Latest / Small Ball with Kenny Beecham / The Only Way To Stop Draymond Green, Ranking Every Zach Lavine Trade

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The Only Way To Stop Draymond Green, Ranking Every Zach Lavine Trade · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

0:00
SPEAKER_02: But once it goes a step above where it is uh kicking Steven Adams, or it is uh kicking LeBron James or stepping on DeMontis Sabonis' torso, or in this case putting another grown man in a full Nelson during the basketball game, that is where we have gone too far.
0:24
SPEAKER_02: Welcome, welcome, welcome back to the Kenny Beachum podcast.
0:28
SPEAKER_02: We got so much to talk about today.
0:30
SPEAKER_02: Starting off with Fight Night NBA, we got the in-season tournament halfway done.
0:34
SPEAKER_02: We gotta figure out whether or not it's working.
0:36
SPEAKER_02: And lastly, Zach Levine might be the next all-star caliber player to be traded.
0:41
SPEAKER_02: And we might talk about even more.
0:42
SPEAKER_02: You never really know.
0:43
SPEAKER_02: Be sure to leave a like, subscribe to the channel.
0:45
SPEAKER_02: I want to say, first of all, I appreciate the amount of support we got on last episode.
0:50
SPEAKER_02: You know, I think we really showed up and showed out on the Grant Williams interview.
0:54
SPEAKER_02: And I'm using that as a frame of reference when I talk to these other people that represent players and say, hey, you see the amount of love we got when we had Grant Williams?
1:02
SPEAKER_02: If you bring your athlete on the Kenny Beach and podcast, he'll get equal to more.
1:05
SPEAKER_02: So I want to say thank y'all so much for the love on that.
1:07
SPEAKER_02: Go over to Spotify, go over to Apple, pre-download those episodes, leave us five stars.
1:11
SPEAKER_02: I actually found out uh yesterday that just pre-downloading episodes don't really do anything, but I'm gonna keep telling, do it.
1:17
SPEAKER_02: You have to listen to at least 30 seconds of an hour-long podcast for it to count.
1:22
SPEAKER_02: I'm not telling you to go that far if that ain't your cup of tea, but I'm just saying all support is good support.
1:26
SPEAKER_02: You feel me?
1:27
SPEAKER_02: I think we have to start off with the conversation that's been going around the league over the last 48 hours or so, and it has to deal with none other than Draymond Green.
1:37
SPEAKER_02: For the most part, in my time as covering the sport, for y'all audio listeners, I put the quotation marks because I don't even know if I would really call it that.
1:44
SPEAKER_02: As being a super fan of the sport of the league, I have been a very lenient guy, a guy that's been in support of pretty much every NBA player, as long as they're a positive person to society.
1:56
SPEAKER_02: And I would say that has carried over to Draymond Green through all of the antics, through all of the things Draymond Green has pulled off over the last decade.
2:04
SPEAKER_02: For the most part, I've been just letting him do his thing, not commenting about it, at least it's today, because he I think he crossed the line, not just because Rudy Gobert is my boy, but because this year alone, in the last, let's say 14 months, Draymond Green has been unhinged.
2:21
SPEAKER_02: I am a guy that is in favor of a good old-fashioned rivalry, a good old-fashioned beef between two players.
2:28
SPEAKER_02: Because, hell, in 2023, 2024, we very rarely get what I would deem to be a real rivalry, whether it be because of player movement or this and that, there's just not real ones in the league, at least not a lot of them.
2:41
SPEAKER_02: So any chance I get to see a rivalry or beef, especially between two players, I'm here for it.
2:46
SPEAKER_02: Draymond Green's one of the best defensive players of this generation.
2:49
SPEAKER_02: Rudy Gobert's one of the best defensive players of this generation.
2:51
SPEAKER_02: So naturally, they're gonna have beef because the way they defend is just different.
2:55
SPEAKER_02: Rudy Rudy Gobert ended up getting three DPO wise.
2:57
SPEAKER_02: Draymond Green didn't like that, but he because he got one.
3:00
SPEAKER_02: Draymond got his one.
3:01
SPEAKER_02: I would I would argue that the second year after Draymond got his one, he might have deserved a second one.
3:07
SPEAKER_02: But Rudy Gobert got his first one and he's been on top of the world defensively for the most part, at least in the eyes of the voters.
3:13
SPEAKER_02: You know, Draymond Green has taken every single chance to take a shot at Rudy Gobert when he got the opportunity to.
3:17
SPEAKER_02: First example I could think of is when Rudy Gobert was snuffed from an all-star appearance.
3:21
SPEAKER_02: Yes, I said snuff from an all-star appearance.
3:23
SPEAKER_02: Draymond Green is very vocal about the way Rudy Gobert uh handled himself.
3:27
SPEAKER_02: He cried.
3:28
SPEAKER_02: Let's be real.
3:29
SPEAKER_02: He cried, and not only Draymond Green, but a lot of players really was like, oh, that's not right.
3:33
SPEAKER_02: Even Shaquille O'Neal, one of the most dominant players of all time, was like, Rudy Gobert, that ain't that ain't the way you showcase your frustration on national TV.
3:40
SPEAKER_02: Either way, Draymond Green has taken shots at Rudy, and Rudy has tried his best to keep up.
3:45
SPEAKER_02: Draymond Green does have a better way with the microphone, so Rudy Gobier does not have him in that department.
3:51
SPEAKER_02: He does not have him in that department.
3:52
SPEAKER_02: He does have his good remarks, whether it be about Snapchat, or at least after this recent scuffle, he's made some good things, but he's just not gonna hold his own with the mic.
3:59
SPEAKER_02: You know what I'm saying?
4:00
SPEAKER_02: It's like the good old-fashioned, what was it, John Cena versus Roman Reigns.
4:04
SPEAKER_02: The WWE fans know about that.
4:05
SPEAKER_02: I'm not even a WWE fan, but I just remember the clip of John Cena helping Roman Reigns through his lines in a read or whatever.
4:11
SPEAKER_02: That's how it feels, you know?
4:12
SPEAKER_02: So Rudy's not gonna be able to compare there.
4:15
SPEAKER_02: But the other day, they were playing in their in-season tournament game, and maybe this is just a proven fact that the in-season tournament is heightening the frustrations or uh heightening the intensity of basketball.
4:25
SPEAKER_02: Uh, before this game even had a score, we saw a scuffle between Jaden McDaniels and Klay Thompson.
4:31
SPEAKER_02: These boys go at it for a little bit.
4:33
SPEAKER_02: Most people that watch this incident will see what Rudy Gobert did as trying to break them apart.
4:38
SPEAKER_02: Draymond Green and see it as that.
4:40
SPEAKER_02: Draymond Green saw saw red and immediately went after Rudy Gobert, put him in a hairlock, a full Nelson, a master lock, whatever you want to call it.
4:47
SPEAKER_02: He haired Rudy Gobert's head for about nine straight seconds.
4:51
SPEAKER_02: And I will be real, hilarious.
4:55
SPEAKER_02: As an innocent bystander here, hilarious.
4:58
SPEAKER_02: You feel me?
4:58
SPEAKER_02: Um, we found out today that Draymond Green is going to be suspended for the next five games because of this act.
5:03
SPEAKER_02: But I am just tired of all of the Draymond Green stuff.
5:08
SPEAKER_02: For the most part, throughout the course of his career, it's been like, hey, Draymond is such a great player and such an intricate part to what the Warriors have been able to do.
5:16
SPEAKER_02: They were we're willing to go through all of this stuff with him.
5:20
SPEAKER_02: We're willing to see him do what he does because at the end of the day, he's helped us win.
5:25
SPEAKER_02: How many championships?
5:26
SPEAKER_02: A lot.
5:27
SPEAKER_02: But I think there's there's a level to it that he has pushed.
5:31
SPEAKER_02: When he's yapping to the opposing team, harmless.
5:34
SPEAKER_02: Harmless.
5:35
SPEAKER_02: I even see the benefit of those things.
5:37
SPEAKER_02: But once it goes a step above where it is uh kicking Steven Adams, or it is uh kicking LeBron James, or stepping on DeMontis Sabonis' torso, or in this case putting another grown man in a full Nelson during the basketball game, that is where we have gone too far.
5:56
SPEAKER_02: Steve Kerr, the coach, of course, of the Golden State Warriors, had this to say guys on the bench were telling me that Rudy's hands were on Clay's neck, and that's all I know.
6:06
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
6:07
SPEAKER_02: Do we believe that?
6:08
SPEAKER_02: Because this is after the game, so I'm sure he's been briefed, but I digress.
6:13
SPEAKER_02: This is Steve Kerr again, um, last season, when Draymond Green stomped on DeMontis Sabonis.
6:20
SPEAKER_02: I didn't see the play live, and then I didn't see the replay.
6:24
SPEAKER_02: Another scenario where he was asked about it in a post-game interview, where I am 100% sure he had the opportunity to see the stomp.
6:32
SPEAKER_02: And then after Draymond Green notoriously punched his own teammate, then uh told the world that the vibes were just off for whatever reason, Steve Kerr came to the podium and he seemed to be more upset about the video leaking versus the actual act of Draymond Green punching Jordan Poole.
