Latest / Small Ball with Kenny Beecham / What Is The Clippers Ceiling?, Should The Pacers Make A Trade?, How To Fix Broken Teams? #AskKB

Transcript

What Is The Clippers Ceiling?, Should The Pacers Make A Trade?, How To Fix Broken Teams? #AskKB · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

0:00
SPEAKER_01: I think it's completely unfair to do that to these players because at the end of the day, saying a person or a player is not a winning player is just easy.
0:08
SPEAKER_01: And easy is not good.
0:15
SPEAKER_01: Welcome, welcome, welcome back to the Kenny Beechum podcast.
0:19
SPEAKER_01: Believe it or not, ladies and gentlemen, we're about a quarter of the way through the NBA season.
0:23
SPEAKER_01: It feels weird to say, because I feel like we just getting started, but about a quarter of the way through the year.
0:28
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, let's start a little tradition.
0:30
SPEAKER_01: My favorite segment on the show is the hashtag ask KB.
0:34
SPEAKER_01: It's a way for me to talk to y'all, the viewers, the listeners, and answer your questions.
0:38
SPEAKER_01: We're doing a mailbag, y'all.
0:40
SPEAKER_01: The entire episode is hashtag ask KB questions.
0:42
SPEAKER_01: So if you want to be incorporated in the next episode or the next mailbag, all you have to do is go to X or go into the comment section of these episodes, use the hashtag, and I will try to answer as many of those questions as I can.
0:53
SPEAKER_01: We got some good ones from looking at the Clippers now that they have a bigger sample size, talking about in-season tournament, the teams that should be making the next trade, which middle of the pack team can contend with one move.
1:04
SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of different questions that are fun in today's episode.
1:08
SPEAKER_01: I want to say if you are on YouTube, be sure to leave it a like, subscribe, tell a friend to tell a friend.
1:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:13
SPEAKER_01: And they're looking for NBA coverage, NBA opinions.
1:16
SPEAKER_01: This is a show.
1:17
SPEAKER_01: This is a show for the maybe, maybe.
1:18
SPEAKER_01: At least give them an opportunity to listen.
1:19
SPEAKER_01: I'm I know I'm not everybody's cup of tea.
1:22
SPEAKER_01: I recognize that.
1:23
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
1:24
SPEAKER_01: But because of not only just this show, but because of the support that y'all have shown, I was featured in a complex list, the 25 most entertaining people in sports media, which is kind of crazy when you think about it.
1:37
SPEAKER_01: And and I don't know if I can spoil the rest of the list, but I will say majority of the people that are on that list have been doing sports media for decades, have been grinding it out for years and years and years.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: So the fact that I am on that list, though it is at the bottom of the list, is just a testament to the support that y'all have showed because it don't matter how entertaining you could potentially be if nobody's listening or nobody's watching.
1:59
SPEAKER_01: So I just want to say I appreciate y'all.
2:01
SPEAKER_01: I am extremely excited about what the future holds for just not just the show, but just the entirety of my coverage of the sport.
2:08
SPEAKER_01: So so thank you.
2:08
SPEAKER_01: Telefriend to telefriend, five stars, Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcast, I'm there, baby.
2:13
SPEAKER_01: Are we ready to get into our first episode?
2:15
SPEAKER_01: Oh, also, we're trying something new towards the end of the episode.
2:18
SPEAKER_01: Y'all have heard producer Greg before.
2:20
SPEAKER_01: He he's had his own segment to the to an extent.
2:23
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna react to some of his hot takes.
2:25
SPEAKER_01: Because he's not just a producer, he's an NBA fanatic as well.
2:29
SPEAKER_01: So I just want to hear some of his hot takes and we'll react to them.
2:32
SPEAKER_01: That's towards the end of the show.
2:34
SPEAKER_01: Let's get into it.
2:40
SPEAKER_01: The first question comes from hoodie behaves.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: Hashtag ask KB.
2:44
SPEAKER_01: After this increased sample size, what is your opinion on the Clippers and their ceiling?
2:48
SPEAKER_01: Right.
2:49
SPEAKER_01: So of course they made the James Harden Troy earlier in the year, and they got off to a horrific, horrific start.
2:54
SPEAKER_01: Where they started off the season 0-6, or one of those six losses was against the Memphis Grizzlies.
2:58
SPEAKER_01: And hey, Memphis fans, you what you got?
3:00
SPEAKER_01: Four more games left before John Moran is back?
3:03
SPEAKER_01: Listen, this is uh off topic already, but hell, this is a mailbag.
3:07
SPEAKER_01: I don't need to be on topic.
3:09
SPEAKER_01: The fact that the Grizzlies still have a top 10 defense with the record that they have is a testament to Jaron.
3:15
SPEAKER_01: I know he was our DPOY last season.
3:17
SPEAKER_01: He's kind of getting lost in the shuffle because Rudigo Bear and Anthony Davis are at the top of the list as they should be.
3:22
SPEAKER_01: Jaron has been able to hold them down without players like Dylan Brooks, without players like Steven Adams defensively.
3:28
SPEAKER_01: They're top 10 at the moment.
3:30
SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying with John Morant comes back, the offense should be better because we're talking about a star offensive player.
3:37
SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying that the season is not over for the Grizzlies.
3:40
SPEAKER_01: Do I expect them to take a big jump?
3:41
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: But the season's not completely over because the defensive uh install, what's the what's the word I'm looking for?
3:47
SPEAKER_01: Infrastructure is still there.
3:48
SPEAKER_01: And then John Moran is coming back.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, 0-6, and one of those games was against the Memphis Grizzlies where it was really bad.
3:54
SPEAKER_01: I think it was like a Saturday afternoon or Sunday afternoon, I remember.
3:57
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, bro, I don't know what's going on.
3:59
SPEAKER_01: But since then, they're eight and three.
4:02
SPEAKER_01: They're seven and three in the last 10.
4:03
SPEAKER_01: They got some quality wins over people like the Warriors, the Denver Nuggets, and so on and so forth.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: And now this team that I looked at when their 0-6 starts, now I obviously did not believe that they were gonna go winless in the James Harden era, but things were not very pretty.
4:16
SPEAKER_01: And Tyron Lu did ask us to give him a 10-game sample size.
4:19
SPEAKER_01: Hell, we got a lot more than 10 games, and it's looking a lot, a lot better.
4:23
SPEAKER_01: The mo the thing I'm most interested in, because Tyron Lu still hasn't figured it out, right?
4:26
SPEAKER_01: They're able to win these games, but he still experimented quite a bit.
4:30
SPEAKER_01: One of the things um that he's completely got rid of is the James Harden solo minutes, right?
4:35
SPEAKER_01: Early in the tenure, the sixth game we lose the streak, we saw lineups where it was James Harden and the rest of the bench.
4:43
SPEAKER_01: It was Norm Powell, it was sometimes Zubach, it was Mason Plumley before he went down with this injury.
4:47
SPEAKER_01: And it was like, Hell, James Harden is the player that we know he can be.
4:51
SPEAKER_01: You give him four random role players, and they could go out there, they could scroll the best of them.
4:55
SPEAKER_01: And that wasn't really the case.
4:56
SPEAKER_01: He gave it what, 30, 40 minutes on the season before he completely got rid of it, and he came to the realization it's like, hey, we have a lot of star talent where we should never really have a time where one of them is out there by themselves.
5:08
SPEAKER_01: So now they're pairing James Harden minutes with some of the other guys, and it's working a lot better.
5:13
SPEAKER_01: This is how you know things are looking good.
5:14
SPEAKER_01: And you're gonna you asked me about their ceiling, and that's the thing I'm still worried about a little bit, but let's talk about it.
5:18
SPEAKER_01: When you look at their three stars, because shout out to Russell Westbrook, I'm not including him in the stars thing because he's a he's a role player at this point of his career.
5:25
SPEAKER_01: We look at their stars of Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and James Harden together.
5:28
SPEAKER_01: Now we have a sample size big enough to really look at the numbers, right?
5:32
SPEAKER_01: They have a 121 offensive rating.
5:34
SPEAKER_01: That's pretty good.
5:35
SPEAKER_01: And the lineups, or those three players are on a 121 offensive rating is great, and the defensive rating of 109.
5:42
SPEAKER_01: That is pretty damn good for these guys hooping together.
5:45
SPEAKER_01: So it's there, it there's some good signs.
5:47
SPEAKER_01: And I know they win a basketball games.
5:49
SPEAKER_01: That's also a good time, but the fact that Tyron Lewis abandoned the solo star thing and is allowing him to run in pairs.
