Latest / Kenny For Real / This NBA Season Has LEGENDARY Potential

Transcript

This NBA Season Has LEGENDARY Potential · Kenny For Real

0:00
Speaker 1: Believe it or not, we were 55 days away from
0:02
Speaker 1: the start of the NBA regular season. That sounds like
0:04
Speaker 1: a long time from now, but I promise you it's not.
0:07
Speaker 1: I'm so hyped for this year. And you're like, Kenny, bro,
0:08
Speaker 1: I've been watching the channel. You make this type of
0:10
Speaker 1: video before every NBA season. That's a fact. I'm excited
0:15
Speaker 1: every season. What can I really say? Younger me really
0:18
Speaker 1: did enjoy when there was a big baddie to take out.
0:23
Speaker 1: When the Warriors were the cream of the crop. And
0:26
Speaker 1: everybody was trying to take them down. That was fun,
0:28
Speaker 1: even though we kind of knew it was going to
0:29
Speaker 1: be Warriors versus Cavs every single season. You wondered, could
0:33
Speaker 1: LeBron and company get it done? You know, you get
0:35
Speaker 1: to the finals with the Raptors and the Warriors. You say,
0:38
Speaker 1: can it be done? You're rooting for the underdog. Even
0:41
Speaker 1: before that, when I hated, like actually hated the Miami
0:44
Speaker 1: Heat and I hated LeBron James and all of those guys,
0:47
Speaker 1: I enjoyed that period of my life as an NBA fan.
0:49
Speaker 1: Because again, there was some big bad guy to try
0:52
Speaker 1: to take out. As you know, things have shifted in
0:54
Speaker 1: the NBA dramatically where we've had, what, eight straight champions
0:57
Speaker 1: that are different than the previous season. And I can
1:00
Speaker 1: admit that I kind of like this a little bit better.
1:03
Speaker 1: I remember early in the podcasting days, again, even though
1:06
Speaker 1: I did enjoy Warriors versus Cavs every year, that like
1:09
Speaker 1: we would get to January and we'd be like, why
1:11
Speaker 1: are we even thinking about these other teams when we
1:13
Speaker 1: know it was going to be the Cavs? We know
1:15
Speaker 1: it was going to be the Warriors. And now we're
1:17
Speaker 1: at the point in the NBA where you don't know anything.
1:19
Speaker 1: The team that just won a championship, while they did
1:21
Speaker 1: have championship aspirations, And while they were one of the
1:24
Speaker 1: heavy favorites going into last season, like a top three favorite,
1:27
Speaker 1: it still was surprising to see it done. Remember in January,
1:31
Speaker 1: right after the NBA Cup, when the Knicks were like
1:32
Speaker 1: two and eight in their last 10, you're like, oh,
1:34
Speaker 1: this ain't looking good. Cardini Towns is making comments about
1:37
Speaker 1: not knowing his role. Josh Hart is making comments about
1:39
Speaker 1: not knowing his role. And then it clicked. And then
1:42
Speaker 1: they were on the most dominant postseason run maybe ever.
1:46
Speaker 1: You never know what's going to happen in this league.
1:47
Speaker 1: And I think it is just like, times 1,000 going
1:50
Speaker 1: into the 2026, 2027 season. This video is brought to
1:53
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2:18
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2:21
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Speaker 1: have got 10% off. I want to say thank you
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Speaker 1: again to SeatGeek for sponsoring another video. Let's just start
3:01
Speaker 1: off here. This is where the standings were last season.
3:03
Speaker 1: Majority of this, what you see right now, is going
3:05
Speaker 1: to look so different at the end of next season.
3:08
Speaker 1: And you ask yourself, how many teams are just not trying? Obviously,
3:11
Speaker 1: the change of the lottery odds is going to be
3:12
Speaker 1: the first year. We're going to get some of that.
3:14
Speaker 1: So I guess we'll see in real time. But I
3:16
Speaker 1: just look at this Eastern Conference and say the Pistons
3:18
Speaker 1: are trying. The Celtics are trying. The Knicks are trying.
3:20
Speaker 1: The Cavs are trying. The Raptors are trying. The Hawks
3:22
Speaker 1: are trying. They traded the first overall pick from just
3:23
Speaker 1: two years ago to get Lou Dort. They're trying. The
3:26
Speaker 1: 76ers are trying. They just had one of the biggest
3:28
Speaker 1: and most explosive offseasons you may ever see. The Orlando
3:30
Speaker 1: Magic got a brand new coach. They're trying. The Hornets
3:33
Speaker 1: are trying. The Heat just acquired Giannis. The Pacers are back.
3:36
Speaker 1: That's at least 11 teams that are looking at themselves
3:39
Speaker 1: and saying, hey, we can get it done. Maybe the
3:41
Speaker 1: Hornets don't think there can be a championship team. But
3:43
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, there's at least nine
3:46
Speaker 1: teams out east that look at themselves and say, we
3:48
Speaker 1: can be a contender this season. That's the most we've
3:51
Speaker 1: ever really had. The East Chicago City game had been
3:53
Speaker 1: dominant about Braun for so very long that we would have,
3:55
Speaker 1: let's say, a top three pool of teams that feel
3:58
Speaker 1: like they can do it. If you told me, if
3:59
Speaker 1: we go all the way to May of 2027, and
4:05
Speaker 1: you told me that the Raptors are on the run
4:07
Speaker 1: to a finals, I'd be like, that don't sound too crazy.
4:09
Speaker 1: If the Cavs want to run to the finals, I'll
4:11
Speaker 1: say that ain't too crazy. And you can say that
4:12
Speaker 1: about so many different teams. That's just the Eastern Conference now.
