Latest / Small Ball with Kenny Beecham / 6 Overreactions To The First Week Of The NBA Season

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6 Overreactions To The First Week Of The NBA Season · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

0:10
SPEAKER_01: Welcome, welcome, welcome back to the Kenny Beachum podcast, ladies and gentlemen.
0:16
SPEAKER_01: The season has started.
0:17
SPEAKER_01: Real basketball is being played and it all matters.
0:21
SPEAKER_01: I cannot wait to get into it with you guys today.
0:23
SPEAKER_01: We got six things I've learned through the first week of the season.
0:26
SPEAKER_01: Now it's supposed to be seven, but I had to scratch one thing because some team looked better tonight than I anticipated, and we might get to them eventually.
0:33
SPEAKER_01: But six things about the NBA.
0:36
SPEAKER_01: Before we get into it, as always, I have to remind you: if you are on YouTube, leave a like on the episode, subscribe, tell a friend to tell a friend, because we're on the quest to become the number one basketball podcast in America.
0:47
SPEAKER_01: And America, we've maxed out at five.
0:49
SPEAKER_01: But now that we're going two times a week, I'm expecting to go higher and higher and higher.
0:53
SPEAKER_01: So Club Shay Shay, Shannon Sharp, count your days.
0:56
SPEAKER_01: We're on the way.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: If you're on YouTube, go over to Spotify, go over to Apple, pre-download the episodes, leave five stars because those things matter the most to us as we try to continue to grow this brand.
1:07
SPEAKER_01: All right.
1:07
SPEAKER_01: Are we ready?
1:08
SPEAKER_01: Are we ready for the things that I am, I guess, learning over the course of the NBA season?
1:14
SPEAKER_01: The first thing is this is crazy.
1:16
SPEAKER_01: To open up the show, not even actually talking about the games being played itself.
1:21
SPEAKER_01: Because I got a gripe with not you, because I'm just gonna assume that if you're watching the Kenny Beach and podcast, you're listening to the Kenny Beach and podcast, you don't fit into this period or these people that I'm talking about today.
1:33
SPEAKER_01: I made a tweet a couple days ago that, you know, it was spurred a moment.
1:37
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure my mathematics is a little bit off, but the tweet was I feel like 70% of NBA fans don't even like basketball.
1:46
SPEAKER_01: I didn't really add much context to it.
1:49
SPEAKER_01: And people are like, Kenny, what are you on about?
1:51
SPEAKER_01: Honestly, that tweet went somewhat viral.
1:53
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people were agreeing, and some people said that 70% might not be high enough, but I was definitely a little bit of my feelings after this.
2:00
SPEAKER_01: So let me explain what was going on, all right?
2:03
SPEAKER_01: We saw a game between Kevin Durant and LeBron James, the LA Lakers versus the Phoenix Suns.
2:08
SPEAKER_01: And in this game, the Phoenix Suns did not have Devin Booker.
2:12
SPEAKER_01: They did not have Bradley Beale.
2:13
SPEAKER_01: But for the most part, it didn't matter because Kevin Durant was doing the things that we know Kevin Durant can do.
2:18
SPEAKER_01: I was really excited for this matchup, not just because we have two teams that I believe should be in contention this season, but because we haven't seen LeBron James and Kevin Durant play each other since 2018.
2:32
SPEAKER_01: 2018.
2:34
SPEAKER_01: Christmas to be exact.
2:35
SPEAKER_01: And I want to remind you what was going on in 2018.
2:38
SPEAKER_01: It was the first year of LeBron James in LA.
2:41
SPEAKER_01: KD was on the Golden State Warriors.
2:44
SPEAKER_01: We didn't seen KD bounce around a couple different teams since then.
2:47
SPEAKER_01: It was so long ago that Lonzo Ball was playing alongside LeBron.
2:53
SPEAKER_01: That is how long it's been since we've seen a Kevin Durant and LeBron J'matchup.
2:56
SPEAKER_01: And we got years of it happening in the finals.
2:58
SPEAKER_01: We've seen it on Christmas before this.
3:00
SPEAKER_01: So I just become accustomed to seeing two of the best players from this generation battle it out a couple times a year.
3:06
SPEAKER_01: And we went five years without it, right?
3:09
SPEAKER_01: In this game, we saw the LA Lakers beat the Suns 100 to 95.
3:13
SPEAKER_01: It was a dogfight.
3:14
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't necessarily pretty, like majority of basketball this week.
3:17
SPEAKER_01: Let's be real, it hasn't been a ton of pretty performances, but it's bald at the end of the day.
3:20
SPEAKER_01: The game wrapped up and I tweeted, shout out to LeBron and Kevin Durant for putting on the show.
3:26
SPEAKER_01: And you would have thought I said something controversial.
3:30
SPEAKER_01: The comment section was just filled with a bunch of negativity.
3:34
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like I'm in the last generation of NBA fans that actually enjoy the basketball being played.
3:41
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people are invested in basketball because of the drama.
3:44
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not gonna fault them because the drama amongst all of the major sports league, the drama in the NBA is top tier.
3:49
SPEAKER_01: We got trade requests left and right.
3:51
SPEAKER_01: We got so much going on.
3:53
SPEAKER_01: People are more obsessed with the drama, with the agendas, and with just having a correct take.
4:00
SPEAKER_01: So I made this tweet.
4:01
SPEAKER_01: And I just don't for context for the people that did not watch this game, let me read you the stat lines of Kevin Durant and LeBron.
4:07
SPEAKER_01: Remember, I'm telling the world that I'm appreciative of Kevin Durant and LeBron for their performances.
4:12
SPEAKER_01: KD ended with 39 points and 11 rebounds.
4:15
SPEAKER_01: LeBron James ended with 21 points, nine rebounds, eight assists, and he had a personal 7-0 run to close out this game.
4:22
SPEAKER_01: Now, both of these guys, they were far from perfect.
4:26
SPEAKER_01: Kevin Durant had a lot of turnovers down the stretch that were kind of unforged now.
4:30
SPEAKER_01: Granted, he was seeing two to three bodies every time he touched the ball.
4:33
SPEAKER_01: But yes, when it got down to the nitty-gritty in the last couple minutes, KD ran out of gas, and that led to a couple turnovers, one being thrown to uh Joshua Koge, who he thought was cutting, but he wasn't cutting.
4:43
SPEAKER_01: So it was very far from perfect.
4:45
SPEAKER_01: But my initial tweet is saying, hey, it's been five years since we've seen these dudes.
4:50
SPEAKER_01: LeBron is 38, Kevin Arrett is 35, and I thought they both gave us what we wanted.
4:57
SPEAKER_01: But boy, you would have thought something crazy was said.
5:01
SPEAKER_01: Because I saw it the both sides of the coin.
5:03
SPEAKER_01: Now, of course, there were people that genuinely agreed, but again, the people that I'm talking about are genuinely in the minority.
5:07
SPEAKER_01: I know the tweet says 70% of NBA fans don't care.
5:10
SPEAKER_01: I was exaggerating.
5:10
SPEAKER_01: It's not 70%.
5:11
SPEAKER_01: Majority of people are saying, yes, Kenny, that is true.
5:14
SPEAKER_01: Enjoyed the game, whatever, whatever.
5:16
SPEAKER_01: But I saw both sides of the coin.
5:18
SPEAKER_01: People saying Kevin O'Rant didn't show up.
5:21
SPEAKER_01: And also people saying LeBron didn't show up.
5:23
SPEAKER_01: People saying that LeBron that Kevin O'Rant didn't show up and he's not clutch, talking about the turnovers down the stretch or the few missed shots.
5:30
SPEAKER_01: And yes, Kevin O'Rant had, I think, 33 points going into the fourth quarter and ended with 39.
5:35
SPEAKER_01: So yes, his fourth quarter was not his greatest quarter.
5:37
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't.
5:38
SPEAKER_01: And the people that were saying LeBron got carried because LeBron ended up with 21 while Anthony Davis ended up with 30.
5:44
SPEAKER_01: So the 38-year-old player got carried.
5:46
SPEAKER_01: Kevin O'Rant is not clutch, so they didn't enjoy the game.
5:50
SPEAKER_01: How do we get to that conclusion?
5:52
SPEAKER_01: How do we get to that conclusion?
5:54
SPEAKER_01: These dudes just gave us a national TV game, a performance, a matchup that we haven't seen in five years.
6:02
SPEAKER_01: LeBron got carried.
6:04
SPEAKER_01: Did you not see MJ pass to Kerr?
6:07
SPEAKER_01: Pass to Paxson?
6:09
SPEAKER_01: Did you not see the Ray Allen shot?
6:11
SPEAKER_01: Or the Carrie Irving shot?
6:13
SPEAKER_01: This is a team sport, y'all.
6:14
SPEAKER_01: No matter how good an individual player is, they're never going to be able to win by themselves.
6:18
SPEAKER_01: I mean, random regulars' game, sure, we see it all the time.
6:20
SPEAKER_01: But when it matters, it just blew my mind that I was showing admiration for these old heads that gave us a performance, and that's what it was.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: And what I think a lot of it is, is people are inspired by take culture.
6:36
SPEAKER_01: And again, having a take is fun.
6:39
SPEAKER_01: This podcast is filled with takes.
6:42
SPEAKER_01: But I also don't have these takes and wait for my validation.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of takes that I'm going to get wrong.
6:49
SPEAKER_01: And that is okay.
6:51
SPEAKER_01: The KD is not clutch.
6:53
SPEAKER_01: Take has been following him for years.
6:55
SPEAKER_01: And again, the numbers say that he performs slightly worse in the clutch.
7:00
SPEAKER_01: That's facts.
7:02
SPEAKER_01: But I don't want to want you at home to watch Kev Durant score 39 and 11.
7:08
SPEAKER_01: And the takeaway you have it from it is he's not clutch.
7:12
SPEAKER_01: Because boy, basketball is more than just the last two minutes.
7:17
SPEAKER_01: Clutchness is more than what you do in the last two minutes.
7:22
SPEAKER_01: I see clutch in the moments where the Lakers were storming back on a 9-0 run and Kevin O'Reilly with 23 seconds on the clock or 22 seconds on the clock had a pull-up jump shot to silence the drought.
