Latest / Small Ball with Kenny Beecham / Fred VanVleet Injury + Thoughts on Wemby, Mobley, Ant, and Cade!

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Fred VanVleet Injury + Thoughts on Wemby, Mobley, Ant, and Cade! · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to another episode of Small Ball with Kenny Beacham.
0:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm so excited to be here today as we ease closer and closer to the start of the NBA season.
0:09
SPEAKER_00: Some teams have already had media day.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: We're going to get to some of those today.
0:12
SPEAKER_00: And today's episode should be very interesting, y'all.
0:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, I prep, right?
0:17
SPEAKER_00: I prepped this episode.
0:18
SPEAKER_00: I told y'all that we were coming in.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna put together fire video or fire episode after fire episode after fire episode.
0:23
SPEAKER_00: You know, I got like a 15-minute commute between work or from home to work, right?
0:28
SPEAKER_00: I hop into my car with this beautiful idea of one question for all 30 NBA teams.
0:35
SPEAKER_00: It's a concept we've done before.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: And again, it's it's pretty cool to talk about all 30 teams when you get an opportunity to, because spoiler alert, once we get to the regular season, there's no way I can do episodes talking about all 30 NBA teams.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: So let's just get them out in the offseason.
0:49
SPEAKER_00: Get into the car.
0:50
SPEAKER_00: I'm a guy that doesn't really listen to a lot of music.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: I'm a podcast first guy.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: I've been really heavy on the fantasy football stuff, but this time around, I'm just like, you know what?
0:57
SPEAKER_00: It's almost basketball season.
0:59
SPEAKER_00: Let's see what other basketball podcasts are doing right now.
1:03
SPEAKER_00: And I refresh.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: And one that had just popped up, it couldn't even been up for more than an hour, is a little old show that you may know named Teed Up with Pierre and Driessett.
1:13
SPEAKER_00: And Pierre, just let uh yesterday and published today, recording an episode of a One Burning Question for All 30 MBA teams.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
1:24
SPEAKER_00: What is the likelihood of that?
1:25
SPEAKER_00: Like that's my cousin, you know what I'm saying?
1:26
SPEAKER_00: So we might be just linked like this.
1:28
SPEAKER_00: But what is the likelihood that in this offseason, where so much to talk about, the season's right around the corner, that me and him will have the same idea on any given week.
1:38
SPEAKER_00: So we pivot.
1:40
SPEAKER_00: Because at the end of the day, I want you to be able to listen to his show, listen to my show, list the numbers on the board, and any other show that might be under the Enjoy Basketball Network and get different ideas, different opinions, and different vibes from the show.
1:49
SPEAKER_00: So shout out to P.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: Please go listen to his episode.
1:52
SPEAKER_00: But we just shifted just a little bit, just a little bit.
1:56
SPEAKER_00: I had to throw an Audible out of there.
1:58
SPEAKER_00: And I ain't really had that many backup plans, I ain't gonna lie to you.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: All right.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, speaking of Audibles, seemed like you guys enjoy when I was talking about my fantasy football journey.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about this week.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: I am, for reference, I am in two leagues.
2:13
SPEAKER_00: I am in one league with the homies, is a league that we've had for about five years now.
2:16
SPEAKER_00: In this league, I've been to the finals twice in five years.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: I have not won a championship just yet, and I felt really good going into this year's draft.
2:22
SPEAKER_00: I drafted a dog shit roster.
2:25
SPEAKER_00: I just, I don't know what it is.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: When that clock gets a going and you just panicking, and I drafted some players I'd never even thought about drafting going into that day.
2:33
SPEAKER_00: And I started off 0-2.
2:35
SPEAKER_00: And then last week I mentioned that I made a big trade.
2:37
SPEAKER_00: I traded Jameer Gibbs, who I really like, but he also plays for Division Rive when I can't get myself to root for no damn lion.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: Traded him away for a first-round rookie in Aston Genty, who has yet to get past the line of scrimmage, it feels like.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: But I also got JSN, who right now is like wide receiver four or wide receiver five.
2:57
SPEAKER_00: So in my mind, it was a good old package for a first-round player.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: I also happened to go against in week three the guy that I made the trade with, my boy Michael Mason.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: So we made the joke.
3:08
SPEAKER_00: Somebody's walking out of week three really upset because they made a big trade and they still didn't get a win.
3:13
SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
3:15
SPEAKER_00: I didn't get a win.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: I didn't get a win.
3:21
SPEAKER_00: I was in the final last year.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is not a dynasty league.
3:24
SPEAKER_00: This is not a dynasty league, so you have to redraft every single year.
3:26
SPEAKER_00: I was in the final last year against Mason, and I started off this year 0-3.
3:31
SPEAKER_00: But I am really optimistic, though.
3:33
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if an 0-3 and team, 0-3 team can be as optimistic as I am.
3:37
SPEAKER_00: I got Bucky, I got Genty, I got JSN, I got my as my quarterback.
3:43
SPEAKER_00: I traded for uh Justin Herbert.
3:45
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, had to give away a skill position player and Travis Etienne to make it happen, but a deal is a deal.
3:51
SPEAKER_00: I needed a quarterback after Joe Burrow went down.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: I still do have Brock Bowers, who I'm hoping was gonna is gonna get healthy somewhat soon.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: I feel like there's a couple other players on my team.
4:00
SPEAKER_00: Um, Devontae Smith also got in a in a potential deal.
4:03
SPEAKER_00: So, like, I am still really optimistic that I could turn this season around and there's more trades to be done.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: People know me on the internet as the internet general manager.
4:12
SPEAKER_00: Damn it, I treat fantasy football like that as well.
4:15
SPEAKER_00: You know how many field of trades I've thrown out this week alone, trying to get a Saquon Barkley, trying to get a Bijan Robinson from other people in the league that are struggling right now.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: And I was this close to a B.
4:29
SPEAKER_00: This close to a Saquon Barkley trade.
4:32
SPEAKER_00: And maybe it happens between today and next episode, but I'll keep y'all posted.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: In the other league, it's a podcast league with some of the other um NBA podcasters.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: I'm one and two in that league, got a big win.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, the first two weeks I lost by combined four points.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: So I feel okay, even though our record doesn't feel uh that crazy, even though I lost Mike Evans.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: So we'll see what that looks like.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: All right, that's enough of the fantasy football.
4:51
SPEAKER_00: I'll update you this week because, or next week, because I'm going against another team that's not very good this week.
4:55
SPEAKER_00: So hopefully we get our first win of the season.
4:58
SPEAKER_00: But also, I got two Raiders on my roster and they're going against my Bears.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: And it's always really weird to be ruder for a player to have a great game but simultaneously lose that game.
5:08
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how I feel.
5:10
SPEAKER_00: Uh, let's talk about some basketball, though.
5:12
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about some basketball.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: All right, so one of the big pieces of news that we got over this last week is out of nowhere we found out that Fred Van Vliet is probably gonna miss the entirety of the season with an ACL tear, which is unfortunate.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: Fred Van Vliet has been a guy I've been rooting for since basically his start of his NBA career, right?
5:30
SPEAKER_00: They put together the video of him being um out there on draft night and not getting drafted and how optimistic he was about his NBA career.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: There's a picture on my Instagram from back in the day.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: So it's so long ago.
5:42
SPEAKER_00: It's when I had my first um, my when I first started my journey of growing my hair out, I had twist in my head and I had a Fred Van Vliet bet on yourself shirt, and I tagged Freddy and I said, bet on yourself.
5:54
SPEAKER_00: And Freddie commented with the hmm emoji.
5:57
SPEAKER_00: So I've been a Freddy fan for some time.
5:59
SPEAKER_00: Fred Van Vliet of the Houston Rockets is gonna miss potentially the entirety of this season.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: And the conversations around the Fred Van Vliet injury was pretty interesting, right?
6:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, there is a portion of Twitter that was arguing whether or not this injury means that the Houston Rockets are no longer contenders as currently constructed.
6:18
SPEAKER_00: And there was also people that was like, yeah, Freddie is okay, but here are his shooting splits: 37% from the field, 36% from three.
