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NBA Season Check-In: Contenders, Surprises, Wemby’s 50-20 & Higher or Lower · The So-Called Sports Analysts

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome back to another episode. Episode number
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: 182 of the so-called Sports Analyst. Josh, how you doing?
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Been doing pretty good. The Spurs on a five-game win
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: streak right now, looking to make it six against Dallas Mavericks.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: We're kind of going to be watching, reacting, slash talking
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: about the early start of the NBA season, how it's
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: been going for most teams. So, yeah, it's going to
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: be a multitasking episode. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, no, for sure. And this is the first time,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: I feel like I haven't recorded with you in a while, Josh.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: It's been like two, three weeks, something like that. So
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: kicking it back old school, just a duo back here.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: But before we start, find us on Twitch, TikTok, Instagram,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: and YouTube under TSESA or the so-called Sports Analyst. Make
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: sure you share this to anybody that likes sports, but
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: let's get straight into it. And we're going to start
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: off just with this Western Conference right here. So I'm
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: going to just list the top 10 teams and you
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: could just go in any direction. Houston there, Houston's a
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: one seed, Portland's two, LA's three, Memphis four, OKC five,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: San Antonio six, Golden State seven, Minnesota eight, Dallas nine,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: and the Denver Nuggets are 10 right now. So just
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: overall early through, I know it's still early, less than
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: 10 games, but what have you seen so far that
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: stood out to you?
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: I think for me, like, I think the, as far
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: as the portland trailblazers i think we understood them to
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: maybe be possibly where they've been at the past couple
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: of seasons and that's around that playing area but so
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: far to start the season the acquisition of john morant
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: has looked very good for this basketball team like and
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: i i don't think it's in the dynamics of offensively
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: like i think we know who they are offensively but
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: i think in the facts that it added another body
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: to their defense oh my gosh wouldn't be just big
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: body move yeah but um seeing uh john morant Obviously,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: with the pairing of Damian Lillard, Damian Lillard definitely allows
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: him to be more of a free-roaming player.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: It seemed like a clunky fit at first. It seemed
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: like it.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: But it also allows Damian Lillard to take time off defensively.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: We really kind of view it that way as well
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: because John Morant can really guard one through three. He
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: can maybe mix up with some smaller fours, but definitely
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: that one through three spot, just being the super athletic
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: freak that he is, and then plus with all these
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: other defenders that they have around in the Portland Trailblazers system,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: I think that it's really showed that they found something
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: that obviously probably wasn't working in Memphis no more just
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: due to all the off-the-court issues, the dynamic of getting
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: in new players and wanting to go a different direction,
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: getting rid of some of the top guys that were
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: there when they were making the playoffs at the beginning
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: of his career. So obviously the situation wasn't good for
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: him at that point anymore. So I think this fresh
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: start in Portland has really given him a different point
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: of content, I will say. He's definitely looking a lot
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: more free on the basketball court than he has the
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: last couple of seasons.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that's one thing where it's like sometimes a
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: change of scenery is just good for a player. And
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: this is just another example of that. And like you
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: were saying, whenever Ja first got traded... to the trailblazers,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: it's like, oh, you don't know how you're going to fit.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: You already have so many guards. You have Scoot, Drew Holiday,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: you have Damian Lillard already, and you have Danny Abdia.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: It's like, how is this going to fit together? But
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: it's like, Jah, he's, which honestly, it shows how much
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: he's grown. Like, he's willing to take on a different role, honestly,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: from where he was in Minnesota being the main guy.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: And now, not that he wasn't necessarily a bad defender,
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: but he wasn't hanging his hat defensively. And now John Morant,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: he still kind of gets picked on. He got picked on.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: I forgot which game it was, but for the most part,
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: he is able to hold up his slack.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: So like, it just shows like he's bought into the
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: system and what Portland showed towards the end of the year,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: last year, it's not a fluke. And I think, I
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: don't know just with how talented the West is, but
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: due to some injuries that happened, which I know we're
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: going to have to talk about, I think they could
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: end up as a top six. Yeah, top six seed.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: But I want to go, I know we talked about
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: it in the first NBA pod, between the Rockets and
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: the Timberwolves. And I know it's really hard to judge
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: the Timberwolves right now since Ant's going to be out
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: two months two to three months something.
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: Like that just can't know they're not even that far
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: as of now and so i just want to ask
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: you like are you surprised with houston right now and
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: like i know it's it was barely like a three
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: game sample size of and lamello and the timberwolves but.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: What do you think out of those two teams like
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: both teams hypothetically healthy oh no wimpy wimpy's down oh
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: shoot hold on wait oh this moment right here Oh, no.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: Oh, no.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Is he getting up? Is he not getting up? Okay, okay. Okay,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: he's good. Okay, that scared me for a second.
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: It probably just, like, scared him a little bit.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, okay. Yeah, okay, back to our normal.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: Okay, he can't be doing that. He can't be doing
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: that to me, bro.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Oh, he.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: Oh!
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: You can see the replay. He rolled his ankle.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: Like, he got it stuck on somebody's... That happened to
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: him his rookie year, remember? Yeah. With the Dallas Mavericks.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: Um a like a cleanup guy oh by the way
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: you're like three seconds ahead of me just so you
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: know so okay okay i'll make sure let me see
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: one two okay okay i paused a little bit we
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: should be on the same track right now but all
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: right as we're saying right now is he is he
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: all right is dylan harper like stefan castle just set
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: a screen heart castle shot yeah I think we're good.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: I think we're good. All right. Yeah. Well, I think
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: if we're going to look at that lens, I think
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: I picked the Houston Rockets outside the Oklahoma City Thunder
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: and the San Antonio Spurs to be the best team
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: of the rest in the West. And I was pretty
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: adamant on it. I really debated you and.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: Ryan.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: And my whole thing was that Fred Van Fleet is
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: going to put people back to where they need to be.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: Because we saw last year in the fourth quarter situations,
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: really a lot of confusion. Kevin Durant's never been the
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: type of player to bring the ball up in the
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: fourth quarter in his career. He's been the guy that
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: finishes the play. The guy, a point guard brings up
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: the ball and he gets it and then finishes the play. Now,
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: and that was happening a lot last year where he
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: was bringing the ball up, getting double teamed. And it
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: was really hindering the Houston Rockets fourth quarter offense and
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: costing them basketball games. And we even saw this a
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: couple times with the San Antonio Spurs, where they would
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: get in matches with the Spurs, be in crunch time moments,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: and then they would just pin Stephon Castle and bring
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: a double team onto Kevin Durant. He'd be forced to pass,
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: and they'd have a Victor Wimbanyama on Alperin Senguda, and
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: it would kind of like eliminate their play. And what
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: we saw in game two versus the San Antonio Spurs
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: was definitely the usage of a point guard and being
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: able to show that that Fred Van Fleet can put
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: people back to where they need to be, and even
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: takes Amin Thompson away from being a ball handler as well, which, sure,
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: he's getting better, but obviously that's not his go-to move,
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: and he's obviously not a shooter. So I think Fred
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: Van Fleet's really allowed this offense to flow more freely,
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: create open spacing, especially for Alprin St. Goon. Like, we
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: saw a couple of times this season where he's actually
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: been able to sit in the low block and allow
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: the offense to come to him, and he's been dominating
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: teams on the interior to close out games as well,
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: and that's really helped the Houston Rockets. Now, I'm not
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: saying the Minnesota Timberwolves are super far apart from them,
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: but especially health concerns now, but before the health concerns,
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: the only thing that I saw was a difference was
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: that I think the Houston Rockets, as far as a
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: completed team, I think they are a more completed basketball
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: team than the Minnesota Timberwolves. I understand they have the
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: top in talent in Minnesota, which... Obviously, the Houston Rockets
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: have Kevin Durant. But I still think that the depth
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: guys are a little bit less intriguing for me than
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: the Houston Rockets in-depth guys. But what I did see
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: from this dynamic of the lamella ball and Anthony Edwards
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: was allowing Anthony Edwards to go to his true position,
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: the shooting guard position. And he even said it himself,
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: like he was wasting a lot of energy bringing the
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: ball up, having to get through double teams. And it
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: was also hindering his defense. And we knew Ant coming
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: into the beginning of his career as one of the
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: better defenders in the NBA. And over the last couple
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: of seasons, his numbers definitely took a dip. Now he's
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: able to be fully rested going into the fourth quarters.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: And we'd already seen a couple of times this season
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: where he's just been able to score 40 plus. And
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: that's due to LaMelo Ball being able to find him
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: in open spots, dishing the ball around and having to
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: respect LaMelo Ball as a ball handler and a scorer himself.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: Because I understand Mike Conley is a great basketball player,
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: but at this point in his career, he was just
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: not the same guy as he was in Memphis, as
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: he was at his first year in Minnesota. So they
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: were really searching for that next guy to take the
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: pressure off of Anthony Edwards, especially handling the rock. And
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: LaMelo Ball definitely allowed Anthony Edwards to do that. Now, injuries.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: He picked up a serious injury, and Anthony Edwards is
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: going to be out, what was it, two months or
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: something like that?