7:35
SPEAKER_01: That's clutch.
7:37
SPEAKER_01: It happened early in the fourth quarter instead of at the end, but that is clutch at the end of the day.
7:42
SPEAKER_01: So when I said that 70% of NBA fans don't love basketball, exaggeration.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: But if you fall into that camp, I just I just want you to take a step away from social media and watch basketball for what it is because it is a beautiful, beautiful sport.
7:59
SPEAKER_01: Forget about whether or not you believe that this player is this good and you want to prove that you were right.
8:05
SPEAKER_01: Just watch it for what it is.
8:07
SPEAKER_01: A beautiful sport with a split second decision can cost you a game.
8:12
SPEAKER_01: That's what we're here for.
8:14
SPEAKER_01: That is the first thing I learned for the first week.
8:16
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is not uh something, I guess I didn't learn it this week, but it was amplified this week.
8:21
SPEAKER_01: How about I say that?
8:22
SPEAKER_01: The second thing I learned this week is that the Denver Nuggets should still be considered the favorite.
8:29
SPEAKER_01: Whoa, Kenny! Whoa.
8:31
SPEAKER_01: The Bucks traded for Damian Lillard, though.
8:33
SPEAKER_01: Game two of Damian Lillard with the Bucs was one of his worst games in his entire career.
8:38
SPEAKER_01: Like I've watched that game against the Atlanta Hawks.
8:40
SPEAKER_01: I have never seen Damian Lillard get thrown a double team and him not know how to adjust since the one series versus the Pelicans.
8:47
SPEAKER_01: It's a second regular season game.
8:48
SPEAKER_01: I'm not overreacting to it, but it was just different.
8:51
SPEAKER_01: I'll say that.
8:52
SPEAKER_01: After watching years and years and years of domination from Dame to see him have this battle performance was just different.
8:58
SPEAKER_01: But we saw the Milwaukee Bucks trade for Damian Lillard.
9:00
SPEAKER_01: We saw the Boston Celtics go get Chris Dasporzingis and Drew Holiday.
9:05
SPEAKER_01: We saw the Suns add Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant last deadline.
9:09
SPEAKER_01: But the defender champions, in my opinion, are still the teeth to beat.
9:14
SPEAKER_01: I've watched every single game of them this season.
9:16
SPEAKER_01: Actually, I was at the ring ceremony, and it was the most amazing atmosphere I've ever experienced as an NBA fan.
9:21
SPEAKER_01: I've been to Madison Square Garden when it mattered.
9:23
SPEAKER_01: I've been to Chicago Bulls playoff games, and none of them even come close to the first game of the season after winning the championship.
9:30
SPEAKER_01: The atmosphere was great.
9:32
SPEAKER_01: They had drums playing, which made me feel like I was in a Coliseum March Madness vibes, and the commentators or the people over the announcing table made everybody feel involved.
9:41
SPEAKER_01: KCP hit a three.
9:43
SPEAKER_01: It was one, two, three.
9:45
SPEAKER_01: K KC Pope, Kenny Pope for three.
9:49
SPEAKER_01: They should still be considered the favorite because they right now, through the first couple games of the season, feel like they have little to no flaws.
9:58
SPEAKER_01: Now, first of all, they have Nicole Jokic.
10:01
SPEAKER_01: Let's be real.
10:02
SPEAKER_01: There are a couple people right now through the first week of the season that you should consider to be an MVP conversation.
10:06
SPEAKER_01: We got Luka Doncic being 2-0 in both of those games.
10:09
SPEAKER_01: He put up clutch performances and 40-point this and that, 49 points in one of them.
10:14
SPEAKER_01: He's been ridiculous.
10:15
SPEAKER_01: Nicole Jokic is 3-0, and he's not, I'm gonna say coasting, but it's just the way that Nicole Jokic plays basketball that it doesn't seem like he's out there giving it his all, but we know he is.
10:25
SPEAKER_01: You know, we we saw the little reel that the Denver Nuggets put together to tell people stop saying that he don't let a game because he genuinely do.
10:31
SPEAKER_01: He just don't love the medium.
10:33
SPEAKER_01: He is doing it so very effortlessly.
10:36
SPEAKER_01: I watched him play against the OKC Thunder, and that was the most anticipated game of the night for me, or it was during the day.
10:42
SPEAKER_01: But I was so excited because OKC, through the first couple games, have looked dominant.
10:45
SPEAKER_01: I'm super excited for them.
10:47
SPEAKER_01: They've been my league pass team.
10:48
SPEAKER_01: They dominated my Chicago Bulls and then went out to the second game and came back when they were down by eight points in two minutes with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
10:55
SPEAKER_01: They look great.
10:56
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, okay, this is the real test for the OKC Thunder.
10:59
SPEAKER_01: They played against the Bulls, trash.
11:00
SPEAKER_01: They played against the Cavaliers when they were missing some people.
11:03
SPEAKER_01: So let me see them play against the real competition, the best team in the association.
11:07
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't close.
11:08
SPEAKER_01: It was not close.
11:10
SPEAKER_01: And that's not really saying that the that the Thunder aren't ready because the Thunder are a good team, in my opinion, but that just shows you how good and how deep this Denver Nuggets team is.
11:20
SPEAKER_01: And that's saying something because I didn't necessarily think they were going to be a deep team, given the people that they lost.
11:26
SPEAKER_01: Early in this first quarter, Nicole Jokic went at Chet Homer's chest time after time after time again, because he probably saw a seven foot-one, skinny frame gowns like this is free cheese.
11:36
SPEAKER_01: And it was for him.
11:37
SPEAKER_01: I think he ended up with 29, 30 points, double double.
11:40
SPEAKER_01: He did his thing.
11:41
SPEAKER_01: But it's not just about Nikole Jokic.
11:43
SPEAKER_01: Like, obviously, yes, having the best player in the world or one of the two best players in the world matters a ton.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: But the team that Calvin Booth built around them is just amazing.
11:53
SPEAKER_01: First, I want to talk about the defense of Aaron Gordon and Contavius Caldwell Pope.
11:58
SPEAKER_01: Because first of all, this is a defense that is higher than just those two dudes, but those are the dudes that when I watch stand out on the defensive efforts.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: Aaron Gordon, so far through the first three games, looks like an all-defensive player.
12:10
SPEAKER_01: He is everywhere.
12:11
SPEAKER_01: He is a Swiss Army knife where you need him to guard LeBron, I died guard LeBron.
12:14
SPEAKER_01: We need him to guard D'Angelo Russell, I can do that.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: We need him to switch on to uh Shea Gilly's Alexander, I can hold my own.
12:20
SPEAKER_01: And as a help defender, we watched him a ton over the past two days make plays.
12:25
SPEAKER_01: All of them doesn't end in a steal or a block.
12:29
SPEAKER_01: But he's impacting the defense higher than he has over the last couple of years.
12:33
SPEAKER_01: And that's saying something because he's been a good defender.
12:37
SPEAKER_01: And now he's looking like a great defender through the first couple games.
12:40
SPEAKER_01: Kenny Hussle, not Kenny Hussle, Kenny Pope, Kenny Hussle, who's got the patch in the back.
12:45
SPEAKER_01: And get well soon, Kenny Hussle.
12:46
SPEAKER_01: We need to see you on the court because you got a DMP uh injury today as well.
12:50
SPEAKER_01: Kenny Pope is flying all over the place.
12:53
SPEAKER_01: Talk about loose balls, talking about somebody just having a loose handle.
12:57
SPEAKER_01: Don't do that in front of KCP.
12:59
SPEAKER_01: And God forbid he's trailing on the break because he is pulling up for three.
13:02
SPEAKER_01: Those dudes collectively make me feel like this defense is going to be really good.
13:07
SPEAKER_01: And then now we see, of course, Jamal Murray's always been a guy to buy in.
13:10
SPEAKER_01: Nikola Jokic over the last couple of seasons have become a guy that was widely considered to be a bad defender, to be an average defender, to be an above-average defender just because his hands are just so elite.
13:20
SPEAKER_01: The defense is there.
13:21
SPEAKER_01: And the thing that I think is kind of underrated when you think about the different nuggets is how much playmaking they really have.
13:28
SPEAKER_01: They have the playmaker, the, the guy, Nikole Jokic.
13:33
SPEAKER_01: But Aaron Gordon, Jamal Murray, off the bench, Quinch Christian Brown, Reggie Jackson has looked amazing through three games.
13:42
SPEAKER_01: And Peyton Watts is not really known for his playmaking, but he makes plays without having the ball.
13:48
SPEAKER_01: There is a quote in a ringer article that uh Kevin O'Connor wrote uh before the season started, where he got a candid interview with Calvin Booth, the guy that's in charge over there with building the team.
13:57
SPEAKER_01: And he got a little backlash for it because he made some quotes and he didn't know that he was on the record, so on and so forth.
14:03
SPEAKER_01: Let me read you one of these quotes about Peyton Watson, who's becoming one of my favorite players in basketball.
14:08
SPEAKER_01: I was high on him going into it, but not this high.
14:11
SPEAKER_01: I read this quote when it happened.
14:12
SPEAKER_01: I was like, I gotta see him.
14:14
SPEAKER_01: Some of these teams were trying to get Bruce.
14:16
SPEAKER_01: He was referring to Bruce Brown, trying to make it worth it.
14:18
SPEAKER_01: It's like, just be careful for what you what you wish for.
14:21
SPEAKER_01: Peyton's bigger, he's longer, he's more athletic, he guards better, he passes better, he doesn't have the experience, and he's not as good offensively yet.
14:29
SPEAKER_01: But we need defense more than we need offense on our team.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: And the moment when that dropped, I'm like, dang, because Brucey Brown was just so very important to that championship, Ron.
14:38
SPEAKER_01: You telling me that this dude that barely got PT during the playoffs is gonna fill that row?
14:43
SPEAKER_01: I'm kind of skeptical.
14:44
SPEAKER_01: And it's been three games.
14:46
SPEAKER_01: Again, we're overreacting to a degree.
