Latest / Small Ball with Kenny Beecham / Biggest Roadblocks for NBA Teams

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Biggest Roadblocks for NBA Teams · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to another episode of Small Ball with Kenny Beecham.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so excited to be here.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: We got about 20 to 25 games left of the NBA season.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, for a lot of casuals and a lot of people that have been into football or some of the other sports, this is where the NBA season actually starts.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I kind of want to give y'all like a little breakdown, if you will, of some of the top teams in the league and what I believe to be their biggest roadblock heading into the postseason.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there are a lot of teams, in my opinion, that could genuinely win the championship.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: I love the parry era.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think this year is one of those years where like I came into the season so heavily OKC.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: OKC was what, 24 and 1, whatever the hell the number ended up being.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, now with injuries of dub and Shea being out.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like the gap between them and the second team and the third team has shrunk so much that it's anybody's year.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's so insane to say that.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's gonna boil down to matchups and all of this, and seedings and home court advantages for game sevens and so many different things.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why we love this goddamn sport because you never really know.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I will say before we get into the first team and so on and so forth, I did not do this for all of the playoff teams.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because in a lot of cases, the seventh seed, the A C, their roadblock is the one or two C they're gonna see in the first round.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: You feel me?
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I went to let me count them.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: I went to twelve.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: 12 is pretty respectable, right?
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: 12 of the potential 16 teams is gonna be making to the postseason.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: I I got a little opinion on, and the reason why this makes it even more difficult because with the play in, the the pool of team teams that could be in the postseason is 20.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: So 12 of 20, if you will.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but this is just a way to kind of look at the best of the teams and what could be the reason why they don't end up doing the ultimate goal.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think of all the teams that I have here, all of them have expectations or the aspiration to win a championship.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: The only team here that I can't say that fully is like the Toronto Raptors.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like who I have on my list, the Toronto Raptors are a team that this has found money, right?
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: There's a year after they won 30 games last season.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: They made a big acquisition last year in Brandon Ingram, who didn't play, and now Brandon Ingram is an all-star alongside Scotty Barnes.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: So while I don't see them as true contenders, obviously, I don't know any Raptors fans that feel that way either.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think they're a hard-out team.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: And if they are first round exit or second round exit, I think the Raptors fans will be pretty satisfied with the season at large, given all of the circumstances where, you know, many people didn't believe in them as a true playoff team at all going into this regular season.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: And they've dealt with a lot of adversity in that front court, right?
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yaakka Purdle, who they gave his big ass bag to, can't stay healthy.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now he's coming off the bench and trying to just get spot minutes until he gets good.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: So this season, again, is kind of found money as they continue to do good things.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Let's start off with the head of the snake.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I will say there's no particular order in the teams that I'm talking about, other than I got the number one seed out east, and then the second team's the number one seed out west, and then we just alternate it.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: So starting off with the Detroit Pistons.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Now, originally this episode was gonna be me making it, trying to figure out how much do I trust the team to do their ultimate goal of raising the Larry O'Brien trophy.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: And the Detroit Pistons have been a team that early on, when they were starting off so great, I looked at it as like, oh my God, there's a super fun story two years ago.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: They lost the most games ever, and and now they look like a true playoff team again just after last season, maybe even more than that.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: But over the last couple weeks and months, they've got to like, oh, this is a cool story.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, there's another really good playoff team.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be a hard out to oh my God, they could win the damn championship.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it feels like every single day and every single week, I'm more convinced that they have an opportunity to do this.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: If you go back and watch all the small ball episodes pre-NBA trade deadline, I was saying, man, I hope I want them to sign or go in and go get Trey Murphy to throw third, go get Michael Porter Jr.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Go get one of these jumbo shooters slash creators, because they were probably gonna need something like that.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I had to take a step back a little bit after they got to the deadline.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: The only thing they did was acquire Kevin Herter, who Kevin Herter's what, getting DMPs every once in a while.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: He's not a part of like their real rotation as of today.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe by the postseason, his three-point shooter will be good enough.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: But also, I remember the way he looked in the postseason when he played for the Sacramento Kings.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't a pretty thing.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but now I've kind of turned a new leaf because it's so easy to look at them and say, hey, Kay Cunningham has one of the highest usage.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: He's he is super taxed with being a one of the only creators on that team.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: But also in the same vein, we have these games where Cade occasionally does not look like, you know, all NBA first team player.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: They had a little stretch.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Let me see if I can I could pick it up really quick, where there was like a four to five game stretch where Kay Cunningham put up like, you know, oh, here it is right here.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: He put up 10 points, then 16 points and 16 points.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: And these are games where he shot 18% from the field, a game where he shot 40% from the field, and a game that he shot 23% of the from the field.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: They won all of those games.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: So even though Kay Cunningham has been the focal point of this offense, they continuously show me in the rest of the league that it's not just about Kay Cunningham as a creator.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: There are so many other ways for this team to win ball games.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And not only did he have this stretch against, like, he had the stretch against the Suns.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: The Suns are a good basketball team.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: He had 10 points and 11 assists, and they end up winning that game.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then this last win where he ended up only having 16, this is against the Boston Celtics, one of the other elite teams across basketball.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: So they've been able to win games against good competition, even in games where Kay Cunningham does not look like an All-NBA first team player.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I've kind of taken my foot off the gas a little bit where I where I thought initially they should go out there and go get one of these top 10 talents, and they could be just good enough.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: But I do think if there is going to be a roadblock, it is the overdependence on Kate.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not about Kay Cunningham the player because we know Kay Cunningham is a goddamn dog.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: We see every time they go against the Knicks, right?
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Every time they go against some of these top teams, they're they are the best team in the league when it comes to going against the other best teams in the league.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like, analytically, they win those games.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: And not only they win those games, they they dominate those games, right?
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not about Cade as an individual.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm I went back to look at some of the games they played against the Knicks in the postseason last year, series where they're, you know, um, what did they say?
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Wet behind the ears?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Is that what it's called?
