Latest / Small Ball with Kenny Beecham / Ranking The 10 Most Exciting NBA Players To Watch

Transcript

Ranking The 10 Most Exciting NBA Players To Watch · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: I cannot express to you how much I enjoy a player that takes zero possessions off.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like he is, I don't know, the embodiment of the type of player that I really enjoy.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Offensively, defensively, he is going to go, go, go, go until he can't anymore.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that is just an admirable way to do anything.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: I try to live my life that way as far as the work goes, but I it's tough.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome, welcome, welcome back to the Kenny Beach and podcast as we film this on a Thursday morning where I am, I am as sick as can be, y'all.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: I am as sick as can be.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, you know what?
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: The show must go on.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just gonna say right now, if this video or this episode is not as lengthy as some of the other ones, or we see a lot of jump cuts, that means I am clear my throat.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: I am coughing up stuff that it just, I'm not feeling great, y'all.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: But the last 30 hours or 36 hours or so, I had just been in bed.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not how I like to do things.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: My joy is when I'm doing this.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I have been without joy for the last day or so.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I just need, I need this more than you need to watch this.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: I need to create this content.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, be sure to leave a like, subscribe, do all of the stuff I normally tell you to do.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not going through the spiel.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Quick stop.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: I want to let you know that the basketball enthusiast hats are restocked.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Last time we had these, they sold out in a matter of hours.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was kind of crazy.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't know y'all was gonna mess with it that much.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: So we decided to redrop it right in time for spring.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: The basketball enthusiasts, yours will look a lot better than this because I've been wearing this for like a year.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a little dusty.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: But uh go ahead, tap in, man.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Links is in the description.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Enjoy b ball.com, go get you one.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: The best thing, if there's any silver lining to being sick, at least for me, is that when I'm sick, I'm bedridden, which means that there is no excuse to not watch basketball.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: When you're 100% healthy, it's like go out to dinner or watch Lakers versus Clippers.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: I could catch up on Lakers versus Clippers in the morning.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: When you're in bed, there's no going out to dinner.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: There's no doing this, there's no doing that.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: So uh last night I was watching uh Lakers versus Clippers and watched the Lakers have this amazing, amazing comeback versus one of the better teams of basketball.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, missing players here don't matter.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's not really important to me.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it was it was amazing.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it got me thinking as I watched LeBron James dominate the fourth quarter when he's nearing 40 years old.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: It got me thinking about the 10 most exciting players to watch in basketball.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: This is a subjective list.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: You might agree or disagree completely, and that is completely okay.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody prioritizes different things in players that they enjoy watching or they're fans of.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: If your favorite player not here, I'm not gonna say I'm sorry.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm actually not gonna say I'm sorry.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's just that they didn't make the top 10.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: They don't make them bad, they don't make them unwatchable, but these are just the 10 players personally that when they are playing, it is my objective to watch them as much as possible.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: These people on this list, this is such an elite group of guys that I would watch their game live.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then after it's wrapped up, either way, they'd be the next morning or whatever, I'm going back to watch their possessions too.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: I just watched them for 40 minutes and I said, I can't get enough.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Let me go back and re-watch the things that they did, especially if they had a really good game.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, 40-year-old, near 40-year-old LeBron is on this list.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Spoiler alert.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in previous years, he's probably been number one.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: But as he's got to his older age, we see him.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Do I want to use the word coasting?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, because he's still averaging ridiculous, ridiculous numbers, but it's not as insane as even four years ago, but he's still braun.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: So of course he's in this list because I don't want to take that man for granted whatsoever.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm watching this game last night versus versus the Clippers.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm watching it with my significant other.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: We're laying in bed.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Somehow I'm sick as can be, and she ain't called a single that I don't understand how sickness works.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: I don't.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: We've been we've been sleeping in the same bed, doing everything we normally do, and she ain't even coughed.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: She ain't sneezed one time.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: But we're watching this game, and it's it's rare that my wife uh watches basketball with me.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's she enjoys basketball, but not to the the sicko mode that I be in.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Sicko mode, not to the that's that's the sickness in my brain.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Did I just reference sicko mode in 2024?
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I did.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but because I wasn't feeling the greatest, and I I ain't gonna lie, when I when I'm feeling sick, I I like to be baby a little bit.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: So she's laying in bed with me.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um and there's this one play late in the fourth quarter where D'Angelo Russell did the thing that the purest thing in basketball, if you ask me, a no-dip jump shot.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: She said, What is that?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: I said, That's basketball, baby.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's basketball, baby.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: D'Angelo Russell.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh one of the questions from from the last episode that I did not get to, it was an Ask KB question.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Was he starting five of the no-dip jump shooters, right?
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: If if you if you're new around here, that is my favorite thing in basketball, where a catch-and-shoot player catches the ball no matter where the pass was and shoots it on release.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Did not dip down to get into their own pocket, did not get it.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: No, they catch and they shoot immediately.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: D'Angelo Russell is on that list now.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: He's done it too many times.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And doing it in the clutch is kind of some insane stuff.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: So we we got a list of uh Nicholas Batoub, who's the captain of this.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: He's one of the people that I saw do it for years and never really thought about it too much.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, wait, what's that?