6:52
SPEAKER_02: Now, if we look at all of these instances, in my opinion, it looks as though Steve Kerr has turned into an enabler of Draymond Green's actions.
7:02
SPEAKER_02: Now, I'm not saying he doesn't hold him accountable completely, but when you come to the media after a situation like this, or the last situation, or the last situation and say, hey, I didn't see it.
7:14
SPEAKER_02: Hey, I man, we need to be better about what stays in the locker room.
7:19
SPEAKER_02: That just reads wrong to me.
7:22
SPEAKER_02: And at this point, when you look at those instances from the Draymond Green stomp, the Draymond Green kick, the Draymond Green uh uh fool Nelson, these things have not positively impacted the team at all.
7:36
SPEAKER_01: If anything, it's been a detriment in 2016.
7:40
SPEAKER_01: His suspension was one of the main reasons why LeBron and Kyrie Irv were able to do something that nobody's ever been able to do in NBA history.
7:49
SPEAKER_01: If Draymond plays the game, I again, I don't know how history will go, but I do like the odds.
7:56
SPEAKER_02: And now in this case, luckily, this is happening beginning of the season.
8:01
SPEAKER_02: These five games that he's gonna miss won't matter, or maybe it will because parody is at an all-time high.
8:05
SPEAKER_02: I don't, I don't know.
8:06
SPEAKER_02: Only we will know in April.
8:07
SPEAKER_02: These five games may not mean anything, but when he stomped on DeMontis Abonis's chest, he you know who got out lucky?
8:15
SPEAKER_02: He did.
8:16
SPEAKER_02: You know who has been so lucky to have a guy like Steph Curry on his roster?
8:20
SPEAKER_02: Him.
8:21
SPEAKER_02: Because if it wasn't from Steph Curry in that playoff series turning into a supernova version of himself, then we'll be looking back on that stomp and be like, that is one of the reasons why this team lost in the first round.
8:33
SPEAKER_02: He's just gone way too far.
8:37
SPEAKER_02: And my problem is not just with Draymond, it's with a lot of people involved, actually.
8:43
SPEAKER_02: It's with the fans.
8:44
SPEAKER_02: And listen, I'm I'm not putting this big old bucket over all Warriors fans because I've seen a ton of Warriors fans realize that what Draymond Green has done for the last 14 months has been inexcusable, but there's a pocket of them, and they're loud and they're wrong, and that bothers me.
9:03
SPEAKER_02: I always want people to really internalize what they're doing.
9:09
SPEAKER_02: Let's say you don't know me.
9:11
SPEAKER_02: You might be a fan of the show, of the content, but you don't know me.
9:15
SPEAKER_02: I beg you to never blindly support me if I am in the wrong.
9:20
SPEAKER_02: I beg you, I beg of you, because that's just not what I would want.
9:23
SPEAKER_02: And Draymond Green might want that because look, you see, this many people said I'm right, but it just it's just not the way to do it.
9:30
SPEAKER_02: And there is a genre, a subcategory of Warriors fans that has blindly defended this man through all of this.
9:37
SPEAKER_02: There is a one second frame, one second frame where it does have Rudy Gobert having his hand around Clay, but look at Clay's eyes.
9:48
SPEAKER_02: He's not in a struggle.
9:50
SPEAKER_01: There are fans that will use that one frame and say that no, Draymond Green was helping Klay because Clay had it, Clay was in the stranglehold too.
9:58
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't.
10:00
SPEAKER_02: Clay Thompson did not walk out of that in any harm whatsoever.
10:03
SPEAKER_02: This is a case of Draymond Green seeing an opportunity to take a shot at some guy he desperately doesn't like, and he took advantage of it.
10:11
SPEAKER_02: He was in the wrong.
10:13
SPEAKER_02: The Warriors commentators are no better.
10:16
SPEAKER_02: No better.
10:18
SPEAKER_02: And again, I'm not normally a guy that's vocal in these type of scenarios, but I watch this from their POV.
10:24
SPEAKER_02: I'm listening to them talk about it.
10:25
SPEAKER_02: And I'm watching the same replay that they watch it.
10:28
SPEAKER_02: And the bias, the bias is crazy.
10:31
SPEAKER_02: Now, every single local broadcast is going to be biased towards their team because, in a lot of cases, the the color announcer, the color commentator is a guy that used to play for the team.
10:40
SPEAKER_02: It's Kalena Azabuki in Chicago.
10:42
SPEAKER_02: It is our guy, Stacey King.
10:43
SPEAKER_02: Like they're going to be biased.
10:45
SPEAKER_02: But when you see your player put someone else in a full Nelson, or you see your player stomp on someone else's chest, come on, man.
10:54
SPEAKER_02: Come on, man.
10:54
SPEAKER_02: You gotta call a spade a spade.
10:57
SPEAKER_02: I am a fan of many, many players in the association.
11:02
SPEAKER_02: One of them is on this roster.
11:03
SPEAKER_02: Hell, I call myself a secondary Warriors fan going into the season because I want to see my boy Chris Paul win a championship, right?
11:09
SPEAKER_02: Chris Paul did something against Mike Conley a couple games before this.
11:14
SPEAKER_02: What I see is completely dirty and wrong.
11:18
SPEAKER_02: He is my favorite player of all time.
11:21
SPEAKER_02: We as fans should be able to differentiate the things.
11:26
SPEAKER_02: That is a dirty and wrong play.
11:30
SPEAKER_02: But that little sub-genre of Warriors saying it's like, nah, Draymond Green can do no wrong.
11:35
SPEAKER_02: I, a guy that follows over a thousand people on Twitter, had to unfollow people because it was becoming way too much.
11:44
SPEAKER_02: I saw somebody pull up the video of Sergey Backer punching Marquise Chris.
11:47
SPEAKER_02: He got three games.
11:49
SPEAKER_02: That is kind of funny, though.
11:50
SPEAKER_02: He did just only get three games.
11:51
SPEAKER_02: But the reputation 100% matters, and it should in every case, in our judicial system.
11:59
SPEAKER_02: If you are reoffending you offend a second time, you're not gonna just get a slap on the wrist for the second time.
12:03
SPEAKER_02: No, you're gonna get a longer sentence.
12:06
SPEAKER_02: That's the way it always has been.
12:10
SPEAKER_02: The NBA's referee committee is not giving him a slap on the wrist because they're they're condemning his actions.
12:15
SPEAKER_02: They're saying, hell, if you keep doing this, we're gonna continue to increase the amount of games you're going to get.
12:20
SPEAKER_02: If he got two games or three games, Dream McGreed won't care.
12:23
SPEAKER_02: He might not even care about the five games.
12:25
SPEAKER_02: So it's their job to set an example and say this is something you cannot do.
12:30
SPEAKER_02: I would argue five games pretty lenient.
12:33
SPEAKER_02: Actually, I would argue the NBA is pretty lenient about all of the suspensions they have handing out, whether it be for domestic disputes or whatever.
12:40
SPEAKER_02: There are a lot of players that I have liked throughout the course of my fandom.
12:45
SPEAKER_02: I will never blindly defend anybody, whether it be on dirty plays on the court or allegations off the court.
12:53
SPEAKER_02: You have to be able to differentiate your fandom to what's right and what's wrong.
12:58
SPEAKER_02: And everybody hasn't been able to do that.
13:01
SPEAKER_02: There's also a stat that came out about all of this.
13:04
SPEAKER_02: It says um seven of Draymond's last 11 ejections have come without Steph Curry playing.
13:10
SPEAKER_02: Just a fun stat.
13:11
SPEAKER_02: Even Rudy Gobert uh talked about this, and this is before people went to do the research or what or not.
13:17
SPEAKER_02: Um, he said that anytime Steph Curry doesn't play, Draymond finds a way to not play, um, which is just interesting.
13:24
SPEAKER_02: And I don't honestly, uh, in defense of Draymond after all of this, I don't think that's like a ah, Steph Curry's not playing.
13:30
SPEAKER_02: I don't feel like playing either.
13:31
SPEAKER_02: I think he's trying to play with an extra edge because without Steph playing, they're just going to lose.
13:36
SPEAKER_02: So I need to play with a little bit of extra chip.
13:38
SPEAKER_02: I need to have people fear me, you know?
13:41
SPEAKER_02: And I think you can do those things without stepping over the boundary.
13:45
SPEAKER_02: And in this case, Draymond Green stepped over the boundary.
13:50
SPEAKER_02: Let me know what you think in the comment section or hit me up on Twitter or Spotify, whatever.
13:53
SPEAKER_02: Because there is a place you can comment on Spotify.
13:55
SPEAKER_02: That was something I didn't know.
13:56
SPEAKER_02: I didn't know that.
13:57
SPEAKER_02: Um, so let me know what you think about the Draymond Green thing.
14:00
SPEAKER_02: Five games enough, not enough.
14:02
SPEAKER_02: Will we see Draymond kind of relax?
14:05
SPEAKER_02: I don't, I don't know.
14:07
SPEAKER_02: I doubt it.
14:09
SPEAKER_02: How long before we see the next one?
14:11
SPEAKER_02: That's probably a better question.
14:12
SPEAKER_02: How long before we see the next thing of Draymond Green?
14:15
SPEAKER_02: I cannot believe this man punched his teammate last year.
