Latest / Small Ball with Kenny Beecham / REACTION to NBA Cup Games

Transcript

REACTION to NBA Cup Games · Small Ball with Kenny Beecham

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome in and welcome back to Small Ball with Kenny Beach.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_03: And today we are talking about all things NBA Cup because we had Orlando versus Milwaukee, banger, OKC versus Dallas, banger, New York versus Atlanta, banger, and last but definitely not least, Houston versus the Golden State Warriors through it all the way back to what 2001 with a grinded out game, defensive-oriented game, absolute banger.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_03: Now, Adam Silver, I don't know what his legacy is going to be like when he decides to retire and all, but he got a lot of makes.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of the cool things that we see in today in today's basketball is Adam Silver and this NBA Cup is one.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_03: Even though I hate, absolutely hate.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_03: One thing that I will remember forever, Adam, is the damn second apron.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_03: The second apron might be one of the three worst decisions of your tenure, but regardless, the NBA Cup is absolutely like that.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_03: And I think one of the reasons it is is because we've seen buy-in from pretty much everybody, from the coaching to the players to the fans.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_03: I'm seeing people say that they love the way the courts look.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_03: And luckily, throughout our quarterfinals, we didn't have any of the ugly piss yellow courts.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_03: We actually had some pretty decent courts.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_03: The NBA Cup has been electric, and now we're down to our final four teams, and that's going to be going to Vegas.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_03: I mentioned it before.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_03: If the Bulls ever get to the point where they're going to the Final Four for the NBA Cup, I will fly my ass to Vegas to support my team.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it seems like through the first couple years, we do get the Cinderella run from a specific team last year.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_03: I would count the Indiana Pacers.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_03: This year, it looks like it's the Atlanta Hawks who was in the toughest, the toughest of the divisions when it comes to the Eastern Conference, having the Bulls in there, of course, having the Cavs, having the Boston Celtics, and for them to be in the final four after that, come on, man.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_03: It's a lot to talk about.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_03: So I want to I want to break down all four games that we've we've seen through the quarterfinals, then later talk about predictions for the semis and the and the actual final, the team that will be taking on the half a million dollars for every single player.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_03: Still don't know what the coaches get other than the pat on the back, but we'll we'll talk about it all.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: And this is no particular order.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_03: But one thing I did recognize, you know, I go on this retrospective thing towards the end of every single year.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we're we're closing out 2024 really, really soon.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_03: And I kind of like to go through my content from that year and say, okay, this is what I did, this is what I liked, this is what I didn't like.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: And one thing I wouldn't say I didn't like, but one thing I notice a lot, specifically on this show, is I really, really struggle with almost exclusively talking about the bigger picture, kind of getting rid of the notes that I take on the nightly basis when I watch these games and then come into this podcast and say, hey, this team looks like this, and I wonder if it translates to later.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_03: When in a lot of times, whether it translates is not really important.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm gonna be talking about not the bigger picture, even though it is cool to look at OKC versus Dallas and be like, oh, these are my top two teams in a Western conference.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, I want to see this as a playoff series, but instead kind of break it down for what it was, which is a one-game series and talk about it.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_03: So I don't know if y'all remember, there was this little old podcast about a year earlier in this year called Mind the Game Podcast.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_03: Y'all know who's in that?
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe the greatest player of all time, LeBron James, and now new NBA coach JJ Reddick had a show.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_03: And one of the first episodes, they talked about blitzing players.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_03: And in that, I vividly remember them talking about Luka Doncic being the most blitzed player in the league by far, where he was number one and the number two guy at that K in that time was Kay Cunningham.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_03: Luka was blitzed twice as many times as Kay Cunningham, who was sitting in the number two spot.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: And that's pretty much has been the recipe for a Luka Doncic team, right?
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_03: And OKC did that a ton in this game.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_03: The final score was 118 to 104 for the people that missed it.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_03: And they blitzed so very heavily.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_03: And it makes sense, right?
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_03: Luka Doncic in itself is one of the best offensive engines in all the basketball, if not the best offensive engine outside of Jokic.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, so a lot of teams have opted to play four on three defensively because they would rather send two at the ball and Luka and make the other things happen.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_03: And when they did that, it generated a ton of corner three-pointers.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_03: And that was one of the things that the Dallas Mavericks did great last season.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_03: They generated the most three-pointers from the corners of anybody in basketball.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_03: This year it's a lot less than that.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_03: And in this game, the Dallas Mavericks hit a season high in three-point attempts from the corner, which I think the number was 17.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_03: So that was the exact game plan from the OKC Thunder.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_03: We're gonna throw two at the ball on a blitz and let the rest beat us.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_03: And it worked out very well.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_03: And one of the reasons it did is because the Boston Celtics and the OKC Thunder are maybe the only two teams that I feel like have the personnel at the point of attack defense to get away with doing something like this.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_03: Because Luka Doncic saw a gauntlet of great defensive players: Kasen Wallace, Alice Caruso, Jay Dub, and help, and Lou Dore.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_03: There's not going to be a lot of teams that can put together this great of a defensive-oriented uh uh regarding the lead ball handling.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_03: And again, the Boston Celtics did this well in the finals as well, where it was Derek White, it was Drew Holiday.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_03: Eventually ended up being a ton of Jalen Brown, but they were able to throw so many different options at Luka Doncic, and Luka Donta is one of the smartest players in basketball where, you know, you can't throw the same thing at him twice because he's gonna generate a good open look.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: Where in this game, they held Luka Doncic to what, one field goal through the first two and a half quarters, which is absolutely insane.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_03: OKC's personnel is just a lot.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, we saw this in the playoffs of last year when they played against each other.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_03: And um, the two main things for the OKC Thunder that really let them down is the three-point shooting and the rebounding.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_03: And both of those things I I can say have been fixed, I guess.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_03: Because Isaiah Hartenstein, listen, I on uh the grand scheme, the OKC Thunder are still one of the worst defensive rebounded teams at basketball.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_03: But I think that number is kind of skewed because they went through a two and a half week stretch where they didn't have any center at all, where Jay Dub was holding it down from the five position.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_03: But in the times that they've had Isaiah Hartenstein or the times they did have Chet Holmgren, the rebounding problem had, you know, figured itself out.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_03: When Hartenstein is on the court, OKC is now an above-average defensive rebounded team, ranking in the 67th percentile.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_03: See, nobody needs them to go out there and be the best rebounded team of all time.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_03: But as long as they weren't giving up second and third chance opportunities, they have the recipe to be maybe the NBA champion.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_03: And in this one, we saw a ton of offensive rebounds from the OKC Thunder.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_03: And a lot of them came when they were running that small ball lineup.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_03: I remember one possessor specifically where they got two offensive boards, where it was Case and Wallace really hustling, or the one play at the end of the half where Alice Caruso got the loose ball and kicked it out, and it led to a three.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_03: Those are the type of things OKC really can do and will do.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_03: But one thing I did notice when watching this game, and uh, one of the first things that is in my notes for my recap of this is I cannot express how much the Dallas Mavericks missed PJ Washington in this game.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_03: PJ was a late scratch with an illness.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_03: According to a lot of teams, the bubonic plague is going across the association where every single team has so many people questionable, then out for sickness.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_03: It started with, I guess, Joel Embiid, who gave it to Jimmy Butler, who gave it to this dude.