Latest / Small Ball with Kenny Beecham / NBA Playoff Teams' Floor and Ceilings!

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NBA Playoff Teams' Floor and Ceilings! · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

0:00
SPEAKER_03: So we just wrapped up the normal tape in a small ball with Kenny Beachum.
0:03
SPEAKER_03: And as we're just chatting, I get a notification from Sean Sharania that said that Victor Wimanyama is going to be out for the rest of the season with a blood clot in his right shoulder.
0:11
SPEAKER_03: A type of notification that you don't expect to get ever.
0:15
SPEAKER_03: And that really changes the dynamic of um, well, this season for the Spurs, but also for Victor Womenyama.
0:24
SPEAKER_03: Um, blood clots are not like anything that we should be taking lightly, and I I recognize that, and hopefully he gets well soon.
0:32
SPEAKER_03: We just saw Asar Thompson at the end of his rookie season also go out with a blood clot.
0:36
SPEAKER_03: Um they said they believe it's an isolated incident, which is like the best case scenario, I would assume, but I'm not a damn physician or anything.
0:43
SPEAKER_03: It just really does suck.
0:45
SPEAKER_03: Um, and and you know what I was doing?
0:47
SPEAKER_03: I was just talking to one of the guys, and we were going through it, and like for the for the most part, for the most part, this has felt like a relatively healthy season for the star players in ball, other than like Luca missing six weeks and Joel and Bede missing the huge bulk of the season.
1:01
SPEAKER_03: Other than that, we've been kind of blessed with our star players being active, and then this just hits a day after me having that conversation.
1:09
SPEAKER_03: So um I don't think that changed the context of the show that we just filmed, but I did want to take a second to kind of talk about it.
1:15
SPEAKER_03: Uh get well soon, Victor Womenyama.
1:18
SPEAKER_03: I mean, if we if we're just quickly talking about what this means, again, this is probably not even something they care about at this moment in time.
1:25
SPEAKER_03: They more care about Victor Womenyama.
1:26
SPEAKER_03: If we're thinking about what this means for the San Antonio Spurs this season, right now they have the 10th best odds for the first overall pick with 20 odd games left.
1:35
SPEAKER_03: And though De'Aaron Fox is an acquisition is pretty cool without Victor Women Yama, I don't expect that team to be winning a lot of basketball games.
1:42
SPEAKER_03: So there's an opportunity for them to walk out of um this with a a legit top 10 pick from themselves, and then another pick um from the Atlanta Hawks.
1:54
SPEAKER_03: Oh no, wait.
1:56
SPEAKER_03: Wait, wait, wait.
1:57
SPEAKER_03: No, no, yeah, from the Atlanta Hawks.
1:59
SPEAKER_03: So um it's it's awful, awful, off.
2:02
SPEAKER_03: And hopefully, this is just one of those things that we look back on in a year or two ago and it's just an isolated incident.
2:07
SPEAKER_03: We never think about it again, and maybe it's better for their future to retain their pick.
2:11
SPEAKER_03: But man, does it suck that we won't see Victor Wimanyama for the rest of the season?
2:14
SPEAKER_03: So get well soon, Wimby, uh praying for you, and hopefully you pull through.
2:23
SPEAKER_03: Welcome back to Small Ball with Kenny Beecher, man.
2:26
SPEAKER_03: I hope y'all enjoyed y'all break.
2:28
SPEAKER_03: It's been two weeks since we sat down and talked about some hoops.
2:31
SPEAKER_03: Feels a little bit weird, but like my my last episode, at least what was supposed to be my last episode, was my travel day to San Francisco.
2:38
SPEAKER_03: You know, I was there for All-Star Weekend, and and though we've already kind of talked about how trash All-Star Weekend really is, I really love the Bay, man.
2:44
SPEAKER_03: Uh, shout out to the people that came out to our live show.
2:47
SPEAKER_03: This is something that one of our fans put together, NOTB X Debate.
2:51
SPEAKER_03: On the back, it's like an embroidered picture of me and the guy.
2:53
SPEAKER_03: So the community came out, they showed out, and I appreciate all y'all.
2:57
SPEAKER_03: Uh, before we get into today's episode, I want to remind you that we have multiple shows on the Enjoy Basketball Network.
3:01
SPEAKER_03: You may know NOTB, the show with me and the guys.
3:04
SPEAKER_03: You're watching this show, so thank you for that.
3:06
SPEAKER_03: We also have another show, uh teed up with Pierre and Dreesson, my cousin Pete, and he just dropped an episode while we were at All Star where he had Jalen Wells on the show, uh, starting shooting guard for the Memphis Grizzlies.
3:17
SPEAKER_03: And, you know, P does a great job of interviewing.
3:20
SPEAKER_03: I ain't gonna lie to you, I haven't listened to it just just yet, but I'm just assuming that it's an absolute banger.
3:24
SPEAKER_03: So check that out.
3:25
SPEAKER_03: Um, teed up with Pierre and Dreeson, everywhere you get your podcast, YouTube, Spotify, all of those different places.
3:31
SPEAKER_03: Now, today's episode, you know, we're coming off All-Star.
3:35
SPEAKER_03: Um, I read somewhere yesterday morning that we're 66% of the way through the NBA season, which feels kind of crazy.
3:40
SPEAKER_03: I feel like just yesterday, you know, we was tipping off, and just yesterday, Luka Donchis played for the Dallas Mavericks and Anthony.
3:45
SPEAKER_03: I still ain't over it, bro.
3:46
SPEAKER_03: I just watched them last night.
3:47
SPEAKER_03: They had the only game against the Charlotte Hornets, and it still feels weird.
3:51
SPEAKER_03: My wife walked into my office and she was like, 77 doesn't look good in that jersey.
3:55
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, I know, I know, and I don't know if he ever will, but we're gonna talk about the Lakers.
3:59
SPEAKER_03: On today's episode, I want to go through the floors and the ceilings of not all, but majority of the playoff teams for this 2025 season.
4:07
SPEAKER_03: Before we get into it, I gotta explain to you my rationalization between a floor and a ceiling.
4:11
SPEAKER_03: In my mind, the floor is like almost, I don't want to say everything goes wrong, but like the floor is the lowest point I can see this team advancing in the postseason, right?
4:23
SPEAKER_03: This year, just like last year, um, is gearing up to be a really good playoff.
4:28
SPEAKER_03: And I honestly do believe that in this parody era, post-uh, Kevin Durant, Golden State Warriors, a lot of the stuff that happens in the postseason is matchup dependent, right?
4:37
SPEAKER_03: No disrespect to the Indiana Pacers who went on the conference finals run last season, but they were were heavily benefited by having good matchups and having good injury luck, right?
4:47
SPEAKER_03: That was a team that nobody expected to make a conference finals push, and they did.
4:50
SPEAKER_03: And that's not taken away from them.
4:51
SPEAKER_03: They still have to go out there and play their opponent to get wins, but things are always shifting, right?
4:56
SPEAKER_03: And as of today, which is February 20th, as I'm recording this episode, I don't know what the what the seeding is gonna be.
5:03
SPEAKER_03: I don't know who the first round matchups, second-round matchups could potentially be.
5:06
SPEAKER_03: So this is just me projecting, right?
5:08
SPEAKER_03: Another team that benefited from this is like the Dallas Mavericks of last year.
5:12
SPEAKER_03: Again, I'm not taking anything away from them.
5:13
SPEAKER_03: They were in the goddamn NBA finals, but they matched up so very well against the OKC Thunder.
5:19
SPEAKER_03: They won a few teams in the conference that I thought could take away a series from the Thunder.
5:23
SPEAKER_03: And they they did that, right?
5:25
SPEAKER_03: So without knowing what the actual context is of each individual series, what is a team's floor and what is a team's ceiling?
5:33
SPEAKER_03: The ceiling on the opposite of the floor is like maybe not everything goes exactly well, but this is the team, this is where I think this team could max out.
5:40
SPEAKER_03: This is me going off of you know what we know today.
5:43
SPEAKER_03: Of course, we don't know what injury is gonna look like or suspension.
5:46
SPEAKER_03: Shout out to Bobby Portis, I guess, what suspensions or injuries are gonna look like, but just sit back, have fun, and you let me know in the comment section what you disagree with or what you agree with when it comes to floors and ceilings.
5:56
SPEAKER_03: Now, I don't have any particular order.
5:58
SPEAKER_03: I actually just hit a NBA team random generic uh generator because I don't want to go all West teams on this side and all East teams on this side.
6:05
SPEAKER_03: So the first thing that came up here that I care about, because it hit the Suns.
6:08
SPEAKER_03: I don't care to give you the floor, the ceiling of the goddamn Suns.
6:12
SPEAKER_03: They're not a good basketball team.
6:13
SPEAKER_03: Um, and then the Pelicans, who the floor is, you know that floor is at.
6:17
SPEAKER_03: They're at it currently.
6:18
SPEAKER_03: Um, the Memphis Grizzlies.
6:19
SPEAKER_03: Now, the Memphis Grizzlies are one of those teams that really, really does scare me.
6:24
SPEAKER_03: And the reason why that is, is this is a by-committee team.
6:27
SPEAKER_03: Of course, they have two all-star caliber players, and Desmond Bain has looked really good since the turn of the caliber season.
6:32
SPEAKER_03: But this is a win by committee type of team where they have nobody on their roster that is averaging 30 plus minutes per game, which is a great thing.
6:39
SPEAKER_03: We have other teams out east where everybody's averaging 30 minutes per game.
6:43
SPEAKER_03: You would think about good legs and well-rested young team come postseason, but a win by committee, unorthodox offensive sets, which is a great thing.
6:50
SPEAKER_03: They're one of my favorite watches in basketball, but they run an unorthodox brand of basketball.
6:55
SPEAKER_03: But all of the advanced stats tell you that this team should be a contender.
6:58
SPEAKER_03: They're one of the three teams in basketball that's top seven in offense and defense.
7:02
SPEAKER_03: And yet, when I watch them play and when I'm thinking about the projection of the Memphis Grizzlies, I'm not looking at them as a team that would be a championship team.
7:11
SPEAKER_03: And maybe that's unfair to them.
7:13
SPEAKER_03: But I think about it like this.
7:14
SPEAKER_03: Hypothetically, um, right now they are the two seed in the Easter conference, uh, Western conference that record this video.
7:19
SPEAKER_03: When I look at the teams that they could potentially go against in the play-in, three of those four teams, I have to take a real thought to myself who I pick in that series.
7:29
SPEAKER_03: The Wolves versus the Grizzies.
7:31
SPEAKER_03: Obviously, the Grizzies have been a better team all season long.
7:34
SPEAKER_03: But that is one of those series where I have to really think.