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, two months, something like that.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: And LaMelo Ball seems right now not to be able
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: to stay out of foul trouble, I believe. Out of
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: every single game this season, he has had four-plus fouls.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: So he's not even able to be on the court,
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: even while healthy. So the Minnesota Timberwolves still have a
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: lot of things to figure out. And Rudy Gobert, I
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: feel like offensively, we know he's not the best, but
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: it's been really bad. this season defensively we know what
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: he is but as far as offensively he really hasn't
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: offered nothing and i think that's something they're missing as
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: well is where alfred sangoon can offer another threat to
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: score but also an offensive threat for four quarters which
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: i believe the Minnesota Timberwolves are severely lacking right now
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: is that interior presence that guys like Carl Anthony Towns,
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: Julius Randle have offered over the last couple of seasons. Yeah.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: And I'm going to go on the Timberwolves point first.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: And like, I know such a small sample size, but
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: from those first three games, they look good.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: I was, I was ready. Like whenever we're going to
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: do the, or whenever I was going to get on
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: the next NBA pod, uh, if Ant didn't get hurt,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: I was ready to put them in that serious level
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: of contender. And the main reason why is because in
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: the playoffs, their main problem was it was solely relying
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: on Ant. And like you were saying, he was playing
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: kind of a point guard, not a point guard role.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: And it was just overly reliant. And the other thing
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: too was that last year and years prior, the... three-point
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: shooting as far as for the entirety of the Minnesota
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: Timberwolves outside of Ant was lackluster. And now you bring
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: in LaMelo Ball, who's one of the most high-volume three-point
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: shooters in the league. Jada McDaniels has gotten a lot better.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: I just assume he's gotten a lot better. Terrence Shannon Jr.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: has gotten a lot better. I think he's shooting like
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: 45% right now. Jonathan Kaminga, he's serviceable. And it just
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: brings out a true– with Rudy Gobert, you want a
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: four-out offense. You're never going to get a five-out offense.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: And them being able to do that makes it so
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: much freer compared to where you had some non-shooters on
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: the court. And just with that, like you're saying, there
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: was so much potential where, not necessarily saying it would
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: beat the Spurs or beat the Thunder at that point,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: but I could see it going seven games where it's like,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: you know, if some things happen to fall their way, which,
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: you know, three-point shooting, it's very high variable. if they
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: have it going that series, they could easily knock off
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: the Thunder or the Spurs if they just have it going.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: So that's where it was scary, but like what the Rockets,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: like you were saying, and just Fred Van Vliet, it
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: just sounds so minimal, so small, but like you were saying,
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: there's a difference whenever there's a real point guard on
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: the court compared to when there's not. And one thing.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: If we look at the example of Obviously, it wasn't
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: nothing crazy, but we look at the difference when Jeremy
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: Sohan was playing point guard and the Spurs switched to
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: Trey Jones. When they switched to Trey Jones, Wimby's offense
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: looked a whole lot better in his rookie season. So
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: a point guard matters. A true point guard truly matters
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: to a basketball team.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's night and day. And one thing I
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: want to say is I know Jabari Smith, I don't
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: think he had the best night tonight versus the Timberwolves.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: But the growth of him. He's had a good season
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: so far. Yeah, he's had a really good season so far.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: And I think if he could stay consistent like this,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: which you see like a slow trajectory going up, maybe
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: he's not the prospect that he was out to be.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: But if he could be consistent like this, not only
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: does it add another element but it doesn't put all
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: the soul pressure on as far as kd to just
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: be the only real isolation score in this offense i'm
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: in thompson he's that he's a glue guy crash the
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: boards just run down the lane cuts that's his type
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: freddie fred van vliet it's more just setting up the
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: offense so just Having another guy like that that's actually
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: developing is really surprising to me because Fred VanVleet, he
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: did make a big difference, but Jabari Smith adding in
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: this other element makes it different. And we already know
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: their defense is.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: Or even Marcus Smart. Yeah, Marcus Smart is well coming
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: off the bench, being another point guard to able to
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: handle rock, but also offer big-time defense has been also
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: great as well.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they went from no point guards to having... Point guards, all.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: And Reed Shepard can slide in on those back-to-backs where
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: Fred Rimsley doesn't play and not have the pressure of
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: being the main point guard. Like, now he can finally
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: just kind of roam, be that open. Like, I don't
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: think Reed Shepard's going to live up to his number
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: two overall, number three overall pick, like, status. But he's, yeah,
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: that was crazy. Yeah, but he can definitely, like, be
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: a good role player on this Houston Rockets team offering
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: go-to point guard play. when they need it, but obviously
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: being the shooter that he is. And they really, truly
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: need a guy like that. Yeah.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: No, no, for sure. And, um, like, okay.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: I know I hate making Spurs references, but if he
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: can be like the Patty Mills for the Houston Rockets.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: Like, no, no, you need guys like that. Like, no,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: it definitely makes sense. You need, you need guys like that.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: And like that, I guess we'll, I know we'll get
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: into Sixers later, but like one thing as far as
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: like with that, I feel like Rockets, they're not star studded. Like, Like,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: as far as, like, talent-wise, but star-studded as far as names. And, like,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: you need guys to just play their own roles. And, like,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: whenever they buy in like that, it makes it so
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: much better for the team, even though they could do
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: separate things outside of that. Like, Fred VanVleet, if he
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: went to another team, he could go score 20, 25
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: points on a team. So can Jabari Smith. So can... Like,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: but they're bought into their roles, and that's what makes
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: it much better. But, okay.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Now going into, I feel like this is one of
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: the teams where I still don't know how to read
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: them yet. The Lakers with Luka, who's been, I mean,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: I don't even think this is even a question right now.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: He's the best player so far throughout this regular season.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: I think averaging like 37 points. And I don't know
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: if you know this. I heard this from Jason Temp.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: He's averaging 37 points, right? He's only had eight layups
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: this entire season. season. And that, that shows how crazy
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: Luka has been on a hot trick as far as
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: shooting the ball. So what, what's your read on the
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: Lakers so far? Like, do you buy this or like,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: you think it's going to burn out?
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: Well, I would argue over the last six games, Victor
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: Mbanyama has been the best player in the world, but
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: I will say Luka Doncic this season is definitely who
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: I say he is when he's at his best. Like
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: y'all heard me say before that I believe in Luka
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: Doncic is the best player in the world, or arguably
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: the best player in the world, when he's at his best.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: We've seen it multiple times in his career. We saw
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: it for, what, that month's stretch last year that basically
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: propelled him into the top three of MVP talks towards
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: the end of the season, top four of MVP talks
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: when he was kind of non-existent for a little bit.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: This is what we're seeing from Luka Doncic. I think
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: this Lakers basketball team, they're really hard to gauge, yes.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: But I do think they made some correct moves that
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: allows him to really play at his best, and especially
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: the addition of Walker Kessler. In a couple of games
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: this year, you've already seen him kind of allow a
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: big pick-and-roll advantage and even being an interior presence that
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: really wasn't there these last couple of seasons. And what
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: he broke, he had the most dunks in, like, Lakers
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: history or something like that.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: Something like that, yeah.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: I don't know. The stat was weird.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: It was a first game. Yeah, it was their first
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: game against the Warriors.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: And they were allowed. That's giving them somebody that the
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: Lakers have not had in a long time, a true
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: big man. They tried it with DeAndre in, which I
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: thought DeAndre could have been an answer, but obviously it
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: didn't work out there. And it's allowing. I think Luka
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: Dodgers is showing who he is. How long is he?
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: He looks the healthiest he's possibly been in a couple
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: of seasons. And if he can keep this momentum up
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: and have the Los Angeles Lakers within this top spot,
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: he's really going to give a lot of people a
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: run for their money when it comes to MVP talks.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: And so I do think that Luka Doncic this season
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: has been just nothing short of who he is at
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: his best.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no, for sure. I think he picked up,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: I mean, from where he last touched a basketball last
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: season to now this year, I think it's just literally
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: carried over. And he's playing less, five less minutes because
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: I know in March, April, they take up to like
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: 40 minutes a game, something along those lines. But I mean,
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: he's even increased his stocks, steals and blocks, up to
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: two and a half. And I think he was averaging
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: like one to one and a half. So that's a
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: big difference. I mean, I think the only thing would
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: be like turnovers. But like, here's my thing with, I
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: think this regular season thing will continue, obviously, as long
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: as Luka Doncic stays healthy. But like, I just wonder,
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: because there was an interview that came out with Mike
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: D'Antoni and it kind of makes sense, like, He said
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: he wonders because he sees the same thing with Luka
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: and James Harden as far as in the regular season,
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: this does work. And I know we're barely in November,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: but I hate to break it to you, but the
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: best players in the world, they don't get judged by
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: standards on what they do from October to May. I mean,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: to April. They get judged from May to June. And
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: I just think that this stylistically won't work in the playoffs.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: But as of this, as of right now and through here,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: he could win MVP and they could be a top
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: three seed. I buy that. But again, that's my biggest question.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: But go ahead.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think this is what regular season teams are
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: definitely made of, is high-scoring offense. They're literally second in
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: the entire NBA in points per game. But they also are...
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: Still not getting rebounds. I understand the addition of Walker
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: Kessler has been good, like you say, for the regular
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: season for getting enough wins.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: But.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: they're bottom in the league in rebounds. They're not creating
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: second-chance opportunities for themselves. They're still not actually, like... Sorry,
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: they're actually... They're still not actually... Sorry, I'm, like, trying
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: to keep up with the game at the same time.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: They're still not.
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: They're still not actually... having a real interior presence on
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: the boards both the offensively and defensively obviously obviously it's
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: been just enough up to this point but obviously we
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: know if you control the boards in in the playoffs
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: you're gonna win a series you're gonna win the series
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: more often than not because you're creating second chance opportunities
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: and that means the team missed more than you did
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: so yeah and as of right now if that continues
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: and there's not an improvement I don't really see them
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: making a lot of noise in the playoffs. But like
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: you said, in the regular season, they're a team built
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: for success. And that's all the MVP trophy really matters for.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: And if we look at the Lakers, I don't view
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: them in that upper echelon of Western teams, even though
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: they are winning. Like I'm not picking them over the Spurs.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: I'm still not picking them over the Thunder. I'm still
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: not taking them over. minnesota or houston and you can
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: make arguments for portland yeah a couple yeah a couple
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: other teams like portland like golden state like so like
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: denver like you said and a lot of those teams
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: probably have stronger cases than the lakers as a.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: Whole yeah and kind kind of going off of that
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: um just as before we get into the two top
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: dogs because obviously it's ok t okc and san antonio
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: As far as Denver, Golden State, Memphis, I'll go with
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: another team or a different team, the one that you
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: talk about. But out of those three teams right there,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: which one has shocked you the most so far this year?
