that the Timberwolves defensively is it's like there's not a lot of teams equipped to to guard those three guys.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's just not a lot.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_01: You need three guard slash wing defenders to stop one of the greatest scores of all time.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_01: I just watched that man give my team 43 points in a double clutch uh game winner.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_01: Devin Booker is the best shooting guard in basketball, and Bradley Beal gets the rim pressure that they desperately need on this team.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_01: You need three different defenders to hold their own against those dudes on a nightly basis.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a lot of people, not a lot of teams equipped to make that happen.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_01: The Minnesota Timbulls, they got some pieces to at least make it interesting.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: Ain't nobody clipping up Kevin, other than Kevin putting his goddamn toe on the line instead of getting it behind the line for that shot.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_01: But they Jaden McDaniels, you know what?
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_01: Timbulls fans, you tell me because you're watching this team, this team on a nightly-nightly basis.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_01: Last year, my all-defensive ballot had Jaden McDaniels on it, and I was so very shocked, so very surprised that he didn't make the actual one.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_01: Because I thought in my mind that his defense was so great that he should have been a lock for all defensive team.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_01: This year, he's been really good defensively.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_01: Do not get me wrong.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_01: Don't misinterpret what I'm saying.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_01: He ain't been as good as the last year.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe that's just I'm missing the I'm missing the good, the really, really, really, really good games.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like again, he's been very, very good defensively.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_01: But I thought last year he's one of the best perimeter defenders in all of basketball.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like we're talking top three.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if he's still a top three.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_01: He's been playing that top three level this year.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now, obviously, the team defensively has been amazing, right?
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, Rudy Gobert is the favorite for DPOY.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_01: They're the best defensive team in basketball.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_01: So obviously he's doing something.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_01: He's impacting the game positively defensively.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't know if I I've seen him play that top three defense that made me think last year, whoa.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_01: So you let me know in the comment section.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_01: Am I bugging?
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_01: Because I I I could be.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_01: This is a this is a conversation.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_01: Those are my matchups.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this opens up the idea of seeing um a potential Nuggets versus Suns second round or potential Nuggets versus Timberwolves second round, which is dope because the Suns gave them a couple games in their series last year.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_01: And the Timberwolves, you asked the the Nuggets last year, the Timbulls played them the best.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_01: So you got to go against one or two of those teams.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_01: Cool.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_01: We could potentially see um we could potentially see OKC versus Clippers in the second round.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_01: I like that too.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_01: This is one of those years where I know for sure when we finally get the bracket, I'm gonna spend hours trying to figure out who I believe is gonna win those series.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_01: Historically, it's like higher seed is winning, higher seed is winning, higher seed is winning.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_01: That parody is a different monster.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now, a half a game is like I got home court advantage, or I'm competing to get into the playoffs.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's a crazy, crazy world.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_01: And that's that's one of the reasons why I think that, well, there's a couple reasons.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_01: That's one of the reasons why I'm seeing, I'm thinking that a lot of people are playing as many games.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_01: The other thing is like you got to play that 65 to be eligible for a lot of stuff.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_01: But I also think the teams are realizing man, our star player misses three games, especially if you're in the Western Conference, that can set you back a ton.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: So let's go hoop.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go secure our spot.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_01: And then we can we can rest in the middle of April because we secured ourselves as a one seat, the two seat, the three seat.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_01: Before we get out of here, we gotta get Greg's eye test, takes.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_01: You let us know in the comment section what you agree with or what you disagree with.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, Kenny, the Clippers would beat the Lakers in a playoff series, but it would go seven games.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's hard to count out Braun and Anthony Davis under any circumstances.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_01: But as of right now, I'm taking the Clippers in that one.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_01: Now, would it be seven?
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_01: Probably, just because LeBron is LeBron.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_01: Anthony Davis is good to have a good series too, especially because the interior defense for the Clippers is good right now, but going against Anthony Davis when he also has Braun is probably going to be a little bit worse.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm agreeing that the Clippers is taking that serious, and I feel really confident in that, assuming that the Lakers don't make like a big splash in a couple weeks.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_01: Will it go seven?