7:36
SPEAKER_03: And I don't know who I would pick in that seven.
7:38
SPEAKER_03: Them versus the Mavericks.
7:39
SPEAKER_03: Again, the Mavericks are dealing with uh basically zero centers and the most idiotic GM in maybe the history of the sport.
7:45
SPEAKER_03: But like on paper, assuming health, that Mavericks team is a good team, right?
7:50
SPEAKER_03: It's just weird that Luca Dontich used to play for them.
7:52
SPEAKER_03: But if we take away the context of Luca ever playing for them and we just looked at the roster for what it is, that is a really good team.
7:57
SPEAKER_03: And even the Golden State Warriors, if the Warriors match up against the Memphis Grizzlies, I honestly do have to think about who I would take in this series.
8:04
SPEAKER_03: This team is 13th in half-court offense.
8:07
SPEAKER_03: And maybe that is what really prevents me from putting them in that upper tier.
8:10
SPEAKER_03: When I when I think about their ceiling, I'm not thinking about the championship level team because I went through the history and I went to Cleaning the Glass, and Cleaning the Glass goes all the way back to 2003.
8:18
SPEAKER_03: So we have like 20-ish years, 21, 22 years of data here.
8:23
SPEAKER_03: Right now, their 13th rank half-court offense.
8:26
SPEAKER_03: When you think about what the playoffs really is, when you think about them slowing the tempo and getting to the point where you don't get as many fast break opportunities, which is what the Memphis Grizzlies love, their 13th rank half-court offense.
8:38
SPEAKER_03: There's only two teams in history that were 13th or worse and won a championship.
8:42
SPEAKER_03: And those two teams are the 2020 Lakers and then the 2010 Lakers, a Kobe team and a goddamn Braun team.
8:48
SPEAKER_03: You know what I'm saying?
8:49
SPEAKER_03: Two guys that historically have been able to raise their play come postseason.
8:53
SPEAKER_03: Two guys that you can you can argue that throughout their history, sometimes in the regular season, they can be kind of chilling and then it's time to go zero dark 30.
9:01
SPEAKER_03: I don't think the Grizzlies have a Braun.
9:02
SPEAKER_03: I don't think the Grizzlies have a Kobe being Bryant.
9:05
SPEAKER_03: So when I think about the Memphis Grizzlies and their floor, because I also have to think about who's going to win this play-in series, I think their absolute floor, the worst case scenario, is a first-round exit.
9:16
SPEAKER_03: And I think their ceiling is a conference finals push.
9:20
SPEAKER_03: And that's a huge, huge difference, right?
9:23
SPEAKER_03: You I can lose within the first seven games or I can win eight games or ten games to get to the conference.
9:28
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
9:29
SPEAKER_03: It's just one of those teams.
9:31
SPEAKER_03: Again, it wouldn't surprise me if they went out there and lost in the first round, but it also wouldn't surprise me if they went out there and had the right matchups here or there and ended up winning.
9:40
SPEAKER_03: I also saw this chart earlier today that was like where teams are taking their shots.
9:45
SPEAKER_03: And Jaron Jackson Jr., if you gave me a vote today, I think Jaron Jackson Jr.
9:50
SPEAKER_03: would make my all-NBA team.
9:51
SPEAKER_03: That's how phenomenal he's been on both sides of the floor.
9:53
SPEAKER_03: I love his story for this season.
9:56
SPEAKER_03: He's taken so many floaters this season.
9:58
SPEAKER_03: It's number one in the league by a wide, wide margin, like a hundred plus a makes, which is insane.
10:03
SPEAKER_03: I think Jalen Brunson was number two, or Jalen Brunson was number three, but it's like Jaren getting to that spot.
10:08
SPEAKER_03: You know, John Morant's not fit because he's still having a really good season, but it's not as good as what we want John Morant to be.
10:15
SPEAKER_03: Remember, John Morant was in conversation as the best young point guard in basketball.
10:18
SPEAKER_03: And he's still in that conversation, but it's died down quite a bit since then.
10:21
SPEAKER_03: I think part of it has to do with these new sets and the way they're running their offense.
10:24
SPEAKER_03: Either way, fun team to watch.
10:26
SPEAKER_03: All right, next team that we have here is the Milwaukee Bucks, who we just found out this morning that uh they're going to be missing Bobby Portis for almost the remainder of the regular season.
10:35
SPEAKER_03: I think they have 28 games left, and Bobby Portis got suspended for 25 of those, which is worst case scenario, honestly, because uh Chris Hayes and his report and his brief Haynes briefs.
10:44
SPEAKER_03: Chris Hayes, bro.
10:46
SPEAKER_03: Haynes briefs, we're gonna have to maybe workshop that come off season.
10:50
SPEAKER_03: Um, he talked about how this time of the season, they were really gonna try to get reps under under their belt because they, for what is worth, they haven't been extremely healthy so far this season.
11:01
SPEAKER_03: They just brought in Kyle Kuzma.
11:03
SPEAKER_03: Um, so they really need to learn how to play with each other.
11:07
SPEAKER_03: Now, the last six games they've had without Giannis, they were three and three in their stretch, and I think that's phenomenal considering how good Giannis really is.
11:14
SPEAKER_03: But right now, they are sitting at the five seed.
11:16
SPEAKER_03: And though the the Denver uh Detroit Pistons are one game behind them and they're riding an all-time high, it feels like the Bucs are going to be secure in their four or five matchup, and it's probably gonna be the Indiana Pacers.
11:29
SPEAKER_03: Um, they they ran this simulation a thousand times simulation, trying to figure out the rest of the regular season, and then 95% of them we saw first-round matchup Indiana Pacers versus Milwaukee Bucks.
11:38
SPEAKER_03: So that's the crash course we're kind of on with these two teams going against each other, which is great because these teams don't really like each other.
11:44
SPEAKER_03: And I like that they don't like each other.
11:45
SPEAKER_03: The seven-game series is gonna be phenomenal.
11:48
SPEAKER_03: But I look at the Bucks, and I truly, truly do believe that when you have one of the two best players in the world, because that's what Giannis has been this season, you know, it used to be one of the three best because Luca has dealt with his six-week-long injury and come back and has not looked as good.
12:05
SPEAKER_03: I don't know if you can have an argument for anybody being the second best player in basketball outside of Giannis, and you can make an argument for him being number one.
12:11
SPEAKER_03: I would not make that argument personally.
12:13
SPEAKER_03: But when you have one of these top guys, I feel like you always have a chance.
12:19
SPEAKER_03: And though this is a very small sample size, I have not minded what Kyle Kuzma has brought to this team.
12:25
SPEAKER_03: I was a guy that was pretty critical of this trade.
12:27
SPEAKER_03: And again, we got 20-something games left before the end of the regular season and the whole postseason.
12:32
SPEAKER_03: But I was just a bit iffy about the Kal Kuzma fit.
12:35
SPEAKER_03: And so far, it's been fine.
12:36
SPEAKER_03: And at the end of the day, you kind of can take fine.
12:39
SPEAKER_03: And when I think about the Bucs, I think about how dominant um Damian Lillard can be on a night-to-night basis.
12:45
SPEAKER_03: There's not a single team of basketball while I think that the Bucs don't stand a chance against just because of that top end talent.
12:53
SPEAKER_03: I still have worries about some of their role players.
12:56
SPEAKER_03: I still have worries about the coach that is driving the ship.
13:00
SPEAKER_03: But damn it, Giannis and Dame is a really good duo.
13:02
SPEAKER_03: But I look at them and I look at the Pacers, and though the Pacers are not the next team less next on my list, because these are two teams that might go against each other like 95% chance, I'm gonna talk about them together.
13:13
SPEAKER_03: That series is a tough series for me to pick.
13:15
SPEAKER_03: The Pacers have been one of the best teams since the turn of the calendar of the year.
13:18
SPEAKER_03: I think the number is 14 and 7, which would put them top five since the turn of the calendar of the year.
13:22
SPEAKER_03: They wanted the best offenses again.
13:24
SPEAKER_03: And then that stretch there, the ninth ranked defense, that is some pretty good stuff.
13:27
SPEAKER_03: And they found a way to use Tyrese Halliburton a little bit differently since the turn of the calendar season, where we all recognize that so far the season, Halley has not been able to turn the corner on his defenders.
13:39
SPEAKER_03: He's been struggling to break down his guys, whether it'd be a back injury or hamstring injury or whatever it may be.
13:43
SPEAKER_03: And they found out that, hey, we can use him as a guy off a flare, you know, and off that flare, because the defender is hit by that screen, he gets an extra step or two on his defender and that collapsed the defense.
13:55
SPEAKER_03: You know, Tyrese Halliburton to spray that ball out to his other guys.
13:58
SPEAKER_03: And Benny Math was having a great season.
14:00
SPEAKER_03: And before Miles Turner went down with his injury, he was looking good.
14:03
SPEAKER_03: Pascal Siakam was an all-star.
14:05
SPEAKER_03: This is one of those series that if it happened today, I don't know which way I would go.
14:10
SPEAKER_03: So because of that, because they are probably gonna go against each other, I think both of their floors have to be first-round exit because I can see one of these two teams both winning this series.
14:20
SPEAKER_03: Now, if we're going back to the Bucks, because of Giannis and because of Dame, I think their ceiling is a conference finals push.
14:29
SPEAKER_03: I find it hard to believe that they could beat the Boston Celtics in a series.
14:35
SPEAKER_03: Because I want to remind you, hypothetically, if they go against the Pacers in their first round series and they win that, the second round, more likely than not, is gonna be the Cavs.
14:41
SPEAKER_03: I think there's a world where the Bucs can beat the Cavs in a seven-game series.
14:45
SPEAKER_03: But if they play against this Boston Celtics team in a seven, I'm I'm taking the Celtics like 90% of the time.
14:52
SPEAKER_03: So because of that, I think that has to mean that their ceiling is the conference finals.
14:57
SPEAKER_03: If I can't see the likelihood of you beating the Celtics or the likelihood of you beating another top talent in their in respective conference, I can't say I have you as a championship team.
15:08
SPEAKER_03: The Pacers on the other side makes it a little bit more difficult, right?
15:12
SPEAKER_03: Because hypothetically, let's say they do beat the Bucs, like switching it.
15:15
SPEAKER_03: Now they beat the Bucs in six, so they beat the Bucs in seven.
15:17
SPEAKER_03: And in the second round, they have the Cavs.
15:19
SPEAKER_03: I think the Cavs win that series, man.
15:22
SPEAKER_03: And again, maybe I need just a little bit more of this new Indiana Pacers.
15:26
SPEAKER_03: And maybe I'm thinking about what they look like through the first couple weeks where Tyrese was really struggling.
15:30
SPEAKER_03: But I have their ceiling as of today, the second round.