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Or where they're just new to the scenario of being a postseason team, first time for K, Jalen Duran, and Sar Thompson.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: This goes on and on.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: The only true vet it felt like they had, well, then the shooter was a vet there.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they also had Tobias Harris, but this for the most part, their core was these super young guys.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: And one thing that the Knicks did that I thought was really impactful was when it came to the screen and roll game, and I think that Jalen Duran is 10 times better this season as a screener, as a roller, as a decision maker in a screen and roll.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: So it might look differently this time around.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: This team, the New York Knicks, just decided we're gonna let Kay Cunningham shoot.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna let him shoot.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then as we got further along into that series, Kay Cunningham had got to the point where he didn't want to take that pull-up three-point jump shot that he had taken all season long.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then let me look at these stats from these.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the last three games of the postseason versus the New York Knicks, he was 0 for three from three, one for four from three, and then 0 for 8 from 3.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that whether it be the team they see in the first round, the second round, the third round, you know what I'm saying, the NBA finals, one thing those teams are gonna decide to do is allow Kay Cunningham to shoot because though we know he can shoot, it is not one of his strong suits.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: He's a 33% three-point shooter this season.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: And again, a lot of those are tough off the dribble three-pointers, but that's that's what it is.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: So if we could prevent Kay from going downhill, or we can prevent, you know, Jalen Duran getting in in the short roll and let Kay shoot, so be it.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's gonna be their potential biggest roadblock.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of this postseason will rely on whether or not Kay Cunningham can make that outside shot when it matters the most.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: You look at their game versus the New York Knicks a couple nights ago and their game before that against the Toronto Raptors, five May threes in that one against the Knicks.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Six May threes in the game previously versus the Toronto Raptors.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't expect him to be able to do that in the postseasons consistently five and six threes, but if he can keep them honest, it keeps the game alive.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because this team, as we know, is built for the postseason defensively.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: They are they are STEM and OKC is the two teams that I think can win not just games in the postseason based on the defense, but literal series in the postseason based on their defense.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's how good they are.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: They have so many weapons um across the board to no matter what type of initiator you have as your number one guy.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: If you have a smaller guy like Jalen Bronson, we have somebody that can defend that.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: If we have a bigger guy like the Jays, we have defensive guys that can guard up in position.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: So they have all of that.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's just about the offensive side of the ball.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I look at, you know, how will Sar Thompson um be impactful down the stretch in the postseason series, or some of these other guys who the opposing teams are gonna just be like, yeah, we're gonna let him shoot.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: All of those guys got to come to play.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I can't wait for Pistons basketball in the postseason again.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: I have been flip-flopping like a sandal when it comes to what team I believe will come out of the East before the season started.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: I had it um as the New York Knicks, right?
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: The Knicks came into it, and you know, last year they got to the conference finals, and now they got another year under the belt.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: They got a new uh coach over there, Mike Brown.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: It should be the team.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then they started off the way they did, and I turned away and said, hey, it's the Detroit Pistons.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then right after that, the Knicks went on their own little eight-game win screen, like, hold on, maybe it's back the Knicks.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I might be back on the Detroit Pistons, y'all.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think I might be back.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: We'll we'll have this conversation again before the postseason starts.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: But uh I think these are all good problems because between them, the Knicks, the C's, um, and the Cavs, I could see a world where all four of those teams are representing the Eastern Conference.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like, that is not that far fetched.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: So really excited about it.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Again, the biggest potential roadblock for the Detroit Pistons, if we're looking past, like, oh, who's gonna make a three-point shot?
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Is there heavily reliance on Cade.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I think he's ready for that moment.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: As we see, it's just a matter of that three-point shot.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: When we come back, we got a ton, and I mean a ton of teams to get to.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now moving over to the Western Conference, number one seed, OKC Thunder, who I think by the actual percentage, the Detroit Pistons have now taken them over as the best team in the NBA just by wins, losses, which is kind of crazy because OKC started off so, so electric.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: But obviously, like many other teams across basketball have dealt with many, many injuries.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, now we have MVP Shea down with something.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: J Dub has been down.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, honestly, off the top of my head, J Dub has probably had two to three games where I was watching, like, that looked like the dub that was in the postseason last season, uh, in the finals last year.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: They gave us 40.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: He's 17 points per game, the three-point shootings at 31%.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: This has not been a year for him because of that hand thing.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he had that one game right before he went down with an injury again, 28 points versus Sons.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's one of the games I'm thinking about.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think their potential biggest roadblock is going to be the secondary creation.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think it does get looked past because obviously they won the championship last season.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: And because Shay is so damn dominant, that creating in the half court is actually like really tough for them when it's not Shea Gilgis Alexander.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: And if Dub is not going to be able to provide them the type of production that he gave them at bits and pieces of last year's postseason because of his hand, then now this team that was a heavy favorite is no longer looked at the heavy favorite.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um Chet Homegren, as good as he is, you don't look at Chet Homegren to go out there in nights where Dub doesn't have it or Shea doesn't have it to be like, oh, I'll be the guy that give us 25 to 30.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's not his role, that's not his archetype as an offensive player.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes they need, not sometimes, a lot of times they need that secondary creation.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: And recently they haven't had that because of Dub's injury and because AJ Mitchell, who I think is gonna have to play a huge role down the stretch of these last 20 or so games and also in the postseason, because he's one of the few people that can create for himself and for others.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: And if there's gonna be one roadblock, it would be just that they just got nobody outside of Shay.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: And Shae and himself is a system.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if y'all noticed that the man is shooting 60% from the field on two pointers.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: On two pointers.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: He's a guard.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: He's not Shaq, he's not Giannis, he's a guard doing it.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: But their lack of secondary creation could definitely come back to bite them.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: It actually almost came back to bite them multiple times last year in that series versus the Pacers, in that series versus the Denver Nuggets.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it could happen again.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that the the teams that they're gonna have to go through in order to go raise Illario Brown trophy again are gonna be more difficult than last year's team.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: So they have to be ready for that.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the biggest asterisk amongst all of these teams, or most of these teams, is the health, right?
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: The Detroit Pistons are one of the few teams that we're gonna talk about today that have not dealt with some type of major injury as like today, you know.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like my next team, the Boston Celtics, their biggest roadblock is their superstar player.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: That let's be real.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Tatum is coming back.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: He gave us the whole hoop line that I'm not sure, man.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: We got the whole uh 15-minute documentary on NBC.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: We got all these pictures of him real life scrimmaging versus the team.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: That man is coming back.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it's March 1st, like people are speculating.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: That man is coming back to hoop.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: But the biggest roadblock is that he's coming back to hoop, and more likely than not, he just won't be the Tatum that we know, which is fine.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: The man is coming off an Achilles.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: I don't expect him to be all NBA first team.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that could potentially be their biggest uh roadblock because I mean, you a lot of these teams were nitpicking, right?
