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These NBA Teams Have A Lot To Decide… · Kenny For Real

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about NBA gap years. It's been on my
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: mind over the last couple of hours or so, and
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: I feel like this upcoming season of twenty twenty five
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: to twenty twenty six season, there are a few teams
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: that are uniquely in a position to potentially have a
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: gap year. Now, in my mind, the way I would
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: define gap year in the sports census, a team that
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: has traditionally been good over the last few seasons that
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: have to turn the dial back for one year, and
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: with the attempt to eventually turn that dial right back up.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: It's like school, right.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: I was, in theory, supposed to be taking a gap
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: year to see if YouTube could work.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Ain't never go back.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: So my gap year turned into a lifetime and some
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: of your favorite teams been on a lifetime gap year,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. But there are two teams
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: in basketball, one of them that was just in the
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: NBA Finals that could potentially be turning that dial back
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: a little bit for the future. Now, before we talk
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: about the gap year, I want to talk about how
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: you even got here.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: You know, it's the off season, right.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: And people are going through old tweets and and you
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: know last year Patrick Williams signed a five year, ninety
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: million dollar and some bonehead on X quoted as saying
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: good value. W that guy didn't know what the hell
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: he was talking about, because comparative to the contract that
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: he was paid, Patrick Williams was one of the worst players.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: In basketball last season.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: So I'm thinking about that, not just because I'm a
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Bulls fan and I have to root for this team
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: and Patrick Willis. If're watching this video, trust me, I
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: still believe.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: These a little bit.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: I was thinking about the twenty twenty draft class and
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: how there are a few teams that we missing in
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: that draft. Of course, the Bulls being at the top
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: of the list. When you jump up from whatever odds
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: they had to the top four, you needed to hit
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: that pick, and we did it again. The Bulls are
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: not one of those teams that was on the gap year.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: They're just perennial league really bad. But in that same
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: draft class, there was a team also in the top
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: four that was going through their gap year, and that
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: team was, of course, the Golden Say Warriors. We have
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: to remember what we were on the timeline the year
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: before this, they had just lost in the NBA finals.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Kevin Durant went over to Brooklyn, and now the Olden
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: State Warriors are trying to put some pieces back together. Also,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Klay Thompson of course been out with his multiple leg injuries. Right,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: they go into that season, Steph Curry plays what four
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: games before he breaks his hand against the Suns, and
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: now they're looking around like, hey, we have our own
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: first round pick the season. Let anybody who for us,
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: this is going to be our gap year. And well
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: they were bad, like really really bad, and they win
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: with fifteen games that season, and that is how they
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: end up with the number two overall pick. In the
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: midst of their gap year, they traded away some assets
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: to end up getting the future first round pick. That
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: future first round pick turned into, of course, Jonathan Kaminga.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: So during their gap year they jump up to the
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: second overall pick. The year after that they were better
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: but not as good. So the next year they have
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: two lottery picks again that turn into Kaminga and Moses Moody.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: And because of the situation with Kaminga and we don't
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: know where his value is at or if he'll be
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: on the team next season. If he is on the team,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: who's gonna be happy, and so on and so forth.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: We can just as of today, say that the three
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: picks they had in the twenty twenty draft class, in
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: the twenty twenty one draft classes, we're missing, just missus.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: The gap year is.
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  Speaker 1: Supposed to bridge what your previous team looked like, the
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: team that was a contender or the team in this
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: case that won multiple championships, was supposed to bridge them
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: to a new era where they could continue their contention.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Now and don't say words defense. Of course, they went
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: on to win another championship. A lot of the young
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: guys that we mentioned in the twenty twenty drivet class
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: and the twenty twenty one drivet class and none of
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: a lot of those guys didn't really contribute that much
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: to that championship, but damn it, they won a championship,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: and they continue to keep that window open. But now
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: we're in twenty twenty five. One of those guys is
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: off the team and damn it, basically out of the league.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: And both of the other guys are there, but we're
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: questioning what their role even looks like. So you can
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: say that in the Warriors gap year they didn't get
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: full value, and again, get it full value in the
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: gap year based on all the instances that I have
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: in my head I've been thinking about over last couple hours.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Bridging that gap has been extremely difficult for teams across
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: the association in recent history. You could argue that the
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia seventy six Ers just completed gap year in the
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty four to twenty twenty five season where they
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: made a big acquisition in Paul George, he didn't play well,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Joe Labidis in and out of the lineup, and they
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: ended up retaining their our first round pick.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: It ended up getting VJ. Edgecomb.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Now we still have to figure out what Vj's going
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: to turn into as a player and figure out if
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: that was more of bridging the gap or starting or
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: turning a low leaf completely. We don't really know the
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: seventy six ers, but you know they were in a
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: similar situation and again getting back to the twenty twenty
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: draft class again, even though the Warriors did go on
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: to win more more championship, shout out to Wigginson company.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: If they would have hit on one of the three
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  Speaker 1: picks that were talking about the twenty twenty and twenty
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  Speaker 1: two and one draft class, we could be looking at
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: the Warriors a lot differently in twenty twenty five. Now
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: in their small stretcher they had Jimmy Butler, Steph Curry,
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: and Draymond Green They were pretty damn good. And Steph
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Curry got injured in the postseason and we don't really
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: know what would.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: Have happened if he stayed healthy.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: But I find it hard to believe that, based on
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  Speaker 1: what we just saw in the twenty twenty five playoffs,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: that this team full of dinosaurs and their defense like