4:15
Speaker 1: Out West is maybe not as many contenders or teams
4:17
Speaker 1: that are, but like OKC is going to be back
4:20
Speaker 1: and better as long as they stay healthy. The Spurs
4:22
Speaker 1: just went on a legendary run after not making the
4:23
Speaker 1: postseason at all last season. The Nuggets may have taken
4:26
Speaker 1: some step back, but they still have one of the
4:28
Speaker 1: best players in the world. The Lakers are going to
4:30
Speaker 1: do the right. These are just teams trying to get
4:31
Speaker 1: it done. The Temple was just acquired. LaMelo Ball. And
4:36
Speaker 1: it goes on and on and on. It's like the
4:40
Speaker 1: parody thing is so very cool because it's nothing better
4:44
Speaker 1: than like, y'all know if you've been around, you know,
4:46
Speaker 1: I don't care about having a right prediction. I'm not
4:48
Speaker 1: going to stand on no heels or nothing. But it
4:50
Speaker 1: is super cool to say, like, I believe that the
4:53
Speaker 1: I don't know the finals. This is not my actual opinion,
4:55
Speaker 1: but I believe that the final is going to be
4:57
Speaker 1: Cavs versus Rockets for whatever reason. And then a happy like, bro,
5:00
Speaker 1: I'm going to just tell that wasn't even really something
5:03
Speaker 1: people thought about. Like last season, I've been telling, I've
5:05
Speaker 1: said like the Knicks are my team that I think
5:07
Speaker 1: is going to come out of the Eastern Conference. It
5:08
Speaker 1: was before the season started, and then I shifted because
5:10
Speaker 1: they started to not look so great. But like I
5:12
Speaker 1: did that. You know, I did that a little bit.
5:14
Speaker 1: So today's video, I kind of just want to talk
5:16
Speaker 1: about some of the things I'm really excited about for
5:17
Speaker 1: this upcoming season because, boy, there is a lot. Got
5:19
Speaker 1: to start off Philadelphia 76ers. There was a time where
5:24
Speaker 1: I was doing the radio show, and somebody from Philly
5:27
Speaker 1: asked me like, what is this offseason going to look
5:29
Speaker 1: like for Philly? And I'm like, it's probably going to
5:31
Speaker 1: be a quiet one. And then they acquired Jalen Brown,
5:34
Speaker 1: and then LeBron James signed to the team. And obviously,
5:37
Speaker 1: when you have this much talent, teaming up after no
5:41
Speaker 1: experience is going to be a ton of questions. The
5:42
Speaker 1: questions like, how long would it take them to jail?
5:44
Speaker 1: Will they be able to jail at all? Is there
5:46
Speaker 1: too many cooks in the kitchen? Do they have enough shooting?
5:49
Speaker 1: Do they have enough defense? All of these things we're
5:51
Speaker 1: going to find the answer to. But the fact that
5:53
Speaker 1: this team exists in the first place is nuts. Early
5:57
Speaker 1: in my podcasting days, we spent minutes of the whole
6:00
Speaker 1: season talking about the 76ers because they weren't trying to
6:02
Speaker 1: do anything other than lose ball games, you know? And
6:05
Speaker 1: then we did start talking about them. It was like, ooh,
6:07
Speaker 1: could they beat this Raptors team? And then Kawhi Leonard
6:09
Speaker 1: hits one of the biggest shots in the history of
6:11
Speaker 1: this sport. And, you know, one thing I admire about
6:14
Speaker 1: the Joel Embiid era, if you, maybe we're not even
6:16
Speaker 1: in the Joel Embiid era anymore. Maybe this is the
6:18
Speaker 1: Tyrese Maxey era of Philadelphia. I guess it's teach his own.
6:21
Speaker 1: Is that whether it be Darryl Morey or whether it
6:23
Speaker 1: be the new guy, whether it be the previous guy,
6:25
Speaker 1: they always tried. They kept putting stuff and throwing things
6:27
Speaker 1: at the wall. And this is the most amount of
6:30
Speaker 1: individual talent they've ever had. So, like, I'm really excited
6:34
Speaker 1: to see it. Part of me is like, obviously, they
6:36
Speaker 1: have the most talented starting five in the league. But
6:39
Speaker 1: being around for so long, in the back of my mind,
6:43
Speaker 1: they're still just like, I don't know if I can
6:45
Speaker 1: pick this team to win a championship. I think the
6:48
Speaker 1: biggest domino is obviously Joel Embiid and his knees and
6:50
Speaker 1: his health. If Joel Embiid can stay healthy for an
6:51
Speaker 1: entire run, this team is objectively a championship contender. But
6:55
Speaker 1: if we don't believe that Joel Embiid can be healthy
6:57
Speaker 1: for the postseason, forget about the regular season, that don't matter.
6:59
Speaker 1: If we don't think he can be healthy for the postseason,
7:01
Speaker 1: this team just doesn't, they just still won't have enough.
7:04
Speaker 1: I don't know how like, well, he is one of
7:05
Speaker 1: the best players in the world. So I don't want to,
7:06
Speaker 1: I was going to say, I don't know how much
7:08
Speaker 1: of a team's individual season in my recent history or
7:12
Speaker 1: recent memory that was dependent on one singular player being
7:16
Speaker 1: healthy or not. But you can say it about literally anything.
7:19
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? If Jalen Brunson went down
7:20
Speaker 1: with an injury halfway through last season, then they wouldn't
7:23
Speaker 1: have won the championship. But I don't know. Just the 76ers,
7:25
Speaker 1: I cannot wait to watch this team. It's going to
7:28
Speaker 1: be amazing. Moving on to my Chicago Bulls. I just
7:30
Speaker 1: spent 30 seconds here. I'm just on cloud nine. We
7:33
Speaker 1: got a guy that wants to be in Chicago, that
7:34
Speaker 1: wants to be the face of the league one day.