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: I guess shocked me the most because I was really questioning. Actually,
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: I don't think the Nuggets shocked me because I think
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: I was fairly off the Nuggets as compared to you
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: two going into the season. I really didn't tout them.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: I was literally questioning, is their time done? But obviously
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: with Nikola Jokic, you always have the argument, no, he's
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: still probably the best player in the world. He's able
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: to put them in positions to win basketball games. He's
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: just that offensive freak of nature that we know him
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: to be. But this year, really, though he's still averaging
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: almost a triple-double, it's not the same impact as it
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: once was. There's something off about this basketball team. I
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: don't know if it's defensively, which it probably could be.
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: Losing Peyton Watson was no big deal. I think he
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: did so much for their basketball team that they didn't
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: even realize was that much important.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: And I don't know.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: I just feel like this time has passed them a
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: little bit. I think for both these squads, like the
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: Golden State Warriors and the Denver Nuggets, I just think
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: that they haven't done enough over the last couple of
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: seasons to really put themselves in the best opportunities. The
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: Nuggets have allowed people to go, I believe, Christian Braun,
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: though a good role player, I don't think he really
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: adds much to your basketball team in terms of championship quality. Yeah,
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: I just don't think that's the guy that you should
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: bank on to offer immediate help, whether he's starting or
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: off the bench, offensively or defensively. I think he's a
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: good basketball player, but not, like you say, a third option.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: And the guy that I expect, they probably expect it
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: to be their third option in either... Cameron Johnson or
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: Aaron Gordon, both just have not been the same. Obviously,
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: I think Aaron Gordon is more due to a built-up
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: and multitude of injuries over the last couple of seasons,
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: where it's really hampered his athleticism, which is where he's
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: made a lot of his money on, especially defensively and
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: being kind of a rim threat offensively, and an improved
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: three-point shot as well. But once the knees go, that
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: shot ain't there.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: No more either. Yeah, you're just done for, yeah.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: I think for Aaron Gordon, it's a lot of adjusting
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: to his usual play, and that goes the same. That
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: kind of hinders the Nuggets as well because he's a
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: very important piece, especially in their championship years. He was
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: there for them as that solid four for them, and
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: he just hasn't been the same since then. And as
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: far as Cameron Johnson, it still just looks like a
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: failed trade.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's one trade where you kind of look back on,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: and it kind of looks a little rough. But one
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: thing before I touch on one of these– I would
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: say Golden State next. But just, okay, this is based
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: on standards of the best player in the world. Once again,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: I want to clarify. Nikola Jokic has been playing bad
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: for his standards. Let me say that first.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I was saying.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: You're going to hear fans like, oh, what, 22-9-9, that's bad. Yes,
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: it's bad for Nikola Jokic.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: But watch the games. It's not as effective as it
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: usually is.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: He looks really sluggish. And also one thing, he's been turned,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: even going into last year, he's been turned over the
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: ball a lot more. And that's not Nikola Jokic from
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: what we saw from four years ago till now. Like
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: he's turning the ball over.
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, Kyrie, that was disgusting.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: He has it at a very high clip. Wimby has 49.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: That's insane right there. Oh my gosh. But that's just
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: one thing. And also, like you're saying, like one thing
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: that I do not buy, I guess we go ahead
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: and get into this as far as there's older teams
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: and they're like regular season doesn't matter. We need to
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: get– we just need to get into the playoffs. I
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: disagree with that so much.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: In this Western Conference, you cannot do that.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Even in the Eastern Conference now because– It's something where,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: like I said even before the pod, it builds your
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: habits of what you're going to be doing in April, May,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: and June. These games, they matter right now. They build
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: the chemistry. They build the habits that you're going to
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: have for this year because there's habits that the New
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: York Knicks had last year 10 games into the season,
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: and it looked exactly what it was going to be
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: like in the championship run. You had habits here before
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: that the Thunder established. That happened when they won the championship.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: Same with the Celtics. You have things that go on
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: and on and on. Look at the Spurs last year.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: Their first 10 games, the habits that they had and
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: what they showed defensively and how aggressive Wimby was, what
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: did that do? It translated into the playoffs. So, like,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: there's no such thing no more. Like, I know, like,
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: veteran team, they could sneak in. No, I disagree with
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: that sentiment, especially now more than ever. Like you're saying,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: as far as with how loaded... Both conferences are.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I think there's just that nostalgia when we look
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: at the Warriors and the Nuggets as far as hoping
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: that they... Oh, my gosh. He missed both free throws? Yeah.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: That's insane. That's insane. Oh, my gosh, bro. Do you
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: want to pause this, Cabo, for now? Kyrie, sidestep three. Yeah,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: that's what I'm saying.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: Oh, man.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: Okay, scores 108-109-14.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: Throw it up.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: Dylan?
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: Okay, never mind.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Is that Colton? Oh, no?
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: Okay. Nah, it was coming out the rim. Harper got
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: smacked in the face, though.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he did.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: Cooper?
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: Najee?
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: He's in the mist.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: 1-11, 1-11.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: Also, just to give context, I think the Mavericks went
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: on a 12-0 run at one point in the fourth quarter,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: and they scored, like, 55, 60 points in the second half. So.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's definitely been a turn of events. They got
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: going when Wimby came off the court.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah. De'Aaron Fox got stripped. Oh, my goodness.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: There we go.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: Oh, nice.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: Nice.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: Okay, there's 120 left. The fans never got to hear
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: you stress over Knicks and Spurs, so I guess this
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: is going to be the closest.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: They never really did.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: I think it might have been for a good reason. Yeah. Okay, yeah,
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: I was tipped. Okay, four seconds left. Wimby's going to
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: pull up. Is he going to make it? Oh, my gosh.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Why did I think he was going to make that?
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: His three-point shot this season hasn't been the best.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: I still think he'll be fine. Kyrie, who's that? De'Aaron Fox. Okay,
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: 50 seconds left. Little screen. Goes underneath it.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: Three?
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: No. Oh, my gosh.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: Okay, let's get an easy bucket.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, 35 seconds left. De'Aaron Fox has driven the
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: ball up the floor. Let's see if they slow it down. Oh,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: Wimby looks gas.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: Nice.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Just give it to Wimby. He's on Najee Marshall. Please
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: give it to him. Oh, okay, foul. He did hit
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: his arm.
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: And bumped him from behind.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Wimby's going to the free throw line.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: Let's not miss any this time.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: It looked like De'Aaron Fox had hit your free throws, bro. Yeah, no,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: that was a clear foul right there.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, right there.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he hit his arm.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: Even Walter Clayton from behind slapped his arm as well.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: So it was going to.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: Be a foul. Yeah.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, either way. All right, 24 seconds left. 24.2 to
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: be exact.
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: Wimby.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: He misses another free throw. That's three short. That's four
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: in a row.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: That's four in a row.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's four in a row?
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: That's insane. I think either way they're going to hold the...
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: Hold the ball. I think they're just going to get
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: a last-second shot. Wimby, second player, 50 points, 28 rounds,
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: five blocks in a game since Bob McAdoo in 1974.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: Did you see that at halftime?
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: They were trying to tell someone that, like, no one's
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: ever had that first half. And, like, Shaq's like, I've
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: had a couple of those. Like, no, you literally have not.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: Dude. No, whenever I saw 20. 19, and 5, something
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: like that in the first half, I thought, honestly, because
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: I wasn't keeping up with the Mavs and Spurs game,
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: and I thought, oh, the game's over. I'm like, I
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: thought they started later on. Then I'm like, they're at halftime.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, okay.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: Okay. I wonder if those shots, those last four shots were, like,
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: from being gassed because he hit, like, 18 in a
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: row to start the game. And, like, he missed four
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: after that.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Dude, Kyrie has me 42 in the Dynasty League. Let
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: me see how much Wimpy has in your league.
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: I know Hector has him.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: Oh, Hector, he has him?
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: 73 points. Is that what it is?
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: He has 73 points? Oh, my goodness. Dude. Dude, my
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: team got hurt completely in the redraft. I had Hallie
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: and I had J.D.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: Freaking Keontae George stopped 38 for me. 39 points from
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: Keontae George.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: That is insane. That's definitely the highest scoring.
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: That is by far the highest scoring.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: Dude. I can't believe half of my team got hurt, bro.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: You want to hear my team? Kobe White barely got back.
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: I should have knocked in I should have locked in
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: Musa before he played last night. He had 22 last night.
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: He had 9.5 today. But all my benches hurt also
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: like yours. Oh, no, Sarge back. Dude, I know.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, dude, I have so many people hurt, bro. I
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: just have J-Dub on the team still for, okay. Is
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: it back on for you? Yeah, it's back on. Okay.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: They're about to inbound, right?
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: Khan had negative points this game. Jeez.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: Well, it was his first game back. Walter Clayton, ball
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: in his hands.
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: Never thought I would see that at first. Let's see
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: what they set up.
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: I like the Spurs court for their throwback.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: I do, too. It's pretty clean. Okay, Kyrie has a ball.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: He's going to hold the ball. I wonder if they're
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: missing a double. Do not foul. No shot. That's a tough.
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: Oh.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: Game.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: There we go, boys. Good win.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: Good win.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: Hard fought.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: Good defense.
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: No foul by De'Aaron Fox. I like that. That was good.
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: That was a good finish.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: Stressful, but good.
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: Honestly, like.
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: Do you think.