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: legendary dinosaur and Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler and Dremon Greenhall
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: are all gonna be Hall of Famers. Could that team
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: of dinosaurs win four series in the postseason? Like how
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: physical and grinded out every single game was the war
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: for the OKC Thunder or every single game was for
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: the Indiana Pacers.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: It's hard for me to see that old team being
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: able to do that.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: But that's why if you hit on twenty twenty or
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, these young guys us ring in and
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: it's like, we're cool.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: Jimmy, of course you can do your thing, but I
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: got this. They don't really have that.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: But again, let's get to now the current day, and
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: I'm going to start off with the Pacers. Now, the
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Pacers and in the Celtics, those are the two teams
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: I'm really talking about in today's video. Both of their
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: staffs have come out publicly and said, stop with this
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: gap year. Shit, don't call it that we're trying to
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: compete in of course they should be saying that, right.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: I mean, the Pacers just were in the Game seven
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: of the NBA Finals, but they lost their All NBA player,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: a guy that has been the system, and Rick car
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: ologe is. At a really good interview with Kaitlyn Cooper
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: at Basketball, she wrote, I'll put the l in the description,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: go subscribe because he's one of the best in the
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: entire game right now. And it opened up my eyes
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  Speaker 1: a lot to like, I guess, the mindset of a
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: legendary coach. And of course he's not looking at this
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: season as a gap year. He's talking about how Nimhar
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: is gonna have to step up, or how Benedig Mather
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: has continued to evolve his game, or how Pascal Siyakam
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: has molded his game to be pacer centric but now
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: he may have to turn it back just a little
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: bit to get back into your bag, Pascal, because you're
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: missing Tyrey's Halliburn. All again, such a great interview. But
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: not only have they missing Tyrese. Of course, they lost
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: mouse turn into the Milwaukee Bucks. So even if they
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: believe that they're going to compete, and they believe that
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: they're going to go on another deep playoff run, it's
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: hard for me to get there without Halliburn.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: And Pacers have been a team historically that.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Just competes like this is a team that's going to
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: be in the playoffs every single year, regardless of the situation.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: I think on the team the just went to the
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: NBA Finals, only one of those guys in the top
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: ten pick, and that was Bendedig Matherer. Like everybody else
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: on that team, if they were drafted by the Pacers
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: were a later draft pick again acquired via trade. So
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: it will be I don't know, foreign for them to
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: look at it as a gap year. That's never been
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: their priorities, but I could see it being in both.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: Of these cases.
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  Speaker 1: The Pacers in the Celtsics case a blessing to look
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: at it as a gap year. Now in the Golden
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: State Warriors, since in twenty twenty. They didn't go into
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: that season thinking it was going to be a gap
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: year against Steph Curry broke his hand and then the
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: wheels fell off, and even though Steph Curry could have
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: played a little bit earlier, they were like, Okay.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: Let's retain his pick. Let's have it be a good pick.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: So again, I'm not advocated for Rick Carlisle to be
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: pulling Pascal Siakam in a close games that they could
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: get a loss. But I'm thinking about what the twenty
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: twenty six draft class looks like in thinking if they
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: ended up having a lottery pick, it could potentially be
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: more beneficial to them versus being a playoff team and maybe.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: Lose it in the first round.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Again, never advocating for a team with this much talent
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: to be tanking or anything like that, but it just
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: crossed my mind quite a bit because like right before,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: right before Tyres Haliburton tore his achilles, the Pacers acquired
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: their own first round pick back right. So it's a
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: unique circumstances where a team that was coming off in
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: the NBA Finals has their own draft capital. It feels
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: like these teams that end up going to the NBA
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: Finals have traded away everything of value to build the
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: teams to go to the finals, but they acquired that
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: pick right back before tarries went down, So they kind
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: of hold the keys to their own destiny in the way.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Obviously the lottery balls go this way that way. You
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: can fall from the best odds at a fifth pick anyway, but.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: They kind of hold their own destiny.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: And what we've learned over the last couple of lotteries
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: since that you don't necessarily have to be a fifteen
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: win team in order to win the lottery.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Think about the last couple teams.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: I mean, the Alanta Hawks were not a team that
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: won twenty games, and they got rece Ichay the.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: Mavericks, they were almost a playoff team.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: If it was for Anthony Davis and Carie going down,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: they probably would have been a playoff team. And in said,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: they won the lottery. So being in the back end
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: of missing the playoffs again connect you a top pick. Now,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: that's a lot a lot of er to even get there,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: a lot a lot of variables and cross fingers.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: To even win the lottery or jump up in the lottery.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: But again it's something that is in my head when
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: it comes to the Pacers, they have the talent to
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: make the playoffs, especially in the Eastern Conference, but would
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: that be more valuable they're getting a lottery pick. I
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: don't know right now. I'm just I'm just spitball. I'm
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: just talking to you the other teams. Of course, to
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: Boston Celtics, who were a second a fro team, and
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: we knew for a very long time that they were
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: gonna have to make some big time adjustments to the roster.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: They traded away Port Zingis, They traded away Drew Holliday.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: Our Horford is still right now a free agent, but
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: everybody's assuming he's gonna be a Warrior one day. Kanar
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: or Lou Cornett always do that. Lou Cornett is now
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: San Antonio spur. They just lost so many big rotational
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: pieces for them to you know, cut that money.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: And again, very.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: Similar to the Indiana patan Tyre's Halliburn, Jason Tatum is
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: out for the entirety of next season as far as
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: we know. You know, Tatum seems like he's healing like Superman,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: so maybe he don't don't be out for the entire season.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: But they aren't even circumstances too, where they also own
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: their own first round pick.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: So could they do the gap year?