5:54
SPEAKER_01: He also decided that we should never see James and Russell on the court together for the most part.
5:59
SPEAKER_01: Now, he did say basketball is basketball, and sometimes you got to adjust on the fly.
6:03
SPEAKER_01: But his coaching philosophy is now James is gonna run a unit and Russ is gonna run a unit, and we're seeing that, and we're seeing that be successful.
6:10
SPEAKER_01: There was a stat in their last game, which I think it was against the Utah Jazz.
6:13
SPEAKER_01: I want to say I didn't watch this entire game, but Kawhi Leonard was cooking.
6:16
SPEAKER_01: And in this, and the Kawhi Leonard era with the Clippers, when Kawhi scores over 30 points, they are 40 and 11.
6:25
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't that feel like a that that is a 78.4 win percentage?
6:30
SPEAKER_01: That's insane.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: And the Kawhi that is scoring 30 points per game regularly, we haven't seen a bunch.
6:35
SPEAKER_01: And I I I have came onto the show uh or whether it be on my other podcast, whatever, I don't know.
6:40
SPEAKER_01: I got so many NBA opinions, I don't know where I'm giving them out.
6:42
SPEAKER_01: Where I was like, I'm I'm slightly, and I just say slightly worried about Kawhi Leonard.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: Now, if we're putting it on a full scale of 10, oh my God, I don't know what to do versus zero.
6:50
SPEAKER_01: It was like in a three.
6:51
SPEAKER_01: I was about a three because as as cool as it has been to see him play pretty much every single game, it feels as though we haven't really seen the Terminator version of Kawhi that we're used to really seeing.
7:03
SPEAKER_01: Now, part of that could potentially be like, hell, I know who I am, I know my body.
7:08
SPEAKER_01: I can't go 100% for 82 games.
7:10
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna give it 85% and then let that other 15% come come playoff time.
7:16
SPEAKER_01: And then these last couple games, I'm like, okay, that is the Kawhi I remember.
7:19
SPEAKER_01: Whether it be against uh the Jazz um in the game before that, I'm I'm drawing a blank of the game before that, but they had two back-to-back games where Kawhi Leonard looked like the best version of himself.
7:28
SPEAKER_01: So I'm feeling a little bit more confident in that.
7:30
SPEAKER_01: That that that little meter that was at a three is now like at a 1.5.
7:35
SPEAKER_01: Because I feel like, again, he's not coasting by any means, but he wasn't putting together his best basketball.
7:40
SPEAKER_01: Now you're probably looking at them saying, Hell, you're only slightly above 500.
7:44
SPEAKER_01: You can't give 85% if that's gonna get you in a play-in.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: The play-in is the one spot that I believe the Clippers need to avoid completely.
7:50
SPEAKER_01: They need to end up in this top six because as good as they have been, they're not a set in stone, we need to win one game or we're going home type team just yet.
7:58
SPEAKER_01: They haven't showed me that.
7:59
SPEAKER_01: But if they can stay above water and be in that top six, this is a very, very interesting team.
8:04
SPEAKER_01: The ceiling, though, is very, very hard to determine.
8:08
SPEAKER_01: I think that there's parity in the NBA, right?
8:10
SPEAKER_01: There's parody in the association.
8:11
SPEAKER_01: So, like with that being said, this is a team when you look at the star players, you look at how well they've played together as of recent.
8:18
SPEAKER_01: I would be kind of crazy to say that they have a second-round excess ceiling because I think a lot of it has to do with matchups.
8:24
SPEAKER_01: There are gonna be some teams they match up very, very well too with their perimeter defense, their three-point shooter, and the playmaking of James, they're gonna match up well against certain teams, and there's gonna be other teams that they don't match up well against.
8:34
SPEAKER_01: And I think we might see this year a run of a team.
8:37
SPEAKER_01: You're like, man, I didn't think that they was that good, but they got favorable matchups.
8:40
SPEAKER_01: And I think that the Clippers have a few teams in the top 11 that are competing that I see that they're favorable over.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: So if you're asking me their ceiling, I'm gonna say they're a team that at the absolute best can make a conference finals push.
8:53
SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't necessarily predict that to be the case, but again, you're asking me the ceiling.
8:57
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's where they they kind of sit.
8:59
SPEAKER_01: Maybe more games, another 10 game sample size can make me change my opinion in one way or another.
9:04
SPEAKER_01: But I'm enjoying Clippers basketball as of recent.
9:07
SPEAKER_01: And I think that was that was something I was not saying, what, a month ago.
9:11
SPEAKER_01: The next question comes from Young Simba.
9:14
SPEAKER_01: Shout out to my guy.
9:15
SPEAKER_01: When is it time to consolidate assets for a star?
9:19
SPEAKER_01: So, should teams like the Pacers, Magic and Thunder, look to trade for a star or continue building what they have?
9:25
SPEAKER_01: Very good question.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: For y'all that don't know, that's my guy, uh Young Simba.
9:28
SPEAKER_01: He is a Indiana Pacer fan.
9:29
SPEAKER_01: So he he threw in a little question about his favorite team.
9:31
SPEAKER_01: Actually, I'm looking at Hoodie Bev.
9:33
SPEAKER_01: I want to say Hoodie Bev is based on Patrick Beverly, which makes me think that he this that guy was also a Clippers fan.
9:38
SPEAKER_01: Hell, this is the way it works.
9:39
SPEAKER_01: People ask questions specifically about their favorite team.
9:41
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna knock it because if I was listening to a show, I would want to hear people talk about my team as well.
9:46
SPEAKER_01: So, when is the time to consolidate assets for a star?
9:51
SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of it is dependent on a bunch of different things, right?
9:53
SPEAKER_01: One of them is the market, right?
9:56
SPEAKER_01: I cannot remember, maybe y'all in the comment section on Twitter or whatever can hit me up and let me know.
10:01
SPEAKER_01: I cannot remember the last time we've seen a star get traded out of nowhere.
10:06
SPEAKER_01: And I mean completely out of nowhere, right?
10:08
SPEAKER_01: We always see the writing on the wall.
10:10
SPEAKER_01: We always see the rumors of a player's unhappy, may have uh soft-launched the trade requests like Zach Levine.
10:16
SPEAKER_01: But for the most part, when we're talking about star-level players, we have an idea.
10:20
SPEAKER_01: The timing of it might be weird, but like Kevin O'Reilly requested a trade the summer before he was traded.
10:25
SPEAKER_01: So we knew it was in the back of his mind that he eventually wanted out of Brooklyn or James Harden.
10:30
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, you know the way he do get done.
10:32
SPEAKER_01: But like we we rarely see the superstar or the super big trade happen without us really knowing.
10:38
SPEAKER_01: I guess the last one I could really think about off the top of my mind is like Paul George in the middle of the night getting traded to the Clippers or part of the Kawhi Leonard thing.
10:45
SPEAKER_01: Like that was one.
10:46
SPEAKER_01: But then also they were to the writing was on the wall that they were gonna go different directions, right?
10:51
SPEAKER_01: They were gonna trade Russell Westbrook too.
10:53
SPEAKER_01: So I just I think that the market determines a ton of it.
10:56
SPEAKER_01: Where you can't really consolidate your assets for a star if a star is not really available.
11:01
SPEAKER_01: It's it's rare that we see a team just throw out a crazy, crazy offer for a player that we didn't even know was on the market.
11:07
SPEAKER_01: So, so the market really dictates the timing of things.
11:11
SPEAKER_01: Because a team like the Pacers, the Magic, and the Thunder, there's no really consolidation of assets if there's no star that really fit what they're what they're trying to do.
11:19
SPEAKER_01: Now, when you talk about these young teams, there they have been years where we've seen a young, successful team, but a consolidation trade doesn't matter because the parity level was at an all-time low.
11:30
SPEAKER_01: If you're thinking about the Kevin Durant years, we're thinking about the Heatle years, even just LeBron's era in Cleveland, where the parity wasn't very high.
11:39
SPEAKER_01: So why do I think that as the team, a smaller market team that is young, why should I make a big time splash when I know no matter what trade I do, we're not competing with Miami, we're not competing with the Golden State Warriors.
11:50
SPEAKER_01: So we're just gonna look at the infrastructure that we have.
11:52
SPEAKER_01: That's the second time I've used that word today, by the way.
11:54
SPEAKER_01: Um, we're gonna look at the people that we have, and we're just gonna let them grow by themselves and wait until their other team's error in, and then we're gonna do it.
12:02
SPEAKER_01: Now, there is no team, in my opinion, that is head and shoulders unbeatable in the association.
12:07
SPEAKER_01: I got my favorites.