15:36
SPEAKER_03: And again, I thought the same thing last year.
15:38
SPEAKER_03: And they made a conference finance push.
15:40
SPEAKER_03: I'm not an Ostradamas, I'm gonna miss sometimes.
15:42
SPEAKER_03: And I just look at them and I say that this is probably a second round team.
15:45
SPEAKER_03: I love what Nim Hard and Nees Smith is able to do, how they're able to turn up the defensive intensity specifically in their fourth quarter since they've both been back from the injury.
15:52
SPEAKER_03: And that's some things that I think some other teams are gonna find a little bit scary because Nim Hard is not a huge wing, but like he guards for uh these smaller guards very well.
16:00
SPEAKER_03: And then Nehmith um is also one of the better defensive wings in the conference, too.
16:05
SPEAKER_03: So like they have the recipe to make me look foolish, but I'm gonna stop there and move on to my next team, which is going to be the LA Clippers.
16:14
SPEAKER_03: All right, let's see what we have for Clipper uh Clipperland.
16:17
SPEAKER_03: So far, um, we've seen like 200-ish minutes, a little bit over 200 minutes of James Harden, Kawhi Linden, and Zubach, and those lineups are dominating, absolutely dominating.
16:27
SPEAKER_03: There's sometimes I watch the Clippers, they had this little stretch maybe two weeks ago where I'm like, oh, this is this is not good.
16:32
SPEAKER_03: Even if Clippers fans on my timeline are like, yeah, pack it up.
16:35
SPEAKER_03: This season is over, and then they go out and win four to five games after that in the row.
16:39
SPEAKER_03: You're like, okay, this is the Clippers team that that is very interesting.
16:42
SPEAKER_03: They have um a rear archetype of a team where they're gonna hang their hat on the defensive side of the ball.
16:49
SPEAKER_03: They're one of the best defensive teams in all of basketball.
16:51
SPEAKER_03: That's a credit to Zoo.
16:52
SPEAKER_03: That's a credit to pretty much everybody being bought in.
16:54
SPEAKER_03: Even the guys that you don't look at to be good defenders are bought in.
16:56
SPEAKER_03: You get the Derrick Jones Juniors, you have the Chris Duns of the world, these dudes really getting in on defense.
17:01
SPEAKER_03: And as of today, they are the second best defense in basketball, only behind the OKC Thunder.
17:06
SPEAKER_03: But it's the offensive side of things.
17:08
SPEAKER_03: Now, for what it's worth, since Kawhi Leonard has come back and been healthy, that offensive number has continued to shoot up.
17:13
SPEAKER_03: Right now, they're 22nd.
17:14
SPEAKER_03: They're 22nd.
17:15
SPEAKER_03: But at one point when Kawhi Leonard wasn't there, they were number 26.
17:18
SPEAKER_03: So we're seeing them move a little bit higher and higher.
17:21
SPEAKER_03: And you look at these next 20, let's say 25 to 30 games, depending on where they're at, you think to yourself, okay, if they continue to blossom, I can see this team ending up, let's see, right now their offensive rating is a 112 per 100 possessions, which is again where we're set at 22.
17:37
SPEAKER_03: But the difference between 22 and the difference between 22 and let's say 18 is less than a point.
17:48
SPEAKER_03: So you can see them jumping up to, let's say, close to league average offensively.
17:52
SPEAKER_03: And if they're a league average offense and one of the two best defenses of basketball, you have to really, really think about that.
17:57
SPEAKER_03: I there are times where when I'm thinking about the bigger picture for the Clippers, I question, I question Harden.
18:05
SPEAKER_03: It's hard not to.
18:06
SPEAKER_03: He gave us a couple performances last year where he was phenomenal, a 40-point game, a 30-point game.
18:11
SPEAKER_03: And then he also gave us a stinker here.
18:14
SPEAKER_03: I question will we get top five player in the world, Kawhi Leonard, in a playoff series?
18:20
SPEAKER_03: Because if that is the Kawhi Leonard we can get regularly, when you think about the amount of rest that is baked into the postseason, I really love the chances that the Clippers have to be like this dark horse team.
18:30
SPEAKER_03: But there's a lot of ifs in there.
18:31
SPEAKER_03: If James Harden plays to his all-star caliber, if Kawhi Leonard can be top five or top ten in the world again, and that scares me a little bit.
18:40
SPEAKER_03: As of today, and again, things are always moving, they will match up against the Denver Nuggets in a first-round series.
18:46
SPEAKER_03: I'm sorry, I'm taking the Nuggets in that one.
18:48
SPEAKER_03: So, because of that, I think the absolute floor for the Clippers is a first-round exit, right?
18:53
SPEAKER_03: It's hard for me to get anything other than that.
18:55
SPEAKER_03: Now, again, things are ever flowing.
18:57
SPEAKER_03: They still have an opportunity in these next 20 games to end up as a four seed, right?
19:01
SPEAKER_03: That's not out of the realm possibility.
19:02
SPEAKER_03: But there's also an opportunity for them to fall out of the top six completely with them only being one game up on Minnesota.
19:08
SPEAKER_03: So there's a large variance there.
19:10
SPEAKER_03: And I do think this could be a dark or team.
19:12
SPEAKER_03: This is something that me and Greg talked about maybe two months ago when we were asked when they were asking us about the Lakers and the Clippers and some of these older teams and hoops, which team do you feel the most comfortable with maybe being a sneaker, a sleepy, uh sleeper team?
19:25
SPEAKER_03: I went with the Clippers.
19:26
SPEAKER_03: Now that was before Luca Donces was a Laker, and now I would probably go with them.
19:29
SPEAKER_03: But I think the floor, right?
19:31
SPEAKER_03: Hypothetically, if they end up as a six-seed and um they beat the Nuggets, and I think there's a world where the Nuggets end up as a two-seed, they're only a half a game behind Memphis.
19:40
SPEAKER_03: So if they match up against Memphis, they could win that series as well.
19:43
SPEAKER_03: But in the second round of that, they still have to go against the Nuggets.
19:47
SPEAKER_03: They would still have to go against the Nuggets if everything breaks perfectly.
19:50
SPEAKER_03: So, because of that, I'm struggling to make it that their ceiling is the conference finals.
19:55
SPEAKER_03: You could you could say that, and I wouldn't even push back on it.
19:59
SPEAKER_03: But as of today, I'm saying their ceiling is the second round.
20:03
SPEAKER_03: It hurts to say Clipper Nation, I'm sorry.
20:05
SPEAKER_03: Next, we have the Golden State Warriors.
20:08
SPEAKER_03: My notes for the Golden State Warriors say this the floor is to completely miss the postseason.
20:12
SPEAKER_03: It's not a real possibility.
20:14
SPEAKER_03: As of today, they are the 10th seed.
20:15
SPEAKER_03: They're a game and a half above this uh the Suns, and the Suns are kind of stinky right now.
20:20
SPEAKER_03: But but then Jimmy Butler gets traded there.
20:23
SPEAKER_03: And so far in the Jimmy Butler era, what are they three and one?
20:26
SPEAKER_03: The only loss is against the Dallas Mavericks, and then they had a back-to-back where they went into Houston, and at one point they were up at like 18 points against Houston.
20:33
SPEAKER_03: Houston had a little comeback, whatever, whatever.
20:34
SPEAKER_03: But like Draymond Green after the game said that these are the type of games that we would have lost two weeks ago.
20:39
SPEAKER_03: And I honestly do believe that.
20:41
SPEAKER_03: You know, second I have a back-to-back, they had a travel day where they didn't get into Houston until 4 a.m.
20:45
SPEAKER_03: They missed shoot around because they wanted to get some rest in.
20:48
SPEAKER_03: And like that's a game where you look at and say that's a scheduled loss.
20:51
SPEAKER_03: And he went into Houston, one of the better teams in the league, even though they're kind of faltering a little bit, and they gotta win.
20:56
SPEAKER_03: And Draymond and Jimmy Butler gets traded there.
20:58
SPEAKER_03: They do his first little thing.
20:59
SPEAKER_03: He's got his phone, he's on the bus, he says, I gotta go get my physical done.
21:04
SPEAKER_03: Championship coming soon.
21:06
SPEAKER_03: All right, brother.
21:07
SPEAKER_03: Championship coming soon.
21:09
SPEAKER_03: How confident do you have to be to make that type of that type of um declaration into the world?
21:15
SPEAKER_03: Draymond Green said a lot of shit this all-star weekend.
21:18
SPEAKER_03: He was on the panel and he was just talking.
21:21
SPEAKER_03: The NBA is boring, the all-star game is trash.
21:24
SPEAKER_03: But the thing that stood out the most to me was him saying that he's guaranteeing a championship this year.
21:31
SPEAKER_03: Guaranteeing it.
21:35
SPEAKER_03: Steph Curry's asked about it.
21:37
SPEAKER_03: He chuckled at the podium.
21:38
SPEAKER_03: He likes this crazy MF is putting on another show, and I have to be the one to make it happen.
21:45
SPEAKER_03: But since the trade has happened, they've looked pretty good.
21:47
SPEAKER_03: Some guys like um Brandon Pujansky has looked better.
21:50
SPEAKER_03: I had no idea that what he had his face thing, his, I think they broke his nose, he got his nose broken or something like that.
21:55
SPEAKER_03: That he was dealing with dizzy spells.
21:57
SPEAKER_03: And as somebody that has dealt with dizzy spells, I couldn't imagine how.
22:00
SPEAKER_03: To play basketball with Dizzy.
22:01
SPEAKER_03: Like, I don't even know how that's possible.
22:02
SPEAKER_03: I know LeBron James said he saw three Rams and he just threw it at the middle one.
22:05
SPEAKER_03: Imagine that being your reality for an NBA season.
22:08
SPEAKER_03: Um, I can't say that their ceiling is the championship dog.
22:12
SPEAKER_03: I can't.
22:12
SPEAKER_03: Actually, I don't even have ceiling in my if I if I showed you my notes, it says Golden State Warriors, floor is to miss completely in ceiling.
22:20
SPEAKER_03: I left blank.
22:21
SPEAKER_03: There are some teams that made big time deals, whether be the Lakers, whether they be the Warriors, and we only have a four-game sample size of their new team.
22:29
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
22:30
SPEAKER_03: Jimmy Butler has fit like a glove.
22:32
SPEAKER_03: There are still times where we're looking at passive Jimmy, where one thing I really like that the Warriors have done with him, and he did this in Miami as well, so it's not breaking news, is use him as a roll man, but he's never hitting the body.
22:42
SPEAKER_03: He's slipping the screen every single time and he'll get it on a short roll.
22:45
SPEAKER_03: And sometimes he decides to spray it out to the corners just a little bit more than instead of going straight up.
