Latest / Small Ball with Kenny Beecham / Changing How We Rank Players, NBA Awards Are Broken, FIBA Basketball

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Changing How We Rank Players, NBA Awards Are Broken, FIBA Basketball · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to another episode of the Kenny Beachum podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: I promise you eventually we're gonna have some music.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna have something towards the top of the show because it does come in kind of weirdly.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, this is a one-man show at the moment.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I did just get news that eventually the Kenny Beachum podcast will become visual as well.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: A round of applause, ladies and gentlemen.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Right now it's just me and you in the ears.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, I'm mad I said that.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: But but eventually we will get a YouTube feed and everything, and we're gonna we're gonna do it all nicely.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: But during the offseason, we just got the audio show.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: The world of basketball is turning, ladies and gentlemen.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: Actual NBA stuff is not going on, but we still got hoops.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: FIBA, World Cup, FIBA ball is going on, and I love it.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Though sometimes you gotta wake up at 3 o'clock in the morning to catch up.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot to talk about, like Team USA looking good, Team Canada looking better, Germany winning the game with out of the Wagner Brothers.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: France is one of the top dogs going into it.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: They're already eliminated.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot to talk about there.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: I also want to have a conversation about whether or not the NBA award system is broken.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: I want to talk about the process of ranking NBA players, and we'll close out the show while talking about small markets because of Giannis having a candid interview earlier this week.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: A jam-packed episode of the Candy Beach and Podcast started right now.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: Give us five stars, y'all.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: I actually do want to start off with us talking about the process of ranking NBA players.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because the off-season comes around and all of the big publications put together their own rankings the Athletic, Bleach Report, ESPN, every single off-season.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's like clockwork.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: And the same thing is being done on my other podcast.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's the Through the Wire podcast, where every single off-season, me and the guys put together our top 10 at every single position.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: And over the last couple seasons, I've absolutely hated the process.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: But that show is not like this one.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: That show is not like any of the other YouTube channels that I control because it is a four-man show.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I might come to the table and say, hey, this is a year I don't want to do it.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: And my one vote don't mean nothing.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: So because of that, I have to create top 10 players at every single position.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: Now, we just got back from Toronto.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: We did a live show in front of hundreds and hundreds of people that are listeners and viewers of our stuff.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're one of the people that were there or one of the people that listened to both shows, I do want to say I appreciate you.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's always a blast to put on a live performance to get those um real interactions.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes as a YouTuber, you kind of get uh obsessed with the numbers, right?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: And you not really realizing that that number, that view is an actual person.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: So to meet people, get faces to Twitter accounts that I've been following or talking to over the years is really, really dope.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: But since we were doing a live show and we know that everybody loves the ranking episodes, we said, hey, we're gonna be in front of a hundred plus not a hundred, hundreds, because that makes it seem like we did a hundred people.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: No, hundreds of NBA fans.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: Why not do the top 10 point guards in basketball in Toronto in front of everybody?
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I hated the idea.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: But again, it's not just it's not just my show.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: I said, all right, I'll put together a list.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I spent a week trying to decide how do I rank this player or this player, and then it got to the point where I was like, you know what?
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna try to do a social experiment.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm gonna go to this live show where the pressure is on, ladies and gentlemen.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: There's no editing out of a live studio audience.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: I decided I'm gonna come in with no list whatsoever.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't, I didn't actually rank anything.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: Now, there's a couple people like Steph Curry.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: We I had an idea.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: I wasn't gonna put Steph Curry number eight.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: I know where he's gonna go, but I didn't have a real formal list like the rest of my co-hosts.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I was thinking to myself, will anybody even notice that I don't have a real list?
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I basically went off of the crowd.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: The crowd's reaction helped me build this pseudo list.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: And guess what?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: Only one person out of the hundreds of people we met that night even had an inkling that I didn't have a real list.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: And that actually made me feel pretty good.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: And it made me feel that nobody actually cares about these lists.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, everybody's up in arms, right?
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: DeMar DeRozan, I'm always tied to the bulls, over the last couple seasons have been ranked like the 60th best player in basketball, and it always goes viral on Twitter.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: How the hell is he so underrated to the national media?
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, uh Russell Westbrook a couple years ago was ranked uh really, really low compared to his production and happens year after year with these publications that people put together the ranking to somebody's lower than anticipated or somebody's higher than anticipated, and there's an uh uproar on Twitter, on X, on Instagram, whatever you want to call it.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: And me doing this little experiment amongst the fans, the viewers of my show just proves to me that nobody actually cares.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: In that episode on the live show, the conversation of Trey Young came around, and I said, Oh, don't worry, I got Trey Young higher on my list.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: Guess what?
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't mention Trey Young's name ever again.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody actually cared.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to break down why I just hate the idea of ranking players.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: Again, I'll do it, you know, I'm gonna do it this offseason on the show, but I I hate it because I think there are so many better methods to do it rather than saying this guy's number one, this guy's number two, this guy's number three, because the gap between the second best at a position or the third best at a position, in a lot of cases, is so small that it doesn't matter.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: Or it's so small that that third best player has a real argument to be a number two, or the fifth best player has a real argument to be a number four.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: So just a straight up one through ten, it doesn't make sense in the the way that the NBA is going.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: So when we originally decided to do point guards, I was like, okay, let me put together the pool of players that are actually in the conversations to make a top 10 list.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: Y'all, there are 14 point guards.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: Nearly half of the starting point guards in the league, in my opinion, have a conversation to be in top 10 at their position.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: Some of the names Jamal Murray, John Moran, De'Aaron Fox, Steph Curry, Shay Gius Alexander, Luka Dontich, Damian Lillard, Lamello Ball, Tyrese Halliburn, Trey Young, Jalen Brunson, James Harding, Drew Holiday, and Darius Garland.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: If we asked a hundred people to put together their top 10 players in basketball, every single one of those 14 players will get a few votes.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's how many great guards, or point guards specifically, there are in the game of basketball.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: So for me to put together here's one, here's two, here's three, doesn't make a lot of sense.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now, something that has been happening a lot over the last couple years, which I do enjoy, is the tier list.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: I think the athletic has adopted a tier list formula where it's not here's the best player, but here are the players that are on the same list.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: Here's here's two A, two B, and two C.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: All of these guys are interchangeable, but because they bring similar things and they hold similar value.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I like the idea of a tier list, but personally, the thing that makes the most sense to me is doing it at a range.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: You asking Kenny, what do you mean?