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: These are the cream of the crop teams, and all of these teams, depending on the matchup, can win four playoff series.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: The Celtics are one of the weird ones, man, because they rank well offensively, they rank well defensively, they hit their shots, they prevent you from hitting shots, they protect it.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like they they just have very little, very little holes in their team, especially now we were looking on it um about it or numbers on the board about the Vucevic acquisition and the limited amount of Vucevich's minutes since the trade deadline, his net rating or the team's net rating with him on the court is like a plus 12 and like a minus 10 when he's off.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: So even though Vuoch is not the prototypical center for what they want to do because of his lack of defensive, I don't know, uh protection of the paint, like uh Porzingis, who also stretched the floor, he's been able to just be impactful in his minutes.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: So, like this team, who uh me included, was I was one of them people that came into the season, like this is a gap year for the Boston Celtics.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: Hell no, this might not be a gap year.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: But the fact that Tatum is coming back and might be 70% of himself might be the one thing that's preventing them from winning, where they may need, let's say, a 90% version of Tatum.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: And it's unrealistic for us to expect him to be at 90%, but everything else is kind of cool, man.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Overall, Star Weekend, I got to talk to Jalen Brown.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: The man was so damn cool and very honest with all of the questions and answers, and that video will be out for y'all, I think right before the playoffs.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: I could be wrong.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, right before the playoffs.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: So he gave us some great answers and stuff.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: So um Celtics, super fun team, as they always have been.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: And now Tatum is gonna be back.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Let's win.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: The next team we have is the San Antonio Spurs.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think their biggest roadblock is going to be the lack of experience.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: Every other team that we're gonna talk about today has had 80%, 90% of their roster being in some type of playoff series before.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we look at the San Antonio Spurs, and that's just not the case, right?
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Harrison Barnes, who's no longer starting, um, has playoff experience.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Darren Fox has been in the playoff series the one year versus the Warriors, the Sabonis stumped on his chess year.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I think Kelden Johnson, this kill was Keldon Johnson even around.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know if Kelden Johnson was around.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: So, like uh all of these guys, most of these guys that are in this true rotation have not had postseason uh success or experience.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Luke Hornette, obviously, is an NBA champion, so he has that.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: But a lot of these other dudes have not been in the postseason at all.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um Bizmac Biombo, I guess, is still in the roster, so he's got some postseason experience.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, of the young teams, it usually just takes time.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: It takes your nose getting punched in at least one time before you go out there and do it.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: OKC, another prime example of this.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: OKC had their jump year.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: They were in the play-in, they lost in the play-in, if I'm not mistaken.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, right?
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, no, y'all about to make me go back and look through this history.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think they lost in the play-in.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: Either they lost in the play or they lost in that first round after winning the play-in.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: Either way, they had a little bit of success, but not enough.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so they they lost in the play-in in 2022, 2023.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: The next year, they end up being the one seed.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: They get to the second round where Luka wins that series before he goes on to the conference finals and eventually to the championship.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then the year after that, they win the Larry O'Brien trophy.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's very rare and almost never will we see a team go from no playoffs, no playoffs at all to NBA championship team.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: And the few times we have seen it is like we acquired LeBron James and and um Chris Boss.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna make it to the finals in the Eastern Conference.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't win that year.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't even win that year, right?
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: And they acquired two of the best players in the world.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: So it usually just takes a little bit of cohesion, it takes a little bit of figuring out who we are in the postseason.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited to see what Wimby has to bring there.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: I ain't got no doubt in my mind he's gonna be electric, but like, you know, like Dylan Harper and and our guy Stephon Castle, what does a postseason series look like against the best of the best?
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: Where it's not as different than being there just on a like nightly basis because these teams have a seven-game window in order to truly, truly scheme around you.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: So how will, you know, the the progressed version of Stefan Castle, his half court stuff has been better than his first year, but still maybe not elite.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: How does that come to play in a postseason series against a team like the Minnesota Timbals?
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just making it, I don't even know if they would see each other.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: And the Minnesota Timberwolves, who have been done doing a really good job over the last couple seasons scheming defensively.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: You think about their series versus the Suns where they lock Kevin Durant and Devin Booker ass up.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: How would that young team really fare?
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the youth is the biggest thing that could come into play.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Next, we got the Cleveland Cavaliers.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is very similar.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's not youth because we got James Harden, we got Donovan Mitchell.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: All of the guys on their roster basically has been in the postseason series before, post-season series.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but maybe I think that their lack of cohesion might be the thing because they did just acquire James a few weeks ago.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: And this is kind of a cop-out answer because we really haven't seen much of them just yet.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: They've been incredible with James Harden so far.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: The James Harden Donovan Mitchell pairing is a plus 12 net rating.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: And when it is just James Harden and no Donovan Mitchell is a plus six, which you still take 100% of the time.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, as I record this, they're on a seven-game streak.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: They do have a game against OKC, but OKC won't have dub or Shay, so I don't know if that's a good gauge.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm kind of giving you like a cop-out answer because so far in the James Harden era, we haven't really seen many downsides.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it's going to happen, right?