6:27
SPEAKER_00: Y'all trying to tell me this guy is ultra important to this team?
6:30
SPEAKER_00: And it's just like, I be questioning whether or not y'all be watching Hoops and not, if that's your argument.
6:35
SPEAKER_00: I think it's currently constructed.
6:37
SPEAKER_00: I just don't think that the Houston Rockets right now are contenders.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: That's how important Fred Van Vliet has been to the Houston Rockets.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: And you're asking, Kenny, why?
6:47
SPEAKER_00: Can they fill the void of those minutes with an us uh Amin Thompson or a Reed Shepard?
6:53
SPEAKER_00: And the answer is well, they're gonna, they're gonna try.
6:55
SPEAKER_00: But I think it is a lot to be asking of Reed Shepard, who basically has not played NBA basketball.
7:01
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
7:02
SPEAKER_00: We got a couple games here, there, some garbage time minutes, but for the most part, to go from a guy that was out of the rotation in a postseason run last season to being one of the most important in the one of the most important roles on a team that's trying to win a championship.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: I think I'm too, it's too far away for me to believe that's gonna be the case.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: I root for Reed Shepard.
7:18
SPEAKER_00: I hope he is great, but it is a lot on his shoulders.
7:21
SPEAKER_00: And if he does not perform, I can't be upset with him because his role is going to shift dramatically.
7:26
SPEAKER_00: We were already looking at Reed Shepard as an important player with Fred Van Vliet on the roster, right?
7:32
SPEAKER_00: How do they make up some of those backup point guard minutes?
7:34
SPEAKER_00: Can can Reed Shepard play well enough where we ain't even thinking about Aaron Holiday?
7:39
SPEAKER_00: But now Reed Shepard not only is an important player, he's a super important player to the team.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: And the alternative to that is like, yeah, we just throw Amin Thompson into the starting point guard role.
7:50
SPEAKER_00: He's been able to play point guard a few different times throughout his career.
7:52
SPEAKER_00: Hell last had Fred Van Vliet miss some time.
7:55
SPEAKER_00: They started lineups that had Amin Thompson, Jalen Green, um, Dylan Brooks.
8:00
SPEAKER_00: It was Jabbar Smith Jr.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: and Alprin Shangun, which basically had Amin Thompson as the lead ball handler.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: We've seen it before.
8:06
SPEAKER_00: He could just replicate it again.
8:07
SPEAKER_00: And yes, he technically did do it, but it is dramatically different than the floor setter that is Fred Van Vliet.
8:16
SPEAKER_00: It is hard for me to look at Amin Thompson right now, even though he is a phenomenal, phenomenal ball player and think that he by himself can handle the primary ball handling duties.
8:26
SPEAKER_00: Again, not saying that they won't be good, but on a championship team.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: I think that even without Fred Van Vliet, this team should win 50 plus games.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: Like I think they could do that in a regular season.
8:34
SPEAKER_00: But when things slow down, and we saw that last year when they played against the Golden State Warriors, how Freddie was the only person that can create by himself.
8:41
SPEAKER_00: Now, granted, they do have Kevin Durant on their team right now.
8:44
SPEAKER_00: Well, Freddie was really steady Freddy.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: There's a reason he has the nickname, and it ain't just because it rhymes.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: That's just what he is as a player.
8:53
SPEAKER_00: So I still do have a lot of belief in these players, but losing Freddie does suck.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: And then it leads to okay, how could they fill that void via trade, right?
9:04
SPEAKER_00: And all the reports have basically come out that the Houston Rockets are not trying to make additional trades.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: Honestly, they really just can't.
9:09
SPEAKER_00: I read a tweet on numbers on the board that basically said that they can't sign somebody because they're too close to the apron.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: They can't trade away half of their roster because they just gave those guys contracts.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: And in order to make a trade, they would have to trade some of the dudes that you don't want to trade.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: You don't want to trade Shingoon.
9:23
SPEAKER_00: You don't want to trade Kevin Durant, you don't want to trade um Ahmed Thompson.
9:28
SPEAKER_00: So it really has to be in uh roster development.
9:33
SPEAKER_00: It's just a little bit too far for me.
9:35
SPEAKER_00: But the question becomes what about December 15th?
9:39
SPEAKER_00: When everybody, almost, almost everybody becomes available via trade.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: Do they make a deal then?
9:45
SPEAKER_00: And if they do make a deal, what type of player should they be going after?
9:48
SPEAKER_00: And that part, I just don't know.
9:49
SPEAKER_00: I think we have to first wait and see what Reese Shepard looks like.
9:51
SPEAKER_00: I think we have to wait and see what Amin Thompson looks like as his primary ball handler.
9:55
SPEAKER_00: But it is one of the biggest blows.
9:58
SPEAKER_00: And for the people that were saying, yeah, it sucks, but don't worry, he'll be back next season.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: Yes, but they decided to merge the timelines.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: This Houston Rocket team that was super young, it's super fun with a Shingoon and Ahmed Thompson, Jalen Green, you know, who's in Phoenix right now, and so on, and they made it to the two seed, and this was a young, up-and-coming team.
10:21
SPEAKER_00: They accelerated that clock to bring in a 37-year-old Kevin Durant.
10:26
SPEAKER_00: I hate the idea of a gap year for any player that's 35 plus, and Kevin Durant is 37.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: He's no normal 37, but he is still 37 years old.
10:35
SPEAKER_00: I think you have to pounce, pounce, pounce and try to win while you can't.
10:39
SPEAKER_00: And that's why I'm kind of in the camp that maybe you just have to make a trade come December 15th.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: I just don't look at it and I just don't know who that player is right now.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: When December 15th comes around, we'll probably know.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: And then people on Twitter is asking, okay, December 15th comes around.
10:54
SPEAKER_00: What has to be happening for them to say no to the trade?
10:58
unknown: Right?
10:59
SPEAKER_00: If they suck, should they still try to make the trade?
11:02
SPEAKER_00: If they're playing really well, is that more incentive to make that trade?
11:05
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
11:06
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
11:07
SPEAKER_00: But Fred Van Vliet being down is trash.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: And I went back to watch one of the games that Freddie missed last season.
11:14
SPEAKER_00: This was um Freddie missed, I forget how many games, but a lot of the games that he missed, they also were missing Jabara Smith Jr.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: at that exact time.
11:21
SPEAKER_00: So it's like hard for me to gauge what the offense would look like without a starter.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: But I found one game that was against the Indiana Pacers last season where Fred Van Vliet missed, but the rest of the roster was active.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: And I watched that game to then rewatch them play that exact same team when everybody was healthy and kind of wanted to compare and contrast, if you will, the style of basketball that was being played.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: And you would probably guess how it went.
11:43
SPEAKER_00: Without Fred Van Vliet, the ball went through Alpred Shangoon a lot more.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: Alfred Shangoon had doubled the amount of post-ups in the game with no Fred Van Vliet.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: He played out of those post-ups.
11:53
SPEAKER_00: He played through those post-ups.
11:54
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like with just a few weeks until the NBA season, that is probably where things are going to go again.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to forget that Kevin Durant is on the roster as well, so he'll probably take a lot of the offensive low, but he also is 37 years old with a bunch of injury history.
12:09
SPEAKER_00: Do I want to ride out with Kevin Durant on 82-game season when we need him for a 16-game playoff push, 16-win playoff push?
12:16
SPEAKER_00: This is a really interesting season for that man Albert Shinko.
12:22
SPEAKER_00: When you watch him play in Eurobasket this season, it was one of those things.
12:35
SPEAKER_00: But he looked even better.
12:38
SPEAKER_00: Again, we always say that progression is not linear, but that he just turned 23 years old.
12:44
SPEAKER_00: He looks incredible.
12:46
SPEAKER_00: Even more incredible than he did last season.
12:49
SPEAKER_00: So maybe playing through him is not that bad of an idea.
12:54
SPEAKER_00: Right?
12:55
SPEAKER_00: So I'm excited for it.
12:57
SPEAKER_00: It does suck for Freddy.
12:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, it does suck for the championship chances of the Houston Rockets.
13:04
SPEAKER_00: But everything that I'm saying right now is without assuming the progression for some of their players, right?