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: Okay, so... I was going to talk about it on
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: the pod. Like, as far as, like... I talk about it, actually. Like,
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: Luke Cornett is still a good defensive player. But I
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: think Terrence Reed Jr., like, needs to get some more burn. Like,
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: especially in these bigger moments. Like, in some, like... In some...
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: third quarter situations, I want to say, because in this
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: third quarter, that's when they really separated, when they really
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: got close and made this a game again was when
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: Wimby got off the court. And I just think at
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: this point in their careers, like I understand Luke Cornett
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: is a reliable option, and I love Luke Cornett, but
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: I think Terrence Reed Jr. just offers more athletically. He's 263, 6'10, like, bro, like,
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: gets hella, like he's literally known for just getting boards regularly.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: You know, and playing great defense. It's like, I don't
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: see why. And he's faster at this moment in his career.
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: You know, so it's kind of like, why wouldn't you
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: give him an opportunity by understanding it's the beginning of
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: the season? But I just wouldn't like to see it
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: in some moments. I mean, he hasn't gotten many minutes, right?
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: Versus Daniel Gafford, he bullied Daniel Gafford.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Like, I'm looking. He hasn't gotten much at all.
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's only played four games. But that little spurt
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: that he came in in the Mavericks game, He, like,
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: bullied Daniel Gafford.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: Do you think it's just because, I mean, Luke Cornett
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: had a good season last year?
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: No, he did. I'm not complaining. I'm, like, just saying, like,
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: I think in moments, like, we need another option to
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: kind of get some more burn.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. I mean, I buy that, but I think also
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: at the same.
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: Reliable. Just Luke Cornett's just reliable.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he's just reliable where it's like, I feel like
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: it's always going to look like somebody's so bad defensively
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: whenever you're the backup to Wimby. I think that's just where, like,
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: it's like, oh, man, it's like Luke Cornett's getting picked on.
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: But it's like, yeah, because, like, Wimby's not in the game.
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: That's the only time they really get to go at him.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: I feel like that's what it looks like. I don't
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: know the exact numbers unless you know the numbers, like,
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: as far as on and off.
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm not really sure. I just know the on
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: and off numbers for the three-guard lineup and the non-three-guard lineup.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: I haven't looked into it this year as far as
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: Luke Cornett. But, dude, Wimby over these last six games,
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: I mean, I know you said Luka Doncic is probably,
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: I think Wimby's been the best player in the world
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: over the last six games.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: I mean, you could easily say that. I think just from,
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: I guess I would say the entirety of the year. Yeah,
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: the first.
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: Two games by Victor Mbanyama were super rough.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's why I'd say, like, I could buy Wimby,
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: but I'd still put my hat on Luka, like, early
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: eight games in, who's MVP, just from how crazy Luka's been.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not trying to copy the Stephen A quote,
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: but he's literally averaging 40 at this point. Like, on
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: insane splits, only eight total layups.
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: Hasn't Wimby been averaging, like, 34 over the last, like,
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: I wonder what it is now. After these six games,
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: but over the last six games, you've been averaging like 34,
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: like 14 and something. No, not 14, like 10.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: After you called them out as far as for Wimby
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: needed to develop offensively. I remember you still went off.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: What game was that? Was that the second game.
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: Versus the Rockets? Yeah, it was after the Rockets game.
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's where you're like, Wimby needs to develop. I
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: guess he listened to the pod, bro. I'm trying to
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: look at his stats.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: He listened to Silver, Black, and Pop.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, shout out to Silver Black and Pop, bro. No,
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: but he.
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: I like what I've seen over the last six games
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: as far as him sitting in the paint more often
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: and kind of playing that big... This was a five,
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: like a big man center domination game. It wasn't like he...
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: Everything he did was in the paint. Didn't really make
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: any jumpers at all. Hit one three the entirety of
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: the game. Everything was just bullying down low and alley-oops
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: like i think this is and versus daniel gafford and
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: morris johnson too like these aren't scrubs these aren't these
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: aren't small guys these are legitimate nba players yeah yeah
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: legit nba obviously morris johnson is still getting used to
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: the nba flow i don't put much on him he
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: was getting kind of embarrassed out there by victor wimbanyama
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: but as far as like daniel gafford like daniel gafford
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: looked like a little boy compared to victor wimbanyama in
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: this game And just over the last couple of games,
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: it's been looking like that. Like, Lowry marketing obviously isn't
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: a good defensive player, but that Utah Jazz team two
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: nights ago, like, they were struggling versus Victor Wimbinyama mightily.
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: And I understand Jaron Jackson Jr. isn't there, but I
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: don't think he would have done much as well based
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: off what he's doing right now. Especially these guards are
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: playing a lot of pick and roll, a lot of, like,
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: opportunities where they look like they're going to go for
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: floaters but turn them into alley-oops. So they're kind of
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: catching the defense off guard in all these moments.
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: And, I mean, that's... Okay, I had to say this
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: first before I forget it. I think, like, just based
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: off of this game, I think this is the closest
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: thing we're going to see as far as, like, rebounds, points,
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: and blocks to, like, Wilt Chamberlain-esque as far as, like,
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: no shots, just pure domination, grabbing crazy amount of boards,
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: and just almost... I think he had, like, eight or
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: nine blocks in this game. I think stylistically, if you'd
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: say somebody, like, could... Looks like Wilt Chamberlain. I feel
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: like this would be the closest right here. And like
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: you're saying, and I kind of want to get into
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: that as far as, like, just floaters and alley-oops. Those
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: are simple. That's simple offense and simple shots that, like,
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: I feel like in the postseason, yes, at times it worked.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: But if this could develop right here, like, this could
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: be just, like, simple offense. Because the biggest thing was
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: the dry spells for the Spurs offensively. You saw it
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: versus OKC. You saw it versus Minnesota. Of course you
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: saw it versus the Knicks. But if there's simple offense
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: like this where it could stop the dry spells, and
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: I know it's just as far as them developing into
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: a seasoned team and just playing together more, but I
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: feel like you're saying even though it sounds so incremental,
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: sounds so small, comparing this to the playoffs where they
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: did struggle, I feel like this could pay real big dividends.
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. No, I think especially for the longevity of
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: the game in its entirety, he's able to keep up
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: more by doing less. Because I will say the amount
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: that he was running in the playoff series was definitely
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: a problem. He wasn't used to moving around that much,
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: especially offensively, putting him in tough situations. Some of these
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: big men were pushing him all the way to the
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: three-point line, really forcing him to create off the dribble.
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: But what the guards are doing this year is allowing
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: him to just kind of sit in there, basically putting some...
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: not even like screens that are all the way up
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: into the three-point line, like some lesser little quick screens
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: that are allowing him to roll and being able to
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: be a true lob threat that he is. And it
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: kind of gives you, makes you question because the dynamics
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: of Stefan Castle, Darren Fox, and Dylan Harper, they're such
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: good finishers. They're arguably the best guard tandem in the
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: entire NBA. And teams have to respect that because if
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: you don't, Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle are just going
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: to dunk it all over your basketball team. And then
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: De'Aaron Fox is being the nifty speed guy that he is.
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: He's going to go insane. So you have to respect
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: them as playmakers. And that just leaves Wimby pretty much
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: with free reign to the basket at all times. And
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: I think that's what the Spurs are really capitalizing on.
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: And I did say, like, in the last Silver and
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: Black pod, that versus these teams that are injured, versus
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: these small teams that we were playing, that we're going
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: to have to be able to capitalize and get Wimby
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: into good positions. And I think doing that allowed him
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: to become more comfortable, especially versus a Dallas Mavericks team,
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: who the first time we played them didn't have Cooper Fleck,
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: didn't have Kyrie Irving. Now playing them in this game
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: has both Cooper Flagg, has Kyrie Irving, allows now this
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: is a true game from him. And I think those
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: little matchups like versus the Utah Jazz, a couple of
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: tough battles as well. Like I will say we went
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: to overtime versus the Utah Jazz.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, one of them was, I think it was Monday, right?
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: That was Monday. We played the Monday, but the other
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: one was last week or Keontae George. Keontae George this
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: year has been really good. Yeah, he's been really good, yeah.
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: I mean, he was really good last year too, but
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: this year definitely taking the reins as the lead guy in,
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: in utah and um but just besides the point like
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: he's really been beating up on these like even the
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: sacramento kings like he just bullied them all game presses
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: achua i'm sorry bro you looked really bad out there
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: versus yeah but i think getting him that confidence back
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: really allowed for a night like this.
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah no no for sure and i mean uh
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: how how should i how should i put this i
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: think okay.
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to lie.
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: I don't know if it's just late at night. I
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: had a great point about Wimby, and I just had
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: a total brain fart. I just totally forgot. But it happens, though.
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: It happens.
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: I fell asleep on this pod a couple times, so
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: we're good.
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you have. But it's fine. It's fine. They never
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: saw the video for that one. But I want to
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: talk about the team that they face in the Western
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: Conference Finals and just– the surreal amount of injuries that
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: they've had. Jada broke his ankle in a gruesome play.
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: Case on Wallace is going to be out for a
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: little bit. Chet Holmgren's at least out eight to 10 weeks.
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: And now it's just Shea who's dropped 40 in back-to-back
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: games versus the Cavs. So they're six and two right now,
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: but how do you feel about the Thunder moving forward?
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: And as far as their championship aspirations.
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: I think honestly, like as much as I don't want
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: them to be good, as much as I don't want
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: them to succeed, like, they're still going to be a
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: good basketball team. There's a reason why they have depth
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: on top of depth. And that's because they're, they're prepared
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: for moments like this. Like I understand you lose your
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: top end guys, J Dub, Chet Holmgren, J Dub out
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: for the season, prayers up. Like we, you, I was,
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: I forget who I'm talking about. Like, I understand. I
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: want my team to win no matter what. Like, I don't,
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: I barring injuries. I don't care. Like I want them
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: to win, but the rivalry is just better when everyone
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: is healthy. Like I will say that. And like, having
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: Jade up there and not having Jade up there is
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: going to be a very big missing piece, especially in
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: that rivalry. But for me, I think he's a replaceable player.