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: No team is perfect, but as of today, that team is rolling.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, Jared Allen is playing some of his best ball the season.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: It was, it was just not too long ago, I want to remind you, where Jared Allen wasn't even allowed to close out games on his own team because he wasn't, he just wasn't able to be impactful enough.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: And some of that is because they didn't have Darius Garland.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: And we love Donovan Mitchell.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: He's one of the best, however many players in the league.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: We know Don Donno can pass, but he's a go get a bucket type of guy.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, James is a guy that can empower Jared Allen to take that 12-foot jump shot and hit it and to crash the offensive glass to do this and do that.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: So they're on this streak with only having Evan Mobile play one of the games since James got here.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm all in on the Cavs, by the way, in this little bit of sample size, but we also have seen multiple times in James Harden's career where he gets traded to a new team, and that first month is like bliss.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: This team will not lose, they cannot lose, they're gonna win the conference, and then month two comes around and they just come back down to earth.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean that they're bad all of a sudden, but they aren't the team that just won eight straight games.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: And James Harden may not be um because I think right now, the first having many games versus the Clippers, one of the biggest things that I even made a video about it, James Harden's defensive effort was crazy.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: And he isn't he hasn't been a high effort defensive player in quite some time.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Good hands, big body, so you can't really post them up.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Teams ain't trying to hunt him because he is kind of sturdy.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: But there are so many times in the first, let's say 30 games of the Clippers where James just did not give a damn about getting a stop defensively.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so far, since he transitioned over to the Cavs, I think their defensive rating with his Donovan Mitchell and and um and our guy James Harden's like a 128, which is nuts, by the way, is like the worst in the league.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: He has, especially in those last like six or so minutes in every single game, been able to like, hey, here's a stop, hey, here's a block, hey, here's a swipe down steal, which is something James Harden's been able to do for 30 years, it feels like.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just excited about this team.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm all in.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I'm saying they're my favorite to win.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think I'm still pissing right now, but bam, it is very, very close.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: Before we get into the rest of the biggest Roblox for NBA teams, I want to say thank you to our sponsor over at DraftKings.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: You may know all about DraftKings pick six by now.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: You pick more or less of different players' stats for the upcoming games, but two or more different players into your pick set.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Look at some stats, see what you like, go more or less on those stats, sit back, relax, and see if you made the right decision.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now, today, Monday, the 23rd of February, we have a three-game slate, which is like I don't know.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like after we just got a three to four day stretch post-deadline or post all-star, we had no basketball.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: I love the fact that right after that, here's 10 games, here's 12 games.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: We only got three today.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Luckily for us, a few of these games are pretty interesting.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Here on Peacock at 7 o'clock Eastern Time, we have Spurs versus Pistons.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: Come on, man.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's a banger.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm trying to do math in my hair real quick.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: Will Jalen Durham be back?
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think he's probably back.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: I know Isaiah Stewart's not back.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: He got seven games, but I think Jalen Duran is probably back in this matchup, which is, you know what I'm saying?
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's not full strength, both teams, but it's close as we're gonna get.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm I'm here for it.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: So even though I do got a smaller pool to pick from, I do have a pick set for y'all today.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: Starting off in that game and talking about Spurs versus the Pistons.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna start off with De'Aaron Fox more on points.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: They had a game a couple nights ago where I put him in my pick set for more on points, but they end up dominating the team they played against.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: And he didn't play that many minutes.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: It was like 17 and a half points stand.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: He ended up with 15.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm like, man, if they're in a close game, I feel pretty good about it.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I think versus the Pistons, at least in theory, it should be a close in a good game.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna go more on points for De'Aaron Fox.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: Standing this game, just do just do the point guard matchup, man.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you get a little cutesy with it.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: You want to go get the seventh man in the roster.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see what he got in the pick set.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you want to go out there and get the studs.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna go with the other all star guard in this game, Kay Cunningham, also more.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: On points.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's gonna be a pretty good matchup between these two teams because they're both defensively talented out of this world, and they both got star players that can just carry an entire team between Cade and Victor Wimber.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to throw Wimby into the pick set, but I decided on De'Aaron Fox.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: I like the idea of doing a good old-fashioned uh Dawkins duel, point guard versus point guard, even though they probably won't be guarding each other.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: On that note, um, I was working out the other day, and um it was a video that was called Something Along the Lines of the Greatest Playoff Debut for a rookie.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: And you could imagine who it was about the Rose versus the Boston Celtics.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm working out and I'm just getting fired up so much so that I'm sore today because I pushed myself to my limit because I was excited to watch Derrick Rose go against a uh Celtics team that had just came off a championship.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: One thing I didn't remember, because it had been a few it had been a few years since I watched that game.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: I forgot that KG was injured.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like Kendrick Perkins and and and goddamn Big Baby Davis in the front court, and Derek Rose was just going to the basket, right?
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: He was like, oh, no KG, bet.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: So uh shout out to Derek Rose.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: Moving on.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the second game of the day we got is the Kings versus Grizzlies.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: Me personally, I am fading this game completely, mostly because as of right now, I have no idea who's suiting up in this game.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: Both of these teams dealt with either injuries or dealt with tanking.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: So people are just not healthy.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't want to put somebody in a pick set that may be questionable and not suit up.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I am fading that game completely.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: But I will add some more people from the last game of the night, also here on Peacock at 9:30 um Eastern Time.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: Utah Jazz versus the Rockets.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: The Rockets or the Jazz are another team, you know, that are sitting players here or there.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um Jaron Jackson Jr.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: is out for the rest of the season with him getting some type of uh small knee procedure to fix some things up.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: So he obviously is not in this game.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we don't know if Larry Markin is here.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: We don't know if Keontae George is here.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: But one thing I do know is that Isaiah Collier is in this game.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: How do I know this?
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: Because that boy don't miss games.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: Damn, it's sometimes he don't even miss minutes.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: He'll play a full 48-minute basketball game.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: I remember Isaiah Collier was the number one player in this class, man, and sometimes he looked like that.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: Very, very small amount of times.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I was like, he is a great passer, but sometimes the passing number is just a little bit too rich for my blood.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Isaiah Cole more on points versus the Rockets.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's where my head is.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think the passing, the last time I saw, was at 10 and a half assists, which that's just so much depending on like guys like Cody Williams or Bryce Centaball to make their shots.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: I know Isaiah Coleyer can get two feet into the paint and create for himself occasionally.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna go more on points there.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: And staying in this game, because I don't know what that front court looks like exactly for the Utah Jazz, I'm gonna go more on rebounds for outbreak and gun, all-star outbreaks and goon.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: So that's my pick set.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: Outprints and gun more on rebounds, Zara Fox more on points, Kay Cunningham more on points.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: Isaiah Cole, you're more on points.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what we got today.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: When we come back, we'll get back into these roadblocks for NBA teams.
• 24:51
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• 24:56
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• 25:01
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• 25:05
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• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: So don't be afraid to get in on the action.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: Right the upside with Pick Six.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: Getting back to it, the next team that is on our list is the Denver Nuggets.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the Denver Nuggets are a king reputation team.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not even saying that as a negative thing, right?