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Jeremy Grant is also on this list.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: He's been doing it a bunch over the last couple seasons.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: D'Angelo Russell was on this list, and I was trying to figure out some other people because every NBA player can do this, right?
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's about because if if you have one second on the clock, you don't have time to get into your regular shooter motion.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, like I've seen Duncan Robinson do it, but a lot of the times it's just because he's rushed.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: A player like Nicholas Batum, it don't matter how many seconds on the shot clock.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes he's just gonna get it up that way.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: D'Angelo Russell, in this in this scenario, I'm pretty sure it was a couple seconds left, so he got it up like that.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: But he has been able to do it if there are 17 seconds on the shot clock.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I've seen other players do it.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know who else is on this list.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: You let me know in the comment section.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: If somebody on your favorite team is a no-dip jump shooter, let me know.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because I was re-watching trying to answer this question, and like some of the people that I remember doing it, like Bogey Bogdanovich, I went through and watched almost every single one of his three-point attempts this season.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because I was like, there's I know I've seen him do before.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: I know I've seen him do before.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was five times out of however many attempts.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a decent volume when you consider the thing we're talking about, but not enough to maybe make the thing.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: So you let me know in the comment section.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, um, I I want to get to the top 10 most watchable players in basketball, but I need to address one thing.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: And the only reason I haven't addressed this on my other channels or on Twitter is because again, I've been sick.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: The last thing I want to do is go on goddamn Twitter when I'm sick.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: But I did this morning because I'm feeling 7% better.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: There's a section of of Nets Twitter that's not liking me right now.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: And listen, I always say this when I tell you to tell your fake your best friend about basketball podcasts, let him know about Kenny Beecham.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: I always say, I know I'm not the cup of tea for everybody.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody likes their different things.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Some people like super hot takes, some people like debates, some people like cool, calm, collected.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: I I would like to think I'm I'm that.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but in a video where I was talking about the LA Clippers rebranding, um, I tried to put these these, I don't know, put these on a parallel, right?
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: I said in that video that the Clippers are under an immense amount of pressure to win a championship and make the Kawhi Lin or Paul George era have something to show for, other than saying, like, hey, we brought in more fans because we got two marketable NBA players, we got an arena new brand, but they need some type of jewelry or something to say that this was a successful era outside of like financially, we blew it out of the water.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I put it on the same level as the Brooklyn Nets.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: I said, because the KD and Kyrie thing did not work and James Harden eventually thing did not work out.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't be surprised if Brooklyn is not on the top of the next superstars list when they are asking out.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I said.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't think that was too much of a hot take, but there is a portion of Nets Twitter that was like, oh, Kenny don't what is Kenny talking about?
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: He's clickbaiting, which again I always say I can always I I could tell who watches videos or who's just seen clip outs.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I'm not upset about you just seeing a clip out.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: It was on your Twitter feed, of course.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, comments on it.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying you're wrong in that.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: But the title of that video was the Los Angeles Clippers Rebranding is interesting.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: The Nets failed.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's clickbait.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: The video was there was a two-minute video portion of that 10-minute video about the Nets.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: It definitely wasn't clickbait.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: I gave my honest opinion about the failure that was what the Brooklyn Nets put together, and it is the biggest what if team in the history of basketball, if you ask me.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I said that because that didn't work out, the next star players probably aren't looking towards Brooklyn.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's fair.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Some people don't.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I'm not I don't need people to agree with the opinion.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I do want to ask.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you weren't a Nice fan, what do you think then?
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you put if you put your your personal allegiance to the side, see it happen.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: Your personal allegiance to the side.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Is that kind is that a bold take of me that I just put out there?
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's not like Brooklyn has historically been a place that has signed superstar free agency.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: That that was the place, that was the time that you've done it.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: If we were talking, if I would have said the same thing about the Lakers, who always went in free agency, then that would have been kind of wild.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: But Brooklyn, the teams that they've made, the only times that they've really been able to go out there and sign star players was this version of them.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: The other versions that had star players, it wasn't strictly free agency that they did that.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: You tell me if you think KG Paul Pierce and them at that age were consider star players.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: I would give it them the benefit of the doubt.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: That wasn't free agency.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: That was a big trade that gave up Jalen Brown and stuff.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: If you forgot.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: So again, I'm just saying to each his own.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think I deserve the flack that y'all was throwing at a brother.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's that's it.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: This portion of the Kenny Beach and Podcast is brought to you by Factor.
• 10:13
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• 10:16
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• 10:49
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• 10:52
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• 10:53
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• 10:57
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• 11:01
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• 11:20
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• 11:24
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• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Before we get to the list and stuff, right?
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there is a there is a report from Real GM and I'm gonna read it to you verbatim.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: The NBA competition committee has officially begun reviewing whether the game has become too uh advantageous for offense and whether some changes needed to be implemented to achieve better balance.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh basically the thing that a lot of NBA fans have been seeing for the last, let's say five years or so, it's such an offensive-oriented league, right?