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'll give Braun and them the benefit of the doubt.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_01: But then again, in a seven, I might I might trust LeBron in a game seven more than anybody.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_01: I know Kawhi, Kawhi's done his thing in game seven.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_01: Trust.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if it gets to seven.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_01: Give me Clippers and six.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_00: Out of everyone in the league, the biggest fall-off in terms of fan and media attention and discussion has been Kyrie Irving.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think so.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: I was thinking about it, and I I don't know of many people who even fit this conversation, which I think is a good thing for the Dallas Mavericks.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's a good thing for Kyrie Irving.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_01: Because you think about all the conversation around Kyrie since 2020.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's all been about off-court stuff.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_01: No, nobody's been talking about Kyrie's on-court stuff.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, some of that is by his own doing.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but now in Dallas, there has not been a single hiccup.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing in the locker room, nothing on social media, and the brothers is out there bowling.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like his nightly stats are ridiculous.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_01: The only thing is he's missed what, like 16 games.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_01: He's missed a bunch of games so far.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he's already at the point where he's not eligible for the 65-game cutoff, which is crazy to say allow.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_01: The ball playing has still been Kyrie Irvin.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's the other stuff that we haven't heard about, which I think, again, is for the better.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_00: It looks like Embiid, uh Barring missing many more games, will be a back-to-back MVP.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_00: And this has happened a lot recently with Giannis, with Jokic, with Steph.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_00: But with the growing parody amongst the young stars, I believe this will be the last time that will happen in the next decade.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_01: I like that.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_01: Decade is a long time, though.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_01: Ooh.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_01: But you know what?
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, here are my predictions for the next five MVPs.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_01: Let's just do it.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I do believe that that it's gonna be Joel and beat this season unless he doesn't hit the criteria.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_01: And if it's not Joel and beat this season, it's Nikole Jokic.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_01: Next season MVP.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be the Luka Doncic year, finally.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_01: We've been waiting for it.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_01: I think next year is the year.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_01: Year after that is our Shea Gilgis Alexander season.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_01: This team is gonna be so very dominant.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna see Chad Holmgren potentially win a DPOY by this time, we'll be in DPOY conversations.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_01: They're gonna win a bunch of games.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_01: Shea's gonna be incredible.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_01: The year after that is the year of Tatum.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_01: Tatum has been a guy that's been teetering around the sixth best player in basketball when it comes to MVP voting for a very long time.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_01: And he he doesn't have the shot diet or the efficiency to be on the same level as some of those other players, but maybe in three years from now, he's got him.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_01: But then I also think that Luka Dontis comes back for a second one.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_01: And here's here's the long shot.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_01: We get the Wimby year.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_01: And in year six, Wimby's getting that MVP award.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_01: He's just too he's just too good.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_01: He's just too good.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_01: So, based on that, Kenny DeNordomist, there is no back-to-back MVPs in the next five.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_01: Now, Tim, maybe Wimby goes back to back.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_00: I like that list a lot.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think the one gripe some odds makers might have with you, they might throw Ant Edwards in there.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm not I'm not mad at it either.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_01: We got so much talent that Anne is one of those guys that I feel like every year he's still going up.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a world where Anna is getting in there too.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_01: I would hate for Anthony Edwards to have like the Dwayne Wade arc.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean in MVP voting.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, Dwayne Wade got a bunch of rings, which we hope for Anthony Edwards.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_01: But Dwayne Wade was so very close a few different times, but never got it.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_01: And because of how talented the league is, I hope that Anthony Edwards doesn't fall into that too.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_01: I know the comments on this one.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_01: Kenny, how can you not say the 2026 MVP is gonna be X?
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_01: I know, I'm waiting for it.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_01: You let me know your next five MVP predictions.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_01: Is it gonna be Cooper Flag?
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_01: Who knows?
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_01: If you enjoyed the episode, leave us a like, give us five stars on Spotify, on Apple.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_01: All of that goes a very, very long way.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll see y'all in a couple days.