12:08
SPEAKER_01: I think the Boston Celts are really good for a playoff series against pretty much any team of basketball.
12:12
SPEAKER_01: I still believe in the Denver Nuggets, even though recently there's been some cracks.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: There's been some cracks in that armor, man.
12:18
SPEAKER_01: There's been some cracks in that armor.
12:20
SPEAKER_01: Jokic just had two of his worst games I've ever seen in his MVP era, right?
12:23
SPEAKER_01: In his MVP era.
12:24
SPEAKER_01: If you look at his rookie season, sophomore season, I ain't care about that.
12:26
SPEAKER_01: But he had his worst shoot tonight against the Clippers.
12:28
SPEAKER_01: Shout out to Zubac and uh Daniel Tice for that.
12:31
SPEAKER_01: And then he had another game against the Houston Rockets where he struggled super heavily too.
12:35
SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, the team is our defended champion, looks good, but they don't look unbeatable, right?
12:41
SPEAKER_01: I still would probably put them as my number one team out west, but it ain't like I would be super surprised if some other team does it.
12:48
SPEAKER_01: So right now, since we have the parody, this is a this is a very interesting time because if you are the Pacers, the magic of the Thunder, there's not many teams as if you're the general manager of the team.
12:59
SPEAKER_01: You're like, well, if we make a move right now, we still don't feel like we still don't feel like we have it.
13:05
SPEAKER_01: So the market matters.
13:07
SPEAKER_01: The the next thing that matters to me is how far are you away from paying the young cord that you have, right?
13:13
SPEAKER_01: You think about your Orlando Magic, Paloman Carroll's only in year number two, Franz Wagner Sweet in year number three.
13:19
SPEAKER_01: Those are the two big building blocks.
13:20
SPEAKER_01: Everything around them, like you have your pieces like Jalen Suggs, where you feel really good about, you have your other pieces here or there, but those are the two building blocks that are completely, completely untouchable in pretty much every single trade.
13:30
SPEAKER_01: You're quite a ways away from having to pay both of those players.
13:33
SPEAKER_01: So we can kind of afford to go trade for a max contract player right now because we don't have to think about going into the luxury tax anytime soon.
13:40
SPEAKER_01: The Indiana Pacers are such an interesting team because they are a young team for sure, but their young team is a lot different than like a Magic or the Thunder, where these are teams that went through a few years at least of being towards the bottom.
13:53
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the Thunder put off the biggest trade, one of the best trades in like recent NBA history.
13:58
SPEAKER_01: But obviously, they got Chet, they got Giddy, these are top five-ish picks, and even J Dub, you know, in the lottery as well.
14:03
SPEAKER_01: The Pacers have been able to do it from like, let's make a really good trade here, let's trade for Tyrese Hallibur, let's trade for Obi Toppa, let's trade for Aaron Neesmith when people laughed at us because they thought that we just gave away a guy for nothing.
14:14
SPEAKER_01: So they've been able to build it just a little bit differently.
14:17
SPEAKER_01: So you when you think about paying the Pacers core, I mean, like Miles Turner already got paid.
14:22
SPEAKER_01: Tyrese is about to get paid next season.
14:24
SPEAKER_01: Like he's got he signed the money, but the three 300 million, whatever, 230 million dollars don't kick into next season.
14:30
SPEAKER_01: So you don't really have to worry about that for them necessarily.
14:33
SPEAKER_01: Um, and the last thing is do you have that guy on your roster already?
14:38
SPEAKER_01: Right.
14:39
SPEAKER_01: One thing I feel like a lot of teams are afraid to do when they're making that big time trade is sacrificing the the future for the now in the sense that let's say there's a Pascal Siakam's on the mark, right?
14:50
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if that's a star, but he's one of the guys that could potentially get moved.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: If I am a team like, if I am a team like the Pacers, I'm like, hell, we like what Aaron East Smith is doing.
15:01
SPEAKER_01: We like what Obi Toppin is doing.
15:02
SPEAKER_01: Now, they might not ever turn into the player that Pascal Siakam is, but there might be a slim chance.
15:07
SPEAKER_01: So, should we consolidate to get a guy in Pascal Siakam who's about 30 when we have two 24 and younger players that play that same position that is at least decent right now?
15:17
SPEAKER_01: I believe that a team like the Magic can wait.
15:21
SPEAKER_01: They can wait.
15:21
SPEAKER_01: They don't need to go out and make the consolidation trade just yet because I still believe there are people on their roster, they still haven't completely figured out who they are or how they fit on their team.
15:30
SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't I still don't know what to think about Wendell Carter as the center of the team.
15:33
SPEAKER_01: Even though he was one of my most intriguing players coming into the season, I don't know where he stands as the future of the Orlando Magic.
15:40
SPEAKER_01: I don't know where the younger guys, because if you're gonna make the consolidation trade, you're gonna trade some of those super young dudes.
15:45
SPEAKER_01: So like Anthony Black, Jeff Howard, the list goes on and on.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: I still want to see where those players are.
15:51
SPEAKER_01: And if we can do that while simultaneously staying competitive, we're okay with it, right?
15:55
SPEAKER_01: Unless, again, unless the market says this guy that's perfect for what we're trying to do is available, then we do it.
16:01
SPEAKER_01: Now, a team like the Thunder and the Pacers, it's a little bit different, right?
16:05
SPEAKER_01: Wolves came out the report about the Pacers that they're recruiting.
16:07
SPEAKER_01: Like Tyrese Halliburton is trying to get people to come to Indiana, which is dope, right?
16:12
SPEAKER_01: We don't really see that in smaller market teams where it's a guy that is true to the city that was like, man, come play with me.
16:18
SPEAKER_01: And Tyrese Halliburton showed us over the year and a half sample size, about two year sample size, that he's gonna help you get paid.
16:25
SPEAKER_01: He's got he plays such an unselfish brand of basketball that you never really have to think about, oh, am I ever gonna get my touches?
16:31
SPEAKER_01: Because he is as self unselfish as it gets.
16:34
SPEAKER_01: So it's gonna be very interesting to see these next couple years of the Indiana Pacers.
16:38
SPEAKER_01: Can they somehow convince a free agent to sign there, or will they have to make the trade?
16:43
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's one of the bigger questions with the Pacers because they talk about big wings, right?
16:47
SPEAKER_01: That was one of the things that Wojt kept talking about, big wings.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: And obviously, OG Ananobi is a guy that might be on the market, but also he's a free agent this year.
16:55
SPEAKER_01: Do we believe that we can somehow get a meeting with OG Ananobi as a smaller market team?
17:00
SPEAKER_01: Or do we have to trade for him now and try to give him a half a season, three-fourths of the season, sample size on the team for him to resign?
17:07
SPEAKER_01: That is a question because we have seen trades before where um you you trade for a player on the last year of the contract thinking that they're gonna be a part of the future and they chuck up the deuces and now the fixing the stuff that you traded away to get them are gone and you no longer have the player.
17:21
SPEAKER_01: That's like a worst-case scenario.
17:23
SPEAKER_01: But because the Thunder are so damn good, like borderline contending type team, the consolidation trade makes makes sense to me, especially when I watch.
17:33
SPEAKER_01: And this is getting all everything I'm talking about is coming from my perspective as a guy that's not watching every single minute of your favorite tape.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: So OKC Thunder fans, are you out there like Kenny?
17:40
SPEAKER_01: You you bugging?
17:41
SPEAKER_01: This is from my perspective of watching them.
17:43
SPEAKER_01: And I watched a lot of OKC.
17:46
SPEAKER_01: Somehow they played against the Warriors again, and it was a great game.
17:48
SPEAKER_01: It was a great game.
17:49
SPEAKER_01: When I'm watching them and seeing them close out games with players like Isaiah Joe versus Josh Giddy, and I think about the value that Josh Giddy could potentially have to another organization, and you talk about the core, uh, Shay Holmren is posting those pictures of him, J Dub, and Shea.
18:06
SPEAKER_01: Josh Giddy don't even get a slide.
18:07
SPEAKER_01: He ain't in none of those pictures because he's not on the court when it matters the most.
18:11
SPEAKER_01: But he's also young enough where I could where other teams can convince themselves if we are trading a young star player away, Josh Giddy could be our building block.
18:19
SPEAKER_01: I know there's a lot of things revolving around him, but he could be one of our building block pieces.
18:24
SPEAKER_01: Because right now, not really guarding them.
18:26
SPEAKER_01: And Coach Mark Dayton even talked about this in one of his presses.
18:30
SPEAKER_01: Like, he feels honored that they're guarding them that way because that just means that the everybody else on the team, their offense is just humming, that they have to see different, different looks and things like that.