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_03: There's a whole like mapping of it all on Reddit, if you want to go see it.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_03: It's actually insane that somebody took the time to figure it out.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_03: But everybody in the league right now is sick, and PJ was a lay scratch.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_03: And it sucks because this is a win-a-go-home game, and I would love to see both of these teams near full strength as possible.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, there's no Chet Homegrown, but as full strength as possible, because I had to go back to my notes from earlier in the year because this is not the first time these two teams have faced off this season.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_03: And in their first games, I went through my notes.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_03: P.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_03: J.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_03: Washa in that first appearance had 27 points and 10 rebounds.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_03: And one thing that really stood out in that game is PJ's defense on Shea Gilders Alexander.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_03: Now, one thing when you do not have PJ Washington is when you're going against these teams like the John Morant of the world, the Shea Gibbs Alexanders of the world, or the other great ball handlers across basketball, the Dallas Mavericks just don't have a ton of options outside of PJ.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_03: Najee Marshall, who's a really good defender and also had a really good game in this one, he's still just not enough.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_03: And in that game from a few weeks ago, halfway through the third quarter, you did see PJ Washington get switched on to Shea Gibbs Alexander and did a damn good job.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_03: I think Shea only scored one basket for the rest of the game after you saw him being guarded by a plethora of other people through the first three and a half quarters where he was dogging.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_03: And then when PJ got on him, it really stopped him.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_03: And they played a ton of drop coverage in this game specifically, the NBA Cup game.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_03: And when I went back through my notes, that wasn't necessarily the case a few weeks back when they played against Shea Gills Alexander and the OKC Thunder, where they were actually blitzing Shea quite a bit, getting that ball out of his hands.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_03: And one thing you're gonna notice about Shay when you see him play, if you're running drop, you're you're dead.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_03: You're dead.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_03: He's one of those players.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_03: And we we don't get a ton of players like this throughout history.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um where every shot that he takes is a good shot.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like right now in basketball, we have Jokic that does that.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_03: It's a lot of the bigger guys in basketball, let's be honest, because those guys are closer to the basket.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_03: Where Shea, if you're playing job coverage, you know he's one of the best mid-range assassins across basketball.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_03: So he's just gonna make the shot.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_03: And even when he misses, it's not because it was a bad look.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_03: It's just like one of the things that makes him one of the best players in basketball.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_03: And for him to be able to have possessions at a time where he's just off ball and let other people cook, it's it's some pretty, pretty special stuff.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_03: So the Mavericks definitely miss PJ Watson in this one.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_03: If there is any silver lining to them not getting that free 100k that you get from advancing to Vegas, is that you saw guys like Omax Prosper give them really big minutes.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_03: I was kind of surprised there.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_03: Najee Marshall give them really good big minutes, and that's not a surprise.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_03: He's been doing that all season long.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm liking a lot of the stuff that the Dallas Mavericks have done over the last couple weeks.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_03: I do believe that in this game, specifically, again, trying to get away from the big picture ideas, but in this game, specifically, Coach Mark Dayton, he outcoached Jason Kidd because he did end up changing things throughout the game.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_03: Where I was really surprised to see, again, no blitz for Shea Gills' Alexander, or super surprised to see, you know, he went with the same Spencer Denwitty, you know, they're blitzing Shea Gilles Alexander.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_03: Spencer Denwitt, we need you as a secondary playmaker when we do this four-on-three offensive thing.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_03: I really thought that Mark just had all of the pieces.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_03: And a lot of this is mostly like talent-based.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, okay, see is one of the two most talented teams in basketball, but they do have this guy at the front of it with Coach Mark that can really put together this great, great scheme.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_03: And to watch them do this, to see Alex Caruso come around and hit a couple shots after he's really been struggling offensively this season was pretty cool.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_03: His play, I mentioned it already at the end of the half, was really this tone setter.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_03: And I mentioned uh Isaiah Hartenstein earlier.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, he's been as perfect as you could have imagined.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_03: You know, when you gave him that big old contract, there were question marks on whether or not he's even worth all of that.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_03: Remember, this guy is a second-round pick that went on to like four different teams before he found his home in New York, and his home in New York only lasted for a little bit.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_03: And there were some questions on whether or not what we saw in the playoffs is something that he can translate, and he has been able to do that completely.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_03: Or when he is on the court, the team is just a great defensive team.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_03: Now, granted, that's kind of the case for Chet.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_03: That even was the case when it was J Dub at the five, but the fact that we are able to tack on a 13 rebound or um performance for Isaiah Hartenstein is really special.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_03: I do also love that even though this is a winner-go-home scenario, Coach Mark is still trying to develop talent throughout the game, where um a guy like AJ Mitchell, who's a real rotational player for them, ends up getting minutes over a guy like Aaron Wiggins, who we know is safe basketball, where he's like, this guy is a rookie and maybe the highest stakes game of the season for us.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_03: We want him to go out there and score.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_03: We need him to go out there and play.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_03: And he did.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_03: He played 10 minutes.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I thought this was going to be a good Clay Thompson game, and it did end up happening earlier in the game.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_03: He ended up with 19 points, but I thought defensively he was just overtasted in those possessions where he was um supposed to be guarding Shay, and they almost completely eliminated the thing, the bread and butter for Luka Doncic, is and that is the lob threat.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_03: Derek Lively, five points.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_03: Daniel Gaffer, nine points.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_03: And a lot of those was just them completely getting rid of the thing and they killed them in the postseason.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_03: I think this is a butt and rivalry across basketball.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_03: At least I'm praying because we're getting two of the top, what, five, six players in basketball.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know where you got these players ranked, and they're primes, their young primes, early primes, going against each other.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm praying that we get another series of this for years and years to come.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I do know that we did end up having a little stretch from Kyrie Irvin where he hit what three straight threes or two straight threes in the layup.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_03: But other than that, he was kind of non-existent.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_03: Again, Luka Doncic ended up with 16, 11, and 5.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of those happened where it's kind of already too late.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_03: And you did see that the Dallas Mavericks going on this mini run, but then you saw Shea and Company come out and just ice it and all.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_03: Shout out to OKC.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we're gonna talk about a little bit later.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_03: They are like the heavy favorite to win this whole damn thing.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_03: Let's go to the other game from two nights ago.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_03: The Orlando Magic and the Milwaukee Bucks.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_03: The Bucs went 114 to 109, a game that the Milwaukee Bucks were eight and a half point favorite.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_03: And a lot of that has to do, of course, with no Franz Wagner and no Palo Bancaro.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_03: And they've only played one game before this without them, and they ended up winning that game, um, which is pretty dope.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_03: It feels like they keep having people step up to the plate and hitting home run, home run after home run.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_03: And in this game, it kind of was that for our guy Jalen Suggs, man.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_03: Jalen Suggs is one of my favorite players coming out of the draft, and mostly because and this is how this is how little I watched college basketball a few years back.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: I watched, of course, the tourney, right?