13:08
SPEAKER_00: I could say, yeah, Reece Ever is gonna be great because it's another year of his NBA career.
13:12
SPEAKER_00: Amon Thompson's gonna be great because it's another year of his NBA career.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: And obviously, that's just not always how it works, right?
13:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I can tell you how good a specific player will be, but it will assume for everything.
13:24
SPEAKER_00: Another thing that's been on my mind as of recent is the Cleveland Cavaliers.
13:28
SPEAKER_00: A team that we have to agree is under some of the most pressure in all of basketball this season.
13:33
SPEAKER_00: They've had a few years of this core being together.
13:35
SPEAKER_00: They had lights too bright and they lose in the first round, and they had a couple second round exits.
13:39
SPEAKER_00: A team that last year was one of the most dominant teams in all of basketball, got to the second round and albeit dealt with injuries in that round, but did end up losing in round number two.
13:48
SPEAKER_00: When let me let me just quick, quickly double check how many wins they had?
13:51
SPEAKER_00: Oh, 64.
13:53
SPEAKER_00: They won 64 games this season.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: They were second in that rating, only behind an all-time historic OKC team.
13:59
SPEAKER_00: They were the best offense in basketball and were able to get better on the defensive side, kind of getting closer to what they were two years ago when they were the best defense in the league.
14:08
SPEAKER_00: So this team was a team that I truly did believe going into that postseason that they had enough to go out there and win a championship.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: And again, there is Garland's dealing with the toe injury and so on.
14:17
SPEAKER_00: And that's not the only reason they lose, by the way.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: Um they probably lose their series regardless because uh the Indiana Pacers like a buzzsaw and nobody can really stop them.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: But a disappointing season, nonetheless.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: There's so much pressure on this team that if they love playing together, they gotta step it up.
14:35
SPEAKER_00: Because if they don't make it to, I don't know, the NBA, I don't even know what the expectation should be.
14:39
SPEAKER_00: If they make it to the conference finals but lose, do we run it back?
14:43
SPEAKER_00: Is that enough proof of concept for us to go for year five of this core together?
14:47
SPEAKER_00: Or do they need to be in the finals?
14:49
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
14:49
SPEAKER_00: That's a genuine question.
14:50
SPEAKER_00: You let me know what you think.
14:53
SPEAKER_00: But one of the things that I was thinking about when I was watching their roster and looking through some things is I question how much losing Ty Jerome would hurt this team.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: Ty Jerome ended up being one of the breakout players of last year's season, something that not many people saw coming.
15:07
SPEAKER_00: Here, I don't even know if Ty Jerome really saw it coming.
15:09
SPEAKER_00: And what he did for that team was pretty remarkable.
15:13
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm I'm I'm really talking about uh mostly regular season because the postseason wasn't that great.
15:19
SPEAKER_00: And then you see the contract that he signed with in Memphis, that was way less than anybody thought he was gonna get.
15:23
SPEAKER_00: And I think a lot of that postseason, oh, the lack of postseason success was one of the reasons for that.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: But what I admired about um Ty Jerome's game is his ability to play with one of the other guards at all time.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: He's on the court with uh Donovan Mitchell.
15:41
SPEAKER_00: He can play off the ball, he can play with the ball.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: Same thing with Darius Garley.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: I feel like it's hard to fit a guard next to both of those dudes and see his game shift significantly depending on which of the guards he's on the court with.
15:53
SPEAKER_00: But the numbers are the numbers.
15:54
SPEAKER_00: I think that him being able to get to that mid-range area and him getting to that float of range and him getting that dribble penetration is something that is going to be missed because there's nobody on the roster right now that can replicate some of those things.
16:05
SPEAKER_00: As much as I love Lonzito Ball, who played for my Bulls for the last couple seasons, and I cannot wait to see him in that fire ass throwback Cavs jersey.
16:13
SPEAKER_00: He does not get to the basket at all anymore.
16:17
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he is, well, he did spend two years on the injury reserve list with some knee things, and they had to get someone else's knee, then put it in his leg, right?
16:28
SPEAKER_00: So, like, yeah, he may not be able to get to the basket, but getting to the basket has never really been Lonzo Ball's game.
16:33
SPEAKER_00: So it's even worse now.
16:34
SPEAKER_00: And they just didn't really fix that issue.
16:37
SPEAKER_00: And maybe it's not really an issue, but when I look at the numbers here, that with Tiger Ron and Donovan Mitchell on the court together, no Darius Garland, it was 523 minutes at a net rating of 11.47.
16:47
SPEAKER_00: When it was Darius Garland and Tiger Home, 330 uh 372 minutes at a net rating of a 10.3.
16:54
SPEAKER_00: No matter what lineup Tiger Rome was with, with these other guards, it was blowing people out of the gym.
17:02
SPEAKER_00: Now, don't ask about the minutes when it was Ty Jerome and no other guard because Golly is a minus 12 net rating.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: But as long as he was aside one of these other all-star, all-NBA guards, things were great.
17:13
SPEAKER_00: The defense got better, the offense became unguardable, and they just don't really have that.
17:17
SPEAKER_00: And they're also dealing with a Max Struce injury to start the season.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: But also, uh Kobe Altman was talking, you know, I don't I don't remember if they did Media Day or something.
17:28
SPEAKER_00: So they did something, and some of the quotes that Kobe Altman had got me super hype.
17:33
SPEAKER_00: Y'all know me as the Evan Mobley guy.
17:37
SPEAKER_00: From the first moment I met Evan Mobley, the Evan Mobley guy.
17:41
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I ain't even watched any of his NBA or his college film before I met him.
17:45
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, nah, this guy, I see it.
17:48
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I see Tim Duncan, like some people comping him to, but boy, this guy's elite.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: Oh, he's going to be elite, and I've been a fan since that day.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, here, here are the quotes from Kobe Altman.
17:59
SPEAKER_00: We're going to see him handle the ball a little bit more.
18:02
SPEAKER_00: We're going to see him bring the ball up, initiate plays to him out of the elbows.
18:06
SPEAKER_00: He'll be an offensive hub of sorts.
18:08
unknown: Hmm.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: That's pretty interesting.
18:11
SPEAKER_00: I thought that they did take a huge jump with him as a player that is initiating O, and that is a focal point of the offense last season.
18:21
SPEAKER_00: And Kobe Altman is saying, no, no, no, no.
18:23
SPEAKER_00: We're taking that to a whole new level this season.
18:25
SPEAKER_00: Because I do think that he is a good passer for a size, and I'm curious to see if he get better at that because again, that opens the game up so much more.
18:32
SPEAKER_00: I do think that even if the passing isn't there, there's some of the turnovers that he had last season where the idea of it was there, the vision was there.
18:39
SPEAKER_00: It was the execution on the pass that wasn't.
18:41
SPEAKER_00: So if we could get that down, because he already can see the floor and he already has these gazelle-like legs and transitions, like, oh man.
18:49
SPEAKER_00: One of my bold predictions going into this season on numbers on the board was that Evan Mobley is gonna average more points per game than Darius Garland.
18:57
SPEAKER_00: And the rest of the panel is like, uh, you know, Darius Garland's gonna have the ball so much.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: And I agree, yeah, Darius Garland's gonna have the ball a lot.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: But they're empowering Evan Mobley more and more every single season.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: And it's not just because they want him to be good, it's because he is good.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
19:13
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the player gets the ball is like, yeah, we need him to rock, we need him to rock out because our future is relying on this.
19:17
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no, no.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: That is not the case.
19:19
SPEAKER_00: Well, it kind of is a little bit of both, but it also is that Evan Mobley is that good.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: And one of my least favorite things about their playoff run last season was if you look at the box score of the games that they played in the first round and the second round, when the first round, they beat the Miami Heat so damn bad.
19:34
SPEAKER_00: Some of those games, I swear to you, as somebody whose job is to watch basketball, and there's no better basketball than playoff basketball, I dread at the moment at the turn on them damn games.
19:43
SPEAKER_00: That's how bad the Cavs beating up on the Miami Heat.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: And if you look at the box score there, there's not a single game in that postseason where he put up more than the 13 shots in the game.