18:40
SPEAKER_01: So if I'm the Thunder, when you think about the draft capital and everything, I would be willing to make that consolidation trade.
18:45
SPEAKER_01: But again, you don't want to just make the trade to make the trade.
18:48
SPEAKER_01: It has to be a player that really fits what you want to do.
18:51
SPEAKER_01: And I have a guy in mind, I don't know how realistic it is.
18:54
SPEAKER_01: But Larry Mark and being on the OKC Thunder, it's like a match made in heaven to me.
19:00
SPEAKER_01: I honestly do believe that he brings a ton of things that they could really, really need.
19:04
SPEAKER_01: He's a guy that has showed throughout the course of his career that he can he can get his buckets without having the ball a lot.
19:09
SPEAKER_01: Even his last year's season, where he was as efficient as ever, he wasn't putting the ball on the floor a ton.
19:15
SPEAKER_01: He was just getting his buckets.
19:17
SPEAKER_01: And when you look at the first, what, five years of his NBA career?
19:19
SPEAKER_01: He's okay with not beating the guy.
19:21
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure of it.
19:22
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure of it.
19:23
SPEAKER_01: So he would bring a lot of stuff offensively and defensively.
19:26
SPEAKER_01: I think he's become a pretty decent defender, especially in the help.
19:28
SPEAKER_01: So I would like to see that, but we don't know if Larry Markin is available.
19:32
SPEAKER_01: Then again, Danny H loves to make trades, and you have 17 first-round picks.
19:35
SPEAKER_01: Maybe he is.
19:36
SPEAKER_01: Maybe, maybe OKC is gonna be one of the first teams in a while that makes someone available because of the package that they put together is so crazy.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: Um, and the Pacers are another team that I would be um saying, like, yeah, let's consolidate.
19:50
SPEAKER_01: Has to fit.
19:51
SPEAKER_01: It has to fit.
19:52
SPEAKER_01: It would be OG Ananobi for me, looking at the current market.
19:55
SPEAKER_01: But uh, there is no real answer to your question, young Simba.
19:58
SPEAKER_01: But uh there's a lot of different factors.
20:00
SPEAKER_01: The next one comes from Ben.
20:01
SPEAKER_01: Ben has been on the show, what, three different times at this point?
20:04
SPEAKER_01: He's all-time great questioner, question giver.
20:08
SPEAKER_01: Do you think we're gonna ever get to the point where we can where we stop labeling guys non-winning players as much as it happens now?
20:16
SPEAKER_01: I feel like the NBA is the worst in a major American sports when it comes to labeling guys, especially young guards losing players, even though so much of winning is on the shoulders of coaching and teammate cohesion.
20:28
SPEAKER_01: Um, I I do not believe that we'll ever get away from it.
20:33
SPEAKER_01: Should we?
20:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, we should.
20:36
SPEAKER_01: But I don't think it's ever gonna happen because it's easy.
20:39
SPEAKER_01: It's easy.
20:40
SPEAKER_01: It's easy to say a player is not not a winning player because you can just look at that and say that, hey, that brother ain't got no rings.
20:46
SPEAKER_01: That brother ain't got no crazy playoff performance, so he by nature is not a winner, which is just always blows my mind because like you mentioned in this band, there are so many different factors to winning a championship, and it's such a team sport.
21:00
SPEAKER_01: I know we have people that absolutely dominate that feel like it's a one-man team.
21:06
SPEAKER_01: It's not I haven't I have not seen a championship that was won by a single player.
21:10
SPEAKER_01: Now I've seen championship games won by players, but as far as entire seven-game series, it doesn't happen.
21:18
SPEAKER_01: You'll never hear me say this person is a non-winning player because there's so much that goes into even having that.
21:24
SPEAKER_01: People, these young guys get drafted to teams that are actively trying to lose for the first three, four years of their career.
21:31
SPEAKER_01: Jalen Green right now has a title of a not a winning player.
21:34
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like it is unfair.
21:36
SPEAKER_01: What is he not a winning player because he takes difficult shots?
21:39
SPEAKER_01: And because he hasn't been on a winning team.
21:42
SPEAKER_01: Look at the rosters he's had throughout the course of his career.
21:46
SPEAKER_01: Almost any player that you draft in that situation are gonna be titled not a winning player.
21:50
SPEAKER_01: So it's unfair to Jalen.
21:52
SPEAKER_01: And what are we seeing right now?
21:53
SPEAKER_01: Oh my God, he's got a competent coach, he's got a competent team around him, huh?
21:58
SPEAKER_01: And they're winning basketball now to 500.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: Team, slightly above 500 team.
22:01
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to act like they're winning championships.
22:03
SPEAKER_01: But you see what having good coaching can do.
22:06
SPEAKER_01: They're one of the three best defensive teams in basketball right now.
22:10
SPEAKER_01: Good coaching.
22:11
SPEAKER_01: The personnel's got better around him.
22:12
SPEAKER_01: Do you know what I'm saying?
22:13
SPEAKER_01: So it's gimmic, I think it's completely unfair to do that to these players because a lot of the times they're coming into situations that like are just gonna make them not winning players, you know?
22:24
SPEAKER_01: Now, if they get on team number five, number three, number four, and things are still looking a little bit rough.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you had a conversation, but even then it feels disingenuous to me.
22:35
SPEAKER_01: At the end of the day, saying a person or a player is not a winning player is just easy.
22:40
SPEAKER_01: And easy is not good.
22:42
SPEAKER_01: It's not, it's not good basketball talk if your I don't know, arguments are easy to say.
22:48
SPEAKER_01: Oh, this guy has zero rings in a 15-year career.
22:51
SPEAKER_01: Not a winning player.
22:54
SPEAKER_01: Can we look at the history of this player's career?
22:56
SPEAKER_01: Can we can we see the different circumstances on the teams he was on, the situations in which he got eliminated from the playoffs?
23:03
SPEAKER_01: You know?
23:04
SPEAKER_01: I don't like the the title, uh Ben, and I don't think we'll ever get away from it.
23:08
SPEAKER_01: But we could do our best by not adding to the to the fire, you know.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: Next one comes from DJ.
23:14
SPEAKER_01: If salary and years were not capped, which current NBA player would get the largest guaranteed contract in for how long?
23:21
SPEAKER_01: Uh example is Shohei Otani.
23:24
SPEAKER_01: Also, um actually, let's just look at the first part because he wanted to go historically.
23:28
SPEAKER_01: I think I think we can just live in today.
23:29
SPEAKER_01: So shout out to DJ.
23:30
SPEAKER_01: Um Shohei Otani, what the heck?
23:34
SPEAKER_01: 10 years, 700 million with the Dodgers.
23:39
SPEAKER_01: Uh when it when then when it got announced, my response was no.
23:44
SPEAKER_01: And people thought that I was saying that from the perspective of a White Sox fan.
23:49
SPEAKER_01: Brother, I don't even know if the White Sox will be here in seven years.
23:52
SPEAKER_01: They're meeting with Nashville and stuff.
23:54
SPEAKER_01: I was saying no.
23:56
SPEAKER_01: Because don't the Dodgers got enough, man?
23:58
SPEAKER_01: And you know what's crazy about this?
24:01
SPEAKER_01: Because Shohei is such a likable guy, and because I enjoy watching Mookie Betts play baseball, by nature, I'm gonna start liking the Dodgers.
24:08
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm gonna be very far away from being a Dodgers fan.
24:10
SPEAKER_01: I'm a White Sox fan to heart, to the death of me.
24:12
SPEAKER_01: Well, no, actually, no.
24:14
SPEAKER_01: If they move to Nashville, I'm a free agent.
24:16
SPEAKER_01: The hell?
24:17
SPEAKER_01: The hell?
24:18
SPEAKER_01: Why would I follow that team?
24:19
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not going to the clubs either.
24:21
SPEAKER_01: But because they have so many likable players, I'm like, man, you got me.
24:26
SPEAKER_01: 700 million dollars.
24:29
SPEAKER_01: And I can't act like I've been super heavy on the Otani watch, right?
24:33
SPEAKER_01: I've been keeping up a little bit as far as the New York teens being interested in Toronto being interested.
24:37
SPEAKER_01: Drake showed up or posted on Instagram and him and a Blue Jays jersey and Otani on the back.
24:42
SPEAKER_01: And I honestly do believe that's the reason why the Toronto Blue Jays did not get Otani.
24:46
SPEAKER_01: The hell are you doing, Drake?
24:47
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing?
24:48
SPEAKER_01: That's your former recruiting?