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: I think that he definitely is at another level to
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: other guys. He does things better. He's at a higher clip.
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: But I think the things that he does, especially defensively
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: and offensively, can be kind of... the slack can be
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: picked up somewhere else. I will say that. I think
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: the Thunder have enough good perimeter defenders to be able
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: to take over that role as well. And offensively, I mean,
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: this just puts the ball more into Jared McCain's hands.
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: This puts the ball more into A.J. Mitchell's hands. It
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: puts more of a role on them. This puts the
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: ball more into Shea Gildress Alexander's hands. They have the
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: guys and pieces to be able to take those points
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: and put them somewhere else. Especially guys like Isaiah Hartenstein,
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: whose floater is... super dynamic and efficient like it puts
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: him in more positions yeah like and so I will
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: say Jadov's a big loss but I do think the
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: things that he does can be kind of pick up
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: somewhere else my question and then as far as Chet
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: Holmgren I get it defensively he's a big missing piece
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: like definitely arguably the second or third best defensive player
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: in the entire world behind Victor Wimbonyama or top five
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: definitely like we can make Amon Thompson yeah top five
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: defender in the entire world Chet Holmgren you can't replace
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: that like even Isaiah Hartenstein we don't know what Ale
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: Mara is completely yet but as far as Isaiah Hartenstein
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: he just doesn't offer that same thing Jay Will doesn't
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: offer that same type of dynamic so Chet Holmgren is
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: a major missing piece for Oklahoma City Thunder right there
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: in the defensive end especially rebounding on the defensive end
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: as well but the offensive end let's be fair Chet
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: Holmgren isn't that great of an offensive player. He really
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: doesn't offer much on a game-in to game-out basis. He
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: has spurts and moments where he'll give you 18 or
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: he'll give you 14. He's definitely not the same guy
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: he was showing his rookie year or his quote-unquote rookie
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: year where he was dropping like 30 randomly, 40 randomly.
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: He's just not doing that at this point in his career.
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: He's definitely accepted a role. So I do think the
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: points aren't that important to kind of scrape by with.
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: And as far as Cason Wallace, I think that's the
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: biggest missing piece. Like, I will say, like, as far as, like,
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: a perimeter defender, J-Dub can do the same things as well. Like,
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: that's where they're both missing is defensively. I think defensively,
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: the Thunder take more of a hit than they do offensively.
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: And Cason Wallace just has looked great. Like, he's looked
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: like the next guy that they brought in to be
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: a great 3 and D player. But... With all that
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: being said, I'm saying that these things can be placed
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: elsewhere than Oklahoma City Thunder because they're just that good.
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: And I think no matter what, they're still the second
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: best team in the Western Conference. I think there's a
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: gap now. There's a gap now between them and the
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: San Antonio Spurs. But for me, I know you're probably
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: going to push back with the Rockets, with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: But for me, Mark Dagnall is the head coach of
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: the Oklahoma City Thunder. For me, they have Shea Gildas Alexander.
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: They have Isaiah Hartenstein. They have guys like Jared McCain, A.J. Mitchell.
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: They still have the plethora of guys to be able
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: to throw out there that are going to be efficient
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: enough and be able to compete enough. We just saw
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: them beat the Cleveland Cavaliers two times in a row
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: over the last couple of games. And if you want
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: to argue with me who's better than the Cleveland Cavaliers
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: in the regular season, at least, when we put teams
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: like the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Houston Rockets... the Cleveland
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: Cavaliers can hold their own against anyone in the entire NBA.
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: And they were able to beat that team while still
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: having Evan Mobley, while still having Jared Allen, while having
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: Donovan Mitchell, while now having a Peyton Watson, while now
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: having like all these guys, the Oklahoma City Thunder were
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: still able to go band for band with them and
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: continue to win basketball teams against one of the better
• 46:45
  Speaker 2: teams in the Eastern Conference. And so that's why for me,
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: The Oklahoma City Thunder, once they start getting like Case
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: and Wallace, I don't know when the timetable is for
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: Case and Wallace. I know it's going to be later
• 46:53
  Speaker 2: down the line.
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not sure.
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: And if they can hold their own when Chet Holmgren
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: comes back 10 weeks from now, I still do think
• 46:59
  Speaker 2: that they're going to continue to be in a good place.
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: I kind of agree with you on that point, but
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: I just think that eventually it's going to catch up.
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: It's going to fall. Regular season, they'll be able to
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: stay afloat. Like you're saying, they have... the back-to-back MVP
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: in Shea who just dropped back-to-back 40-point games. And, I mean,
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: he's been even on.
• 47:21
  Speaker 2: A– Are you expecting– Yeah, I see the argument. Like,
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: are you needing that every night? You know, and that's
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: where the question mark comes.
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's where it's like, yeah, like, he did beat,
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: they did beat the Cavs, but it's like, Shea also, like, had, like,
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: Shea can drop 40 any night, yes, but to expect that,
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: that's a whole different level. A.J. Mitchell, will he take
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: this next role? I mean, as a sixth man last year,
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: whenever he was healthy, he did look good. I expect
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: him to kind of be the second leading scorer. But
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: like you're saying, as far as defensively, the biggest hit
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: was J-Dub, Chet, and Keison Wallace. I mean, you could
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: arguably say, like... Yeah, the three... Yeah, they're three most important...
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: Outside Alex Caruso, probably. Yeah. And I know they just
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: got Alex Caruso back. I just wonder, like... I feel
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: like now, like with the Houston Rockets, with the Minnesota Timberwolves,
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: now with J-Dub being out and... I know J-Dub hasn't
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: been the same scorer he was whenever they went on
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: that championship run, but also because he's also been dealing
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: with major injuries ever since that championship run. And even
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: during that run, I think he broke his hand, something
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: along those lines. But he was a reliable scorer where
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: he was going to get you those 15 to 20 points.
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: He could be that point forward that during the times
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: where Shea went to the bench, he could be that
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: reliable guy that keeps the offense going. And maybe AJ
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: Mitchell takes that role. Maybe Jared McCain takes that role.
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: Maybe Keison Wallace, who did look good. I just... It's just...
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: One thing with J-Dub was there was a definitive answer
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: to whenever Shea was out. J-Dub had that spot. But
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: now it's... The ceiling is higher.
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: Now it's just like, we're... Like, you have potential answers,
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: but I don't see the answers yet.
• 49:12
  Speaker 2: If.
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: that makes sense. Like, I mean, Bennett Sturtz, he had,
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: I mean, he was a flamethrower tonight, if I'm not mistaken,
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: or I guess in Spurs. Yeah, he had four threes tonight,
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: and he was a rookie.
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: I mean, he's averaging over 45% from three right now. So, like,
• 49:27
  Speaker 2: they have the depth. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. That's
• 49:30
  Speaker 2: my argument. Like, offensively, right now, they look kind of rough.
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: They're not scoring as much as they usually do, but defensively,
• 49:37
  Speaker 2: they're not skipping much of a beat. Like, maybe in
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: the big-time matchups, like, when they I don't know the
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: next time they play us, but, or another, actually I
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: have theirs. Let me see. They play Memphis actually in
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: two nights.
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: That might be a good game.
• 49:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, and they play Washington after that, which has
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: looked like a good offense. Um, they play Portland, Portland. Yeah.
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: So they have Portland. That's a good matchups that are
• 50:01
  Speaker 2: going to test them. Yeah.
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: The West is tough.
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: They have a couple of matchups that are going to
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: test them here coming up and we'll really truly see
• 50:07
  Speaker 2: who they are. I, I, I just have a hard
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: time counting them out. Like, even with the injuries. That's
• 50:15
  Speaker 2: just me. Like, I respect them too much as a
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: basketball team. Hate them as a team, but respect them
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: as a team. Like, if that makes sense. Like, am
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: I happy that I think they might lose games? Yes,
• 50:31
  Speaker 2: I am. Like, I'm not going to sit here and
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: lie to you. Like, I do not care if they
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: lose basketball games. But... As far as the NBA and
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: being a basketball fan, I think that they have the talent.
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: They have guys like Bennett Sturtz, who I am a
• 50:47
  Speaker 2: believer in Bennett Sturtz. Him and Jared McCain used to
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: be my pookie bears. Now I hate both of them.
• 50:53
  Speaker 2: But they are great scorers. I think Bennett Sturtz, once
• 50:57
  Speaker 2: he truly gets burned and comfortable with the NBA, I
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: do think he can be on a level where he's
• 51:02
  Speaker 2: averaging 12 points per game as a rookie. Yeah.
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah i mean i i buy that again it's more
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: just wait and see and like you're saying as far
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: as with the ceiling now i think this isn't going
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: to be a problem till march and april and also.
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: It's gonna be the answer down the stretches of games
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: is where they're gonna have to really separate themselves.
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah exactly and like now like their calling card
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: was defensively so it's like now it's like are they still,
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: they're not going to have that punch as much, so
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: they're going to need more offensively. I mean, Mark Dagnall,
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: like you're saying, one of the best head coaches over
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: these last three, four years. So, I mean, that's something
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: we'll see, but let's go ahead and get into this
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: Eastern Conference right here, which I feel like there's some
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: things that we expected to happen and there's other things
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: where it's totally taken us by surprise right here. And
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: even though I know we were both bigger believers in
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: the Sixers than Ryan, I think we can say this definitively.
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: We didn't expect them to start off 8-1 right here
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: and look this good up front. And so what do
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: you take?
• 52:16
  Speaker 2: I think for me, when I look at the 76ers,
• 52:18
  Speaker 2: it's assurance. They have assurance everywhere on their basketball team.
