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PLAYOFF MAILBAG! · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to another episode of Small Ball with Kenny Beachum.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're doing a mailback.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I know you like Kenny.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's the playoffs.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: We're about to be in the conference finals.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Why are you out here answering random questions?
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because let's be honest.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I think I may have talked about this last year.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: We get to this part of the season where we get to like one game a night.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: We're about to be at the point where one game a night, which is crazy.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: And between this show, my three right now numbers on the board episodes, because we still got the TV show.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: We're having another TV show drop a week.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll be doing five podcasts a week on basically the same topics.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: And the last thing I want to do is to just have the same content across platforms.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't do y'all a certain because I want to give y'all great content.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: And nobody's growing from that.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, why listen to this show if you're gonna listen to numbers and get the same Kenny Beachum opinion?
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna try my very best throughout the rest of the season, do the offseason, to make sure that the content is different.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: And the way we get the content to be different is to answer your question.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: You are the curator of today's show.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: We hit y'all up on Twitter, we hit y'all up on Instagram saying Kenny is looking for your questions.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: In these questions, we will get to the playoffs, don't get me wrong.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: In these questions, we'll get to the lottery.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna get to some personal stuff.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Not okay, not super personal.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: We're not be talking, not gonna be talking about relationships and stuff, which is something that I get asked quite a bit.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Relationship advice.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not the person for that.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: But like, I like to talk anime every once in a while.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Y'all would ask it.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna talk about that in a lot more.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna remind you to leave a like on the episode, subscribe to the channel, go check out those other shows, by the way.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I I have basically done some level of coverage on every single playoff game.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Which is kind of crazy to say.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Across all these shows, I've done something on every single playoff game.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: So if you look in, hey, Kenny, what did you think about Boston versus Celtics?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Boston versus Celtics, Celtics versus Knicks, game five.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we talked about that.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, shout out to Luke Cornett, who's, you know, there's a lot of former Bulls that are making some impacts nowadays.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm I'm happy for Luke Cornet.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm happy that he decided to stop shooting threes on a team that only shoots threes.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a weird fit there, but he he did an amazing job keeping him alive.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I got Knicks fans in my life, not Pierre, not Pierre.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: I got Knicks fans in my life that are like, uh-oh.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Game five Boston Celtics look a lot better than game one through four.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh give well soon, Jason Tatum, over there.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Get well soon, Jason Tatum.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: All right, let's get into the first question.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: This comes from ant one for MVP.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Hypothetically, and we got some cool hypotheticals in today's episode.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: If there was an expansion draft this offseason with all the second apron rules, who do you think could be some of the surprising players left unprotected?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: So historically, when we've done expansions, um, if you are in not, you weren't around when uh when the Bobcats became around, you get to protect, I think it was eight players.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: You get to protect eight players in your roster, which means that those players do not go into the draft pool and the rest do.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: And the a smart thing to do as a general manager is to not protect bad contracts.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think that makes a lot of sense, and protect your players that you care about.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm looking through these rosters and I'm like, okay, who are some players that if an expansion happened today will go unprotected?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: And this is what I came up with.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: These are, I got two levels.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: I got a guaranteed or like people to make you think.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: The guarantees are, of course, Bradley Beal.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Bradley Beale basically has$110 million left if you include his player option, which he will take.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: The Suns want to get rid of him.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: He's got to know trade clause.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: That is the easiest one to leave unprotected.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: If Vegas existed or Seattle existed as an NBA team, they're not drafting that contract of Bradley Beal, but he will be left in the pool.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Then I was thinking about some other teams, some younger teams that have a surplus of talent.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, a part of the trade to get rid of Damian Lillard or to transition away from the Damian Lillard era in Portland, you acquired a guy in DeAndre Aiden.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: You acquired um Robert Williams, and then you drafted Donovan Klingon.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, I feel pretty okay about if you wanted to trade Robert Williams away, there would be teams interested, even though with his injury history, you might not get a haul for him.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: But like teams would be interested.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's a smaller contract.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's got two years, like$22 million left.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's really nothing.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: But DeAndre Aiden, it'll be hard to move on from that DeAndre Aiden contract considering every team of basketball, almost every team of basketball, have a center that they trust.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm just not paying DeAndre Aiden that amount of money, left unprotected.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Staying with the same team.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Jeremy Grant got that big ass contract after Damian Lillard, or right before Damian Lillard requested a trade.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: And he has just changed so much as a player.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: That could be circumstantial, that could be whatever.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: But like Jeremy Grant used to be a guy that could do a little bit of everything, and now he don't do a little bit of nothing outside of scoring the ball.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: So he'll be left unprotected because there's a lot of years left on that contract.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Terry Rozier, come on, man.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like he don't fit into the same group of the guys like Bradley Beal, former all-star, DeAndre Aiden, not a former all-star, but like was teetering that line at some point of his career.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Terry Rozier is not that.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: But I swear the Miami Heat would love to get rid of that guy right now.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: I swear they would love to get rid of him right now.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Then we have a guy like Terrence Man, who still has like$35 million guaranteed on the Atlanta Hawks.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think he goes unprotected, but he's even a level lower than some of those other dudes.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: And now we get to the ones that are like, would they leave him unprotected?
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of stuff going on in Milwaukee right now.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Do Giannis want out?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Does he not?
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Giannis, this is me being a friend of yours.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Consider our options.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: I know there's something that you're allegedly doing.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Consider our options.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Hypothetically, if if Giannis goes into the front office and says, hey man, it's my time.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: I've appreciated the 12 years I've spent here.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: We got ourselves a championship.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a two-time MVP.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a DPOY, yada, yada, yada, but I don't see a world where we can we we can be contenders again.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then you ship Giannis away.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Boom.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now you're left with Damian Lillard coming off his injury.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: You're left with this, you're left with that.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: And you got to think to yourself, do you protect Damian Lillard?
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, Kenny, of course you protect Damian Lillard because even though he's injured, he could be a trade asset in a year from now.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying that's not realistic, but like he's got a guaranteed contract next year.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: He's got$58 million a year after that, and he's gonna have$62 million in a player option at the end of that.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: He's already in the middle of his 30s and he's about to come off a major uh leg injury.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: It might be one of your ways to get rid of the Damian Lillard contract under the assumption that Giannis is not coming back.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Something you got to think about.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because the alternative to that is like Damian Lillard will come back from his injury, he'll still be great, and then he'll be easy to move.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: But I just don't know how much you trust the science or the history of an Achilles injury on a smaller guard that's in his 30s.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't know where you land on that.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a conversation that John Horst and the rest of the guys would have to really sit down and think about.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: The next one you got to think about is Paul George.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Signed a four-year, 200-plus million dollar contract.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: We're in year one of that, and everybody's looking at it like, ugh.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: But shout to Podcast P it's officially back.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: And you think about you know them having a third overall pick, and we're gonna talk about the 76ers in a future uh question here.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: But you get to asking yourself if you if you unprotect Paul George and some other team picks him up, how much do you actually lose as a team?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's a real conversation you gotta have with yourself.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: There are more he has to have that conversation.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: When he when he signed uh Paul George, he even said immediately that he understands it's a risk.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: And now we're a year later, and that risk is still pretty damn high with three years left in the contract.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta talk about it.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: The next one is Zach Levine.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: They said it was an unmovable contract last year.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: It eventually got moved for scraps, and now the Sacramento Kings are trying to figure out what the hell they're doing next.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out to Zach Levine.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then the very, very last one I have in the maybes is Chris Taps Porzingis, who next year is guaranteed$30 plus million dollars.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: And right now in the playoff series, he's going through some type of illness or that's preventing him from playing great basketball.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: After game number five, Joe Mazzula said he he was struggling to breathe.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: I guess he is asthmatic, right?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um so am I.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but that has never been a Porzingis thing.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Even with the asthma, you you don't get see him get Bent in the second half because he's asthmatic.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: So he's dealing with whatever infection.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I pray that he get there, uh get well soon, as I would with anybody.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: But with Jason Tatum going down with his Achilles, again, get well soon, Jason Tatum, and them already in a financial crunch as a team.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Porzingis might have been traded regardless, right?