22:49
SPEAKER_03: But when he goes straight up, it's a finish or foul.
22:51
SPEAKER_03: And him being able to draw those fouls is just a different recipe for the Golden State Warriors.
22:56
SPEAKER_03: There are a lot of things I really like.
22:57
SPEAKER_03: And that Houston game, they ran a zone.
22:59
SPEAKER_03: They ran a 1-3-1 zone at one point.
23:01
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, oh snap, that's that's pretty dope.
23:03
SPEAKER_03: And Brandon Pozimski ended up with a few steals.
23:05
SPEAKER_03: And I think Moses Moody had a possession where he dove on the floor.
23:08
SPEAKER_03: Like, I'm liking what I'm seeing.
23:10
SPEAKER_03: But the sample size is so damn small that I can't say, oh yeah, they about to win it all.
23:15
SPEAKER_03: No, from play-in, the win at all.
23:18
SPEAKER_03: Damn it, Jimmy Butler did it before, not win at all, but he got to the finals before from the play-in.
23:22
SPEAKER_03: I honestly'm leaving it blank.
23:25
SPEAKER_03: I can't, I can't even, I don't know.
23:26
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
23:27
SPEAKER_03: I'm leaving it blank.
23:27
SPEAKER_03: Damn it.
23:28
SPEAKER_03: It's my show.
23:28
SPEAKER_03: I can do that.
23:29
SPEAKER_03: Next thing we have is the Cleveland Cavaliers.
23:31
SPEAKER_03: As of right now, the Cleveland Cavaliers are the number one seed in the Eastern Conference.
23:34
SPEAKER_03: Um, they are sitting at a five and a half game uh boost above the Boston Celts.
23:40
SPEAKER_03: And it feels pretty safe to say that the Cavs are gonna go in as a uh one seed.
23:45
SPEAKER_03: And I look at the I look at the play-in for the Eastern Conference.
23:48
SPEAKER_03: You have the magic, you have other than the magic, these three teams have been perennial play-in teams.
23:54
SPEAKER_03: The Hawks, the Heat, and the Bulls.
23:57
SPEAKER_03: The Magic, again, they're going through a lot of stuff with their injuries.
23:59
SPEAKER_03: And since we've got Palo back, it hasn't looked extremely great.
24:02
SPEAKER_03: Um, but whatever.
24:04
SPEAKER_03: There's not a single play-in team that scares me if I'm the calves.
24:06
SPEAKER_03: So boom, they're ceiling is automatically higher than the once uh the first round.
24:09
SPEAKER_03: The second round in the playoffs, if things were to break, it will be again that Pacers or Bucks series.
24:14
SPEAKER_03: And I honestly do believe that there is a world where they do lose to the Bucs, right?
24:19
SPEAKER_03: Um, I think in this series, I'm still taking calves, but I'm gonna say because I I would have to think about it quite a bit in that series, just because Giannis is this dominant beast, and you would you think that with the two guys of Evan Mobley and Jared Allen, they can slow Giannis down a little bit, and maybe they can, but I'm just gonna steal one of the best players of all time.
24:36
SPEAKER_03: So I'm gonna say that the Cavs, absolute floor.
24:38
SPEAKER_03: The worst case scenario is a second round, but their ceiling is a championship.
24:42
SPEAKER_03: Their ceiling is a championship, y'all.
24:43
SPEAKER_03: I truly do believe that if they went on to the finals, that they can win.
24:47
SPEAKER_03: And I wouldn't be surprised.
24:48
SPEAKER_03: There's a team that I thought coming into the season was could surprise the people.
24:50
SPEAKER_03: I didn't think they were gonna be this damn good.
24:52
SPEAKER_03: One thing that scares me is something that I've been mentioning all season long.
24:55
SPEAKER_03: So maybe I shouldn't mention anymore because this might just be them.
24:57
SPEAKER_03: The shooting variants, man.
24:59
SPEAKER_03: This team is still, let me see, let me see if they're if are they still the number?
25:03
SPEAKER_03: They're still the greatest jump shooting team ever.
25:06
SPEAKER_03: That scares me, dog.
25:08
SPEAKER_03: I can't lie.
25:08
SPEAKER_03: That scares me.
25:09
SPEAKER_03: That scares me.
25:10
SPEAKER_03: That scares me.
25:10
SPEAKER_03: You have a three-game stretch where the guys that you relied on to hit threes are no longer hitting threes.
25:14
SPEAKER_03: You already traded Karis LeVert and George Yang.
25:16
SPEAKER_03: That's something I don't know if those dudes will be able to play in a high-leverage thing.
25:19
SPEAKER_03: But like them being able to hit this many threes at this frequency is just scary.
25:25
SPEAKER_03: Right now, they're fourth in frequency, and when it comes to accuracy, they're number one.
25:29
SPEAKER_03: That's damn near what the, and this is this is not the same because they don't play the same style of basketball.
25:35
SPEAKER_03: But if you think about what the Celtics did last year with the frequency and the efficiency they shot three points, how they steamrolled through the Eastern Conference and then eventually steamrolled through the finals, it's it's some similar stuff there on just the advanced analytics.
25:47
SPEAKER_03: And and I find it hard to believe or find it hard to decide if I can trust that in a full two-month stretch of the postseason.
25:56
SPEAKER_03: If it happened, I wouldn't be surprised, but I also wouldn't be surprised if all of a sudden some of the guys that have been hitting those shots are not hitting them anymore.
26:03
SPEAKER_03: I am a little bit afraid of what teams can do defensively when they have Darius Garland.
26:08
SPEAKER_03: I remember watching a game from maybe a week or two ago when they played against the Celtics and Tatum got the Darius Garland switch every single time and he cooked his ass.
26:15
SPEAKER_03: He just cooked him.
26:16
SPEAKER_03: Step back three, get into the basket.
26:18
SPEAKER_03: That's just one of the downsides of having a small legal on the court.
26:22
SPEAKER_03: Darius Garland is going to compete.
26:24
SPEAKER_03: He's not an Olay defender, but he's just objectively small.
26:28
SPEAKER_03: And that scares me in some series against you know some of these teams that have these bigger uh creators.
26:34
SPEAKER_03: But overall, I got their ceiling as the ring and their floor as the second round.
26:39
SPEAKER_03: Next team we have is the LA Lakers.
26:41
SPEAKER_03: Man, man, man.
26:42
SPEAKER_03: I think the Lakers' floor is the first round.
26:45
SPEAKER_03: So far, they've played three games in the Luca era.
26:48
SPEAKER_03: Um they played twice against the Jazz.
26:51
SPEAKER_03: The first time around, you couldn't tell nobody nothing.
26:54
SPEAKER_03: Shannon Sharp is on TV saying, bring us OKC.
26:58
SPEAKER_03: Are you sure about that, big fella?
26:59
SPEAKER_03: You want to see OKC in a seven?
27:01
SPEAKER_03: Oh no.
27:02
SPEAKER_03: And since then, they lost to the Jazz.
27:05
SPEAKER_03: And then they last night lost to the Charlotte Hornets.
27:08
SPEAKER_03: And I'm not overreacting too much because Luca has not looked good.
27:12
SPEAKER_03: He missed six games, six weeks of basketball before he got traded.
27:16
SPEAKER_03: He gets traded, plays two games, and then he basically misses an entire week because of the the all-star break and everything, and he wasn't all-star.
27:24
SPEAKER_03: So I'm not one of those people that's looking at these this three game sample side and say, hey, maybe Nico cooked.
27:28
SPEAKER_03: Nico ain't cooked the damn thing.
27:31
SPEAKER_03: He's still wrong.
27:32
SPEAKER_03: Even with Luka Donces playing this bad ready, he's still wrong.
27:34
SPEAKER_03: And but I think about I just think about the upside that Luka Donces brings to a playoff series, dog.
27:41
SPEAKER_03: So though I think that their floor could be the first round, I they have a three-game sample size and they've lost to two really bad teams in those three games.
27:51
SPEAKER_03: And yet I'm about to say that their ceiling is a conference finals.
27:56
SPEAKER_03: That's crazy, bro.
27:57
SPEAKER_03: Yesterday, Lamelo Ball, Nick Smith Jr., Miles Bridges tried to get Luca in every single action.
28:07
SPEAKER_03: And Luca let them boys hoop.
28:11
SPEAKER_03: And, you know, before that, their defense hadn't been really bad, right?
28:16
SPEAKER_03: When you think about um the games they've played without Anthony Davis, the defense had been fine.
28:22
SPEAKER_03: When they were running the small ball lineups and Dora Finney Smith at the five, defensively, they had been fine.
28:27
SPEAKER_03: But late in those games to see the team attack Luca is not, again, not nothing new.
28:32
SPEAKER_03: We saw it in the playoffs last year.
28:34
SPEAKER_03: We saw it with the Boston Celtics.
28:36
SPEAKER_03: The problem is through these three-game sample size, Lucas' offensive game hasn't been able to carry the defensive woes.
28:41
SPEAKER_03: And I do believe that that's gonna shift.
28:43
SPEAKER_03: I don't think that this is Luca.
28:46
SPEAKER_03: I do think that Luca's gonna get back to averaging 39 to 9 because that's just what he does.
28:51
SPEAKER_03: It's just gonna take some time.
28:53
SPEAKER_03: Three-game sample size.
28:55
SPEAKER_03: They've been, for the most part, been bad.
28:59
SPEAKER_03: And yet I'm saying that they're ceiling as the conference finals.
29:03
SPEAKER_03: LeBron hasn't missed a beat, man.
29:05
SPEAKER_03: I think he's 40.
29:06
SPEAKER_03: He's 40.
29:08
SPEAKER_03: Luca's no longer on the ministry strict.
29:10
SPEAKER_03: He's gonna play his way back into.
29:11
SPEAKER_03: I'm all right, I'm not spending too much time on him.
29:13
SPEAKER_03: Shout out to the Lakers, man.
29:14
SPEAKER_03: It still feels weird that he plays for that team.
29:16
SPEAKER_03: Next, uh, we're gonna go to New York Knicks.
29:19
SPEAKER_03: New York Knicks round.
29:20
SPEAKER_03: All right, New York Knicks right now.
29:21
SPEAKER_03: I have their floor as a second round.
29:24
SPEAKER_03: And they're ceiling as a conference finals.
29:26
SPEAKER_03: Again, I just don't see them beating the Celtics as every if everybody's healthy.
29:31
SPEAKER_03: And because of that, I'm struggling to have them as a real championship level team.
29:36
SPEAKER_03: The depth scares me quite a bit.
29:38
SPEAKER_03: Like when I look at their roster, there's maybe six people on the team that I trust to play real playoff minutes.