24:50
SPEAKER_01: A thirst trap on Instagram stories?
24:52
SPEAKER_01: Relax.
24:53
SPEAKER_01: He said, you know what?
24:53
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna say a Cali.
24:55
SPEAKER_01: Um back to your original question.
24:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, which current NBA player would get the largest guaranteed contract and for how long?
25:02
SPEAKER_01: The first name that came to mind when I read this question was Giannis.
25:07
SPEAKER_01: You gotta look at it from the perspective of a smaller market team.
25:12
SPEAKER_01: Giannis is a guy that was drafted by them from Greece when he was such a raw prospect.
25:17
SPEAKER_01: He grows grows up in Milwaukee basically into an MVP, to an NBA champion, and so on and so forth.
25:23
SPEAKER_01: There's not many bigger cases to give somebody the biggest bag in NBA history than Giannis, especially when he was saying that he was a little bit worried about the future of the team.
25:34
SPEAKER_01: Now, I was thinking, like, how far are we away from a player signing a contract in this world?
25:43
SPEAKER_01: And part of the contract is equity in the in the in the business, in the organization.
25:49
SPEAKER_01: Like I feel like that exists in some other leagues around the world.
25:54
SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't be surprised if there are some some soccer stuff.
25:56
SPEAKER_01: Does Killian Mbappe own part of PSG?
25:59
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
26:00
SPEAKER_01: I would have to Google it.
26:01
SPEAKER_01: But that that feels that feels like I'm saying it and it might be right.
26:03
SPEAKER_01: So if you are the Milwaukee Bucks, you drafted this guy who, again, is not slowing down anytime soon, it feels like.
26:10
SPEAKER_01: I am willing to give him however many million dollars he wants plus part of the company.
26:15
SPEAKER_01: So he he is incentivized to stay here forever because his success means the business success means it's his success again.
26:23
SPEAKER_01: Now I know there's probably rules against that, obviously, but that is the first player that came to mind.
26:28
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, Braun is another one.
26:30
SPEAKER_01: Um, when you think about him going to the Lakers, and I'm not talking about current Braun at 39, but like when he first got to the Lakers, he would have been a guy that's like, hell, here is all the money in the world.
26:40
SPEAKER_01: Because we we don't believe that you just come into LA to make movies.
26:42
SPEAKER_01: Because y'all remember people saying that.
26:44
SPEAKER_01: Y'all remember when people were saying that that Braun just signed LA because he wanted to be a space jab, too, that he wanted to be a train wrecked.
26:49
SPEAKER_01: I remember people saying that.
26:50
SPEAKER_01: Then he got that jewelry pretty fast.
26:52
SPEAKER_01: Um, but those are guys.
26:53
SPEAKER_01: Steph Curry is another one, right?
26:54
SPEAKER_01: Because before the before Steph Curry, I want I want y'all to think about if you were around, what the Warriors were pre-Sth Curry.
27:04
SPEAKER_01: They were a team with a rabid fan base, and I mean that as a compliment, right?
27:07
SPEAKER_01: They the roar coup was real, but for the most part, they were towards the bottom of the league in the respects factor.
27:13
SPEAKER_01: Nobody was going against the Warriors thinking, like, oh man, we got to get up for this game.
27:18
SPEAKER_01: And Steph Curry came in, uh, turned into the player that he is now, and now the Golden State Warriors are one of the more uh financially lucrative organizations in the entire world, or at least American sports.
27:31
SPEAKER_01: That is the house that Steph Curry built.
27:34
SPEAKER_01: No ifs, ands, or buts about it.
27:35
SPEAKER_01: So there was another team to give a crazy, crazy offer to an individual player, is Steph Curry.
27:40
SPEAKER_01: And my mind always goes to these single team guys because they were they were there when it was rough.
27:45
SPEAKER_01: Like Milwaukee was really, really rough pre-Giannis.
27:47
SPEAKER_01: The Words are really, really rough pre-Sth Curry.
27:50
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, if we talk about the next chapter, the the Youngstars, Dallas would do everything in their power to get Luca to stay.
27:57
SPEAKER_01: And he ain't even, I don't even want to act like he's even acting like uh he's thinking about moving here or there.
28:04
SPEAKER_01: But they would do everything in their power to get Lucas to stay.
28:06
SPEAKER_01: 700 in's for 10 years?
28:08
SPEAKER_01: Cause look, you asked me about how long of a contract, too.
28:11
SPEAKER_01: It's probably harder to give Giannis a 10-year contract considering he's about to be 30 soon, right?
28:17
SPEAKER_01: But Luca at his at his uh young old age of 23, 24, that 10-year contract ain't bad.
28:23
SPEAKER_01: You know, it wouldn't be bad.
28:24
SPEAKER_01: Didn't Magic Johnson sign like a 20-year contract with the Lakers?
28:27
SPEAKER_01: The NBA's like, hold on, that is that is not it.
28:30
SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, I would I would go Giannis, Steph Curry, and then a younger generation.
28:35
SPEAKER_01: It's gotta be like Luca.
28:38
SPEAKER_01: Shea.
28:40
SPEAKER_01: Small market teams trying to retain their superstar players.
28:42
SPEAKER_01: Shay is another one.
28:44
SPEAKER_01: And it might be jumping a gun just a little bit, but all NBA first team.
28:47
SPEAKER_01: What the hell?
28:47
SPEAKER_01: He's about to get it again, probably.
28:48
SPEAKER_01: The next question comes from Daniel Martin.
28:50
SPEAKER_01: Was the Cas prize enough for the end season tournament?
28:54
SPEAKER_01: Clearly, the tournament was a success, but what if the teams played for a tradable chip that allows the winner to pick their playoff matchup?
29:01
SPEAKER_01: Would give the contenders motivation and if the young team won, give the asset they can hold on to.
29:07
SPEAKER_01: Now, the N-Curn, I don't want to open it up again because I talked about it before.
29:11
SPEAKER_01: The N-Season tournament so far has been an absolute win.
29:13
SPEAKER_01: I've enjoyed I enjoyed every single second of it.
29:15
SPEAKER_01: Um, I would say it was a 9.7 out of 10.
29:17
SPEAKER_01: My my that 0.3 that they're missing has to do with the courts a little bit.
29:20
SPEAKER_01: And because a neutral site to some of them games, that it felt like a neutral site in the worst way possible.
29:25
SPEAKER_01: When it became a Lakers game, the fans were there because it's the Lakers, right?
29:29
SPEAKER_01: But that first game, the Pacers versus Bucks, two smaller market teams, it was dead.
29:33
SPEAKER_01: Party that was probably because they did it a goddamn Tuesday.
29:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I'm sorry, what is it, Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m.
29:38
SPEAKER_01: in Vegas?
29:39
SPEAKER_01: I've been to Vegas multiple times in my life.
29:42
SPEAKER_01: Multiple, multiple times.
29:43
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not even a partier.
29:45
SPEAKER_01: I ain't no clubber.
29:46
SPEAKER_01: You feel me?
29:46
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm I've been to some clubs, but I'm not a clubber.
29:49
SPEAKER_01: You know, I feel like you can do something a certain amount of times before you get the title.
29:53
SPEAKER_01: Just because I draw every once in a while to make me an artist.
29:55
SPEAKER_01: So I've been to a few clubs.
29:57
SPEAKER_01: There have been times where things do not happen until four o'clock in the afternoon because the previous night was so crazy.
30:04
SPEAKER_01: We're vague, we're in Vegas, 2 p.m.
30:07
SPEAKER_01: People are knocked out, hung over.
30:09
SPEAKER_01: You want to go to a basketball game where the lights is blaring, and actually, they were hiding things.
30:15
SPEAKER_01: The the lighting in the arena was like, you're not gonna see how many people in the stands.
30:20
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if that was by nature or by by uh I don't know if that was on purpose, but they did not want you to see who was there.
30:27
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, uh that would be my major gripe with things.
30:29
SPEAKER_01: But the question is, was the cash prize enough for the end season tournament?
30:33
SPEAKER_01: I believe the half a million dollars winning is enough for the players.
30:38
SPEAKER_01: But how do we get the fans?
30:40
SPEAKER_01: I think the numbers are gonna come out and they're gonna say, hell yeah, the numbers were all-time great because it's the only thing we can really compare it to.
30:46
SPEAKER_01: But compare last year, this same time ratings versus this in-season tournament, it's gonna blow it out of the water.
30:51
SPEAKER_01: But how do we get the fans to stay interested?
30:54
SPEAKER_01: Part of it is like this is the first year we're doing it.
