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Which NBA Teams Are Now Contenders? · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to another episode of Small Ball with Kenny Beecher.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna say this right now.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_02: I am filming this July 3rd around 10 o'clock Central Time.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_02: So when you listen to this, maybe some big old trade has happened.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe another big free agency deal has happened.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: And if that is the case, don't worry.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_02: You can still listen to this show.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: And if there is more stuff dropping, go over to the Kenny Freel YouTube channel because I'll probably cover it there as well.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_02: I'm really excited for today's episode, man.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_02: There are a lot of teams doing some cool things.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_02: Has not been the craziest of free agencies.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_02: I'll say that.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_02: I think yesterday we got like one signing and then one coach being decided.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: So it's not, you know, it's already dying down two days in, but there are teams being really aggressive.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_02: And in today's episode, I kind of want to go over teams that switched tiers.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: Went from a play-in team to a real playoff team, went from a team to a contender.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe went the opposite direction.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: From a contender to are they even gonna make the playoffs?
• 0:53
  unknown: Hmm.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of things again are changing and shaping things up.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: For example, this morning I woke up and saw that the Doran Finney Smith signing for the Houston Rockets may turn into a signing trade, which means that the Lakers may get something.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: So again, all of this is very, very fluid.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: And between this show, numbers on the board, and the Kenny Friel channel, hopefully I'm doing a decent job of covering all things free agency.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, summer league is just in a couple days.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: We got like the is it California Summer League, the Utah Summer League starts this weekend.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, Vegas starts a little bit after that.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: One of my first years in a long time where I won't be in Vegas for summer league, so I'm a little upset about that.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, upset is the wrong word.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: It's become like a routine to get ready in July to take that flight and have some fun in Vegas.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but this time around, things are different.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: Life is changing, and I won't really have the time.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and at the end of the episode, we'll kind of go back.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: I know I mentioned to y'all that every single offseason, I take some time to kind of go over the content that I produced for the previous season.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: And I want to talk about some of the goals that I have going into next season and how I'm gonna try to achieve those goals.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, leave a like on the episode, subscribe to the channel, go listen to and watch teeed up with Pierre Andreessen, numbers on the board.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, let's get into it.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_02: Teams that have changed here.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_02: Starting off with the Houston Rockets.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: Now, some of these are gonna be blatantly obvious, right?
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: If you you go on and add Kevin Durant, you go on and add Dorian Finney Smith to be what, your seventh most important person.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: You go on to bring back Clint Capella to be your 10th or 11th best person.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_02: Like, this is a very obvious that they shift the tiers, but I think it's still worth talking about because I think that this was a team last year that or over the last couple years have built an identity, right?
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: This defensive-oriented team, whether it be Dylan Brooks or Fraven Vleet, signing out of free agency a few years back to kind of take this Rockets team that has spent basically five, four to five years in the lottery, drafting pretty high.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: And for them to come in and kind of change some things, obviously Emay Udoka gets a ton of credit for that as well.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: They built this identity as a defensive-oriented team.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: Last year they went to the postseason as the second best team.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_02: No, they weren't the second best team in the Western Conference.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: They were the second seed, though.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_02: You know, those things are not the same.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: It's not synonymous if you're the two-seeded second best team, but they ended up being the two-seed in the playoffs.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, while majority of people picked the Warriors to win, me included, um, even though I was real skeptical, they took the Warriors to seven, right, as this young up-and-coming team.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_02: But it was very, very obvious that they were missing one of the guys that you can give the ball to late games and create.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: The offense was really iffy.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: The the only silver lining to their offense is that they found that double big lineup who they had played like a month uh before the postseason that started, where it was Steven Adams and Shen Goon, and they were rebounding half of their misses and turning those into second chance opportunities.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: That was the only thing that looked pretty solid for them in the postseason, other than Shen Goon being uh pretty aggressive against the smaller Golden State Warriors.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: But it was very obvious that if a star player, a star offensive player became available, they should put some chips on the table and acquire that guy.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: And boy, they didn't even really have to give up too much.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: Number 10 overall pick, which ends up being common mal you watch, if you pronounce it that way.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: And then Jalen Green, who who knows what's gonna happen with Jalen Green in Phoenix, but not enough for you to feel like they mortgaged the future or mortgage what their team's identity was right now.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: And Kevin Durant come to this team and you can look at them and say, hey man, we understand that the OKC Thunder are the favorite in the league, the favorite in the Western Conference after doing a thing.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: They they've earned that, right?
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_02: They've earned the title of the favorite going into next season.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_02: But right after that, you have to look at the Houston Rockets.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_02: They also did a really good thing, which was re-signing Jabari Smith Jr.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't know exactly what his market was gonna be.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_02: They signed him to a pretty big deal, which I don't think, I think there were some people pretty critical of that.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: I think this goes both ways, right?
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: In a sense that Jabari Smith Jr.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: is a really good basketball player right now, which is gonna help them.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: But like in the hypothetical world, you know, internet general manager gonna think about it.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_02: In the hypothetical world where a year down the line, two years down the line, you're trying to acquire something else, that Jabari Smith Jr.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_02: contract, the one that's making the$25 to$30 million annually, good trade chip.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: He's he's genuinely like a real good basketball player.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: And obviously, you know, it's maybe a step below what the number one and number two players of that draft class was and Paolo Bencaro and Chad Holmgren.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_02: But I think he has showed us enough for me to believe that when it comes to winning basketball games, Jabari Smith Jr.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: is good enough to be on the court when it matters.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm so excited.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: And one thing you're gonna see about a few of the teams that we're gonna mention as hitting the next tier, the versatility.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_02: One thing, if we learned anything in this playoff run, um, is that the versatility is going to matter a ton.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: The depth in that versatility is gonna matter a ton.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_02: Think about the two teams that were just in the finals.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_02: Rick Carlisle at one point in the postseason was running an 11-man rotation before he had a couple injuries into his rotation.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_02: We had the Oklahoma City Thunder that has so much, um, so much versatility that damn it, their their coach had a tough time trying to figure out who the hell he should start in the NBA Finals.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: There's a war where the Rockets are running small lineups, super big lineups, lineups with no traditional point guard because they have other guys that create.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's just beauty.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: Amin Thompson going into a story of his career.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_02: What would that look like?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_02: Who the hell are we to put a ceiling on it?