19:53
SPEAKER_00: 13?
19:54
SPEAKER_00: Come on, man, he's too talented to just get 13 shots.
19:56
SPEAKER_00: And that's the that was his height.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: He had games, he had seven shots, seven, all NBA player.
20:01
SPEAKER_00: Seven shots, it's unheard of.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: So them empowering him more got me really, really hyped.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: But he says more.
20:09
SPEAKER_00: You'll notice how much stronger he's gotten.
20:13
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is this is uh this is um Atkinson this time around.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: You just sense that he'll be ready to make another jump.
20:22
SPEAKER_00: The seriousness in which he approaches the offseason from a body perspective and from a basketball perspective, he's just different.
20:32
SPEAKER_00: Am I getting you hype for the Evan Mobley year or not?
20:36
SPEAKER_00: Do we want do we want to do we want to hit up some of our gambling partners and say, hey, we need to put money on a top five MVP fitness for Evan Mobley?
20:46
SPEAKER_00: Come on, man.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: I know these players, these people, their their whole job is to talk highly about the people in their locker room.
20:54
SPEAKER_00: Trust me, I know.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: Well, you contrast that to some of the other general managers, some of the other coaches across basketball in this the few media days we got.
21:05
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, man.
21:07
SPEAKER_00: And with the track record that is Evan Mobley and his progression of his NBA career, I don't think it's that far-fetched to think that Evan Mobley's about to be even better this season.
21:17
SPEAKER_00: So I'm so hyped.
21:19
SPEAKER_00: And him getting stronger is a point that I think a lot of us should really pay attention to this season.
21:24
SPEAKER_00: Because a few of the times they've got to the postseason with Evan Mobley and Jared Allen, they got punked straight up.
21:29
SPEAKER_00: When they went against the Knicks, now, granted this was three years ago, when they went against the Knicks, Mitchell Robinson looked like a look like goddamn uh Hakeem Elijah went on the glass.
21:37
SPEAKER_00: A modern day uh Dennis Rodman, they got straight up punked.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: And one of the reasons why they feel more comfortable with Evan Mobley, of course, being the four is because he hadn't filled himself out yet.
21:47
SPEAKER_00: He was 21 years old, 22 years old.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: And if he continues to get stronger, it makes me think that there is a world where we do see a full time five Evan Mobley sooner rather than later.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: Especially, especially if If the Cavaliers disappoint again this season.
22:04
SPEAKER_00: And I'm excited for that potential of him being a five.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: Not potential of them losing.
22:09
SPEAKER_00: The potential of him playing full-time five.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: Because I think it could just, yeah.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: So Evan Mobley.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
22:22
SPEAKER_00: Next thing I wanted to talk about is I was talking to a friend of mine, right?
22:27
SPEAKER_00: And this friend of mine, let me give you some full context of who he is as a person.
22:31
SPEAKER_00: He is not someone that does this job, right?
22:34
SPEAKER_00: He is not somebody that is locked in for a hundred and or one thousand two hundred NBA games every single season.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: That's not who he is.
22:41
SPEAKER_00: But damn it, he keeps up the ball a lot, right?
22:45
SPEAKER_00: And I and we were just talking hoops, you know, casually.
22:49
SPEAKER_00: And he asked me what team I liked out East.
22:52
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, what do you mean?
22:53
SPEAKER_00: What which ones do I like?
22:54
SPEAKER_00: Are you talking about like championships?
22:56
SPEAKER_00: Are you talking about, you know, like watchability?
22:58
SPEAKER_00: He's like, no, as far as like the team you think is gonna win the East.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay, well, I basically gave him the very politicized answer that's like, well, it's really between the Cavs and the Knicks.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: And he said, yeah.
23:11
SPEAKER_00: But I got the bucks.
23:14
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: Now, this friend of mine, we are not best friends.
23:19
SPEAKER_00: He is not, I wouldn't even call him, he's not in the group chat.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: Just just a friend, right?
23:23
SPEAKER_00: And I and that's not negative.
23:25
SPEAKER_00: He he would probably say the same thing about me.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: So you're not that close to somebody.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: You don't come up, you tripping.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh okay, why you why you say that?
23:35
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to hear what he said to me?
23:38
SPEAKER_00: This Milwaukee Bucks team reminds me of the 2009 Cavaliers.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, hold on, bro.
23:47
SPEAKER_00: Where you been?
23:49
SPEAKER_00: Where have you been that you have been thinking about the 2009 Cavs as somebody that again watches basketball, but not a huge, huge super NBA fan.
24:02
SPEAKER_00: And I kid you not.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: I can't stop thinking about it.
24:07
SPEAKER_00: I can't stop thinking about it, ladies and gentlemen.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: I can't stop thinking about it.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: The 2009 Cavaliers won 66.
24:17
SPEAKER_00: Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: The 2009 Cavaliers won 66 games.
24:25
SPEAKER_00: That team was number four on offense, number three on defense.
24:31
SPEAKER_00: That team had the best net rating in all of basketball.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: Going into this season, they had an over-under of 47 and a half.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: The previous season, they won 45 and made it to the second round where they lost in seven against the Boston Celtics.
24:48
SPEAKER_00: So I asked, why do you say that?
24:52
SPEAKER_00: He said it's almost verbatim.
24:55
SPEAKER_00: It's almost verbatim.
24:57
SPEAKER_00: One of the best players in the world on a mediocre team in a mediocre conference.
25:04
SPEAKER_00: What more can I ask for?
25:11
SPEAKER_00: Sound.
25:11
SPEAKER_00: That's a sound argument.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: Then I go home, I'm thinking about the Cavs.
25:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm actually re-watching um one of the games against the Orlando Magic.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: Because it happened happened to be on NBA TV like two days later, which is a good coincidence.
25:29
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, okay.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: So obviously, in this comparison, the braun figure, the LeBron figure is Giannis, right?
25:37
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, okay, who was their big Z?
25:42
SPEAKER_00: Well, I guess Miles, well, I guess Miles Turner, yeah.
25:45
SPEAKER_00: Miles Turner's not an all-star or anything, but like, you know, okay.
25:49
SPEAKER_00: 26-year-old Ilgauskis.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
25:53
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
25:53
SPEAKER_00: 33-year-old Gowski this point.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: My fault.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: 26.
25:56
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I was looking at Bearish I was 26.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: Who's their Mo Williams?
26:02
SPEAKER_00: Can't get there.
26:04
SPEAKER_00: Mo Williams made an all-star game that season.
26:06
SPEAKER_00: That's how good LeBron was.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, Mo, I don't want to take away Yackolaid, but that's how good LeBron was.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, bro.
26:13
SPEAKER_00: I I obviously I can't get there.
26:15
SPEAKER_00: As far as again, this Cavs team won 66.
26:19
SPEAKER_00: I mean, give Doc Rivers every coach of the air war for the next decade if he could get that team to 66 wins.
26:26
SPEAKER_00: But one of the best players in the league in a shit conference.
26:34
SPEAKER_00: That's interesting.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting.
26:38
SPEAKER_00: That's all I'll say.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: That's all I'll say.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying I'm subscribing to it.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying I'm subscribing to it.
26:43
SPEAKER_00: But I promise you that one conversation did have me thinking quite a bit.
26:48
SPEAKER_00: I want to go to the next thing that I've been thinking about.
26:51
SPEAKER_00: It has to do with the Detroit Pistons.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: The Pistons, you know, their offseason was polarizing to a lot of people.
26:59
SPEAKER_00: You know, losing Malik Beastly is huge, but like, what were they supposed to do about that?
27:03
SPEAKER_00: They nobody, you know what I'm saying?
27:05
SPEAKER_00: They replaced him with Duncan Robinson.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: Cool.
27:10
SPEAKER_00: It's a team that surprised the entire world this year, right?
27:13
SPEAKER_00: Last year, they lost, what, 27, 28 straight games in this season?
27:17
SPEAKER_00: Not only were they a play, they were like a genuine playoff team, not like a we got to win two games again.
27:21
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no.
27:22
SPEAKER_00: A genuine playoff team.