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Regardless of his hypothetical situation, there was a world where Porzingis just not on the team next year, and with him playing the way he is, where Luke Courtnet has been the better big in this entire series, right?
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: It might be even hard in the real world to trade him away when he got 30 plus million dollars left.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: So, like in this hypothetical, we just wash our hands.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe Seattle, maybe Las Vegas would rather take the swing at Porzingis, and we get him the best doctors in the world on top of the other best doctors in the world, and we can fix whatever the hell problem he got going on.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out to Ant1 for MVP for the question.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: You let me know some other players because it it was some guys I thought about.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, is that guy even worth bringing up?
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Some dudes making$12 million a year.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I mean, you know what I'm saying?
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Next one comes from Flash, Mamba Freak 24.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't realize that you were a freak.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, do you have any suggestions on what will be the best NBA schedule?
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Even though the playoffs have been great, players, especially the stars, have suffered injuries that can have a great effect on the next few seasons.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I made the tweet the other day that I don't think it's gonna hit me until the beginning of next season.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna start off the year without Kyrie Irvin.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna start off the year without Damian Lillard, and we're gonna start off the year without Jason Tatum.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: That is kind of insane when you when you really think about those are three all-stars, those are all NBA players every single season, it feels like.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna start off the season without them.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: And some at least a few of those guys may not see the floor at all next season.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it is a a weird thing to think about.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I again, I don't think it's gonna really set in until it's the first game of the season.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: Boston is going against Philadelphia because that's the way it is, or New York, because that's the way it always is, and Jason Tatum is not on the floor.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Or Cooper Flag, who I'm sure we'll talk about at some point in this episode, is suiting up for his first game as a Maverick, and Kyrie Irvin is on the sideline.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: So what is what is my solution to it?
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think I'm I'm very far from an NBA purist, right?
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: I I understand that with progression in time comes progression and rules and progression and styles and so on and so forth.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's why you very rarely on this show or on my other shows hear me try to rank errors or rank players across errors because things just are always changing.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: I do feel like it is weird that we continue the same schedule format as we continue to see that things are changing around us.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: And everybody has talked about it in podcasting recently about shortening the season.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is something that I don't believe will ever actually happen considering the revenue that is missed.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: The players already said in the athletic article that if it means that it cuts their pay, they're not down, which makes sense from their perspective.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: They don't have to play 82 anyway, you know?
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: So we'd rather just keep the money.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: But the real solution is just shorten the games for like 10 or 12 games, uh shortening the season by 10 or 12 games, and that that eliminates some of the travel, that eliminates um some of the back-to-backs, that eliminates some of the three and fours, and so on and so forth.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, I'm not a scientist, I'm not a data analyst to prove to you, oh, because 82 games, this is what's happening.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: But I think it is very glaring that over the since 2019, at least five all-stars every season have missed some time in the playoffs.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: That is pretty insane.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: When you think about how much more players are moving, how much more players are cutting, and how much more space players have to cover now compared to even just 10 years ago, it kind of makes sense that it's more taxing on the body.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: Watch the next playoff game, next playoff game is tonight, OKC versus Denver.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: This video is dropping after that.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: I just want you to really look at where teams are starting their offense now in this postseason, how high they are starting their offense.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason why they're starting their offense so high is because it opens up the floor more.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Mikhail Bridges is routinely taking 30, um, 28 to 29 to 30 foot three-point shots.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's a shot that majority of the NBA can hit at this point, but it just opens up the floor more for Jalen Brunson.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: It opens up the floor more for your pick and roll to work.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: So because we are starting our offense so early, that means or so high, the defense has to cover that much more space because everybody is a shooter nowadays.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: So he said, we got to cover more space, we got to slide more, we got to cut more, we got to do all these things.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: That was something that was not happening just 10 years ago.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's not something that was happening 40 years ago or whenever it was incorporated to play 82 games.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I understand the financial aspect of it.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you told me, Kenny, you have to work more, but that also means you make less money, I'm probably gonna say no as well.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: I like my I like how much money I make.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I like working.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm sure these players do too.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: But that's the easiest solution.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: The other solution is to lengthen the NBA season, not by the amount of games, but when it starts and when it ends.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then that cuts into our off-season.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: That cuts into the players' off-season, you know?
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I know that the players value that a lot because that is some of the few times they can spend with family.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: That is the recovery period.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: If you're trying to tell me that our normal, um, so what are we talking about?
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: July, August, September, our normal three-month-ish, three-month-ish vacation.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's not three months, but instead of it's two months, that don't really work out either.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: But if you if you lengthen when we start and where we finish, that eliminates again some of them back-to-backs, that eliminates um some of them three and fours.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, sometimes we got we got five and sevens, right?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Five and sevenths, is that that math, math?
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's just there's a lot going on in basketball right now.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: And all of this is happening while we've also seen this revolution in technology and this revolution in scheme, and you know, nobody really has an answer.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Some of these are freak accidents at the end of the day, but there has to be something to say about it happening way more frequently because even before I said 2019, at least five all-stars missing time.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: Before that, we had a stretch where the numbers were two, two, zero, two, and one.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: So this is a six-year stretch that feels it doesn't feel like an anomaly.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't feel like an anomaly.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it is.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe next season we have zero injuries in the postseason, and boom, you know, it's the best postseason ever.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: But it is not something that I think the league office is ever going to really remedy because they they would rather um get that money.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they keep adding games.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, some teams play 83 games this season in the regular season and then went to the postseason.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah, that that was that was the the solution everybody has, but I think it is probably the right solution.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: This one comes from LT Toter.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: LT Turtle said, I'm unsure of how to feel as a Sixer fan, knowing we have the number three pick.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Is it crazy to think it is better for the franchise to move on from Joel and focus on Maxi McCain, Grimes, Bona, Butler, plus a third pick?
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: I love Joel, and I will support him after we trade him.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this is a conversation that I'm sure um a lot of people are having because Joel Embiid.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: Joel Embiid, as good as he is, obviously we've seen the injuries throughout, or he he, you know, gets injured, is able to play in the postseason, but he's playing on one leg, and some of those one leg games are some of my favorite, he could drop a 40-point game and and still be limping around and everything.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: But they should probably, this is what I what I would say, for the next year or so, because at the end of the day, even if you trade Joel and B, you probably are gonna struggle to get off the Paul George contract.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Hell.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: So like I think that even though it is rare that the whole two timeline thing works, because that's basically where y'all are going right now.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: It is a Golden State Warrior Jason, the two timeline thing.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we have our our Odies and the Paul George and the Joel and Beds, and then we got our that crop of youth that I just said, plus probably Ace Bailey or something along those lines.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: It usually doesn't work, right?