7:36
Speaker 1: And will he do that? Probably not. Let's be realistic here.
7:39
Speaker 1: But golly, ain't nobody going to stop him but himself.
7:42
Speaker 1: So I love what the Bulls are building right now.
7:44
Speaker 1: We should be a fun team at the end of
7:46
Speaker 1: the day. I think we're going to end up being
7:47
Speaker 1: a lot of people's league pass team because we probably
7:50
Speaker 1: won't win a ton of games, but there's going to
7:51
Speaker 1: be high-flying moments between Modis and C-Dub and then Josh
7:54
Speaker 1: Giddey throwing crazy passes, and Norman Powell is going to
7:57
Speaker 1: probably have a couple of heater games this season. Super
7:59
Speaker 1: cool stuff. The Cleveland Cavaliers. I'm not going through every team,
8:02
Speaker 1: by the way. I don't want this to feel like
8:03
Speaker 1: all 30 teams, but this is just what's coming to
8:04
Speaker 1: my mind. The Cleveland Cavaliers had their best postseason run post-LeBron.
8:12
Speaker 1: And it didn't feel like it because once they got
8:14
Speaker 1: to the conference finals, it was nasty, right? But there
8:18
Speaker 1: still has to be some wins in that, that they
8:20
Speaker 1: were in the conference finals for the first time. And
8:23
Speaker 1: they looked at that roster and say, hmm, we could
8:26
Speaker 1: upgrade here and there. And they took a swing on
8:28
Speaker 1: a guy like Peyton Watson. I didn't get to make
8:29
Speaker 1: a full video on this on this channel, but we
8:31
Speaker 1: talk about it on the pod. We're like, I am
8:33
Speaker 1: a believer in Peyton Watson, but maybe not to the
8:35
Speaker 1: same extent as some other people are. Obviously, he's still
8:38
Speaker 1: 23 years old and he's still progressing as a player.
8:40
Speaker 1: But I did value a lot of the shooting that
8:42
Speaker 1: Max Roos provided. Obviously, Max Roos didn't play a ton
8:44
Speaker 1: last season because of injury and all. Shout out to
8:45
Speaker 1: my guy, Max Roos, who owns his hat. Shout out
8:47
Speaker 1: to my boy. And we don't have a huge sample
8:51
Speaker 1: size of Peyton Watson being a great three-point shooter. We
8:55
Speaker 1: did have last season. And then I did question, like,
8:58
Speaker 1: it's not a Peyton Watson thing. I think it's just
9:00
Speaker 1: a thing that's been in my mind for the last
9:01
Speaker 1: couple seasons. When you have these really good role players
9:04
Speaker 1: that have their breakout seasons The year before they're eligible
9:08
Speaker 1: for assistance or a year before they hit restrict the
9:10
Speaker 1: free agency. It's always a dangerous game, in my opinion,
9:13
Speaker 1: because you don't know if that breakout season is really them.
9:16
Speaker 1: A great example is Peyton Watson's previous teammate in Christian Brown.
9:19
Speaker 1: Christian Brown was solid his first couple years of his career.
9:22
Speaker 1: And then he had his breakout season. And it's like, oh,
9:24
Speaker 1: my God, this guy deserves $ 25 million a year. And
9:27
Speaker 1: then the year after getting that contract, he wasn't very good.
9:30
Speaker 1: You can say the same thing about a guy like
9:31
Speaker 1: Jalen Suggs, who Jalen Suggs is still a very valuable
9:33
Speaker 1: NBA player. But the year before he got his extension,
9:36
Speaker 1: the dude shot, let me see, what was the number?
9:38
Speaker 1: He shot 40% from three the year before he got
9:40
Speaker 1: his extension. And the year before that, he shot 32.
9:42
Speaker 1: The year before that, he shot 21. But he had
9:45
Speaker 1: his great shooting season the year before eligibility for that contract.
9:48
Speaker 1: And because he shot it so well, he got the contract.
9:51
Speaker 1: And since then, he shot 31% and 33%. And I
9:54
Speaker 1: feel like there's just so many examples of that across
9:56
Speaker 1: recent NBA history where a guy has that breakout at
9:58
Speaker 1: the right time and the team pays it. and they
10:00
Speaker 1: look back and say, that's a lot of money for him.
10:02
Speaker 1: And again, I'm not saying that will be Peyton Watson,
10:04
Speaker 1: but it is something to think about because if they're
10:07
Speaker 1: going to do the things they want to do, which
10:08
Speaker 1: is continue to contend, get to the conference finals, get
10:10
Speaker 1: an NBA championship, Peyton Watson will have to make three-point shots.
10:14
Speaker 1: He did show a lot of creation in that one
10:16
Speaker 1: month where Nicole Jokic was out, which I'm excited for.
10:19
Speaker 1: I think he adds some wing defense that they desperately needed.
10:22
Speaker 1: And maybe you can argue that guys like Sam Merrill,
10:24
Speaker 1: guys like Jalen Tyson, guys like Mario Hazonia, Super Mario,
10:28
Speaker 1: can add some of that space in that Peyton Watson
10:29
Speaker 1: wouldn't be able to. I'm excited about some of their
10:31
Speaker 1: lineups they could put together from just moving Evan Mobley
10:34
Speaker 1: to the five when Jared Allen was not performing. And
10:36
Speaker 1: now you got Evan Mobley, Peyton Watson, let's say like
10:38
Speaker 1: a Sam Merrill or Jalen Tyson, and then the guards
10:41
Speaker 1: and James Harden and Donovan Mitchell. That's a pretty interesting
10:43
Speaker 1: looking lineup to me. But I'm happy that they did something.