29:44
SPEAKER_03: Shout out to Cameron Payne.
29:45
SPEAKER_03: He's been really good in his limited amount of opportunities this season.
29:48
SPEAKER_03: But if I'm going to a seven-game series against Cleveland or going to a seven-game series against Milwaukee or against the Boston Celtics, I hate the idea of only having six people worthy.
29:57
SPEAKER_03: All of those six, like it's a really good six.
30:00
SPEAKER_03: It's a phenomenal six.
30:01
SPEAKER_03: But they can't play every single minute of every single game.
30:04
SPEAKER_03: It's out there, bro, even though that's what you want.
30:06
SPEAKER_03: So, because of that, I'm a I'm a little bit less bullish on their championship um chances.
30:12
SPEAKER_03: Uh, they didn't do anything notable at the deadline.
30:15
SPEAKER_03: I was hoping that they went out to get another wing.
30:17
SPEAKER_03: Didn't even have to be somebody that's great.
30:19
SPEAKER_03: It didn't have to be DeAndre Hunter level uh acquisition, but I was hoping that they went out to get another wing.
30:24
SPEAKER_03: I was hoping they would go out and get another big.
30:26
SPEAKER_03: Again, we haven't seen Mitchell Robinson, so maybe Mitchell Robinson is that guy for them.
30:29
SPEAKER_03: But I look at them and like they are outside of OG and outside of Mikhail, they are kind of small in those wings, huh?
30:37
SPEAKER_03: Now, those two dudes at their peak are all defensive caliber wings.
30:41
SPEAKER_03: I don't think McHale has kind of played to that level this season.
30:44
SPEAKER_03: But I was, man, it's just like, okay, when those two dudes are on the bench, which I don't think they're gonna play a lot of minutes without both of those guys or one of those guys being on the court.
30:52
SPEAKER_03: I just question what the next thing is.
30:55
SPEAKER_03: The offense, though, the offense is ridiculous.
30:58
SPEAKER_03: They have the type of offense that I trust in any series.
31:01
SPEAKER_03: Like I truly, truly do believe that I trust their offense in any series because it's not one of those offenses that's like, oh, it's heavily predicated on three-point shooting or it's heavily predicated on fast break opportunities, some of the things that may waver.
31:13
SPEAKER_03: They are a half-court juggernaut.
31:16
SPEAKER_03: They are a half-court juggernaut.
31:19
SPEAKER_03: A lot of that goes to Brunson, a lot of that goes to Car Anthony Towns and just all of the guys fit in like a glove.
31:26
SPEAKER_03: And when I think about, you know, them being that good when the game slows down, it's not I don't think there's a lot of teams that's gonna be able to stop them offensively.
31:33
SPEAKER_03: But I also don't think there's a lot of teams that's gonna struggle to score with them, right?
31:39
SPEAKER_03: Seems it's not very good defensive.
31:41
SPEAKER_03: They give you pockets of great defense, and you look at it like, oh, in the last seven games, they're looking like this defensively.
31:46
SPEAKER_03: And you look at the last seven games, it's like Charlotte is Washington, it's two times against the Bulls.
31:50
SPEAKER_03: It's like, ah, and then they go against that top end talent, and you're like, oh my goodness.
31:55
SPEAKER_03: Let me see exactly where it's at.
31:56
SPEAKER_03: Because if I'm not mistaken, they have not won against the top two seeds in either conference just yet.
32:01
SPEAKER_03: I think they're like 0-8, and then um they are 11-12 versus any team above 500.
32:08
SPEAKER_03: It's not ideal.
32:10
SPEAKER_03: They're killing the bad teams, 25 and 6 against bad teams.
32:13
SPEAKER_03: They're killing the bad teams.
32:14
SPEAKER_03: But when they go against their top-end talent, there's a lot to be desired.
32:18
SPEAKER_03: So, because of that, I'm struggling to have them as a real, real contender.
32:22
SPEAKER_03: All right, let's go to the Boston Celtics.
32:25
SPEAKER_03: They're their floor, the floor of the Boston Celtics is the conference finals.
32:30
SPEAKER_03: Like, I I honestly do believe they're gonna potentially walk through the East again.
32:35
SPEAKER_03: Um but I could see a world where some teams sneakily takes the seven.
32:39
SPEAKER_03: But they're ceiling as obviously a championship.
32:41
SPEAKER_03: Um, they are my favorite team, our Eastern Conference when it comes to championship um capabilities and the way Tatum has played recently has went under the radar, which kind of the Tatum thing.
32:50
SPEAKER_03: Um Tatum in his last little stretch has been ridiculous.
32:54
SPEAKER_03: And I know that this is like social media stuff, and I don't like getting into whole social media things because I honestly do believe that that people be either they don't watch the games or they're watching with like the wrong lens.
33:07
SPEAKER_03: Because Tatum is a monster.
33:10
SPEAKER_03: And I watch teams on a night-to-night basis treat him and defend him as if he can be Anthony or he can be Kevin Durant or he can be LeBron James, where teams are going quarter to quarter, switching up their coverages because they're trying to prevent him from getting his game going.
33:26
SPEAKER_03: Where they're blitzing, they're sending two, they're dropping, which Jason Tatum loves because he wants to take that pull-up three, where they're doing every single thing against Tatum.
33:34
SPEAKER_03: And guess what?
33:35
SPEAKER_03: Tatum has a counter for all.
33:37
SPEAKER_03: Tatum, one of the best developments over Tatum's last couple seasons is his playmaking.
33:42
SPEAKER_03: There's been plenty of times where I've seen him get downhill and instead of going up and two against two defenders, which is something he did a lot over the last couple years of his career, he's found the open.
33:52
SPEAKER_03: Like I truly do believe he's one of the least appreciated players in hoops.
33:55
SPEAKER_03: He just really is.
33:56
SPEAKER_03: And what he has done more recently, he's put his head down and he's just gone out there and hooped.
34:01
SPEAKER_03: And I love that about him.
34:03
SPEAKER_03: And it's with Jalen Brown not having his best season, some of the other role players not having their best season.
34:08
SPEAKER_03: And I just believe that they could still do it.
34:11
SPEAKER_03: The counter to that is like Kenny, last year when they were doing it, they were, like we mentioned earlier, one of the best three-point shooting teams in basketball.
34:19
SPEAKER_03: Right now, they're 10th.
34:20
SPEAKER_03: They're 10th when it comes to accuracy, and they're still what, number one when it comes to frequency?
34:25
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
34:25
SPEAKER_03: So it's like they're shooting 7% more threes than the average or than the second best three-point shooting teams, but they're not hitting it as much as they did last year.
34:34
SPEAKER_03: So you think about that shooting variance, they could have a cold series, and I do believe that is the case.
34:39
SPEAKER_03: They could have a cold series, but I'm just trusting, I'm trusting Tatum, I'm trusting Brown, I'm trusting uh Derek White, I'm trusting the madman that is Joe Mazzula to say that this team is at the very worst a conference finals team and at the very best being the first team to go back to back since 2017.
34:55
SPEAKER_03: All right, we we got a few more teams that we need to get to.
34:58
SPEAKER_03: So I think it's really interesting.
34:59
SPEAKER_03: If you go to FanDuel Sportsbook, right now you will see that the Boston Celtics are still the favorite to win the championship with the OKC Thunder right behind them.
35:06
SPEAKER_03: Then you got the Cavs, the Nuggets, the Knicks, and then the Lakers finding their way into that one.
35:09
SPEAKER_03: Shout out to them.
35:10
SPEAKER_03: I mean, they have Luka Doncic now.
35:12
SPEAKER_03: I I can I'm finding a hard time figuring out who I trust more.
35:18
SPEAKER_03: And we're gonna talk about the Thunder Knicks, but I have a hard time trying to figure out who I trust more to be the championship team at the end of it.
35:23
SPEAKER_03: Because I do believe that based on what we saw between the bosses, Celtics, and the Thunder, that the Thunder do a pretty good job of throwing those different things at Jason Tatum to slow him down.
35:32
SPEAKER_03: So while we might be on a crash course to see these two teams go against each other, I think they probably should deserve even odds, man.
35:38
SPEAKER_03: Because it's going to be a 50-50 coin flip for me.
35:41
SPEAKER_03: The rest of these teams, even though we love the Cavaliers, I think they're in a good spot at being third.
35:45
SPEAKER_03: The Nuggets getting their way into fourth after the slow start is pretty good.
35:49
SPEAKER_03: And again, the Lakers and the Knicks and the tail in there.
35:52
SPEAKER_03: I would probably give them even odds, man.
35:54
SPEAKER_03: Give them both plus 200 uh for the Celtics and the OKC Thunder.
35:58
SPEAKER_03: Then I'll feel real comfortable about it.
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37:03
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37:13
SPEAKER_03: Let's talk about the Thunder.
37:15
SPEAKER_03: Because the Thunder so far this season has been the best team in both.
37:19
SPEAKER_03: Without a doubt.
37:20
SPEAKER_03: It's got to the point where they lost the game right before the All-Star weekend.
37:23
SPEAKER_03: And I'm sitting in my hotel room in San Francisco, and I see them down by 15 against the Timberwolves, who don't have Rudy Gobert.
37:29
SPEAKER_03: They don't have Julius Randle.
37:30
SPEAKER_03: They don't have Dante DiVincenzo.
37:32
SPEAKER_03: They're running Terrence Shannon Jr.
37:34
SPEAKER_03: Shout out to Terrence Shannon Jr.
37:35
SPEAKER_03: And there's they're running Jalen Clark and so on and so forth.
37:38
SPEAKER_03: And there uh the Minnesota's up by 15.
37:40
SPEAKER_03: And I'm looking I'm watching this in my hotel room like it's just a matter of time before OKC picks it up.
37:45
SPEAKER_03: They did it.
37:46
SPEAKER_03: They lost.
37:46
SPEAKER_03: What?
37:46
SPEAKER_03: The OKC thunder lost a basketball game?
37:48
SPEAKER_03: I didn't even know that was possible.
37:50
SPEAKER_03: Um I look at the play-in.
37:52
SPEAKER_03: It's not there's not a single team in the play-in, I think, is going to cause them to lose.
37:55
SPEAKER_03: Like you could maybe think about the Warriors and or the Dallas Mavericks with their size, considering if they're healthy, uh not really looking at them like that.
38:04
SPEAKER_03: So I the disrespect for the OKC thunders just comes from the fact that they have not done it yet, right?
38:09
SPEAKER_03: But nobody's done it yet until they've done it.
38:11
SPEAKER_03: You know what I'm saying?
38:12
SPEAKER_03: You nobody's done it yet until they're done it.
38:15
SPEAKER_03: And this is not a team without playoff experience.