14:48
SPEAKER_01: He's looked really, really good.
14:50
SPEAKER_01: He he doesn't have the volume of three-point shots yet for me to know if he'll be able to do some of the things when it matters the most.
14:59
SPEAKER_01: I think right now he's shooting like 40% from three on like 1.7 attempts.
15:02
SPEAKER_01: So his value is not very high.
15:04
SPEAKER_01: But he is the perfect kind of player to put alongside Nicole Jokic.
15:07
SPEAKER_01: Very similar to what I said last year with Bruce Brown, because they have this knack for being in the right place at the right time.
15:13
SPEAKER_01: And Peyton Watson being as athletic as he is, when he cuts, if Jokic finds him, it's GG's.
15:19
SPEAKER_01: It's a dunk.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: It's a layup.
15:21
SPEAKER_01: I saw him do a little dish off pass yesterday against the uh, or a couple days ago against the Greys.
15:24
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh snap.
15:26
SPEAKER_01: And of course, we talk about defense on this team.
15:29
SPEAKER_01: He's one of the best shot blocking guards in the league right now.
15:32
SPEAKER_01: Full stop.
15:33
SPEAKER_01: There's a play earlier in today's game where they're going against OKC, and he's a help defender against Shea Giorgio Alexander, and he climbs a ladder so very high to meet the Shea Giurs Alexander Floater at the apex.
15:45
SPEAKER_01: The defense was so good on Shea that Shea had his worst game of maybe two seasons.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: Like that's how it was.
15:49
SPEAKER_01: Now, again, Shea was missing a lot of shots, and he's a guy that can get to the rim at will, but it was a struggle, and he didn't have any minutes where he wasn't being guarded by somebody that I deem to be a really good defensive player.
16:03
SPEAKER_01: This team is good.
16:04
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know if there's wiggle room to make it better at the deadline, but as is, right now, they are still the favorite to me.
16:13
SPEAKER_01: I didn't even mention Michael Porter Jr.'s back to shooting after the first game against the Lakers, where he struggled for shooting a little bit.
16:18
SPEAKER_01: He's back to shooting very well.
16:20
SPEAKER_01: And Reggie, did I mention Reggie Jackson?
16:23
SPEAKER_01: I think I did.
16:23
SPEAKER_01: When he re-signed, he's one of the first re-signies of the offseason.
16:27
SPEAKER_01: And I was a bit confused when him and Dre re signed.
16:30
SPEAKER_01: I'm a bit confused because uh Reggie didn't play a ton during the playoff run.
16:34
SPEAKER_01: And Dre got minutes in the finals, but it was a small amount of minutes.
16:38
SPEAKER_01: And uh they signed back really quick.
16:40
SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh, that's very interesting, especially if we consider that Bruce Brown had already signed with the Pacers or that Jeff Green was on his way to Houston.
16:46
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh, okay, we're bringing back two players that didn't even play really in the playoff run.
16:51
SPEAKER_01: And Dre doesn't play, let's be real.
16:53
SPEAKER_01: He's there for cohesion.
16:54
SPEAKER_01: He's there to be a locker room guy, and that's one thing we got to give Dre credit for.
16:58
SPEAKER_01: But uh that man, Reggie Jackson, looks very, very good.
17:02
SPEAKER_01: Uh just a couple years ago, Reggie Jackson was a starting point guard on the good team.
17:05
SPEAKER_01: You know, he ended up getting bought out or whatever, whatever, and he's uh struggled to look like the player that he was, let's say, three seasons ago.
17:12
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying he's that, but he looks really good as a backup point guard, even though I still really, really hate the fact that this man wears mismatched shoes.
17:21
SPEAKER_01: It's just too many players in the league that's doing it right now.
17:23
SPEAKER_01: I think three is the number.
17:24
SPEAKER_01: I think it's only three players.
17:25
SPEAKER_01: It is him, who's one of the originators, Javon Carter.
17:28
SPEAKER_01: No, Javon Carter's been doing this since high school.
17:30
SPEAKER_01: Javon Carter and now Jalen with J Dub from the OKC Thunder.
17:34
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine my discomfort when they were playing against each other today?
17:38
SPEAKER_01: And I saw Reggie Jackson on the court with J Dub.
17:42
SPEAKER_01: Come on, man, what is happening?
17:44
SPEAKER_01: That is my second observation.
17:47
SPEAKER_01: All right, I buried it.
17:48
SPEAKER_01: I buried the lead.
17:49
SPEAKER_01: A lot of y'all are aware that I was going to have to talk about the Chicago Bulls.
17:55
SPEAKER_01: My, my, my, my Chicago Bulls.
17:58
SPEAKER_01: The team, you know, sometimes, sometimes I sit back and I think, what if my parents didn't me here?
18:06
SPEAKER_01: How how much more fun will basketball be if I wasn't a fan of this team?
18:10
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm not I'm not getting rid of my fandom.
18:12
SPEAKER_01: That would be the last thing I'd do.
18:13
SPEAKER_01: I am I am Chicago Bulls to the day that I no longer exist, you know?
18:18
SPEAKER_01: But boy, it has not, it has not been a great time.
18:21
SPEAKER_01: It has not been a great time since I was born in '96.
18:24
SPEAKER_01: You know, you got a couple rings after that, but when I was conscious and starting to care about basketball, we have had, what, three good seasons, three seasons where I was super, super excited.
18:32
SPEAKER_01: This season started off as bad as any season could possibly start off.
18:36
SPEAKER_01: First game of the year, we go against the young OKC Thunder and they run us out of our own gym.
18:41
SPEAKER_01: Our home opener, everybody's hype.
18:43
SPEAKER_01: And guess what?
18:44
SPEAKER_01: I've attempted every I've attended every single home opener when it was available, because of course during the COVID year we couldn't go.
18:50
SPEAKER_01: Every single home opener for the last five seasons.
18:52
SPEAKER_01: I've been there until this year.
18:55
SPEAKER_01: Because I had grown tired of watching this team play.
18:59
SPEAKER_01: I watched at home.
19:01
SPEAKER_01: But as far as making the commute, because I don't live in Chicago anymore, y'all.
19:04
SPEAKER_01: I done made it out.
19:05
SPEAKER_01: You feel me?
19:05
SPEAKER_01: I'm in the burbs.
19:06
SPEAKER_01: So making the commute to the city to watch my favorite team lose by 20 points is something I don't want to do often.
19:11
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, okay, it's a full slate, 13-game slate.
19:14
SPEAKER_01: I would rather stay home and put the bulls on the big screen and watch all the other stuff across the association.
19:18
SPEAKER_01: That was the greatest call I could have made.
19:20
SPEAKER_01: Because I would have been so high.
19:21
SPEAKER_01: I would have left that game mid-third quarter.
19:23
SPEAKER_01: So they lose by a ton of points to a young OKC team.
19:26
SPEAKER_01: And what happens?
19:28
SPEAKER_01: The fastest players-only meeting in the history of basketball.
19:33
SPEAKER_01: No exaggeration.
19:34
SPEAKER_01: Go look at the records.
19:35
SPEAKER_01: The fastest one in the history of nobody has ever, at least publicly, had a players-only meeting after the first game of the year.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: It happened here in Chicago.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: And Billy Donovan came to the presser and he tried to spin it to make it seem like this is a great thing.
19:50
SPEAKER_01: He was excited about it.
19:51
SPEAKER_01: Brother, that's not good.
19:54
SPEAKER_01: That's not good.
19:55
SPEAKER_01: So we lose the first game of the season.
19:56
SPEAKER_01: DeMarta Rose is aclaving saying, hey, we're going to be better.
19:59
SPEAKER_01: Don't worry.
20:00
SPEAKER_01: Don't worry.
20:00
SPEAKER_01: In the second game of the year, they played against Toronto Raptors, and that was one of the most electric games of the year so far.
20:05
SPEAKER_01: It was so many swings where the Raptors started off 17-0 run, the Bulls going to 20-0 run, then the Raptors going to 17-0 run.
20:11
SPEAKER_01: And then the Bulls came back.
20:12
SPEAKER_01: They were down by 17 or five minutes ago.
20:14
SPEAKER_01: They go out, forced overtime, they win the game.
20:16
SPEAKER_01: Boom.
20:16
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, okay, I'm happy in the moment, but I understand that I not this is not going to last long.
20:22
SPEAKER_01: Then they play a back-to-back.
20:24
SPEAKER_01: Third game of the year, they go against the Detroit Pistons and they get smoked again.
20:28
SPEAKER_01: The exact Levine puts up 51.0 assists.
20:31
SPEAKER_01: Do you do you understand how hard it is to have zero assists when you have the ball enough to put up 50?
20:37
SPEAKER_01: I digress.
20:38
SPEAKER_01: They get dominated by one of the youngest teams in the league.
20:41
SPEAKER_01: Kay Cunningham, Jalen Duran, and company really smack the Bulls around.
20:46
SPEAKER_01: And when you have a guy put up 50 and you still still lose by 17, that's gonna get people talking.
20:53
SPEAKER_01: The problem I have with the Bulls is that we have a sample size of a season and a half saying that, hey, this core does not work.
21:05
SPEAKER_01: And yet the front office is still holding on to the half of a year where we had Lonzo Ball and we went into the all-star break with the best record in the Eastern Conference.
21:14
SPEAKER_01: They're still holding on to that and saying, like, hey, we can replicate that when we can't.
21:20
SPEAKER_01: I'm be honest.
21:21
SPEAKER_01: Even when we were the one C, go watch any of the videos.
21:24
SPEAKER_01: I was saying this is not a contender.
21:26
SPEAKER_01: We're just having a good time.
21:29
SPEAKER_01: We're just having a good time.
21:31
SPEAKER_01: And since then, since Lonzo has been down, we have looked dreadful.
21:35
SPEAKER_01: Good enough to make the play in, but that shouldn't be the goal.
21:40
SPEAKER_01: And 99% of NBA fans, NBA writers, or anybody with an opinion about the Chicago Bulls share the same sentiment that it is time for the Bulls to give it a rest.
21:51
SPEAKER_01: Nikola Vusevich signed an extension this offseason.