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_03: Jalen Suggs end up hitting a big old shot for Gonzaga.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_03: He jumped on the scores table.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_03: It was a great, great moment, great college basketball moment.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_03: But other than that, I didn't really know much about Jalen Suggs.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_03: And then I was hired to do this shoot with Chipotle that season, where they flew me out to California to meet a bunch of people from this draft glass.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_03: And the one thing they didn't tell me was the players that they had.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_03: They didn't know what players that they had.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_03: So, like, I didn't know when I walked into that Chipotle, I didn't know who I was gonna be interviewing.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_03: And that was nerve-wracking for me because if you've seen any of my interviews in the past, I tried to get down to the littlest detail.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_03: I want to know every single fact about a person's life before I interview them.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_03: I definitely didn't want to go in completely blind.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_03: And then the first player that walked in was Jalen Suggs.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, okay, whew.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_03: I at least watched him play at least a little bit in this little run.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_03: I can reference that a little bit, but I don't know much about Jalen.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know anything.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know where he's from.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know his background.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know nothing.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_03: And Jalen Suggs, I told him that because I was trying to be as open as possible.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_03: I told him, like, listen, bro, I don't really know much about you.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_03: And he was like, oh man, that's cool.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_03: And it made me feel so great and it made the interview fly through.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_03: And I felt like he was damn near interviewing me, asking me what video games I play.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, you play MLB The Show?
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I do too.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_03: Let's link up, let's play some squad.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_03: It was pretty dope.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_03: And that was when I became a Jalen Jalen Suggs fan.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_03: And then eventually I learned who he was the player.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_03: And obviously, his rookie season, let me go get the stats.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_03: His rookie season was dreadful.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_03: And by a lot of advanced metrics, he was the worst player in the league his rookie season, where the count of stats ended up being 11.8 points per game, cool, but 36% from the field, 21% from three.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_03: It was pretty, pretty awful.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_03: And then his sophomore year was a little bit better, but not a ton better, where he dropped down to 10 points per game.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_03: His efficiency goes up just a little bit.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_03: But over these last two seasons, you know, he has a breakout year 2023, 2024, where he finishes 10th in DPOY, um, which I guess is a thing that's on basketball reference, but he jumps his points per game to uh 13.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_03: He shoots nearly 40% from three, 47% from the field, and he becomes one of the staples on the team.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_03: And that was good enough to get him a big ass ba bag.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_03: And now they've played two games without Chet, I mean without uh Shea.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_03: They played two games without Franz and two games without Palo.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_03: And in those games, we have 26 in that first game against the Phoenix Suns who look absolutely awful without Kevin Durant.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_03: And then last night when they played against Milwaukee, 32 points.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_03: The man is an absolute gamer.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_03: We're even in this one, he left the game with a thumb injury, and then he sprinted back out like he was damn Willis Reed and came out and gave a ridiculously great third quarter.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_03: Where in that third, let me let me get them stats, bro.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_03: Because in that third quarter, he scored um, oh, I'm sorry, the second half in general.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_03: He had 23 points.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_03: That was the fourth quarter, 18 points in the fourth, uh, six for Tiff in the field, six free throw attempts.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_03: He was doing everything.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_03: And not to mention, he was one of the primary ball handlers or uh defenders on a Damian Lillard and so on and so forth.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_03: I thought they had a really good game from Goga Bataze, who's at the rim contesting a ton.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_03: There was this good clip about the chess match between him and Bobby Portis when Bobby was on the court, and you saw it kind of break apart late in this game where you saw Dame go on this individual run where uh Goga was playing so heavily off Bobby Portis when he was sitting in the corner.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_03: Bobby Portis, a 37% corner three-point shooter, which is very respectable.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_03: But at the end of the day, this is this is Giannis and Dame on the other side.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_03: We'd rather give up a Bobby Portis three than let Giannis get downhill.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_03: And Goga was there a lot of the times when Giannis tried to get downhill.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_03: But in that last, last possession where it was Damian Lillard get into the basket, quite easily, I might add, that one mental error where Goga went out to the corner, led to an open layup for Dame and yada yada yada.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_03: But back to Jalen Suggs, who was absolutely phenomenal in this game.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, one of my favorite things about it was the way the broadcast kind of handled it, where they did have both coaches mic'd up.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_03: I thought that was great to hear Jamal Mosley, more than Doc Rivers, let's be real.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_03: Um, Jamal Mosley go out there and just tell his team what they needed to run.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_03: He was telling people where to be.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_03: It was amazing.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_03: I would love a broadcast.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_03: We almost exclusively hear what the coaches got to say.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_03: You got great minutes from Anthony Black.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_03: You got great minutes from Mo Wagner, whereas Mo Wagner versus Bobby Portis, the dude's off the bench, the big's off the bench that's gonna go out there and get you a bunch of buckets.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_03: He ended up the game six for six from the field.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_03: Bobby Portis opened up this game seven for seven.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_03: So I just want to give my flowers for the Orlando Magic because this could have been a blowout, but they went down to the last second.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_03: And then one of the things we complained about on the last episode, the fouling wide up three, again, I understand it.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_03: I understand why you do it.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_03: It is most likely the best thing you can do in that scenario.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_03: But it also ended up being great for Milwaukee because the Orlando Magic knew that they were going to try to foul an up three, and that led to a turnaround three-point attempt from Jalen Suggs, which is not the cleanest look, but his options were get fouled, stop the clock, go to the free throw line, hit a couple, then play this three uh free throw game, or get a blind three-point shot up and pretty to go in.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_03: And they went for the blind three-point shot.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_03: And that was probably exactly what the Milwaukee Bucks wanted, and they go out there and win this game.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_03: All right, let's talk about the winning team, the Bucs, because in this game, um, I've been very open about Giannis's defense on the season where early on, and it has got a lot better throughout the course of the season, but early on, I don't think his defensive impact was as large as I normally see it, right?