14:21
SPEAKER_02: And then at the nerve at the start of this year, said, Yeah, Vavs was not right back there.
14:25
SPEAKER_02: Do y'all realize how crazy, how crazy that really is?
14:30
SPEAKER_02: Um, and again, I've I don't know if I mentioned this on this episode.
14:33
SPEAKER_02: I I admire the basketball IQ of Draymond Hill.
14:36
SPEAKER_02: I even interviewed him in 2020 on a show I used to host called The Real, which I don't host that show anymore.
14:43
SPEAKER_02: I'm still going on.
14:43
SPEAKER_02: I'm just not the host.
14:44
SPEAKER_02: And I only got 20 minutes with him, and I admired every single one of those minutes because I think we were able to go deep into basketball.
14:51
SPEAKER_02: His basketball knowledge is crazy.
14:53
SPEAKER_02: He's like a basketball encyclopedia in his own way.
14:55
SPEAKER_02: So in those 20 minutes, I was like, man, I wish I had 30.
14:58
SPEAKER_02: I wish I had 40, because what he knows is ridiculous.
15:02
SPEAKER_02: The amount of plays he's able to read and react to, especially in his heyday, is winning DPOY or being all defensive, which I guess that was last year.
15:09
SPEAKER_02: Um, he's just always been somebody I enjoyed watching for the defensive aspect.
15:14
SPEAKER_02: Because if you know me, Kenny love the defense.
15:16
SPEAKER_02: Um, but once we get to the other stuff, we didn't go on too far.
15:20
SPEAKER_02: Now I want to talk about the in-season tournament a little bit.
15:22
SPEAKER_02: Because at this point, we're about halfway through, which is cool.
15:26
SPEAKER_02: I think one of my major uh gripes with the in-season tournament is that it started so very early.
15:31
SPEAKER_02: We were, what, one week into the season, and then we got our first games.
15:34
SPEAKER_02: We even got teams right now.
15:35
SPEAKER_02: The Toronto Raptors have not played an in-season tournament game as of right now, which is just crazy because some teams have two.
15:40
SPEAKER_02: They have yet to play one.
15:42
SPEAKER_02: It's just ridiculous.
15:43
SPEAKER_02: Um, I just wanted to check in on the in-season tournament and kind of filled out the question for y'all.
15:47
SPEAKER_02: How are y'all enjoying it?
15:49
SPEAKER_02: Because I've mentioned some people before, this in-season tournament thing is not for me.
15:53
SPEAKER_02: I'm watching hoops every single night, regardless.
15:55
SPEAKER_02: It is for the people that may not share that sentiment.
15:58
SPEAKER_02: The people that might look at it Tuesday or Thursday and say, uh, I'm not really feeling basketball tonight.
16:02
SPEAKER_02: I'll I'll do something else.
16:04
SPEAKER_02: You know what I'm saying?
16:04
SPEAKER_02: So I'm just curious about what the normal fan is really thinking about it and not the guy that works in media.
16:10
SPEAKER_02: You know what I'm saying?
16:11
SPEAKER_02: Um, also watched yesterday's game.
16:13
SPEAKER_02: Well, one thing in mind if you look at the in-season tournament rules and formats and stuff, once we get down to a tiebreaker, there are a couple things that matter, like uh a point differential, which means that if you have a blowout game, in most cases, if you care about the in-season tournament, you should probably keep your foot on the gas.
16:30
SPEAKER_02: Because you never know.
16:31
SPEAKER_02: You might tie with a team, but your point differential is better, and you make the final four, you make the final eight, whatever the hell the number is.
16:38
SPEAKER_02: So I was watching these games trying to figure out okay, can I determine which teams value the in-season tournament versus not?
16:45
SPEAKER_02: One team I know 100% cares is the Indiana Pacers.
16:48
SPEAKER_02: And the reason I know that is because in this post-game interview, Tyrese uh Halliburne talked about the fact that he's never been able to compete for a championship, and it's the best thing he's got at the moment, so they care a ton.
16:58
SPEAKER_02: I think that's the right sentiment.
16:59
SPEAKER_02: Um, uh a team I know also cares, Brooklyn Nets.
17:03
SPEAKER_02: Kenny, why do you say that?
17:05
SPEAKER_02: The Brooklyn Nets were playing a game against the Orlando Magic.
17:08
SPEAKER_02: Shout out to the Orlando Magic, second night of a back-to-back game winner against the Bulls.
17:11
SPEAKER_02: We'll talk about that in a little bit.
17:12
SPEAKER_02: Uh, they were playing a game against the Orlando Magic.
17:14
SPEAKER_02: And in this game, the final score ended up being 124 to 104.
17:18
SPEAKER_02: And in normal regular season games that just matter for one win, uh, you you normally see teams take the foot off the gas, six minutes left in the fourth quarter.
17:27
SPEAKER_02: We up by 17.
17:28
SPEAKER_02: That's a that's a normal enough time for me to say, hey, my starters can rest because we might have a game tomorrow, whatever, whatever.
17:34
SPEAKER_02: The Brooklyn Nets did not do that.
17:36
SPEAKER_02: They were up by 20 plus points.
17:38
SPEAKER_02: And in the fourth quarter, Spencer Demon he played all 12.
17:40
SPEAKER_02: Uh, Royce O'Neill played all 12, and then they scored another bucket with three seconds to go.
17:46
SPEAKER_02: Brooklyn's going for the end-season tournament jewelry, and I'm here for that.
17:50
SPEAKER_02: Also, we had teams like OKC versus the Spurs, which was a game.
17:53
SPEAKER_02: Listen, it's a game, highly anticipated game.
17:56
SPEAKER_02: Chet versus Wemby for the first time in the regular season.
18:00
SPEAKER_02: The little glimpses of that we got in the preseason were nice, and the amount of promotion this game got, I knew for sure there was a 0% chance to live up to the hype.
18:09
SPEAKER_02: There's a 0% chance, and it didn't.
18:11
SPEAKER_02: It was a blowout, it wasn't great.
18:12
SPEAKER_02: Neither of the two players that were highly marketed had great games.
18:15
SPEAKER_02: I think I guess you could say they had good games because they're rookies and all, but I knew it wasn't gonna live up to the hype and it didn't.
18:20
SPEAKER_02: It got so bad, it was on TNT and going into the fourth quarter, TNT abandoned the game completely.
18:26
SPEAKER_02: They start showing games from across the association, which is something we don't see, we do not see often.
18:31
SPEAKER_02: Well, you see a team like the Spurs and how bad they looked that night, hell, if you want to keep your viewership up, you might want to look at some of the other in-season tournament games.
18:38
SPEAKER_02: But in this one, both teams pulled their starters.
18:41
SPEAKER_02: You know, OKC could have kept Shea Gills Alexander in the game.
18:44
SPEAKER_02: Hell, it would have helped my parlay.
18:45
SPEAKER_02: He was a half a rebound away from me hitting the green.
18:48
SPEAKER_02: But they decided to pull him for the entire fourth quarter.
18:50
SPEAKER_02: Like the entire third, Wimby didn't play much in the fourth quarter.
18:54
SPEAKER_02: So I would say that Pop doesn't necessarily care about the end season tournament because that point differential thing.
18:58
SPEAKER_02: But I can't completely say that OKC doesn't, because again, they did end up winning by like 20 plus points.
19:03
SPEAKER_02: I guess it doesn't matter.
19:04
SPEAKER_02: But these again are the things that I'm monitoring.
19:08
SPEAKER_02: Um, because that that unspoken rule of we can't score if we're up with dribbling out the ball, that's been dead.
19:15
SPEAKER_02: We've seen it twice now where a team has scored in the last couple seconds of an in-season tournament game.
19:20
SPEAKER_02: And in previous history, when a team had done that, it caused some scuffles.
19:24
SPEAKER_02: I remember PJ Tucker getting into a scuffle with someone because they scored with a couple seconds left.
19:29
SPEAKER_02: And now it's like, hey, it's the end season tournament, those are the rules.
19:32
SPEAKER_02: You know, those are the rules.
19:33
SPEAKER_02: I can't really tell who cares and who does it as far as the individual players go.
19:37
SPEAKER_02: Um, but half a million dollars is half a million dollars.
19:40
SPEAKER_02: I was talking with Bomani Jones about this earlier.
19:42
SPEAKER_02: We were trying to figure out what is the payoff for the coaches, for the trainers, for the ball boy, you know, everybody got to get a piece, right?
19:49
SPEAKER_02: Everybody gotta get a piece.
19:51
SPEAKER_02: As a as a guy that covers the sport, I can't say, in all honesty, that the the end season tournament has changed my like viewing experience.
20:01
SPEAKER_02: I can't say that I'm a level higher as far as how much I care, you know.
20:07
SPEAKER_02: Um, the one thing I will say is that the conversations around it have been higher.
20:11
SPEAKER_02: I was getting messages from people that I know don't really care about the game of basketball much, you know, sports fan, but a casual NBA fan, in the sense that they the way they keep up with the NBA is occasionally watching my episodes.
20:23
SPEAKER_02: My episodes.
20:24
SPEAKER_02: And I got some text messages saying, like, oh, these courts are cool.