27:24
SPEAKER_00: So they lost a few important players on their team, and people like, well, they didn't really get anything to replace those guys.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: Tim Hardaway Jr.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: is gone, Keris LaVert is in the door, Dennis Schroeder is gone, and Jaden Ivey is probably the Dennis Schroeder replacement from his injury.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay, cool.
27:41
SPEAKER_00: Let's let's go down that because in order for this team to hit the heights that they want to hit, they have to figure out the Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey backcourt.
27:50
SPEAKER_00: It has been a question for like three years now.
27:52
SPEAKER_00: And in the 520 minutes they played together, they had a negative 4.2 net rating.
27:58
SPEAKER_00: Good offense, abysmal defensive team with those two in a court together.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: Kay Cunningham without Jaden Ivey, and these are just in the minutes that Jaden Ivey was active, right?
28:06
SPEAKER_00: So I don't want to count any minute that Kay Cunningham played if Jaden Ivey wasn't in a uh jersey, if he was on the sideline with the with the outfits on.
28:15
SPEAKER_00: Net rating of a minus 7.1.
28:17
SPEAKER_00: And then when it was just Jayden Ivey, no Kay Cunningham, net rating of a minus 2.3.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: So they're double to triple.
28:24
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know how I can put that into words.
28:26
SPEAKER_00: They're a lot worse when those two guys were on the court together in the regular season last season.
28:31
SPEAKER_00: Again, it's not like they were that good with them together.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: And I do question how much of that is their fit may not be in great, and how much of that is the team still trying to find their identity in the midst of the season.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: Because I want to remind you, Jay Nyvey got injured 30 games into the year.
28:49
SPEAKER_00: And let me see what the record was for them in the game Jay Nyvey went down against the Orlando Magic.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: They were three games under 500, right?
28:57
SPEAKER_00: So at this moment in time, again, trying to lay out the full context of what the Detroit Pistons were, nobody still looked, nobody looked at them as a team that was going to be a real playoff team.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: We thought this team was intriguing.
29:08
SPEAKER_00: They were obviously significantly better than the previous year, but they hadn't completely hit their stride.
29:12
SPEAKER_00: They didn't really hit their stride to like the game, the game after Jay Nivey went down?
29:18
SPEAKER_00: That's not fair.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: That's not fair.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: That's not fair.
29:20
SPEAKER_00: Because the game that Jay Nivey went down, they had at that point won four out of the last five.
29:24
SPEAKER_00: So they were starting their upward trajectory, right?
29:26
SPEAKER_00: So I don't want to act like Jay Nivey going down was the blessing that ended up making them a playoff team.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: So the numbers that I read to you about them being on the court together happened to be in the time, but they just didn't know who they were just yet.
29:37
SPEAKER_00: So like maybe those numbers are completely screwed, uh skewed, and once he comes back this year, we'll see it be significantly better.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: But some of the numbers outside of that about how they were being utilized is what makes it really interesting.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: Where when Jaden Ivey was on the court by himself, he ran seven times more pick and rolls as the ball handler than when he was with Kay Cunningham.
29:56
SPEAKER_00: There's no jump as far as a backcourt that plays with each other and without each other that is that big.
30:02
SPEAKER_00: Even the Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland pairing, you don't see both of their numbers get seven times more when one of them goes to the bench.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: So we have to figure out how we can put Jaden Ivey in his best position to be the best version of himself while also allowing Cade Cunningham to be Cade.
30:20
SPEAKER_00: And I think one of the things that, at least me as a Cade fan and a watcher of Cade, um, that I think will benefit his game so, so, so much is if we did get the ball out of his hands just a little bit more, right?
30:34
SPEAKER_00: Where he is not looked at as the sole creator on the team.
30:38
SPEAKER_00: And that basically what it turned into last season.
30:41
SPEAKER_00: Right?
30:41
SPEAKER_00: He was 100th percentile when it comes to NBA usage last year.
30:45
SPEAKER_00: And I wonder, I can't, I can't filter this out.
30:47
SPEAKER_00: I wonder what percentile he was in, you know, pre-J Nive injury, again, uh victim of circumstances in some ways.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: But like even the year before that, he also was in the 100%ile.
30:56
SPEAKER_00: The year before that, he was in the 99th percentile.
30:58
SPEAKER_00: The year before that, his rookie season, he was in the 98th percentile.
31:01
SPEAKER_00: There's a guy that has had the ball in the stands for the entirety of his career.
31:03
SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
31:04
SPEAKER_00: It has resulted in an all-NBA appearance.
31:06
SPEAKER_00: So I don't want to act like that's a bad thing.
31:09
SPEAKER_00: But I do think it will be better, not just for him, but for the Detroit Pistons himself, if we just lowered that usage a little bit more.
31:16
SPEAKER_00: I think it'll make him even more of an efficient offensive player, if he played alongside somebody, in this case that is Jay Nivey, who can make him more of an off-ball player.
31:25
SPEAKER_00: I get scared when I watch guys with his level of usage.
31:29
SPEAKER_00: Just truly speaking, when it comes to his level of usage, I get scared, especially if that player is not one of the five best players in basketball.
31:38
SPEAKER_00: And maybe I don't want to put that off the table for Kay Cunningham.
31:41
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he becomes that one day, one day.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: But for a guy to be 100%ile, I want him to be Luca.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: I want him to be Jokic.
31:47
SPEAKER_00: I want him to be broad.
31:48
SPEAKER_00: I want him to be, you know, one of those guys that is the system.
31:51
SPEAKER_00: And Kay Cunningham is making his way to being called the system itself.
31:55
SPEAKER_00: But there's just a lot there.
31:57
SPEAKER_00: Like these are the guys who all in the 100%ile when it comes to usage last season.
32:02
SPEAKER_00: Giannis, 100% warranted.
32:05
SPEAKER_00: He's Giannis.
32:06
SPEAKER_00: Lamelo Ball, um, not playing for anything.
32:10
SPEAKER_00: I don't like that either, by the way.
32:11
SPEAKER_00: I don't like Lamelo Ball having that ball that many times, but not playing for anything, so whatever.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: Um, Cam Thomas, also not playing for anything.
32:19
SPEAKER_00: And then it is Kay Cunningham, who is again on a playoff team who are trying to win.
32:25
SPEAKER_00: So I wonder, you know, with an entire offseason, what JB could do to maximize both of these guys simultaneously.
32:34
SPEAKER_00: Because I tell you, if we go an entire season next year and these on-off numbers are exactly the same with Jay Nivey, A and K Cunningham, you know what has to happen.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: I ain't gotta say it.
32:45
SPEAKER_00: You know what has to happen with this team.
32:47
SPEAKER_00: You know what has to happen to this backcourt.
32:50
SPEAKER_00: I don't want it to happen.
32:52
SPEAKER_00: Jon I Jay Nivy is also um an interesting character when it comes to his extension stuff.
32:58
SPEAKER_00: What type of money will he end up getting?
32:59
SPEAKER_00: I don't really know.
33:00
SPEAKER_00: Um but oh, I just typed in Jay Nivey, and it says Jay Nivey has one glaring red flag hanging over his extension.
33:09
SPEAKER_00: And I can't wait to read that article.
33:12
SPEAKER_00: The last thing I got right here, thinking about the San Antonio Spurs.
33:18
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people's pick to be one of the teams that blossoms into a postseason team.
33:22
SPEAKER_00: I think we may have done it on this podcast, but maybe it was on the Kenny for real YouTube channel, where we talked about how every single season, there's about four and a half, if you average out, four and a half new playoff teams every single year.
33:35
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of insane we think about it because it's 16 teams that make it.
33:38
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know what?
33:39
SPEAKER_00: No, 20, because I did count the play in, by the way.
33:40
SPEAKER_00: I did count the play in.
33:42
SPEAKER_00: So if we're just going off the averages, somebody that missed it has a chance to jump in.
33:48
SPEAKER_00: And I think that a lot of people probably bet on the San Antonio Spurs.
33:52
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I woke up this morning to a notification that said ESPN top 100 is done, and Victoriama is number five.
33:58
SPEAKER_00: He's number five, y'all.
34:01
SPEAKER_00: Now, in their defense, I don't even know why I'm defending them, but they try to project, they've always tried to project, but he's number five damn, dude.