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_03: In this game, he was everywhere, and that's exactly what we're used to.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_03: He ended up with four blocks, two steals.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_03: He was flying all over the court defensively.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_03: And a guy like Giannis is the guy I would want to have on my team when I'm going through an NBA Cup run.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_03: And so far, they were completely um they're, I guess they're nearly perfect in the cup.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_03: They ended up in Vegas last season and ended up losing that game, of course.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_03: But Giannis has taken this thing as serious as possible defensively, and that was cool to see.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um, seeing Chris Middleton on the court was phenomenal.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_03: Him and Damian Lewis playmaking in a few games they've played together has been great.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_03: And look at these advanced stats.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_03: 35 minutes play between Chris Middleton, Damian, and Giannis on the same court.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_03: Only 35 minutes sample size.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_03: They have a net rating of plus 12.6, which is slightly lower than what it was last season.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_03: And they're doing this without Chris Middleton being able to shoot right now.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_03: With Chris Middleton to give them anything when it comes to the scoring the ball, but his playmaking was so incredible where he went on his own individual four straight assists streak, which was pretty cool.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_03: One of them was a fast break where it felt like he died at the needle to a uh a streaking player, ended up with a layup or a dunk.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_03: It was great.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_03: But it really boiled down to this.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_03: One of the main reasons you trade for a guy like Damian Lillard is because of his watch and what he can do in the clutch time scenario.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_03: Now, this season as a whole has not been the greatest clutch season for Damian Lillard.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_03: But in this game, this game for him to finish this off with a 7-0 run was incredible.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_03: It's a it's a big three.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_03: It's the layup that we referred to earlier where Gogabita went out to go guard Bobby Portis and then some free throws down the stretch.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_03: That is why you trade for Damian Lillard, right?
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_03: These are not things that, no disrespect to Drew Holliday, Drew Holiday was doing on a regular basis.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_03: So to see Dame be able to do that and see him and Giannis's connection be pretty damn good over the last, let's say, month or so, is very encouraging for the future of this team.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_03: Bobby Portis, I've been candid about my lack of love for Bobby Portis post touch, but as of recently, he's been incredible.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_03: Three-pointer, three-pointer, post touch, this.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_03: And one of the things you did hear a ton on the broadcast when we talk about the coaches being mic'd up is Doc Rivers in his raspy ass voice said, Bobby, Bobby, post, post, Bobby, post.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, God, damn, how many times did Bobby Portis get a post touch?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_03: But when a player seven for seven to start a game, give him the ball time and time again.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_03: So I also love to see that down the stretch.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_03: I always am curious with a team like the Mockey Bucks, who, you know, not the greatest defensive team, um, how do they close out games defensively?
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_03: And in this one ended up being AJ Green um closing this one out, which I thought was pr pretty uh important because we mentioned on the last episode how good of a defensive player he really is, you know, surface level, you might be able to tell that.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_03: But when you're really watching, he he's really locked in defensively.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_03: Shout out to Bobby, shout out to AJ, um, and so on and so forth.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_03: Big, big win.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_03: And now they gotta go against the Atlanta Hawks.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_03: The Atlanta Hawks, this was another great game.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_03: Like, listen, I'm a sucker for the NBA.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_03: You know this.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's why I've been doing this for as long as I it could be even like the OKC versus Dallas game was mostly a blowout.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_03: They had a little run there, Dallas did where they made it somewhat interesting.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_03: They they cut the lead down eight, but they weren't really in the game.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_03: Every single one.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: Of these were a banger to me.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_03: Do I have a problem?
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe I do.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe I do.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_03: But Atlanta versus New York.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_03: Trey Young, king of New York.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_03: Listen, you tweak that, right?
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_03: You put that out there.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_03: Trey Young, king of New York.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_03: Everybody's gonna say, well, Trey Young is 7 and 15 against the Hawks.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_03: So could he really be the king of New York?
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_03: This is what I have to say.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_03: The villain doesn't have to win every single battle.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_03: But the battles that you remember the most is when the villain wins.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_03: Dan will snap those fingers.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_03: You remember that?
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_03: You remember that, don't you?
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I'm saying?
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_03: Like he eventually he lost the battle.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_03: But damn, he put up a real good fight.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_03: When he snapped those fingers, that's all you can remember when you think about that version of the MCU that's no longer there.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_03: Again, we'll assume MCU.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_03: But like the villain doesn't have to win every single battle.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_03: Because when they do win, the few times they win, it's gonna hurt like hell.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_03: And when he was sitting there shooting dice, he was shooting dice at Madison Skirt Garden, boy, I'm surprised nobody didn't knock his head off.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_03: Now Jalen Brunson after the game said, hey, if we don't want him to do that, we gotta win that game, which is the respectable answer.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_03: But I know Latrell Sprewell sent Corsat, like Charles Oakley sent Corset, like y'all gonna let him do that on our court.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_03: They did.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_03: Um, because he put together a masterclass.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_03: I I was trying to figure out who is the least efficient scorer to ever be named an all-star, all-star.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_03: Because Trey Young is gonna be Trey Young is gonna be that because so far this year, Trey Young is not having a great scoring season, but he is still one of the best offenses of basketball.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_03: He's 21 points per game, he's 38% from the field, he's 30% from three, his effective field goal percentage is 46.1.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_03: Like he's struggling to really score that ball.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_03: But because he is so much of a threat, the team is able to do some things.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_03: Now, early in this game, I thought it was very interesting.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_03: Where in the first half, they were basically saying, Trey Young, you beat us.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_03: We know what you could do when you pass the ball.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_03: You're leading the link in assists.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_03: Right now, you're averaging on the season 12.2 assists, which is a crazy, crazy number.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_03: But we want you to beat us.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_03: And because of that, he struggled offensively.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_03: They struggled offensively because their bread and butter is letting Trey Young get into his high pick and roll, and you give it to Clint, you give it to Jalen Johnson.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe they do some secondary playmaking, so on and so forth.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_03: But that pick and roll is a staple.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_03: And one of the reasons it is a staple because you're trying to stay home, or or I'm sorry, you want to go out and help on the Trey Young pick and roll.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_03: But in this one, Tom Thibodeau and company, they say home.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_03: One of the main stories about the New York Knicks this entire season is the screen navigation and so on and so forth for Mikhail Bridges.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_03: There were a lot of possessors where he looked awful there, but for the most part, I thought they did a pretty good job containing the Trey Young in that first half.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_03: And then the second half came around and he started to really pick things apart.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_03: And it really changed.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_03: He had back-to-back three-pointers in the third quarter.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_03: And then it really, really shifted to like, okay, if he's gonna get it going, we got to go back to a normal defensive scheme where we have to go out and help on him.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_03: And that led to Jalen Johnson having a great third quarter.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_03: It led to Dyson Daniels getting a tip-in free throw layup.