38:17
SPEAKER_03: Last year they got to the second round and had a really competitive series that, you know, um a couple big shots in PJ Washington and a couple um, I don't want to say bad possessions, but lackluster possessions from J-Dub is the reason why they were out of there.
38:30
SPEAKER_03: Bad rebounding is why they're out of there.
38:32
SPEAKER_03: Bad three-point shooting while they're out of there.
38:33
SPEAKER_03: But they they have some experience now, y'all.
38:35
SPEAKER_03: This is not just a super young team anymore.
38:38
SPEAKER_03: They have maybe the MVP of the league.
38:39
SPEAKER_03: They have another all-star in J Dub, but guess what?
38:41
SPEAKER_03: They have a completely healthy center rotation.
38:44
SPEAKER_03: So far, Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein have played a total of 49 minutes together.
38:48
SPEAKER_03: They have a net rating of 26.18 in those uh 49, 49 minutes.
38:53
SPEAKER_03: 49 minutes, 26 net rating.
38:55
SPEAKER_03: That is insane.
38:56
SPEAKER_03: And I think one of the coolest things about it is this allows when they're running together, Chet Holmgren to be a weak side defender, something that he's been phenomenal at his entire career, but hasn't had a lot of opportunities to play that because he's played center his entire career.
39:09
SPEAKER_03: Well, I went back to watch a game um in November.
39:12
SPEAKER_03: That's how you know I'm I'm missing that NBA fix, where they played against the Houston Rockets.
39:15
SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, okay, this is no Isaiah Hartenstein in this game.
39:19
SPEAKER_03: What exactly is Chet Holmgren doing?
39:21
SPEAKER_03: He's not roaming, he's guarding out Branchoon.
39:23
SPEAKER_03: And I went to another game.
39:24
SPEAKER_03: Um, this is last year versus the Sacramento Kings.
39:26
SPEAKER_03: He he guarded Sabonis the entire game.
39:29
SPEAKER_03: Now, because Isaiah Hardenstein is this bigger and bruisier type of dude, he can handle the Shingons, he can handle the Sabonises, and it allows Chet Holmgren to be on the worst shooter out there.
39:39
SPEAKER_03: Like the game that I mentioned that they lost against Minnesota, he was guarding Jalen Clark that game, and it allowed him to be this roamer.
39:46
SPEAKER_03: And he legitimately, even though he doesn't have a ton of reps in this role, I can say it pretty definitively.
39:52
SPEAKER_03: He's one of the best Rome defenders slash hope defenders in basketball.
39:55
SPEAKER_03: Just that simple.
39:57
SPEAKER_03: So having them two together unlock so much, and they also have the opportunity to switch things up.
40:02
SPEAKER_03: Now, the numbers in these, I think it's three games, four games they played together where one was on and one was off, haven't been incredible.
40:08
SPEAKER_03: They have a slightly negative net rating where it's just Sheet Holm Grant and a slightly positive net rating when it's just um when it's just Isaiah Hardenstein.
40:15
SPEAKER_03: I feel like those numbers are gonna even themselves out.
40:18
SPEAKER_03: This team is ridiculous.
40:19
SPEAKER_03: This team is absolutely ridiculous.
40:20
SPEAKER_03: And I think there's maybe more pressure on Jalen Williams than a lot of people are gonna admit right now.
40:29
SPEAKER_03: Now, this is not one of those teams that is championship or bust, even though they're they're that great.
40:33
SPEAKER_03: They still have what, a three-year window before things start getting interesting for them as far as financially.
40:38
SPEAKER_03: So like they have time.
40:41
SPEAKER_03: But there's there's something to be said about secondary creators on championship level teams.
40:47
SPEAKER_03: Like historically, you just need you need that.
40:49
SPEAKER_03: And J Dub again coming off an all-star appearance.
40:51
SPEAKER_03: This guy's phenomenal.
40:53
SPEAKER_03: But I do think that last year, and again, it's first time making a playoffs.
40:56
SPEAKER_03: I'm not gonna act like that's who he's gonna be for the rest of his career.
40:58
SPEAKER_03: That last year there were moments in time where Shay needed the pressure alleviated off of him, and our boy Jay Dub just shrunk in the moment.
41:06
SPEAKER_03: Just his overall counter stats look good, but there are moments in time where I wanted him to be more aggressive.
41:11
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I still still think that's gonna have to be the case here.
41:14
SPEAKER_03: That them having and needing that secondary creative outside of Shay is gonna be paramount.
41:19
SPEAKER_03: Shea's gonna see so many looks.
41:21
SPEAKER_03: The same thing I just mentioned about Jason Tatum of teams switching up coverages quarter by quarter basis.
41:25
SPEAKER_03: Teams are gonna do that with Shea too.
41:27
SPEAKER_03: Try to make him think, try to get him out of his spots.
41:29
SPEAKER_03: And when you're doing that, you need your secondary guy.
41:31
SPEAKER_03: Think about the playoff run that the Celtics just had where Jason Tatum struggled to hit his shots.
41:37
SPEAKER_03: Jalen Brown was right there to help him.
41:39
SPEAKER_03: So much so that Jalen Brown won both of the MVP awards when it comes to postseason, right?
41:44
SPEAKER_03: And I'm not saying that J Dub needs to steal the Western Conference MVP from the OK or from Shakespeare Alexander, but they need him to not just be the version of him that he is right now, which is a damn good version of himself.
41:56
SPEAKER_03: They need him to be even better come postseason.
41:59
SPEAKER_03: And I think he can do that.
42:00
SPEAKER_03: I truly, truly think he can do that.
42:01
SPEAKER_03: Now, going back to the floors and the ceilings of it all, right now is the one seed again, Minnesota, Dallas, Sacramento, and the Warriors, those are the four seeds they'd be competing with to potentially get out of that first round.
42:12
SPEAKER_03: I don't think any of them make me think too much.
42:16
SPEAKER_03: Um the Warriors experience, maybe the size of the Mavericks, maybe, but still I'm taking the OKC Thunder both of those series.
42:24
SPEAKER_03: And then we get to the second round.
42:26
SPEAKER_03: And if it were today, it would be between Houston and the Lakers.
42:29
SPEAKER_03: And though Shannon Sharp said, bring, bring me, bring me OKC.
42:33
SPEAKER_03: I still believe that OKC's walking out there to win.
42:36
SPEAKER_03: So my floor for them is the conference finals, and my ceiling is the championship.
42:42
SPEAKER_03: Simple.
42:42
SPEAKER_03: Next scene we have is the Denver Nuggets.
42:44
SPEAKER_03: We're almost at the finish line, ladies and gentlemen.
42:46
SPEAKER_03: Is the Denver Nuggets.
42:47
SPEAKER_03: A team that struggled to start off the season and really found their gear recently, um, where Russell Resbrook has been amazing.
42:55
SPEAKER_03: Jamal Murray looks so good right now.
42:57
SPEAKER_03: I just the last game I watched him was against the Trailblazers, where he dropped what 55 points, the most points scored by Canadian-born players, what they said on the broadcast.
43:04
SPEAKER_03: So shout out to him.
43:05
SPEAKER_03: He took that away from Shay.
43:06
SPEAKER_03: Shea, he dropped 54 like two weeks before that.
43:10
SPEAKER_03: Um, but he looks as good as ever.
43:11
SPEAKER_03: Michael Porter Jr.
43:12
SPEAKER_03: is on a heater.
43:13
SPEAKER_03: Christian Brown, in my opinion, should be in conversations for most improved player.
43:17
SPEAKER_03: He's been that good this season.
43:19
SPEAKER_03: Um, and I'm back, man.
43:20
SPEAKER_03: I'm back.
43:21
SPEAKER_03: Like this, this is this is the thing about basketball.
43:23
SPEAKER_03: You know, the way we run our show.
43:25
SPEAKER_03: I am not married to any take, to any opinion, to any prediction.
43:31
SPEAKER_03: Earlier in the season, I wasn't, I wasn't feeling.
43:33
SPEAKER_03: I wasn't vibing with it, man.
43:34
SPEAKER_03: I wasn't vibing with it whatsoever.
43:36
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, ah, the Dever Nuggets are probably not in my contention tier.
43:39
SPEAKER_03: They are.
43:40
SPEAKER_03: I think their ceiling is a championship team.
43:42
SPEAKER_03: Similar to what I said about Giannis, when you have one of the best players in the world, you have a chance and they have the literal best player in the world.
43:49
SPEAKER_03: But on the same token, I think their floor could be the second round.
43:52
SPEAKER_03: The thing that scares me the most, if I'm talking about the pros and cons of the team, they're another one of those teams that get out and run.
43:58
SPEAKER_03: I'm always a bit um skeptical.
44:00
SPEAKER_03: And Greg is saying this is this preseason pick.
44:01
SPEAKER_03: And hey, you might be right.
44:03
SPEAKER_03: I'm a bit skeptical of some of those teams that get out and run.
44:05
SPEAKER_03: You think about what Brody has provided for that team.
44:07
SPEAKER_03: It's just added another gear to them.
44:10
SPEAKER_03: But also, they still just don't take and make threes.
44:15
SPEAKER_03: And I'm not one of those people that believe that the NBA has become homogenized because that's a conversation that has happened again.
44:21
SPEAKER_03: Because Draymond Green said that the NBA is boring.
44:24
SPEAKER_03: I think he's wrong.
44:26
SPEAKER_03: They say they said he said that everybody's running the same play.
44:29
SPEAKER_03: He's wrong.
44:31
SPEAKER_03: So I don't think that it has to be homogenized.
44:33
SPEAKER_03: I'm not thinking that the Denver Nuggets should turn into the Celtics or the Cavaliers.
44:37
SPEAKER_03: When we talk about them being dead last in three-point frequency, they're aware of it.
44:42
SPEAKER_03: Before the season started, Michael Porter Jr.
44:44
SPEAKER_03: said, hey, we recognize that we're dead last this season in three pointers.
44:48
SPEAKER_03: We recognize that we need to get that number up.
44:50
SPEAKER_03: And it's on me, referring to himself and Jalen Stra Julian Strather to be the three-point shooters.
44:55
SPEAKER_03: And they just haven't.
44:57
SPEAKER_03: It hasn't hindered them yet this season, but it does still scare me just a little bit.
45:02
SPEAKER_03: So their ceiling is the is the ring.
45:04
SPEAKER_03: I think their floor is a second round.
45:06
SPEAKER_03: Houston Rockets, one of the surprise teams for this season.
45:09
SPEAKER_03: I think their floor is a first round, and I think their ceiling is a second round.
45:14
SPEAKER_03: I tried to, I've branded by the guys.
45:16
SPEAKER_03: Like, do you see a scenario where the Houston Rockets can make a conference finals push?