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: We're seeing all-time numbers.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: We've seen 70-point games here, there, all in between.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, nowadays, if a team don't put up 110, it was a bad offensive day.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, when 10 years ago you put up one 10, you're like, damn, nobody was messing with y'all.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: So it has shifted dramatically.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of that is because the talent has just got better.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: You look at the people across the association, everybody can shoot.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, uh offensive schemes are just better.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: They're smarter.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: When when you combine um better X's and O's and better talent, we're talking about offense being the thing.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: And that's our league right now.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not one to complain.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: Only thing I really care about is competitiveness.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: If the score was 200 to 202, yeah, I take that back.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: I probably wouldn't enjoy that.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: But but for the most part, it's really just about the competitive nature.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, too many times in our game nowadays, because the three-point shot is such heavily relied on, it you can boil down, and this is something that I talked to um a um a family friend of mine recently who likes basketball but doesn't love the NBA.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: He's more of a college basketball guy.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and he said, this is his opinion, that if you look at what team made more threes, 90% of the time that is a team that ends up winning the basketball game.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that's just not fun to him.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, okay, I wonder what the truth is in that.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I went down and I started this research maybe two months ago, where I went through every single game for months to say who made more threes and did that team end up winning.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: Now I went through and I personally charted 137 games.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: I know, hey, if you if you're into coding, I know there's a very easy way to do this.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Hell, I probably could have just Googled this and somebody's already done it.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: But I did it, I did it on myself.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm gonna round these numbers just so they're clean.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: And and the data from this season that I've accumulated in 100 or something games, 84% of the time, the team that made more three-pointers won the game.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's a lot.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: 7% of the time, the teams made exactly the same amount of threes, and the remainder percentage, the team that lost a three-point battle, end up winning the game.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um so you let me know if if my my buddy, um, a family friend of mine, you let you let me know if those numbers support his case.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, because kind of.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and as the best example of this that happened recently is uh, I said I wasn't gonna talk about them anymore.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: But my Chicago Bulls just did it.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: They had the worst three-point shooting volume night in the history of basketball, the lowest three-point percent of any team to attempt 25 threes.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think they made two out of almost 30, and they lost the game to the Detroit Pistons, who deserved a win.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'll say it.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: They deserved a win.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: They had one taken away from them because the the referees didn't call a foul on Asar Thompson versus the Knicks.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then Palo Ben Caro hit a game winning shot on them two nights before that.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: So they needed a win.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: They could be on a three-game win streak right now, but they're not.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the Bulls had an all-time terrible shooting night.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that's just the way it, that's the way it goes.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's the way it goes.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: The Bulls, and the only reason I'm referencing this game is not just because it's my favorite team, even though I vowed never to talk about them again this season, is because the Bulls won every single battle that matters.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: They won the defensive battle, uh, I'm sorry, the defensive rebounded battle, the offensive rebounded battle, the assist battle, the bench points battle, the points in the paints battle.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: They won every single statistical battle there was, except for the three-point shot and a loss to the Detroit Passes.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, okay, there's a lot of offense, and a lot of it is three-point shooting.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: So we got a lot of people thinking, um, what what could be done, right?
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: What could be done in our league by Adam Silver and company to make it so that that this thing that we call basketball is not just offensive, offensive oriented.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a lot of great suggestions.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: The one that I am the fan of the most is uh I think I my tweet was goodbye three seconds in the paint, defensive three seconds.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: They got a lot of traction, a lot of buzz.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's not an opinion that's like, oh my God, I broke the world because across the world, um, three seconds, defensive three seconds is not a thing.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: College basketball, feeble basketball, you can camp down in the paint if you want to defensively in every other place other than here in the NBA.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's not a crazy thing that I just came up with.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think Adam Silver and them are that crazy to say, like, hey, this rule is void.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: But I would like the idea of extending it a little bit.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is an idea that I actually heard on uh JJ Reddick's podcast.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Luca Doncic.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: And Luca, three years ago, has said that scoring in the NBA is a lot easier than scoring over overseas, mostly because you're not seeing a seven-foot dude standing under the basket all times.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: And in the way the Dallas Mavericks play basketball, who had their heart taken out of them a couple days ago by Max Struess on a 50, 59-foot three-point shot or something like that to win the game.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the way they play basketball is like, hey, spread picket roll, we're gonna do what we got to do.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's five out.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a maxi kleba and and Luka Donchis, he plays at his own pace, but he can get past his defenders.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: So it's layup after layup and so on and so forth.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: Where when he plays overseas, you can't really do that because in a lot of cases, that five man is kind of sitting or he's roaming and protecting that paint.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so the idea is not get rid of the three seconds in the paint, but extend it to four to five seconds.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I kind of like that idea.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if we want to get the scores a little bit closer, that also is gonna make it that Victor Wibinyama goes down as the greatest basketball player in the history of this sport.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe you don't want that.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's another one back back, uh Kirk Goldsbury, and um, I think it was NBA Universe that was like, get rid of corner threes.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is an idea that I've heard a bunch over the last couple seasons or the last couple years, as far as people advocating for this.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: I also think that's too far, and and like it's too much to take away that shot.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's such an integral part.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: My tweet was goodbye, PJ Tucker, even though PJ Tucker kind of been gone for a little while now.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: But like, if you look at his shot chart, it's all corner threes.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: And there is a there's a genre of NBA player that that is who they are.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: If you take away their corner three, the offense have to get more interesting.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I that's why I'm not completely against it, but I think it's just too far away for them to do it in one singular season.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and a lot of people ask me, like, Kenny, do you think that Adam Silver is gonna incorporate something this offseason?