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_03: It was ridiculous, a ridiculous run for the Atlanta Hawks in that third quarter.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_03: And I said it before after being wrong about it early in the season.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_03: This Hawks team is better than what their records say.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_03: They have wins, two wins against the Cavs.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_03: They have a win against the Boston Celtics.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_03: Now I got a win against the Knicks.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_03: Like, yes, they lost to the Wizards twice, but this team is way, way better than their record shows.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_03: And I think if you've been really locked in, you kind of see that because the defensive tenacity that they play with is otherworldly as well.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_03: Where you think about a Trey Young-led team, historically, this team is going to be great offensively.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_03: Trey Young has been the offensive engine to what, five top ten offenses in his career and never did the defense really translate.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_03: This version of them is a defensive-oriented team.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_03: And I think one of the things they do absolutely well is hiding Trey Young.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_03: Trey Young has taken so many steps and so many leaps defensively.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_03: But at the end of the day, when you look at their lineups, he is objectively the worst offensive player on the court for them.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_03: And when you are the worst offensive player, you're gonna get targeted.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_03: We saw it for a long time with Steph Curry.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_03: Steph Curry was never a bad defender, but because he was playing with Draymond, Klay Thompson, Kevin O'Reilly, Iggy, and all these other guys, he was the worst offensive player on the court.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_03: So he was going to be targeted.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_03: One thing they've done so very well is hiding Trey Young.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_03: I don't remember a single time where the name, and maybe I should go back and re-watch this footage because this did just happen less than about 12 hours ago.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_03: I don't remember Trey Young getting put in actions very often in this game.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_03: And that is a testament to Dyson Daniels, a testament to Jalen Johnson, to Vic Kredgie, to DeAndre Hunter, to Zachary Richasset, to Clink Capella, even to Nekka Kango, who defensively ain't been great this season.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_03: All of those guys do everything they can to fight, fight, fight and make things so much more murky where what you want to do offensively is not going to really wrap up.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_03: I thought that Jalen Brunson was too unselfish in this one.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of that has to do with Dyson Day's great defensive impact.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_03: But I've also seen this a few different times for the Knicks throughout the season, where you do see Jalen Brunson trying to figure out am I the playmaker or am I the score where last season he was everything?
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_03: You know, when you have this added talent, you're really trying to figure out where you sit.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_03: And we all know he is the guy, but sometimes he forgets that.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_03: And I felt like that was the case last night.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um, one of the things that I keep seeing time and time again for the Knicks is they they're losing games to last year's version of them.
• 27:19
  unknown: Right?
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_03: The Atlanta Hawks did not shoot well this game.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_03: This is a poor shooting night, but they made up with it with offensive rebounding.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_03: That was the Knicks' recipe last season.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_03: This is a poor shooting, shooting game for them, but they made up for it with great hustle.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_03: That was the Knicks' recipe last year.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_03: This is a poor shooting night, but they made up for it with great defense.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_03: That was the Knicks' recipe last year in the year before that.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_03: That is not the case anymore.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_03: Where now, if the Knicks' offense is not the best in the league, which it has been for the majority of the season, when they have this game when their shots are not fall, or they can't create what they want to create, they don't know how to win basketball games.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_03: That is a problem.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_03: Like, look at Atlanta again, poor, poor shooting night.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_03: But they made it work by winning the other things, the possession battle, playing great defense, preventing the opposing stars from taking off.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_03: Those are the games that the Knicks historically have won over the last couple of years, and that's not necessarily the case anymore.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, the Tom Thibodeau era has been a great rebounding team.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_03: This is not that.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_03: When you see a team rebound 40% of their own misses, 40% of their own misses is an insane number.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_03: But the Atlanta Hawks did just do that to the Knicks, and it led to Trey Young saying it's quiet as hell here again and shooting dice at center court.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_03: Wait a moment.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_03: Now the Atlanta Hawks will probably have the lowest or they will have the lowest odds in this one.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_03: We're gonna talk about it a little bit later, but I I'm not crossing them out just yet, man.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_03: This team gets tough for these games, and that's them having great leadership in Trey Young, having a great coach in Quinn Snyder, and having a bunch of people who are completely, completely bought in.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_03: Where this might be the recipe for a great Trey Young team.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_03: Now, again, we're we're watching the talent develop, right?
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_03: The best version of Jalen Johnson is better than the Jalen Johnson we have now, and the best version of Dyson Daniels is probably better than what we have now.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_03: But the archetype of the players that we have around Trey Young right now is probably the recipe for a really good Trey Young team, and that's pretty cool.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_03: The last game we have, we're gonna bring in producer Greg to talk about his team, the Golden State Warriors, losing an absolute dogfight to the Houston Rockets.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, Greg, talk to me, man.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_03: This was uh this was a game.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_03: How are you feeling about it?
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'm concerned for sure.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think the Warriors are are feeling like the last two seasons at this point, um, where in the last four or five minutes of the game, they're really struggling to score if Steph isn't on a heater.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um really unfortunate ending.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: I do think it was a terrible call by the ref.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: You kind of can't make that call there.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: That being said, the Warriors should not have been in that position to begin with.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, ask me whatever you want.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm I'm here to answer.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_03: I think that this, again, other than the one foul that I if you're not a Houston Rockets fan, you agree that that was a that was a bad call.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_03: But I thought the officiating was pretty dope in this one where they let the boys play.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_03: And and you know, that was one of the coolest things because when you have a two teams that are top five in defenses go at it, I kind of want to see why they're top five in defense.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_03: And you saw that on both sides.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_03: So for it to end like that does kind of suck.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_03: But I agree that this is not one of the games that they that the Warriors should have played this bad in.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I know it's more of a showcase thing, and Kaminga ended up having a good statistical game where it was 27, uh 20.7 rebound game.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_03: But I'm just not a huge fan of when he's starting versus he's coming off the bench.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I thought Draymond defensively down the stretch was incredible.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um, he did have way too many turnovers.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_03: He had three turnovers to start the game off back-to-back-to-back possessions, and then he had the one turnover late in the game where he tried to find Jonathan Kamingo on like a V-cut to the basket that sailed out of bounds.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_03: But one of the times I thought that Steve Kerr lost this game for the Warriors was he he subbed in Kevon Looney with a little bit less than a minute left.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and when he did that, it pulled Draymond Green away from Alprent Shangoon and it put Kevin Looney on him.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_03: And it put Draymond Green, who again was having one of the greatest individual defensive games in the corner to guard Jabari Smith Jr.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_03: on a play where he was not a part of it, and it led to an Alprin Shangoon easy layup.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_03: Now, part of that is because they probably didn't want to give up threes, but I hate the idea of subbing in the guy that's been playing great defense on a specific player for somebody else, and then we saw it end up leading to an Alprin Shingoon bucket.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: It was such a quick bucket.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was like one quick shimmy move layup.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: And to your point, it was a strange decision because Draymond had been really locking him up for the last, for the previous few minutes.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and it's it's unfortunate.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I could have saw that happening, but again, we're talking it with hindsight, right?