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_02: We don't know.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm just really excited about what this team is.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_02: And they just continue to do some things.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_02: Now, again, as of right now, there might be a little signy trade happening between them and the Lakers.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_02: So maybe that means that Cam Whitmore is available for another trade.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_02: I highly doubt that Reese Shepard is gonna get moved.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: I could be wrong here, but this feels like a year where like there's a couple different guys from last year's draft class that's gonna be a part of the rotation or gonna have to be a part of the rotation, like um Cam Whitmore, well, I'm sorry, like Reed Shepard, and then the other guy being Rob Dillingham of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that Reed, even though his rookie season wasn't the one that he may have imagined once he got drafted third overall, I do believe that there's still something there for him to be, at least on this team, a really, really good backup.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: The shooting splits, though, again, at the NBA level weren't that amazing.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: I truly do believe that what he did in college as far as a shooter goes can translate to the league when he gets a bigger opportunity and a bigger role.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um and they have one of the better coaches in basketball, man.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_02: I think Raphael Stone has just done good move after good move after good move.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: Again, nobody shoots 100%.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: Nobody is perfect from the field when it comes to this general managing thing, but it feels like, even though it was quite a bit away, it feels like since they made the hardened trade, which I think a lot of people murdered the hardened trade in real time.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't really hate it for the Houston Rockets, if I'm being honest.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: Again, not having a ton of leverage when that trade went down.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: Since then, they've made the right decision after the right decision.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_02: If you're gonna point to any decision being the wrong one, it's like Jalen Green at number two, but they flipped Jalen Green to Kevin Durant.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, how can I really be mad about Jalen Green?
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: And listen, Jalen Green was really fucking good.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: I know G-League Ignite is one of those places where like not many people that went to G League Ignite is super successful.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: Like, obviously, there's a lot of real NBA players there, but none of the G League Ignite players have turned into a superstar yet.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_02: I say yeah.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: Because there's a guy that plays here in Chicago.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: If there's any G-League Ignite player that's gonna do it, it's gonna be my guy Moddis.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_02: Kind of need him to.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: Please.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the next team I want to get to is the Denver Nuggets.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: Another team we talk about needing versatility.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the Denver Nuggets, I found it hard to believe that they would be a true title contender.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_02: If you go back and listen to our episodes back in November, I was mentioning that, like, though they have the best player in the world and maybe the best Robin to his Batman, they also have Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: They have a really good solid five-man unit.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: It's what's happening after that that scares me when it comes to a playoff series.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_02: And damn it, they took the Oklahoma City Thunder to seven.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_02: And if they had some injury luck, maybe they end up winning this series.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_02: Who the hell knows?
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_02: But I really found it hard to believe that that team would be good enough to win four playoff series in a row.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_02: But it's offseason.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if this is the interim GM, the interim people in leadership, they have done some really fascinating things.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_02: There are a few teams like the Lakers, like the Bucks, like uh the Suns, that going into this offseason, you kind of question what the hell can they do?
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, there's roles to do things, right?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_02: There's obviously roles to do things.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but with Dame being down with his injury and then Giannis maybe questioning his future in Milwaukee, what could they do?
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_02: The Lakers have LeBron James opting into$50 million.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: Luka Doncic is also on a big old deal.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: They don't have a ton of draft capital to move.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_02: What the hell could they do?
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: The Suns have$50 million annually sitting in their locker room and they don't want them there.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: What could they do?
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_02: And we always question it from the people at home because some things we just can't see happening, right?
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: We can't predict, and we're gonna get to the Milwaukee Bucks, trust.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: We can't predict that future NBA Hall of Fame or top 76 player of all time, because you got to say 76, because remember this the NBA 75 was actually 76, top 76 player of all time with a year and some change on his deal, a year on a playoffs, would ever get waived and stretched, right?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_02: You never think that's a possibility.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: You never think there's a possibility that if we traded Kevin Arrent away, we can go ahead and get some additional draft capital and turn into a center and then use the draft capital got another trade to go to and get another center for the Phoebe Suns.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_02: And then not get to one of those teams where you looked at it and say, damn, at least last year, they didn't have any first-round draft capital to move around.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_02: So how can we continue to build around the best player in the world, Nikola Jokic?
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_02: It got so weird that the owner of the team goes to the podium and I have this a lot where you put a microphone in front of me.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_02: Hell, that's in the entirety of the show.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_02: You put a microphone in front of me, sometimes I'm just talking.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: And you're not really thinking, you're just streams of consciousness coming out.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_02: The owner comes out and says, God forbid, we might have to trade Nikola Jokic if this don't go this way.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_02: Like, why the hell would you say that?
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_02: Now you're putting it in everybody, the back of everybody's mind say, hold on, maybe we should sit on these assets because in 2028, Nikola Jokic might become available.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think that's a possibility anymore.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_02: Because they made necessary trades, right?
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_02: The offseason flipped, which means that they got the ability to trade a future first-round pick, and boy, is that first-round pick in the future, man.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: A 2032 first-round pick.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_02: Can you imagine where you're gonna be in 2032?
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_02: How many years from now is that?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_02: That's seven years.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: Seven years ago was 2018.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: Imagine in 2018 your favorite team traded away a pick that conveyed this year.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: That's nuts, right?
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_02: 2018, I don't know, that's pre-pandemic.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_02: I can't even imagine what life was like before the pandemic happened.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_02: That's how long ago there was.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway, um, and by the way, I have no gripes with them trading away that pick because Nicole Leok is on the team today.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_02: Why the hell should I care about a kid that's in sixth grade right now?
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_02: A potential pick of sixth or sixth grade, and no, thank you.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_02: So they end up trading that first round pick.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_02: And a guy that had been a staple in Denver since he got drafted in Michael Porter Jr.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm not one of those people that will shit on Michael Porter Jr.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: because I think that what he does well, he does very well.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_02: No guy is perfect, no player is perfect.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_02: MPJ is far from perfect.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: But if you need a jumbo shot taker and shot maker, there's not many people in the world that are better than Michael Porter Jr.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_02: But you trace that in his big old contract with the 32 first round pick, and you bring in Cam Johnson.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I am a Cam Johnson believer.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_02: He is also a flawed NBA player, do not get me wrong.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_02: But based on the things that the Denver Nuggets like to do, I think he's a really good fit.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: Again, he's he doesn't have the same shoot over, the taller defender thing that the MPJ has, but he's better off the bounce.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: He's a better decision maker, he's a better defensive player, and it's not that wide of a margin.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I think, you know, Cam's defense has been somewhat overrated over the last couple years as you tag anybody that can shoot the ball well as a three and D wing, um, but he's a better defensive player than Michael Porter Jr.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_02: He's just not as big.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: He is, in my opinion, a better fit.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_02: Where like I would expect, you know, them to run a good amount of two-man game between Cam and Nikola Jokic.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_02: This is really good.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: Not only do you get a player that's just better than the player you gave up, you also save a ton of money, which allows you to do other things.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_02: One of those other things was signing back Bruce Brown on a vet minimum.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_02: One of those other things was signing Tim Hardaway Jr.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: on a vet minimum.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_02: It is so insane to me that uh Mike Malone, Coach Michael Malone.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry, Mike.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Coach Michael Malone was going into pressures for two years, talking about needing depth, needing veterans.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_02: Because Jalen Pickett, at this time, Peyton Watson is a real NBA player, but Peyton Watson, Zeke Najee, these dudes who they've drafted, none of them materialize to make you feel like in a postseason setting, they'd be good enough to play and hold their own.