20:27
SPEAKER_02: Uh these jerseys are cool.
20:28
SPEAKER_02: So it if that is the way it's going, I'm a little bit afraid because that's gonna lose its value in year two and year three, where the courts are not really interested anymore.
20:39
SPEAKER_02: It might be interesting now because it's year number one, but we get to year number two, year number three, that's the court we've seen already.
20:44
SPEAKER_02: Or even if they make minor adjustments, it's not like this thing that's gonna bring people in.
20:47
SPEAKER_02: So I think they need to find a way to get them more invested, other than saying, hey, this is another game of basketball that means more.
20:54
SPEAKER_02: They they have to add an incentive for the fans.
20:58
SPEAKER_02: And I again, speaking of Tyrese Halliburne, he's been one of the big proponents or the big advocates for the in-season tournament.
21:04
SPEAKER_02: He had the idea of whatever team wins the in-season tournament, it's guaranteed a playoff spot.
21:08
SPEAKER_02: And I like the idea.
21:10
SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying it's the right idea, but I think that's a good starting spot.
21:14
SPEAKER_02: What if what if they get the decision?
21:17
SPEAKER_02: This, I'm just this is not even in my notes.
21:18
SPEAKER_02: I'm spitballing right now.
21:19
SPEAKER_02: I'm just, I'm just talking it through about how we can get the NBA fans to care, right?
21:23
SPEAKER_02: Because if I'm a Milwaukee Bucks fan, I'm a Boston Celtics fan, I want the Lario B.
21:28
SPEAKER_02: You feel me?
21:29
SPEAKER_02: I don't care about no in-season tournament, but actually, maybe they don't care about the playoff guarantee because they're gonna make the playoffs regardless.
21:37
SPEAKER_02: So maybe the mid-tier teams, the Chicago Bulls, who guaranteed a playoff spot, we ain't.
21:42
SPEAKER_02: Maybe they get to make a decision between a guaranteed playoff spot and a guaranteed lottery pick.
21:50
SPEAKER_02: You know, not a highly weighted one, not one that has a 13% chance of the first overall pick, but let's say 1.2% chance.
21:57
SPEAKER_02: We've we've seen teams jump up the lottery at 1.2%.
22:00
SPEAKER_02: The Bulls held at 1.6, they got Derek Rose.
22:02
SPEAKER_02: So you're trying to tell me I get an extra lottery pick, an extra chance of the first overall pick?
22:06
SPEAKER_02: If I'm the Milwaukee Bucks, there's no other way for me to get a lottery pick right now.
22:10
SPEAKER_02: So actually, damn, you're playing 47 minutes tonight.
22:12
SPEAKER_02: Because we want to be able to grow our future while also competing now.
22:16
SPEAKER_02: I don't know, just spitball.
22:17
SPEAKER_02: I think that could be fun.
22:18
SPEAKER_02: I think that could be fun.
22:19
SPEAKER_02: Because even a team like the Washington Wizards would be like, that means we get double the chances to get the first overall pick.
22:24
SPEAKER_02: I don't think they're winning any games, regardless.
22:27
SPEAKER_02: But I don't know.
22:28
SPEAKER_02: You let me know in the comment section what you're thinking about the end season tournament.
22:36
SPEAKER_02: Now it's time for my favorite segment, the Ask KB.
22:39
SPEAKER_02: What you got to do is go over to Twitter or hit in the comment section and use the hashtag ASKKB.
22:44
SPEAKER_02: And I'm answering multiple questions from y'all every single episode.
22:47
SPEAKER_02: This first one comes from Dylan Moore.
22:49
SPEAKER_02: Kenny, does Victor Wimedayama have a real chance of winning DPOY this year?
22:54
SPEAKER_02: Or is the other Frenchman too dominant?
22:56
SPEAKER_02: I'm not, I'm not ready to give Rudy Gobier the DPOY just yet.
22:59
SPEAKER_02: He might be the front runner at the moment, but what are we, 10 games to the season, 70 plus games left?
23:04
SPEAKER_02: Who really knows if it's gonna be uh is it gonna be Rudy?
23:07
SPEAKER_02: Is it gonna be somebody else?
23:08
SPEAKER_02: I don't really know.
23:08
SPEAKER_02: DPOY is typically an award that it's won in the first month and then lost if the the guy just falls off.
23:14
SPEAKER_02: But last year, with even Jared Jackson Jr.
23:16
SPEAKER_02: or the year before that and Marcus Smore, it came down to the last couple months or so.
23:20
SPEAKER_02: So who really knows?
23:21
SPEAKER_02: Um, I do not believe that Victor of Yama has a real case, though.
23:24
SPEAKER_02: I know this is coming from the fact that the betting odds have him as a second highest favorite behind Rudy Gobert.
23:29
SPEAKER_02: I do not see it as a real possibility.
23:31
SPEAKER_02: And here's why.
23:32
SPEAKER_02: I went through the last 16 years of DPOYs and tried to figure out do these people have anything in common?
23:37
SPEAKER_02: In my mind, I thought before doing this research that DPOYs were given to the best defender in the most cases on a top three defensive team in the league.
23:45
SPEAKER_02: And for the most part, that's right.
23:47
SPEAKER_02: Jerry Jackson Jr., second best defense in the league.
23:49
SPEAKER_02: Marcus Smart, first best.
23:50
SPEAKER_02: Rudy Gobert, first best.
23:51
SPEAKER_02: Giannis, first best, Rudy Gobert, first best, Rudy Gobert, second best, Draymond Green, first best.
23:55
SPEAKER_02: This is the cycle, at least in the modern era, where you typically are the best defensive player on one of the top two teams.
24:04
SPEAKER_02: For the most part, we don't get a team outside of the top two defensively winning DPOY until we get to Tyson Chandler, and his team is fifth.
24:13
SPEAKER_02: And this is actually, I'm happy you asked this question.
24:15
SPEAKER_02: I did this research because I actually admired the way things were before that.
24:21
SPEAKER_02: Before everybody, every single voter was extremely analytical.
24:26
SPEAKER_02: Because if you look at D12s DPOYs, they were the 10th best defensive team one year, the fifth best defensive team another, the eighth best defensive team another.
24:35
SPEAKER_02: Just different.
24:36
SPEAKER_02: Just different than the modern era.
24:38
SPEAKER_02: The modern era said you have to be one or two.
24:40
SPEAKER_02: They were like, nah, we're going on vibes.
24:42
SPEAKER_02: We're going off the eye test.
24:43
SPEAKER_02: And guess what?
24:44
SPEAKER_02: I'm not complaining.
24:45
SPEAKER_02: That that version of Dwight Howard was a monster defensively.
24:48
SPEAKER_02: He does, he probably deserved that.
24:50
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I ain't looking at his competition, but I'm saying he probably deserved that.
24:53
SPEAKER_02: And because I was living these moments, and there was not a defender that was feared in the paint more than Dwight Howard, so for sure.
24:59
SPEAKER_02: But it wasn't, this is not numbers-based.
25:01
SPEAKER_02: This is just vibes.
25:02
SPEAKER_02: And I'm here for the just vibes ratings.
25:05
SPEAKER_02: And we want to go just vibes right now.
25:06
SPEAKER_02: Hell, give give it to women, Yama.
25:08
SPEAKER_02: It's just not the way it works anymore.
25:09
SPEAKER_02: Um, one thing I also looked at uh Kevin Garnett.
25:14
SPEAKER_02: Kevin Garnett is a guy that in his prime, I was extremely young as a basketball fan.
25:22
SPEAKER_02: So for the most part, I missed it, right?
25:24
SPEAKER_02: I was there for 2008.
25:25
SPEAKER_02: I was there in 2008.
25:26
SPEAKER_02: How old does that make me?
25:27
SPEAKER_02: Sheesh.
25:28
SPEAKER_02: I'm still I'm still pretty young.
25:29
SPEAKER_02: You know what I'm saying?
25:30
SPEAKER_02: I'm 12 years old, but I was there.
25:31
SPEAKER_02: I experienced, I watched every single one of those games in the series live.
25:34
SPEAKER_02: But when we talk about him being in Minnesota, all I really have is Harwood Classics and highlights.
25:42
SPEAKER_02: The numbers, though.
25:43
SPEAKER_02: The numbers are insane for not just his time in Minnesota, but the entirety of Kevin Garnett's career.
25:52
SPEAKER_02: When he was on the court defensively, his team was one of the best three defensive teams in basketball, which is mind-blowing because that went all the way into his last like three years of his career when he was well past.
26:03
SPEAKER_02: He had he had already jumped the sharp.
26:04
SPEAKER_02: You know what I'm saying?
26:05
SPEAKER_02: He was well past his athletic prime and he was still doing his thing.
26:09
SPEAKER_02: I gotta go back, man.
26:10
SPEAKER_02: I gotta go back and try to watch as much KG as I really can because that's a part of history that I respect and I understand.
26:17
SPEAKER_02: But because I wasn't there, I can't really, I don't grasp the impact, you know.
26:21
SPEAKER_02: So I gotta go back in my bag and go watch more KG random regular season highlights and not really focus on playoffs and stuff.
26:28
SPEAKER_02: But his DPOI year, they were first in everything.
26:31
SPEAKER_02: First in everything.