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: Let's break it down.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: For example, in my personal opinion, Steph Curry is the best point guard in basketball, and honestly, there's not many people that are gonna rival that in this moment in time.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: So because of that, Steph Curry's range of top point guard is one.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: But after that, I can see a couple different people being at number two.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: Luka Doncic is a guy that undoubtedly is gonna be in conversations to being number two.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: Eventually, he might be number one.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: But let's just say as of right now, he's number two.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: Now I can see somebody saying, Hey, wait a minute, Kenny.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: I almost call myself my full government.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Wait a minute, Kenny.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think Damian Lillard is better than Luka Doncic.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: Or I think uh Shea Gildis Alexander is better than Luka Doncic.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that is when I would say, okay, then Luka is ranged between two and four.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you're telling me that Damian Lillard is the second best player or second best point guard in basketball, and I think that is Luka Doncic, we're not about to fight.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna argue with you because Dame has a legitimate case.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: Shea, after last season, has a legitimate case.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm not gonna go, oh, here's the percentage of open shots.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: And like there's always statistics that make your player look better.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I'll go to range.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Lucas range is two through four.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I think this makes things so much more fun because of the variety in things.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: Because Trey Young.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: Trey Young is a guy that I think a lot of people understand is a very good basketball player, but because of the lack of success since the conference finals run back in whatever year that was, people have changed their opinion dramatically to him, right?
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: Especially if we consider last season he struggled to shoot the ball at the same way that he had over the first couple years of his career.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: I've asked people on Twitter, how would you rank your top 10 point guards, kind of getting the gauge of the ideas?
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen Trey Young as high as five, and I've seen him as low as 12.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me that's not more interesting than putting together and say, hey, Trey Young is six, Trey Young is seven.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: But instead, you're a lot of people believe that he has a huge variety and where you could rank him as an NBA player.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: Same thing with a guy like Drew Holliday.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: Y'all know me.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: I am a guy that loves defense, and that's why my mentors are on fire with France losing the first two games because as the biggest Rudy Gobert backer of the last decade, he did not look good.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um I love that I love defense.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: So Drew Holiday is another guy that has a crazy range where some people could have have him as high as, let's say, seven or as low as 14.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: Some people might believe that every single guard that I've mentioned when I just read you all 14 people, some of you might think that Drew Holiday is very last in that list.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: And guess what?
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: Each is own.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's the each is own.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I think things get so much more interesting because right now we're only talking about point guards.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's even more interesting when you talk about the actual landscape of everything.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: Who's the best player in the ball right now?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: I think a majority of people would say it's Nikole Jokic.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: But I know there's still a percentage that thinks that is Giannis.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: So Jokic's range might be one or two.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: Giannis's range might be one through three, depending on who you're asking.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: The reigning MVP of the league.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen some of the lists out there.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen what the Athletica put together.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen what clutch points, whatever the hell that place is called.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen what they put together.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen Joel Embiid as high as seven.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen him as low as twelve, the reigning MVP of the entire league.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: In my opinion, that's just so much more fun than saying that you're the seventh and this guy's the eighth, and now I have to try to determine why, for example, why Kyrie Irvin is better than last year's Jalen Brunson, or vice versa.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's not that fun.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Because at the end of the day, there's going to be statistics that are in favor of every single one of these dudes.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: B-ball Index is a reference that I've been using for years at this point, and they have some of the craziest advanced stats there is.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: And you can make an argument for every single one of these players to be at a certain spot, other than one.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: Again, Steph Curry's kind of number one.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: But if you want to go to playmaking talent, Tarry's Halliburton is basically the best at that.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: But him and Trey Young kind of tied, best at that.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, if you want to go to defensive tip, Drew Holly is the best there.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: So there's just so many different ways to rank players or have the conversation around the standings of players.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: Personally, I love the idea of doing the range.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: If you do, hit me up on Twitter.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: Is that crazy of me to say?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe one of these episodes while we wait for the NBA season to start, I'll put together my range because that'll be that'll be more fun than saying, like, okay, the third best player in basketball is this player.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: Or what what about a guy like LeBron James?
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: Him going into year number 21, him being nearly 40, obviously still really good if you look at his numbers, but in the playoffs, he looked a little bit slower because his foot wasn't just wasn't there.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: We obviously know he's not number one, number two, number three, number four, number five, but I can see you having a conversation that he's still top 10.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: So what would his true range be?
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: I don't really know.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: But before I decided to do this social experiment of faking the crowd out with a top 10 list, I was diving into research.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: I was doing a lot of different stuff.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: I mentioned B-ball index, crafted NBA, um, dunks and threes.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: These are just some of the resources that I've, of course, basketball reference and stuff.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, these are some of the resources I have used to try to debate this player over that player.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: And and one thing I I I was thinking about while I was putting together this pseudo top 10 list is how little defense is prioritized amongst the top ball handlers in basketball.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: And it got me thinking, like, if if there is any position of the five, um, and sometimes I kind of just clump wings in together.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: But anyway, let's just keep it as traditional as possible.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: Point guard through center.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Of the five positions in basketball, if you're building a team, what is the position you're okay with being bad, let's just say bad defensively?