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: Now, Peyton Watson did have the one game in the postseason this year, which we appreciate.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: But none of those guys had developed enough.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: And Michael Malone was basically saying, give me some veterans, please.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_02: Guys have been in playoff series.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: Guys that, you know, when our star players or our starters go to the bench, we don't expect them to maintain or to take a lead and build on it, but just let's maintain ourselves.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_02: And they fire Mike Malone along with Calvin Booth.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_02: And they said, This new guy is gonna come in and he's gonna give them exactly what Michael Malone was asking for.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: Because Tim Hardaway Jr., a heat check guy, a wishy-washer, wishy-washer performer, but he's so much better than a lot of the players that they had to play or neglected to play, and that meant that Aaron Gordon had to play 40 minutes, or Michael Porter Dr.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: had to play 40 minutes on the bad shoulder.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_02: He's just so much better than a lot of the cases that they had.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: And Bruce Brown, it's been a while for Bruce Brown.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_02: The last time we've seen him been really good was when they won a championship, but that was there in Denver.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_02: And the gravity that is Nicole Jokics, the style of play that Bruce Brown played well with that got him that$40 million contract.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, there's not many people that can replicate some of that style of offense other than Nicole Jokic.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_02: Now he fits right back into there.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: I just really like what this team is building.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: And again, this is a team that was one game away from taking out the team that eventually won the championship.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_02: So you now you add the added depth, and now you add just more players that you trust, then it's good.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_02: Now they did trade away Michael Porter Jr., who I think is 27 years old for about to be a 39 or 30, uh, 30-year-old, sorry, not 39, 30-year-old Cam Johnson once the season starts.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_02: Again, I don't really care about that too much because the the window that you have is the window that Nicole Jokic is on your team.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: So I am really excited about what the Denver Nuggets could be.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_02: I think they immediately blossom up to one of the three best teams in the Western Conference.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: I think they're legitimately a contender again based on these small moves.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_02: And there are rumors as I'm I'm starting this morning.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_02: I was checking the rumor, Mill, that uh say that, you know, they could be in the market for another big.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_02: And hey, I forgot to even mention them.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_02: Jonas Valentunis is on the roster now.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: And they didn't that didn't cost them a single thing.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: They signed Dario Sarge a couple years ago.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely dreadful signing.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_02: And I understand what they did to Dario was pretty good the year before he ended up signing to Denver.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and he basically couldn't play ever.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_02: And the Sacramento Kings are trying to do stuff.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_02: Stuff is the only way I can describe what the Kings are up to between the uh Dennis Schroeder contract or them potentially moving DeMar DeRozan or them listening to offers on DeMontis Abonis.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_02: They're doing stuff.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_02: They salary dump Valenciounas to a team that has never had a competent backup center for Nicole Jokic.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_02: Man, DeAndre Jordan played real playoff minutes this year.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's been a while since DeAndre Jordan has been a competent NBA player.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_02: No disrespect to DJ, man.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_02: We got a lot of love for you.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_02: But Val Nechounis is not an A plus player, not a B plus player, not a C plus player, but damn it, he's so much better than Zeke Najee and DeAndre Jordan.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_02: And when your best player is your center and one of the centers that plays all of the games and plays all the games to 40 plus minutes if necessary, you really just need Val for an eight-minute stretch or two four-minute stretches.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know, three three-minute stretches.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_02: Let's turn it to nine.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_02: Like you don't even need him to play a ton.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: But man, Jokic has been the best on-off demon for the entirety of his career.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_02: Part of that is because, again, he's the best player in the world.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_02: But also part of that is they've never had a center that can back him up and be okay at anything.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_02: And now they got one of Jonas Valentinus.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: Really good thing.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_02: The versatility, the versatility, the versatility.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, a lot of times we do these episodes, we talk about basketball.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_02: And one thing that that continues to be the case over these last couple seasons is you need injury luck to win a championship, right?
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_02: Think about who won this year.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, she was the dominant team all regular season long.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_02: Of course, they deserve the championship.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not taking anything away from what they did.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but they were also the healthiest team come postseason.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_02: Now, they they dealt with their injuries in the regular season, right?
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_02: We only got 30 games with Chet Hongren.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_02: I think we saw 30 games miss from Isaiah Harden sign.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: So they dealt with their injury stuff or the injuries that keep players out, you know, because Dub was dealing with a risk.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm not acting like they were 100%, no injuries on, but they had guys that played through the injuries, and that mattered.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: Depth also helps that, y'all.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: Depth also helps that.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_02: Because when Jarrels Walker goes down with an injury and it's like, okay, Obi Toppin, you're playing a little bit more of those Jarrels Walker minutes.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: Or Thomas Bryant, who didn't play at all in the last series.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_02: Come on.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: You need we need you to hit three threes in the closeout game.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_02: The depth is gonna matter.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_02: And now they legitimately have 10 players that I like enough, enough to play.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not the biggest Timardo Jr.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_02: guy, but uh, but 10 guys that I like enough to play in a postseason if necessary.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_02: And who the hell knows how much better Christian Brown can get?
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_02: Who the hell knows how much better Peyton Watson will be, or you know, Julian Strother, who gave us a playoff game as well.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_02: Just love their offseason so far.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: The next team is a team I can't stop talking about enough.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_02: The Atlanta Hawks.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_02: Boy oh boy, do the Atlanta Hawks look like a not just good NBA team because they went from a team over the last couple seasons.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_02: You know how their season was ending.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um it was play-in, maybe get a first-round series, maybe not, but they were a play-in team.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: I think there's a real possibility that we go into next season and then we get around the all-star break or we get around the end of the season.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_02: We're like, damn, the Hawks are a top four to five seed.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_02: Trey Young has been so good over the last couple seasons, just evolving his game where it's not just high pick and roll, give me the ball, and I'm not gonna do anything.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: Nobody else can touch it until I tell them to touch it, playing off the ball.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_02: Dyson Dames was so good last season.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_02: Jalen Johnson pre-injury was doing so many things as a the Jalen Johnson, Trey Young pick and roll was one of the most deadly ones in all of basketball last season.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: And that was with them spacing it with Iñaka Congo.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: Now they have the versatility where they can space it with Chris Dasporzinggis if he is healthy.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: The health thing is the big caveat on basically the three teams that I've already mentioned.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_02: The health thing for the Houston Rockets, hey, Kevin Durant hasn't had a truly healthy season since I guess his first year in Brooklyn, right?
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, Cam Johnson.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_02: Cam Johnson has played less games over the last couple of seasons than Michael Porter Jr., who has the injury thing attached to his name, right?
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_02: So if Cam Cam can get in some injury, uh injury misfortune.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_02: And then same thing with the Atlanta Hawks with Chris Dasperzing.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_02: So all of this that I'm talking about today about teams hitting the next tier is with the caveat that if they're healthy.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_02: And it is July 3rd, so everybody's healthy in my mind.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_02: The Atlanta Hawks have just been killing the offseason.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_02: And it was a team that, like, I don't know, last year, I guess right before they won the lottery in a draft class that wasn't that great, mind you.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: Before they won the lottery, there were so much conversations about, well, Trey Young or what what's next for this team?
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_02: Do they have to blow it up?
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_02: Do they have to do this and they have to do that?
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_02: They've done a pretty damn good job of finding people around the edges where they'd be, you know, the Dyson Dangers are part of a um DeJounte Murray, Trey to Heat Blossoms.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you saw the the moments when he played for the Pelicans, like of amazing defense, but it's like, could he really do that for a full season as a guy that's gonna play 30-plus minutes the answers?