10:47
Speaker 1: I'm happy they did something. A lot of pressure on
10:48
Speaker 1: a guy like Jason Tatum, right? Trying to look at
10:51
Speaker 1: what happened last season and hope that they can at
10:53
Speaker 1: least replicate that. I still don't love the trade. I
10:57
Speaker 1: don't know many people that do love the trade. But
10:59
Speaker 1: I am... Talking myself into the Celtics as a whole.
11:03
Speaker 1: If I just forget about the fact that Jay LeBron
11:05
Speaker 1: played for the state. Forget about it. I do like
11:08
Speaker 1: this roster quite a bit. A lot of it is
11:10
Speaker 1: depending on what version of Paul George we end up getting.
11:12
Speaker 1: And how healthy Jason Tatum can be after being removed
11:15
Speaker 1: from that Achilles not too long ago. Teams that we
11:18
Speaker 1: haven't seen try to be good in a long time.
11:20
Speaker 1: The Utah Jazz are trying to be good. They lost
11:23
Speaker 1: 60 games last season. 60 games. And they acquired Jaron
11:27
Speaker 1: Jackson Jr., And they did have breakouts from guys like
11:29
Speaker 1: Keontae George and so on. And you look at that
11:31
Speaker 1: roster and say, hmm, there's something there. But in the
11:34
Speaker 1: heated Western Conference, will they have enough to make a run?
11:37
Speaker 1: For whatever reason. Maybe I just have some ridiculous amount
11:41
Speaker 1: of confidence in Will Hardy. People ask every season who
11:44
Speaker 1: is the breakout team. And it's hard for me not
11:46
Speaker 1: to pick the Jazz right now. Larry Marketing is just
11:50
Speaker 1: really good. And I think he's going to slot very
11:52
Speaker 1: well when you add more talent like a Jaron Jackson. Obviously,
11:54
Speaker 1: they didn't play a ton of guys. I think Jaron
11:55
Speaker 1: played three total games. before they shut him down for
11:58
Speaker 1: the rest of the season. But there's a ton of
12:00
Speaker 1: pressure on some of these guards because there isn't a
12:02
Speaker 1: ton of playmaking in this lineup. Jaron has continued to
12:05
Speaker 1: get better when they put him on ball a little
12:08
Speaker 1: bit in Memphis, but they just don't have a ton
12:10
Speaker 1: of great passers and stuff. So guys like Keontae and
12:13
Speaker 1: Isaiah Cole, you're coming off the bench, have a ton
12:14
Speaker 1: of responsibility to make the offense flow. And I kind
12:17
Speaker 1: of believe in their ability to do that. I don't know.
12:19
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm just another year of me truly believing that
12:22
Speaker 1: Bryce Sensible is going to make that breakout. And I
12:24
Speaker 1: think that Bryce Sensible now– his breakout looks like being
12:27
Speaker 1: one of the premier six men in the league. Also
12:31
Speaker 1: a question, what does the star lineup completely look like?
12:33
Speaker 1: Are they going to roll with a Nerkich in the
12:35
Speaker 1: lineup because they need that bruising body and play finisher
12:38
Speaker 1: since Jaron Jackson Jr. is not that great of a rebounder?
12:40
Speaker 1: Or they do run with Jaron Jackson Jr. and Larry
12:43
Speaker 1: Market and Ace Bailey, Darren Peterson, and Keontae George. I
12:46
Speaker 1: don't know as of right now. I don't think anybody
12:48
Speaker 1: will know until Will Hardy puts it together. And I
12:50
Speaker 1: wouldn't be surprised if halfway through the season, 15, 20
12:52
Speaker 1: games to the season, they That lineup is still in
12:55
Speaker 1: flux as he's trying to figure out who's the starters
12:57
Speaker 1: in those frontcourts or not. Even down to like, again,
13:00
Speaker 1: my excitement level, there were so many players going into
13:03
Speaker 1: last season that we knew we were going to miss.
13:05
Speaker 1: We weren't going to have Dane. We weren't going to
13:06
Speaker 1: have Kyrie. We weren't going to have Tatum for the beginning.
13:08
Speaker 1: We weren't going to have Halliburton for it. And it's like,
13:11
Speaker 1: just going into last season, even though I was really excited,
13:13
Speaker 1: that's like four All-NBA players. A lot of those guys
13:15
Speaker 1: are some of my favorite players to watch in the
13:17
Speaker 1: entire league between like Kyrie and Hallie. So like, all
13:20
Speaker 1: those guys are healthy again. And off the top of mind,
13:23
Speaker 1: the only injury that we have as of today going
13:26
Speaker 1: into the season, like Jimmy Butler, right? Am I forgetting
13:28
Speaker 1: about somebody that's going to miss, a star player that's
13:30
Speaker 1: going to miss a ton of time? I don't think so.