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: The only time I can off the top of my mind think about it, okay, there's a few times that that kind of off the top of my mind work when Kawhi Leonard got drafted to the Spurs.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: It took him a few years before he was who he is, but like that was an aging core.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: He comes in, helps them win a championship, he wins finals MVP.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think the problem is, is like that is a player versus what the 76ers would do.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: You just named like four guys.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: And what the the Warriors tried to do, we we're talking about what, three lottery picks.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Wiseman, Moody, Wiseman, Moody, Kaminga, and then Jordan Poole, who wasn't a lottery pick.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: So we're talking about, you know, four to five guys where Kawhi Leonard was just one guy going into the best culture/slash winning situation like ever, ever through our lifetime.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: I also thought about a little bit um like Bynum, but even that's one guy, because you think about Powell, you think about Cobe, those dudes are aging, and and uh Bynum comes in, he makes an all-star appearance and he eventually helps them win a championship.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then I guess Kobe on the other side of that, when Kobe was a young guy, right?
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Kobe comes in, um, him and was D Fish the year before him, the year after him, him and D.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: Fish come into the Lakers, an aging core, and they they bridge the gap.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: It does help that they ended up with Shaquille O'Neal just a little after that.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's rare that it actually works.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: But because it's gonna be so difficult to get rid of the two-time, I think, I think it's worth worth doing because some of these guys you mentioned, Maxie, he's he's been in playoff situations before, right?
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: We've seen him go crazy in the game six before.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Jeremy Cain doesn't have that experience, but he looks pretty good.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: Quentin Grimes doesn't really have that experience.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: But like I think you you chill on it for at least a year before you make the ultimate decision.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think you owe it to Joel Embiid.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think you owe it to the city to allow him to get one more year before you start thinking about what else, because even though you have the third overall pick, there's no guarantee that the third overall pick is going to do anything of value, right?
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: And one thing that I think teams trick themselves of, and it's maybe not a great case because Joel Embiid, again, doesn't have the best playoff history, is thinking that trading away our great player right now will eventually be better in the future, right?
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many different things.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: And and Darren Mori has done a pretty phenomenal job drafting over the course of his career, but you pray that somebody that you draft at three could ever be as good as Joel Embiid is right now, even with the injuries.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I'm saying you hold off for at least a year.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: There's really no rush.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: That core that you mentioned, that young core is still really young, and they're all going to get adequate amount of opportunity to do what they need to do alongside Joel Embiid and Paul George.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: So does that answer your question?
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think it does shake up the offseason.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: Joel Lembede becomes available.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think it also is the worst time to potentially trade him.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think his trade value is probably the lowest it's been in 20 years.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, it don't make sense to be like, yep, Joel Embiid is available, and then you're gonna be pissed as a 76er fan because they're gonna have to trade him for not nothing, but it won't be the trade package that you think he deserves as a former MVP of this league.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Next one comes from Hornets Ruined Me.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, I feel for you.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Opinions on doing more draft content like stats, deep dives, and bigboards.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I thought this was going to be a year where I'd do something along those lines.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the postseason only goes so long, and then we get the draft, and I wanted to come to a Kenny, uh, a small ball Kenny Beach M episode and say, hey man, here are my top 10 prospects for this upcoming draft.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: And in the in the middle of me doing this NBA postseason work, I've been looking at prospects because my team is in a lottery again, 12th, but we're in the lottery again, trying to figure out which prospects I like and dislike.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: And what I came to the realization of, I can't, I am probably the worst in the world at doing that type of thing.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because every single player is flawed, and I can't overlook the flaws of those players.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, Colin Murray Boys is such a defensive player, he's such a good connector, but damn it, did you see the video of him shooting at the combine?
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: Ace of Newell, good energy, pride on the defensive side of the ball.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: But his measurements say he's 6'9 and he has a less than seven-foot wingspan.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then you go throughout the history of the NBA right now of centers and basketball, how many of them have less than a seven-foot wingspan are successful?
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: Shen Goon and Sabonis.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: And those guys are such a unique crop of player.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't know if I can look past the fact that his wingspan is not the same as some of these other prospects.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, uh EJ, EJ, that's my cousin.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: VJ Edgecomb, Hooper, jump out the gym, defensive this, defensive that.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: But man, that jump shot looked real funky.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I just can't.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'll never, there's no such thing as the perfect prospect, but in my mind, the flaws just outweigh some of the things.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, some of those guys I just mentioned are gonna have really good, really successful NBA careers that like you might look back at 10 years and uh Colin Murray Boyles may not ever develop his jump shot, but he might end up being an all-star one day.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: He might end up being a really good rotational piece on a championship team one day.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't know how to rank those guys because sometimes I'm thinking about it from the super, super upside look.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, which one of these dudes can be a star?
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that's that's unfair to do because you kind of want to just draft NBA players.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many people that get drafted into the lottery and then out of the league in four years.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: Once their rookie contract is up, it's over with, or they're already in their second team by year number three.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: Those are complete misses.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: And if you tell me at the 10th and 11th overall pick, you just draft a player that's gonna be in the league for eight, nine years, you did a good job.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: You just did a good job.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm trying to do it because again, at number 12, my team is gonna be there.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe we will, I will lock in a little bit more.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: But I've watched a lot of film on a lot of these dudes, and I can't look past some of the bad sides.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like Jace Richardson going into the combine was one of my favorite prospects.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, watched him during the tourney run and then watched him leading up to the tourney because I was watching Illinois basketball and Big Ten is on the same network.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm watching Big Ten basketball.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: Loved him as a player.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: He looked like a real NBA guy, and then the measurement comes out and he's an even six-foot.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: Man, even six-foot players don't exist in the NBA, dog.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: They just don't.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: And the people that are even six foot and maybe listed as something else are like real dogs.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe Jace Richardson can be a dog.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: But like, I can't look at Jalen Brunson and be like, see, that can work because Jalen Brunson is an anomaly.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: But Jace Richardson is one of the best.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: He shot like 70% in the paint as six foot tall in college.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: His jump shot was amazing.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it's weird.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um uh Davion Mitchell.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: Davion Mitchell looks so small in the NBA court.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: Davion Mitchell is listed two inches taller than Jace Richardson.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: How am I supposed to convince myself that that's the guy?
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I listen, I really like Jace.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and maybe one day he'll be on the show.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but but those are the type of things that I worry about and why I can't be in position.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like some of the questions I got to ask were actually crazy.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't I didn't put this in it, but somebody's like, Kenny, if if You get offered a GM job right now.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: Would you drop content?
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: No, it has never been my life's goal to work in the front office.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: I do that shit on 2K because it's easy.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: I can imagine the amount of pressure you're under to build an organization that millions of fans are going to be rooting for.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: Not for me.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm offward evaluating the future talents.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: Every single one of my guys in Drafts Pass, not every single one, but a lot of my guys in Drafts Pass are out of the league.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: They're straight up out of the league.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I couldn't do that job.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: Hell no.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: Hell no, hell no, hell no.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: But maybe if it's not me doing it, I will bring on some of my guys.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like one of the earliest episodes of Um Small Ball was right after the draft that we we brought our guy Hoop Intellect home that we talked about this draft class.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe we we hit him up.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: We hit up some up some of the other experts and we kind of push off each other a little bit.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: But as far as me being like, yep, be looking out for this player.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: I even made the tweet.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: Who are y'all favorite prospects in this year's draft?