21:54
SPEAKER_01: It's a pretty good extension for Vusevich's production.
21:56
SPEAKER_01: I do want to give them credit for that.
21:58
SPEAKER_01: But he said, like, hey, Hey, the front office is saying that this might be our last hurrah.
22:03
SPEAKER_01: There's reports right before the season started that DeMar DeRose and the Chicago Bulls are at a standstill with his contract negotiations.
22:10
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, yes, I don't want to extend DeMar DeRose because that's just gonna put us back into mediocrity.
22:16
SPEAKER_01: That's not DeMar's fault.
22:18
SPEAKER_01: That's the team that we built.
22:20
SPEAKER_01: So 99% of fans, of people that cover and everybody else are saying that it is time to blow it up.
22:25
SPEAKER_01: And they're still the 1% of people, or then the people that are the 1% are the people in charge.
22:31
SPEAKER_01: They look at this team, they see that we're selling tickets because it's Chicago, baby.
22:35
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna ride for our team.
22:36
SPEAKER_01: And they say, hey, we'll be all right.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: Before the season started, you know, uh, or after last season ended, right?
22:43
SPEAKER_01: We we lose the play a game to the Miami Heat.
22:44
SPEAKER_01: Shout out to the Heat, they go to the finals.
22:46
SPEAKER_01: You know the story.
22:47
SPEAKER_01: Our tunish Carney Chauvis comes to the podium and he was asked as the at the season ending uh presser, what are we doing this offseason?
22:55
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Well, we're going to address our biggest problems, which is our three-point value.
23:00
SPEAKER_01: And then was another thing that whatever.
23:02
SPEAKER_01: So the shot diet now.
23:04
SPEAKER_01: Last year, they were 29th in the league in three-point attempts, right?
23:07
SPEAKER_01: 30% of their 100% of the shots were three-pointers, which is 29th in the entire association.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna remind you again what year we're playing in.
23:13
SPEAKER_01: The three-point shot is as important as any shot in basketball, not named the layup.
23:17
SPEAKER_01: It's it's as important as the layup at this moment, right?
23:19
SPEAKER_01: So they were 29th in the league in how many attempts they got up from three, and they were 26th in the percentage.
23:26
SPEAKER_01: So not only did we not get a lot of them up, we didn't hit them.
23:31
SPEAKER_01: It's like, okay, no big deal.
23:33
SPEAKER_01: No big deal.
23:34
SPEAKER_01: We'll be all right, right?
23:34
SPEAKER_01: That they're changing the shot diet.
23:36
SPEAKER_01: We have people that should be good three-point shooters, right?
23:38
SPEAKER_01: So the new season starts, and that is the number one thing on my priority list when I'm watching the Bulls play.
23:42
SPEAKER_01: I already know that we're not gonna be good.
23:43
SPEAKER_01: But I'm like, okay, are they gonna be people of their word?
23:46
SPEAKER_01: Because it wasn't even just our Carnegie.
23:47
SPEAKER_01: Billy Donovan also expressed that that was his goal as the coach of the team.
23:50
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, okay, so this season, hey, 35% of our three-pointers or our attempts from the field are three-pointers.
23:57
SPEAKER_01: That's a that's a full 5% higher.
24:00
SPEAKER_01: That's league average right now, right?
24:03
SPEAKER_01: We're shooting 28% on them, which is 29th.
24:07
SPEAKER_01: The volume is there, the percentage is not.
24:09
SPEAKER_01: I don't got the data to say if they're healthy shots, but they're getting them up.
24:14
SPEAKER_01: They're getting them up, and they're not falling.
24:17
SPEAKER_01: The half court offense, the thing that it carried us last season to be a slightly sub-500 team, is gone.
24:23
SPEAKER_01: I watched Kay Cunningham, Killian Hayes, and Jaden Ivy walk to the rim at will.
24:32
SPEAKER_01: And then when the layup wasn't there, guess what?
24:34
SPEAKER_01: What was Jalen Duran?
24:37
SPEAKER_01: So the half court office was a thing we held our hat on, and that's gone.
24:40
SPEAKER_01: And the offense is still as bad as it was last year.
24:42
SPEAKER_01: Actually, it's worse than it was last year.
24:44
SPEAKER_01: What is our identity?
24:46
SPEAKER_01: When you think about identity, identities across basketball, usually a team that's been together for three seasons kind of have an idea of what their identity is.
24:54
SPEAKER_01: This Bulls team does it.
24:55
SPEAKER_01: No, that is a problem that can only be fixed with trades, with movements, because this team has reached its pinnacle.
25:05
SPEAKER_01: I've I've buried the lead a little bit more.
25:07
SPEAKER_01: Patrick Williams.
25:09
SPEAKER_01: I've spewed the Patrick Williams propaganda for the past four years.
25:16
SPEAKER_01: The start of this season is as bad as it could be.
25:20
SPEAKER_01: Not just for the team, but for Pat.
25:23
SPEAKER_01: We're three games to the year.
25:24
SPEAKER_01: Remember, Patrick Williams is our starting power forward, right?
25:27
SPEAKER_01: He's a starting power forward.
25:28
SPEAKER_01: And well, for the majority of his games, he ends up getting benched in the fourth quarter because Tory Craig is just a better option.
25:34
SPEAKER_01: Billy Donovan said we didn't we didn't bench Patrick Williams because we didn't want him to play, but it was just the best thing for the team at the time.
25:42
SPEAKER_01: Just meaning he was ass.
25:44
SPEAKER_01: Patrick Williams has played three games this season as the starting power forward on the team.
25:51
SPEAKER_01: Guys, he has not attempted a shot at the rim yet.
25:56
SPEAKER_01: He has not attempted a free throw yet.
26:00
SPEAKER_01: Do you know how hard it is to play as many minutes as Pat has played, to start on a team and not get one layup attempt, one dunk.
26:13
SPEAKER_01: I just I'm disappointed.
26:17
SPEAKER_01: Because again, I think I think about the Chicago Bulls and I think about the potential potential of blowing it up.
26:22
SPEAKER_01: And the one thing I hang my hat on is like, hey, as long as we keep P Wheel, we'll be all right.
26:27
SPEAKER_01: Zach Lowe last week or two weeks ago was saying that Patrick Williams wants a lot of money.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: We got to the deadline of the rookie extensions, and Patrick Williams was one of the players that did not get an extension done.
26:37
SPEAKER_01: Zach Lowe reporting is saying, hey, Patrick Williams wants more than$20 million a year.
26:44
SPEAKER_01: And I'm looking at this man average three points per game, do three seasons, and I gotta ask his people in charge, how can you get there where you believe that his value right now is over$20 million annually?
27:01
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't exist.
27:03
SPEAKER_01: And this is not the last we'll talk about the Bulls today, but I'm extremely, extremely disappointed.
27:08
SPEAKER_01: My boy Cone, shout out to three Cone, made a tweet that the Bulls are on pace to blow their team up by mid-November.
27:14
SPEAKER_01: And as much as I want to believe that, I do not believe that is the case.
27:20
SPEAKER_01: Knowing who's in charge and the moves they've made over the last three seasons, four seasons of them being in charge, that's just not the way they run their teams.
27:29
SPEAKER_01: If the Bulls are going to make trades, from my understanding of how they run things, it's going to be a retooling instead of a hey, let's trade piece here, let's trade a piece here, let's trade a piece here.
27:41
SPEAKER_01: So before we get into the fourth, the fourth thing that I've learned so far in the season, it is time for the ask Kenny Beachum segment.
27:52
SPEAKER_01: If you're new around here, we answer questions from you guys at home.
27:55
SPEAKER_01: All you have to do is comment down below with the hashtag ASKKB or go on to X or Twitter and use that same hashtag askKB for your question to be featured.
28:08
SPEAKER_01: This one, again, is on the topic of the Bulls, and that's why we're bringing it up now.
28:12
SPEAKER_01: From Keenan Ellis.
28:13
SPEAKER_01: If the Bulls blow it up, who are you keeping?
28:16
SPEAKER_01: Which players are top priority to trade away?
28:18
SPEAKER_01: If Damar, Levine, and Vucevic are traded, how many picks should you get?
28:22
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Keenan, for viewing the show and sending in this question.
28:26
SPEAKER_01: This is the way I kind of thought about it.
28:28
SPEAKER_01: If you're under the age of 24, there's no reason to trade you away.
28:31
SPEAKER_01: Because if we're deciding to do it, again, I don't think this is a likelihood, but if we're deciding to do the blowup thing, what are you wanting to blow up?
28:38
SPEAKER_01: Just young, talented players, right?
28:40
SPEAKER_01: So this is the crop of players that I would keep around for sure.
28:43
SPEAKER_01: It's Kobe White, it's Patrick Williams.
28:46
SPEAKER_01: I know I just said all those things about him, but Patrick Williams is Dalen Terry, it's Julian Phillips, and it's Ayo DeSumo.
28:54
SPEAKER_01: Most guards, mostly guards, but those are the guys that I would comfortably say are safe in a tear-it-down, blow-up scenario.
29:01
SPEAKER_01: Trading away DeMarta Rosen, Zach Levine, Alex Caruso, and Nikola Vusevich.
29:07
SPEAKER_01: The problem with the Chicago Bulls potential rebuild is that if we decide to do a Bulls fans, I want you to brace yourselves to not give back anything in return.
29:16
SPEAKER_01: Or anything that you would be super excited about.
29:18
SPEAKER_01: Why do you ask?
29:19
SPEAKER_01: Why do you say that, Kitty?
29:20
SPEAKER_01: DeMarta Rosen is an aging player who still looks really good on the last year of his deal, but he's not a plug-and-play player.
29:27
SPEAKER_01: It's not like he's a 3nd D guy that you can add to 29 other organizations and he's gonna get his and he's gonna be impactful.
29:34
SPEAKER_01: He is a guy that if you are traded for him, you kind of have to make real adjustments to your offense.
29:39
SPEAKER_01: Because as an off-ball player, DeMar DeRose, and at the age that he is isn't very impactful.