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't, I don't know.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how fast you work on these type of things.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: If anything, I think that they uh one thing that happens in Major League Baseball, at least, um, is that they they do some things to the minors.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Here's a here's a robo ump.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: See what that looks like for a couple games, and then if it works, then we bring it up.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's kind of the way I think they're probably gonna play this.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: So we're probably thinking a couple years down the line before they make any major adjustments.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: But I do like the, I do like that Adam Silver is aware of these type of things, that he wants more competitive basketball, he wants more defensive-oriented basketball, um, because I think it's just it would just be better for the game itself.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, another idea that I think is probably the best idea, just call the games as if they're playoffs every night.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because everybody recognizes that, like, oh my God, this player gets 12 free throws a night in a regular season, but look how it's only seven once we get to the postseason.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: What has changed?
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: His playstyle ain't changed, but the whistle is a lot tighter.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just play the game that way.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Is it more stressful for our referees to play it that way?
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: But I like the idea of letting them boys play.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: And if you let them play as if it was the playoffs, a lot of the foul baiting that a lot of people complain about is completely gone and so on and so forth.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: Do it like it's the playoffs and let the players adjust.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: I am 100% confident that no matter what we decide to do, whether it be five seconds in the paint, get rid of the three-point line, call it as if uh it was the playoffs, our players in our league are so talented, they will adapt.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: And the product is not gonna change to the sense that it's gonna be unwatchable all of a sudden because we made a defensive change.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Let them let the boys hand check.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody say that I think hand check is still still kind of a thing.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: Let the boys hand check, let them do whatever they want.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: No, okay, not whatever they want.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody said give them an extra foul.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know if that how do we use that extra foul?
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: You let me know in the comment section.
• 19:34
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• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's time to get to it.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: The top 10 players in excitement, watchability, whatever you want to call it.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now part of this, oh not all part of this, all of this is based on this season, right?
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: So if a player historically is amazing to watch, but this season maybe they've taken a little back step.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: I take that into consideration.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: This is a 2023, 2024 list, okay?
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: Which it did in 2020.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't give a damn about in this particular list.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: So number 10 on my list is Anthony Edwards.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Anthony Edwards is is the main offensive focal point on one of the best teams of basketball.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: Again, they're a defensive oriented team, like that's where they look.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: They had, they got Rudy Gobert, who.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: If I had honorable Mitchells, Rudy Gobert would be on the list.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: The reason he's not on the list, because I thought I think that y'all would think that I lose all credibility if I have Rudy Gobert on the list.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: But let me explain it.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: Let me explain it.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: Again, he's not on the list.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: Anthony Everett is instead, but let me explain why Rudy Gobert is in conversations, right?
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen Rudy Gobert play basketball live in person three different times.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: Twice here in Chicago, and then once when I went to Milwaukee a couple weeks ago for the trade deadline.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: And every single one of the time, his defensive impact is so much more apparent in person.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: Also, watchability can go for the stupidness too.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: The man has stone hands.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: If he dribbles, he feels it looks weird.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like that matters to me as far as watchability goes.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm also just like a Rudy Gobier super fan, and the defense is real and it's as real as can be.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, but it said it's Anthony Edwards.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, high flying guy.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: There was a game a couple nights ago, not their last game against the uh Memphis Grizzlies, but the game right before that, where the fourth quarter was all Anthony Edwards.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a beauty to watch.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: It was get to my spot, high off the glass, bank shot.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: It was get to the basket, spin move, turn around.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like he has so many, like, oh man, this is this is probably gonna make me sound terrible.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: But like he is a hooper's hooper, difficult shot taker, difficult shot maker.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: And that's fun, right?
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: There's as as crazy as it can be, and sometimes it's it's a negative, Anthony.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's a negative, those crazy shots, the high difficulty shots, are amazing to watch.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: And and sometimes, yeah, we get to the fourth quarter, one of those shots don't go in, two of those shots don't go in, three of those shots don't go in.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, man, can we go get an easy one?