26:32
SPEAKER_02: And then we get to 2006-2007, and this is the prime example of going off vibes because Marcus Cambi won DPOY.
26:41
SPEAKER_02: Marcus Camby led the league in blocks that year, but they were the eighth-ranked defense, which again is pretty similar to what I mentioned with Dwight Howard and stuff.
26:49
SPEAKER_02: His team was a was two points worse defensively when he was on the court.
26:55
SPEAKER_02: How do you win DPO?
26:58
SPEAKER_02: Why?
26:58
SPEAKER_02: Well, your team is worse defensively with you on the court.
27:02
SPEAKER_02: Strictly vibes, you know?
27:05
SPEAKER_02: So I was like, okay, so that's one criteria for the most part.
27:08
SPEAKER_02: You have to be a part of one of the best defensive teams of basketball.
27:10
SPEAKER_02: Wimby does not have that.
27:11
SPEAKER_02: They're one of the worst, they're 28th.
27:13
SPEAKER_02: But when Wimby is on the court, he is in a 98th percentile as much as is on off numbers defensively.
27:20
SPEAKER_02: 98th percentile, which is ridiculous.
27:23
SPEAKER_02: That tells me that yes, he is right now, by the numbers, one of the best defensive players in ball as a rook.
27:31
SPEAKER_02: But that hasn't mattered historically, because historically they want the overarching team defense, too.
27:37
SPEAKER_02: That right there, that 98th percentile is on the same level as Rudy Gobert's last DPOY or Giannis's uh DPOY.
27:45
SPEAKER_02: This team is a minus 15 points better defensively, which is which is crazy.
27:50
SPEAKER_02: That's better than every single DPOY in the last 16 years.
27:54
SPEAKER_02: Now, again, the sample size is 10 games, right?
27:56
SPEAKER_02: Who I don't is that sustainable?
27:58
SPEAKER_02: Probably not.
27:59
SPEAKER_02: But I'm just saying the individual numbers say he should be in conversations, but based on the history of the voters, he will not be.
28:06
SPEAKER_02: I just don't think they'll give a DPOY to a player that is on the team that is 28th defensively.
28:12
SPEAKER_02: The next one comes from Intergalactic U and Me.
28:15
SPEAKER_02: Is that kick, Cuddy?
28:17
SPEAKER_02: I think it is.
28:18
SPEAKER_02: Um, what is your favorite stage of watching a team?
28:21
SPEAKER_02: Selling, buying, rebuilding, contending, or no man's land?
28:24
SPEAKER_02: I love this question.
28:25
SPEAKER_02: I love this question because as a guy that tries to keep up with all things basketball, it is it is integral.
28:31
SPEAKER_02: It is important that I give you up the amount of time I watch of every single team, right?
28:35
SPEAKER_02: I will tell you right here, right now, the worst team to watch, the worst kind of team to be watching is the no man's land team.
28:41
SPEAKER_02: I'm living that as a Bulls fan.
28:43
SPEAKER_02: I'm living no man's land, and I hate every single second.
28:47
SPEAKER_02: But it's part of who I am to support my team to name time.
28:52
SPEAKER_02: So whether they're losing to a Palo Benquero game winner when they're on the second night of back to that back, and neither team can put up a hundred, or they're winning a game, I will be here.
29:00
SPEAKER_02: But I hate watching every single second of it.
29:03
SPEAKER_02: It's awful.
29:04
SPEAKER_02: And as of right now, it's not a lot of teams with no man's land.
29:06
SPEAKER_02: So luckily most fan bases ain't dealing with that at the moment.
29:08
SPEAKER_02: The next one, going up the ladder.
29:10
SPEAKER_02: Last is no man's land.
29:12
SPEAKER_02: Second to last is selling.
29:14
SPEAKER_02: Because you're really just showcasing the pieces to the other organizations.
29:16
SPEAKER_02: Oh, who wants him?
29:18
SPEAKER_02: Who wants him?
29:19
SPEAKER_02: A lot of the times the selling teams have had the writing on the wall that they're not good enough for some time.
29:24
SPEAKER_02: So us fans on the outside is like, man, it's just a matter of time before they make this trade.
29:28
SPEAKER_02: So I ain't even worried about them.
29:29
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna start watching them once they make the trades because I want to see the intriguing young pieces they got.
29:34
SPEAKER_02: And that gets me to my next one: the rebuilding team.
29:37
SPEAKER_02: I'm here for rebuilding teams.
29:39
SPEAKER_02: Specifically in the first two months of the season.
29:42
SPEAKER_02: Like there are teams right now that I would deem to be rebuilding.
29:44
SPEAKER_02: I'm watching a lot of Detroit Pistons.
29:46
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if I will be watching much Detroit Pistons come December.
29:50
SPEAKER_02: You know, I don't know.
29:51
SPEAKER_02: I love a Sark Thompson.
29:52
SPEAKER_02: I might watch a Sark Thompson's minutes and not necessarily the whole team.
29:55
SPEAKER_02: You feel me?
29:56
SPEAKER_02: But I'm here for the first two months because I want to see how this young player progressed in year number two, how this young player progressed in year number three, or some cases regressed because it happens, you know, sophomore slumps, they happen.
30:09
SPEAKER_02: So it leaves us with our top two teams to watch.
30:12
SPEAKER_02: I love the buying team in the second spot because we're looking at them like, yeah, they one piece away.
30:18
SPEAKER_02: They oh, they one piece away, y'all.
30:20
SPEAKER_02: They one piece away.
30:21
SPEAKER_02: You try to figure out what that piece is of the market.
30:23
SPEAKER_02: Does it make sense to trade for this guy?
30:25
SPEAKER_02: Make sense to trade for this guy.
30:26
SPEAKER_02: Because a lot of times the buying teams are also teams that are playoff teams, so a lot of the times they're relatively good.
30:32
SPEAKER_02: And good basketball is fun basketball.
30:34
SPEAKER_02: And of course, at the top is contending teams.
30:36
SPEAKER_02: And nothing gets better than watching a team that's good at basketball, simply put.
30:39
SPEAKER_02: You know what I'm saying?
30:39
SPEAKER_02: The different nuggets are one of the best watches of basketball, even without Jamal Murray, still a great watch.
30:44
SPEAKER_02: The Boston Celtics, great watch because they're contending and they have a ton of watchable players.
30:50
SPEAKER_02: So shout out to Intergalactic, you and me.
30:52
SPEAKER_02: The last question I have is from Ken.
30:54
SPEAKER_02: And look at you.
30:55
SPEAKER_02: How many years would you say a chip is equivalent to?
30:58
SPEAKER_02: If the Warriors went all in and won this year, but ruined the foreseeable future, how many years of rebuildingslash retooling is that championship worth?
31:08
SPEAKER_02: I love this question, Kenny.
31:10
SPEAKER_02: I love this question, Kenny.
31:12
SPEAKER_02: Because it makes it seem like I'm talking to myself.
31:14
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no.
31:14
SPEAKER_02: I love this question because the answer varies, right?
31:20
SPEAKER_02: When you have a guy like Steph Curry, I a guy that I have said over the last couple years that you need to buy into the Steph timeline like no other.
31:29
SPEAKER_02: I don't care about what happens after Steph Curry because getting him another championship, getting your city, your team another championship is worth so much.
31:39
SPEAKER_02: His last championship a few years ago, had the conversations.
31:41
SPEAKER_02: Who's better?
31:42
SPEAKER_02: Him or Magic, you know?
31:43
SPEAKER_02: Is he top 10?
31:45
SPEAKER_02: You add another to that.
31:46
SPEAKER_02: And I don't know if Steph Curry cares about legacies or whatever, whatever.
31:50
SPEAKER_02: If you add two championships post Kevin Durant, I think that's worth everything.
31:55
SPEAKER_02: How many years would it be?
31:56
SPEAKER_02: How many years?
31:56
SPEAKER_02: How many years is it worth to get Steph Curry one more championship?
32:00
SPEAKER_02: So we're talking about pick equity, young players, Kaminga, Moody, all of these guys out the door because we're gonna build a trade to bring in somebody that's gonna guarantee us a championship.
32:09
SPEAKER_02: Listen, I half a decade?
32:12
SPEAKER_02: Because look, look, at this point, this team has been a dynasty.
32:16
SPEAKER_02: So for the better half of half of a decade, close to 10 years, this team has been in contention.
32:21
SPEAKER_02: They fans would be all right if they have five years of downtown post Steph Curry.
32:24
SPEAKER_02: You feel me?
32:25
SPEAKER_02: Because they can like really reminisce those moments.
32:28
SPEAKER_02: One thing that I feel like a lot of uh fans would be envious of if their team has not won a championship in the modern era, is they can't necessarily relive those moments.
32:40
SPEAKER_02: The entirety of the Steph Curry era, you can relive every second of it.
32:45
SPEAKER_02: Because it's everywhere in the internet.
32:47
SPEAKER_02: You know what I'm saying?
32:48
SPEAKER_02: So if you won a championship in 2004, you could get the highlights, you could get the the prime moment.
32:55
SPEAKER_02: You could probably right now watch every single game of the Steph Curry Championship run completed because the internet.
33:01
SPEAKER_02: But you can't do that for 2004, you can't do that 2005.