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I will argue that there when it comes to defense and basketball, it is a lot about uh perception.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it is a lot about all or nothing, right?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: So Drew Holiday, again, we're gonna mention him being the best in ball, but tell me who's number two amongst the top ten point guards.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like a lot of the times we don't even gauge some of these positions in that light.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that the point guard position is one of the ones that most people argue I'm okay with that player not being very good defensively.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I also think that some people look at some of the top uh defender or top point guards in basketball and just assume that there are they are negative defenders, right?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: If you're not Drew Holiday, then you're bad, right?
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: There's a huge gap in what people believe about defense, right?
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: The the prime example is like Jaden McDaniels, right?
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: Jaden McDaniels is one of the best perimeter defenders in basketball, but because he I don't want to say just hopped on the scene because it's been two years now, but because he's not well known enough, he didn't get an all-defensive knob.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's why guys like the late great Kobe Bean Bryant ends up with 12 all-defensive teams.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't want you to take this out of context.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: Kobe was a phenomenal defender in his time, but there were times where he got selected to an all-defensive team based on reputation.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think in 2012, probably should not have made the all-defensive team.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm not gonna count for all the other ones, uh, because again, he was an amazing defender, but because he had already had uh nine all-defensive first teams in his career, I think that they kind of handed him an extra one.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: And again, shout out to Kobe, where may he rest in peace.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: But you see something like that happen more often than not in the NBA because these type of things are all perception-based.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: And then getting back to where we originally started, of the five positions in ball, I think most people will be okay with their starting point guard being a negative defender or average defender, whatever you want to call it, because in a lot of cases, that is the guy that is shouldering the most on offense.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Again, there are 14 different top 10 point guards in basketball.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Think about it like that.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: The point guard position is so ridiculously crazy that I'm okay that a guy like Jamal Murray is not known as a great defender because boy, on that offensive side of the ball, him and Joke's two-man game is unbeatable.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm okay with John Morant not being a great defender because I know that when he's playing, the team is better.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: But I think that's easily said come regular season, and then once we get to the postseason, things are amplified, and that's when you expect those players to really showcase to the world I'm not as bad as you might believe I am.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I think Jamal Murray is the perfect example of that.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, again, the perception around Jamal Murray's defense is probably not that he's the Trey Young level defender or anything like that.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: He's somewhere in the middle, right?
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: He's not Giroliday, he's not Trey Young, and I think more people probably put him towards the average to below average, but when we got to the playoffs, when it matters the most, or we're talking about the highest leverage situations, the this is when the players are more invested.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: So because of that, they become better on defense because they care more.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: And you don't want to be the guy that the opposing team is singling out, trying to get a switch on.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: It is a devastating feeling.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's not I haven't been there before, but you know what I'm saying.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh when the opposing team is trying to pick on you as the def as the main defender, but then it got me thinking about the other positions in basketball.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like, do we have a ton of super negative defenders at the shooting guard position that we say is is really good at their position?
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like moving over to the twos, Devin Booker is widely known as the best shooting guard in basketball.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think his uh perception when it comes to the defensive side of the ball has changed dramatically from his younger self.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: We've seen a lot of games where he'll really sit down in that chair and become a plus defender.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: Then you have a guy like Donovan Mitchell, who is just like six foot one, six foot two.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: But we've seen him this year kind of really dig into what he did in college at Louisville, where he was a really good defender now in Utah.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't do a ton of that, though they were top defenses.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm gonna say a lot of that is a guy on the back end.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm just saying here in Cleveland, we saw him care more about the defensive side of the ball, and that's why they were um one of the best offensive teams in ball, even though they had two guys that are basically six foot.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: Jalen Brown, of course, two-way player.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: Though his defense has dropped off a little bit over the years, he's still a plus.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: And that kind of happens when you go from a guy that's not known as an offensive threat or a super offensive threat, and then you turn into one of those dudes, you obviously allocate more energy on that side of the ball, so your defense falls off a little bit.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: But I think we can all agree that Jalen Brown, at least when it comes to one-on-one defense, is is one of the more.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: Zach Levine, I'm just looking at a list of shooting guards, by the way, is one of the guys that I think is trying to change his perception or the perception around him when it comes to defense now, is a guy that has watched Zach Levine pretty much every single one of his Chicago Bulls games.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: I can I can say that he's still not a good defender, but I think when it comes to 101 staying in front of his man, he uses those athletic abilities that we know he has.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: His real downside is when he's not on ball, when he is playing in space or playing on help, is a lot of miscommunications there.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: Ant-Man is a good defender, and we've seen that a lot in FIBA right now, where he can really lock in.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we've seen him as a help defender all year long last year, where he was on the weak side coming over, blocking shots, getting in the passing lanes.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like he projects to be a guy that's gonna make a couple all-defensive teams.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: He just has to kind of want it.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I think going into last season, he made a comment that he wanted to make all-defensive teams.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe this is the year.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: Bradley Beal and his younger self was a good defender, and then obviously he had to average 35 for the team to win 35 games.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: So he lost that, but he said this year he's trying to lock back in.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: DeJounte Murray was the youngest all-defensive player of all time.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, these players are for the most part decent to above average defenders.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: And we can do that for pretty much every single position except for point guard, which just tells me that people are okay with their point guard not being a great defensive player.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they're just they're just okay with it.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the small four position is even crazy.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just gonna read you the names and you make your opinion.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: Tatum, uh Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James, Jimmy Butler, Paul George, Brandon Ingram, DeMar DeRozan, Chris Middleton, and Mikhail Burgess.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: Of the top ten, and this is Hoop's Heights, Hoops Hype's list, okay, of their um top ten at the position, eight of them, nine of them, really good defenders.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: There's one here in Chicago that I can't put on that list.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but yeah, it you know, it is what it is.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: One of my favorite things is when people are able to change what people believe about them defenders.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think Steph Curry's a good example of this, where Steph Kerr was just not a good defender, right?