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because over the last however many years, you know, they got a championship, they've gone to the conference finals, they've been minutes away from representing the team, the Western Conference again in the NBA Finals.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm not saying it as a negative, but this season alone, the defensive aspect of their team is not what it has been.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not even saying much because the Nuggets have never been this like stout defensive team.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: They've been able to get stops when it matters, but I don't know in the Jokic era where we look at them as championship caliber teams, have they been the 25th defensive team in the league?
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where they're at right now.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: So my biggest roadblock for them has to be the injuries.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because in the 300 minutes that Jokic and Aaron Gordon have played together, defense has a 108 defensive rating.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: So Aaron Gordon's uh hamstring a quad, whatever it may be, his lower body extremity injuries is one of the it it it in my mind, it is the biggest X factor of the entire playoffs.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because if Aaron Gordon comes back and he's not the version of himself we know him to be, then I just don't think this team will be able to get enough stops to win four playoff series.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if he comes back and he's 90% of the player that we know, then they're all game.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: This is a team that can 100% raise the Larry O'Bron trophy.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: But without Aaron Gordon, the defense just is it's dreadful, man.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's really, it's really, really bad.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's they've had stretches where there's no CB, there's no Aaron, there's no um Cam, there's no Peyton Watson.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: So like it's hard to look at their advanced analytics and their game by game, like using the eye test and say they they can't do it defensively because they just haven't heard their guys.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: But should we just assume that they will have their guys?
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: There are a few teams like this across back.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, OKC is another example of this.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: We're just assuming that everybody's gonna be healthy or 100%.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: I think everybody will be able to try to suit up, right?
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody's gonna be like, oh, I'm at 90%, so I'm not gonna play.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: But we're just assuming that these guys are gonna look like the guys that we know coming off injuries, and I just don't know how realistic that is.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: So Aaron Gordon's injury and just the injuries for Peyton Watson and all of these guys, because some of these injuries that they're dealing with are like lingering uh injuries more than just like, oh, um, you know, something that can be patched up and he just like that, like a game of 2K.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: He says he's healthy, so he's back out there playing to their fullest potential.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: But we know what uh Yoke can do, obviously, as an MVP caliber player.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: We know what Jamal Murray can do as an all-NBA caliber player, especially this season, but they do need to get stops at the end of the day.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: And they've been so damn close before, and I think they could do it again, but it does depend on Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson and CB being healthy and Cam being healthy and so on and so forth.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: Moving on to the New York Knicks.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like I mentioned earlier, there have been times in the season where the Knicks look like the exact team I think they're they could be, where they are a team that I can see, winning four playoff series and being the champion.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: But there's also other times where I watched them like, man, they're really, really missing something.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I think their biggest roadblock is going to be their defense versus the real competition, right?
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: We had a little stretch.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: I think I talked about it last week on Small Ball.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: If you watched that episode or listened to that episode, where at that moment of time, over the last two weeks, New York Knicks had had the number one offense and the number one defense in basketball.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh my God, the Knicks are putting it together.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then you take a peek outside of the advanced athletics, you say, hey, they beat the Nets by 60.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: They beat this other bad team by 30.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: And you add all those together, and yeah, you have the number one defense in that span.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: Even right now, over the whole course of the season, New York Knicks have the 13th ranked defense in all of hoops, which is insane.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: Because when you watch them on a night-to-night basis, especially when they're going against these good teams, you don't see the third, you don't see an average defense.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: You see a below average defense.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: And if you go further than that and you say, hey, who are the teams that are getting stops or playing good basketball against other good teams?
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mentioned earlier the best team in the league at this right now is the Detroit Pistons, who are 11-4 so far this season against teams with a top 10.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how do we got a top 10 point differential?
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: So you're going against the top 10 teams of basketball by point differential.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: The number one team in that league is the Pistons, where they have the fifth-ranked offense.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: So they're scoring against these really good teams, but the number two defense, that's amazing.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we have teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves, who we're gonna talk about them in a second, but they have the number two offense against great teams and the number seven defense passable.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: The Cavs are seven and eight in those respective stats.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: The Houston Rockets are 11 and one, like and 11 in offense and one in defense.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then you keep, you have to scroll a little bit to say, oh, they're the New York Knicks against the top 10 point differential teams, they're eight and eight, which is not the worst thing in the world, right?
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: Being a 500 team against good teams, that could be good enough sometimes to go to the postseason and still make a run.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: What is the scary part is the fact, even with the eight and eight, according to the advanced stats, they're punching above their weight.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: They're the third best offense against good teams.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: You see that on a nightly basis.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: Even when it's Carthaginian Towns not really knowing what the hell he's supposed to be doing, and so on, they can score with the best of them.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: But the the 20th ranked defense against those same teams, ah it's just not good enough.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I think their biggest roadblock is their defense once they get against those top end teams.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think that this should be a team that can coast through the first round.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: We get to that second round, it's just gonna get a little bit tougher.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: They get through that, the conference finance is gonna be even tougher because of that lack of stops when it comes down to going against those top teams.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, now I'm also looking at this.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: There's a couple teams at the bottom here that's like, oh my goodness, like the LA Lakers.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: They have the 19th ranked offense against top one uh top 10 teams and the 27th ranked defense.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um Hey man, that's just the way it goes.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: I guess it's just the way it goes.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you got it, sometimes you don't.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: The Lakers are a team we're gonna talk about a little bit later um as well.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the New York Knicks are that.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: Then we move on to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: This is actually a perfect segue because I said we're gonna talk about them.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the and the thing that I have is how much they play to their competition.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's going to be the biggest, biggest roadblock.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: Where this team be having times where it's like, man, this should be an easy, easy win.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then they go against a really good team and they just blow their ass up.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it could be it's a double-edged sword because you're like, yeah, kidney, we're going to get the good teams and we win these games.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: But when we get to those playoff series, it's just like some there, there's going to be games where you feel like objectively they should win, whether it be because the other team is injured or they just they they got the home court advantage or whatever, whatever.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: And that team just will come out there and sometimes just lay an egg.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, bro, y'all have so much talent here.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm like, because my boy Io's on the day.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm I'm I'm rooting, I'm rooting for the Minnesota Timbulls to go out there and make some noise again, because they've done it the last couple seasons, but they sometimes just play down to their competition, and that's just not something that great teams normally do.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: I actually want to do the reverse of this.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: What are the worst the best teams in the league against the worst 10 teams?