30:56
SPEAKER_01: Uh, as you know, like any YouTube series or any series of all time, or any series, TVs or whatever, the first one is probably gonna do the best because everybody's interested.
31:05
SPEAKER_01: How do you get people to come back for episode two or year two in this one?
31:09
SPEAKER_01: And that is the thing that they're trying to figure out.
31:11
SPEAKER_01: They have to figure out.
31:12
SPEAKER_01: My boy Mike just saw his favorite team win the in-season tournament.
31:15
SPEAKER_01: I promise you, he he wasn't crying because Max Chrissie got half a million dollars.
31:19
SPEAKER_01: You know, he's happy to just say that they won, but like at the end of the day, it's not to really incentivize him.
31:26
SPEAKER_01: He can talk a little bit of trash, but that's really it.
31:29
SPEAKER_01: I said I was in favor in order to get the fans to care more about their individual team, you have to add something new.
31:38
SPEAKER_01: I came up with the idea or enjoyed the idea of adding an extra lottery pick, and we're talking about the odds being so very low towards the bottom, but you've seen throughout NBA history people jump up in the lottery.
31:49
SPEAKER_01: Uh, when Derrick Rose won or was drafted first overall, the Bulls jumped up with like a 1.7% chance.
31:54
SPEAKER_01: Uh, the Pelicans jumped up the year that they got Zion, the Grizzlies jumped up the year that same very year to get John Morant.
32:01
SPEAKER_01: So we know with the flattened odds that anything is really possible.
32:05
SPEAKER_01: So if I'm a team, let's say the Pacers win this, right?
32:08
SPEAKER_01: Like you can be happy that Aaron East Smith got half a million dollars, right?
32:11
SPEAKER_01: Because he's been a guy that was given away by his previous team.
32:13
SPEAKER_01: They were talking trash, boo-boo, boo.
32:15
SPEAKER_01: But if you're a Pacers fan, that's that's really where it holds.
32:17
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you don't really have NBA championships.
32:21
SPEAKER_01: So you you hang a banner.
32:23
SPEAKER_01: But what else do we us fans?
32:25
SPEAKER_01: We watch this, we're happy about it, but like get an extra lottery pick would be kind of cool.
32:30
SPEAKER_01: Hey, now if we torch the bottom of the play, which is not the case for the for the Pacers, we don't ever have to turn the switch off because we know we got a guaranteed lottery pick, so let's fight for that 10th seed instead of going down like the Mavericks did last year when they were basically there.
32:44
SPEAKER_01: Um, you mentioned having a tradable piece, and I mean that could be looked at the lottery pick.
32:49
SPEAKER_01: Having a winner pick his playoff matchup, I think it's too left field for the NBA.
32:55
SPEAKER_01: I personally think it would be cool.
32:57
SPEAKER_01: Y'all know me.
32:58
SPEAKER_01: I'm not an NBA purist at all.
33:00
SPEAKER_01: I want to see all of the things be tinkered with a little bit.
33:03
SPEAKER_01: I want to see if it is successful.
33:05
SPEAKER_01: If we were NBA Purists, we would not have the end-season tournament, we would not have the playing tournament.
33:10
SPEAKER_01: The playing tournament has been one of the best things to happen to NBA basketball because we see 25 teams for the most part still competing towards the end of the season.
33:20
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not a Purist at all.
33:21
SPEAKER_01: I'm okay with seeing what this is gonna look like.
33:24
SPEAKER_01: Imagine the Lakers.
33:26
SPEAKER_01: Imagine the Lakers win the end season tournament.
33:28
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, okay, let's say they end up as the overall what four seed.
33:32
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't know who the Lakers gonna end up in the NBA standards, whatever, whatever.
33:35
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, okay, we want to go against this team.
33:41
SPEAKER_01: The feud, the rivalry, the pressure associated with that, come on, man.
33:46
SPEAKER_01: You have to win that series.
33:47
SPEAKER_01: And if you don't, stories.
33:49
SPEAKER_01: And if you do, the other team, like, all right, we're gonna get back at y'all.
33:52
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna win the NC tournament next year and we're gonna pick y'all.
33:55
SPEAKER_01: Like, there are a lot of storylines and come up with it.
33:56
SPEAKER_01: I don't hate it.
33:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, I think Adam Silver probably would because I think that's a little bit too left field.
34:01
SPEAKER_01: My guy Maurice is here.
34:02
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm sorry, Reese Reese.
34:04
SPEAKER_01: I I don't know.
34:04
SPEAKER_01: Can I say the government?
34:05
SPEAKER_01: My fault, my fault.
34:06
SPEAKER_01: Which middling team is in the best position to get over the hump into contention?
34:11
SPEAKER_01: Now, middling team at the Google.
34:14
SPEAKER_01: Now, I I know what the I know what that means, but I didn't know what it means.
34:18
SPEAKER_01: You feel me?
34:19
SPEAKER_01: And and the team that I have here is it, I don't want them to feel disrespected by calling it a middling team because I think they're above that.
34:24
SPEAKER_01: But I'm just thinking middle of the pack, right?
34:26
SPEAKER_01: This team, as currently constructed, is not a contender, but they're in the best position to get over the hump with some adjustments.
34:33
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be the New York Knicks.
34:35
SPEAKER_01: The Knicks have very consistently over the last couple seasons, been really decent.
34:39
SPEAKER_01: Really decent.
34:40
SPEAKER_01: Draft Capital, young assets, two stars players.
34:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh Julius Randle's looking better and better every single game.
34:48
SPEAKER_01: That like when we talk about the consolidation trade, I feel like that would help the Knicks a ton.
34:54
SPEAKER_01: With with uh Quentin Drive, Quentin Grimes being uh disgruntled, with Evan Fournier being disgruntled for the next last two years or so.
35:03
SPEAKER_01: Like a consolidation trade in order to get that next guy goes a long way.
35:07
SPEAKER_01: Now, of course, there's been rumors about them looking for a superstar, but the market has not said a superstar is available.
35:13
SPEAKER_01: They are the team that I look at with the pieces that they have that they could put together a nice trade for a star player and still have enough depth to be competitive and compete, right?
35:22
SPEAKER_01: Right now I look at the Knicks, I say, hey, that's a bona fide playoff team, but right now it's currently constructed.
35:27
SPEAKER_01: They have a ceiling.
35:28
SPEAKER_01: That ceiling could be conference finals, right?
35:30
SPEAKER_01: I think this, I think the talent is good enough to make it to the conference finals, but they're not a team that I believe could get over the hump to win an NBA championship just yet.
35:37
SPEAKER_01: But it's in them.
35:39
SPEAKER_01: I honestly, honestly do believe it is, but they just have to make the right adjustments and the right trade in order to get there.
35:46
SPEAKER_01: And the market is the market.
35:48
SPEAKER_01: So maybe that trade never happens, but that is the first thing that came to mind because, again, they're really good as constructor.
35:54
SPEAKER_01: The next question comes from O'Neal Cruz comeback season.
35:58
SPEAKER_01: You know, there's a lot of baseball talk in this episode from Cheryl Toddy to O'Neal Cruz.
36:03
SPEAKER_01: Um, I was watching a game live and O'Neill Cruise hurt his leg because it was against my white socks, and I feel so bad because O'Neill Cruz was just a freak of nature that's fun to watch.
36:12
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't having a phenomenal season, but I was very, very sad that we ended that brother's uh season.
36:16
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, comeback season on the way.
36:18
SPEAKER_01: Hashtag ask KB, who's at fault for the Cavs and Kassis this season?
36:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I've seen a lot of Fire JB and trade spider.
36:26
SPEAKER_01: Oh my God, which is crazy.
36:27
SPEAKER_01: But have you noticed any issues with the team?
36:29
SPEAKER_01: And if you do, uh, do you have any solutions?
36:31
SPEAKER_01: Now, I was gonna do an episode last episode, actually, was gonna be named Um uh Most Confusing Teams in the NBA, and the Cavs were number one on my list.
36:38
SPEAKER_01: But the day that I was writing a script for that, Zach Lowe put out his podcast that was called Most Confusing NBA Teams.
36:45
SPEAKER_01: And though I had to listen to it at that point, I was like, I can't drop an episode with the same exact premise as Zach Lowe.
36:52
SPEAKER_01: He's an op right now.
36:53
SPEAKER_01: We competing for the number one basket.
36:55
SPEAKER_01: I'm not towards the number one spot anymore, but um, but we're competing in the space.
36:59
SPEAKER_01: So I don't want to have a whole episode that comes out the day after his.
37:02
SPEAKER_01: And he he actually talked about the Cavs on his.