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: Especially in space, um, he would get picked on on the pick and roll, but over the years, he's got to the point where, like, yeah, he gets picked on, but but that's just because he might be the worst defender on the court for them.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: But just because you're the worst defender on the court doesn't make you a bad defender.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, Wiggs, Draymond, Clay, Loondog.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: I think most people look at them as better defenders than Steph, but Steph is, I would say, a good defender, especially given his size, you know?
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: But that was not always the case.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: Most people did not recognize that.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe even now, after, I don't know, 13 years in the league and a bunch of championships and a couple MVPs, maybe people still don't recognize that.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: But he's a good defender.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: So let me know what you think.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, what other position?
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think we can agree on point guard.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: Is there another position where you're willing to sacrifice that defense?
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, or is it just the point guard position?
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: We when you think about some championship level teams, usually not a ton of players that are not good defensive players.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: So you let me know.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about some FIBA ball now as I'm recording this.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: It is Tuesday afternoon.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: Team USA has a game against Jordan tomorrow.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Speaking of Jordan, um, they have a guy on their team named Ronde Hollis Jefferson.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: Do you remember him?
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: NBA player, Brooklyn Nets, some other different teams.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: He has been going viral on Twitter because he's had so many opportunities to look like Kobe Bean Bryant.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: He's wearing the one little armband, and he has been making plays, and he's only like 28, 29 years old.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: I would be so surprised if some team didn't give him a call after this FIBA run and give him a training camp deal or something because he looks like he should be an NBA player.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that's one of my favorite things about international play altogether, whether it be the Olympics or FIBA ball, is seeing guys who are normally not that role in the NBA go back to their home country or the country that they represent and turn into the guy.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like um Yuda Watanabe did it.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: Now he took 20 shots and I think he had 18 points or whatever.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: But there are a lot of times I'm watching him play and I'm like, man, we ain't seen this version of Yuda.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: Youda the shooter kind of just spot up in that corner in the NBA, but in here he's got to do a lot more.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: So it's cool to see those type of players.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: Dennis Schroeder, prime example, the man that's like one of the greatest international players you you would think when you watch Germany play.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's why I was kind of sad to see Ricky Rubio not play this time around, but obviously prioritize your mental health.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: Ricky, we're rooting for you.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but he's just another one of those dudes that really turns it up once it comes to that time around.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: But sorry about France.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: They came into this tournament, and one of the harder groups, like I think most people recognize that the group that they were in was a bloodbath, and only two of the four teams are gonna advance to the next stage.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: But they were the fourth favorite when it comes to the betting odds going into the tournament, and they lost their first two games and one of those games in super embarrassing fashion, where they were up by double digit points in the fourth quarter and ended up being awful.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if you're asking, if you haven't been keeping up, who are the NBA talent playing playing for them?
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'll read you the list.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: Elia Kobo, who did not have a team last year in the NBA, but did spend some time with the Phoenix Suns.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: Nicholas Latoum, of course, uh Gershon Yabuselli, another situation.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Where he wasn't in the league last year but played with the Boston Celtics at some time in his career, Evan Fournier being one of those dudes that takes his game to the next level once we get to international play.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then you have the man in the middle, Rudy Gobert, who throughout the course of his career has dominated when it came to international play.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: Some people forget that they were uh they were silver medalists in Tokyo a couple years ago.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: They've always placed, they've always placed Rudy Gobert went against Team USA a couple years ago and had like 22 and 15 and eliminated Team USA.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: But now there's a different version of him because he was not nearly as effective this time around as others.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: And game number one, they got absolutely decimated by Canada, who we will talk about in a little bit, because they look amazing.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: French went out there and laid an egg, losing by 30.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: So next they go against Lafayette.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: And Lafayette is missing some very key players to their roster.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I actually watched them play against Canada today, and I like the way they play.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: They have Rodney Kurut, who you might remember, played for the Brooklyn Nets a little while ago.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: There's uh Dave Davis Berthands as an NBA talent, but that's pretty much it that's active on the roster currently.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: Going into the fourth quarter, they're up 74 to 62.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: Again, we're talking about France.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: There's a team that can put the team away.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: They don't.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: And Lafayette comes back, wins by two.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think most people probably saw the game winning attempted shot where Rudy Gobert's wide open under the basket, down by two, and his teammates don't pass in the ball and said they take a heavily contested three.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: It rims out, and France ends up losing, and it becomes so bad that Nicholas Patum said that, hey, he's he's scared to go back to France because this was absolutely terrible.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Evan Fournier, after keeps hinting, apparently, um, keeps hinting at the idea of getting traded for the New York Knicks, but that is a conversation for another day.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: But after a loss to Lafayette and a loss to Canada, France goes home.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: And the super unfortunate part about all of it is that you don't just go home on the spot.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: You still have two other games to play.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, like today, they played against uh Lebanon, who has Amari Spellman, who you might remember from the NBA.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: And they won.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: Woo! Barely.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: They won by six, but they end up winning.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: So they have to play these last they have to play these last two games, uh, even though they just they just aren't gonna win.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um Rudy Gobert didn't even play in this last week.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: Say, hey, I'm not about to go out there and risk injury if we not playing for nothing.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: And it was just overall bad.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: But the the super bad part about it is because I have been a Rudy Gobert defender again over the last decade or so, my mentions were on fire after that last loss.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: It was on fire after the first loss because Rudy Gobert didn't do anything.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: He had like six points and negative 19 in the game against uh Canada.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: So like they were already on fire.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: But after the elimination, you would have thought I was French that I was saying that they was gonna win.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, I'm rooting for the team, the team of the US of Ace, alright?