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: But that's part of the game.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because when they are going in, they are going in.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: Number nine on my list.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how many of y'all expected this guy to be here, Jalen Brunson.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: Jalen Brunson, and the reason I really enjoy Jalen Brunson's play is talking about I met Jalen Brunson at All-Star Weekend.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think I mentioned this before.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: I am 5'7, 5'8, if we being generous.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: Me and Jalen Brunson was just slightly taller than me.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: If that's what it felt like at least.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: We were both wearing the same shoe.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: So that I didn't have an advantage there.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, no, we weren't.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: No, we weren't because I had to switch shoes.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: But but no advantage, I don't think.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: I had to book one zone.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I can't imagine being, let's say, roughly six foot, roughly six foot and averaging 27 points per game, being the number one option on a really, really good team.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason why it's so, so amazing is because he, of course, plays like a guard, but at the same time, he doesn't.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: The footwork that this man implements on a nightly-nightly basis is ridiculous.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: As crazy as it sounds, there are a lot of times where he is the smaller guy on the court, but he's also one of the bigger guys on the court.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: He'll take you into that post and footwork you to death.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: Earlier in the season, there was a little bit of noise on Twitter that was like, oh my God, Jalen Brunson, mid-range game is gone.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: His in-between game is awful.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: He's hitting his three-point shots, but he he he can't uh can't get to the mid-range.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: He's getting to the basket.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: All of that is all of that is gone.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: He's been one of the best and most impactful players in basketball for I don't know over a year now.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you look back to like January last year, when it started to really, really turn for him, and he's got done nothing but get better and better and better and better.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: Big shot maker, big shot taker.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it does help that he's a he's left-handed.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I cannot explain to you.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: I love watching left-handed players.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think that majority of them, I'm gonna say majority of them, um, are silky smooth and just have cool games.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I think Jalen Brunson is one of those guys.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: Number eight on my list is gonna be Kevin Durantula.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, didn't he say don't call him that?
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: Kevin Durant.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: Kevin Durant is still one of those guys.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: And though it may not be to the same extent as like three, four years ago, I mean, he's still putting up ridiculous, ridiculous numbers.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: The only thing I complain about a little bit when I watch the Phoenix Suns, and it's been an up and down season, where like some days I watch them like, yes, this is the team I think they're gonna compete for championship.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: And other days is like, are we really the what third worst fourth quarter team ever?
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now that was a little while ago.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that's still the case, but they're still one of the worst uh fourth quarter teams in current basketball.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: They still have blown, I think, the second most 10-point leads behind the Washington Wizards.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like, that happens a lot.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: But when it's clicking, it's clicking and Kevin could get to his spot.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I watched them do a double clutch game-winning shot versus my Bulls a couple weeks ago.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, that is a such a tough shot, especially with Alice Caruso roaming around to have the mindset to be like, oh, I can hang in the air for an extra second and clutch it a second time and then get the shot off.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: If you put a smaller defender on him, right over him, and and if you put a bigger defender on him, right through you.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I still have my things about Kevin Durant in this older age.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe I just have to accept the fact that he's just not gonna get to the basket um as much as you kind of want a guy of his caliber too.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: But the in-between game and a three-point game has been phenomenal.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like, okay, he does get to the basket as much.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: But if the rest is the rest, then the rest is the rest.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: Number seven on my list, and maybe this is low.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: You let me know.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: You let me know.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm here.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: That y'all gonna hate this one.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: LeBron James.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: I he he was the catalyst for today's episode.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: Watching him do that was a 19-point quarter versus the Clippers.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Ridiculous, ridiculous stuff.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: Again, one of the greatest ever do it, if not the greatest to ever do it.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: He's been on a on a tear for the last couple seasons, and it doesn't make any sense.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: As long as he's been healthy, he's been phenomenal.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: And again, there are times, I think I mentioned this earlier, where it feels like he's coasting, but yesterday was not one of them times, man.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: At least once we got to the fourth quarter, he was not one of them times.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: And and to see him to do it from the three-point basket and then do some stuff in between, he made a couple ridiculous, ridiculous passes.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and if you didn't know, LeBron James is just 40.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: 40 points away from 40,000, which is insane, right?
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: Which is insane.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: 40,000.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't think he's getting the next game, but he could.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: He could he could give us a little 40 piece.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: He could have a little 40.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: I it don't happen too often in his old age, but I'm assuming it's gonna be not this game, but next game.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's a home game, too.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I think he kind of wanna probably do it at home, but 40,000 points is ridiculous.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you go to FanDuel Sportsbook, you you can you can see the odds on how he scores the fourth, I almost said 4,000, 40,000th point.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, it is a plus 750 on a layup, a plus 300 on a three-point shot, a plus 320 on other.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: What is other?
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: Or is that like a that's like a midi that could be uh uh something in between because you also got free throw and dunk.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: I pray it's not a free throw.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: I pray it's not a free throw.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: I want to see something electric.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: I want to see a three-point shot personally.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: I want to see the when you look down at the ball, he say this is for for 40.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope, and this is gonna sound stupid, but I hope that he hits 40 on the dot and not 40,000 and one with that shot.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: You notice it's just ugly.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: Can we just get 40,000 by itself?