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that was a way for me to kind of like who am I sleeping on?
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: I watched those footage.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: I watched that footage.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: I watched that footage.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, man.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's tough.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Real life is tough.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't envy the people that have to make the decisions.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because believe it or not, um a lot of people are gonna be wrong.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: Especially in a draft like this.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because from my understanding, we know who the top two guys in are in this order, and Cooper Flag is Dylan Harper.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: After that, you can convince people of Ace, you can convince people of VJ.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: But then after that, there's like a group of like 10 guys that is like beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want Khan Kanuble to stretch the floor?
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want uh Colin Malach to be um a swing for the defensive upside and the wingspan and he shot the ball very well with a combine?
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to go with Trey Johnson, one of the biggest buckets in the draft?
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to go in a glue guy and Carter Bryant?
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: Carter Bryant might be.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: I hit the group chat a little while ago, again, during this research.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I have been keeping up with big boards and mocks all season long because I knew my team was going to be in the lottery.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just like, I need to see.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: I watch Carter Bryant go from early first to mid-20s to teens, till now some big boards have him seven.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the reason he is jumping like that, the beauty in the eye of the beholder for sure, he's one of those that can't be out of the league in three years' prospects, even though he averaged six points in college.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: He just does so many things really well on that will translate to the NBA.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: Great defensive player, shot blocker, shoots the ball well, just prototypical type of guy.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: And again, you kind of want to just draft guys that will be in the NBA, even if that means his ceiling is not the same as Derrick Queen or some of the other guys beneath him on a big board, but he might just be a real NBA player for a very long time.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'm gonna do I'm I'll just commit it to it.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm we're doing some type of draft work.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: The next one comes from VVV to M.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: Minnesota Timberwolves slash Minnesota Vikings picture.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: What is that?
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's Ant-Man and Jeddah.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, when they did the jersey swap, just like Randy Moss and KG.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: Where do you rank Halliburton amongst point guards in a league and how do you rank the point guards left in the playoffs?
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna bypass a second part, but I think it is interesting to think about the postseason when it comes to ranking players because it's a whole different animal.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: Teams scheme for you, they hunt you, they do everything in their power to win the game.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the times it stoops below and it becomes dirty work, it becomes um lesser than basketball at times, but at the end of the day, everybody's goal is to win.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: And for two years straight, Tyrese Halliburton has steered his team ship to get to the conference finals.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: You can discredit it all you want, but the the things are the things, and they're in the conference finals again.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: So going to your original question, the only point guards, and these are the definites, these are the only point guards I can definitely say as of right now are higher on my point guard list than Tyrese Halliburton.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: It is Shay, it is Luca, it is Jalen Bronson, it is Steph Curry.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: That is it.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now, of course, there are other people in the conversations, don't get me wrong, but those are my four definites, right?
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm not, I'm not even entertaining Tyrese being over any of those guys.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: I could, I could listen to the argument if you say Kay Cunningham is better than him, or if you want to say John Morant when healthy is better, or so on and so forth.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: But because those are my guys, those are the four guys definite, and Tyrese has been so damn phenomenal again, where he probably's gonna make an All-Lyman appearance again, and he's leading his team to the conference finals again.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna put him at number five right now with the idea that I could be convinced for him to go six or seven.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I think what puts it over the top right now is that over the last two series, the opposing team have tried to, you're not gonna play an All-Lymbia caliber player off the court, right?
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: But try to take advantage of his deficiencies as a ball player.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: He has never been a really good defender.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: But I think over the last couple weeks, since the postseason has started, he's really taken pride on that side of the ball.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: And of course he's gonna have lapses still.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: Some people are just gonna do that, but it's not as easy.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: I remember last year in the playoffs, teams hunted him, and it got to the point he was like, damn, this ain't looking great.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: But so far throughout this playoff run, you can hunt him, but it hasn't been to the detriment of the team.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: The team is playing so fucking good right now, and and I can't help but to look at the head of the snake on him, right?
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: Even the games where he's not giving you 28 or 29 points, he is the engine of this locomotive.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't put anybody higher than him right now, other than the guys that I mentioned earlier.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: This also goes into one of the questions that producer Greg sent me from y'all.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: This comes from David.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: David says, How much do playoffs weigh when ranking top NBA players?
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: Brunson's a top 15 guy, but in the playoffs, he's neck and neck with Jokic.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: How do you balance regular season versus playoff performances?
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: I am heavy on the postseason being more important when it comes to rankings, and then they rankings don't really matter, but the postseason definitely holds better weight.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the guys that I mentioned here, like Luka Doncic didn't have a great postseason for his own standard, but he's Luka Doncien's and he showed us three years before this.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, you know, him having a bad postseason this year by his own standard again, does not make me put him lower on the list, you know.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like he has earned that level of respect for me.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: But outside of that, when it when we talk about players climbing, the postseason has to be uh at front and center, in my personal opinion, because again, it's just a whole different beast, man.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: It it truly, truly is.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: When you think about players having great games on back-to-backs, well, that team couldn't necessarily scheme against you on Monday or scheme against this guy on Monday, then play you on Tuesday.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: We have this uniform thing, and we might make some adjustments because we have these presets for every fast point guard, we do this.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: For every back to the basket big, we do this.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: But now in the postseason, where it's like we have four days between Series A and Series B to really gear up on you, to stop you.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: And for those guys that step their game up in those situations, I got the utmost amount of respect.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: Jalen Bronson, again, is a phenomenal example of this where teams are going to do everything in their power.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the Boston Celtics, you can see Drew Holiday, all defensive caliber player.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: Derek White, all defensive caliber player.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Jalen Bronson in one-on-one, I could say he's all defensive caliber, just one-on-one.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: I know some of the peripheral defensive things he's not that amazing at.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: And he's seeing all of those different looks and playing phenomenally.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: The same thing last year.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: I value, I truly do value that, even if that means in the regular season he's only, only averaging 27.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: The postseason, we could say this rock is yours for this 12-minute stretch, take us home, and you do it time and time again.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: I don't really give a damn if somebody did the same thing in the regular season and didn't translate to the postseason.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: So it is, I would say it's like 85-15.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: I really weigh that postseason um really, really heavily.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: Really, really heavily.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, next question comes from dude.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm gonna say shout out to this dude.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: Every mailbag we've done, he's he's found his way here, which means that you are locked in.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: You are very good at asking questions.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: I need you next time you ask a question for Ask AB, please phonetically spell out your name because I hate butchering names, and I've done it every single time you've mentioned been mentioned on the show.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: Mathish uh 28.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: Would y'all ever branch out the enjoy brand into different sports?
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: Examples, enjoy baseball, enjoy golf, enjoy combat, etc.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, yes.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it might not be enjoy sport, right?
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: It might not be something like that, but it has always been the end goal.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it is extremely expensive to just have this one pillar of the brand, right?