33:04
SPEAKER_02: So those fans could really have those moments.
33:06
SPEAKER_02: Oh man, we uh we 10 and 72.
33:09
SPEAKER_02: Let me let me go back and watch uh uh 2021 real quick, right?
33:12
SPEAKER_02: That was a year, right?
33:13
SPEAKER_02: Uh was that 2022?
33:15
SPEAKER_02: Let me go back and re-watch 2022 real quick, you know, because it's all there.
33:20
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna say in that case, as long as possible, you know, but in some cases, actually, I'm I'm gonna disagree with my notes right here.
33:28
SPEAKER_02: I think in most cases, if you're a team that has never won a championship before, if you are the Charlotte Hornets, not to pick on y'all, but if you are the Charlotte Hornets for one taste of a championship parade, you might be willing to give up 10 years of whatever.
33:43
SPEAKER_01: Because hell, you just had 30 years of nothing.
33:46
SPEAKER_02: So what's Tim Mo if that means we get one piece of jewelry?
33:49
SPEAKER_02: I don't I don't really know how realistic that is, right?
33:52
SPEAKER_02: Um, to convince your fans of that, but I'm just saying I I would I would trade a lot of things in for a Bulls championship right now, right?
33:59
SPEAKER_02: This is a crazy question because on on an other show that I do, um my boy Pierre was asking me, would I trade in watching Steph Curry?
34:08
SPEAKER_02: I'm not Steph Curry, uh Derrick Rose win his MVP for an NBA championship.
34:15
SPEAKER_02: And I said selfishly, a hundred times out of a hundred, a hundred times out of a hundred would I sacrifice a Derrick Rose MVP for a ring.
34:25
SPEAKER_02: And we're just living in this hypothetical world, you know, the rumors of LeBron and Wade and Bosch potentially coming to Chicago or a combination of the two or the three guys coming to Chicago and what that could have meant for the city.
34:35
SPEAKER_02: And in that case, because LeBron is on the team, we probably don't see Derrick Rose go win a championship because, oh, MVP, because they're gonna be playing together.
34:41
SPEAKER_02: Derek Rose's biggest competition in the MVP race was LeBron James.
34:44
SPEAKER_02: You feel me?
34:45
SPEAKER_02: So you probably never see uh him go to the top of the league.
34:49
SPEAKER_02: I would not care.
34:50
SPEAKER_02: Because at the end of the day, I'm in this for the team success.
34:54
SPEAKER_02: You feel me?
34:55
SPEAKER_02: I always say that I don't grow attached to players or my favorite team because I can watch them and be fans of them no matter where they go, no matter where they go.
35:04
SPEAKER_02: Larry Margit got traded to Cleveland.
35:06
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, that's my guy.
35:07
SPEAKER_02: I wanted him off the team.
35:09
SPEAKER_02: I'll be honest with you, Larry.
35:10
SPEAKER_02: You might come onto the show one day.
35:11
SPEAKER_02: We've been talking.
35:12
SPEAKER_02: You might come into the show, and I'll be honest with you.
35:14
SPEAKER_02: When you were traded, I was like, good.
35:16
SPEAKER_02: You know, not because you were bad, but because that era of bulls was over in my mind.
35:23
SPEAKER_02: But I'm like, I'll watch you in Cleveland, I'll root for you in Cleveland, and now he's in Utah.
35:26
SPEAKER_02: I'm rooting for him to like I can root for my favorite players on different teams.
35:29
SPEAKER_02: I never grow attachment to the players.
35:31
SPEAKER_02: I'm here for the org, not Jerry Reinsdorf, because we don't mess with that guy.
35:36
SPEAKER_02: But the the org that I grew up watching, watching Jamal Crawford go against Allen Iverson and the Bulls beating the 76ers when they're trying to go on the championship run.
35:45
SPEAKER_02: The team that I fell in love with, that you can see pictures of Lil Kenny and his Chicago Bulls warm-up.
35:51
SPEAKER_02: You feel me?
35:52
SPEAKER_02: Again, we don't mess with Jerry Reinsdorf, but we mess with Biddy the Bull.
35:56
SPEAKER_02: We mess with the people that work for the Bulls, but not the owner.
35:59
SPEAKER_02: We hate the owner.
36:00
SPEAKER_02: So I'm here for that versus the players.
36:03
SPEAKER_02: And that there's actually a really good segue to our next conversation, which is Zach Levine.
36:09
SPEAKER_02: There was a random report the other day from Shop Sharania that you know the Bulls are listening and Zach Levine is open and they're open to potentially moving him.
36:17
SPEAKER_02: And um, yeah, it's about time.
36:20
SPEAKER_02: It is about time.
36:21
SPEAKER_02: The Bulls' big three of DeMar DeRose, Nikola Vusevich, and Zach Levine have a negative net rating when they all play.
36:26
SPEAKER_02: Everybody knows that it's been beaten into the ground.
36:28
SPEAKER_02: Everybody understands that it's the worst big three in recent history.
36:31
SPEAKER_02: We we understand.
36:32
SPEAKER_02: But I'm not here to say, like, oh, should we do it, should we not do it?
36:35
SPEAKER_02: I'm here to take it a step further.
36:36
SPEAKER_02: I put together five different tiers of a Zach Levine trade about the likelihood of the other 29 teams potentially trading for him.
36:46
SPEAKER_02: Yes, I'm treating Zach Levine as if he's one of the greatest players in the league because that's what we got right now.
36:50
SPEAKER_02: You feel me?
36:51
SPEAKER_02: That's what we got right now.
36:53
SPEAKER_02: He hasn't been good this year.
36:55
SPEAKER_02: Um, he just had a really solid uh last two minutes of a fourth quarter against the Orlando Magic, which was dope, but his shooter splits are the worst they've ever been, really.
37:03
SPEAKER_02: Um he's in a he's in a slump.
37:04
SPEAKER_02: And I honestly do believe that a change of senior is gonna be good for him.
37:07
SPEAKER_02: And like I just mentioned with Larry Mark, and wherever he ends up getting traded to, I will be a fan of him on that team.
37:11
SPEAKER_02: Um because I for the last seven years, he's been one of the main guys I've rooted for, you know.
37:16
SPEAKER_02: So I'm I'm a fan of him regardless, no matter what the trade is.
37:19
SPEAKER_02: I'm a little bit afraid that we're gonna get finessed.
37:21
SPEAKER_02: I'll say that aloud.
37:22
SPEAKER_02: So once the trade happens and we do get finessed, I'll tell you you heard it here first.
37:25
SPEAKER_02: But I uh say, okay, so there's five different tiers.
37:28
SPEAKER_02: This is how I broke it up.
37:30
SPEAKER_02: There's a group of teams that it's literally impossible that it gets traded there, whether it be because of financial reasons or a long gem at the guard position, for a lot of different reasons.
37:38
SPEAKER_02: Tier number five are the teams that have no business even picking up the phone for Zach Levine.
37:43
SPEAKER_02: Then we have tier number four, which is the unlikely, which I guess something is possible, but maybe just I just don't think it's it's worth talking about.
37:51
SPEAKER_02: Third tier are my sleepers, second tier is possible, and my number one tier is the favorites to get Zach Levine.
37:57
SPEAKER_02: Are we ready for this?
37:58
SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about all the impossibles, and I'm just gonna run through them and maybe stop here or there.
38:02
SPEAKER_02: Milwaukee Bucks, the Washington Wizards, the Portland Trailblazers, the Phoenix Suns, the LA Clippers, the Minnesota Timberwolves.
38:09
SPEAKER_02: Keep up with me now, the Dallas Mavericks, the Houston Rockets, the Cavaliers, the Denver Nuggets, the Grizzlies, the Celtics, and the Spurs.
38:18
SPEAKER_02: That is 13 teams.
38:19
SPEAKER_02: Nearly half of the association should not be picking up the phone for different reasons, right?
38:23
SPEAKER_02: For the Milwaukee Bucks, they literally don't have assets that are worth trading.
38:26
SPEAKER_02: They don't have the contracts that they can put together unless they're breaking up their core, which we see that they're not against because they just traded Drew Holly a couple months ago.
38:32
SPEAKER_02: But again, super, super unlikely.
38:34
SPEAKER_02: Clippers, same situation.
38:35
SPEAKER_02: What do you have to trade?
38:36
SPEAKER_02: You just traded for James.
38:37
SPEAKER_02: It ain't working.
38:38
SPEAKER_02: You don't need another offensive dominant player on your team.
38:40
SPEAKER_02: Cool.
38:41
SPEAKER_02: Rockets, they have young assets, they have money to spend, but they are rolling right now.
38:46
SPEAKER_02: They have a player that is similar to Zach LaVille and Jane Green, Jalen Green already.
38:50
SPEAKER_02: So I'm assuming they're gonna stay, uh they're gonna stay away.
38:53
SPEAKER_02: Cavaliers have guards.
38:54
SPEAKER_02: Okay, you understand all of this.
38:55
SPEAKER_02: The Nuggets are the reign of champions, they're not breaking nothing up.
38:58
SPEAKER_02: The unlikely cases.
38:59
SPEAKER_02: And some of these unlikely case teams, I actually enjoyed the idea of him getting traded there because I like some of the stuff that they could potentially get traded for, but they're unlikely for different reasons.