34:11
SPEAKER_00: That's oh anyway, um, it will be a lot of people's pick to be the team to take the next jump into the postseason.
34:18
SPEAKER_00: And then you look at the team construction, it's obviously a good roster.
34:21
SPEAKER_00: Dear Fox is signing this extension to find Castle's coming off a rookie of the year.
34:24
SPEAKER_00: Victor and Yama's great.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: We don't know what Dylan Harper will be at the NBA level, but like really hypertension with so on.
34:31
SPEAKER_00: And the question that I had initially for them, when you think about what the um idea of this episode was supposed to be, was is Devin Vassale jump shooting enough?
34:43
SPEAKER_00: You think about the players that will play big minutes for them.
34:46
SPEAKER_00: Shout out to Harrison Barnes, who played all 82 last season.
34:48
SPEAKER_00: He shot 43% from three, which is insane.
34:50
SPEAKER_00: Shout out to HB.
34:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, a lot of their top three-point shooters are not guys you really think about playing a ton of minutes if you look at last season, right?
34:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, Julian Champagne, obviously, was a really good season, had a really great jump shooting year at 37%.
35:04
SPEAKER_00: But as far as the core guys that you expect to be on the court, you know, when the game's closing out or in the last quarter, Devin Vassale, and I guess Victor Webyamu, you can adjust for his volume, are the only three-point shooters that really can make threes.
35:21
SPEAKER_00: And I again just question if Devin Vasel's jump shooting is enough.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: Now, they do have people on the exterior again, like uh a Champny.
35:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, Kelvin Johnson did have a year where he was good from behind the arc.
35:35
SPEAKER_00: Could you see him bounce back to that?
35:38
SPEAKER_00: That oh, I damn, damn.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: That was three years ago?
35:44
SPEAKER_00: Why am I minded?
35:45
SPEAKER_00: Was that like a year ago?
35:47
SPEAKER_00: So maybe it's unrealistic to look at that because it is so far along.
35:51
SPEAKER_00: He's played 180 games since then.
35:55
SPEAKER_00: And he's 32%, 34%, and 31%.
35:59
SPEAKER_00: So maybe it's unrealistic to expect him to shoot the 38 or 39% that he shot three years ago.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: But in a league that you have to value, uh value the jump shooting and the three-point shooting, I just question if the players on their roster will be good enough to do that.
36:17
SPEAKER_00: You know, somebody has to take a huge jump.
36:21
SPEAKER_00: I just don't know who that is.
36:22
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we know Wimby should be better because he is Victor Myama, he's an alien.
36:25
SPEAKER_00: So we talk about progression not being linear.
36:28
SPEAKER_00: I think with Wimbi, Wimby Yam, it's gonna be linear until it's over.
36:32
SPEAKER_00: Like he's gonna continue to do that.
36:33
SPEAKER_00: But De'Aaron Fox is far removed from him being a plus three-point shooter.
36:36
SPEAKER_00: That was also a few years back.
36:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, Stefan Castle shot 28% from three.
36:42
SPEAKER_00: It's not, it's not pretty.
36:44
SPEAKER_00: I'll just say that.
36:45
SPEAKER_00: It's not pretty.
36:46
SPEAKER_00: Devin Sale's gonna have a huge role, I believe.
36:49
SPEAKER_00: But on the same side, I question if like Devin Sale really is a part of this team's overall future.
36:55
SPEAKER_00: I just don't know.
36:56
SPEAKER_00: But as far as like going into this season, he is important because he is one of the few people in their immediate lineups that will have open threes and will have to make said open threes.
37:09
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
37:11
SPEAKER_00: Can I quickly run through some of the questions that I had before Pierre stole my idea?
37:16
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not even gonna add context to a lot of these.
37:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, no, no, no, no.
37:19
SPEAKER_00: I got one more big one.
37:20
SPEAKER_00: I got one more big one, and it won't even take a long time.
37:22
SPEAKER_00: And it has to do with the Minnesota Timbulls, a team that is also, everything's been on my mind a lot.
37:27
SPEAKER_00: But damn it, we right around the corner from the NBA season.
37:30
SPEAKER_00: Shamsharania had a little piece.
37:32
SPEAKER_00: Um Shams is a cool guy, very cool guy.
37:37
SPEAKER_00: He's been in the studio multiple times.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: He's always been very open and helping.
37:41
SPEAKER_00: We've done seven interviews, it feels like.
37:48
SPEAKER_00: You be faking me out way too often, bro.
37:52
SPEAKER_00: He would tweet something, and it'd be a link to a video of him doing a spot on ESPN.
37:56
SPEAKER_00: And I understand it, right?
37:57
SPEAKER_00: We all need people to click our videos.
38:00
SPEAKER_00: But like the caps is like update on Anthony Eyers.
38:02
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, hold on.
38:04
SPEAKER_00: Wait, I didn't even know Anthony Everett needed an update.
38:06
SPEAKER_00: Did he get injured?
38:07
SPEAKER_00: Is he did he request his trade?
38:08
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean, update on Anthony Edwards?
38:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, and the update happened to be about his progression as a player.
38:14
SPEAKER_00: When he lost last season on the post in the postseason, he said that he's about to lock himself in the gym and nobody's gonna know what he's working on, and he's just gonna come to the season looking like so-and-so.
38:23
SPEAKER_00: And I've always called, uh, well, at least dating back to last season, Anthony Edwards is the NBA's version of Taskmaster.
38:29
SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to pull that out on TV one day.
38:32
SPEAKER_00: Just know you heard it, you heard it on this podcast first.
38:35
SPEAKER_00: But I swear I'm gonna I'm gonna do my own spot, and they're gonna be like, Can you give us two minutes about Anthony Ewards?
38:39
SPEAKER_00: Hell yeah, let me show you the film because I got it.
38:41
SPEAKER_00: I fucking got it ready.
38:43
SPEAKER_00: Where Anthony Edwards is NBA's taskmaster.
38:47
SPEAKER_00: With a brother watches film on a specific player and say, hmm, Steph Curry shoots like this, I'm gonna try that.
38:53
SPEAKER_00: Nah, that don't work.
38:54
SPEAKER_00: Damian Lillard shoots like this, bingo, got it.
38:57
SPEAKER_00: And this time around, due to Shams update on Anthony Edwards, Anthony Edwards is now uh incorporating a post-game into his game.
39:07
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's interesting.
39:09
SPEAKER_00: We know the type of player that he wants to be, we know his idols growing up, the coves, the Jordans, and stuff.
39:15
SPEAKER_00: So with him getting that post-game is really intriguing.
39:18
SPEAKER_00: And I think about how having a post-game as somebody of his size and of his usage or what his usage is going to be this season, which we talked about 100% usage, right?
39:29
SPEAKER_00: God damn, Anthony Everett's gonna be in that spot next season, I think.
39:32
SPEAKER_00: Um how beneficial it can be, because there were times last season, and granted, OKC has 37 dog defenders on their team, where they happen to put a guy that was smaller but handsier in like Alice Caruso, who I think when you line him up, they're about the same height.
39:51
SPEAKER_00: Alice Caruso is deceiving, like deceptively tall compared, like when you think about him versus when you see him.
39:57
SPEAKER_00: But he ain't got that weight that Anthony Edwards has.
40:00
SPEAKER_00: And you wonder like, if Anthony Edwards is backed his ass down, how much more that can mean to the team?
40:07
SPEAKER_00: Because a a plus postgame for a guy like him, and I mean like plus plus, and this will be his first year incorporating.
40:13
SPEAKER_00: So I don't know if I'm if I should temper the expectation of it being plus plus of like one of the best postgames in the league for a guard.
40:20
SPEAKER_00: If he is abusing using and abusing, like Walt Frazier would say, if he's using and abusing these smaller defenders or just any defender they put on him, you have to throw another body.
40:33
SPEAKER_00: And my biggest critique about Anthony Ewitz over the last year as he continues to get better, is that his playmaking just hasn't taken the leap that you need.
40:42
SPEAKER_00: He's got better.
40:44
SPEAKER_00: Go watch him attack um a blitz pick and roll last year versus two years ago.