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know?
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: I had no association with France and their debacle, but my mentions were going absolutely crazy.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: Kenny, is this your guy?
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: Is this your guy?
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, but I'll but I also defend Rico Bear from a couple years ago.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: I can't tell you that he's gonna be good again.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: I can't tell you that.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know the future.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: Players get worse, and he's a 30-plus-year-old center that can't dribble or shoot or do anything other than dunk the ball.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I can't say that he's gonna be the same player he was even two years ago.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: He's older now.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it was just funny to read all the menus because most people did it like tongue in cheek, just joking around.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: But there were some out there that was like, man, this guy's the Hall of Famer.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to just tweet the box score when he played against Team USA because that's what matters.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's what matters the most.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about Team USA because they've also looked pretty good.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, a lot of people were skeptical about Team USA after the a roster was announced, then they did the scrimmage and they lost to the B team.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: They're like, oh man, USA threw out a team that can't hoop.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: They threw out a team of super young dudes that don't got no talent together.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so far they're 2-0 with two pretty good wins.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: And again, they they play against Jordan tomorrow who have not got a win just yet.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: So Team USA is advancing to the next round, regardless.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, they've already beat two of the other teams in the division or in the group, beating Greece a couple nights ago, and then New Zealand before that.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: Really love the interaction between Team USA and New Zealand every time they play against each other.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: Super fun.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it, you know, team USA is looking good, right?
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: They're looking really, really good.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: And there are some people that are standing out.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: And the number one guy, we mentioned this a couple episodes ago, was Austin Reeves.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think, according to some statistics that Hoop's hype put together, uh, I always have trouble saying that.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: Hoops hype put together, he has been the most effective player for Team USA so far coming off the bench.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: When him and Tyrese Halliburn get off their bench, bro, it is magic.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: They're moving the ball, they're being generous, they're playing defense.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: This and this is what I love the most about FIBA ball when it comes to these type of dudes.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: Because one of the main criticisms for a guy like Tyrese Halliburn is he doesn't defend.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: He's 6'5, long arms.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: Now he's a thin dude, but he has tools to be a plus defender in this in the NBA or average defender in the NBA.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: But if you watch him last season, he just wasn't good at that.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: Well, in the FIBA play, he has been.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: Palo Benquero, he he showed us last season that he can defend a little bit, but that wasn't his main objective.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: They ran him at the small ball five against uh was that New Zealand, against New Zealand, and he looked amazing.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: He looked absolutely amazing.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: I saw a tweet afterwards of like here are a list of centers in the NBA that Palo Benquero is bigger than.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: And it was like Robert Williams.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: It was um, oh man, I'm gonna forget some of these names.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like Blake Griffin, who at this point of his career, we don't know what he's gonna do.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: But it's like Clint Capella, like some pretty prominent center names that we know to be good defenders, and Paolo's just bigger than them, but of course is more of a four.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: But him at the small ball five looked really, really solid.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm I'm sure that the Orlando Magic will lick at their lips because they got a lot of players playing great stuff.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Franz Wagner, who we mentioned, did not play in the last game for Germany, but in the games he has played, he looks really good.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: And you got like OKC, who has Josh Giddy, Shay Gears Alexander, uh, all of these dudes also playing very well.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: So like the future NBA, we've already talked about this as a really good hands, but to see people step out of what they normally do in this league, the league that we watch the most, to see them act like, I ain't never seen you act like this before.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: I that's what they should have been saying to Paolo Benquero in that locker room after, because it's not just the blocks.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: The blocks is another thing and just good for highlights, but it's just like the rotations, the switchability when he got into the game, because that's what they decided to do, because when they had Jaron Jackson Jr., they were in drop coverage, but when they bring out that second unit, it is more switchability between Paolo and all the other dudes.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: And he also did do some drop, which was surprising to me as well.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: But he showed so much versatility that the Orlando Magic, though I don't think they're about to win an NBA championship or anything, they're gonna be able to run a plethora of different lineups now that we know that, you know, with him being 6'10 and Franz being similarly heighted, that they have size all over the place, long wingspans, and people that care, they're gonna look nice.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's all I'm saying.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: Now, would they be as nice as Team Canada?
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think so, because Team Canada has looked like a powerhouse so far.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: Today's game against Latvia was uh a little bit scary for them.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: I think they went into halftime at 45-44, but Latvia had looked like the better team in that first half by far.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: The defense was not there.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: They were uh Dylan Brooks, all defensive players can blow by.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_01: They were giving up so many open looks, and the second half came around, they shut all of that down.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: And Shay plays a whole different role, man.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: This again, this is what I like.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: And OKC, he's a super ball dominant dude.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna get mine because that's kind of what the team needs.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: But with Team Canada, he has a little bit more fluidity, he has more passing avenues, and he does a lot of that.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: RJ Barrett has looked good, other than him missing every single free throw he's ever attempted.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just a lot of really nice NBA players on the team and some players that are not NBA players that are contributing as well.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: Canada looks really good.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, who else looked really good?