39:07
SPEAKER_02: The first one, the first two is the Indiana Pacers and the uh Detroit Pistons.
39:12
SPEAKER_02: The reason I find these to be unlikely, because it's rare that you see a team trade, I'm putting it in quotation marks, y'all, star.
39:19
SPEAKER_02: Let's say all-star, all-star caliber player to a division rival, right?
39:23
SPEAKER_02: Um, sending him to Indiana could be a nightmare because Indiana Pacers are really good.
39:27
SPEAKER_02: And it does make it a little bit iffy now that they bought out Daniel Tice because his contract would have had to be in this deal.
39:33
SPEAKER_02: Regardless, trading him away to that team when they're rolling and he could potentially come back to bite you.
39:37
SPEAKER_02: Just bad practice.
39:38
SPEAKER_02: Same thing with the Detroit Pistons.
39:40
SPEAKER_02: They're two and nine, I think, at this point in time.
39:42
SPEAKER_02: They probably shouldn't be buying anyway.
39:43
SPEAKER_02: But trading him away to Detroit will probably be bad just in case uh Kay Cunningham, with this added spacing, turns into a guy that doesn't turn the ball over every possession.
39:51
SPEAKER_02: Um, also, Atlanta Hawks, the Trey Young, DeJounte Peringus, okay.
39:57
SPEAKER_02: I think it's unlikely.
39:58
SPEAKER_02: I think it's unlikely, but in my mind, in my mind, I like the idea of a swap there between one of those guys.
40:03
SPEAKER_02: But again, super, super unlikely.
40:05
SPEAKER_02: Um, the Hornets are not very good.
40:08
SPEAKER_02: So I don't think they're trading away draft capital because that that would be what they do in this.
40:12
SPEAKER_02: It would be like Gordon Hayward and draft capital.
40:14
SPEAKER_02: I don't think they're looking to give up first-round picks on the team that's not very good.
40:18
SPEAKER_02: OKC has a lot to give, but not enough that, oh well, the exact clavine's not good enough to go get one of the main staples.
40:26
SPEAKER_02: So that's probably not gonna happen.
40:27
SPEAKER_02: And then the Pelicans is unlikely, even though there's some turmoil potentially there.
40:30
SPEAKER_02: Unlikely teams.
40:32
SPEAKER_02: Sleepers.
40:32
SPEAKER_02: These are the teams I think that low-key is gonna be picking up the phone.
40:35
SPEAKER_02: Like, what's the price?
40:36
SPEAKER_02: Like, let's let's let's potentially talk things to it.
40:38
SPEAKER_02: Let's do a little bit of business.
40:40
SPEAKER_02: The first one is the Orlando Magic.
40:42
SPEAKER_02: The Orlando Magic need spacing like no other.
40:45
SPEAKER_02: Again, I just watched them again tonight.
40:46
SPEAKER_02: They cannot shoot.
40:47
SPEAKER_02: I mean, they're loot, they're missing Wendell Carter and Mark Hill Folts and stuff.
40:51
SPEAKER_02: They're down a couple starters and things, but the three-point shooting has been a problem.
40:55
SPEAKER_02: And though Jack Levine is struggling from there this year, history tells us he's one of the best three-point shooters in basketball.
41:01
SPEAKER_02: And they could just add, if they can add a guy that could create his own shot outside of Palo and Franz, I think it would go a long way.
41:08
SPEAKER_02: What does the trade look like?
41:09
SPEAKER_02: That's not what it's about.
41:10
SPEAKER_02: Just teams that should pick up the phone and talk to, okay?
41:12
SPEAKER_02: The next one I have is the Toronto Raptors.
41:14
SPEAKER_02: Now, this is contingent on them trying to buy into the Scotty Barnes thing.
41:20
SPEAKER_02: Um, and then them also not looking to rebuild but retool around Scotty because that team also needs spacing.
41:27
SPEAKER_02: You're gonna see there's a combination of things.
41:29
SPEAKER_02: You know what I'm saying?
41:30
SPEAKER_02: If you need shooting, Zach Levine can provide that.
41:32
SPEAKER_02: The next, the Sacramento Kings.
41:34
SPEAKER_02: Kings are good, they're very good.
41:36
SPEAKER_02: But the Sacramento Kings are also the team that threw him the qualifying offer back when he was a free agent.
41:41
SPEAKER_02: What was that, three years ago, four years ago?
41:43
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
41:43
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's a different regime and everything, but maybe they're still a little bit like, oh, we could add that type of guy on our team.
41:49
SPEAKER_02: The unfortunate part is he would just be too expensive to make the money match.
41:51
SPEAKER_02: It would be like Harrison Barnes and Kevin Herter giving up two starters for Zach Levine on a team that's already good.
41:57
SPEAKER_02: Ah, I don't think that's something uh you can convince your fan base to do.
42:01
SPEAKER_02: But they should at least call the Utah Jazz.
42:04
SPEAKER_02: Danny Aynes got all them picks.
42:06
SPEAKER_02: The way Utah is gonna build their team to be a contender is through the draft and making the right trade at the right time.
42:12
SPEAKER_02: They did that acquire Larry Marketing.
42:14
SPEAKER_02: They did that, acquiring all the draft capital for Rudigo Bear and for Donovan Mitchell.
42:18
SPEAKER_02: Maybe Danny Ainge wants to cash in a little bit, but the problem with that is Chris Dunn and Larry Marking play over there.
42:23
SPEAKER_02: So you just be taking the 2019 Chicago Bulls and putting them and putting, I'm sorry, 20, let's go 2018 Chicago Bulls and putting them on the same team with Will Hardy and say he's better than Jim Boylan, which he is objectively.
42:36
SPEAKER_02: And the last team is the Brooklyn Nets.
42:38
SPEAKER_02: Because I don't know what the Brooklyn Nets' direction is.
42:41
SPEAKER_02: If they need scoring, Zach Levine can provide that.
42:43
SPEAKER_02: They have so many good tradable pieces.
42:46
SPEAKER_02: And that's the reason why I think they're my favorite sleeper here, because I don't think the Bulls in their current regime is looking to rebuild.
42:53
SPEAKER_02: I think they're looking to retool, right?
42:55
SPEAKER_02: So with the Nets having so many players that are rotation players and a lot of them not getting the amount of minutes maybe they deserve, they package a few of those players together, maybe give one of those uh sons picks, and maybe we got ourselves a deal from the front office.
43:08
SPEAKER_02: From a fan perspective, I don't really love it.
43:10
SPEAKER_02: But from a front office perspective, when you're looking for depth, you're looking for players that kind of fit what you want to do, they have a lot of players like that.
43:17
SPEAKER_02: It steps on the toes of Cam Cam Thomas a little bit.
43:20
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you can argue that you got Zach Levine already.
43:23
SPEAKER_02: His name is Cam Thomas.
43:23
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
43:24
SPEAKER_02: So let's get to the probables.
43:28
SPEAKER_02: The first one I have is New York Knicks.
43:31
SPEAKER_02: I have have convinced myself that this is a trade worth doing now, Knicks fans have convinced themselves out of it.
43:40
SPEAKER_02: Six months ago, if I would have told you, Knicks fans, we want to trade RJ Bear for Zach Levine.
43:45
SPEAKER_02: You're pulling the trigger 100% of the time.
43:47
SPEAKER_02: And if you're saying you're not, you're lying to me.
43:49
SPEAKER_02: But now, because because Rowan is hooping, you're like, nah, we don't like that.
43:53
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you should buy you should sell high on RJ Barrett and let him come to Chicago.
43:58
SPEAKER_02: Now, I honestly do do think that the New York Knicks are gonna stand pat and wait for a superstar, not an all-star.
44:04
SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, they wait to see what happens with Don Laminchew.
44:06
SPEAKER_02: They wait to see what happens with this player, that player.
44:08
SPEAKER_02: I don't seem, they don't seem like a team that's desperate to cash in their chips just yet.
44:12
SPEAKER_02: And cashing in your chips for Zach Levine doesn't do enough.
44:16
SPEAKER_02: You know what I'm saying?
44:17
SPEAKER_02: And I don't look at them and say, oh, that team's gonna be Boston in the seven.
44:19
SPEAKER_02: That team's gonna be Denver in the seven.
44:21
SPEAKER_02: So because of that, maybe unlikely, but big market for Zach Levine.
44:25
SPEAKER_02: He wants to play in the big market.
44:26
SPEAKER_02: That's what I assume.
44:27
SPEAKER_02: The next team is the Philadelphia 76ers.
44:29
SPEAKER_02: Now we've seen conflicting reports about this.
44:31
SPEAKER_02: Some people said, yeah, they're in on it.
44:32
SPEAKER_02: Other teams, other sources said, no, they like the team they have now.
44:35
SPEAKER_02: Uh Kelly Ubray's gonna be missing a little bit of time, so maybe that changes things, but we would have to wait a little bit of time to make that happen because the Nicholas Batbs of the world, the Mook Moores of the world can't be traded until the end of the calendar year.
44:47
SPEAKER_02: Um, but I again I've expressed on the show, I don't like the fit between having Tavries Maxi and Zach Levine.