40:49
SPEAKER_00: It is significantly better.
40:51
SPEAKER_00: But when you talk about being a guard in the echelon of player that we know he can be, he has to be a better playmaker.
40:59
SPEAKER_00: And when you're gonna send two on a really good post player in Anthony Everett's this season, the game is going to open.
41:09
SPEAKER_00: So I'm so excited to hear the report.
41:11
SPEAKER_00: Now, also, I'm a I'm just a bit skeptical because you don't really give out these reports like that.
41:16
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
41:17
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I'm really excited to see what that postgame could open up for his team.
41:23
SPEAKER_00: I think there are certain lineups that they cannot run if he's gonna be playing in the post, right?
41:28
SPEAKER_00: I can't see them giving him post touches if it's Rudigo Bear and Julius Randle on the court.
41:33
SPEAKER_00: It has to be a Julius Randle Nazi construction, it has to be something like that.
41:37
SPEAKER_00: Um But I talked about it on numbers, and I don't think I fleshed it out enough.
41:45
SPEAKER_00: There's so much pressure on Ant-Man, and I don't mean pressure to perform, right?
41:48
SPEAKER_00: He's been to the conference finals twice already at the age of what, 24 or something like that.
41:51
SPEAKER_00: I'm not even talking about, oh, if his team don't make it to the conference finals or his team don't make it to the finals, it was an underrated, underappreciated, and bad season.
41:58
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
41:58
SPEAKER_00: I don't mean that type of pressure.
41:59
SPEAKER_00: I don't mean pressure to succeed, like I talk about the Cavs.
42:03
SPEAKER_00: I mean literal on court pressure.
42:06
SPEAKER_00: Where other teams are gonna try to deny, they're gonna send two every single game for the entirety of this season.
42:14
SPEAKER_00: The pressure for him to be a better playmaker is extensive.
42:19
SPEAKER_00: You think about all these other guys that are, you know, high usage need the ball, because right now their point guard position is a lot to be desired.
42:26
SPEAKER_00: Mike Holly's old as dirt, Rob Dillingham is small as shit, and maybe not ready.
42:32
SPEAKER_00: You know, they tried to do some Dante DiVincenzo at the one, then it looked great.
42:38
SPEAKER_00: So, in order for him to be the player we know he can be, and I think that he could be the MVP of the league one day.
42:44
SPEAKER_00: That's how highly I think about Anthony Edwards.
42:47
SPEAKER_00: He has to turn into not just a plus playmaker here, but an elite level playmaker.
42:53
SPEAKER_00: If we're going to run as many pick and rolls as they probably want to run, Anthony Edwards has to be.
43:00
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's unrealistic and unfair to him to think about him being in the same passing realm as like Luca, who's always been this level of passer, right?
43:07
SPEAKER_00: Developing this level of passing is tough, but he needs to hit that next level in order to compete the way they should compete.
43:17
SPEAKER_00: There's not a lot of people taking that pressure off of him right now.
43:20
SPEAKER_00: You hope that Jaden McDaniels, him putting that ball on the floor and remembering that he used to be a creator back in college, you hope that that increases.
43:27
SPEAKER_00: You hope that Julius Randle has another season that he's pretty good, but it will always find his way back to Ant.
43:36
SPEAKER_00: It's a lot of pressure.
43:37
SPEAKER_00: Again, just on core pressure.
43:39
SPEAKER_00: And if there's any person, because I know this is about the eclipse for my team at Georgia, I you need to put this one in.
43:44
SPEAKER_00: If there's any person I trust to take that jump, it is Anthony Edwards.
43:54
SPEAKER_00: All right, let's go quickly through uh the quest some of the questions that I have for these other teams without any context to it.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: Celtics, is Jason Tatum trying to come back a good thing for the team?
44:06
SPEAKER_00: Damn, without doing context, but you know why I said no context or no context?
44:12
SPEAKER_00: Chicago Bulls are any of your reclamation projects going to work out.
44:18
SPEAKER_00: Golden State Warriors.
44:20
SPEAKER_00: Why don't I trust it?
44:24
SPEAKER_00: Dallas Mavericks, how much will Cooper Flag be relied on as an initiator?
44:28
SPEAKER_00: The Brooklyn Nets, how early and two this next season will we see that our all-guard lineup?
44:36
SPEAKER_00: Charlotte Hornets.
44:38
SPEAKER_00: Is this the turning point in the franchise?
44:42
SPEAKER_00: Damn, I want to put some context behind that one, but I can't.
44:44
SPEAKER_00: I told myself no context.
44:45
SPEAKER_00: Clippers.
44:49
SPEAKER_00: Will their age be a factor come playoff time?
44:53
SPEAKER_00: The Knicks.
44:54
SPEAKER_00: Will Mitchell Robinson starting starting be the opening to Kat being on a good defense, been being in the good defensive lineup?
45:04
SPEAKER_00: I feel like I could have worded that a little bit better, but whatever.
45:06
SPEAKER_00: The Miami Heat, who will fill the Tyler Hero void until he comes back?
45:12
SPEAKER_00: The Lakers.
45:13
SPEAKER_00: How creative can JJ Reddick get with a full offseason thinking about Luka Doncic?
45:18
SPEAKER_00: Magic.
45:19
SPEAKER_00: Will the court open up more in theory?
45:22
SPEAKER_00: With the court opening up more in theory, can we get Palo Banquero using his size and strength more?
45:30
SPEAKER_00: I want context down.
45:32
SPEAKER_00: I want to give you the context, so I'm not gonna do it.
45:35
SPEAKER_00: Blazers, how will Chauncey manage the development projects and the idea of competing?
45:43
SPEAKER_00: The Suns, who will be the fifth starter?
45:45
SPEAKER_00: We know it's Booker Green, Brooks, and Williams, but will we have O'Neal, Don?
45:49
SPEAKER_00: Will they go Oso Igodoro?
45:52
SPEAKER_00: The Raptors.
45:53
SPEAKER_00: Well, we dropped 15 questions about the Raptors just last episode.
45:55
SPEAKER_00: Go listen to that for a Raptor question.
45:58
SPEAKER_00: Um what else we have?
45:59
SPEAKER_00: The Jazz, who emerged as a second most important prospect?
46:03
SPEAKER_00: The Kings.
46:06
SPEAKER_00: Can you land John DeCaminga?
46:08
SPEAKER_00: And if you do, does that help at all?
46:14
SPEAKER_00: The Atlanta Hawks, we posed some questions last episode, so I was just gonna again throw you into last episode.
46:24
SPEAKER_00: The OKC Thunder.
46:26
SPEAKER_00: How much do you try to incorporate Nikola Topic?
46:30
SPEAKER_00: The Grizzlies.
46:33
SPEAKER_00: Can Kenny Pope help this team out?
46:36
SPEAKER_00: I got a lot of love, Kenny Pope.
46:37
SPEAKER_00: But can Kenny Pope help this team out?
46:39
SPEAKER_00: The 76ers.
46:42
SPEAKER_00: Oh no context.
46:43
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be crazy here.
46:45
SPEAKER_00: Are we overthinking this?
46:48
SPEAKER_00: No context, man.
46:49
SPEAKER_00: No context.
46:50
SPEAKER_00: That's a tough one.
46:50
SPEAKER_00: That's a tough one.
46:52
SPEAKER_00: Pacers.
46:53
SPEAKER_00: Um what would a Ben Matherin and Aaron E.
46:56
SPEAKER_00: Smith extension look like?
46:57
SPEAKER_00: That's a kind of that's sorry, that's kind of a boring one.
47:00
SPEAKER_00: The Pelicans.
47:02
SPEAKER_00: Is it Zion season, baby?
47:07
SPEAKER_00: And did I get every team?
47:10
SPEAKER_00: Oh, Wizards.
47:11
SPEAKER_00: I almost forgot you again, Wizards fans, boy.
47:13
SPEAKER_00: Y'all be in my mentions, man.
47:16
SPEAKER_00: Were either of the French players break out this season?
47:20
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of ones there that I would love to put context behind, but I also think it's more fun if I don't.