45:20
SPEAKER_03: And the group chat has seven guys.
45:23
SPEAKER_03: I would say five of us are like diehard NBA fans.
45:26
SPEAKER_03: Four of us do it for a living.
45:28
SPEAKER_03: Not a single person said yes.
45:30
SPEAKER_03: And that's not really necessarily a knock on the Houston Rockets.
45:33
SPEAKER_03: That might be, and I said it earlier, um, it might be because we haven't seen it just yet.
45:38
SPEAKER_03: Right.
45:38
SPEAKER_03: And I said, Well, okay, see, you can't you can't see it until it's done.
45:43
SPEAKER_03: But this is just a little different.
45:44
SPEAKER_03: This is literally their first time making the postseason with this, with this current core.
45:49
SPEAKER_03: And them slowing down offensively as of recent, and some of that, and most of that, I would say it's because Freddie has not been healthy.
45:57
SPEAKER_03: Um, Freddie is so important to this team's offense.
46:00
SPEAKER_03: I just you can't express it enough.
46:02
SPEAKER_03: Um, but I do question when the game slows down, how do they score in the half court?
46:06
SPEAKER_03: And because of that, I don't have that much belief that they're gonna be a high-sealing team, but I do believe they're gonna be a tough team to beat, bro.
46:15
SPEAKER_03: I just I truly do believe.
46:16
SPEAKER_03: Because the defensive infrastructure, um, all of the big wings they can throw at some of these better scores in basketball, I just think they're gonna be a bitch to get out of the postseason dog.
46:25
SPEAKER_03: But I still don't believe it's one of those teams where it's like OKC gets upset by the Rockets or something like that.
46:30
SPEAKER_03: I just can't, I can't really see it.
46:32
SPEAKER_03: Even though it's one of the best stories in basketball and they got some of my best players on the team, I would just, I'm struggling to get there.
46:38
SPEAKER_03: Um, only a few teams left, right?
46:40
SPEAKER_03: We got through the Celtics, the Knicks, the Pace.
46:41
SPEAKER_03: Oh my God, we got two teams left.
46:43
SPEAKER_03: Uh, this team is the Minnesota Timberwolves, who like the most Jacko and high team ever, bro.
46:49
SPEAKER_03: They just they really they go through a six-game stretch.
46:51
SPEAKER_03: You're like, damn, this team is awful.
46:53
SPEAKER_03: Then they go through a six-game stretch, you're like, damn, this team is amazing.
46:55
SPEAKER_03: You just you never really know what you're gonna get.
46:57
SPEAKER_03: Um, and one thing that I think many people haven't really talked about, at least in the circles that I'm in, is this offensive uh butterflying, yeah, yeah.
47:06
SPEAKER_03: Of Jada McDaniels.
47:08
SPEAKER_03: Oh man, Jada McDaniels to be a guy that was sitting in the corner.
47:11
SPEAKER_03: When he put the ball on the floor, you thought that uh nothing's good's about to happen.
47:15
SPEAKER_03: But with Dante being out and Julius being out, that they need some people to step up.
47:20
SPEAKER_03: And more recently, you're seeing J Dub put the ball on the floor and create for himself.
47:25
SPEAKER_03: And I remember when he was drafted out of Washington.
47:28
SPEAKER_03: Um, again, I'm not a huge guy, I wasn't a huge college basketball guy.
47:31
SPEAKER_03: Now I'm I'm turning to leaf, bro.
47:33
SPEAKER_03: I'm watching way more college basketball than I ever have in my life.
47:35
SPEAKER_03: And I'm listening to college basketball podcasts and reading newsletters about college hoops.
47:39
SPEAKER_03: Anyway, um, I remember him coming out of college and my boy Pierre was like, that's one of my favorite prospects.
47:43
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, oh, okay, what's his archetype?
47:45
SPEAKER_03: It's like the guy can just flat out score.
47:48
SPEAKER_03: He got to the league and he was a three and D player, dog.
47:50
SPEAKER_03: He did not show at Washington that he was about to be one of the best wing defenders in basketball, but you have to mold yourself to the point where you can get paid, where you can get PT, and that's what he ended up doing.
48:00
SPEAKER_03: And I think that because that was what his mind was, his archetype was, him himself thought this is all I really could do, even in this post-game interview against um the was that the Thunder game or the game before the thunder.
48:10
SPEAKER_03: He had 30 recently.
48:11
SPEAKER_03: He had 30 in the game, and I think that was the season high.
48:13
SPEAKER_03: And he said to himself, sometimes I forget that I'm 6'9 and can dribble.
48:18
SPEAKER_03: He forgets.
48:19
SPEAKER_03: But recently he's been doing a lot of that.
48:21
SPEAKER_03: And I think that's a good um, a good sign uh where you have to keep teams honest.
48:27
SPEAKER_03: If you're just gonna be a corner sitter, which is a good archetype of basketball, a lot of people made a lot of money just being a corner sitter.
48:32
SPEAKER_03: Um, you just make yourself easier to guard as a team.
48:34
SPEAKER_03: But if you're saying that J Dub, oh, not J Dub, J Mac can go out there and create for himself, also.
48:40
SPEAKER_03: So some some cool stuff going on.
48:41
SPEAKER_03: With that being said, I'm still worried about their clutch time offense.
48:45
SPEAKER_03: Like this is the same um questions I had last season.
48:48
SPEAKER_03: Obviously, they were able to shut my ass up and made a deep final conference finals push, but this seems different this year.
48:55
SPEAKER_03: I think, I mean, they were worse in the clutch last year than this year, but this team just looks nasty in the clutch.
49:01
SPEAKER_03: They just really, really do.
49:03
SPEAKER_03: Um, so much so they had the game against the Grizzlies where like they were up by four, well, maybe a minute ago, and I was like, they're losing this game.
49:10
SPEAKER_03: And they did, like they really did.
49:12
SPEAKER_03: So with them being Jekyll and Heidish and them having clutch time wools, I think their floor is a first-round exit and their ceiling is a second round exit.
49:21
SPEAKER_03: I just I can't see this team going on a conference finals push like last season.
49:25
SPEAKER_03: Uh, last team we have, um, yeah, OKC, Memphis, Denver, yeah, the Lake, the Los Angeles teams, Houston.
49:32
SPEAKER_03: We didn't went through everything except for the Pistons.
49:37
SPEAKER_03: A team that I did not expect to be talking about is a team avoiding the play-in as of today.
49:42
SPEAKER_03: They're two and a half games up on the Orlando Magic.
49:46
SPEAKER_03: They're riding a high.
49:47
SPEAKER_03: They are one of my favorite watches in basketball.
49:50
SPEAKER_03: They just really are.
49:51
SPEAKER_03: Um, I'm a victory laugh this again.
49:53
SPEAKER_03: I have no idea how ESPN had Cade Cunningham as the 67th best player in basketball before the season started.
49:59
SPEAKER_03: And and Kenny, before he sees started, his team was on a 27-game loser streak.
50:05
SPEAKER_03: This, their article is projecting.
50:07
SPEAKER_03: They had Derek Lively better than Cade Cunningham.
50:11
SPEAKER_03: Think about it.
50:13
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm victory lapping it because I made that tweet, and people people act like I had said something preposterous.
50:20
SPEAKER_03: The reality was Cade Cunningham has always been good.
50:23
SPEAKER_03: He's been way better this season, don't get me wrong, but he's always been good.
50:26
SPEAKER_03: He's just been playing with bumps.
50:30
SPEAKER_03: And now he's got a real team.
50:31
SPEAKER_03: And this team ain't even like nothing too, too crazy, right?
50:33
SPEAKER_03: They used to just upgraded, upgraded role players, dog.
50:37
SPEAKER_03: Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley is the offseason, and damn it, we're a playoff team.
50:41
SPEAKER_03: Yes, K Cunningham's that nice.
50:43
SPEAKER_03: Malik Beasley's that good of a shooter.
50:44
SPEAKER_03: Tobias Harris having a good season.
50:46
SPEAKER_03: Um, um, uh, Isaiah Stewart coming off the bench and providing some punches and stuff, but also great defense and providing value as a role man.
50:55
SPEAKER_03: Jay uh Jalen Durin.
50:57
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes when I watch him, I'm disgusted by his uh pick and roll defense, but other times he looks great.
51:03
SPEAKER_03: So like this team has been super, super fun.
51:08
SPEAKER_03: But I don't see them as a team that's winning a postseason series.
51:12
SPEAKER_03: It's the first year, first time they made the postseason in seven years.
51:16
SPEAKER_03: The first time they're on pace to be above 500 team.
51:18
SPEAKER_03: The first time they're gonna be above 500 in like a over a decade.
51:22
SPEAKER_03: Like them making it full stop is a huge, huge story.
51:25
SPEAKER_03: With that being said, I just don't see them as a team that's gonna win a postseason uh series.
51:28
SPEAKER_03: Right now, they'd go against the Knicks in the postseason.
51:31
SPEAKER_03: I got the Knicks in that series.
51:32
SPEAKER_03: You know what I'm saying?
51:33
SPEAKER_03: Um, and if they fall, then they have the Cavs or the Celtics.
51:36
SPEAKER_03: You know how that goes.
51:36
SPEAKER_03: And if they pop up, then they have like the Bucks or the Pacers.
51:40
SPEAKER_03: I I think I think where they sit right now is a six specs team in the East, is exactly where they should be.
51:45
SPEAKER_03: Um, and because of that, it's not really a postseason run here.
51:48
SPEAKER_03: But a postseason, man, having postseason basketball in Detroit again, you know what I'm saying?
51:52
SPEAKER_03: Shout out to the shout out to the Pistons, sorry.
51:55
SPEAKER_03: So I didn't get like I said, I didn't get to every single team.
51:58
SPEAKER_03: You don't need the floor to the ceiling of the magic of the Hawks of the Heat of the Bulls.
52:01
SPEAKER_03: You don't need the floor of the ceiling for the Dallas Mavericks, because who the hell knows at this point, or the Kings, you know, like those teams, though they're there, don't have a lot of belief in them.
52:10
SPEAKER_03: Um, so that's it.
52:12
SPEAKER_03: You let me know in the comment section what you think.
52:20
SPEAKER_03: We do have some Ask KP.
52:22
SPEAKER_03: You know, you can hit us up on Enjoy Basketball on Instagram or you can hit us up on Twitter.
52:26
SPEAKER_03: We've been tweeting it out as well.
52:28
SPEAKER_03: Um, I got a question from base Celtics fan.
52:32
SPEAKER_03: Which current NBA player's career feels the most like a 2K My Career type of career?
52:39
SPEAKER_03: And I thought about this when Greg sent it to me last night.
52:42
SPEAKER_03: And I promise you there's no better answer than Luka Doncic.