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_02: Jalen Johnson, who I think was like pick 20 or pick 19 in the draft class.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_02: So they've done just some really cool stuff around the edges, and it gets us to the point now where once you trade away DeJounte Murray, an asset that you gave up with three first-round picks for, you feel pretty bad about it, right?
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_02: You feel like the trade that you made was an objective failure.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_02: And it and it was until Dyson Daniels comes in.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: You give up all of those picks, and you know, for a long time we're looking at the Spurs, like, yeah, the Spurs got the Hawks pick.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the Spurs got these Hawks picks.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: Who knows what they're gonna turn into?
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_02: Right now, I feel pretty good about saying those picks won't be that valuable.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_02: One of them already conveyed.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: I think that ends up being the Carter Bryant pick, um, pick 14 of this year's draft class.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_02: But other than that, because of how deep, again, there's that versatility and and depth that we're talking about, how deep this Atlanta Hawks team is.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: I feel pretty good about saying, man, we don't have those picks, but it ain't that big of a deal.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_02: Because we got that Pelicans, Milwaukee Bucks pick.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_02: Who I feel like I got to talk about every single episode until it conveys next season.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_02: Because what the hell was that?
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway, Trey Young, Dyson Daniels, I'm assuming Reshausse in year two.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_02: Jalen Johnson, Porzingis as a starting unit.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: Off the bench, Nikala Xander Walker, Lou Kennard.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_02: Who's a backup wing over there?
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: They still got V.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_02: Kregi.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like I'm forgetting about somebody.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: Asa Newell.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know how much Ace Newell is going to play as a true rookie.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: And then Anyka Kongwell.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_02: Like that is a real, that's a real lineup, y'all.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like who am I forgetting about?
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_02: Atlanta Hawks depth chart.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_02: Let me quickly go through this because I remember looking at this this morning.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't write it down.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_02: No, that's that's everybody.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: I did mention everybody.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Kobe Buffkin, who knows if he's gonna, you know, do the thing.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_02: But I love their offseason the moment they made the trade for the 23rd overall pick and got that Pelicans pick.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: I liked it even better when they drafted Ace Newell at pick number 23.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: I liked it even better when there were rumors that Nikyas and Walker might end up there.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: I liked it even better when he officially signed.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_02: They've just done great job after great job after great job.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I think there's a real possibility that the Atlanta Hawks are a top 10 team on both sides of the floor next season.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_02: Now, the one reason that I'm I'm just slightly hesitant to say that as like, oh yeah, this is gonna happen, is the non-Tray Young minutes, it's gonna be tougher, a lot tougher to generate offense, right?
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_02: But that's where you ask like Jalen Johnson, who showed, you know, as a point forward, he can do some of these things.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, Ke Allen Center Walker used to be a bucket getter, and then he was like, I think I'm gonna play defense, and that's how I'm gonna get paid.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_02: So there's a war where they could patch together solid offense without Trey Young on the court.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_02: But I truly do believe they have the defensive structure to finish top 10 defensively.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_02: And because Trey Young has been an offensive engine the entirety of his career, now he's got what like true weapons around him.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_02: I I have small doubts that they won't be top 10 on both sides, if healthy.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_02: And if you're top 10 on both sides, you know what that means, right?
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_02: What has been the recipe for a contending team?
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_02: And we're going too far.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_02: We might be going a little bit too far with that.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_02: But uh, yeah, Trey Young, man.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_02: I I will be completely honest with you.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_02: I have not always been a super Trey Young guy.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: I think over these last couple seasons, I've been more and more of a fan.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_02: I think it has a lot to do with the wheel and want to be better defensively.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_02: I hate people, players that are just bad on defense and they also don't try.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like the first couple years of Trey Young's career, that was the where he was at.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I think over these last couple seasons, I mean, when you when you're only 6'2 and you only wear 110 pounds, um, that it's just really tough to be a good defensive player, but he's fighting through screens.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_02: He's not very good at getting around it, but he's fighting through screens.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_02: His mentally, he is thinking the game defensively.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that if you add that, along with how amazing he is as an offensive engine, like you could just look at his numbers and be like, man, how is it even possible that one of the years of his career, and this is just his sophomore season, y'all, his team was 13 points better offensively with him on the court.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: 13 points offensively better per 100 possessions.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_02: Then you got 12 and a half, then you got 10, then you got six, and then you got two years ago when it was only two.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_02: That was a weird year for Trey Young, and the last year was back up to seven and a half.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_02: The dude legitimately is an offensive engine in himself, and that's even with him having like struggle shooting years occasionally.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the game is gonna be so spread out for them.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like Porzingis is not just a really good three-point shooter as a seven, three uh stretch, he's a respected one as well.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_02: So the game is about to open up so much more for Trey, for Jalen, for everybody.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I can't uh wait to see.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_02: The last team, and this is we're not gonna spend a ton of time on this because they did most of their work before the the um free agency period opened up.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_02: We can't talk about teams going to the next tier without mentioning the Orlando Magic.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_02: They traded for Desmond Bang.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: So they got Ty Jones off the bench.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we'll see.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think I like Ty Jones way more as a backup than a starter.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: So maybe we'll get back to the place where we were praising Tyes Jones for assistant turnover ratio.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_02: Last year in Phoenix changed the perspective on a lot of different players for me, though.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_02: I ain't gonna lie to you.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Tys Jones is one of those dudes who is like, you know.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but now with him going back to being a backup to the Suggses or the Blacks or whatever, whatever, I think his value goes up.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't have too much to say because I think we talked about that quite a bit when they made the Desmond Bain trade.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't want to go um too far into it.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um get to some of the teams that I feel like went a tier or two lower.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, we can't always be super optimistic.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but let me see, let me see.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just gonna go through again teams that I think have been doing pretty solid this offseason and see if any of those, like the Cleveland Cavaliers have had a good offseason.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think they're a tier higher because I always saw them as a contender, even though they somewhat got embarrassed in the postseason last year.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_02: They lose Ty Jerome and they also lose a coro.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_02: They bring Alonzo Ball win.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_02: I think the Dallas Mavericks have been doing pretty much everything you could ask for them.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_02: D'Angelo Russell's gonna be interesting as a stop gap until Kyrie Irving comes back, but like you win the lottery, you win a lot of different things.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the Detroit Pistons have not loved their offseason, I'll tell you that.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I kind of I don't think they're tier below, by the way.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_02: I don't I don't have them on my tier below team, but I it does suck that Malik Beasley is being investigated, obviously.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_02: That that changes the dynamic of their entire offseason because I'm pretty sure they were really okay with bringing him back because I thought he was really good for the Pistons.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_02: I think everybody thought that.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, he almost led the league in three-point makes, for God's sake, and he had a little celebration that was pretty cool, but he's being investigated and they replaced him with Karis Levert, who, for a moment, when they when they signed him, I was afraid that they were bringing him in to be the Malik Beasley replacement.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_02: He's just not the flamethrower as a shooter.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_02: He's more of a ball handler, secondary creator type of guy, more than anything.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_02: But then they got Duncan Robinson in the trade and they paid Duncan Robson a lot of money, who I'm guessing that is their Malik Beasley replacement.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_02: But it ain't been all sunshine in Detroit.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_02: But like, again, I don't think they drop a tier below.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_02: If anything, they probably stay the same tier.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_02: Their biggest offseason acquisition is bringing back Jaden Ivey.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_02: The Warriors haven't done a single damn thing.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_02: I think they're one of two teams that haven't done a single thing.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um they haven't lost anybody.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_02: Nope.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, they have.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_02: They lost Kevon Looney.