29:44
SPEAKER_01: DeMar DeRose is a heavy ISO, heavy mid-range pull-up guy, and he always had been that, but he's less on the cutting as he was in his heydays in Toronto, less with moving without the ball, his heydays in Toronto or even the last couple of years of the Spurs.
29:56
SPEAKER_01: He's kind of, if I don't have the ball, kind of just existing.
29:59
SPEAKER_01: So if you're trading for that type of player, you're typically not giving up crazy draft capital.
30:04
SPEAKER_01: Last year of his contract, he's aging and he doesn't necessarily fit well anywhere.
30:07
SPEAKER_01: We'll take a fly on DeMarta Rosen, I guess.
30:09
SPEAKER_01: We're not giving you up anything crazy.
30:12
SPEAKER_01: I would be genuinely surprised if the Bulls decide to trade DeMarta Rosen and they got back a real first-round pick.
30:20
SPEAKER_01: Not one of them fake lottery protected, then it turns into two seconds.
30:23
SPEAKER_01: I mean, like if they got a real first-round pick for DeMarta Rosen, I would genuinely be surprised.
30:28
SPEAKER_01: Again, it's nothing to do with his productivity, it's just his play style and this lack of contract.
30:33
SPEAKER_01: Because you're trading for him, well, you got to pay him next season if you want to keep him around.
30:38
SPEAKER_01: And typically you're not giving up that much capital, that much draft assets for somebody that's gonna be on an expiring contract and probably won't resign or you're gonna have to spend a lot of money.
30:48
SPEAKER_01: Because I think that part of the reason why the Bulls are here and DeMar DeRose is here is because he wants a bag.
30:53
SPEAKER_01: Hey, I made an All-MB 8 team with y'all.
30:55
SPEAKER_01: I made two All-Star games with y'all.
30:56
SPEAKER_01: You gotta throw me a Duffy.
30:57
SPEAKER_01: And the Bulls are probably like, ah, you are so All-Star 35-ish.
31:01
SPEAKER_01: I don't know the exact number.
31:02
SPEAKER_01: So minimum return.
31:04
SPEAKER_01: Zach Levine, just put up 50, bona fide bucket getter.
31:09
SPEAKER_01: Can hang with the best of him when it comes to scoring the ball, but obviously he's a flaw player, just like all of them are all of them are.
31:15
SPEAKER_01: He signed a really big contract.
31:18
SPEAKER_01: And I've talked to some people.
31:19
SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't want to make it seem like I'm in the super no or I have these sources, but I've talked to people that know people.
31:26
SPEAKER_01: And people don't look at Zach Levine's contract as something that they really like.
31:31
SPEAKER_01: Simply put.
31:33
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's a lot of money.
31:34
SPEAKER_01: It is a lot, a lot of money.
31:36
SPEAKER_01: But again, when Zach is healthy, look at the second half of last season.
31:38
SPEAKER_01: When Zach Levine was completely healthy, he was averaging 28.
31:41
SPEAKER_01: He can who?
31:42
SPEAKER_01: 25 star.
31:43
SPEAKER_01: I actually want to see Zach Levine on the team where he's not taxed to be the one guy or even the two guy.
31:49
SPEAKER_01: I think that the Chicago Bulls is a place where NBA careers go to die.
31:55
SPEAKER_01: It has been that way uh since the good era, the Tom Thibodeau era.
31:59
SPEAKER_01: So I don't think his market will be as high as you would think.
32:01
SPEAKER_01: We're talking about an all-star caliber player who can put up 25 in his sleep, but long contract, big contract, not known as a really plus defender, even though I do think it's it's in there for Zach Levain, I just don't think Chicago is the place where he's gonna unlock it completely.
32:16
SPEAKER_01: I think on a 101 defender basis, Zach Levain is pretty average to decent.
32:21
SPEAKER_01: It's what's happening around him when his defender or his person doesn't have the ball.
32:25
SPEAKER_01: It's like, what do I do now?
32:26
SPEAKER_01: You know?
32:26
SPEAKER_01: So I don't think his value is as high.
32:28
SPEAKER_01: Vusevich, no market.
32:30
SPEAKER_01: No market.
32:31
SPEAKER_01: Look at the other 29 teams across basketball.
32:33
SPEAKER_01: How many of them can you see trading for Nikola Vusevich as a starting center?
32:37
SPEAKER_01: It's not many of them, man.
32:38
SPEAKER_01: And even the ones that do need a center, do they want a 34-year-old center?
32:42
SPEAKER_01: Probably not.
32:43
SPEAKER_01: I also don't know the age of any of these players.
32:45
SPEAKER_01: So when I when I say 34, he could be 32, I fall on it.
32:48
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
32:49
SPEAKER_01: I just know he's in his 30s, right?
32:50
SPEAKER_01: The guy that has value is Alex Caruso, but it's role player value.
32:54
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
32:55
SPEAKER_01: Alex Caruso is an all-defensive player.
32:57
SPEAKER_01: The game that we won against the Toronto Raptors, we give a ton of credit to Alex Caruso for that because he was everywhere.
33:02
SPEAKER_01: Alex Caruso is the type of player that he, if he was not on my favorite team, I would hate going against him because he hacks.
33:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
33:09
SPEAKER_01: I watch him every single night.
33:10
SPEAKER_01: He hacks and he gets away with it, which we love.
33:13
SPEAKER_01: But he gets he gets away with it and he's all over the place.
33:16
SPEAKER_01: Guard's your best player, plays really good on the help, deflection deflect.
33:19
SPEAKER_01: He's leading the league in deflections again for like the third year in a row.
33:23
SPEAKER_01: That's who he is.
33:24
SPEAKER_01: And for a team that is trying to compete, we're looking at a$9 million contract that is easily to be replicated with players in your roster.
33:30
SPEAKER_01: He's a guy that would bring back a value that you're like, oh, Alas Caruso is worth that.
33:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's him.
33:36
SPEAKER_01: The rest of the team, we start talking about the Tory Craigs of the world, the Andrew Drummonds of the world.
33:40
SPEAKER_01: I don't know exactly what their value would potentially be.
33:43
SPEAKER_01: Um, I would, if we decide to blow it up, I would want to do what's right by Tory Craig by sending him to a place where he can play real basketball instead of playing on a team that's trying to tank.
33:52
SPEAKER_01: But that's that's what I think, Keenan.
33:54
SPEAKER_01: The Bulls aren't good.
33:55
SPEAKER_01: How about that?
33:56
SPEAKER_01: The next question comes from, oh man.
33:59
SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm I'm Ron, I'm again, I apologize.
34:01
SPEAKER_01: I'm terrible, terrible, terrible with names.
34:04
SPEAKER_01: He says, rank the five best young cores in the league.
34:07
SPEAKER_01: Y'all know I love a good old ranking.
34:09
SPEAKER_01: Ranking the top five young cores in ball is a lot more difficult than you think.
34:13
SPEAKER_01: The question is, what do we consider a young core?
34:16
SPEAKER_01: Are the Cavs a young core?
34:18
SPEAKER_01: They got Evan Mobley, Donovan Mitchell, Derek Garland, Jared Allen.
34:22
SPEAKER_01: Those players are relatively young.
34:23
SPEAKER_01: Super young in Evan Mobley's case.
34:26
SPEAKER_01: I didn't count them.
34:27
SPEAKER_01: Really, real playoff experience and stuff.
34:29
SPEAKER_01: It was a five-game series, six-game series.
34:32
SPEAKER_01: Maybe not real playoff experience, but playoff experience nonetheless.
34:34
SPEAKER_01: I didn't count the Grizzlies, who have Jaron Jackson Jr., John Morant, Desmond Bain, because real playoff experience.
34:39
SPEAKER_01: I don't remember, at like 17 games or something last year or throughout the course of Desmond Bay's career or something like that.
34:44
SPEAKER_01: Real playoff experience.
34:45
SPEAKER_01: If I did count them as young, they're towards the top.
34:49
SPEAKER_01: But I kind of looked at the teams that were kind of on the outside and kind of to rank it that way, okay?
34:53
SPEAKER_01: Cool.
34:54
SPEAKER_01: The number one young core in basketball, in my opinion, is the OKC Thunder.
34:58
SPEAKER_01: They have Shea Gius Alexander, Josh Giddy, Shat Homegray, J Dub, Isaiah Joe, Aaron Whit.
35:06
SPEAKER_01: Do we need to go on?
35:07
SPEAKER_01: Like this team is the real deal when it comes to young core.
35:10
SPEAKER_01: I like young cores that show the value and not necessarily just the potential.
35:14
SPEAKER_01: We're seeing that right now with their two-in-one record.
35:16
SPEAKER_01: We saw it last year when they won 40 games, and that was without Chet.
35:20
SPEAKER_01: So it's like this team knows how to win.
35:22
SPEAKER_01: They've very well coached, and it seems like all of their players continue to get better and better and better.
35:27
SPEAKER_01: Second team, in my opinion.
35:29
SPEAKER_01: Orlando Magic.
35:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
35:32
SPEAKER_01: Palo Benquero, Franz Wagner.
35:35
SPEAKER_01: I'm throwing Wendell Carter in there as well.
35:37
SPEAKER_01: Markel Foltz in there as well.
35:39
SPEAKER_01: This is uh pretty top-heavy, but I really do believe in Franz, and I really do believe in Palo as being future all-star players.
35:46
SPEAKER_01: There was one of the ways I kind of looked at it.
35:48
SPEAKER_01: Like, how many future all-stars can I comfortably say is on this team?
35:52
SPEAKER_01: Now, of course, we don't really know.
35:53
SPEAKER_01: Maybe some of these players plateau and never reach their full potential, whatever, whatever, whatever.
35:58
SPEAKER_01: But I could see them having two all-stars.
36:00
SPEAKER_01: And I see Palo Ben Caro as a guy that's going to be able to make future All-NBA teams.
36:06
SPEAKER_01: Like, I think I believe him that them that much.
36:08
SPEAKER_01: So my number three is Detroit basketball.
36:14
SPEAKER_01: We're going to talk a little bit about Detroit basketball in a minute.
36:16
SPEAKER_01: So I don't want to bury it or I don't want to uh belabor it.