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: Let's let's just quickly run it.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's not in my notes, we're gonna just run it live.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: The best, oh man.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the best team against bad teams.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that makes some sense.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because their defense is 104 in that rating.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, in order to have a good team, you gotta beat up on the bad teams.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: The team that is the worst against the bad teams, you can imagine the worst team in the league of Sacramento Kings.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um Minnesota Minnesota has impressed me though as of recent, right?
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: I I truly think the Ayuda Sumu acquisition is just one of the ones that you're gonna look back on as a Minnesota Timbulls fan and be like, man, I can't believe we got him for that.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, because he is such an impactful player.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: Even in the games where he may not have 15 points or so on.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, like his first game they lost to the Clippers, that was actually a really good game for um, if I remember correctly, Kawhi Leonard.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is like one of the first games, no James Harden.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: This is on like a Saturday afternoon.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think I got home from the podcast.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: It was like, oh my god, there's a basketball game on.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: And Kawhi Leonard did his thing, they lose their game by 20.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: It was a bad one.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: But after that, they got Atlanta, and and he was phenomenal.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: IO's phenomenal in this game.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm watching this game with tears in my eyes.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, that's my boy, go get you a championship, big fella.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then they got Portland where they took care of business, and then Dallas as well, where like Dallas went on a little run in that game a few nights ago, but it wasn't enough because Minnesota could get the job done.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: And Anthony Everett said he wanted to go for 40.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: And he did, he did go for 40.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: The next team is the Toronto Raptors.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think that their scoring in the half court is going to be the thing that ultimately prevents them from, you know, winning two playoff series.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: Again, it's such a good story the fact they're even here in the first place.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: But if you look at half court um offense across all these playoff teams that we're talking about today, uh just the ones we're talking about today, they have the worst half-court offense, which makes sense.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: They just don't have a ton of um creators in the half court.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: Even with that said, I think they could be a team that can still turn you over in the postseason, still get out on the break.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that is gonna be, if there's anything to prevent them from doing great things, they're gonna do good things, but prevent them from doing great things, it will be that because yeah, they're they're good.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: They're just not-I mean, they they can just straight up lock up.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like they're another one of them teams that I think, you know, I said on um numbers on the board that there shouldn't be any sweeps in the first round this year.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's how many good teams are on basketball.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the Raptors are a team that in their, at least in their first round matchup, they're going to win one of those games where the score is 91 to 88.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's how good of a defensive team they can be on any given night.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: But overall, the half court O is probably gonna be the reason why I think they are a team, especially once we get them going against, like, I think first round, depending on who the matchup is, they could be fine to get out of that.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, once we get to that second round matchup where you might see a Detroit, or where you might see a New York, or you might see a Cleveland, or whoever, whoever the hell it may be.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there are teams that I feel like in the half court a really smart coaching staff can really scheme up to make life hell for them in that scenario.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: So uh when we come back, we got two more teams we'll talk about.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then I want to give y'all some Mickey Mouse March candidates.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: Ooh, that should be fun.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: Two teams left.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, if I don't talk about the team today, there's no shot at them.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: They're probably still doing some good stuff, but damn it, I can't talk about everybody.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: Next team is the Houston Rockets.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: Their biggest roadblock is that they lost the superpower, man.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: They lost it.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's gone.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: The oh greatest offensive team in the history of basketball, this and that, it's dead, man.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's still good.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: But since Steven Adams has gone down, they've gone from, again, a legendary offensive rebounding team to a very good offensive rebounder team.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: And because their half-court offense also, um, I think it it statistically looks good, but I'm more thinking about down the stretch, where like there's been games this season where they've been able to win based on those extra possessions down the stretch and Kevin hit a shot or somebody else hit a shot, that's kind of gone.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: They still rebound at least offensively a good amount.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: But the way they were winning those games early in the season is not just Steven Adams, but collectively crashing that glass, getting more offensive possessions, more volume than you do.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: And they don't really have that anymore.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, or to that extent.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: Even last year, when they had their postseason series, that was one of the reasons why they did make it very interesting in their playoffs because they were able to go out there and get hella offensive rebounds and create second chance opportunities and so on.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm also very curious to see, I mean, it's not really a roadblock, or maybe it will be, um, between him and his brother, how will these opposing teams guard Asar and Amin?
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: Asar is such a havoc producing defensive player that if you're Detroit, you kind of want him on the court.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: But also they do have other options where you don't feel obligated to close out with Asar Thompson.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: You feel me?
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: While the Rockets, they kind of have that obligation because he is such a critical part to their team at large.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: And they they had a stat in their game versus the the uh Hornets a couple nights ago, where it's like the shooting area uh statistics for Amin Thompson, it was like 60% at the rim, 30% from the mid-range, and like all across the mid-range, and then like 19% from three.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're an opposing coach, you feel pretty good, you feel pretty good about that.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they have been times of season where this is just a few weeks ago in the game where Kevin O'Reilly was basically getting face guarded by two people down the stretch, and Asar Thompson had to go.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think he was like one for seven from the field in the fourth uh fourth quarter, and times he didn't even want to look at the rim.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's something that you know we gotta fix up if you are the Houston Rockets.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: But uh last thing we got is the LA Lakers.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think their biggest roadblock is that there's, I guess it's a two-parter.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: Their second-tier talent, so outside of Luca, Braun, and Reeves, their second-tier talent is just not as good as some of the other second-tier talent across basketball.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: Now you're like Kenny, okay, but their first tier talent is some of the best, and it absolutely is, but it also is without them fitting very well together.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: Let me let me pull up my one of my favorite websites, Databaller, really quick, because I didn't have this in my notes.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: But I know this is this is such an optimized site.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: It sounded like an ad, such an optimized site that I can kind of look it up real quick.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, they don't, and the the ITest tells me this as well, by the way.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not just looking at the stat.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: Their core three players don't fit well together.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: They just don't.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_00: They have some overlapping skill sets and so on.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_00: And the only, only 156 minutes that all three of the guys, Braun, Luca, and Reeves, have played together, they have a negative net rating of about 10.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's at a 9.8.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's just not good.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: When it's just Austin Reeves and LeBron, it's a negative 4.2.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_00: When it's just Austin Reeves by himself, it's pretty even.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: When it's Austin Reeves and Reeves, Austin Reeves and Luca with no Brabron, it's a plus 20 in 241 minutes.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: God damn.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: When it's just LeBron and none of the other two, it's a plus nine.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: When it's just Luca and none of the other two, it's a plus five.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: When it's just Luca and Braun, it's a minus four.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: They don't fit well as a collective, but sometimes them two pieces hit.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times the single single rosters are the ones that run the best.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: So the tier two guys between the smarts, the Aidens, the Hayes' of the world, they're just not really competitive compared to some of the other guys.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then their top three guys just don't mesh well together.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: The one thing they have is just fucking talent, right?