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: And again, they still have Jaylen Brown, they say have
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: Derek White, and they still have some of the other
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: pieces that helped them be the great team that they
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: were they won a championship a few years ago, like
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Peyton Pritchard or Sam Houser or so on and so forth.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: But I look at some of the moves they've done,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: and of course these are money moves more than anything.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: But like Chris Bousche is gonna be their starting center
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: next season from him and the mess Kita, one of
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: those guys is gonna be starting, and like playing thirty
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: plus minutes a game, hoops, I have both of them
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: starting right, So Derick White, Anthony Simons, Jaylen Brown, Corus
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Buchet and the mass Cada. I don't know exactly how
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: the line is gonna look, but this roster right now
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: is you know what I'm saying, It's a really interesting.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: It's a really interesting lineup.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: And again, just like the Pacers, the Celtics staff, they've
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: turned down all the reports that mentioned as being a
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: gap year.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: But the talent is the talent at the end of
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: the day. And this is like a team.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: That's missed the postseason once since two thousand and eight
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: when they won the championship. So it's, you know, be
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: different for them to try to do something like this.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: And you know, they've been so good and bridging the
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: gap without having their own draft capital, and of course
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: some of that and a lot of that is them
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: having the picks that ended up being Jason Tatum and
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: Jaylen Brown from other trades and so on and so forth.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: But I'm just talking to the guys about, Okay, when
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Tatum comes back to this injury, let's let's assume that
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: he's not gonna play the season. Let's just say take
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: your whole time getting completely health to Jason. He's not
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: gonna play next season. How does this team look like
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: a contender again with Jason Tatum comes back and the
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: only way to get there, at least in my mind today,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: August whatever it is, I don't know, have a decent
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: pick and draft war, because as of next season, when
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: it comes to the people that are on their roster
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: right now, Chris Bouche will be a free agent and
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: then Efferony Simons twenty seven million be off the books.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: We don't know exactly if he's a future Celtic or
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: just a current Celtic, but it's not as like they're
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: going to be able to open up a bunch of
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: money in order to sign somebody free agency. And the
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: only way you acquire the top talent that can get
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: you back into contention is if you trade one of
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: your so top talented guys. You traded Derek White, you
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: traded Jaylen Brown, and so on, and I just don't
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: see that as a likelihood with his team now. Could
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: be wrong, right, They traded away Marcus Smart, a guy
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: that I felt like would never get traded from the Celtics,
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: and they traded him at the perfect time and to
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: maximize his value. But having a lottery pick in the
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: mix here, especially if it's one of the top lottery picks,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: could just again bridge the gap from the Tatum led
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Celtics to again still being Tatum led, but more talent
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: around him, even if it is younger talent. Missoula just
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: got his extensions. So again, they're definitely not thinking about
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: this being a gap year, but it might be a
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: blessing in disguise if they decide to run that we
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: would never know, right, Like I mentioned with the Curry thing,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: they didn't go into the twenty twenty nineteen twenty twenty
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: season thinking that Curry is gonna break his hand knock
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: on wood. I don't want to see any more injuries
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: because we're not gonna see Tatum, Lillard, Halliburton.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: Irving, Like who else am I missing?
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: That's like four of the top most exciting players of
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: watching this in my mind, So I don't want to
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: wish no injuries, but you never really know in this association.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: Also, it was just like a passing thought when it
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: comes to gap years.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: One team that I thought was going through a gap
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: year was when the Raptors were in Tampa. You remember
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: that arc where the Raptors had to play in Tampa
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: Bay because COVID restrictions, they didn't they couldn't play in Toronto,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: And that felt like a gap year, and they ended
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: up getting Scotty Barnes and then they eventually traded the
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: rest of the roster. Right, there was no k Lo,
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: there was no Pascal, there was no so on and
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: so forth. But that felt like it was gearing towards
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: a gap year, but it ended up being a full
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: tear down, so I'm struggling with trying to think of
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: different teams that went through gap years successfully or not successfully.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: You're living in a Commons section when I'm missing because
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: It's gotta be more examples other than just the last
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: five years of Hoops