• 28:28
  unknown: Damn it.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_02: Kevon Looney plays for a whole different team, which is just weird.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_02: I think the Clippers, for what it's worth, has had a good offseason bringing in Brooke Lopez.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_02: The Lakers just brought in DeAndre Aiden.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_02: Who let me just spend a minute on DeAndre Aiden.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um Greg is not really happy about the Warriors not doing anything so far.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's happening.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna happen eventually.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the Lakers brought in DeAndre Aiden.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's the only offseason move they've had so far.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_02: Again, like I mentioned earlier, they may bring some things back from the Houston Rockets.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_02: Here's the thing DeAndre Aiden has not been very good over the last couple seasons.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_02: That's fine.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_02: He has not been very good.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_02: DeAndre Aiden just signed for$8 million.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_02: Think about all the other centers that were on the market.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_02: Think about what they got in return.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_02: You know, even Clink Capella.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_02: What did Clink Capella sign for again?
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_02: Let me Clink Capella sign for$10 million.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_02: $8 million for DeAndre Aiden is not bad.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_02: Now, I don't think he's the type of center that Luca's gonna like.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think he's the type of center that that coach J.J.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_02: Redick is even gonna like.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_02: But he is a million times better at basketball than Jackson Hayes and Trey Jamison.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_02: So that in a loan is a win.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_02: I just don't subscribe to the small part of Lakers Nation that's like, yep, let's go, baby.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_02: We got our guy.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_02: I would be very surprised if he's your guy.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_02: Is there a world where Luca and Braun empowers him and gets him to the point where he's ready to play basketball and he's not taking possessions off and he's not playing soft and he's not playing with an attitude and he's not getting yelled at at by his coach?
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_02: I guess there's a possibility, but that's a lot of shit to change in one offseason.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_02: I'll tell you that.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_02: Last time he did play with a really good point guard that got him the ball, he was pretty good.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_02: He was a real like that Pelican series, they don't bend when he was with Phoenix, they don't win that series if DeAndre Aiden is not dominating, right?
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_02: So maybe there's something still in there.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_02: But I say that also recognizing that when the Bucs traded for Cal Kuzma, people on my show was like, man, all he got to do is go back to the bubble version of himself.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, the bubble was five fucking years ago.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_02: So the DeAndre Aiden with the Suns was three years ago.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_02: Do we believe that he can still go back to that?
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe he is only, what, 26 years old, but I always want to pump the brakes as far as people say, well, he just got to revert back to his old role.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_02: That shit is hard to do, man.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just saying that is hard to do.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_02: Think about what your job was five years ago.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_02: And would you be able to go there and do it at the same?
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_02: But the NBA is different.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_02: You, you, you get paid a max contract.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_02: Can't nobody tell you nothing.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_02: And he's coming off at the end of a rookie max contract.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_02: So it's an upgrade for sure.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_02: But he also don't, he is also not the savior.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like they got to do a little bit more before you know the Lakers are back into, in my opinion, uh true, true contention.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_02: They're always gonna be good.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_02: They got Luca Donces and Braun.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_02: And damn it, Luca might be my MVP pick next season.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_02: But um, yeah, anyway, I think we can say that the Knicks have had a good offseason.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, Coach Mike Brown, I I'd like, I trust.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know how much of an upgrade it really is between him and Tom Thibodeau if it isn't upgrade at all, but sometimes you just need a new voice in the locker room.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_02: Mike Brown is gonna be that.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Jordan Clarkson on the minimum minimum is fine.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_02: He wasn't very good last season, but it's a minimum contract.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_02: And then Gershaw Yabu Sela is gonna play real minutes for them.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_02: Win.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that's kind of it as I as I scroll through my teams here.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um that's kind of it as far as teams that are doing good and going to the next tier.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_02: Other than like the Spurs, but the Spurs didn't do anything to make them the next tier.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's just like relative health should be good enough for them to do some things.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um before we before we get to the teams that dropped the tier, can I talk to the Raptors fan base?
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_02: Can I talk to them?
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_02: I did a video on the Kenny Freel channel basically doing something similar now where I was talking about teams in the offseason that I liked and disliked, yada yada yada.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_02: I got to the depth chart of the Toronto Raptors and I said shit.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_02: That's an expensive team for a team that probably won't be very good.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_02: And boy, you would have you would have thought that that I pulled down their banner from 2021.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_02: Is that 2021?
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh is that 2019?
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_02: It's 2019.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_02: You would think I pulled down their banner from 2019.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_02: Here's my gripe with the Toronto Raptors roster.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_02: There is no doubt in my mind.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_02: Hold on, let me let me just let me just make sure I state this correctly.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_02: There's no doubt in my mind the next season that the Toronto Raptors will be better than the Wizards, than the Hornets, than the Nets, then the Bulls, which at the bare minimum puts them at 11 with obviously a ceiling to be a lot better than that, right?
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_02: There's no doubt in my mind that if they are trying to win basketball games, they will win basketball games more than those teams.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_02: There's real conversations about them potentially being better than the Heat.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_02: There's real conversations about them potentially being better than a few different teams.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_02: My problem is Emmanuel Quickley's making$32 million.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_02: RJ Barrett is making$27.5 million.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_02: Brandon Ingram signed an extension with zero minutes played.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_02: That's gonna be more annually than Kyrie Irving.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_02: Hello?
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_02: And listen, I understand that you have to pay the Toronto Raptor tax.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_02: Teams or players don't want to go to Toronto.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_02: So when you get them in the door, you have to secure them when you can.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_02: When you trade for Brandon Ingram, that was not a trade for the now, it was basically your free agency early.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_02: Again, I understand that.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_02: I understand that you don't have to type that.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_02: But I look at this team and I feel like there's just too many pieces that have somewhat overlapping talents.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_02: I think that in the second half of the season, the defense looked pretty real.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm excited to see if that's if that was truly real, or was it like the Josh Giddy 50% three-point shooting?
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the the uh March and April basketball don't mean a lot of shit in some cases.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_02: I just don't know if your two highest paid players or your three highest paid players even fit together.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_02: And nobody knows that.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_02: You don't even know that as a Raptors fan, you're hoping for because it's your favorite team, but you don't know that.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_02: So that's not great.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_02: This is one of the most expensive teams in basketball.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_02: This starting lineup is one of the most expensive starting lineups in basketball, and we don't even know if they're good enough to be the sixth seed next season.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_02: That's the problem.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_02: I think that Massaiu Giri, before he ended up getting canned, or they decided to part ways, had the idea of trying to trying to play in the middle to try to replicate what he did when he acquired Kawhi Leonard.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna be a solid enough team, and then boom, we're gonna bounce on some talent, and then just like that, we're right back here.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_02: But also in the same breath as that, when Kevin Arant became available, there was rumors and reports that they don't want to bring in Yaakka Purdle into the trade.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_02: So how are you gonna acquire that star player to threat the needle if Yaka Purdle is untouchable?