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: So you think about all the employees we have hired.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think we're up to 18 employees.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds great, dude.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, what the hell?
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: 18 employees on the brand.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's just the basketball side.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: So it is always gonna go to um be here for sports, right?
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a basketball guy.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: That is why I hang my hat.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's not the only sport I care about, right?
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: I care about golf, I care about the NFL, I care about the MLB, but I don't feel comfortable enough with saying like the Candy Beach and podcast is gonna have this over-encompassing, you know, thing for every different sport because I'm not as knowledgeable as some other people.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite things is scouting talent.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: Saying, like, damn, you know, if we did a football sector, this is the guy I would want.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: If we did baseball, this is the guy I want.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: If we did hockey, golf, whatever.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I feel like it will happen eventually, but I want I want it to be a slow grind because I want to make sure that it is the right decision.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because the last thing I want to do is to open up one of a new leg to the company and then have to fold it in a year because we weren't profitable or we weren't able to maintain it.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: We want to make sure that our funds are because I do want to remind you, this is a business, right?
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: It is cool to make content, but we also have people to pay, we have bills to pay, and we have things to do for y'all.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I do want to make sure that we are at the point.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think if we were, if you were asking me, like, I think that the next one would be football.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever that may be two years down, might be next year, I don't know.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: The next thing will be football because that's the the biggest market.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: And dude, there's some football creators.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if the NFL understand or some of these NFL networks or people that have NFL rights understand all the great content that exists in social media around the game of football.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if you don't go on to get them, I'm gonna try my damnedest to get them eventually.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um I was gonna give a shout out.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know who listening.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be trying to steal our talent, damn it.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then, like, I don't want to miss the boat on this, but like the way golfers exploded over the last couple years, I feel like every single brand didn't have a golf sector until like two years ago.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it is becoming that big.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: Hell, I'm I'm missing the BGA championship to do this podcast for y'all, man.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: Priorities, sacrifices.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: The long of it is yes.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: The short of it, I mean the short of it is yes, the long of it is yes, but next one comes from Adidas Shorts.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: This is where we have to get real personal.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: After watching Freerun, what are your top 10 anime slash mangas?
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: I promise we won't get back to basketball, but damn it, I like talking to anime.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I do want to say um some of the newer age stuff, I'm so behind on, right?
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: I've read Spy Family, um, I was reading Sakamoto Day, so on and so forth.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: But like if it has come out in the last, let's say, two years, I probably haven't watched it.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: I may have read some of it, but I haven't watched it.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I am very far from being super knowledgeable on this topic.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: So don't be like, man, Kenny, your list is trash.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: This is goddamn, he asked me my top tier, not the top tier.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: This is my top tier, my favorite ones.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: So the order of it, hey, I spent more time on this order than I did last time.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: We did ranking point guards or numbers on the board, bro.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is tough.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: But here we go.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: My number one anime slash manga is one piece.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, manga specifically.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't watched the anime.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: It was really just a journey.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, when people talk about it being over a thousand chapters, it can be very, very intimidating.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: And trust me, it was intimidating.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: But once you're in the story, it flew by.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: I remember getting the first box set and reading that first box set in like 24 hours.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: I may be exaggerated, but like I read through that shit and I just kept going.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm I'm a few chapters behind, like a more than a few chapters behind because playoffs and everything.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: But that was by far my number one.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: So many life lessons to be learned, so many great intriguing characters.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: The world building is 10 of 10.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's not many negative things I can say about one piece, and the only negative thing people can say is that it's too long, which good stories take a long time to develop.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: How are you gonna develop a thousand characters?
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: You need a thousand chapters, duh.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: My number two, and this is one of the new age ones, is free one.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: I I couldn't put it any lower than this.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: That is again, I love world build.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think that might be one of the things you're gonna notice in my top 10.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: I absolutely love when the when I can be immersed in a world, and I thought that free one in just one season made me feel like I was in this world.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: It starts off so um different than any anime that I've really watched, again, not being like this super, super anime guy, where I didn't really know what this show was gonna be about.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: I had just heard that it was it was people were hooping and people loved it, and I eventually fell in love with so many of the characters.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like my Discord picture is from this.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it really is in a world where I thought that my anime consumption and my manga consumption was gonna be people boxing.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: This is one of them ones.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: We don't we don't need high action.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is good storytelling, this is good emotion, it's about grief, it's a it's about everything in life.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it's definitely number two.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: My number three is the attack on Titan show.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't read the manga, but attack on Titan, what can I say?
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody loves Attack on Titan because it really is like that.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: Whether you love the ending or hate at the ending, it doesn't matter.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: World building again, a one.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh make you feel like you you belong there.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know the stories, you know the twists, you know the turns, and you are you team uh you're a Jaeger?
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: You was it Jaeger truth?
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: What was it called?
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a few years, but were you team Aaron or were you team others?
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: And the boxing was great.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: Levi versus um the Bigfoot looking one.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: Damn, I miss I'm forgetting names.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_00: My number four, and this is gonna be really high on this list, but damn it, it is my list.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: Ranking of Kings season one specifically.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: Don't talk to me about the rest of that series.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: Season one, and I think the reason I loved it so much because it came out of left field.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: The art style is so different than anything I've ever watched.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's about um a little fella named Boji who is who is deaf, and he's a little guy.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: I just I don't know how it's explained it.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's like one of the ones where I need you to go in and watch it if you if you're out of the know.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: But the last two episodes, the the choreography when it comes to like the big so it's really high on my list, but I don't give a damn.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: My next was Hunter Hunter.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna see some classics on here.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: Hunter Hunter was a classic.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um nobody needs to talk about Hunter Hunter.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: The next one um is Naruto, another classic.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: Gotta have it on the list, gotta have it on the list.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: If it wasn't for Naruto, I would never even got into anime, never got into manga.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: That was my line of people's is DBZ.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: For me, it was it was Naruto.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: Next one, 20th Century Boys, the manga, slash 21st century, wherever you're at with it.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the manga, so many twists and so many turns, trying to figure out what the hell the story is really about.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I still like I want to go back and reread it because I feel like there's still some things I miss in the overall storytelling.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: Next, I realize that I'm going long, so I'm gonna speed through these last ones.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Vinland Saga, the manga.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: Vinlan's saga, good coming of age story.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I thought season one did an amazing job when it comes to the anime, and then a lot of people fall off on season two because it's not as jam-packed and action-based, but like it's not really about that.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: And again, great world building.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: Say it with me.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then my last two are the slam dunk manga.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm a I'm a fucking basketball creator, baby.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: You you had to know that Slam Dunk was gonna be there, and then very last in my top 10 is Odd Taxi.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_00: Odd Taxi confused the hell out of me my first watch through.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then eventually, um, my second watch, it was like, okay, this is it.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then I got like Full Metal Alchemist on my like re-watch list.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: I watched it when I was a kid.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, not a kid, but like earlier in my earlier in my life.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't remember too much about it, but I know it's one of them ones.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, that's my top 10.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: We'll move on, we'll move on.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: I promise.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: Round Ball Renaissance says, Have you ever truly considered switching fandoms for any sport?
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: No, but I don't blame people that do, right?
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: I I like I I I hate the idea of because I planted my flag here when I was seven years old, I need to believe in this organization, these people up top, these players, so on and so forth.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, some of these ownership groups don't give a damn about your fandom.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_00: They don't care about putting a winning product on there.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: So why should you have to suffer, right?