13:32
Speaker 1: So we already have good health as of today, and
13:35
Speaker 1: I'm just excited to see those guys back. When the
13:37
Speaker 1: Blazers dropped that video of their schedule, I think it
13:42
Speaker 1: was 29 straight switches from Damian Lillard. It's just another
13:45
Speaker 1: reminder of how ridiculous of a shooter he is. We
13:47
Speaker 1: had an argument two years ago about Dame and his
13:50
Speaker 1: shooting And my boy D Mills was saying that Dame
13:52
Speaker 1: is a second greatest shooter of all time. And I
13:54
Speaker 1: remember pushing back on that and like, what about what
13:57
Speaker 1: about obviously Ray? What about this guy? And the more
13:59
Speaker 1: I think about it, I think that D Mills was
14:00
Speaker 1: straight up just right, bro. Dame is like the second
14:04
Speaker 1: greatest shooter in the history of the sport. And it's
14:06
Speaker 1: just so happy that he played in the same era
14:07
Speaker 1: where the number one guy is still active. So he
14:09
Speaker 1: may get lost in the shuffle a little bit. But, damn,
14:12
Speaker 1: based on the difficulty of his shot, the ranges of
14:14
Speaker 1: his shot, off the dribble, he probably is the second
14:16
Speaker 1: greatest shooter of all time. And he's back on a
14:19
Speaker 1: team that is going to be him and John Morant? Demetrius?
14:23
Speaker 1: Demetrius back playing? Like, we ain't seen him in forever.
14:25
Speaker 1: And maybe we still don't see a lot of him
14:27
Speaker 1: because of history. But, like, what's going on with the team?
14:29
Speaker 1: It's unfortunate that Shane Sharp got injured because he was
14:31
Speaker 1: a guy that I was really excited to see because
14:33
Speaker 1: he is just a human highlight reel and all. But
14:35
Speaker 1: it's like they got Mike Inouye over there. They got
14:38
Speaker 1: some interesting players. Then he's coming off an all-star. Donovan
14:41
Speaker 1: Klingin has been hit or miss, but for the most part,
14:44
Speaker 1: I'm a fan of his game. It's like that team
14:46
Speaker 1: could be really interesting and fun, and it probably still
14:48
Speaker 1: will be. But, like, Dame is back, and he's making, like,
14:51
Speaker 1: 15 million. He's making Denny Abdiah money. They got two
14:54
Speaker 1: honestly caliber players making, like, $ 30 million collectively. So it's
14:58
Speaker 1: just interesting stuff going on. Kyrie Irving being back, and
15:01
Speaker 1: I saw a report this morning that the teams are
15:02
Speaker 1: monitoring Kyrie. Obviously, the Dallas Mavericks did just stretch and
15:07
Speaker 1: wave Klay Thompson so he can get to a contender
15:09
Speaker 1: in the Miami Heat and all. And people are wondering,
15:11
Speaker 1: does that mean that Kyrie Irving could be available? And
15:13
Speaker 1: maybe maybe he is available. But I really I really
15:16
Speaker 1: like Kyrie Irving in Dallas. I look at this team
15:18
Speaker 1: and it's like I saw some people talking about what
15:20
Speaker 1: did they I think it was Bill Simmons said, like,
15:22
Speaker 1: what did they do all the last nine months? And
15:24
Speaker 1: I don't I don't hate what's happening in Dallas. If
15:28
Speaker 1: you get rid of the big old cloud that was
15:29
Speaker 1: the Luka Doncic trade and you look at that as
15:31
Speaker 1: something that you can't. Obviously, we can't go back on
15:33
Speaker 1: those previous regime and stuff. I think the moves post
15:35
Speaker 1: that aren't too awful. If Anthony Davis wanted to get out,
15:39
Speaker 1: you found some value in him by flipping him for
15:41
Speaker 1: whatever you flipped him for. You took a swing on
15:44
Speaker 1: Zachary Rich, I say, for basically nothing. And while I
15:48
Speaker 1: don't know if Zachary Rich, I say, is going to
15:50
Speaker 1: be an all-star, I would probably bet against him to
15:51
Speaker 1: ever be an all-star. I think he's going to be
15:55
Speaker 1: a starter in this league. I think he's probably like a,
15:57
Speaker 1: I don't want to use this con because a lot
15:58
Speaker 1: of people have said this con, but like the Harrison
16:00
Speaker 1: Barnes type of player. And that's Harrison Barnes played in
16:03
Speaker 1: Dallas too, you know? They got Santi Aldama for what
16:06
Speaker 1: feels like nothing. And I know the Memphis fans will
16:09
Speaker 1: tell you that they aren't the hugest fans of Santi Aldama.
16:11
Speaker 1: But on this team, I'm not mad. And so, like,
16:14
Speaker 1: they have Cooper Flagg, which is generational. Sure, generational type
16:18
Speaker 1: of talent. It's kind of interesting to say generational in, like,
16:20
Speaker 1: two of the last three drafts, whatever. Generational type of talent,
16:23
Speaker 1: Cooper Flagg. They got some really other interesting young guys
16:25
Speaker 1: between Max Christie and Zachary Rishise and so on. They
16:28
Speaker 1: were able to get in on Marcus Sasser for nothing. Like,
16:31
Speaker 1: I don't mind what they've been doing as of recent.
16:33
Speaker 1: I didn't expect them to do anything to make them
16:35
Speaker 1: a true contender. It's like we are building around Cooper,
16:38
Speaker 1: and I think they're going to be able to do that,
16:39
Speaker 1: especially if Lively's going to be back healthy one day.
16:41
Speaker 1: The Pacers are back, man. The Pacers are straight up back.
16:44
Speaker 1: And if you missed it, we've been doing so many
16:45
Speaker 1: episodes of Numbers on the Board. We had great guests.
16:47
Speaker 1: We had two of the all-star Tyrese's and Maxie and Halliburton.