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_02: You just try to give up Manu Quickly?
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_02: Are you manual quickly at nine?
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_02: Or Jalen Green and 10?
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_02: That's this conversation.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_02: And obviously the Suns thought uh Jalen Green and 10 was the better one.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't know.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_02: I I do like Kollemori Boyles.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_02: I really liked him as a prospect.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, excited for what he could be.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I did like O'Shea Abaji.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_02: I did think that there's something going on with Jacoby Walter that's like there are things that that you can obviously like about this team.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_02: And they got they got my boy Mammu on the team now, so I guess I kind of got a roof of them.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um but it's just a lot of stuff, and none of it do I really like of the people in their starting lineup that I really like is it's just Scotty.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_02: I recognize Brandon Ingram's talent, but I'm not a Brandon Ingram guy.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_02: RJ, not an RJ guy.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_02: Quickly, damn sure not a quickly guy.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_02: And Yakapur is a good center, I'll give him that.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_02: But that's that was like I don't know.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway, before we get to the teams that I feel like fail a tier, I'm gonna let you know, like I mentioned earlier, summer league is right around the corner.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_02: And you can do some some on FanDuel, you can do some Cooper Flag specials.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_02: The 2026 Las Vegas, Las Vegas Summer League is right around the corner.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_02: And they got some props up there for Cooper Flag.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think Cooper Flag is gonna score 25 points in a game in the Summer League?
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_02: That's a plus 120.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think he's gonna hit four May threes in a single game?
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think he's gonna record a double double, a triple double?
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_02: What about Bronny?
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, they got props for Bronny.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_02: There's a prop that says Bronny James to score 10 plus points every game that's plus 1,000.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_02: Golly, um, these are all options for you.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_02: Or you could go the Cooper Flag route for the regular season.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, do you believe that Cooper Flag is gonna record at least one triple double this season in the regular season?
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like that's a real possibility, man.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_02: That's a minus 115, and it goes on and on between double doubles, triple doubles, 30-point games, so on and so forth.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_02: Again, that is what FanDuel Sports put.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_02: Go ahead, check that out and look at those props.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_02: Let's go over some teams that I feel like fail.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_02: Fail from grace in a lot of cases.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_02: Starting off with a team that we knew that was gonna fall, but like, damn, they they they tried to free they're trying to free fall.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the Boston Celtics, man.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, of course, no Porzingis, of course, no Drew Holiday.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I guess Peyton Pritchard.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not sorry, I guess Sam Houser still in conversations about potentially being traded.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_02: Al Hofford is probably moving on to his next team.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_02: And again, there's a team that we recognize we're gonna have to blow some things up.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_02: And they really just had a short window, which does suck, right?
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I feel like that era of the Boston Celtics came and went in a blink.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_02: And of course, the best thing about it is they did get a championship.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_02: None of it really matters because they did get a championship.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_02: But I guess my question is when Tatum does come back next season, what's gonna be left for him to look at?
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm not even, I'm not even saying it as if he's gonna request a trade.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_02: Do not do not misunderstand what I'm saying here.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_02: But what is gonna be left for them to get back into contention?
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_02: You know, a lot of the trades they did, it wasn't for future draft capitals.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_02: Not like they got like seven first-round picks sitting in their back pocket.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_02: You know, uh Porzingis was a true salary dump.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_02: I think the Drew Holiday trade they acquired two second rounders with Anthony Simons.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_02: But other than that, like we're gonna we're about to watch probably a lot of Luka Garza this season, y'all.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_02: Because right now their center rotation is Xavier Tillman, Luka Garza, Nemez Cada.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_02: Like, this is uh something.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_02: They even lost Luke Courtnette.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_02: Luke Courtnette, man.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_02: The Unicornette, he's gone.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_02: So they obviously fell from a team who last year I thought they had the moves and the team to win a championship to like, damn, are they a playing team now if Jason Tatum doesn't play for the whole next season?
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think that's out of the realm of possibility.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_02: Their potential starting lineup is Derek White, Anthony Simons, Jalen Brown, George and Yang.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_02: George Niang and Cada.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be cool to see what we finally get to see some Jordan Walsh minutes, so that's gonna be fun.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um Josh might not sign there, so that might be something, but they definitely they definitely didn't fail.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_02: Next team is the Pacers.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_02: The Pacers made a run to the NBA Finals.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_02: Their star player tears Achilles, get Wilson Reese.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_02: And they had a big decision to make this offseason.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_02: I think that if Tyrese Halliburton does not tear his Achilles, then they would undoubtedly go and pay the tax.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_02: But because their star player is out for next season, they opted to let their longest tenure player, Miles Turner, walk in free agency.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_02: And not only did he walk in free agency, he walked to one of your division rivals.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_02: Now the NBA is very different than the NFL, where like division rivals don't matter too much in this league.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_02: But these are not just normal division rivals.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_02: Like, this is Bulls, Cavs.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_02: Ain't no hard, hard blood or no bad blood there because they just kick our ass every single time.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_02: The Pacers and the Bucs is a real rivalry, mostly because of the shit that happened, not just because it's division base, but because the game ball situation and they're fighting each other.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_02: They didn't see each other in the playoffs a hundred different times over the last two seasons.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_02: So you lose him to them.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_02: And it's just, I would say it's probably just demoralizing for Pacers fans.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_02: To basically see Miles Turner go through so many different eras.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_02: You got the Paul George era, which he was there for, to the Oladipo era, to the Sabonis and him era, to the Tyrese Halliburn era.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_02: So he's been for 10 straight seasons, one of the longest tenure guys.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_02: To see him go to a division rival has to suck.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_02: And not only is it demoralizing from that standpoint, it's like you are a team that just went to the NBA Finals.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I just went to the NBA Finals, you were a game away from being champs.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_02: One of the biggest what-ifs I think was going to go down in history.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_02: You're a game away.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_02: And you let money determine if you keep the core together.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_02: That sucks.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_02: Because now you think to yourself, oh, will will they ever be just buyers around Reese?
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_02: Because we know now with two playoff runs, a conference finals, and an NBA finals run, that a a Reese orchestrated offense and a Reese orchestrated team can be good enough to really contend.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_02: But will they be willing to pay to make it happen?
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_02: This this ownership group hasn't played paid the tax in a decal two decades.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_02: And if there was any reason to pay it, it was it was now.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_02: Because again, even though this is gonna be a gap year for them with their start player being out, he will be back after the season, y'all.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_02: So everybody else is pretty much under contract, except for Miles.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_02: If we just had have this gap year, maybe we make the playoffs, maybe we do some interesting stuff in the first round, but ultimately end up losing.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_02: The year after that, we can say, hey man, Nim Harris got another year.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_02: We finally see what Ben Mathwin is gonna be up to now that Tyrese Halliburton is gone.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe Johnny Furfee, Ben Shepard, some of these younger guys, Jarrett Walker, get to play real minutes, and now we're right back into contention.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I ask the people who I know in Pacer Fandom, what's gonna happen at your starting center next season?