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: Four bunch of zeros.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: So you can go to FanBu FanDuel uh Sportsbook and try to see what you think.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it's under NBA special, see what you think is the way LeBron does it.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, remember he was trying to do the the hook, the Kareem hook shot to pass Kareem, and he was practicing it, and then it ended up being um a shot that he probably should have passed to Thomas Bryan.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: But it said it was it was Braun doing his thing.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: So 40,000.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: Again, shout out to Braun.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't think he again, he's not stopping anytime soon.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: Number six on my list, and this is where, again, things are probably gonna get kind of interesting because you you most people probably have these flipped.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: Number six is Victor Wibinyama.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, yes, it's Rook.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: It is the rookie.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Victor Wibinyama is number six on my list.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I I try, I I've almost put him higher.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: Almost put him higher.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I know it started off somewhat rough the first month and a half of the season.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: Not rough, it wasn't terrible, it just wasn't the play we're getting right now.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a Spurs team with what 11 wins on the season should not get this many nights of me watching them.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm here every day because I'm just I'm trying to see what is how is he doing these things?
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: And the answer is he's a freak of nature, he puts the time in, and he just has a his basketball IQ is kind of insane.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the passes that he he is objectively the best passer on the entire roster right now.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's saying a lot about him, but it's also saying a lot about the rest of the people on the team.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: But his basketball IQ is so ridiculous that I believe that again, once he has a better group of guys around him, there's no stopping his dude, especially if Adam Silver is gonna start incorporating some rules where he can defend a little bit better.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um we have a question later on the Ask KB segment that's revolving around Vic a little bit.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna stop right there on the Victor Women Yama.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: Number five on my list is Jonza Detacumpo.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: I cannot express to you how much I enjoy a player that takes zero possessions off.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like he is, I don't know, the embodiment of the type of player that I really enjoy.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: Offensively, defensively, he is going to go, go, go, go until he can't anymore.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that is just an admirable way to do anything, right?
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: I I try to live my life that way as far as the work goes, but I it's tough.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: And he's doing it, like he's physically doing it.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm I'm filming these videos in a chair.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: He's physically going 100% every single rep, and he's still doing what, 30 a night.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so the defense is still good, like the defense under Doc Rivers looks miles ahead of what it looked a couple months ago or a couple weeks ago under Adrian Griffin.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of that is again, Jan is playing his roomer and Burke Lopez, who we talked about on the last episode.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: But he's he's just going and going and going.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: And those are the type of things I admire.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um he's he's never gonna just give up.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: And that means a lot.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: Number four on my list is Shea Gildas Alexander.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot to be said about a player that plays at his own pace that you cannot speed him up, you cannot slow them down.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: And he's gonna get to his spots.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: There are, let me count him.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: One, two, three.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: There's five spots on the court that I deem the Shea Gildas Alexander area.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: Most of them are in the mid-range.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's like this left elbow, he gets that a slightly, slightly more to the left of the left elbow.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's an actual term for it, but I ain't got it.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: He's gonna get to that spot.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: And if he gets to that spot, you might as well get back on offense because he's gonna hit that shot more likely than not.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: So to have him do his thing and get his 31 points and eight rebounds every single night is it's ridiculous.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's really ridiculous.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: And and right now, I think he's second in MVP amongst a lot of people, the the latest straw pole hit him number two behind Nicole Jokic and stuff.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of insane what he's doing at this young age.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we saw a lot of this last year, of course, because he was all NBA first team, but he took that and he built upon it.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: And um, now that the team is winning and stuff, there's there's no other conversations that can't be had, especially if they go out and make a run.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because right now, you you know how the goalpost moves.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know how it is.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, he makes all NBA first team, but he ain't make the playoffs.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, his team is the number two seed in the playoffs right now.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: Let me see him win a playoff series.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like the goalpost continues to move for Shay, and every time it has moved, he's been able to still kick the field goal, I guess.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, number three on my list is my current MVP, is Nikola Jokic.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: I've talked about this before.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: My MVP ranking has fluctuated a bunch as it should because you have two straight weeks of Jokic doing this thing, you'll have two straight weeks of Luca, you have two straight weeks of Shay, you have two straight weeks of Yan.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it's all over the place.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't, if you don't just if you disagree, that's completely okay.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many great candidates.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the way Jokic can break down a defensive team, uh team defensively is ridiculous.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, our friend Ben Taylor at Think It Basketball put together a video maybe a week or so ago where he wants you to try to read the floor like Nikola Jokic and the things that he can see, Nikola Jokic can see.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: I struggle to see when the the game footage was paused.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: They paused the footage.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, hmm, who's open right now?
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: And Jokic, again, is doing that in real time.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: He is the best passer in basketball.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: He's one of the three best passers I've ever seen with my own two eyes.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: And he has the opportunity to go down as the one.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: He has the opportunity to go down as the one.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and he just continues to break things down, break teams down on a nightly-nightly basis.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: And right now, I would say a lot of it feels like he's coasting.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: He'll give you 15, 15, and 14, 13, 15, and 14.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like those are ridiculous stat lines, don't get me wrong, but he's not giving you that 25 piece, that 30 piece.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: And as long as him and Jamal Murray are in the lineup, the team has been virtually unbeatable, and that's why they're still my favorite to come out of the Western Conference.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: Number two on my list is Wardale, Stephen Curry.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: What can I really say?