52:47
SPEAKER_03: Think about it.
52:48
SPEAKER_03: When you play my career, when you put your VC in, guess what you do?
52:52
SPEAKER_03: You dominate.
52:52
SPEAKER_03: You immediately come into the league and dominate.
52:54
SPEAKER_03: That's exactly what Luka Doncic did.
52:56
SPEAKER_03: You're gonna win some MVP awards.
52:57
SPEAKER_03: That's exactly what Luka Doncic did.
52:59
SPEAKER_03: Oh, no, not MVPs.
53:00
SPEAKER_03: Uh, you're gonna win some all-like.
53:03
SPEAKER_03: You're gonna be one of the best players in basketball.
53:04
SPEAKER_03: Luka got the zero MVPs, which is still crazy.
53:05
SPEAKER_03: But you're gonna be one of the best players in basketball from the very beginning in my career.
53:09
SPEAKER_03: Don't it feel like some shit Spike Lee pulled up?
53:13
SPEAKER_03: You're gonna surprisingly get traded from the team that you love the most in the peak of your powers, and now you have to go on this revenge tour and win your first championship with this new team.
53:23
SPEAKER_03: You can't tell me that's not a my career story, bro.
53:26
SPEAKER_03: It really is.
53:28
SPEAKER_03: Think about the cutscene.
53:30
SPEAKER_03: You just bought a house, you just closed a house in the city you've been in for six years, and you get a call from the GM and say you got shipped off to another team?
53:40
SPEAKER_03: Dog, that's my career written all over it.
53:43
SPEAKER_03: So it really is, it really is Luka Doncic.
53:45
SPEAKER_03: All right.
53:45
SPEAKER_03: Um, let's let's get to our our audio ones.
53:50
SPEAKER_00: Yes, my question is if the Nuggets and the Raptors completely swapped rosters today, could the new Raptors secure a play-in spot in the east, and could the new Nuggets maintain a playoff spot out west?
54:05
SPEAKER_03: This is hilarious because this was a question I had on Twitter.
54:08
SPEAKER_03: Um, but I switched up the teams.
54:10
SPEAKER_03: I said um this was a couple weeks, maybe a month or so ago, so it wasn't this too crazy.
54:16
SPEAKER_03: If the Thunder switched rosters with the Wizards, could the Wizards make the postseason?
54:22
SPEAKER_03: Right now, the Wizards are 12 and a half games out, and with the Thunder fall out completely, but this is a very similar question, but instead it's like with Masai's old team and Maasai's new team.
54:30
SPEAKER_03: Um, so the Raptors, the Raptors.
54:32
SPEAKER_03: All right, so this Raptors team, assuming health, um, it's not a bad team.
54:40
SPEAKER_03: I think they fall out of the the top six with 28 games left.
54:46
SPEAKER_03: They have for a four and a half game lead, five and a half game lead on the Clippers, who are the sixth seed.
54:51
SPEAKER_03: I truly do believe that that that Nuggets team will fall.
54:54
SPEAKER_03: And no disrespect to Scotty or Brandon Ingram or RJ Baird or Emmanuel Quickly.
54:59
SPEAKER_03: I just hain's seen enough to believe that they can go out there and maintain what the the Denver Nuggets have done.
55:05
SPEAKER_03: On the flip side of things, you got to think about it like this.
55:07
SPEAKER_03: Hold on, hold on.
55:08
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna go to NBA strength of schedule.
55:11
SPEAKER_03: Jokic being in an Eastern conference dog, the man might rack off a million wins in a row.
55:18
SPEAKER_03: Ooh.
55:19
SPEAKER_03: Ooh.
55:20
SPEAKER_03: As of right now, the Raptors have the hardest schedule left in basketball.
55:25
SPEAKER_03: Does that change some things?
55:27
SPEAKER_03: No, they don't.
55:27
SPEAKER_03: Wait, wait, wait.
55:28
SPEAKER_03: How do I go to oh no, they have the easiest schedule in basketball?
55:32
SPEAKER_03: Okay, I'm I read it wrong.
55:33
SPEAKER_03: So they still have to go against the Wizards three times, the Jazz twice, the Hornets twice, the the Mets twice, the 76 twice, and the Bulls twice.
55:43
SPEAKER_03: 100% Jokic is rattling through.
55:46
SPEAKER_03: That's five games, seven games, nine games, 13 games against ass teams.
55:51
SPEAKER_03: He's 100%, they're 100% making the postseason, dog.
55:54
SPEAKER_03: They're 100% making a postseason if they switch rosters.
55:56
SPEAKER_03: Now, on the flip side of that, uh, let me look for Denver has a fifth hardest schedule left.
56:03
SPEAKER_03: They still got OKC twice, they got the Rockets twice, the Lakers three times, the Pacers twice, and the grit.
56:08
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, man, I think that if they switch rosters, the Raptors would make the postseason and the Nuggets will fall into the plan.
56:15
SPEAKER_03: That's my answer.
56:17
SPEAKER_01: Hey Kenny, uh big fan.
56:19
SPEAKER_01: Just got a quick question for you.
56:21
SPEAKER_01: If LeBron James somehow took some type of medicine and was brought back to being 25, so arguably his peak, brought back to the how do you think the league would shape up for the next 15 years or so?
56:37
SPEAKER_01: Cheers, mate.
56:39
SPEAKER_03: Cheers.
56:40
SPEAKER_03: Um, so I think I think the Lakers have another dynasty on their hands.
56:45
SPEAKER_03: A 25-year-old Braun and a 26-year-old Luka Doncic would be one of the best talent for talent duos in the history of basketball.
56:54
SPEAKER_03: Like, LeBron is arguably the GOAT, and you're saying he's 25 again, and Luka Doncic is on the path to be a top 10 to 15 player, depending on you know MVPs and championships and stuff.
57:07
SPEAKER_03: I honestly do believe that Rob Palenka just has to do the job of putting the necessary role players around them and they could rattle off championship after championship after championship.
57:15
SPEAKER_03: The fit might be a little clunky to start off with, but if okay, wait, wait.
57:20
SPEAKER_03: So if you're going back to 25-year-old Brian, that means he can't shoot anymore.
57:23
SPEAKER_03: Because 25-year-old Brian was a was building houses out there.
57:27
SPEAKER_03: One of the biggest forces in basketball, but the man could not shoot.
57:30
SPEAKER_03: That changes some things.
57:32
SPEAKER_03: Or use him as a role man with Luca.
57:33
SPEAKER_03: They would be gearing themselves up to win championships.
57:36
SPEAKER_03: I'll just say that.
57:37
SPEAKER_03: Um, for a very long time.
57:38
SPEAKER_03: Where I feel like you can hodgepodge the rest of the group.
57:41
SPEAKER_03: You get Luca a Center and give us one elite level shooter and one elite level defender in his raps.
57:53
SPEAKER_03: I that maybe it's a harder to do than I'm making it seem, but like simply put, championships for Lake Show.
57:59
SPEAKER_03: Easy.
58:16
SPEAKER_03: I just I want to say real quick before I wrap up, how great of a time I had at All-Star Weekend this weekend.
58:22
SPEAKER_03: Um, it didn't have a lot to do with the NBA themselves.
58:25
SPEAKER_03: You know, we've already talked about that stuff.
58:27
SPEAKER_03: All-star games trash, dunk test trash, 3.2 trash, Chris Fall, Wimby trash.
58:31
SPEAKER_03: Um, but it's more about like every time I go to a new city, or this is not my first time in San Francisco, but a different city.
58:38
SPEAKER_03: The hospitality that I get treated with from the viewers or people that are fans of the channels otherworldly, man, um, the amount of gifts, and this is not just what it's about, but the amount of gifts and recommendations people gave us for restaurants or things to do while we were out there, and just people telling us um how much they enjoy the content means so much to me.
58:56
SPEAKER_03: And, you know, a lot of times I get boiled down with being in my office creating content and not really thinking about the person behind, you know, the screen that is watching the video, and those moments really ground me, man.
59:06
SPEAKER_03: There was a moment in our uh we did a live show, sold-out live show, and then afterwards we did a meet and greet.
59:12
SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, it's 400 people, you know, in the line trying to meet us.
59:17
SPEAKER_03: I don't know what the number was.
59:18
SPEAKER_03: And we were getting towards the end.
59:20
SPEAKER_03: I'm a little burnt out beating people and talking to people.
59:23
SPEAKER_03: And someone came up, um, and it it was a lady who said that she was a therapist, and she she's holding my hand and she's saying, You're such an inspiration, y'all are such an inspiration, and she starts to cry.
59:37
SPEAKER_03: And at the end of the day, I make basketball videos.
59:40
SPEAKER_03: What the hell have I ever done to warrant this type of response from someone?
59:45
SPEAKER_03: And she she mentioned to me that she's a therapist and she loves how open I and we are about our mental health.
59:53
SPEAKER_03: You know, I do these type of things and I talk about mental health because I know that other people are struggling, but also it's an outlet for me, right?
1:00:00
SPEAKER_03: It's an outlet for me if I tell you, hey, here are my goals for this season, and a lot of it have to be mental health because I like to be holding myself accountable and something about putting into the world helps me there.
1:00:10
SPEAKER_03: But I I think about the people on the other side, but seeing someone that is impacted by it moved me too, right?
1:00:19
SPEAKER_03: So we're in this meet and greet after this great live show, and we're both sitting here crying.
1:00:23
SPEAKER_03: Um, she says she has a son that is 21 that also struggles with anxiety and the fact that we're so open and things are changing, right?
1:00:31
SPEAKER_03: But when I when I was growing up, there was nobody, no creators, there was no famous people, and I'm not saying I'm famous, but like, you know, Kevin Loves and the DeMar DeRozans or the actresses, nobody was talking about their mental health.
1:00:43
SPEAKER_03: Um so it just was a surreal moment um for me to have these type of interactions.
1:00:49
SPEAKER_03: And um it's the reason why we do it, man.
1:00:52
SPEAKER_03: That that moment made all of the hesitancy I had or the anxiety I had about going to San Francisco made it all worth it.
1:01:00
SPEAKER_03: Because it's like whether I'm helping her or helping her son, she said that with her patients, she tells them to watch our show because it is a good window into what real friendship is and what good mental health can be, or or you know, um a window to what mental health struggles can look like, but also it was it was a moment.
1:01:25
SPEAKER_03: I didn't catch her name, but if for whatever reason she's listening or watching this episode of Small Bower King Beach, and you don't even recognize how much that impacted me and the rest of the guys as well.
1:01:35
SPEAKER_03: So thank you for being open and candid with us, and I'll try my very best to reciprocate that on my shows.
1:01:44
SPEAKER_03: I'll see y'all next week.