16:51
Speaker 1: They both came onto the show and talked their shit,
16:53
Speaker 1: which is great. And Halliburton's very candid. He hasn't done
16:55
Speaker 1: a lot of interviews since his injury, and we asked
16:57
Speaker 1: him a ton of questions. And obviously, the team has
16:59
Speaker 1: a chip on their shoulder because they're getting lost in
17:01
Speaker 1: a shuffle. Like, bro, we were three quarters away from
17:03
Speaker 1: being NBA champions just two years ago, and Hallie got injured,
17:06
Speaker 1: and we lost a ton of games. But now Hallie
17:08
Speaker 1: is back. We got reinforcements in Big Zoo. Pascal Siakam
17:11
Speaker 1: had a good season. And I do think that, like,
17:13
Speaker 1: what you believe about Nim Hart's season or Neesmith's season,
17:16
Speaker 1: they're probably just going to be better just because of osmosis.
17:20
Speaker 1: Am I using that word right? Just because Halliburton is
17:22
Speaker 1: back putting the ball in his hand, and he gives
17:24
Speaker 1: it to him on the seams every single time. So
17:27
Speaker 1: they're back. And I missed it because guess what? Last year,
17:31
Speaker 1: I didn't watch a lot of the Pacers. The Pacers
17:34
Speaker 1: won 19 games. And now they're back into like, it's
17:37
Speaker 1: a well-constructed roster. One of the best coaches in the league.
17:40
Speaker 1: The question is, how long would it take Hallie to
17:42
Speaker 1: look like the version of Hallie that was, you know,
17:44
Speaker 1: doing his thing? I don't know the answer to that.
17:46
Speaker 1: Hopefully it's like that. But realistically, it's probably going to
17:48
Speaker 1: take a little bit of time. But they're going to
17:50
Speaker 1: be right back in there. He posed a question to us, like,
17:52
Speaker 1: if you run a pick and roll with me and
17:53
Speaker 1: Big Zoo, what are you going to do defensively? Are
17:55
Speaker 1: you going to switch? Because you switch, I'm on an
17:57
Speaker 1: island with a big, and if you switch, then Zoo
17:59
Speaker 1: Botch is one of the biggest bodies in the NBA.
18:00
Speaker 1: He's just going to put that little man on his
18:02
Speaker 1: back and boom, boom, boom. I'm excited to see. I just,
18:04
Speaker 1: if I had to take a gamble, I would say
18:06
Speaker 1: that they're probably going to be one of the best
18:07
Speaker 1: pick and roll duos in the NBA next season. And
18:09
Speaker 1: then you got Pascal Siakam over here and these shooters
18:12
Speaker 1: and Neesmith and Nimhar. They got some stuff, y'all. Melo
18:14
Speaker 1: and Anthony Edwards play on the same team, bro. When
18:16
Speaker 1: it happened, I mentioned it being like, the greatest TikTok
18:20
Speaker 1: team of all time because both of those guys are
18:22
Speaker 1: just super, super famous and super well-beloved in the NBA.
18:28
Speaker 1: So to have both of those guys on the court
18:29
Speaker 1: together is going to be so fun. I'm sure they're
18:31
Speaker 1: going to give us so many moments. And then the
18:33
Speaker 1: rest of the team is good too. And again, I
18:35
Speaker 1: appreciate that Connelly and company are always taking swings. They
18:39
Speaker 1: just do it differently. And honestly speaking, it may not work.
18:43
Speaker 1: I mean, The odds say that it probably will not work,
18:46
Speaker 1: but I appreciate the swings because you have a 25-year-old superstar,
18:49
Speaker 1: 26-year-old superstar, whatever. Let's try to make the best team
18:53
Speaker 1: around him as possible. And you think that even though
18:55
Speaker 1: we love Uncle Mike Conley, Anthony Harris hasn't played with
18:58
Speaker 1: a really great point guard. They tried to put him
19:01
Speaker 1: on the ball a lot more last season. I think
19:03
Speaker 1: that had decent results. But I am a LaMelo guy.
19:06
Speaker 1: I think LaMelo is a good ball player opposed to
19:08
Speaker 1: some people that just think he's an empty stats kind
19:10
Speaker 1: of guy. I think he is the type of guy
19:11
Speaker 1: that plays alongside Anthony Edwards and plays on a playoff team,
19:14
Speaker 1: and then he looks better than what he did the
19:17
Speaker 1: last couple seasons. Obviously, big gamble on his health and
19:20
Speaker 1: his ankles and all of this stuff, but if we
19:21
Speaker 1: can say that he will be relatively healthy, I really
19:24
Speaker 1: love what Minnesota's doing right now. Dude, DeMar DeRozan plays
19:26
Speaker 1: for the Nuggets. DeMar DeRozan plays for the Nuggets. I
19:34
Speaker 1: got so much love for DeMar. We were just looking
19:36
Speaker 1: at his basketball reference, and it's kind of, Even as
19:41
Speaker 1: a Bulls fan, again, I lived it in the moment
19:43
Speaker 1: and it was so fun. But, bro, he was actually
19:46
Speaker 1: disgusting when he played for the Bulls. Like, obviously, he
19:49
Speaker 1: had the... the great moments of hitting back-to-back game winners,
19:53
Speaker 1: a game winner on, what, December 31st and a game
19:55
Speaker 1: winner on January 1st. So he's got back-to-back game winners
19:57
Speaker 1: in two different years. The man averaged 28 points per
20:00
Speaker 1: game in his first year in Chicago. He was All-NBA
20:03
Speaker 1: second team. He had a career year at 32 years
20:05
Speaker 1: old in Chicago. Now, since then, his numbers have gone
20:07
Speaker 1: down and down and down. But even last season, He
20:10
Speaker 1: averaged 18 points per game in a year that nobody
20:12
Speaker 1: watched the Kings. And while I do not like the fit,
20:16
Speaker 1: I'm happy that they did something. Again, it's been a
20:20
Speaker 1: rough go around if you are a Nuggets fan. But
20:26
Speaker 1: it does pose the question of like when you have
20:27
Speaker 1: one of the best players in the world, which of
20:29
Speaker 1: course that is Nikoli Jokic, there shouldn't be a stone
20:32
Speaker 1: that you're willing to leave unturned in order to put
20:35
Speaker 1: him and your team in the best position to win.