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like Luca Dante's himself is winning playoff series.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: But those are all the teams we're gonna talk about today as far as Roblox go.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I do want to get into this Mickey Mouse March stuff, and this is something we've done a few different times over the years, where, you know, next week is the start of March.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: And we always have multiple players across basketball that in that march look like the greatest version of themselves.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of the times, because of the bubble, Mickey Mouse yaddy yaddy, Mickey Mouse ring, they has a negative connotation.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_00: I personally don't mean it as such.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it I think I do have to say that because sometimes sometimes these guys have a really great march, and then that's just what it is.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: There are other times where we have a great march, like Denny last year averaged like 30 points in March, and then this year he was an all-star.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: We had um, I'm trying to think of some candidates.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um we had um Quinn Grimes last year.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_00: He averaged 25 points in March.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's not who he is.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_00: That was kind of Mickey.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I use Mickey Mouse march, not saying that these guys can't replicate their March next season, but more that these are the guys that I think because of you know their uh teams not really competing as much at the end of the season or opportunity, these are the guys that you're gonna look at their stats and be like, damn, March was a really good month for him.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we've had Kobe White do this, we've seen Josh Giddy do this, we've seen so many players, Paolo Ben Caro do this where he averaged 30 something last year in March.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes it's a hit, sometimes it's a miss.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_00: But it is one of my favorite parts because you have to kind of think about opportunity and so on.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: Before the season started, we did like a bold predictions episode, the numbers on the board.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_00: And one of my bold predictions is that my number one Mickey Mouse March candidate was going to be Brandon Miller.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_00: Brandon Miller's better than a Mickey Mouse March type of guy.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, the last couple weeks, he's been more of a just a bad shooter of the ball.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I guess it's still in play.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: And in order for him to be a Mickey Mouse March guy, because he normally averages about 20, he would have had to average like 30, oh not 30, 28 points per game.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_00: So uh he's probably not truly a candidate.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: But that was my preseason prediction.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: And now the Hornets are just good enough where it's not Mickey Mouse Marts, it's just a good ball club.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: So my first number one guy on this list is Benedict Matherin.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: He is the easiest guy that I think that if anybody does a segment similar to this, he has to be on the list because he did just get traded.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: And in his first game, not his first game, his first home game.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think he had played a game right before before that when he played for the Clippers.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_00: He almost had 40.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: And they desperately need just guys that can put the ball in the basket.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: We know that Benedict Mather can do that.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: We know he can get downhill and shoot a bunch of free throws.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_00: You saw that in the finals last season.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_00: And he's also a guy that's about to hit restrictive free agency.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: So he has all the incentive in the world and the green light from what Tyron Lou has said to go out there and score a bunch of points.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I can definitely see Benedict Mathra having a march where he's averaging 25 points per game.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it puts the Clippers in an interesting position because they got to figure out if it really is a Mickey Mouse march.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_00: And if it was, how do we convince him that it's a Mickey Mouse March so he don't go out there and try to ask for$30 million a year?
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_00: Or do they believe this is truly who Benedict Mathron is as a ball player?
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_00: But in my mind, he is the number one candidate.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_00: And a guy that is in a similar mode as this is Jonathan Kaminga.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Jonathan Kaminga got traded to the Atlanta Hawks, and he, I think they got a report a few days ago that he's going to be reevaluated in the week.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the Atlanta Hawks are a team that is competing for playoff seating and all.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_00: And though there is some overlapping skill set between him and a couple different people on that team, I do think that, you know, Quinn uh Quinn Snyder is the type of coach that will allow him to play his game and not just bench him when he does one bad thing.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm looking at you, Mr.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_00: Kerr.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um and we know he can hoop, right?
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_00: We just don't know how well he hoops.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_00: We know he can average, I think I know he can average 17 points in the NBA.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I think he could have a Mickey Mouse March, like, oh, snap, brand new team.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_00: See middle fingers to San Francisco and the Golden State Warriors for giving up on me, but I can hoop and he's gonna go out there in Atlanta and potentially do that.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know if he's gonna be a starter eventually or what, but I think he's a candidate, just a candidate for Mickey Mouse March.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: These other two guys, or one, my next guy is more of a hopeful, and it is Khalil Ware.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: Khalil Ware is still one of those guys that I have a lot of trust and belief in.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_00: The unfortunate part is that his own head coach don't have that same trust and belief.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: Where um last game he played 15 minutes, and as I'm recording this episode, they're playing right now against the Grizzlies.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_00: They're up by 20 going into the fourth, so he'll probably get more minutes here.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_00: But he also has played 15 minutes in this game.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_00: But the one thing Kaleilware has not been shy from doing in his limited amount of minutes is going out there and trying to get his stats.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you give Kaleilware 30 minutes, he's walking out of there with 20 points.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because in those 15 minutes, he's walking out of there with 15 points.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I just, I just know you got it.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: If he gets the opportunity, if he gets the opportunity, then he will go out there and give you statistics at the bare minimum.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_00: He's gonna go get you rebounds, he's gonna get you points.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: Then the last guy that I have on my Mickey Mouse March candidates is Isaiah Collier.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_00: We mentioned him in the pick set.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: But Isaiah Collier is at the point right now, because of the jazz and the nefarious things they're doing to alter some draft lottery odds.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: He is playing so much basketball.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: And he's already a decent NBA player, right?