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_03: There's a world where Kevin Looney does get the stop, and none of it really matters because they the previous possession before that, they gave up what two offensive boards in at one place.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_03: So you understand, like, okay, Kavon Looney, we need you to go clean the glass for us, prov uh, change this game a little bit, but it probably was just the wrong move to put Kyvon on Shingoon.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, Jabari is a standstill score at this point of his career, where like you kind of feel okay with if it was Kavon Looney guarding him in the corner there, because it's not like Jabari's gonna be like this tap tap, let me get to the basket guy.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_03: He's mostly a catch-a-shoot player at this point, and it allows Draymond to stay on Al P.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_03: Now, Al P had a phenomenal game as well.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_03: Again, we talked about Draymond Green's defense, but Shingon ended up with 26 and 11 with five assists as well, and was the offensive engine.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_03: Like one of the main concerns I've had about the Rockets and their great start this season is their clutch offense because it does get kind of stagnant, like most teams, I guess, but it does result to Shingoon, please save us.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_03: And sometimes he does a phenomenal job in that, and sometimes he just doesn't.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh, it was this for the Warriors, it was a series of uh of just bad events to end the game.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think it started with Pajemsky going under the screen on Fred Van Vliet, who then hits a three to cut it from six to three.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you have you know Kerz sub, like you just mentioned.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, well, let's get to Steph's shot in a second.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: But first, uh Gary Payton could have cut a timeout in that last play when he when he had the ball.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like it was just a series of things.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, obviously, it was back-to-back shot clock violations, followed by Draymond's errant pass to Kaminga.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it was just there was lots of moments that led to that last foul that where they could have easily won this game.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: But what what did you think of Steph's shot uh given the time and score?
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_03: It's he is the so clutch-wise this season, he's been phenomenal.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_03: Like when you look at the stats, he's shooting like his effective field goal percentage is like 70 something percent in the clutch.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_03: He's been crazy.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_03: Because it is Steph Curry, like, and he's a one-of-one type of talent, it's just one of those things where I can't question it too much.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um obviously that's a shot that we've seen him make a million times in his career.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_03: I was ready.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: I was ready for this.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_03: What'd you say?
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: I was ready for the night night.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_03: Right, exactly, exactly.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but because he missed it, it becomes a topic of conversation.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_03: Like, could have been a better shot a thousand percent.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_03: But if there's any person in the world that I'm okay with taking a shot, it is um Steph Curry.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, and then you also get the possession where you do have the ball um sideline out of uh sideline out of bounds.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_03: You know, this is the last play of the game where they pretty much deny, deny, deny to Steph Curry, and he ends up giving it up to Pods.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I have to re-watch that possession a few different times to figure out what was the action they were going for.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, obviously you want the ball in Steph Curry's hands, but whatever they did didn't free him up enough where he could even get a shot.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_03: And then, of course, pods ends up getting a shot blocked, but I think that was Jabari to close out the game.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it watching that timeout call after Jalen Green and made the two foul shots.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: If they showed the the entire Warriors bench during that timeout, and none of them looked particularly locked into that last play.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: It was almost like they were still very angry about the foul call and almost were like, This is this is over.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm that I'm just reading into their body language, which isn't the best analysis, but it didn't feel like they were like, all right, let's get this last shot off and let's win this game.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um and that the last play almost looked like they looked like that.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um I can spill though.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: But to your point, I actually didn't mind that Steph 3 in that time.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: They had they didn't get off a shot basically the three previous possessions.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, if he held it to the end of the shot clock, the Rockets would have only had three-ish seconds left, but the Rockets would have called a timeout and would have had a last shot to win the game, essentially.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: And Steph has hit that shot time and time again.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: So again, hindsight 20-20.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: But if Steph hits that shot, they're going to Vegas.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: As I think he said that in post-game as well.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I I didn't mind it.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: But overall, it was just a another sign that this team isn't currently constructed to go deep in the playoffs and they need to make a move.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know uh where you stand on what that would look like, but I'm of the mind that you do it sooner rather than later because this season could spiral um if they don't get it together.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I completely agree.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_03: I just don't know exactly who it is and for what.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and it's it's time for Mike Dunvy Jr.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_03: to pick up the phones and start calling because the whole Kumbaya, we got such a deep team, a 13-man rotation, it's over.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_03: Um, even in this one, y'all ran a I'm looking at a 11-man rotation, which is not as bad as the 13, but um, you know, you do get some Cal Anderson minutes in there.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: I would play him more, by the way.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: I think you could probably play slow-mo more.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_03: I think so too, but they also got Pat Spencer minutes who did score and got two assists.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm not I'm not crapping on Pat Spencer, even though he's wearing the number, what, 61?
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_03: Is he I think he might be the first player in history to wear the number 61.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: Horrible number.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_03: It's it might be the worst number in the league.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_03: Hold on.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_03: Is he the only player in history?
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_03: Nope.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_03: It's two guys that play for the Cincinnati Royals in the 60s that wear the number 61.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_03: But in the modern era, Pat Spencer is the only player.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_03: It's nasty.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's nasty.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and the only thing I'll say about Kyle Anderson is they are searching for for ball handlers, uh, especially at the end of the game.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: It kind of has to be right now, it's like Steph and sometimes Draymond, Pods is a little shaky, but they don't really have a really solid backup point guard.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I know Kyle Anderson isn't the typical point guard, but uh I do trust him with the ball.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um maybe not to go get a bucket, but to at least like organize the offense as Steve Kerr would say.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I probably would have had Kyle Anderson inbound on the ball at that last play last night and not pods.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think that what makes it difficult is because you also run a few other non-shooters, whether it be you know Kamingo, who's so streaky, or Draymond, who again can hit a shot, but he's not respected as that.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_03: It's kind of hard to find a world where you can play two or three of those guys all at the same time.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that's part of the reason why you don't see a ton of slow mo this season.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, because last year and the year before that, his last couple seasons in Minnesota were phenomenal.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_03: Like he was a really good piece for them.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_03: And then now he's coming here.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_03: He's at a career low or near a career low in minutes per game.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_03: Only thing lower is his rookie season in San Antonio.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_03: Like, other than that, it's you know, well, I gotta tell you not looking great.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: Pods isn't shooting the crap out of the ball either.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he had one shot last night, and I was like, okay, there you go.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_03: And then other than that, it's been it's been tough.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_03: All right, so we're gonna take a quick break, and when we come back, we're gonna do your favorite segment, five out.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_03: All right, Greg, it's time for a five out.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_03: What we got today.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: So the Rockets are currently they're third of the West, correct?