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, like when Luca got traded, I understood every single Mass fan that's saying, Nope, I'm out.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_00: I also understand those Mass fans like I'm back in, baby, first of all, pick.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_00: You feel me?
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I personally have never been there, even though my Chicago Bulls haven't been good in my adult life.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: But the I think the reason why I can't do it is because my fandom is so attached to the city that I'm from, right?
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's easier to switch teams if you don't have a team in your city, or as a kid, you're in Chicago, but you grew up a Lakers fan, or you grew up a fan of somebody out.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's easy to switch when you you it are it isn't rooted in you.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: And because I'm lucky enough that my favorite teams have welcomed me with open arms, like fucking Jumbotron, Celebrity Rose, Chicago Bulls, every time I'm there, which is still crazy, or us doing a merch collaboration with the Chicago Bulls, and you know, the social media team being so damn cool and so on and so forth, I would be kind of crazy like, yup, forget all of that.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then the White Sox, same thing.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: I threw out the first pitch of the baseball game two years ago, almost to the day, almost to the day, two years ago, or three years ago, 2022.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um something I never thought I'd be able to do.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: And though we were the worst team of all time last season, what am I supposed to do?
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: Wear Cubs hat fuck no.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: You feel me?
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm still rocking this.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: And shout out to the Rockies for about the they're about to break our record in one year's time.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: All right, we got a couple more.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this one's from I hate Jalen.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen a recent take saying Pacers versus Knicks, Eastern Conference Final is bad for the sport.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_00: I 100% disagree.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: That made me think I feel an overwhelming majority of NBA Twitter is more in love with narratives and drama than the actual art of the sport, making NBA Twitter unenjoyable.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, so yeah, I can agree.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's my wife used to say that like sports are they're just reality TV for like for guys.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I understand some some people, and there's nothing like if you listen to this episode and you're not a guy that cares about the art of the sport, you're not in the wrong.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_00: If you care about the narratives, if you care about the trades, or you care about ooh, this hit piece in there, I don't think you're wrong at all to feel that way, right?
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the sports that I follow, um, like baseball, I'm not watching baseball games every night.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: I don't got the time to do that shit.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_00: But like when Jeff Passon drops an article about something, I'm like, oh, that's that's pretty interesting.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: Even the NFL, even I'm watching the Bears every single week today.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_00: There was just an article dropped on ESPN talking about how Caleb Williams didn't want to come to the Bears and try to get the pick traded.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_00: No, he's okay now, don't get me wrong.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: But like that is something that, like, even if you're not in love with the art of the NFL, that is something that is very interesting.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think the problem is trying to push that onto other people by saying stuff like Pacers versus Knicks would be a bad Eastern Conference Finals.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the reality These two teams met each other in the second round last year.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: It went to seven games.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: These two teams hate each other historically.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_00: They've seen each other in the conference finals in '99 or 2000, and the winner went on to the final.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, this is a this would be a rivalry rooted in something.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all went around for that, obviously.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_00: Hell, I was barely around for that, but like this is a rivalry built in something.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it does a disservice to our sport if we say, like, yeah, man, the pace is going to the finals is awful because they're a small market team, smaller market than the Knicks.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: We're one of the few sports that only that do that type of shit.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't understand why NBA fans would care about the rate.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_00: Why do you care about the ratings?
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_00: You don't get paid.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_00: You don't get paid based on the TV deal.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_00: I think the people that care about the ratings only do that are the people that that talk shit about our sport, really.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_00: Look at the NFL.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_00: Look at the look at that TV deal versus yours.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody's getting paid right now, except for the people watching.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_00: So why do you care?
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_00: Would it be a bad Eastern Conference final?
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: Could it end up in four or five?
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_00: But that I don't think that's what makes or breaks a conference finals.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_00: If we always went for the finals that made the most sense or the finals that would be the most fun on paper, I don't think anybody would enjoy the sport it is.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_00: Both of these teams, or the Knicks are still a game away, so I don't want to put them in the conference finals right now.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_00: But the Pacers just worked their ass off to get there.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_00: Would you rather have the Cavs the way they was just looking?
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_00: Would you rather have the Bucs the way they were just looking?
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_00: No, you'd rather have the best, better team.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_00: Hell, we talked about the injuries.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_00: The Pacers are the healthy team.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_00: Would you rather have a Cavs team that got Darius Garden on one toe or Donovan Mitchell barely running up and down the court?
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_00: Would you rather have that?
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_00: Would you rather have would you rather have Boston without one of the 10 best, five best players, whatever best players in the league?
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_00: Probably not.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: Both of these two teams that we're about to see in the commerce finals, given that the Knicks win one of these next two games, are the healthier Eastern Conference teams right now.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I would rather have health versus stories.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'd rather have, and this series has stories as well, but I'd rather have health and great basketball over anything.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: NBA Twitter's a weird place.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how else to put it.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: But I feel like you can always find pockets of people that are cool.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_00: Just like in everything.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_00: Twitter in general fucking sucks.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not just an NBA Twitter thing.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_00: I blame Elon.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_00: I always will.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, a couple more.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: This next one comes from Grant.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think the future of the Warriors hold with Jimmy, Steph, Draymond combo?
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'd imagine they want to run it back just with some extra pieces, but it feels like they're racing Father Time as well.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, as y'all know, producer Greg is a big Warriors fan, so I want to I want to offer a limb to him in case he wants to kind of sit here and talk about the Warriors' um future because they are 100% racing against time.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there was a report that basically said.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: That they're probably not making any big time adjustments, even though Giannis is a dream candidate.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: So Greg, yeah, talk talk to me.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, your season officially ended um last night.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_00: And what do you think about the future going forward?
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the season ended last night, but it really ended last week.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_01: I think I came to acceptance pretty quickly that once Steph went down, they weren't going to win another game, let alone the series.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel okay.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love I love the Jimmy edition.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um I wish it was made a month or so earlier than it was.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I think it likely could have been.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I think it would have saved them from uh kind of going full tilt down the stretch for a full month or two before the playoffs even started.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_01: And that, you know, that could probably led to Steph wearing down and his body and the hamstring giving out.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um that being said, I'm I'm really optimistic about the next two years.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um there's no guarantees in this league, and Steph's injuries showed that, Tatum's injuries showed that.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and as they get older, there'll be more and more risk.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_01: But I love the three core pieces with Jimmy Dre and Steph.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I do think that uh if you fill around them someone like a Cam Johnson, or let's say instead of Kaminga, it was an Obi Top-in type of player.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think they're right in the mix.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, do I think they'll be a favorites?
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you get them a solid wing piece, maybe another backup big, uh, maybe another backup point guard.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um they are right there with the other top teams in the league, and and they have a sh they have a chance.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that's all I can ask for as a fan uh with Steph's last couple years.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think until until the Jimmy trade, the last two or three years, they really have not had a chance, which is a big bummer towards the end of Steph's prime.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_01: But let's see if they can get one more.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I I think they will have a real shot um one of the next two seasons.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think the hope is the only thing that matters in this instance, right?