• 52:24
  Speaker 2: And I... And we even saw tonight they were able
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: to give LeBron James and Joel Embiid a rest. And
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: Tyrese Maxey and Jalen Brown just went to town. Literally,
• 52:37
  Speaker 2: obviously the Detroit Pistons made a great comeback at the
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: end of this one. But I felt like still they're
• 52:46
  Speaker 2: comfortable enough that they can close out the games or
• 52:50
  Speaker 2: be able to stay competitive enough with this unit. where
• 52:56
  Speaker 2: they can just throw out a star at all times.
• 52:59
  Speaker 2: And I think, honestly, for me, like, we called it. Like,
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: I think LeBron James is the perfect facilitator, perfect, like, bridge,
• 53:10
  Speaker 2: perfect defensive anchor, perfect everything for this basketball team full
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: of stars because the Eagles can't get bigger than LeBron James. Like,
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: LeBron James is literally the greatest basketball player to ever live.
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: And are you going to tell LeBron James what to
• 53:24
  Speaker 2: do on the basketball court? Hell no. And he's the
• 53:27
  Speaker 2: guy that puts you in order. Is Nick Nurse going
• 53:29
  Speaker 2: to tell LeBron James what to do on a basketball court? No,
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: he's not going to tell him a damn thing to
• 53:33
  Speaker 2: do on the basketball court because LeBron James is the
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: greatest basketball player and greatest basketball mind to ever live.
• 53:39
  Speaker 2: So I think LeBron James being a part of this
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: team takes the pressure off of Joel Embiid, takes the
• 53:44
  Speaker 2: pressure off of Tyrese Maxey, takes the pressure off of
• 53:48
  Speaker 2: Jalen Brown. And we're truly seeing that each and every
• 53:53
  Speaker 2: single one of them can go off at any moment.
• 53:55
  Speaker 2: We definitely saw LeBron James score 14 in the first
• 53:58
  Speaker 2: half tonight. Jalen Brown, I believe, had 23 in the
• 54:02
  Speaker 2: first half tonight. So in different moments, they have big-time moments.
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: And there was even a point in this game where
• 54:08
  Speaker 2: where they truly kind of had that big time lead
• 54:11
  Speaker 2: over the Detroit Pistons the thing that the 76ers can
• 54:15
  Speaker 2: do compared to most teams is flip a defensive gear.
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: That yeah that's one thing I get into yeah.
• 54:20
  Speaker 2: That changes the complete dynamic of the game because we
• 54:22
  Speaker 2: even saw a couple of nights ago I can remember
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: exactly who they were playing and that's on me but
• 54:26
  Speaker 2: the next first three quarters they looked pretty bad defensively
• 54:31
  Speaker 2: but in that fourth quarter they flipped a switch LeBron
• 54:34
  Speaker 2: James went to the Five spot, I think, and then
• 54:37
  Speaker 2: the game was over. Like, they literally took control of
• 54:40
  Speaker 2: that game. And the thing is, when all these guys
• 54:43
  Speaker 2: are on the court at the same time, there's not
• 54:45
  Speaker 2: many teams in the NBA that are going to be
• 54:46
  Speaker 2: better than them offensively, ever. Like, there's literally, maybe the Spurs,
• 54:51
  Speaker 2: maybe the Cavaliers, maybe, you know, like, there's just certain
• 54:56
  Speaker 2: different teams that could give them the same power aspect
• 55:00
  Speaker 2: as far as scoring the basketball, but not many. You know, like,
• 55:05
  Speaker 2: there's not many that can do it. And for me,
• 55:08
  Speaker 2: that's why the Sixers separate themselves.
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: Like, one thing we're trying to tell Ryan is, like,
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: with talent, sometimes you just can't overthink this. And obviously, offensively,
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: that's one thing where, like, we kind of expect it,
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: and they're still kind of trying to figure it out.
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: But there's two main things with the Sixers where it's
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: really caught me by surprise is And I feel like
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: I feel a lot better about them as far as
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: coming out of the East is as far as I
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: know it's one particular guy. But there was out of
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: the five guys I was in the starting lineup. You're
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: going to need somebody to do the dirty work. You're
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: going to need somebody to play that role player role.
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: Vijay Edgecombe has perfectly submitted himself into that role of
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: the role player where if he needs to knock down threes.
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: Guard the best offensive player every single night. Crash the glass. Like,
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: I'm not even joking. I think he might be one
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: of the best rebounders on their team with Joel Embiid,
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: Jalen Brown, and LeBron James. And so, having that guy
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: that steps in, and, like, one thing, like you're saying,
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: I love their dynamic of how they let LeBron and
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: Embiid have that two-man game, and they let Jalen Brown
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: and Tyrese Max. Like, there's so many different options. They
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: go through five different options of, like, different variables of, like,
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: comparing to different teams, what they can attack. Offensively, they
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: have all the answers. And defensively, like you're saying, I
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: think it's at the point where now LeBron, since he
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: doesn't have to do so much offensively, he could be
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: that Swiss army knife, be in that dunker spot role
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: where he just, he looks even better than he did
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: last year. And so, and that's because he's not playing
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: 38 minutes a game like he had to last year.
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: He's playing 30 to 33 at most. So you're getting
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: the best of LeBron James pretty much every single night,
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: the best of Jalen Brown, the best of Joel Embiid.
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: And that's what happens when you have the crazy amount
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: of talent. So defensively, they're not going to be the
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: healthy Thunder. They're not going to be the Spurs. But
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: sometimes whenever you have a great offense like this, you
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: just need a defense that could play a quarter to
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: a quarter and a half or maybe two quarters worth
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: of great defense. Yeah, and they have exactly that. And
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: that was my biggest concern before. So, yeah, but as
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: far as this rest of this East right here, or
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: I want to ask you, I haven't talked to you
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: exactly about this team right here, but the Miami Heat,
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: in which I'm watching right now, and they're in a
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: dogfight versus the Clippers right now. And now, oh, my goodness,
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: they just missed a free throw. So it's 105-106 versus
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: the Clippers. Giannis is going to the free throw line.
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: But off to a rough start so far, 2-5. So,
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: I mean, We all had high expectations for the Heat.
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: Maybe not finals, but we had them being a for-sure
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: shoe-in playoff team. So how do you feel about them
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: so far?
• 57:59
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure how to feel about the Miami Heat because,
• 58:01
  Speaker 2: like we said, we expect them to be a good
• 58:03
  Speaker 2: basketball team just based off the names. But I just
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: feel like this– Ryan made a good point, and I
• 58:10
  Speaker 2: hate to say it, but as far as, like, Klay Thompson,
• 58:13
  Speaker 2: I think we put a lot of stock into Klay
• 58:15
  Speaker 2: Thompson being this, like, really good basketball player. Like he's
• 58:20
  Speaker 2: one of the greatest of all time. But as far
• 58:22
  Speaker 2: as his point in his career, like it's just kind
• 58:25
  Speaker 2: of hard to be a reliable option. And he's had
• 58:27
  Speaker 2: some good moments this season. Definitely. But I, I just
• 58:32
  Speaker 2: think that the people, this team's just weird, bro. Like
• 58:36
  Speaker 2: it's like Giannis or nothing, but there's times where like
• 58:40
  Speaker 2: Giannis is also kind of a liability as well, because it's,
• 58:45
  Speaker 2: he doesn't stretch the floor. Like the off, like, The
• 58:49
  Speaker 2: facilitating isn't the same because there's not the same type
• 58:52
  Speaker 2: of players he had at his peak in Milwaukee. Bam
• 58:56
  Speaker 2: Adebayo fills up all the gaps that Giannis needs to
• 59:01
  Speaker 2: truly be a great player. It's not a fit. It's
• 59:05
  Speaker 2: not a fit right now. I expect Eric Spolster to
• 59:08
  Speaker 2: come up with something and they'll go on a run. run.
• 59:10
  Speaker 2: I truly believe they will. But it's not the same
• 59:14
  Speaker 2: as I thought it would be.
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And so, I mean, even just on this Clippers game,
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: this is the first time they've taken lead. And the
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: depth is trash.
• 59:22
  Speaker 2: The depth is completely trash.
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: I expect the depth to be bad, but I didn't
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: expect to be. Robbed.
• 59:29
  Speaker 2: Rob the miami heat by the way like i don't
• 59:31
  Speaker 2: know why they keep giving contracts to nikola jovich and
• 59:35
  Speaker 2: him like it just no like.
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: No no i know and okay offensively i expected to
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: be a clunky fit and as far as them making
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: threes but like here here's the thing about it they're
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: missing open threes which you expected the tim hardaway jr
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: who's not had the best start the clay thompson the
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: davion mitch to hit their threes But one thing that's
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: been the most surprising throughout this entire year is we
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: said for sure, I mean, I don't think anybody was
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 1: debating this. Their defense was going to be some of
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: the best in the league. You know what their opponent
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: or opponent's points per game is? 124 points. That's literally
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: one of the worst. That's almost as bad as the
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: Chicago Bulls. So that's really saying something right there. So-
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: not only are you not producing offensively like we expect
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: there to be a clunky fit, because it's kind of,
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: it's harder to get offense going throughout the NBA season,
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: because like, especially a new team, new players, you kind
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: of adjust to each other. But defensively, with the talent
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: that you have of Davion Mitchell, Andrew Wiggins, Giannis, and Bam,
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: you should not be struggling this much defensively. And I
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: just think that it's so weird, because like, just kind
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: of get into Eric Spolscher. Like, I know we call
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: him a great coach, and he still is a great coach.