36:19
SPEAKER_01: We will get to them, but Detroit is my number three.
36:22
SPEAKER_01: My number four is the San Antonio Spurs.
36:25
SPEAKER_01: It's because of the big fella.
36:26
SPEAKER_01: What can I say?
36:27
SPEAKER_01: The big fella carries.
36:28
SPEAKER_01: The big fella could have me on his team and the homies, and I will probably put them as the fourth best core because he's that nice.
36:33
SPEAKER_01: Again, he struggled relatively in his first three games of his NBA career.
36:37
SPEAKER_01: But when he shows those flashes, you're like, oh yeah.
36:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
36:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
36:41
SPEAKER_01: When he block uh the Jabari Smith Jr.
36:44
SPEAKER_01: two times in a row where they got down court for that, yes, he does that.
36:47
SPEAKER_01: And then lastly, I have the Houston Rockets.
36:49
SPEAKER_01: I still love Alprin Shangoon.
36:51
SPEAKER_01: I am still a believer in Jalen, Jalen Green, even though it hasn't been amazing to start the year off.
36:56
SPEAKER_01: Um, safety with Jabari Smith Jr., the Thompson twin, the other Thompson twin is in Detroit.
37:01
SPEAKER_01: Um, high, high potential guys.
37:04
SPEAKER_01: I feel like over the last couple seasons, I've said I've tweeted this every year of the draft that they've won.
37:09
SPEAKER_01: They gotta put it together, man.
37:10
SPEAKER_01: They gotta put it together.
37:11
SPEAKER_01: Starting off the season has been great.
37:14
SPEAKER_01: I would say that has been great, but I believe in their young core.
37:17
SPEAKER_01: That those are gonna be my top five.
37:19
SPEAKER_01: The last question of AskKB, remember that is hashtag A-S-K-K B, if you want to be featured in the next episode, is from the B Ball Pro 1800.
37:29
SPEAKER_01: How you get that name?
37:30
SPEAKER_01: You playing you playing overseas somewhere?
37:31
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
37:32
SPEAKER_01: After a few games of the season, who are some of your favorite teams to watch?
37:36
SPEAKER_01: Mines are the Pacers, Pissers, and Bucks.
37:38
SPEAKER_01: That is a good group.
37:38
SPEAKER_01: That is a very, very good group.
37:40
SPEAKER_01: The Pacers are also on my list as well.
37:42
SPEAKER_01: When you, when you, if I okay, let me how do I explain this?
37:46
SPEAKER_01: If I am going to try to get someone to become an NBA fan, and I can say you can watch one game from one team.
37:57
SPEAKER_01: I think I'm I'm telling them the Golden Table is because of Steph Curry.
38:01
SPEAKER_01: I think I'm telling them the Boston Celtics just because they have so many great players, but then I'm telling them the Indiana Pacers.
38:10
SPEAKER_01: Because if you want to fall in love with basketball, go watch the team that is running and running.
38:17
SPEAKER_01: This team has a limited stamina.
38:21
SPEAKER_01: They're in gear five all the time.
38:23
SPEAKER_01: It took Luffy a thousand chapters to get to gear five.
38:27
SPEAKER_01: Them boys start off that way from tip-off.
38:30
SPEAKER_01: And if you if you watch the last episode, the last uh game that they play against the Cavaliers, where you saw Tyrese hit three after three after three and it talked to the crowd.
38:38
SPEAKER_01: That's real, man.
38:38
SPEAKER_01: This team runs and it guns and it's great.
38:41
SPEAKER_01: It's fun.
38:42
SPEAKER_01: And they have all the guard plays you can want.
38:44
SPEAKER_01: You're always gonna have a player on the court that you can trust with the ball.
38:47
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna have some highlights, you're gonna have some dunks, you're gonna have elite level three-point shooting.
38:51
SPEAKER_01: Aaron Neesmith, I've been seeing him go crazy recently.
38:53
SPEAKER_01: So that's a team.
38:54
SPEAKER_01: And again, that's a team that's not a superstar team.
38:57
SPEAKER_01: Also, oh yeah, Diver Nuggets.
38:58
SPEAKER_01: I should say Diver Nuggets, too.
39:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the Denver Nuggets.
39:01
SPEAKER_01: I'm telling a random person to watch the Nuggets.
39:03
SPEAKER_01: But like, of all of the teams, they're not considered a contender or whatever, the Pacers are number one if I'm trying to get somebody to care about basketball.
39:10
SPEAKER_01: I also have the Nuz Pelicans.
39:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, boys.
39:14
SPEAKER_01: I've been high on the Pelicans all offseason.
39:17
SPEAKER_01: I told the world that if they could just stay healthy, they're gonna be good.
39:21
SPEAKER_01: They're healthy through two games.
39:23
SPEAKER_01: It's just two.
39:24
SPEAKER_01: And it hasn't looked pretty.
39:25
SPEAKER_01: It hasn't been great, but it's working.
39:27
SPEAKER_01: It's working.
39:28
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna they're gonna benefit very well when Trey Murphy III comes back because they desperately need spacing.
39:33
SPEAKER_01: Right now, it is kind of clogged up for everybody involved, but they're able to make it work.
39:36
SPEAKER_01: The defense is looking as good as you can imagine.
39:39
SPEAKER_01: Um, they have my guy, Jordan Hawkins.
39:41
SPEAKER_01: Shout out to Jay Hawk coming off the bench and his Kobe Grinches and no other accessories, hitting three pointers.
39:45
SPEAKER_01: Matt Ryan was called off the street.
39:48
SPEAKER_01: Matt Ryan was called off the street.
39:49
SPEAKER_01: Me and the homies were watching this game in Discord.
39:53
SPEAKER_01: We're like, who the hell is number 37?
39:56
SPEAKER_01: It was Matt Ryan.
39:57
SPEAKER_01: And he came in.
39:58
SPEAKER_01: He had three threes in the season.
39:59
SPEAKER_01: No, be like, oh my God.
40:01
SPEAKER_01: Zion looks good.
40:02
SPEAKER_01: Still a full head of statement.
40:03
SPEAKER_01: It's not a person in the league that can stop him.
40:05
SPEAKER_01: Julius Randle has a similar build than Zion.
40:08
SPEAKER_01: I saw Zion put him on his ass a couple times the other night.
40:11
SPEAKER_01: Simply put.
40:12
SPEAKER_01: Team looks good.
40:13
SPEAKER_01: Herb Jones still got Go Go Gadget arms, and they forced a lot of turnovers against the Knicks the other night.
40:18
SPEAKER_01: Again, it's not pretty right now.
40:20
SPEAKER_01: It's not pretty.
40:20
SPEAKER_01: But if they can be decent until they get healthy with Trey Murphy coming back in a couple, a month or two and Jose Alvarado coming back, however, when, I don't know, man.
40:29
SPEAKER_01: Because this injury came early or recently too.
40:32
SPEAKER_01: They can add more shooting.
40:34
SPEAKER_01: It's a rap.
40:35
SPEAKER_01: It's just a rap.
40:36
SPEAKER_01: Health and shooting is all they need.
40:38
SPEAKER_01: So those are the SKB segments.
40:40
SPEAKER_01: Again, hashtag ASKKB if you want to be featured.
40:45
SPEAKER_01: We have a few more things that I've learned on the NBA season, going back into it with number four.
40:50
SPEAKER_01: I mentioned that we were going to get into it with the Detroit Pistons.
40:53
SPEAKER_01: I'm here, y'all.
40:54
SPEAKER_01: I also have them on my teams to watch list, but I knew I was going to talk about them now, so I just held out from them.
40:59
SPEAKER_01: The thing that I learned, just the one single thing I learned, Jalen Durin's ceiling is a lot higher than I thought.
41:07
SPEAKER_01: He is a teenager.
41:08
SPEAKER_01: He has not turned 21 years old just yet.
41:11
SPEAKER_01: And this man is doing some crazy stuff.
41:14
SPEAKER_01: During the FIBA scrimmages between real team USA and the practice squad, there was a lot of buzz about the pick and roll between Jalen Durin and Cade Cunningham.
41:24
SPEAKER_01: And from our understanding, from all the reports of camp, they were giving the real team USA to work.
41:31
SPEAKER_01: Now we found out that the real team USA wasn't as good as we thought they could have been.
41:34
SPEAKER_01: So maybe, you know, take that with a grain of salt until you watch the first couple games of the season, because that pick and roll is very good.
41:42
SPEAKER_01: And it's good now.
41:44
SPEAKER_01: But can you imagine when Boyan Bagdanovich comes back?
41:47
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine throughout the years of Cade and Jalen Durham playing together when they add an adequate amount of spacing around them?
41:54
SPEAKER_01: There's not going to be a lot of things you can do.
41:57
SPEAKER_01: Because Kay Cunningham is a genuine bucket, but he's also such a willing passer and he does a very good job of putting it on the money, specifically for Jalen, Jalen Durham.
42:07
SPEAKER_01: After the game, Jalen Durham was talking about like, hey, Kay Cunningham is a super high IQ player, as am I.
42:14
SPEAKER_01: So we got this connection.
42:16
SPEAKER_01: And if you watch the Bulls versus the Detroit Pissers, you saw it.
42:20
SPEAKER_01: Didn't matter.
42:21
SPEAKER_01: Jalen Durham was bullying everybody.
42:23
SPEAKER_01: You know, Andre Drummond has a reputation of just being a stock of your bruiser type of dude.
42:28
SPEAKER_01: Jalen Durham was going right at his chest.
42:30
SPEAKER_01: Tip Dunk, Alley U, all of the things.
42:33
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not even mentioning the other side of the ball where it's like Alcatraz in the paint right now.
42:38
SPEAKER_01: Exaggeration.
42:39
SPEAKER_01: But he he's he's very good.
42:40
SPEAKER_01: Remember, reminder, he is a 19-year-old center.
42:44
SPEAKER_01: Usually the center position is one of the few that takes years and years and years to become decent at, because on the defensive side of the ball, I don't care what nobody tells you.
42:54
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking specifically to my cousin Pia, who's a co-host of my other podcast.
42:59
SPEAKER_01: The defensive position that matters the most and that is the most difficult is the center position.