20:38
Speaker 1: And I think they did that to get their championship. Right.
20:41
Speaker 1: And then it always becomes a question post that championship. OK,
20:46
Speaker 1: what next? How do we get to the next level?
20:48
Speaker 1: We spent a lot to make this team that we
20:50
Speaker 1: have today. And this team is becoming too expensive for
20:52
Speaker 1: us to retain. So what's next? And that is the
20:55
Speaker 1: toughest questions for GMs to answer. We had the same
20:58
Speaker 1: questions with the Milwaukee Bucks. Right. They win their championship
21:01
Speaker 1: after acquiring your holiday and doing everything they can to
21:03
Speaker 1: get that. And then eventually that team becomes older and
21:05
Speaker 1: they don't have draft assets. So what do we do?
21:07
Speaker 1: They traded for Dame and the Dame thing didn't work.
21:09
Speaker 1: But after that, it's like, okay, how do we keep
21:12
Speaker 1: Yon to contention? And the reality was they couldn't. And
21:14
Speaker 1: now he plays for the Miami Heat. And while I
21:18
Speaker 1: don't foresee Jokic being the type of guy to play defensively, like, oh,
21:21
Speaker 1: I love it here, but maybe I want to get traded.
21:23
Speaker 1: You just have an obligation to put the best team
21:25
Speaker 1: around him. And in order to do that, you might
21:28
Speaker 1: have to take a step back a year. I don't know.
21:30
Speaker 1: I don't know. But you know that that duo of
21:33
Speaker 1: Jokic and Murray going to win ball games. I just
21:35
Speaker 1: don't know what their actual ceiling is with the rest
21:38
Speaker 1: of the team, right? You believe that they're going to
21:41
Speaker 1: be one of the top regular season offenses. It was
21:44
Speaker 1: a struggle when they got to the postseason. But you
21:46
Speaker 1: believe that they're going to be one of the best
21:48
Speaker 1: regular season offenses. It's like, what's that defense look like?
21:51
Speaker 1: Could they somehow be a top 13 defense? I just
21:54
Speaker 1: find it hard to believe. And that's just some of
21:57
Speaker 1: the things, man. The Knicks won a championship and they
21:59
Speaker 1: Don't look exactly the same because Mitchell Robson is gone
22:01
Speaker 1: and he was a huge part of the team. But
22:04
Speaker 1: vibes are high in New York, bro. Dude, we used
22:06
Speaker 1: to make fun of the Knicks, Knicks fans. Like, bro,
22:09
Speaker 1: y'all team stink. Your owner stinks. Y'all paid this much
22:12
Speaker 1: money for who? Y'all drafted who? And now they're one
22:14
Speaker 1: of the premier-ran teams in basketball. That's just how– that
22:17
Speaker 1: gives me hope as a Bulls fan. It truly does.
22:21
Speaker 1: Because maybe that's going to be us in 10 years
22:22
Speaker 1: or 15 years or 30 years or 46 years. Maybe
22:25
Speaker 1: it will be us. but it does give me a
22:28
Speaker 1: lot of hope. Giannis plays for the Heat, and he's
22:31
Speaker 1: been the number seven. And I think it's going to
22:32
Speaker 1: take me months to get used to the number seven
22:34
Speaker 1: on Giannis. I won't lie to you. But he plays
22:36
Speaker 1: for the Heat now. That's probably going to take me
22:38
Speaker 1: months to get used to. My goodness, he plays for
22:40
Speaker 1: the Heat. I need to see him dunk a basketball
22:42
Speaker 1: like 13 times before I'm really like, oh, yeah, he
22:44
Speaker 1: plays for the Heat now. But obviously there's so many–
22:48
Speaker 1: there's aspirations for him to be a contender again, and
22:50
Speaker 1: he is in a way better position in Miami than
22:52
Speaker 1: he was in Milwaukee. That's for damn sure. But it
22:57
Speaker 1: is about keeping my boy healthy in that postseason. It's
22:59
Speaker 1: about keeping him healthy in that postseason. That's really what
23:02
Speaker 1: it's all about. Kawhi is going to probably play for
23:04
Speaker 1: the Raptors this season. Probably. I have no idea. Who knows?
23:07
Speaker 1: He's probably going to play for the Raptors this season.
23:09
Speaker 1: That's going to be super fun. There's just too much
23:11
Speaker 1: going on. I don't know. I don't think that Adam
23:15
Speaker 1: Silver has been the greatest of commissioners. There's a lot
23:18
Speaker 1: of bumps in the road, if you ask me. There's
23:20
Speaker 1: a lot of questionable decision-making, if you ask me. But
23:24
Speaker 1: the content side of me being a fan, it really
23:28
Speaker 1: loves how much movement there truly is in the NBA.
23:30
Speaker 1: I ain't going to lie. I ain't going to lie. Yeah,
23:32
Speaker 1: it kind of messed with rivalries just a little bit
23:34
Speaker 1: and so on. But, bro, think about how many all-star
23:37
Speaker 1: level players, or all-star level, maybe they didn't make it
23:40
Speaker 1: last year or the year before that, but all-star level
23:41
Speaker 1: players that are on new teams this season. Can I
23:44
Speaker 1: quickly go through them? I'm just looking at the rosters
23:46
Speaker 1: in alphabetical order, right? Jalen Brown, LeBron James. Tyler Herro counts.
23:49
Speaker 1: He was an all-star just last year. Tyler Herro. Norman Powell.