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, the DR, Carl Anthony Towns and the DR being 3-0.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I didn't know much about the DR's team going into it.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: I knew that they had Carl Anthony Towns, but if I'm not mistaken, I don't know anybody else on their roster, at least before this tournament.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: So it really oh no, Lester.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Lester from the Warriors.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's pretty much it.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: And Carl Anthony Towns has helped this team so far be three and oh.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: They have advanced to the next round, and he has been pretty, pretty good.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, in the last game he didn't really have to play, so we're really gonna take to the first couple games into consideration because the rest of them didn't matter.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: And some of these games are really, really close, but he has looked like a top, let's say, five player in the tournament so far.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_01: And again, this team that I really knew nothing about has looked really good, and they look like a scary team.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't know what it'll be like if they go against Slovenia or they go against Serbia or USA, Canada, or Lithuania, but as of right now, they've been a really, really cool story.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: But the best player in the entire tournament, you know who it is.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: Luka Doncic is leading Slovenia to an undefeated record so far.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: Again, only two games, um, only two games, and they go, they have a game tomorrow, if I'm not mistaken, but they've punched their ticket to next round anyway.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Luca's averaging 35 points per game, 35 and a half, eight and a half rebounds, and six assists.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: Him, the Drogic brother, they they have been doing their thing.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: And this makes me super excited for this upcoming season for Luca, because he's a dude that typically plays himself into shape, at least that's what it feels like when I watch him early in every single season.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: And there's none of that.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: He's playing himself into shape actively right now.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: He's doing that, and he looks amazing.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_01: And if he keeps that same energy, which we know he could, and we know he has the ability to, he could win that award this year.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like he has been a guy that's been towards the top of the favorites every single year, but never been able to put together that full complete season.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: This might be it.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: The Dallas Mavericks look like a better team on paper.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_01: Carrie Irvin's back, Grett Williams is gonna be used in a different way, in my opinion, and they should be able to be really solid this year, especially if Luke is using this type of energy.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_01: And he's one of the guys that has not evolved his game much as far as being the number one ball dominant, I'm gonna do this stuff guy that he is in Dallas, but Slovenia needs him to do it here as well, so he's doing it both places.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: Germany, who we mentioned earlier, also looks pretty, pretty good in the 3-0 record.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm I'm just excited to see once we get to like the nitty-gritty where we get to the second round, everybody punches their tickets who has it just yet, and then we get to the games that matter the most, the super high-leverage games, because that's when that's when things get really interesting.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: I love the way things have been going.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I didn't realize that FIBA had different rules.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, the amount of minutes per quarter is different from 12 to 10, but they also have a limitation as to how many um timeouts you can use per quarter.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: That was something I did not know going into it, but it has been kind of refreshing because the the pace of the play has been really, really fun.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a lot of different varieties of play styles.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: I mentioned Lafay earlier when they were going against Canada in the first uh first half today.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: It was just fun to see them get up and down the court, shoot so many, so many threes, and a lot of teams aren't playing that style of ball.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: So we're getting different play of styles of play, different paces of play, and it's been amazing.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just so happy we got it because without it, I don't know what I would be doing with no ball.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about whether NBA awards are broken.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: The other day I was sitting at the airport trying to get out of Toronto.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: Flight got delayed four hours, by the way.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying I had a lot of time to do nothing.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: And ESPN dropped an article where they were asking their experts over there, the writers and the people associated with the NBA to predict the awards for this upcoming season.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the awards, as we all know, is the most improved player award.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_01: Over the last couple seasons, we've seen people like Larry Marketing, we've seen Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle, so on and so forth.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh elevate their game to the point that they had all starred them and then they win the award, right?
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: Well, they were asked, these these experts at ESPN were asked to give their opinion on who they believe are going to win most improved player, and here are their top three players.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: Number one is Detroit's very own Cade Cunningham.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: Number two is Houston Rocket Ford Jabari Smith Jr.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_01: And lastly, we have the runner-up, top three player for defensive player of the year, Evan Mobley.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: I hated this.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_01: And this made me ask people on Twitter.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a couple different questions I wanted to ask, but I only put one up.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: Should Cade Cunningham be eligible to win most improved player when the previous year he only played 12 games?
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_01: As we know, ended up missing a lot of time.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, basically the entire season after having an injury.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_01: As we've seen a lot of videos this offseason of him looking amazing, he was a part of that second unit, a Team USA team that beat the first team that you see, and he was amazing in that.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm super excited for Kade Gunningham.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: This is not a shot specifically at Cade, but more at the system that we use to determine the winner of these awards.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, shout out to Cade.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: I love you.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think you're a stud, and I think you're gonna have an amazing season.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: But in my personal opinion, he should not be eligible for the award because he only played 12 games.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yes, he could hit stardom or whatever, but in my opinion, when we look at most improved player, the sample size has to be, well, over 12 games?
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: Is that a lot to ask for?
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_01: Because that that sample size of 12 games.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: I am of the opinion if Kay Cunningham were to have played the entire season last year, the numbers that we saw in that 12-game sample size would have been dramatically different.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_01: I think that he was going to be a guy that played himself into better numbers.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_01: The 12 games wasn't good.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't good for the standard of former first overall pick, right?
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: So that's not that's that 12-game sample size is just not big enough for me to say like this guy's improving that much.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: Because I believe that he would have just been better throughout the course of the season.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_01: And not only is Cade Cunningham number one on this list, it wasn't like one dude decided that Kay Cunningham should be in the running.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: He got 54% of the votes.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: Over half of the staff writers over there believe that Kay Cunningham should be in the running for most improved player, and it blows my mind.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_01: I was thinking to myself, maybe I'm out of touch.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's something maybe it's something I just don't know.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_01: So since I was sitting in the airport in Toronto with four hours to kill, I was like, let me look at every single most improved player winner throughout the history of basketball.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_01: And if you do not know, this award first was given out in 1986.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_01: So we have 40 plus years.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_01: Is that good math?
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: Damn.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's not good math.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: Hold on.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_01: Almost 40 plus years of of data of things that we can really look into.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I decided to figure out has there ever been a player to win most improved player where they played 12 games on an NBA season the previous year?
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_01: Short answer?