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_02: The answer is shit, Isaiah Jackson's gonna be back from an Achilles.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_02: What?
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_02: It just sucks.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I've never seen a team go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows between the Achilles and then losing the longest tenure player.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_02: And it's not like the longest tenure player is somebody that was a bench warmer, he's a starting center on the team.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_02: Now, a wishy-washy shooter, you know, really good fit for the pacer team.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe you you tell yourself there's a different archetype of center that works better with Halliburton.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe, maybe, I don't, I don't know.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_02: We only time will tell.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_02: But it just felt like the wrong time and place.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_02: So the low ball, your guy, who's again been there since the very beginning, stinks.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_02: This is about to be so funny because the last team on my tier below is the Bucks.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_02: The team that acquired Miles' turn.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_02: You're like, Kenny, what the hell?
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_02: So obviously, you know, no Damian Little stinks.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_02: I struggle to look at this move as a positive.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_02: If if if you can say that this move is the thing that convinced our guy Giannis to stick around, then you do it a hundred times out of a hundred.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_02: But do y'all recognize what$22 million,$22 and some change million dollars is on your cap book for five straight years for nothing?
• 43:43
  unknown: Right?
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_02: There's one thing to have a bad contract.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_02: A bad contract is tradable in most cases.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_02: Sorry, Bradley Beal.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_02: A bad contract is tradable in most cases.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_02: So even though so and so player, I'm trying to think of a Zach Levine was a bad contract for the Chicago Bulls, but guess what?
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_02: They got rid of them.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_02: And you don't have to think about that 50 48 million.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: Million dollars.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_02: When you have 22 and a half, 22 and a change million dollars on your cap for a player that will never suit up for you again.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_02: That just dramatically limits everything that you can do as a team.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_02: And yes, Miles Turner is an upgrade over Brooke Lopez, Brooke Lopez at the point of his career where backup is probably more suitable for his future.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_02: He's not fast enough on the perimeter in defense, while Miles Turner can get out there and move those puppies a lot better than Miles.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, a lot better than Brooke.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_02: It ain't like Miles is miles ahead of the competition, but he is better than Brooke Lopez, and that's a dub.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, a good offensive weapon as well, obviously, because he's been able to hit the mid-range jump shots.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_02: He's been able to, you know, playmake a little bit on the roll.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_02: So he's been better out the course of his career, even if the shooting splits may say different.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_02: I just find it really hard to believe that there's anything really here with this.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_02: And it just, again, pigeonholes you so much more.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_02: I made the tweet and I mentioned it even earlier in the show, that if you have the best player in the league or one of the best players in the league, couldn't care less about the 2032 first round.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_02: I think I said that about Jokic.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the Bucs, I also felt the same way about when they were building a team that eventually did go on to win their championship.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_02: When the hell did the Raptors win their ring?
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_02: I said 2019, right?
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_02: Because 2021 is the Bucs.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway, you don't care about the picks you give up because you end up winning the championship.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_02: But now this is we're on the other side of it now, and this is where it gets really tough.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_02: Again, they shouldn't regret a single deal that they did in the championship era because you won the fucking ring, right?
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_02: There are teams out here that have been struggling to win.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_02: Hell, you were one of those teams that ain't won it in 50 years before you won it in 2021.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_02: But now we're on the opposite side of that.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_02: Where in order to try to resemble anything that can compete, you start just doing shit, and that's the best way I can describe the Miles Turner thing.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_02: Objectively, a better player than Brooke.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_02: But I'm thinking about the long term.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_02: Who's your starting point guard?
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_02: Is it Casey?
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Kavius, nope, is it um Kevin Porter Jr.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_02: Probably.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_02: Probably.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_02: Who was fine last season once he got to Milwaukee?
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_02: But it's a little bit harder for me to look at that team and be like, yeah, next year, even yeah, two years from now, or yeah, three years from now, it's just tough.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_02: All right, um, before we get out of here, we got a few Ask KBs.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_02: All you got to do is hit us up on Twitter, hit us up on Instagram, um, and ask us some questions, man.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_02: We're trying to do our very best to pick some of the best ones.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_02: The first one comes from Roman that said, Who is your favorite league pass team going into next season?
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_02: The way I look at it is the first month of the NBA season, I use it to look at the not so great teams.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_02: I can't wait.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_02: This is gonna sound crazy.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_02: I can't wait to see Jaeger Demon and Michael Porter Jr.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_02: They're not gonna win games.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_02: They're definitely not gonna win games, but a damn, I can't wait.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_02: Also, can't wait to see um the Charlotte Hornets who brought in like Spencer Dimwitty, you know, did some moves around the edges.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_02: They also brought in Conka Nipple, who's one of my favorite guys in this draft class.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_02: So those not so great projected teams start off the season.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_02: As the season goes on, that's when you start to get some of the really good teams.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_02: Like the Orlando Magic are not gonna get a lot of regular season Nashie televised games.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_02: But I will be seated.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_02: You feel me?
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_02: I will be seated.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know how many Nashi televised games the 76ers get next season, but I'm so intrigued on what their roster is gonna look like, their units are gonna look like.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_02: I will be seated.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_02: So those are just a few.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um in the the Portland Trailblazers as well, because they they get a late night game when they're at home.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like a good way to end it off because I really love their broadcasting booth.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_02: The next one comes from Noah.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think the flattened odds have helped or hurt the league?
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think they'd make any more changes in the future?
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_02: This is actually a question I asked Adam Silver.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_02: What did he think?
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_02: And basically his answer is very similar to what I would really say.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_02: It's still too early to tell.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think Sam Preste was a guy when it initially was approached to the GMs and the owners across basketball.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like he was the one that said, no, we don't like this because it really hinders the smaller market teams that are trying to get superstar players.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_02: And hell, you saw it this year, where the lottery was won by a team that just was in the finals the year before, even if the roster looks different now.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_02: Then you end up having a team that has Victor Weminyama on it go up, and then you also get the 76ers to go up.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_02: So it does shift it where you're not guaranteed to get anything if you're one of the smaller market bad teams.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I can understand that being a positive or a negative.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_02: I kind of sent neutral with it.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_02: I do believe that we need a couple more years to kind of see how it goes.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_02: Because in this flat and odd era, we had had years where the worst teams continue to be top three and one team jumped up.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_02: And then you got this year where it's like all of the teams in the top of the lottery basically jumped up.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm neutral on it right now.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_02: Give me two more years.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_02: When the Bulls jump up in a good draft class, then I would say keep it the way it is.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, Kenny.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_01: Been watching your content since 2016 and watch yourself from Greece.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_01: Just wanted an honest opinion on what the ceiling for my 76ers are next season.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_02: There you go.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_02: We just mentioned 76 a couple seconds ago.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, what is a ceiling?