43:05
SPEAKER_01: It just is.
43:06
SPEAKER_01: So it's very rare that you see a young center come into basketball and become at least be a good defender.
43:11
SPEAKER_01: We saw Walker Kessler do it last year.
43:12
SPEAKER_01: Shout out to him.
43:13
SPEAKER_01: But it's rare.
43:14
SPEAKER_01: Jalen Durham was a, you saw the glimpses last year, but I couldn't call him a really good defender last year.
43:19
SPEAKER_01: Through the first three games of this year, I'm like, yo, that's pretty good for one season's time.
43:26
SPEAKER_01: That's really good.
43:27
SPEAKER_01: And it's just, I don't know, a sight to be saying.
43:31
SPEAKER_01: I just want to see how it progresses throughout the rest of the season.
43:34
SPEAKER_01: Because again, they will add more spacing when Bogdanovich comes back.
43:38
SPEAKER_01: Because right now they're running with Isaiah Stewart, who's showing the willingness to step out and shoot some threes and stuff.
43:43
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes they fall, sometimes they don't.
43:45
SPEAKER_01: But no team really respects Isaiah Stewart at the same time.
43:48
SPEAKER_01: So he can get his attempts up.
43:50
SPEAKER_01: But the opposing coaches are not game planning to close out heavily on an Isaiah Stewart pull up or catch a shoot three.
43:57
SPEAKER_01: But Bo Yah Magdanovich, who's a career 39%.
44:00
SPEAKER_01: 38% three-point shooter, you can't do the same thing.
44:03
SPEAKER_01: So once the game is is open up for him and Kay Cunningham, the spread pick and roll potential is ridiculous.
44:12
SPEAKER_01: I watched Asar T Asar Thompson, right?
44:16
SPEAKER_01: Damn it.
44:18
SPEAKER_01: I don't think they watched this show.
44:19
SPEAKER_01: I'm pretty sure it was Asar.
44:21
SPEAKER_01: Hey, listen, listen, listen, listen.
44:22
SPEAKER_01: They're twins, right?
44:23
SPEAKER_01: They're twins.
44:25
SPEAKER_01: I might struggle with it for a little bit.
44:28
SPEAKER_01: Asar Thompson, I guess uh I'm in too.
44:31
SPEAKER_01: Um Asar Thompson has the potential to be uh one of the greatest perimeter defenders in all of basketball.
44:35
SPEAKER_01: I would argue through the first three games, he's in the top ten in perimeter defenders that I've watched so far through the first three games of the year.
44:43
SPEAKER_01: He is a high IQ um no back down type of player.
44:48
SPEAKER_01: Like some people are afraid to get mixed up, but he's not afraid.
44:51
SPEAKER_01: It hasn't happened yet.
44:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's gonna happen.
44:53
SPEAKER_01: It gets everybody gets gone.
44:55
SPEAKER_01: But boy, is that guy nice.
44:57
SPEAKER_01: And if he can ever, if any of the two brothers can ever learn how to shoot, like league average minimum.
45:04
SPEAKER_01: Come on, man.
45:05
SPEAKER_01: The fifth thing that I learned for the first week of the season is that Tyrese Maxie makes this James Harden thing not matter at all.
45:16
SPEAKER_01: Jordan B is still Jordan B.
45:17
SPEAKER_01: Don't get me, don't get me wrong.
45:18
SPEAKER_01: Jordan B just had a ridiculous game against the the baby uh trailblazers, where I don't even know the stat line.
45:24
SPEAKER_01: It was close to a five by five, I'll tell you that much.
45:26
SPEAKER_01: It was one of the better stat lines of the year so far.
45:28
SPEAKER_01: So Jordan B is still Jordan Bede.
45:29
SPEAKER_01: He's still MVP form, whatever, whatever.
45:32
SPEAKER_01: But Tyres Maxie, man, he's averaging 20 to 30 ish points.
45:36
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
45:36
SPEAKER_01: I think I don't got the the uh upgraded numbers after this game.
45:39
SPEAKER_01: But he put up 30 plus in the first couple games.
45:41
SPEAKER_01: This game, I think he had 27 or something.
45:42
SPEAKER_01: So he's still averaging nearly 30 points per game, or slightly above it.
45:45
SPEAKER_01: And the thing that surprised me the most, or the thing that I'm most excited about for him, because on one of the previous episodes, when we talked about the most intriguing players in the league, I brought up Tyrese Maxie because his future, his play is as important as anybody's across basketball for a singular organization.
46:00
SPEAKER_01: Whether they trade James, whether James comes back, whether they blow it all up and Jordan B requests a trade, whatever, Tyrese Maxie's play is as important as anybody's.
46:08
SPEAKER_01: And the way he's hooping right now, I don't expect Jordan B to be like, I want out.
46:13
SPEAKER_01: Again, I don't know what's going on in that brother's brain, but that's how good he has been.
46:18
SPEAKER_01: If you, if Jordan B goes into the office and talks to Daryl Morey and say, like, hey, Daryl, I already know my own playoff woes, whatever, whatever.
46:25
SPEAKER_01: I understand I haven't been amazing, but I promise I'm gonna get better.
46:29
SPEAKER_01: I I need to, I need to know that next year you're going to do the right thing and put together a really good team.
46:37
SPEAKER_01: This man, Daryl Morey, has the backbone to say or the thing to say.
46:41
SPEAKER_01: Like, we'll max season all-star now.
46:45
SPEAKER_01: So that's one thing.
46:46
SPEAKER_01: And we'll still, based on the contracts coming off the books, and shout out to Toby, he's been amazing so far through the first three games.
46:51
SPEAKER_01: We have the contract coming off the books next year to still have a near-max contract spot.
46:56
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, if you just thug it out for the rest of the season, you max see near-max spot, even though this free AC class ain't crazy.
47:01
SPEAKER_01: We had Clay Thompson, Pascal, Siakam, Ojiana Nobi, DeMarta Rose, or whatever, we're gonna get you another guy.
47:07
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I swear we're gonna get you another guy.
47:08
SPEAKER_01: Maybe Jordan B is like, I bet.
47:10
SPEAKER_01: I trust you, Darryl.
47:12
SPEAKER_01: Last man in trust Daryl.
47:14
SPEAKER_01: No, no, James Hart joke.
47:16
SPEAKER_01: Um, the last man in trust Darrow got backstabbed, potentially.
47:19
SPEAKER_01: I don't know the stories.
47:21
SPEAKER_01: Um, Taris Maxi has been amazing.
47:22
SPEAKER_01: And it's not just the scoring aspect, because again, we know Tars Maxie can score.
47:25
SPEAKER_01: He's been doing this for the last couple seasons.
47:26
SPEAKER_01: He's a a high efficiency three-point shooter.
47:29
SPEAKER_01: He can get downhill, he runs the break.
47:31
SPEAKER_01: The thing that I am so impressed with through three games as the primary ball handler against some decent team.
47:37
SPEAKER_01: Uh at least the first game is gets a decent team.
47:40
SPEAKER_01: Tavis Maxie has two turnovers and three games.
47:44
SPEAKER_01: Two turnovers and three games.
47:46
SPEAKER_01: And one of them came today in the first possession of the games.
47:48
SPEAKER_01: I ain't even counting out.
47:50
SPEAKER_01: He has been as good as you can imagine.
47:52
SPEAKER_01: He's finding Joel Embiid exactly where Joel Embiid wants to be found.
47:56
SPEAKER_01: Now, it's not gonna compare with the James Harden and Joy Lembede pick a roll.
47:59
SPEAKER_01: We can all agree there.
48:00
SPEAKER_01: James Harden's one of the best pick and roll players in the history of basketball.
48:03
SPEAKER_01: Like, there's not many players that can run a pick and roll like James, right?
48:06
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna give him all of that credit.
48:08
SPEAKER_01: But if James is a 10 of the first three games of the season, Tyrese Max is at least a seven and a half, and that's good enough at the moment.
48:15
SPEAKER_01: That's good enough at the moment.
48:17
SPEAKER_01: This is, I can't tell if this is the best case scenario or the worst case scenario for James Hardy.
48:21
SPEAKER_01: Because I can see it being the best case scenario where it's like, hey, Derrymore is like, maybe we don't need to trade him for another star.
48:26
SPEAKER_01: You know, Tyrese Max is that good.
48:28
SPEAKER_01: Or it could be the worst case scenario where Darrell Moore is like, hey, we don't need to trade you at all because we good.
48:34
SPEAKER_01: Tyrese Maxie has been phenomenal.
48:36
SPEAKER_01: And uh, of all of the players who have yet to make an all-star game, and you're asking me who do I believe is gonna make that, it's it's Tyrese.
48:44
SPEAKER_01: Also got a little stock in Scottie Barnes, but it's it's Tyrese right now, and it's not even it's not even really close.
48:50
SPEAKER_01: The last and final thing I've learned through the first week of the NBA season is right now, Pascal Siakam is the odd man out.
48:59
SPEAKER_01: Again, I'm only saying right now.
49:01
SPEAKER_01: I'm only saying right now because Pascal is a multiple All-NBA player, he's a perennial all-star.
49:06
SPEAKER_01: He is very, very good.
49:07
SPEAKER_01: I don't want you to think that this is me saying that he's a bad player or he's not good enough because he is.
49:12
SPEAKER_01: But obviously, this offseason was it was very important for the front office to come out there and get a guy and Darko last name to get him to come and put a new form of offense in.
49:25
SPEAKER_01: Uh Nick Nurse's offense was by some people's accounts, very stagnant, very ISO-heavy.
49:32
SPEAKER_01: And they needed something that was more free-flowing.
49:35
SPEAKER_01: And through the first three games, Pascal Siakam is averaging 13.3 field goal attempts per game.
49:41
SPEAKER_01: It's not a lot, y'all.
49:42
SPEAKER_01: That is the lowest amount of field goal attempts he's had in his and in the first singular season since the 2018-2019 season, the year that he won most improved player.
49:50
SPEAKER_01: I don't suspect that it's gonna stay at 13.3, but a lot of the times we see Pascal Siakam kind of spotting up.