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_01: It has never happened in the NBA.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_01: Never in almost 40 years of this award existing.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: That has never been the standard for this award.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: Every single time we've seen somebody play between 48 games, and some of these games, this is like a lockout season, so 48 to 82.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: We've never seen somebody play 30, less than 30, less than 20 games, and come back the next season and win most improved player.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: This is a weird voting system by the writers at ESPN, in my personal opinion.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_01: But that is just the first problem with all of this.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_01: The second problem is this award has gone far, far in the wrong direction.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_01: In my opinion.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_01: This is just my opinion I'm talking about.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_01: When I think about the most improved player award, I am thinking about a player that went from maybe not so good to pretty good, from an average starter to an all-star.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_01: The prime example of this, Larry Marking went from an average starter to an all-star.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_01: Julis Randall went from a starter to an all-star.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_01: Brandon Ingram, same thing.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: Pascal Siakam, the same thing.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: Victor Lodipo, the same thing.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yadis Dadacumpo, the same thing.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_01: CJ McCullum went from a role player that did not play to averaging 20 points a game.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_01: Jimmy Butler, same thing.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_01: This has been the recipe over the last decade or so, and even before that, you know, same thing.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_01: But in 2022, things changed.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_01: Because they handed the award to Ja Morant.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: Shout out to Ja.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_01: Get well soon.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_01: See you in 25 games.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_01: But he should not have fit their criteria for a most improved player, at least based on the way the award had been given out.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_01: Because Ja is a stud.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_01: And he always has been a stud.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: So to see a guy that was drafted number two overall, as young as Ja was, to win most improved player changed the dynamic of the voters.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why you see Jabari Smith Jr.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's why you see I don't even remember who's third.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_01: Evan Mobley, he almost won Defensive Player of the Year, and you're telling me that he's gonna win most improved player.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_01: He's him.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_01: He's doing that already.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's just weird to me to see one of the top talents.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_01: There is no question marks around John Morant after year number one.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_01: He was about to be a stud.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like when you when I see a player, a prime ex-this is the prime example of a guy that was drafted top three and went on to win most proof player that I have no problems with.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's Victor Oladepo.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_01: Victor Oladepo was drafted second overall back in 2013 to the Orlando Magic, and he started off his career averaging 14 points per game, then 18 points per game, and 16 points per game.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_01: He was really solid.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's the right word.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: He was solid, but not solid enough for the Orlando Mag to decide that he was a piece that they wanted to build around.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: Again, former second overall pick.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_01: They shipped him to OKC, where he was out of shape.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_01: He did not, if you look back on that team, that's the Russell Westbrook year.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_01: He he was just out of shape as hell.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um but anyway, he's an OKC.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_01: He averages 16 points per game.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_01: He's a good NBA player, but nobody looked at Victor Depot as a guy, even though at that point he wasn't very old.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_01: He might have been what 25 at that point.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody saw him as a dude that was gonna blossom into stardom.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, after four years of just being pretty good.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of people kind of determined that's who you're going to be.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_01: And then he got traded to Indiana, and the off-season pictures came out.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not a guy that falls for off-season hype.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_01: That was one time that I was like, nah, he's about to be different.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_01: And then he blossomed into one of the best stars in ball.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_01: That is a good arc for a former second overall pick that wasn't bad, but nobody predicted that he was going to hit the next step of being an all-star and an all-defensive player.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: He deserved that most improved player award.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_01: But the same thing for John Morant, who also was drafted second overall, there is no I'm on my third team.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: I have to figure it out for Ja Morant.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_01: Ricky Ja, he won the rookie of the year.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then in year two, he was better.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and then year three, like, yes, yes.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm listening I'm not denying the fact that John Morant got better.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want you to misinterpret what I am saying.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_01: But if you look back on the rankings of players after Ja Morant's sophomore season, people knew.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_01: If you look at the players who had the high the best future in the league, people knew.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just more of a fan of people winning the award when the jury is still out on whether or not they're going to be a stay in the NBA.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_01: The jury is still out on whether they're blossoming to a star.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_01: Larry Market, a former seventh overall pick, had been to Chicago where he had a month, well, well he had a few months, but there was a month in February where he looked like Dirk, and then he wouldn't shoot the ball.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_01: Then he goes to the Cavs, and he's a third- a small forward.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_01: And he's, I won't say a throw-in because I don't know what the Utah Jazz prioritize in a Donovan Mitchell trade.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_01: But for most people, on surface level, he was kind of a throw-in to the trade to make the numbers match, and boom, he averages 26 points per game.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_01: That is a good arc.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_01: CJ McCollum, a guy that didn't get any opportunity, and it said, hey, you know what?
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just I'm gonna start now and I'm an average 20.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_01: People didn't believe that CJ McCollum was going to be this good.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_01: Now you could have seen the flashes a little bit in the sophomore year, but nobody thought that he was gonna be a 20 point per game scorer.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_01: Jimmy Butler, former 30th overall pick.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_01: People didn't see that he was gonna take an offensive jump, and he did that.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_01: He did that.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_01: So you're telling me that the not the former, this guy, Jabar Smith Jr., just was the third overall pick last year.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't too long ago, ladies and gentlemen.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_01: And now I will say I'm excited.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think he's gonna be a stud this year.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'm excited to watch him play, especially after Summer League, where he looked like a superstar.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it's just it would just be weird.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just more of a guy that loves the oh my god, out of nowhere type dudes.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I think with them giving John Morant the award a couple years ago, they're more okay with giving the obvious.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: And and to me, it's obvious that Kate is gonna be pretty damn good.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's obvious that Evan Mobley is gonna be pretty damn good.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: Jabari, I guess the jury is still out on him, but I I still feel pretty good about it.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's not obvious, but I still feel pretty good about it.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to see somebody say, oh man, um um Josh Green is about to hit that step.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_01: Nikhil Alexander Walker, just go out, have more fun with it.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I guess we'll see what happens at the end of the day, but I just don't like the way this war specifically.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_01: This every other award is, I guess, in an okay state.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_01: This one is just not.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_01: Kay Cunningham should be in the conversation for Combat Player of the Year, but I think that's an Espie thing and not an NBA thing.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_01: Just add a Comeback Player of the Year award.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_01: Because there's always gonna be people that are injured.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_01: Zion Williamson versus Kay Cunningham.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_01: Who wins Combat Player of the Year?