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_00: Just having something, as you could say, there's a chance when again before Jimmy trade, that wasn't the case.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think John Tikaminga becomes super interesting after his last couple games, where obviously this was I don't think this was in the question, but he obviously is an NBA player.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a matter of what type of money will he be able to be offered.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I would not be surprised if based on his last couple games, there will be teams like throwing him an offer sheet and then that off that changes some things for them.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_00: I know you mentioned Cam Johnson as like maybe there's a sign of trait there or something along those lines, but based on the article that came out today about him looking off Steph Curry occasionally and they're they're um rubbing people the wrong way.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um I just don't know how you bring them back, right?
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_00: It has to be something where he is the piece to get better.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because I just there's not many ways to do that because a Curry's uh contract, Jimmy's extension, and Draymond's contract, the only way you can really get better is again through future assets like a Kaminga slash draft capital.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, they showed their hand with sitting Kaminga at the start of this playoffs.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_01: He's not coming back.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um and while it was nice to see him play well the last couple of games, I don't think that was necessarily surprising or to the Warriors or change their minds in any way.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's always been about how he fits when they are playing at their best and they are playing winning basketball with Steph on the court, and he has not been able to figure that out.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_01: And the last three offseasons has always been about, well, can he make that leap?
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_01: Can he make that leap?
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think you can keep saying that every offseason.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_01: So to your point, you know, best case scenario, he did up his value and they can have a nice sign and trade.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm not sure how he's viewed around the league outside of outside of the Warriors, but um, yeah, it's yeah, he's not someone they can bring back.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I think they showed their cards that that he's he's not.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm I'm sure they're happy that he played well, so he he improved his value.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I'm sure that that's the silver lining of it all.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I just wonder what type, like, okay, yeah, assuming there's a sign of Trey going on, what type of player would they prioritize?
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the lineups that y'all hit the run yesterday were disgusting.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think a big goal of next season should be come time playoffs, Steve Kerr should not be searching for lineups.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think I don't think that's Steve Kerr's fault, by the way.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like I think the roster they had, there weren't too many guys that you could count on game after game.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I totally understand that he was just kind of throwing random lineups, random lineups out there and seeing what worked, but they can't be doing that next year.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I don't know if they get off their young guys like a like a Moody they try to trade or a Pajemsky they try to trade.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure Lake Up does not want that.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but they've got to get real veteran NBA players that they can count on and really maximize this last this last two-year window.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think size should obviously be something that's addressed, whether that is through a starting big or just somebody that you trust more, because even like Trace Jackson Davis gave you a few moments, but also he only played the first couple minutes of every half occasionally.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_00: There are certain parts in the series where this makes sense because he was a second-round rookie, but like Quentin Post literally couldn't play, and they had to rely on like Looney coming in and do it, or just completely relying on the small ball lineup.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't think the Western Conference is getting any smaller anytime soon.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like just having some type of option as a big, it will go a long way.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think they're gonna invest in Post this summer in terms of his development.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure they're gonna bank on him developing, and he's the type of guy that I think really can.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_01: And as a regular season player, I think he, you know, can hit two or three threes a game and be a big body.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I definitely think he'll be on the team next year, and I think he'll get minutes, but to your point, yeah, they need, you know, I don't know if they can get a Miles Turner, but they need a legitimate big guy that can take the burden off of Draymond a bit.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um and yeah, Draymond wore down by the end.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um and again, he's had to he had to play the starting five for months uh towards the end of the season just to make the playoffs.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_01: So that's what they really have to avoid next season.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, Draymond had to deal with Shen Goon one series and then Julius Randle the next.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_00: Those are two of our biggest bruisers in the NBA, and that's just like really tough.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_01: And for what it's worth, I'll say on that point, and uh you know me well enough to know I'm pretty critical of the Warriors, despite being a big fan.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_01: I think they win this Wolf series much easier than they won the Rocket series, uh, if Steph's healthy.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um you think so?
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh for sure.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, even in that that first half where Steph was healthy, or first quarter, I should say, of that first game, just the amount of space he had was so much different.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I think as you saw with the last few games, yeah, the Wolves won easily every game, but they had several mental and physical lapses that with Steph you just can't make.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um the Rockets were pretty locked in the entire game.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think before the series started, I picked Wolves in six.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just kind of going off how how amazing they looked in the previous series.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_00: There were times where we watched this series versus the Warriors where there was like a quarter stretch.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_00: We're looking at each other like this is the same team that just beat the hell out of the Lakers.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_00: And you might have something here when you're saying, like, yeah, you can't do that versus Curry.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_00: But I do think that they just had the better roster.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_00: They may not have had the best play on the court because Steph Curry would be there, but I think that the better roster would have gone out there and and made some things happen.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_00: But with Curry, you probably don't go on eight-minute stretches without scoring.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_00: So it was so brutal watch.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_01: It was such a such a tough watch.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_00: So uh Kevin Knox check into a game.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh fuck.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_00: What are we doing here?
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_00: What are we doing?
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_00: Braxton Key.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we got a few more.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but before we get into that, I want to talk about some of the fan duel odds for the rest of the postseason right now.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we are gearing our way up.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_00: At least, I mean, I can't I can't say for sure.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_00: We're gearing our way up for an Indiana Pacer in New York Knicks conference finals, we mentioned a few questions ago.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_00: And with those two teams going head to head, it got me thinking about who has the higher chance to win the championship.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_00: And right now, they got the Knicks at a plus 600 to win, to win the championship.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_00: And the Paces at a plus 700 means that the the people are believing that the Knicks are the better of those two teams.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I for what it's worth, the OKC Thunder on a minus 140 to win it all.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, like OKC's the last scene to punch their, one of the last teams to punch their tickets to the conference finals, but people are still believing in them being a team, which makes sense to me.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_00: But on the Western, uh, the Eastern Conference side of that, it's it should be a good series in a dogfight.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_00: And if you ask me today, between these two teams, I think I'm leaning more pacers than Knicks.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_00: I just think that they're a little bit more complete.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I like the way Rick Carlisle has been coaching in this postseason so far.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm leaning that way.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_00: Just leaning that way.
• 52:41
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• 53:12
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, you know, I'm looking at round two of the playoffs.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_00: Those young guards and the Cleveland Cavaliers going against the Pacers defense, it might be kind of nice.
• 53:22
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• 54:09
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think we get one more question, and this is about the lottery, which has been the big topic of conversation over the last week, of course, outside of the playoffs.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_00: Comes from Keegan.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_00: Keegan asks, with the Hawks and Maverick jumping up to the first pick and the top odd teams like the Jazz, frowny face and his picture is a his profile picture is Jordan Clarkson, by the way, uh falling down.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think tanking is still a viable strategy in the NBA?
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_00: Personally, for small market teams like Utah, I don't see any other way for us to go.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_00: So the last point is probably the best point.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_00: The Jazz, the Wizards, the Hornets, these teams that will not be able to go out there and sign big name free agents.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um tanking is one of the few ways where you can get better.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_00: Whether that be you tanking to draft your next superstar or tanking to the point where your picks are super valuable, where you can trade those picks for something.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_00: There really is no other way.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_00: You do have an outlier like the Indiana Pacers, who have one top 10 pick in 30 years, being Benedict Mathrin a couple years back.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_00: But again, I think that might just be an anomaly situation, right?
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like I don't think many teams are going to be able, any other teams to be able to draft that whale in random spots.