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_03: Uh they're number two now.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_03: Number two.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_03: They have a tiebreaker over the Grizzlies, I guess.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: To me, they cannot win a playoff series without an all-star player.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't believe currently they have one.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so the conversation would be about Alperin Shangon, right?
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_03: He, if they're if they were gonna have a representative, it would be Alperin.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm looking at it, so like I'm thinking about Ford to cross basketball.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_03: That's gonna, like Jaron Jackson Jr., in my opinion, is a lock as long as he's healthy.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_03: This is all as long as these people stay healthy.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you're gonna have Anthony Davis, you're gonna have Jokic, you're gonna have Wimby.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_03: Um, those are our complete locks for the front court.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_03: I think there is a world where he is in there.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_03: This is a conversation we had a little while ago.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_03: Like, so hypothetically, if the if everything were to stop right now, we were into the playoffs right now, the Houston Rockets would go against the Denver Nuggets in the seven-game series.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_03: I think that a lot of people would pick the Denver Nuggets in that series, considering they have Nicole Jokic.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_03: Even though the rest of the roster has not nearly been as good as they notoriously are, a lot of people, they the Nuggets might walk into that series as the Vegas favorite, honestly.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and I think a lot of that has to do with just the lack of experience that we have for the the Rockets.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_03: Like, and again, bringing back to it, the clutch time offense is just a dog.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_03: And I just I don't like it.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_03: I think they could win a series.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_03: I think that might be their ceiling, though.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_03: Their absolute ceiling is winning a playoff series, and then next season is the one where you could see them take that jump depending on what they could do.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_03: But I'm also team, don't trade for that all-star.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, Jimmy Butler's name is in the in the rumor mills and all of that.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_03: I would be completely okay if this season wrapped up and I'm a Rockets fan, and we did end up losing the first round, even as a higher seed, or if we got out of the first round and lost in the second.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think a competitive first round series for them would be a success for this season and then building towards next season with uh with the goals of going much deeper.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean, they just in my opinion, they just have a little bit too much youth um that they really, really rely on, and that notoriously is not a great recipe to win unless one of those super youthful players is an Avp candidate like Shay.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_00: All right, next one.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_00: So for the average NBA fan that really doesn't start paying attention to the season until after football ends, when they do tune in, let's say in in February sometime, what's a team you think the the casual fan would be surprised to learn is doing really, really well, and which is a team they would be surprised to learn is really struggling?
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_03: I think the one that they'd be surprised is struggling would be again the Nuggets.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_03: They're two games over 500, which is just worse than what the casual fan is used to, where this team has been a top three seed over the last couple of years.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_03: And when we get to February, I I mean, I guess anything could happen, but I don't expect that to be much better.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_03: Like I see this team teetering around 500 for some time.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um and if it's not teetering around 500, maybe it's a couple games over.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_03: So I think they'd be surprised there.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_03: And I think the biggest surprise would be the Rockets, considering they missed the playoffs and play-in completely last season.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_03: So to see them this high would be a surprise.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if they stay number two when we get to February, but the fact that they are avoiding the play-in, where in my mind I thought that part of their ceiling was like the seventh seed.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_03: Like we're competing to be in the playoffs, where as of today, like they are, you know, you know, three and a half games.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_03: It's not like these the Western Conference so ridiculous.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_03: Three and a half games above the play-in at this moment in time.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but they might also be surprised to see I was gonna say Grizzlies, but the Grizzlies have been a two seed two times in the last four years, so maybe that's not that big of a surprise.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe how bad the Sixers are.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_03: But hey, they're they're starting to turn it around.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_03: Four and one in the last five.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_03: Joel and B played against the Bulls and had 30 points, and he missed his first eight shots and then was on fire after that.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, by February, February, they might be 500.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I feel that.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they might be 500.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_03: That's kind of crazy to say, huh?
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_03: With that talent.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_03: They got the best, best offseasonal paper, Paul George, yada yada yada.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_03: And they have the potential rookie of the year, and we're talking about the maybe ended up being 500 by February.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_03: That's kind of crazy when you think about it.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Philly, Philly sports, man.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_03: That's Philly Sports.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_03: So we've talked about the games that have already happened, but now it is time to make some predictions.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_03: I want y'all to go over to FanDuel Sports Bucket.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_03: Look at these odds, man.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_03: As of right now, the OKC Thunder are the favorite to win the NBA Cup plus 115.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_03: Then you have the Milwaukee Bucks at plus 270, the Houston Rockets at plus 400, and the Atlanta Hawks at plus 550.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_03: The Hawks are good team merchants, y'all.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_03: They got wins against really good teams.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_03: And they actually beat the Milwaukee Bucks like two weeks ago.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_03: So let's talk about these teams because both of these matchups for the finals have gone against each other in the last couple weeks.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_03: So Atlanta beat them a few weeks back, and the recipe that they used to beat the Knicks was the exact same recipe that they used to beat the Milwaukee Bucks, where in that game, they also offensive rebound about 40% of their misses.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_03: The Milwaukee Bucks are not a great rebounding team.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_03: It's just not the case, specifically when it is Bobby Portis on the court instead of Brick Lopez.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_03: There, they're giving up like, I think one, I want to say four to five percent more offensive rebounds, which maybe not as it sound like a ton, but it is a ton because Brick Lopez is on the exact opposite side of the.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_03: Spectrum when he is on the court, even though he does a rebound the ball well, they give up like 6% less offensive rebounds.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_03: Anyway, that hard-nosed defensive identity that the Atlanta Hawks are developing is one of the reasons why they were able to beat the Milwaukee Bucks a few weeks back.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_03: Now, the stakes are different, right?
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_03: This is a, again, a winner-go-home scenario in Vegas.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_03: They flew all the way here from cold ass Milwaukee to be here.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if it's going to end up that same exact way.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_03: And if I was a Batman, which I am, I think I am taking the Milwaukee Bucks in this one, right?