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: But why not play to your strengths? Because one thing,
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: they've been playing so much zone. As a team that's
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: so good aggressively and playing, not man-to-man, that's kind of
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: the wrong word to use, but like, why not use
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: that as your strength? Like, compared to the Boston Celtics
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: where Joe Mazzulla, he's being aggressive, they're playing in the
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: passing lanes, and like, he's doing more with less.
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 2: Are they not the same coach though? Like, yeah i
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 2: feel like eric spolstra i'm sorry to interrupt like i
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 2: know he's a joe mazula i know joe mazula is
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 2: like what's they say like uh like he's a dictator
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 2: let's just say that like he's the dictator of the
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 2: boston celtics like yeah whatever he says goes like and
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 2: no one's gonna question yeah eric spolstra yeah don't hall
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 2: of fame head coach a little bit more lenient on
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 2: his stars than joe mazula is like I just never
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 2: seen Eric Spolstra rip a superstar like I've seen Joe
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 2: Mazzulla rip Jason Tatum.
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: Or like rip like Jalen Brown.
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So, yeah, I just don't think they're the same
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 2: type of guy. Like I just like to demand that
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 2: from a star.
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: Like I I buy that. But also at the same time,
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: when they started off 0-3, 0-4, some things just have
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: to change.
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Some things have to change. Yeah.
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: And, like, it's looked, I guess, a little bit better,
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: but also right now they're in a dogfight with the Clippers,
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: and the Clippers, they've kind of stunk this year. And, like,
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry. I know, like, you're supposed to be in, like,
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: it's close games. It's the NBA. Of course, I get that. But, like,
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: there should have been something where, like, eventually, like, we're
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: giving up so much points defensively. Something has to change here. Like,
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: something needs to change. And I know it's still early
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: in the season. There's still time for it to change.
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: But I just wanted to say, like, as far as,
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: through these first seven to eight games, like, I just
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: don't understand, like, not playing to his strengths. Maybe he's
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: saving his calling card. Because I know Spolstra does that
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: a lot in the regular season. And that's one team
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: that does not care. Like, one team for sure that
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: does not care about the regular season is the Miami Heat. But, like,
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: that's one thing where it just, like, caught me off guard. Yeah,
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: but do you want to make.
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 2: Giannis have the hardest road to the playoffs he possibly
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 2: can have, you know?
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. That's why I'm saying it's, like, why not?
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: Why not have your defense fixed right now so you
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: could know? You know what I mean?
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 2: Imagine they missed a playoff and he's just like, why
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 2: did I leave Milwaukee? You know, like one of those
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 2: kind of things.
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: I know. Milwaukee's 1-7. Miami, they might be 2-6 right now.
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: There's a challenge right now as far as a foul.
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: So they might be one game difference. But as far
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: as like the rest of this Eastern Conference, I don't
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: know if there's another team that stood out to you
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: so far.
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 2: I think as far as for me, the Detroit Pistons,
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 2: like I would definitely hate it on them super bad.
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 2: Like to start, like I really thought they were probably
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 2: going to miss out. But I mean, they're just a
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 2: great defensive team led by Kate Cunningham that we know
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 2: them to be. But I do think like Kevin Hooter,
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 2: Duncan Robinson, especially being like healthy and being able to
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 2: be that consistent offensive three-point threat that they needed that
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 2: they did not have last year. He's averaging almost five
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 2: threes per game on 47%. That is insane from freaking
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 2: Duncan Robinson. And I've watched a couple of Pistons games,
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 2: and he's offered more than just three-point shooting as well. Like,
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 2: he's definitely been a little bit of a rim runner.
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 2: Not the greatest, but he still offers a little bit more.
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 2: But that three-point, being able to stretch the floor, has
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 2: been great for them. The same as far as Kevin Hooter.
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 2: He's been... These are not names that you expect to
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 2: be important, but they are.
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: Like, they.
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 2: Dennis Jenkins as well. Like these guys are offering reliability
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 2: for the Detroit Pistons in depth and shooting that they
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 2: just didn't have last year. Yeah.
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: It's, it's just a lot better for them. And I, again,
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: I know it kind of keeps going to the same theme,
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: but Cade Cunningham, it's not so Cade Cunningham reliant now, like,
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: and it's actually working. It's actually working in the regular
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: season so far. And that's, what's kind of caught me
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: off guard now. And, I think one thing that we
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: kind of just overlook, and it kind of happens naturally.
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: You see so many trades happen, and you see one
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: team like the Detroit Pistons. It's like, oh, they don't
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: make moves. But the development of their players internally has
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: just gotten so much better than what it was before.
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: And that's just some things we overlook. And defensively, I
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: think they have the best defensive rating right now. They
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: have a 101.
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and Asar Thompson's been amazing this year defensively.
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: And Asar, yeah, he's been something totally different. But I
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: think pretty much that covers everything right now. Raptors, can't judge.
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: I think one more.
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 2: Let's go over the Knicks real quick. I think the Knicks,
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 2: I think people were crowned. They're champions. Yeah. But I
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 2: think teams... people were overrating them because of the championship. Like,
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 2: I think that.
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: I buy that, yeah.
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 2: They played a perfect playoff series. Like, they had the experience.
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 2: They played a young San Antonio Spurs team that shouldn't
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 2: have even been there.
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: They.
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 2: And I'm not taking anything away from the championship. They
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 2: won the championship. They're NBA champions. But to, like, take
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 2: those same... To take those on-realist, those crazy expectations and
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 2: apply it to this season, I think was kind of
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 2: unfair to the New York Knicks. Like, The New York Knicks, offensively,
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 2: they just haven't been great. Outside of Jalen Brunson and
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 2: not even Carl Anthony Towns. Carl Anthony Towns hasn't offered much.
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 2: It's just Brunson or Dye for this basketball team right now.
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 2: OG has looked like an all-star this year. He's been
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 2: a little bit better. But outside of that, like, these
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 2: players are just not doing anything. Like, Mikael Bridges right now,
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 2: six points per game. Like, that is not going to
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 2: cut it for this basketball team.
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 2: They brought in, and they're just throwing shots in the dark,
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 2: I feel like. Like, with Dolan Kinnick, James Wiseman. I
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 2: just don't know where to rate this basketball team right
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 2: now because they haven't hit their stride yet. And I
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 2: just don't know what it's going to look like when
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 2: they do. And I still do think that there's a
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 2: little bit of animosity from Carl Anthony Towns who wanted
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 2: the contract in the offseason. They didn't get one. And
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 2: I just feel like this team right now, I think
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 2: they're exactly where they should be in the Eastern Conference.
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 2: In the playing spot.
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 1: I buy that. And also, I think... Like you were saying,
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: I think people, they're totally forgetting that the Knicks, they
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 1: had one of the greatest three-point percentages in an entire
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: playoff run from the start to finish.
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 2: They were hot. They were absolutely insanely going crazy.
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and to expect that going into the next season, like, okay,
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: everybody's going to shoot another 45% from three the next year. No,
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: it's not going to happen. And I think I'm not
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: worried about the Knicks as far as Them making a
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: top six seed, I think they definitely will. I just
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 1: think it's so early into the season. And I think
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: if there's going to be one team that just says,
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: get us in the playoffs. I mean, there's literally obviously
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: like going back to back. There's that expectation. Yeah. Like
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 1: there's going to be one team with the Knicks. They're
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 1: just going to be like, we just won the championship.
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: We have the championship experience. We're the champs. Just get
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: us in the dance. Let's be a top six seed.
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: Let's do just enough. And let's play some ball after that.
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: I think this is literally one team. But, yeah, that's
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: one thing where, like, OG hasn't been bad. Cat hasn't
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: been good, necessarily bad. Jalen Brunson's been good. But mikhail
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 1: bridges that's one word that's kind of a little shocking to.
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 2: Me well they brought in dalton connect to like like
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 2: and he played he's played tonight or last night one
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 2: of those yeah like um he He did okay. Like,
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 2: it wasn't nothing, but we know Don Connett's not a defender. Like,
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 2: we know he's not going to guard. Like, he can score,
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 2: but he's not a defender at all. And so it's
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 2: kind of like one of those things where I feel
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 2: like in your depth pieces, you want two-way players because
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 2: of her being honest. Like, Jordan Clark, Clarkson's not a defender.
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 2: They have Andre Drummond.
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: They have Andre Drummond and Miles McBride.
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 2: I mean, Andre Drummond has his moments.
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah. But.
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 2: I was thinking this earlier today. He should have stayed
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 2: in Philadelphia. Like, let's be honest. Like, they need an
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 2: Andre Drummond. Like, and they're still 8-1.
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. No, they really do. But, I mean, I
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: think just because he got paid more money. But, I
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: don't know. I'm not worried about the Knicks. I think
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: because this is exactly where I had him. I'm not surprised.
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: I just think with.
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 2: The top teams, they're vulnerable. They're super vulnerable.
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 1: I buy that.
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 2: Because even if we look at the Spurs series, they
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 2: got railed for 75% of that series. And then the
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 2: Spurs inexperience.
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: Just ate them up every single game. That's really what
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: it was. My opinion is that we've seen them play
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: the Sixers this year and.
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 2: They struggled.
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: Twice.
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, twice. Game one. Game one of the season, they
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 2: got destroyed. Like, they didn't have a good basketball game
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 2: this last game. They lost as well, too. Like, I
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 2: just think that there's a lack of scoring on this
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 2: basketball team that's going to eventually hurt them. Because if
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 2: Jalen Brunson is not controlling the narrative, and it's a
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 2: lot of ISO basketball, the rest of these guys are
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 2: going to, like, what's the word? Plunder down. down the
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 2: race of basketball.
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, they're just going to be sitting around them.
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 1: I mean, like they say, if you have everybody touching
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: the rock, you have everybody more engaged. And I just
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: think that if any... I mean, but, like, it's hard
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: to say because we had these exact same sentiments last year. And, like, it's...
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: I think they're going to be just middle of the pack.