• 55:21
  SPEAKER_00: So tanking kind of is the only way to do it.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_00: But as you mentioned, it it does not, at least now since 2019, when they flatten the odds, tanking is less of a sure thing now than it ever has been.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it's never been a sure thing, right?
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_00: So it's less of a sure thing now.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_00: Where your team, the Jazz, just lost 60, what, seven, 68 games in a season, and their reward for that is not a not a star.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, okay, what could the Utah Jazz do differently to build up their team?
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think the one thing that, and again, talking about the Jazz specifically, I think the best thing they could have done is not waited to year number three after trading Donald Mitchell and Rudy Gobert to finally tank, right?
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, these other years, they started off the season, a 500 team through a month through two months, and it's like, okay, now we'll pull the rug and start to lose.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then you walk in with low odds, and then you don't have the luxury of jumping up.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then not only do you not have the luxury of jumping up, it's just harder to hit draft picks the later you are in the draft.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, I don't want to give up on anybody in the NBA.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_00: I hope everybody lives their dream, but like a Cody Williams pick looks pretty bad 82 games into his NBA career or however many games he actually played this regular season.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_00: And we can go on and on about your recent picks.
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_00: And it does suck because the Jazz had an opportunity, again, just sticking on the Jazz since that's your team, had an opportunity if they did, you know, end up having the one pick or the two-pick to get a foundational staple.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_00: But now you're about to go, about to go into your fourth year post-trading away your two All-NBA, two all-star players, and you don't have a single pillar of a player.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_00: Now, maybe that guy is on the roster and he hasn't showed his head just yet.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_00: I like Isaiah Collier.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_00: I like what I saw from Kyle Philipowski the last two months of the season.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_00: But like, I would kind of be a jackass and say, like, yep, we help him build around Isaiah Collier or help him build around Philipowski or Cody Williams or Jesus Jusang or Larry Mark.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it's really the only way around.
• 57:11
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the questions I asked Adam Silver is like, do you think that the flattened odds is working?
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, Yeah, but he also said it's going to take more time to figure out.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_00: We only have uh what's now six-year sample size of what the flattened odds can do.
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_00: And again, you did see the jump from Atlanta, you did see the jump from the Mavericks.
• 57:29
  SPEAKER_00: We've seen jumps here or there.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_00: But it does hurt some of the smaller markets.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's fair to say.
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's fair to say.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, sometimes it even just hurts straight up the worst team, where you know, the worst team has dropped to number five three years in a row.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and even the team that was the worst team for a couple years stretch, the Detroit Pistons finally made it happen, but they didn't make it happen because of the fifth overall pick they got two years in a row.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_00: They made it happen because they had the number one a year before that.
• 57:58
  SPEAKER_00: Kay Cunningham is the guy.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, you draft well at five.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I saw Thompson, but that wasn't the swing that this the one that the staple that you got was Cade, and then we do the rest around that.
• 58:09
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just harder and harder and harder the further you get away from that.
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I don't think I think we're so early on, and I kind of agree with Silver in this case.
• 58:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think we're so early on that it it doesn't make sense to change it back or change the the strategy just yet.
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think we still need more sample size to figure some things out.
• 58:27
  SPEAKER_00: We have to see what happens with the Jazz, with the Wizards, or some of these other teams that haven't had the luxury of jump, or some of these other teams that have only fallen in the draft before we say, like, ah, this is completely, completely wrong.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_00: Because next year, you might have AJ DeBonsa, right?
• 58:40
  SPEAKER_00: He is it he is in BYU this season, right?
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_00: So you might have that, and you're like, okay, yeah, we failed in the Cooper Flag draft, but we got this guy.
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_00: So it makes up for.
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_00: I've been seeing some, some, some things, some um warns from the audience, like, hey man, what if we did it the way the NFL did it or way we do it there?
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_00: I just that that encourages tanking even more.
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then the NFL is different, right?
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_00: NFL teams aren't necessarily tanking, but in the NBA, you told me you're guaranteeing me the number one pick if I'm the worst team, you're gonna have a team win five games specifically for Cooper Flag.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get into a couple of the questions from the audio listeners.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yo, what's up, Kenny?
• 59:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I've been a big fan for a while.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_00: I was wondering what your favorite playoff series of all time is.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks.
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_00: My favorite playoff series of all time.
• 59:28
  SPEAKER_00: My favorite playoff series of all time.
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna try to steer away from like Golden State Cleveland, the shot, the block.
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna try to steer away from that.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because I think everybody enjoyed this series outside of Warriors fans.
• 59:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, my favorite series of all time might be 2009, round one, Chicago versus Boston.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_00: But even that feels like a cop-out because you probably assumed that I was gonna say that rookie derrick rose versus you know three Hall of Famers, and you know, we we take a few games, and that was a great series as a kid.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_00: Damn, dude, uh give me give me a second, I gotta look at playoff series of pass.
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_00: I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it.
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_00: I got it.
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_00: My favorite playoff series of all time is Spurs Clippers 2015.
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_00: Spurs Clippers 2015.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, when I tell you they're 2015 is the year I graduated high school, and excuse me, um there are so many moments throughout this series where I'm standing up watching, like, like, and I'm not a fan of either of these two teams, granted, my favorite player of all time is in the series, but I don't I don't necessarily care who ends up winning, but game two comes down to the last couple possessions.
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh game five comes down to the last couple possessions, game six comes down to the last couple possessions, and game seven is one on a buzzer beater by far, by far.
• 1:00:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now that I now that I had to look at just throughout history, I remember this series being my absolute favorite.
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_00: And again, it does help that my GOAT um ended up hitting um a game winner with uh one second to go in game seven.
• 1:01:05
  SPEAKER_00: Easily, easily that one.
• 1:01:07
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what, man?
• 1:01:09
  SPEAKER_00: I hate the fact that these NBA players gotta age, man.
• 1:01:13
  SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all wasn't around when Chris Paul was really locked in, bro.
• 1:01:16
  SPEAKER_00: Chris Paul in the series, what did you average?
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_00: He averaged 22, 8, and 5, 51% from the field, 43% from three in the game seven win.
• 1:01:26
  SPEAKER_00: And the unfortunate part about the series is if you remember, um, Chris Paul did that at one leg, and like he's doing his post-game interview, and he's damn near crying because he recognizes that he won't be able to play next series.
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um and he didn't.
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_00: Did he did he play a single minute in the series?
• 1:01:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he missed the first two games.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_00: He missed the first two games.
• 1:01:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, he missed the first two games.
• 1:01:46
  SPEAKER_00: They lose in seven to Houston, and this is when Blake Griffith was like, okay, I guess I'll do it because they took game one.
• 1:01:52
  SPEAKER_00: It was like one of them triumphant wins, and they ended up losing to James Harden in game seven.
• 1:01:56
  SPEAKER_00: But uh yeah, my favorite one for sure.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for watching or listening to this episode of Almost said numbers on the board.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_00: She's small ball with Kenny Beachum.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, appreciate everybody that submitted questions.
• 1:02:05
  SPEAKER_00: We had over a hundred questions.
• 1:02:06
  SPEAKER_00: I had to narrow it down to some of my favorite ones.
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh leave a like, subscribe, and I'll see y'all next week.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_00: Peace.