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't know what that translates to.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if he's a starter level guard in the NBA one day.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_00: I don't, I don't know.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's still too early to tell.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_00: But in his little recent stretch that they've allowed him to play all of the all of the minutes, he's had games where he had 22, 22 assists.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: The next game 25 and 12, next game 20 and 10.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that what he did in February can be replicated to the next highest thing because they are probably going to have many games where you know Keonta does not play or they just really don't have any exterior creators.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I think he had an opportunity to really go out there and get his stats.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't, I'm actually looking at his basketball reference right now.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't realize that he was shooting 51% from the field this season.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's really impressive coming off last year when only shot 42 as a rookie, right?
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: Is his assist numbers down?
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_00: They are down a little bit.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_00: Not a bad statistical year for Isaiah Koyer, man, all things considered.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_00: And he's been coming off the bench for the majority of the season.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_00: So shout out to him.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_00: 22 assists game is not easy to do, especially as a young guy.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think they did they win that game?
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_00: I don't remember.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_00: So those are my major candidates for Mickey Mouse March.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_00: We have Koyer, we have Ware, we have Mathrin, and we have Kaminga.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_00: When we come back, we gotta talk about Jay Nivey in the Chicago Bulls.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, the Bulls are always finding a way onto this show because it's my it's my team.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_00: This is what they're what I do.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta talk about my favorite team because it's my favorite team, damn it.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a couple days ago, we had a game versus the Toronto Raptors.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_00: And just to set the stage for y'all, after the trade that line, we traded for a bunch of guards.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody in the NBA uh world knows that.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_00: But we played four games after the trade that line.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_00: But in those games, Josh Gidi was injured and Trey Jones was injured.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_00: So even though we acquired a lot of guards, two of the guards that have been on the roster weren't suiting up.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: And this game versus the Toronto Raptors was the first time we had our entire roster of 13 guards available.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things I was looking forward to the most in this game is figuring out who's going to get minutes and where.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_00: In this game, Colin Sexton and Anthony Simons, two guys who I got nothing but respect for as players and people, played so many minutes compared to some of the guys that I would rather play, and like a Rob Diddleham and a Jaden Ivey.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason I'd rather those other guys play is a the youth aspect of Jay N Ivey and Rob Diddleham.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_00: But also, I'm 100% sure.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm 100% sure Rob is going to be on the team next season.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_00: I can't say I'm 100% sure that Jaden Ivey's gonna be on the team, but I'm more convinced that Ivey's on the team next year year versus Simons and Sexton.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_00: So in my mind, you go out there, you let the younger guys play, who you know will be here, and let these younger guys, you buy them out, you don't play them, whatever it may be, because we're looking towards the guys that will be on our team.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: But in this game versus the Toronto Raptors, uh Jay Nivey didn't play.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I made a whole rant video about it on Twitter, and I was just really disappointed in the whole thing.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then later on, we found out, shout out to my boy Joel, because he had the tweet in the locker room of Jay Nivey basically coming out and saying, like, yeah, man, I was told beforehand that today was not gonna be a day that I play and I was okay with it.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_00: Also went on along the lines and say, hey, the Jay Nivey that you you've known over the last couple years is dead.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is a new version of me, this is a new me.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought that that quote got taken, and I also think it got taken out of context.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because the quote is what the quote is, but sometimes you have to hear the way it's said.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like, so a lot of people saw that and they just aggregated it, and boom, here's a graphic of the quote of what Jaden Ivey said.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm not the same Jaden Ivy, and I think he truly believes that.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_00: You think about his athleticism and how much that was important for him over the first three years of his career.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_00: And now coming off a broken leg, he doesn't have the same burst, especially because you know he just came back like two months ago.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't think, I could be wrong here.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just I'm just going based on the video that I watched.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think Jayden Ivey meant it in the in the case that like I'm in a dark place because I'm not fast or I can't, I'm not bouncy anymore.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was more of like he's a very he's a very religious guy, right?
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_00: He's a he's a guy that is all about Christ and so on and so forth.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_00: And when you go through something that crazy, which is, you know, a leg injury where your leg basically, you know, is is broken and the thing that you've done for 24 years to get you your profession, the thing that you love the most is taken away from you.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_00: I could completely understand already having a relationship with Christ, but also taking that relationship to a whole new level.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm assuming that's what Jay Naive did to get through some of those tougher days where he's going through rehab or he's going through the mental downside of being away from the team, a team that, like the Pissers this year, were the best team in the league.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so most of the season, he can't even be there to celebrate with them.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I can understand leaning over to his spirituality or his religiousness in that way.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's what he was trying to represent in that conversation.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not the same Jay Nivey, but with Christ, I am what I want to be.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_00: It does not help my argument that the next day after this, they said he won't be playing for us for the next two weeks.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_00: But I just I don't know.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_00: I think some people looked at this and thought and said that this is like the end of Jay Nivy.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I just don't know if that's the case, right?
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm I'm praying for him, right?
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_00: I want him to end up in the best headspace, not just because he plays for my favorite team, but because he is a human being with real emotions and stuff.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_00: But I I just didn't see the quote the same way most of NBA Twitter did.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm recording this episode while the Bulls are playing against the Pistons, and I'm about to my blood pressure is about to go up because I'm seeing that Rob Dillingham has only played five minutes so far tonight.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_00: I just it's a weird time, man.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, being a fan of a sports team is so fun.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's so it's so it's so great to just like put so much into your fandom and for them to not give a damn to reciprocate that.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, shout out Jay Nivey, shout out to Rob Dillingham, who I and also I made that tweet, right?
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_00: I made that tweet like I can't believe Jay Nivy not playing.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_00: It was so many people coming out of the woodwork, like, well, he ain't playing because he ain't good.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody on the Bulls is good.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_00: There's not a single person on the Bulls that's good.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_00: So play, you know what I'm saying?
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_00: It ain't like Tracy McGrady is starting over him.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_00: No, Isaac Quoro and Colin Sexton, these are the guys playing over him.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: Let the dude hoop.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_00: Are you kidding me?
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_00: Damn, y'all got me all riled up again.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_00: The Bulls are trash.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a good thing because we're gonna win the lottery.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, this has been a fun episode for you.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely had a fun time uh putting it together.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you to the producers, thank you to editor Jake, producer Greg, uh for being here.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I'll see I'll see y'all next week.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_00: Please.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_00: Peace.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_00: Peace.