47:26
SPEAKER_00: And then those other teams that I didn't get to, I just gave y'all a full segment of each of those teams, all six of those teams, so I didn't get to y'all's question.
47:32
SPEAKER_00: All right.
47:33
SPEAKER_00: Um, before we get out of here, we want to do Ask KB.
47:35
SPEAKER_00: All you gotta do is hit us up on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag askkb, and I try my very best to give you great answers to your questions.
47:42
SPEAKER_00: Let's see what we got today.
47:46
SPEAKER_02: Hi, Kenny.
47:46
SPEAKER_02: Uh, love the content, love the part.
47:49
SPEAKER_02: Uh, my question is if Kawhi Leonard was to get his contract voided, if the Clippers are found guilty, and he was to sign for a new team, where would he fit the best?
48:01
SPEAKER_00: Very, very interesting question you have there, my good friend.
48:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, my non-American friend, if I heard that correctly.
48:07
SPEAKER_00: I love when people come on here with nice accents.
48:10
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I think some teams that would that I think again assuming a void of contract means that he's signing to his next team for the low.
48:19
SPEAKER_00: Because if you try to talk about cap, you try to talk about space to that team, it's hard to get there.
48:23
SPEAKER_00: But just assuming Kawhi Leonard just accepted$50 million under the table, damn it, he'll accept the minimum on this next contract.
48:29
SPEAKER_00: Here are some teams that immediately came to mind.
48:31
SPEAKER_00: The Dallas Mavericks come to mind immediately.
48:34
SPEAKER_00: It's so Nico Harrison Coda.
48:36
SPEAKER_00: It is so Nico Harrison Coda.
48:37
SPEAKER_00: See, y'all didn't believe in me, and just so happy he got became the luckiest GM of all time by winning the lottery, and then another team had their star player contract get voided.
48:45
SPEAKER_00: Again, we're living in this hypothetical world.
48:47
SPEAKER_00: I don't think this is gonna happen, by the way, for Kawhi Leonard.
48:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, but the Mavericks come to mind immediately, where you can have lineups of him, Cooper, Anthony Davis, Kyrie when Kyrie comes back and Klay Thompson.
48:57
SPEAKER_00: That's that's pretty good, man.
49:00
SPEAKER_00: That's that's not a lot of um on the shoulders of some players that have questionable injury history.
49:05
SPEAKER_00: But damn it, if you want to talk about having a window, you got it there.
49:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, also, what comes to mind is a team like the Rockets, right?
49:14
SPEAKER_00: Who just are losing Fred Van Vleed.
49:16
SPEAKER_00: And obviously, Kawhi Leonard doesn't feel that void, but as far as the talent goes on that team, you think about a KD, Shangun, Amin Thompson, Kawhi Leonard.
49:24
SPEAKER_00: You're like, oh, snap, things look good there.
49:26
SPEAKER_00: I think about the Detroit Pistons as well, a team that is one step away.
49:29
SPEAKER_00: I think that that doesn't feel like a Kawhi type uh destination, but again, forget about that, just talking about the basketball.
49:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, and how funny would it be if he ended up in the team in that city on the other side in the Los Angeles Lakers?
49:43
SPEAKER_00: So those are those are the teams that come to mind immediately.
49:46
SPEAKER_00: But I do appreciate and like that question.
49:49
SPEAKER_01: How well do you think Jalen Brown's gonna do with Jason Tatum tearing his Achilles and most likely being out for the um the whole season?
49:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um I think pretty good.
49:59
SPEAKER_00: I don't I don't know how like do you want me to think about it in points per game?
50:02
SPEAKER_00: You want to think about as far as total wins he leads?
50:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm not completely sure.
50:06
SPEAKER_00: Um Jason Tatum just went on a full media tour where he was trying to temper, no, he was trying to change the expectation.
50:12
SPEAKER_00: The expectations that he will miss next season, he's going to first take and all these other places.
50:16
SPEAKER_00: Like, I never said I want playing this year.
50:18
SPEAKER_00: I'm in rehab six days a week to get better, to get back.
50:21
SPEAKER_00: And that was why my question, if I'm out of context, is Jason Tatum coming back.
50:25
SPEAKER_00: A good thing um was there because I kind of don't want him rushing back, you know.
50:29
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, how good would he be?
50:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't know.
50:33
SPEAKER_00: And I'm so excited to see, right?
50:34
SPEAKER_00: Because for the entirety of base lift, Jalen Brown's career, he's been the second fiddle.
50:39
SPEAKER_00: Some people say one A, one B.
50:41
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, that playoff run, he was the better player in those last two series where they won a championship, and that's why he got conference finals MVP and um NBA finals MVP.
50:51
SPEAKER_00: But for the most part, you know, both of these guys benefit from having another all-NBA caliber player alongside them.
50:57
SPEAKER_00: And now that one of them is gone, I think it will be tougher for him, don't get me wrong.
51:00
SPEAKER_00: But he is still such a talented ball player that I don't put it past him that, like, let me see exactly what he averaged last season with Jason Tatum.
51:07
SPEAKER_00: Um last year, he averaged 22, but the year before that, two years before that, he averaged basically 27.
51:14
SPEAKER_00: That was his all-NBA season.
51:16
SPEAKER_00: I would say the perfect time to have an all-NBA season is the year you're eligible to get a supermax.
51:21
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
51:22
SPEAKER_00: He got the all-NBA season and then got that pay, got that uh 300 million or whatever ended up being.
51:27
SPEAKER_00: I don't think this team's gonna be good enough to be like a contender.
51:32
SPEAKER_00: I think the max is that they're a playoff team, but maybe like a first round, sneaky second round exit.
51:37
SPEAKER_00: And that's maybe me being really, really generous because it's like Nemez Cada and Luca Garza and Chris Boucher in that front court, and that's just not a good front court center rotation.
51:50
SPEAKER_00: To answer your question, he'll be alright.
51:53
SPEAKER_00: He'll be alright.
51:55
SPEAKER_00: That may be it.
51:56
SPEAKER_00: Is that it?
51:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that is all the hoop talk that we have.
52:00
SPEAKER_00: Another great episode, hopefully, of Small Ball with Candy Beachum.
52:04
SPEAKER_00: If you did enjoy, be sure to leave it a like and subscribe and gear yourself up for the start of this next season.
52:10
SPEAKER_00: Um I I am a guy that this is about to be way.
52:15
SPEAKER_00: I thought I was ending the episode, and then something popped to my mind.
52:18
SPEAKER_00: I love trying new hobbies.
52:21
SPEAKER_00: If you've been around my channels, you know I've I've done record collecting, I've done thrifting, I've done card collecting, I've done manga, I've done every single different collecting or hobby you can think of.
52:38
SPEAKER_00: I've at least dabbled in a golf.
52:40
SPEAKER_00: Some of them stick.
52:41
SPEAKER_00: Car collecting, golf, manga.
52:44
SPEAKER_00: Some of the things stick.
52:46
SPEAKER_00: One that just popped up is comics, which makes sense.
52:51
SPEAKER_00: Like I read manga, right?
52:52
SPEAKER_00: So, like comics, same thing.
52:55
SPEAKER_00: Just happen to be from what what what area of the world do they exist in or they come from?
53:02
SPEAKER_00: And I just don't know how to find that damn comic book community.
53:06
SPEAKER_00: So if you happen to be a listener of this show and you also love comic books, whether be the D DC, I'm reading DC right now.
53:15
SPEAKER_00: I don't, I don't read, I've not read anything Marvel.
53:17
SPEAKER_00: Hit me up, bro, because I just I don't have anybody in my life to talk about some of the comics that I've been reading, like the absolute series.
53:23
SPEAKER_00: I need somebody to talk to about it.
53:24
SPEAKER_00: So hit me up on Twitter or on Instagram or something.
53:26
SPEAKER_00: I just want to I just want to talk comics with some people that know comics.
53:29
SPEAKER_00: And I want to learn because there's probably hundreds of series that will be starting now that I need to go back and read because it's peak.
53:39
SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, I just want to read Peak.
53:41
SPEAKER_00: All right, that's it.
53:42
SPEAKER_00: Love y'all.
53:42
SPEAKER_00: See y'all next week.