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: Revolutionize the game, still one of the greatest watches in basketball.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: Even if his team is not being really successful, you can see how much he cares when something stupid happens in the game and how he'll fake throw his mouthpiece and all of these things.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: But the the degree of difficulty on a lot of the shots that he takes and makes is still otherworldly.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um even when he gets to the basket, the high scooping, floating layup is still marvelous to watch.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I again, it's been this way for maybe a decade at this point.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, probably a decade at this point.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: That when Steph Curry's hooping, I'm watching, because I don't really know what to expect.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: One of the coolest things in basketball is when a player can put up a shot and walk away before it goes in, and Steph Curry is the he's the king of that.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: And number one on my list, and you should probably saw this coming because I've done nothing but rave of the times I've watched this player, it's Luka Doncic.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: My the best basketball game I've ever been to, as far as and it wasn't just like, oh my god, it went to overtime or it was a double overtime game winner.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: The best basketball game I've ever been to was watching Luka Doncic at the Barclay Center.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: This was October of 2022, so early in the season.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: This is KD Kyrie uh versus Luka Doncic and stuff, especially then with he hits and spuckets.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: Ben Simmons played and he's scored the first basket of this game.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'll never forget that, Bill.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'll never forget that you're at the first basket of the game.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: And that was the moment of time.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: Again, as a guy that's watched Luca on TV a ton, I've obviously admired his game.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: I've enjoyed his game.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: But I will always tell people who would listen if you have the opportunity to watch Luca Doncic live, there's no better experience than that in basketball to me.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: I watched him, I'm lucky.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out to the Brooklyn Nets.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: They put me course after that game.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: We did some some stuff with a Polaroid camera, it's really cool.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I can't I can't lie.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: They gave it a Polaroid Cambo's like, take some pictures of the Nets.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, cool, here go a picture of KD Smack.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: Here go a picture of Kyrie smack.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: There goes Luca.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: Smack, smack, smack, smack, smack.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm taking a lot of pictures of Luca.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: They ain't published none of those.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: But like, and mom, I forgot where I was.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: Luca is a show.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: Last night, as I'm waiting for the for the other games to start, the first game of the night was Raptors versus uh Mavericks.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to say right off rip, I apologize to the Raptors fan base out there.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: A couple episodes ago, I put together a list of teams that I won't be watching for the rest of the season.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I not you can't the the I the idea was these are the teams that are so out of it um or so not fun to watch that I won't be tuning in.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'll watch highlights, I'll watch highlights of the specific players, but it was like Wizards, it was this team, it was that like bad teams.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: And the Raptors were on that list.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm here to say, I apologize, they're not on that list anymore.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: I've been enjoying the Raptors for the last two weeks or so.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, one of the things my dad instilled in me said a man can admit can admit when he's wrong.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I was wrong about the Raptors.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: They're running, they're gonna as soon as either those players develop three-point shots or they get players that can shoot threes, Darko Rayakovich's offense is gonna be up there.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: But that's that's not what we're talking about today.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: But shout out to the Raptors.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, last night there was a game uh versus the Raptors, and I think it's Matt Devlin and and Armstrong, Jack Armstrong are the commentary crew of the of the Raptors.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm bad at remembering those names, but that's one of my favorite commentary crews in basketball.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I so I'm watching this game from their perspective, and there were three different times in the first half where Luca did something that the broadcasts were completely silent.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't think I've ever seen that before.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: And one of them didn't make the highlight, like there's the one where he passed it behind his head that you saw on House of Highlights, ESPN, whatever, whatever.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: There's one play that didn't make it because Derrick Jones Jr.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: missed a shot in the corner.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: But Luca's being guarded by, I don't remember who it was.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: Luca takes the ball out of his right hand and he's on the right side, wow, right wing of the court in isolation, five out ball right now.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: Derrick Jones Jr.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: is open in the left corner.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_00: Luca takes the ball with his right hand, and one hand swings it to the corner, but Derrick Jones Jr.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_00: missed a shot.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_00: So you probably ain't see that on the highlight reel.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_00: But he had multiple times like this throughout the game, and that is the experience of Luka Doncic.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: So he is my number one.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_00: Snuff from the list is Jordan B.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's not anything about Joel and B.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: Again, like I mentioned in the beginning of the video.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: This is about uh this this season.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: So Joel and B missing as much time as he has, he just does not make the cut.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I Jason Tatum was a tough, tough cut.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: Kawhi Leonard was a tough, tough cut.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: He Kawhi Leonard will probably be my 11.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: Jason Tatum probably be my 12.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and again, Joel L B with the injury, and then who else is on my list?
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: Tyrese Halliburton was very high, but um he dropped a little bit.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then Donovan Mitchell, too.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but those are my top 10 players.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: You let me know in the comment section uh who you put on, who'd you take off?
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: Before we get out, we gotta do our favorite segment, hashtag AskKB.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: The first one comes from Caleb, the NBA facts.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: He says over under 20 all defensive selections between Chet Wimby, Bilal Kulabali, and the Thompson twins.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought about like 20?
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's a lot, ain't it?