37:04
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, oh yeah, we gotta scrap it.
37:06
SPEAKER_01: But this gives me an opportunity to talk about the Cavs like I would have in last episode.
37:10
SPEAKER_01: So um the few things I'm not saying.
37:12
SPEAKER_01: The first thing is it's not as bad as it may seem, right?
37:14
SPEAKER_01: They're they're winning games as recent, 73 in their last 10.
37:17
SPEAKER_01: They got a big win against the Miami Heat, though the Miami Heat, of course, were sitting some players.
37:20
SPEAKER_01: A win is a win nonetheless.
37:21
SPEAKER_01: The thing that bothers me the most about this Cavaliers team this season, because they I'm a year removed from the honeymoon space with them.
37:26
SPEAKER_01: Like when they were last year, I was like, oh man, this team is so good.
37:29
SPEAKER_01: They have the best point differential in all the association.
37:31
SPEAKER_01: Are they really a contender?
37:32
SPEAKER_01: And they shut the bit.
37:33
SPEAKER_01: The lights are too bright.
37:34
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, okay, I'm not giving up on them because Evan Mobley's still one of my favorite players to watch in the association.
37:39
SPEAKER_01: But I'm not looking at them as like, no matter what they did this season, they could have had the highest point differential in all the basketball, the number three offense or number three defense, the top 10 offense.
37:47
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, ah, I'll see you in the playoffs, right?
37:49
SPEAKER_01: Um, this year it's a little bit different.
37:51
SPEAKER_01: Now, part of that's because they've dealt with a ton of injuries, a ton of injuries all season long.
37:55
SPEAKER_01: Karen Zavert's out of the lineup, Donna Mitchell out of lineup, Derrick Garden's out of the lineup, start of the year without Jared Allen.
37:59
SPEAKER_01: So it's like they have had a lack of consistency with the health.
38:02
SPEAKER_01: And I honestly think that's one of the main things.
38:04
SPEAKER_01: I know in the moment when you're watching your favorite team be unsuccessful or losing games that you think they should win because they had the one loss against the Trailblazers a couple weeks ago, you're like, damn, man, we suck.
38:17
SPEAKER_01: But I honestly do believe that them not being very healthy is one of the main things.
38:22
SPEAKER_01: Now, they do have this thing, they have a lack of scoring versatility.
38:26
SPEAKER_01: When you're a team that has a lack of scoring versatility, it's gonna be hard to win as many games as you would want.
38:33
SPEAKER_01: When you don't get up a lot of threes, and when you do give up a lot, give up, get up a lot of threes, you're not hitting them, it's just gonna be hard to score, right?
38:40
SPEAKER_01: And if it ain't one of the top two dudes, I guess Max Jews has been really good this season, and they just don't shoot the ball well enough.
38:47
SPEAKER_01: The other teams that play this way have like bully, bully, bully offensive players.
38:51
SPEAKER_01: The Lakers have Braun and Anthony Davis.
38:53
SPEAKER_01: They could kind of get away with not being a high, high three-point shooter team.
38:57
SPEAKER_01: You don't necessarily have that with your team right now.
39:00
SPEAKER_01: So the fact that you aren't getting enough three-point shots up is a little bit puzzling because you have relative personnel to do it.
39:06
SPEAKER_01: Now, obviously, when you're running a double center lineup in Evan Mobley and Jared Allen, uh, neither of those guys have been able to shoot.
39:12
SPEAKER_01: Um, we just haven't seen the jump from Evan Mobley as far as his shooting stroke goes, and maybe it'll never come.
39:17
SPEAKER_01: I don't really know.
39:18
SPEAKER_01: But because you have guys at the top and Max Struce and uh Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland and even Karis Liver coming off the bench, George Dean Yang, who you signed this offseason, though it's been hit or miss with him.
39:29
SPEAKER_01: Like you would expect this team to be able to get up, get up at least a three decent amount of shots.
39:33
SPEAKER_01: And if they're not getting up the decent amount of threes, then at least make the ones that they're getting up.
39:37
SPEAKER_01: They're struggling there completely.
39:39
SPEAKER_01: So it's all at the basket.
39:40
SPEAKER_01: And again, they just don't have the personnel where they can turn that into a bunch of a bunch of wins.
39:45
SPEAKER_01: Again, they're playing decent basketball, but no three-point shooting or a lack of three-point shooting in 2023 is going to be the detriment to a lot of different teams.
39:53
SPEAKER_01: The teams you're competing with at that spot are not very good.
39:57
SPEAKER_01: So you want to get that.
39:58
SPEAKER_01: You're also not winning the solo guard minutes like you were last year.
40:02
SPEAKER_01: And and I mean, like it's one, it's Darius Garland's on the court, no Donovan Mitchell.
40:05
SPEAKER_01: Or it's Donovan Mitchell on the court, no Darius Garla.
40:07
SPEAKER_01: You're not winning those minutes at all.
40:08
SPEAKER_01: Both of them are in the net negative.
40:10
SPEAKER_01: Now, together, things are amazing, right?
40:12
SPEAKER_01: As long as those two guys are on the court, you're gonna be a very good offensive team, you're gonna be a very passable defensive team, but you can't have that for 48 minutes.
40:19
SPEAKER_01: So it's like we can't keep losing the minutes with strictly Dono.
40:23
SPEAKER_01: We can't keep losing the minutes with strictly Darius.
40:25
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like it will come up at a point, but as far as them looking at them as a contender, because again, you make the trade that you did to become a contender eventually, there are ways from that.
40:34
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know what the answer is.
40:36
SPEAKER_01: Again, like you mentioned, a lot of people are saying fire JB.
40:39
SPEAKER_01: I'm not in the weeds enough to recognize if JB is the main problem, but maybe it is.
40:46
SPEAKER_01: You know, I was looking at the betting eyes the other day.
40:48
SPEAKER_01: He was one of the people at the top of the list when it comes to coaches to be fired.
40:52
SPEAKER_01: Uh, again, I'm not in there enough to know if that's warranted or not.
40:55
SPEAKER_01: And the last question we have before we bring on producer Greg to give me some of his NBA hot takes is from Jesus or maybe Jesus.
41:03
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
41:04
SPEAKER_01: I don't know him like that.
41:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, but he's also a saint, so it must be Jesus.
41:07
SPEAKER_01: Hashtag asked KB, if every team had a camera crew with them throughout the whole season, but at the end of the year only three teams can be released.
41:14
SPEAKER_01: Which three are you releasing?
41:15
SPEAKER_01: Now, the NBA Hard Knocks thing is something that I've been wanting for as long as Hard Knocks has been around.
41:21
SPEAKER_01: I y'all know me.
41:22
SPEAKER_01: I ain't big into football.
41:23
SPEAKER_01: Like I watch occasionally, I know a little bit of something.
41:25
SPEAKER_01: Like I'm not completely void of NFL knowledge, but hard knocks is one of those things I'm diving into every season.
41:31
SPEAKER_01: You feel me?
41:32
SPEAKER_01: I need I need to see hard knocks because it just adds another um element to these players, right?
41:38
SPEAKER_01: Especially in the NFL where they don't market players very regularly.
41:40
SPEAKER_01: So it's like, oh, okay, the guy's a practice squad player, but I kind of'm kind of rooting for him for the rest of his career.
41:45
SPEAKER_01: Um, so I've been wanting this for the NBA for a very long time.
41:48
SPEAKER_01: So they said he said get three.
41:50
SPEAKER_01: A couple different ways I thought about this.
41:52
SPEAKER_01: I want a young, up-and-coming team, and I don't think there's gonna be a more entertaining team than the OKC Thunder.
42:00
SPEAKER_01: Uh, obviously, they have some off-court stuff that we don't need to mention at the moment in Josh Giddy.
42:06
SPEAKER_01: I want to see how that locker room is, specifically when that stuff is coming out.
42:10
SPEAKER_01: Again, we don't know, right?
42:12
SPEAKER_01: We don't know what's happening.
42:13
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's been a minute since I've seen the report about it, but um because we also saw when that was going down, like Chet Homegren deleted the Instagram pictures with with Josh Giddy.
42:23
SPEAKER_01: And overall, even if we get away from that, the off-court stuff, the on-court stuff is crazy.
42:27
SPEAKER_01: Like Shay's a personality, Chet is a personality, J Dub's a personality.
42:30
SPEAKER_01: Like, these are guys that I want to see in front of a camera full time, especially now that they're in these close games, winning a bunch of games, one of the best teams of basketball.
42:38
SPEAKER_01: Um, so I would want to see them as my first one.
42:41
SPEAKER_01: My second one, you have to get a bottom feeder team.