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good conversation.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_01: That's probably a good race if we just add that one.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_01: We're not uh away from adding awards.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_01: We just add the Clutch Player of the Year Award with with this season.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_01: So let's just add one more.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_01: Just add one more.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_01: Last team we want to talk about is this Jan Sedeta Kumpo story.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he was with New York Times.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_01: He gave an interview where the the gist of it is he says that he wants to win another championship, even if it isn't with the Bucks.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_01: That sent a lot of people into a frenzy.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_01: And it kind of is good timing um for this show because when we were doing our live show in Toronto, we do a live QA session, you know what I'm saying, to get to get people to ask us questions that we might not have thought about talking about.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the questions we got asked.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: Was like, hey, what about small market teams?
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_01: How do we keep it so that small market teams retain their players?
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I threw out that hey, the NBA has been trying, right?
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_01: The Supermax was the idea that if the player performs to an all-NBA level, the leverage that the the team, the small market team has, is they could give the Jalen Browns of the world$300 million if they, you know, make an all-NBA team.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_01: But that might not be enough.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_01: Giannis Dedicumbo is a guy that's played been on the Milwaukee Bucks for the entirety of his career so far, has brought them a championship, and even he is saying, like, I am not ready to sign in Max Extension right now because I want to view my options.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_01: And some people are speculating that those options are going to be some of the bigger markets, whether it be an LA team or California team or New York team or just one of these teams that are a bigger market than Miami or the Milwaukee.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_01: So how do we retaliate?
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_01: If you're a fan of a small market team, you've kind of been messed up for a decent amount.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_01: And the reason why it was asked in Toronto is because I think they're just kind of reminiscent on Kawhi Leonard winning them a championship or helping them win a championship and then immediately hitting the deuces.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know if we would even call Toronto a small market.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a market outside of the U.S., which just adds a different element because going through customs every damn time sucks.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_01: I've only done it twice, and I'm already upset with them.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_01: You got to do it every single time.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: So how do we keep those smaller markets to keep their players?
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_01: You draft well, you know, you find a guy in Giannis at the end uh out of the lottery, you help him develop into one of the top two, three players in basketball, sometimes number one player in basketball, and he might be willing to just let it all walk away because it's just not enough.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: What are the priorities of Giannis?
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_01: I can't talk for him.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_01: I know he has been in his business bag a lot lately, where he started the fun was it, fun house candy uh thing that he said, he actually DM'd me.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_01: Giannis DM'd me and sent me a box.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_01: Now, was it really him with his fingers?
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_01: Nah, probably his managers or something.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, he started the candy thing, he just invested in something golf related.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_01: So we've seen the Ante Tacumba brothers specifically, you know, not just Giannis, take the business side to a whole new level.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember when Kevin O'Reilly decided to go to the Warriors, he mentioned that, yeah, the basketball mattered, but he also wanted to be bigger than basketball.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_01: And uh the Golden State Warriors, San Francisco, whatever, is one of those places that if you want to be an angel investor, you want to do this, you want to do that, get into the world of tech.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's one of the places you want to be.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_01: And that market doesn't necessarily happen in Milwaukee.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I could see a world where this is just Giannis putting pressure on the front office because Drew Holiday is old, and he said after his current contract he might run a retire.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_01: Brooke Lopez is 35 plus, Chris Middleton is like 35 as well, and he's dealt with some injuries over the last couple years.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_01: That Giannis might be looking at his teammates around him and say, hey, this timetable, this team that we've been building, the clock is ticking on it.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to just put some pressure on the front office to continue to build the right rosters around me so we can't get complacent with our one championship.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, for the Milwaukee Bucks' sake, that is what's happening right here, right?
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_01: Where he's just trying to get the front office to invest more in him slash the Milwaukee Bucks.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_01: But there is a world where he decides that, hey, I want to go somewhere else.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_01: And that's like the Milwaukee Bucks' worst nightmare, and not just the Bucks, but pretty much every single small market team, because Giannis is the type or seemed like the type of dude that was one team only type guy.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_01: There's only a few guys like that in ball left, right?
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's Steph Curry, it was Damian Lillard before this year, Nicole Jokic, Luka Donces, at least at this point, Jason Tatum.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_01: These are guys that like feel like they might be one player or one-team dudes.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_01: Giannis was in that wheelhouse, and now he might not be.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're the NBA, it's it's a double-edged sword, right?
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_01: Having Giannis in the bigger market, let's just say New York, would be good for revenue if you're Adam Silverslash all the owners in basketball, right?
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_01: Because you have one of the top players in ball going to one of the top cities where there's a lot more seats, the tickets cost more, you have more opportunities to put them on billboards, so on and so forth.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_01: But you also are alienating that smaller markets across the basket across the league, and the answer to it all, nope, nobody, nobody has that answer.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_01: We thought that the answer might be the almighty dollar.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody loves coin, everybody loves getting millions and millions of dollars, even though most of us ain't experienced that.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_01: You feel me?
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_01: If the money ain't enough, then what will be?
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_01: And that is a question I'm gonna leave y'all off on, man.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I again I do want to say I appreciate you.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_01: There is no real schedule to the Kenny Beach and podcast at the moment, but I promise you, once the season starts and we start to get the visual uh show and everything, it will be uh more straightforward and have an actual schedule and it will be a lot more fun.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_01: I will be bringing on guests, I will be having talent show up to the show.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's I have so many great ideas for the show.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I appreciate y'all that'll jump in on ship early on.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, because once we off, we off, baby.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_01: Once we off, we off.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_01: Love y'all.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_01: See you soon.