23:53
Speaker 1: I'm not counting Paul George, but like the name Paul
23:54
Speaker 1: George got to mean something, right? Kawhi Leonard. Jan Jan.
23:58
Speaker 1: Jaren Jackson Jr. I'm going to count them. He only
23:59
Speaker 1: played three games. That's seven already. Julius Randle. That's eight.
24:02
Speaker 1: Count them. Got to count them. DeMar DeRozan. All right,
24:05
Speaker 1: we keep it. DeMar DeRozan is the name. I'm not
24:06
Speaker 1: counting them, but we still got DeMar DeRozan. I'm counting Zoo.
24:09
Speaker 1: He didn't play enough. He didn't play enough. Brandon Ingram.
24:12
Speaker 1: That's already, that's 10. The Mellow Ball. We had 11.
24:15
Speaker 1: John Morant. That's 12. And then A.D. Antray Young. That's 14.
24:21
Speaker 1: That's 14 all-star level players that have been moved basically
24:24
Speaker 1: this off season, maybe a little bit before this off season.
24:27
Speaker 1: So the NBA looks different every single year, but this
24:29
Speaker 1: year is a whole, whole nother monster. And I cannot
24:32
Speaker 1: be more excited. I am locked into synergy rewatching stuff
24:35
Speaker 1: from last season, last couple of seasons. Um, and I'm
24:37
Speaker 1: just counting down today. It's 55 more, 55 more before
24:40
Speaker 1: we get out of here though. I do want to
24:41
Speaker 1: tell y'all about this. Um, complex does this list yearly
24:44
Speaker 1: where they're, they're power ranking sports media people. Um, Spoiler,
24:49
Speaker 1: I'm on this list. I'm number 22 on this list.
24:53
Speaker 1: I've come out here two and a half years ago,
24:55
Speaker 1: by the way, but they got a picture of me
24:56
Speaker 1: before I come here, which is truly, truly a blessing, right?
24:59
Speaker 1: I appreciate Complex for putting me on this list and everything, right?
25:03
Speaker 1: I'm number 22. The last time I was on this list,
25:05
Speaker 1: I was number 25. So things are going in the
25:07
Speaker 1: right direction. But one thing that is super cool is
25:09
Speaker 1: that they allow you to say like, hey, this person
25:12
Speaker 1: is underrated. I agree. Oh, boys, he's overrated. And the
25:15
Speaker 1: reason I'm showing you this is not because I'm trying
25:17
Speaker 1: to show you that I was number 22 on this list.
25:19
Speaker 1: But I'm mostly showing you this to say thank you.
25:20
Speaker 1: Because I'm sure a lot of you saw this list
25:22
Speaker 1: if you follow me on Instagram or Twitter. And you
25:24
Speaker 1: would know that because of those posts, right? So the
25:28
Speaker 1: community results, you can say, hey, this guy's underrated, overrated.
25:31
Speaker 1: Most agreed on Adam Schefter being number seven. Most disputed
25:36
Speaker 1: is Wendy, right? He is like 30% everywhere. Most overrated
25:39
Speaker 1: is Dave Portnoy, according to the people. And then the
25:42
Speaker 1: most underrated is me, according to the community. which I
25:45
Speaker 1: just truly, truly appreciate. 84% of people say they deserve
25:49
Speaker 1: more credit than number 22. 84%. And ladies and gentlemen,
25:56
Speaker 1: based on the community, y'all voted me number one. I
26:04
Speaker 1: don't take any of this for granted. I do think
26:06
Speaker 1: that this offseason was, take a peek behind the curtains.
26:11
Speaker 1: The 2025-2026 season was the most stressful one of my life.
26:15
Speaker 1: And I'm not here to ask for no pity or anything,
26:17
Speaker 1: but it was a stressful season. We added so many
26:20
Speaker 1: new shows, had so much going on, newborn at home.
26:22
Speaker 1: It was just one of those years where it's like, man,
26:25
Speaker 1: obviously so many great things happened. We went to the finals,
26:27
Speaker 1: we went to the draft, we did a tour, all
26:29
Speaker 1: of these things. It was just super, super busy. So
26:32
Speaker 1: this off season, I was like, I'm going to try
26:33
Speaker 1: to take some time to myself. I'm going to try
26:35
Speaker 1: to be as present as possible with my fam and stuff.
26:39
Speaker 1: So this offseason, I haven't done a ton of work.
26:41
Speaker 1: I've been kind of chilling and all. So I do
26:43
Speaker 1: appreciate that even through the month and a half since
26:46
Speaker 1: the season ended, two months before the season ended, where
26:48
Speaker 1: I haven't been posting a ton, y'all been holding it down.
26:50
Speaker 1: So I just wanted to say thank you so much.
26:52
Speaker 1: I mean, the goddamn community moved me up 21 ranks
26:56
Speaker 1: in the God, 21 ranks? And I'm not saying that
27:01
Speaker 1: the complex list or any list I've ever been on
27:03
Speaker 1: is like my barometer to my own personal success, because
27:06
Speaker 1: I think that's all up here, what I deem to
27:08
Speaker 1: be successful or not. It's impossible for somebody to see
27:10
Speaker 1: this list and see the community say Kenny's number one
27:12
Speaker 1: and them not to think about it. So again, thank you.
27:16
Speaker 1: I got great things planned for this upcoming season. I'm
27:20
Speaker 1: trying my very best to continue to give y'all great
27:23
Speaker 1: content when I can. Thanks. I don't know. Thanks. I
27:27
Speaker 1: think that's what I'm just trying to boil it down
27:29
Speaker 1: to is a simple word that says thanks.