42:44
SPEAKER_01: You have to get one of the worst teams in basketball.
42:46
SPEAKER_01: So I'm looking across the league.
42:47
SPEAKER_01: It's three, right?
42:48
SPEAKER_01: There's three really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really bad teams.
42:51
SPEAKER_01: Um, those teams are the Wizards, the Pistons, and the Spurs, right?
42:55
SPEAKER_01: In their last 49 games collectively, they have one win and they was against each other.
42:58
SPEAKER_01: Like, like one in 48 is ridiculous.
43:01
SPEAKER_01: You have to pick one of those bottom teams.
43:02
SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, okay, Vic Victor Wemonyama being on the team would be kind of cool, right?
43:07
SPEAKER_01: Especially for the NBA's perspective.
43:08
SPEAKER_01: They're trying to market him anyway, maybe see what he's like in the locker room.
43:12
SPEAKER_01: But they have too many vanilla guys in their rosters.
43:14
SPEAKER_01: The Spurs.
43:15
SPEAKER_01: Nothing ever comes out about the Spurs.
43:16
SPEAKER_01: They just always go to work, I guess at this point lose a bunch of games, but they don't really have, and maybe they do, maybe they do have these personalities, but we don't really get to see them.
43:24
SPEAKER_01: So I kind of got rid of them.
43:26
SPEAKER_01: The Wizards have the personalities.
43:28
SPEAKER_01: Kal Kuzma and Jordan Pooh are funny people.
43:33
SPEAKER_01: They're just funny people.
43:34
SPEAKER_01: Put a microphone in front of them, something's gonna happen.
43:37
SPEAKER_01: So they're kind of my pick here.
43:39
SPEAKER_01: But the Pistons have been so bad that I actually put them priority.
43:46
SPEAKER_01: They've been so bad that they have to be the priority.
43:50
SPEAKER_01: I need to know what them locker rooms is like when you have time to die by 20.
43:54
SPEAKER_01: Or you go against the team like you're a Lendo Magic or are missing three starters, you still lose by 30.
43:58
SPEAKER_01: I need to know what the hell is being said.
44:00
SPEAKER_01: For Monty Williams.
44:01
SPEAKER_01: I need to know what Trey Weaver's doing at the practice facilities who's watching these players practice.
44:05
SPEAKER_01: I need all of that.
44:06
SPEAKER_01: So I'm going to get go OKC and then Detroit.
44:10
SPEAKER_01: And the last one, I wanted to get a team like the Lakers or the Warriors, a team with a lot of history, uh, some older guys in the league.
44:18
SPEAKER_01: Maybe the Warriors is the right one because their fall for grace is kind of happening in real time right now.
44:26
SPEAKER_01: That I kind of want to see how they internalize that.
44:29
SPEAKER_01: As guys that have been on top of the basketball world for almost a decade now, or maybe about a decade now, I'm just interested to see how they personally take the idea of maybe we're just not good enough anymore.
44:42
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm just assuming LeBron, LeBron has had a camera crew where he's gone for the past 30 years.
44:48
SPEAKER_01: You can't, I mean, you can't, he's gonna have a crazy 20-part documentary about his life eventually.
44:53
SPEAKER_01: So he already got his camera crew.
44:55
SPEAKER_01: So those are my three.
44:56
SPEAKER_01: I also thought about like the Wolves, would be interesting.
44:58
SPEAKER_01: The Bulls have turmoil, so maybe them.
45:00
SPEAKER_01: Um the Wolves have Anthony Edwards and Carthony Towns.
45:04
SPEAKER_01: That's not a bad pick.
45:05
SPEAKER_01: That's not a bad pick.
45:11
SPEAKER_01: It's time to introduce producer Greg to the show for his ITest takes.
45:17
SPEAKER_00: Greg, welcome.
45:18
SPEAKER_00: We'll see if the name needs to be worked out, but that we'll go with that for now.
45:22
SPEAKER_00: The ice jingle.
45:24
SPEAKER_00: They never lie.
45:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think I think it works, but we'll let the audience really decide.
45:30
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
45:30
SPEAKER_00: So basically, I watch a lot of basketball.
45:33
SPEAKER_00: I don't dive too deep into the numbers.
45:36
SPEAKER_00: I just trust my eyes.
45:37
SPEAKER_00: So I want to see how you how you feel about that.
45:39
SPEAKER_00: So my first thing, based off the beginning parts of this season, Devin Booker is on the same exact tier as Jason Tatum.
45:46
SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
45:47
SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
45:49
SPEAKER_01: See, see, when I think about comparing NBA players, I think the eye test carries more than statistics, right?
45:56
SPEAKER_01: Situations are always different.
45:58
SPEAKER_01: I think Devin and Tatum are obviously in different situations.
46:02
SPEAKER_01: I don't think that's that bold of a take, though.
46:04
SPEAKER_01: I think the one thing that Devin Booker is missing is like once we get to those closeout games and playoff series, he hasn't really had that one.
46:10
SPEAKER_01: While Tatum has had like a 45-piece, a 50-piece, or however many he ended up against these 76ers.
46:16
SPEAKER_01: I don't think this is too wild, though, when we think about the evolution of Devin Booker as a playmaker and the evolution of Devin Booker as a defender, that they're definitely on the same tier.
46:26
SPEAKER_01: If I was gonna pick one of the other to like start a franchise with, I'd probably go with Tatum by a small margin.
46:32
SPEAKER_01: But if you had Devin Booker above him, I'm not saying that that's too wild.
46:36
SPEAKER_01: I think the eye test does the right thing there.
46:39
SPEAKER_00: Zero contenders would have interest in a Klay Thompson trade.
46:43
SPEAKER_01: Zero contenders.
46:45
SPEAKER_01: Oh man, I think that the name of Klay Thompson makes me believe that this there would be in this hypothetical world where he is on the market, there would be a team that will be interested.
46:58
SPEAKER_01: The problem is once we get past this season, he's a free agent, and obviously he probably thinks he's a little bit more worth a little bit more than what he actually is.
47:05
SPEAKER_01: I think that if if he was available, a team like the Lakers is calling.
47:10
SPEAKER_01: A team like the Lakers is called a team with a low volume, low percentage three-point shooting team.
47:14
SPEAKER_01: Don't look now, Klay Thompson shooting like 40% from three over his last like eight or nine games now.
47:19
SPEAKER_01: I've been watching those games.
47:20
SPEAKER_01: So it doesn't feel like the number seems higher than what the production actually looks like.
47:25
SPEAKER_01: But I think that if he became available, there would be teams calling for better or for worse.
47:29
SPEAKER_00: Lastly, if there was a 2020 NBA redraft, Halliburton would go number one.
47:36
SPEAKER_01: Halliburton go number one.
47:38
SPEAKER_01: Whew, man, man, man.
47:40
SPEAKER_01: So there's for the people at home, there's of course Anthony Edwards.
47:43
SPEAKER_01: There's the mellow ball.
47:45
SPEAKER_01: Those are the two people you really try, or the three people you're really trying to decide between.
47:49
SPEAKER_01: I think maybe the ceiling of Anthony Edwards at his peak is maybe higher.
47:53
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's why I would still go with Ant Man.
47:55
SPEAKER_01: We think about his versatility on both sides of the ball.
47:58
SPEAKER_01: You see him becoming a more better and better playmaker, but Tyrese already is a system.
48:04
SPEAKER_01: And Anthony Edwards hasn't been that.
48:05
SPEAKER_01: And he may never be that.
48:06
SPEAKER_01: There's only a small percentage of players that end up being a system.
48:09
SPEAKER_01: I think I would still have Ant-Man one, but I ain't mad at it, man.
48:14
SPEAKER_01: I'm definitely, I'm definitely not mad at it.
48:16
SPEAKER_01: After seeing what he has done over the last season and a half, he's an MVP candidate at the moment.
48:21
SPEAKER_01: And I can't say the same for Anthony Edwards right now.
48:24
SPEAKER_01: But I still take the upside of Ant-Man.
48:26
SPEAKER_01: But you you're not too wild for that one.
48:28
SPEAKER_01: That's not too wild.
48:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna say thank you to everybody that submitted questions for this mailbag.
48:37
SPEAKER_01: Again, I want to do this like every quarter of the NBA season.
48:39
SPEAKER_01: But you know, we do a little bit of Ask KB every episode.
48:42
SPEAKER_01: So description, I'm sorry, in the comment section on Twitter, hit a brother up, leave a like five stars on Spotify and Apple, all of those things go a very, very long way.
48:51
SPEAKER_01: And I'll see y'all in a couple days.