49:57
SPEAKER_01: Where in in the past, he got a lot of isolation touches.
50:02
SPEAKER_01: The first three games, I don't have the pure isolation stats or the frequency stats, because a lot of the statistics sites usually want a bigger sample size before they start putting out their numbers.
50:11
SPEAKER_01: So eventually we can talk about it.
50:12
SPEAKER_01: But I don't have the stats, but I have the eye test to show you that or to tell you that Pascal's not getting as many touches as he usually does, whether it be in the post, the high post, the mid-range area, that was where he did his work.
50:22
SPEAKER_01: And nowadays, because they're trying to implement this free-flowing offense, he's kind of relegated to let the offense develop and not necessarily get the touches that he normally gets.
50:32
SPEAKER_01: Um, and there are some questions about it because again, I've watched every single one of their games.
50:37
SPEAKER_01: The free-flowing offense idea, the the cut and put pass and cut all of this stuff, I haven't seen it a ton.
50:44
SPEAKER_01: Is it better than last season?
50:46
SPEAKER_01: Probably, but it's still taking some time to really get adjusted to.
50:49
SPEAKER_01: Right now, there's a statistic going around on Twitter how uh Dennis Schroeder is the touch leader in Toronto over Pascal, over Scotty, over anybody involved.
51:00
SPEAKER_01: And that was something a lot of people did not anticipate.
51:03
SPEAKER_01: But I guess through the first couple games and Darko last name's offense, the point guard is that important.
51:09
SPEAKER_01: And Dennis Schroeder has been good.
51:10
SPEAKER_01: You know, through the he's averaging six, three pointers a game, he's shooting nearly 50% from three.
51:15
SPEAKER_01: Like he's been good, but collectively, they haven't.
51:19
SPEAKER_01: Because they're running this new offense and they don't really have a great personnel for it, their half-court offense is dreadful.
51:28
SPEAKER_01: When you talk about the break, not many people are competing with the Toronto Raptors.
51:33
SPEAKER_01: Pascal on the break, it used to be memes of Pascal on the break, not many people stopping him.
51:38
SPEAKER_01: Scotty Barnes, not many people stopping him on the break.
51:41
SPEAKER_01: But when things slow down and you get the Toronto Raptors in the half court, it can be dreadful.
51:46
SPEAKER_01: Now, their last game against the 76ers opened my eyes a little bit more.
51:50
SPEAKER_01: We got to see Grady Dick come off the bench and he added an extra element of shooting that they desperately needed.
51:55
SPEAKER_01: Again, they lost that game because Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxi are ridiculously talented.
52:00
SPEAKER_01: But I saw a lot of things with them incorporating uh Grady Dick a little bit more than the first couple games, and we got to keep an eye on it.
52:06
SPEAKER_01: But as of right now, Pascal is kind of the odd man out.
52:09
SPEAKER_01: Uh Scotty Barnes is kind of taking priority in a lot of those opportunities.
52:12
SPEAKER_01: And I've been extremely, extremely impressed with Scotty.
52:15
SPEAKER_01: The defensive versatility is there.
52:18
SPEAKER_01: The defensive upside that we've talked about for the last couple of seasons has become a reality, at least through the first couple games, and I can still see him being able to blossom even more.
52:28
SPEAKER_01: His playmaking looks leagues ahead, and he's more aggressive, and he he has less of those moments where you forget he's on the court.
52:35
SPEAKER_01: Because I feel like a lot of that happened last year, where I forgot Scotty was out there.
52:39
SPEAKER_01: You can't say that through the first three games.
52:41
SPEAKER_01: When Scotty is on the court for the Toronto Raptors, genuinely he has been their best player.
52:47
SPEAKER_01: You know, stuff in the stat sheet offensively and defensively.
52:51
SPEAKER_01: Those are the six things that I learned with the NBA season so far.
53:04
SPEAKER_01: And I'm here with the Astro 850.
53:07
SPEAKER_01: Shout out to him, my favorite headset of all time.
53:09
SPEAKER_01: But I want to introduce y'all to the newest edition to the Kenny Beach and Podcast family.
53:14
SPEAKER_01: Producer Greg is here and he has some will it happen questions.
53:18
SPEAKER_01: Greg, how you doing?
53:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm good, Kenny.
53:20
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for uh letting me on the team.
53:22
SPEAKER_01: Of course, of course, of course.
53:23
SPEAKER_01: I'm excited for this.
53:24
SPEAKER_00: So will Wemby make the all-star game?
53:27
SPEAKER_01: Will Wimby make the all-star game?
53:30
SPEAKER_01: I I genuinely believe that Wimby will make the all-star game.
53:34
SPEAKER_01: Now you're like, whoa, Kenny, slow down.
53:36
SPEAKER_01: He's averaging like 18 points per game through the first three, and it's been more flashes than actuality so far.
53:42
SPEAKER_01: When we think about when the all-star game is and the amount of time he'll have to adjust to the NBA game and how how cognizant he is as an NBA player, I think he can make it.
53:51
SPEAKER_01: Especially when you start talking about fan voting, because I think he's already a fan favorite.
53:55
SPEAKER_01: He's already been viral every time he played the game.
53:57
SPEAKER_01: He's got the entire country of France over there gonna be voting for him.
54:01
SPEAKER_01: And I can't underestimate how important it is.
54:03
SPEAKER_01: I won't you remember when Zad Zah was this close to being an all-star starter because the country of Georgia or the Republic of Georgia was there voting for him.
54:11
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna say that Wimby will be the first all-star since Blake Griffin, or rookie all-star since Blake Griffin.
54:16
SPEAKER_01: How about that?
54:17
SPEAKER_00: Number two, will Zion play 55 games this season?
54:23
SPEAKER_01: You know, you know my love for Z.
54:25
SPEAKER_01: You know my love for Z.
54:27
SPEAKER_01: Now, he has one season where he's had over 55, which feels crazy.
54:31
SPEAKER_01: 35% of his NBA potential games have been played.
54:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna say this is the year I've bought all of the New Orleans Pelicans stock.
54:39
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna say, yes, he will play 55.
54:41
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna even say when he plays, they have a 75% win percentage.
54:46
SPEAKER_01: Book it.
54:47
SPEAKER_00: Number three.
54:48
SPEAKER_00: Well, Austin Reeves averaged 18 points per game this season.
54:52
SPEAKER_01: I think Austin Reeves averaged uh 13 than 17 once he got to the playoffs last year, right?
54:56
SPEAKER_01: Um, and people were very excited for Austin Reeves, me included.
54:59
SPEAKER_01: I watched him in FIBA and I was like, man, this guy looks like he's poised for another year where he gets significantly better.
55:04
SPEAKER_01: I haven't seen it so far.
55:06
SPEAKER_01: One of my major gripes with Austin Reeves, especially when I got to see him live, is that he is in the company of the whistle.
55:12
SPEAKER_01: And I understand it.
55:13
SPEAKER_01: The the layup, the free throw, and the three-point shot are the three most important shots in basketball.
55:18
SPEAKER_01: But sometimes I feel like Austin Reeves is trying to get the whistle way more than he should when I know he's just a baller.
55:24
SPEAKER_01: He can go get a basket.
55:25
SPEAKER_01: But will I see him jump from 13 to 18 in a regular season?
55:29
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna say no on it.
55:31
SPEAKER_01: Even though I think it's possible, I'm I just wouldn't bet on it myself.
55:34
SPEAKER_00: Last one.
55:35
SPEAKER_00: Will Ben Simmons make a three-pointer this season?
55:38
SPEAKER_01: Benjamin, Benjamin, Benjamin.
55:40
SPEAKER_01: The real question is, will Ben Simmons attempt a free throw?
55:43
SPEAKER_01: Because through the first couple games, he ain't even seen the line yet.
55:46
SPEAKER_01: Everybody talks about how afraid he is to get fouled.
55:49
SPEAKER_01: And in the preseason, he got to the line a decent amount for his own value.
55:53
SPEAKER_01: Will he make a three?
55:55
SPEAKER_01: I will be excited for.
55:57
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
55:57
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna say yes.
55:58
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna say yes.
55:59
SPEAKER_01: Because there's gonna be a moment in time where Ben Simmons has the ball two seconds before halftime, and he's gonna chuck up a half-court heave and it's gonna go in.
56:09
SPEAKER_01: It's not even gonna be a half-court offense three.
56:12
SPEAKER_01: It's not gonna be in the flow.
56:13
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be a chuck-up at the end of the quarter, and it's gonna go win.
56:15
SPEAKER_01: And we were like, there you go, Ben.
56:17
SPEAKER_01: Can't believe we fall for the Ben Simmons hype every year.
56:20
SPEAKER_01: Not he's been good, don't get me wrong.
56:21
SPEAKER_01: He's been good this year, but like him shooting in warm-ups, like, ah, here it comes.
56:24
SPEAKER_01: He went the whole preseason without attempting one, man.
56:27
SPEAKER_01: I need it.
56:28
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna say yes.
56:37
SPEAKER_01: Again, I want to thank producer Greg for stepping in for that when he will be here every single episode to help us out.
56:42
SPEAKER_01: I want to say thank you to you for watching or listening to this episode of the Kenny Beachum Podcast.
56:47
SPEAKER_01: And I wanna remind you, if you watch this whole 50 minute to an hour episode, you must have liked something.
56:53
SPEAKER_01: So leave it a like.
56:55
SPEAKER_01: Subscribe to the YouTube channel, go over to TikTok, Kenny Beecham Podcast, we're there.
56:59
SPEAKER_01: Go over to Twitter, Kenny Beecham Pod, we're there.
57:01
SPEAKER_01: Go over to Apple and Spotify.
57:03
SPEAKER_01: Five stars goes a very long way.
57:06
SPEAKER_01: Do you want to be a part of the team that takes down Shannon Sharp?
57:10
SPEAKER_01: Then you gotta leave us five stars and pre-download the episodes.
57:15
SPEAKER_01: I will see y'all in a couple days.
57:17
SPEAKER_01: We'll be back on Thursday with more hoops.
57:20
SPEAKER_01: See you then.
57:21
SPEAKER_01: Peace.