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then you're like, well, Wimby dead ass is probably gonna make it this season.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that's without his team being a good defensive team.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_00: So again, I always I keep saying this with Wimby.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine when he has competent teammates and the defense is top 15.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: He's a lock to make it for every season that he is healthy.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: He's a lock.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm praying we get 10 to 15 like years of healthy Wimby.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: So let's say that accounts for half of it.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_00: Chet Homgren is also a guy that could make it every single year.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_00: Will he make it every single year?
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_00: But he could.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_00: So let's count, let's count Chet for six.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: Being cautious with it.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_00: Six.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_00: The Thompson twins are kind of insane.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: Malaukulibadi, Kula Bali, kind of insane.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: If you told me the line was at uh 20.5, as crazy as it sounds, I'm probably hitting the over because I'm I'm and maybe it's unrealistic to think perfect health for these players is 100% unrealistic to think perfect health for these players, but good health over.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_00: Give me the over.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: This one comes from B Drip 1K.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_00: How many games do you watch at a time, and how are you able to keep up with multiple games being on at the same time?
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this has definitely changed.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, let's say a year or two ago, if a game was on, I had it on one of my monitors.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_00: And what I realized was that's not a very effective way to kind of digest the things that you're seeing, right?
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine we have a slate where seven games are at the same time, which happens sometime, right?
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_00: You got the end of the six o'clock games and then the start of like the eight o'clock games and everything.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_00: You're not actually watching the games.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's basically for a show.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're okay, you look at the first box, you talk about two quad boxes, eight games.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: You watch the first box, okay, that's interesting.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: You're not watching the other three because you're watching the first box.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I told myself that every single night I'm going to select a few games to really dive into.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: If we have a slate of 10 games, I am focusing on three of those games and praying that I picked correctly.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then the games that I miss, I'm watching the highlights of or watching all possessions of, or picking players that may have had good nights or bad nights and watching their possessions.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_00: It is impossible to watch every single game, every single time.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_00: So um, and there are games that completely go under the radar.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like last night, um, trying to think of like Denver, Denver versus the Kings.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_00: That game, I was keeping track of the score, but I don't really know the story of that game.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: I watched zero seconds.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_00: Other I saw that the Kings run up by double digits, then I looked back and they were down by 20.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_00: I know De'Aaron Fox didn't play, but I don't know the story of that game.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_00: I opted to not watch that, but to focus on Lakers versus Clippers.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the Bulls game.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_00: I only watched fourth quarter and the two overtimes because I was focused on Dallas versus the Toronto Raptors, right?
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: And there are gonna be nights where I picked the wrong game.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_00: Damn, there's a 20-point blowout.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then I shift over to some of the other ones.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_00: Or I would see, like, oh my God, this game is close or four minutes to go.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: I know I'm focused on this game, but I can, I'm okay with putting this game to the side right now to watch how the last four minutes of this close game really ends up.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then when I'm bridging the gaps, I'm listening to other people that care about these teams.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm reading articles that are written about these teams from specific markets.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm I'm trying to never leave anything unnoticed.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's impossible, right?
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking about 30 different basketball teams that play 82 games each.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's impossible, but I try my damnedest to make that happen.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_00: I always got to try to get one non-basketball in before we get out of here.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_00: This comes from Millie.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_00: Trying to convince my friend who only plays COD, 2K, and Valorant, how great Boulders Gate is.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think people who only play those types of games can't get into a game like Bouldersgate or Mike and P that way?
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: The answer to your second question Mike and P that way, 100%.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: One game that came out recently and it was on the top of the world.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_00: It was, oh man, what is the name?
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, oh my god, uh Lethal Company, party game.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_00: Horror party game.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_00: The lengths I had to go to convince these boys to just play this game, just give it a try.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's a what was it, a$10 game?
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't, it might even be a free game.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_00: Download it, let's have fun.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: The lengths I had to go to get them to play anything outside of that, it's tough.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: But what I will say, I don't think there's anything wrong with the people that only play the select few things, but I don't like to hear those people complain about gaming being dead because they refuse to play the games other than the games they're familiar with.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_00: A game like Bouldersgate, I can 100% agree, it's not gonna be for everybody.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: If I somehow convince Pete or Mike to play those games, they're not gonna enjoy it.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Even though it's an amazing storyline, the mechanics are phenomenal, the customization is ridiculous, you can play it a hundred times in every single way.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's different.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: Some people are just not gonna like the turn-based uh the turn-based nature of it.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_00: So it's okay if you're one of those people that play COD and 2K and Madden and every yearly release game, but you have to realize that there are a lot of games outside those yearly releases that are phenomenal.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're not up for it, that's fine.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_00: But don't talk about how gaming is there, baby, because it's definitely not.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_00: You just have to you just have to get through those yearly releases and get to the other stuff.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where I'm gonna end it, y'all.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed it, be sure to leave it a like.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_00: Let me know the 10 the 10 players in the association that you feel the most interested in watching.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: Let me know what you think about Adam Silver potentially making changes uh and everything that we talk about in this video.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: Five stars.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_00: Leave a like, subscribe, all of the above, and I'll see y'all soon.