44:53
SPEAKER_02: I feel it feels kind of redundant and it kind of nullifies the success of Tavys Maxey so far.
44:58
SPEAKER_02: No, I'm not a fan of that for them.
45:00
SPEAKER_02: And the lastly, last one, Golden State Warriors.
45:03
SPEAKER_02: Golden State Warriors.
45:04
SPEAKER_02: I had an extreme amount of Warriors fans in my mentions drawing up trades to get Zach Levine.
45:09
SPEAKER_02: And I was just surprised.
45:11
SPEAKER_02: You know, I was just surprised.
45:12
SPEAKER_02: I didn't expect them to look at Zach and say, yeah, that's the guy we want to attach the next three years of our franchise to.
45:18
SPEAKER_02: I'm interested.
45:19
SPEAKER_02: I'm interested.
45:20
SPEAKER_02: Now, obviously, in this trade, you would have to throw in uh Klay Thompson or or Andrew Wiggins.
45:26
SPEAKER_02: I know you love Klay Thompson, and you probably still love Andrew Wiggins after the championship run, even though he is.
45:32
SPEAKER_02: Man, he's bad.
45:33
SPEAKER_02: Um, right now, right now, right now he's bad.
45:35
SPEAKER_02: But it was just interesting the amount of Warriors fans I saw interested.
45:39
SPEAKER_02: And I don't know what I think about that fitting uh to have Zach Levine and Steph Curry on the court together.
45:45
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but he does add an extra element of shooting.
45:48
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna keep saying it about Zach Levine.
45:50
SPEAKER_02: Zach Levine's never played with positive spacing in his career.
45:53
SPEAKER_02: I think he's gonna benefit greatly if he can go to a team with positive spacing.
45:56
SPEAKER_02: And let's get to the favorites.
45:58
SPEAKER_02: They're only two teams.
45:59
SPEAKER_02: It is the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers.
46:02
SPEAKER_02: Um, the Lakers cannot really make their trade into January 15th, and I think that's gonna hinder them from being in the real sweepstakes.
46:08
SPEAKER_02: The Miami Heat can make their trade today.
46:10
SPEAKER_02: I don't again, I just don't know what direction the franchise is gonna go, but those two would be my favorites for Zach's sake to go to LA, which everybody's pointing to that clip of 2020 where he's like, I want to play with a guy like LeBron and then a big man like Anthony Davis.
46:25
SPEAKER_02: All right.
46:26
SPEAKER_02: Big about Zach Levine, though, he's not James Hart.
46:29
SPEAKER_02: He's not Kevin Durant.
46:30
SPEAKER_02: He can't point to a team and say, trade me there.
46:32
SPEAKER_02: I don't think so.
46:33
SPEAKER_02: Maybe he can't.
46:34
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
46:34
SPEAKER_02: Player Palmer is crazy crazy right now.
46:36
SPEAKER_02: You know what I'm saying?
46:37
SPEAKER_02: Uh I maybe he can, maybe he can't.
46:38
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but those that's my hierarchy of the Zach Levine potential trade suitors.
46:49
SPEAKER_02: Now I'm gonna bring in producer Greg to play a little game.
46:53
SPEAKER_02: We got an over-under.
46:54
SPEAKER_02: Greg, talk to me.
46:55
SPEAKER_00: So for this game, Kenny, I'm gonna list some over-unders uh for the amount of career accolades these young stars are gonna finish with.
47:02
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
47:03
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna let me know over-under.
47:04
SPEAKER_00: And I think all these lines are pretty fair, although this first one feels very light, feels low.
47:09
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
47:09
SPEAKER_00: I'll give it to you though.
47:11
SPEAKER_00: Jason Tatum, 0.5 championships.
47:14
SPEAKER_02: That that is a very low line.
47:16
SPEAKER_02: Hard over, hard over.
47:18
SPEAKER_02: Um, I believe in the Boston Celtics being able to build a team around him to win at least one in this group.
47:24
SPEAKER_02: One is a minimum, in my opinion.
47:26
SPEAKER_02: And if they don't do that, then it's an all-time fail to a really great player.
47:29
SPEAKER_02: I think the line should probably be one and a half, man.
47:33
SPEAKER_02: I think the line at one and a half is fair at that point.
47:38
SPEAKER_02: Because of the way the NBA is, I would actually take the over on that too.
47:42
SPEAKER_02: I think the Boston Celtics have two of them in the Jason Tatum era.
47:45
SPEAKER_02: Give me the over.
47:46
SPEAKER_00: Victor Weminyama, 1.5 defensive player of the year.
47:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
47:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's a good line.
47:53
SPEAKER_02: Oh man, that's a good line.
47:54
SPEAKER_02: Wemby takes me as the tight.
47:56
SPEAKER_02: Well, okay, DPO-wise in general, is like once you have the reputation, that carries a ton.
48:03
SPEAKER_02: You can have a very good reputation and just good, the really good numbers to back that up.
48:07
SPEAKER_02: And like, here, here's your I'm taking the over on this one.
48:09
SPEAKER_02: Because if we're saying he's in the conversations now as a rook, I can imagine what year six could look like.
48:15
SPEAKER_02: 100% give me the over.
48:18
SPEAKER_00: Tyrese Halliburton, nine and a half all-star appearances.
48:22
SPEAKER_02: Nine and a half is a that's a big, that's a crazy line.
48:28
SPEAKER_02: Um, Russell Westbrook has nine for reference.
48:31
SPEAKER_02: Russell Westbrook is a nine-time all-star.
48:33
SPEAKER_02: So do I believe Tyrese Halliburton is gonna have more all-star appearances than Russell Westbrook?
48:39
SPEAKER_02: Um is there anything about his game that I feel like wouldn't translate well to his 30s?
48:47
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna say no.
48:48
SPEAKER_02: I think the playmaker will always be there.
48:50
SPEAKER_02: He showed us time and time again that the shot is real.
48:53
SPEAKER_02: But Ken, Russ only has nine.
48:56
SPEAKER_02: Um, so he's already got one early, so that helps.
48:58
SPEAKER_02: He's got one already.
48:59
SPEAKER_02: He's gonna have another one this year, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
49:02
SPEAKER_02: He will probably always be the engine in Indiana.
49:05
SPEAKER_00: How old is he, Kenny?
49:07
SPEAKER_02: He might be 23 now.
49:10
SPEAKER_00: He might be 20.
49:12
SPEAKER_00: Or early 30s, early mid-30s.
49:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but you know how the NBA is.
49:17
SPEAKER_02: You know, you get an injury here, and then he's 30, he's he's 23.
49:20
SPEAKER_02: He's 23, turning 24 this season.
49:22
SPEAKER_02: You have an injury and then boom, you miss.
49:24
SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry, Reese, I think I gotta take the a slight under.
49:27
SPEAKER_02: I think I gotta take a slight under.
49:29
SPEAKER_00: Anthony Edwards, half MVP.
49:33
SPEAKER_02: Anthony Edwards, half MVP.
49:35
SPEAKER_02: Bring the MVP trophy back to Minnesota.
49:37
SPEAKER_02: Um I would take the over.
49:40
SPEAKER_02: I would take the over.
49:41
SPEAKER_02: When you if you go back to look at some of our previous episodes when I was having a conversation about which current players can I see end up being top 10, I mentioned Anthony Edwards.
49:50
SPEAKER_02: I think you need a couple MVPs to make that a possibility.
49:55
SPEAKER_02: I don't mean top 10 all the time.
49:57
SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry.
49:57
SPEAKER_02: I want I just want to take a step back for y'all.
49:59
SPEAKER_02: Top 10 in the in the NBA for a period of time.
50:02
SPEAKER_02: I think Anthony Edwards has that.
50:03
SPEAKER_02: And I feel as though if you are top 10 in the NBA and you're able to lead your team to a really good record, you're gonna be in conversations.
50:11
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna give, I'm gonna give him an over.
50:12
SPEAKER_02: I think he's got one in them, at least, at least one in them.
50:20
SPEAKER_02: I want to say thank you to y'all for watching or listening to this episode of the Kenny Beach and Podcast.
50:25
SPEAKER_02: If you watched or listened to the whole thing, you had to enjoy it, right?
50:28
SPEAKER_02: Leave a like, subscribe.
50:30
SPEAKER_02: Five stars.
50:30
SPEAKER_02: Hey, this is a new one.
50:31
SPEAKER_02: Tell a friend to tell a friend.
50:33
SPEAKER_02: We got an independent podcast, and we're trying to grow it to the number one show in the world in the world.
50:37
SPEAKER_02: I was always saying America in the world.
50:39
SPEAKER_02: Basketball show in the world.
50:40
SPEAKER_02: So tell a friend to tell a friend that if they need their NBA fixed two times a week, the Kenny Beach and Podcast is the way to go.
50:46
SPEAKER_02: The conversation is always fluid.
50:48
SPEAKER_02: So you let me know what you think about the Draymond Green situation.
50:51
SPEAKER_02: You let me know what you think about the play in.
50:53
SPEAKER_02: And was I right or wrong about my hierarchy of the Zach Levine trade pieces?
50:57
SPEAKER_02: I'll see y'all in a couple days, y'all.
50:59
SPEAKER_02: Peace.