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: That's what I think, just middle of the pack.
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: And I don't know, but it's still early to see because,
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: I mean... They also did play the Bulls twice. I mean,
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: I don't necessarily count those as wins. But, I mean,
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: they have Cleveland coming up in, yeah, all this week.
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: They have Cleveland. They have Cleveland coming up Saturday, the
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 1: next Wednesday. So we'll see. But if they start.
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 2: Winning basketball games, I take it all back. But as
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 2: of right now, it just hasn't looked. Yeah, it just
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 2: right now looks like so-so.
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: And, yeah, and the Heat and Clippers went into overtime
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: because Bam missed a shot.
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 2: They are playing good defense, though. Like, they're holding teams
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 2: from scoring. Like, they're just not scoring themselves. Yeah, which is.
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: The craziest thing, in my opinion. Like, it's like they're
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: holding teams defensively, but they.
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 2: Can't score this year. A team with Carl Anthony Towns
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 2: and Jalen Brunson can't score right now.
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: I know Carl Anthony Towns is now a better defender, but.
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: All right, so which game did you want to play?
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: Did you want to play the higher-lower game or the two-choose-and-a-lie?
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 2: You pick.
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: Let's go higher or lower. Let's go higher or lower
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: because that's one where I think it'll be a little
• 1:12:43
  Speaker 1: bit trickier because I haven't played 2K in a minute,
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: so I don't remember people's salaries no more. So this
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: is guess which player has the highest salary in the NBA,
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: higher or lower. Jamal Murray or DeMar DeMars? I mean.
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: Jamal Murray has a.
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 2: Jamal Murray. It's got to be Jamal Murray.
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: I would say it has. Yeah, $ 50 million and $ 2 million.
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 2: No, it's DeMar. Still DeMar.
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: Ooh, Trae Young or... Trae Young. I think it... Yeah,
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: it has.
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 2: It has to be.
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 1: Did Trae Young.
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 2: Washington gave him that big old contract.
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: Wasn't it like $ 55? I think it was $ 55.
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 2: And they can pay him right now because all the
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 2: players are young, so.
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: um yeah so it has to be trey no no
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: okay well play again play it again yeah oh my
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 1: goodness let me just redo this okay there it goes
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: okay does jonte oh it's got to be jonte right
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: because bradley yeah it's got to be yeah okay yeah
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 1: 32 to like oh dang i know bradley bill is
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: getting 25.
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 2: Million DeJounte Murray has to be making more than Quentin Post.
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 2: There's no way.
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: I could guess myself for a second.
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 2: Darius Garland has to be making more than Quentin Post.
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a big difference right there. Okay.
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 2: No, Darius Garland is making more than Devin Vassell.
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: I would say, I think you should... Dang, Devin Vassell
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 1: is making 27? Yeah, he is.
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 2: Austin Reeves is making more than Devin Vassell.
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 1: Dang, I didn't realize Austin Reeves was getting almost as
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: much as Devin Vassell. Ooh.
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 2: Rudy Gobert or Austin Reeves? Rudy Gobert has to be
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 2: making more than Austin Reeves.
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 1: But when's the last time Rudy got paid?
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess you're right.
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 1: I think it's still Rudy, but that has me wondering.
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 1: I feel like we're going to be.
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I feel like this is a trick
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 2: question right here.
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: I feel like it has to be Rudy, right?
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 2: Okay, I'll go with Rudy. We can lock in Rudy
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 2: Gobert over Austin Reeves. No way. No way.
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 1: Dude, when's the last time Rudy got paid? I thought
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: he was.
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 2: Going to be making like 50 mil for some reason.
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: That's what I thought. Like, I guess it wasn't that. Okay. One.
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 1: We got one to two more NFs.
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 2: Okay. Shay.
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 1: I mean, come on. That's Shay.
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 2: That's.
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: Shay's only making 40. That's crazy. Something's off.
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 2: Something's off here. Shay over Amin. What?
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: Shout out Amin Thompson.
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 2: Wait, didn't Amin just sign a new contract? Oh, it
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 2: hasn't kicked in yet.
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: Maybe this is like right now.
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 2: Wait, has Jalen Durant kicked in? Because Ahmed Thompson was
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 2: drafted higher.
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 1: But he was a free agent.
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 2: He hasn't kicked in. No, no, no. He signed an extension.
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: So it's Ahmed? I trust you on this one.
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 2: No, the extension didn't happen. What? It kicked in? What?
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: I was going to say, I thought he was a
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: free agent.
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 2: No, bro, I thought he was a free agent this
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 2: offseason coming up. Jalen Johnson has to make more than
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 2: Jock Mondale.
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: Is he on his rookie contract? Okay, no, no, no, no. Dang,
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: Jock Mondale is getting 14 million.
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 2: It's insane. Keontae George just signed a deal too, so
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Keontae George. Is Keontae George getting more than Jalen Johnson?
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 1: I think so, right? I think it's like 35. I
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: don't know.
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 2: I don't know anymore.
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: I'm going to go Keontae George.
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 2: Oh, my gosh. You're $ 24 million off. Holy. I don't
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 2: think we know contracts.
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 1: I don't think so. Okay, one last one. One last hurrah.
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: Come on. Let's lock in, Josh. Let's get back into
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 1: our 2K brains.
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 2: Keegan or OG? OG has to be more than Keegan Murray.
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: Are you sure?
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 2: Keegan? I'm going with OG. Yeah, definitely. He's not making 42.
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: I know Keegan got paid, but... He did. He made
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: more than Jay Huff. Are you sure? Jay Huff is
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 1: a legend, bro.
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 2: Are we Huff? Two million dollars? Zach Collins.
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, eight. It's eight. Yeah, see, I knew it. Yeah,
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 1: we both do. Brandon Ingram, for sure.
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 2: Brandon Ingram's making more than Zach Collins.
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: Okay, okay, this is good. This is good right here.
• 1:17:16
  Speaker 1: This is good. We got some momentum. It's Brandon Ingram.
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: It's Brandon Ingram.
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 2: We saw DeMar's last time.
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, okay. I think this is almost our... I think
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: our highest score was, what, 7?
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 2: That's kind of a cheap deal for Ivica Zubac, 20 mil. Who?
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: Jan Hansen?
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's making more than Jan Hansen. The Asian dude
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 2: from Portland.
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: Okay, Jared Allen. Jared Allen's making more. We're getting softballs.
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 1: I think this thing feels bad for us. Oh, our
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: high score was 5.
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 2: Has Trey Murphy signed a contract yet? Yeah, he has.
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: I think Trey Murphy's getting 30 M's.
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 2: I don't think he's making over. You think he is, bro?
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 2: I think he's under 30 M's.
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: Do you think so?
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 1: I'm going Jerry Allen. I'm going to trust you on
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 1: this one. I swore I thought he got his 30 M's. Ooh,
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 1: that was close. Dude, that was a $ 1 million.
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 2: Okay. I was thinking he was making like 23 mil,
• 1:18:16
  Speaker 2: to be honest.
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, Chet's contract kicked in. Okay, nice. We got
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: double digits. Zeke Najee, for sure. Okay, yes, we're on
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 1: a hot streak right now. Tyrese Maxey, yes, for sure. Okay, yes,
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: this is perfect. We're in a nice groove here. Emmanuel
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 1: Quigley's not getting paid. Dang, Emmanuel Quigley's getting $ 32 million? Okay,
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 1: we saw Quentin Post.
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 2: He's making more than Quentin Post.
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: Yes, okay. This is a heater, bro.
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 2: Suggs is making more than Quentin Post.
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: Dang, look at Jalen Suggs, bro.
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 2: Draymond's making more than... No, he just re-signed, didn't he?
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: I thought it was for like $ 35 million. I swear
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: to you it's $ 35 million.
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 2: I swear to you it's... Because who else is getting
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 2: paid on the Warriors?
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah. No. Oh, my gosh. No. What?
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 2: Draymond.
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: Shout-out Jalen Suggs, though.
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 2: Get your money up, Draymond.
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: Shout-out to Jalen Suggs, though. Shout-out Danny Manning. One of
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: my favorite players. And, hold on, wait. Every NBA pod,
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 1: shout-out to Danny Manning. Shout-out Danny Manning. Okay, there it goes.
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 1: Can't clear them. So-called MVP of the week.
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 2: NBA.
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 1: I think I know who it is.
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 2: So-called MVP of the week. I think I'm going to
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 2: go to Yaxo Linderborg. I'm going to change it up
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 2: a little bit. I'm going to throw a little curveball.
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 2: I think he's definitely given the Warriors a lot to
• 1:19:53
  Speaker 2: be excited about. Definitely gives them kind of a hope
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 2: of a star. No, I'm not saying that he's 24
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 2: years old. Obviously, it's probably the best he's going to be.
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 2: Who knows? Maybe. But I just do think that he's
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 2: giving excitement to Golden State. And for me, that's why
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 2: I think he's going to be a so-called MVP for me.
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, they call him Dominican LeBron for a reason.
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 2: And the interviews. They're funny.
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I don't know if you've heard, but they've called
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 1: him Dominican LeBron. So just saying, bro. But, you know,
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 1: you know who I'm going to give mine to? Nemus Cato.
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 1: Nemus Cato, bro. Oh.
• 1:20:34
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 1: Shout-out him, bro. I mean, I don't know why that's
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 1: the first guy I saw on my Dynasty roster. Honestly,
• 1:20:41
  Speaker 1: I was just picking somebody random. 9 points, 12 rebounds,
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 1: 3 assists, 2 blocks today. So just shout-out Nima Cicada, bro.
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 2: Nice. Nice. Nima Cicada.
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah. All right. We're going to go ahead and get
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 1: out of here. We'll see you guys soon. Take care. Peace.
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 2: Deuces.