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_02: Oh man, that is so tough to say.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_02: There are too many question marks for me to have a true ceiling on this team.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_02: Will Joel and B be not just healthy, but healthy enough to like the playoffs over these last couple years have been so grueling for everybody involved.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_02: That's what scares me the most most.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_02: I have no um doubt in my mind that if Jordan B is on the court in the regular season, he's gonna produce like an MVP caliber player.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_02: That is how he's been.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_02: I know last year was kind of a um an anomaly in my mind, but like that is who he is.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_02: That is how he has been.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_02: The postseason is just different.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, he's obviously dealt with his own injuries and different things come postseason.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_02: And you think about it being, think about how how aggressive OKC was in the postseason, how aggressive the Pacers were in the postseason, how those games end up being like legitimately 48 minutes of pure stamina and pure jest fight.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I struggle to find myself believing that Jordan Bede can withstain himself, his body, for that long of a playoff run.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_02: So, because of that, I can't say you're ceiling as a championship right now.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_02: I truly do love the young core on the team.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like that's to be where the conversation is for the Philadelphia 76ers between Maxie, VJ, Jarrett.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, if they end up bringing back uh Quentin Grimes unrestricted, and I'm sure that he they will, Justin Edwards, these are all good young players.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_02: Even Trent Wafford, who they added in free agency this season, these are all guys that I like, and I feel like that should be where the conversation goes.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_02: I just, it's it's one of the most impossible teams to predict because of course you got the Jordan B thing, and then you also have the Paul George.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_02: Will he get back on his bully thing?
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you for listening and watching from Greece.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_02: They answer your question.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_02: I have no fucking idea.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_00: What's up, Kenny?
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you had to choose between a non-playoff team in real life to take over as the new GM and make them a championship contender in the next three years, who would you choose and why?
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_02: It's a good question.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um I will say I'm an internet general manager.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_02: What these guys do in real life, I couldn't I could never, ever, ever, ever, ever achieve that stuff.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so shout out to the people that's actually doing the job.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_02: Even if you're bad at it, you're still way better than I am, or would be able to do.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think a team that immediately comes to mind is the Portland Trailblazers.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_02: I just feel like they got some stuff there um that makes me think that three years.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_02: No, you said from a to a championship in three years.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if that team exists, brother.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_02: I truly don't think that team exists.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_02: Because we got Wizards, Hornets, 76ers, Nets, Raptors, these are the lottery teams out east.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, give me the Spurs.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_02: Is that Cheetah?
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_02: Hell yeah.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_02: But I don't care.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_02: You said lottery tape, didn't you?
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_02: The Spurs is the easiest job.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_02: You already got your foundation, your potential generational talent, Evicta Women Yamaha.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_02: You already got two top four guards, top four lottery pick guards that are in year one and year two.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_02: You got that as an asset, or you got that as a playable players.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yup.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yup.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think there's any other team that's even situationally available to win a championship in three years.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_02: Now, I could be wrong, but do you think the Jazz, the Pelicans, the Trailblazers, or the Suns can flip their team around that fast?
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_02: I just don't see that as the case.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_02: None of these teams I'm mentioning have like a true blue chip prospect.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's what you need to go win a championship.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_02: While the Spurs got one of those guys, at least.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe they got more with Dylan Harper.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_02: Who knows?
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_02: We got to wait to see.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_02: All right, before we get out of here, I quickly want to talk about the goals and and what's going on with small ball with Kenny Beecham over this offseason.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I am I've said this before, but I'm we're expecting another child in the next couple weeks.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_02: So because of that, and it being the offseason, we will have a stretch where we won't have any content on this channel.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_02: No, no new podcast episodes and things kind of kind of die down in the NBA season.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I'm gonna go be the best dad I can be to baby number two.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um so because of that, yeah, we won't have many episodes.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_02: But like just like we did last year, I think we also took the hiatus in the dead of the offseason, and we were right back on the horse.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_02: We rebranded.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_02: We're not rebranding again.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_02: We're not rebranding again, but we will be right back on the horse as we get closer to the you know NBA season starting.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I do really, I know I say this a lot, I really appreciate everybody that has showed support.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_02: This show is so much different than any of the other content that I do.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, to do and sit for 54 minutes and talk by myself about basketball is something for y'all to listen to.
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know why you do it, but I appreciate you doing it.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I always spend the offseason trying to grade and look back over my content and what can I be better at next year?
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_02: What can I do?
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_02: Because there are goals in my life.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_02: Bro, one of my number one goals, I really want a sports Emmy dog.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_02: I saw our girl Maddie at the Enjoy team.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_02: She got her sports Emmy for some work she did uh over the last couple of years.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I she put it in her story, and I was like, damn it, I want one of those things.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_02: Feel I'm far away from it, though.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm far away from it.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like I'm not even close to the best version of myself when it comes to covering this sport.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I was going through the content, and I have a few things that I want to get better at this offseason to prepare for next season's year's year of coverage.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_02: The first one is I want to be better at my attention to detail, right?
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like my attention to detail was okay this season.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was better this year than the previous year, which I appreciate.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I, you know, I work towards that, but I feel like it's still not as good as I want it to be.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_02: I want to recognize the small nuances and just remember things better than I did this season.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_02: Where I'm trying to give an example.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, one thing that I think I did a good job of, and I guess everybody may have seen this, is that the Pacers run in their same set time and time again in this postseason run.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_02: And obviously, I feel like a lot of people pick that up.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_02: But I feel like last year I would have just been chilling.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I'm saying?
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_02: So I want to do things like that a lot better.
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I think the way I'm gonna do that or get better at that is the first thing is this offseason is not really an off-season the sense that I'm done watching NBA hoops.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna try my very best four days a week or four games a week where I watch from the past, whether it be 90s, 2000s, 2010s, or even 2020s, of me watching random games and treating them as if they were a live game and taking notes as if, again, it's live.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I want to try to figure out how I can be better in that.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_02: I gotta do my very best to stop scrolling on TikTok and on Twitter and on Instagram because I feel like that just changes your attention span.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_02: I want to make sure that I only have one stimuli per time I'm doing something.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_02: Because right now I'll be like, if I'm playing a game, I'm gaming, I also have a YouTube video on.
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_02: And though that feels very normal, I feel like majority of people do that.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_02: I do think that could be detrimental to my overall, like again, tits into detail.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_02: So one stimuli at a time, continue to read more.
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and hopefully I come back next season more ready to cover the sport.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_02: I'm really excited, man.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_02: I'm really excited about what can be.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_02: And when we were in Bristol, going through those offices for ESPN, and it was just every once in a while I have like a oh yeah, that's why I'm doing it moment.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_02: That was one of those.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_02: You know, not saying I want to be the host of Sports Center or something like that, but to have an entire facility built around sports is so fucking dope to me.
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, have seven studios in one building.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_02: Here, we got three studios in this building, but they're so small.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_02: I want to continue to grow and do those things.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm running out of time here.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_02: So um maybe we talk about this a little bit more next week.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate everybody.
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_02: Hopefully, your team does some more cool stuff this offseason.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_02: I love y'all.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_02: See you next time.