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_03: Where I trust that Doc Rivers is going to look at that game from a few weeks back and say, okay, this is what they did to us.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_03: And I want to go back really, really quick and look at my notes from this game that they played against each other.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_03: This was the 12th, uh, no, I'm sorry, the 4th of December, and the final score was 119 to 104.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_03: You had Jalen Johnson having a normal Jalen Johnson game, which is 23, 13, and 5.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_03: In this one, you saw Zachary Richasset end up with 12 points, but off the bench, DeAndre Hunter, who I feel like I failed to mention when we were talking about the recap of last night's games, where he was absolutely incredible and he absolutely has been that the entire time.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um, in this one, there's no answer for Giannis.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_03: Giannis shot 26 free throws, and I think that's gotta be part of the recipe for the Milwaukee Bucks in this, where they have to get to the foul line, even if it is Giannis who shot in this one 57% there.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_03: But with that, you get a Dyson Daniels foul out, you get Clink Capella in foul trouble, you get Trey Young in foul trouble, and Zachary Richess in foul trouble.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's gotta be their recipe.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_03: In this one, you did see Damian Lillard end up with 25 points on five made threes, which is pretty good.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_03: But it didn't look like their dynamic duo didn't have much of help.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_03: I wouldn't be surprised if this is a okay offensive game for Chris Middleton as far as scoring.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_03: Because as of right now, under his minutes restricted, he's averaging a smooth seven points per game on 25% shooting.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_03: I would hope, for their sake, that we do get a 10-point game from Chris Middleton and so on and so forth.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_03: So I think that if the Atlanta Hawks go into this game with the exact same game plan that they had against the Knicks, they could come out victorious.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_03: Will you put Dyson Daniels as the ball handler, uh defender against Damian Lillard, and you let the bigger bodies of a Hunter, of a Jalen Johnson, of a Clink Capella be the wall for Giannis and say, hey, Torian Prince ain't scored in four games.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_03: Go hit 50% threes like you have been during the regular season.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um Andre Jackson, who will play eight minutes here or there, we want you to beat us and just build that wall.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_03: Now it's easier said than done because Giannis is one of the two best players in the world, but I think that is a recipe that they need.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um and one thing we know about the Bucs is that they'll let you hang around.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_03: And that gives the Atlanta Hawks an opportunity to do some stuff where it is a Trey Young takeover late in the fourth quarter.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_03: They will let you hang around.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_03: So, but if I was a bad man, I would put my money on the Bucks coming out victorious in this one.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_03: And then let's hope a close dog fight because I like those nasty, ugly games.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_03: And in the Western Conference, we got OKC versus the Houston Rockets.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_03: Again, these two teams played against each other.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I think that was last week, and that was one of my favorite games of the season.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_03: And I actually uh made a video about it, so I don't want to go too, too crazy here, but it ended up being a game.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_03: I maybe you saw that where uh Frey Van Vliet hit the three from the logo to pretty much ice the game and end up being a three-point win for the Houston Rockets.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_03: This was a defensive grinder game for um the Rockets as well, where you did have a Frey Van Vliet game where he put up 38 his season high.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_03: But for the most part, they grinded things out specifically in that third and fourth quarter.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um I don't know if there's really a recipe for Shea, who ended up with 32 on 56% shooting in this one.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but but one of the things is there was um there was no Alex Caruso in this game.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_03: And Alice Caruso, as we saw in the previous game versus uh last night's game, he can really give you an impact.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_03: Even if he's not hitting the shots, his defensive impact is really big.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_03: I I want this one.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_03: I kind of like the underdog Houston Rockets story, man.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_03: I like these are two of our youngest teams in basketball going hand to head, by the way.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_03: I like the idea of the super young Houston Rockets who have no playoff experience going into this winner-go-home game and making their way to the finals.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_03: So even though it's maybe not the best bet, I'm gonna pick the Houston Rockets in this one.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_03: That's a tough one because, you know, that boy Shea is an absolute dog.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_03: J Dub is a dog.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_03: A man be barking in this post-game interview.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_03: He's an absolute dog.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_03: But I want to see the Houston Rockets go out there and say, hey, y'all may have thought it was a fluke because we got a bat or we got a foul call late in the game against the Golden State Words, but no, we're really like that.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_03: We can hang our hat against some of the best teams of basketball and win.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that might be the case.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_03: And then we get to the final switch, and that would be Houston Rockets versus Milwaukee Bucks.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_03: Hell, Houston Rockets take it home.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_03: When we talked about it last week, I had two teams as a teams I would bet on.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_03: That was the Knicks, Yikes.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and then that was the Houston Rockets.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_03: I like the idea of the super young team with a lot to prove to go out there and win.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm gonna say that's what they end up doing.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know, man.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_03: The league is so there's so much parity in a one-game elimination that who knows exactly what's gonna happen.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_03: That's why we love this game.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_03: All right, we're gonna take one more break, and when we come back, we're gonna do Ask KB, man.
• 49:23
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  SPEAKER_03: People saying that we did it.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_03: Y'all flooded the inbox way too much the Instagram went down was the first question.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_02: Hey Kenny, my question for you today is uh when do you think a team like the Jazz would be able to compete again?
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a bit biased as a jazz fan and say a couple years, but I wonder what your thoughts are and where you think their trajectory is on their rebuild and how long do you think it would be for them to be a contender again?
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_03: Ah I'm I'm I'm sorry, brother.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_03: I just I'm sorry.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_03: You said a couple years.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_03: I think you're being really generous and maybe yet, like you said, a little bit biased.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_03: Um there is a lot to be done.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_03: Let's just say that.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_03: There is a lot to be done with the Utah Jazz.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_03: And I think one of the reasons why they are such a confusing team is because we don't really know what the hell uh Danny Ainge is trying to do with this roster.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_03: We're like, oh, they were in on Brandon Ingram for a little bit.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, why were they in on Brandon Ingram?
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, Larry Margaret, here's an almost$200 million contract, and he hasn't looked great this season as well.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I think this year is going to be a huge one for y'all because you know, the last couple seasons, y'all started off very, very hot, where you were nearly a 500 team through the first couple months, and that prevented y'all from really being out there and drafting higher.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_03: Like you get Keontae George, who was a good pickup, but I don't know exactly what his ceiling is just yet.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_03: Even uh Cody Williams from this year, like y'all drafted relatively late in the lottery with this year where y'all being god ass awful, you have a real opportunity to change the trajectory of your rebuild because as of right now, it's so bad, bro.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_03: As of right now, y'all are awful.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_03: How about that?
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_03: I need got to give you the stats.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_03: You are the third worst team in basketball, and that's okay.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_03: If you hit on this draft pick, I think it changes a ton.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_03: If you win the lottery and it is Cooper, or you're in the top three and you get a Dylan Harper, or you get, I'm not, as of right now, I'm not huge on Ace Bailey.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_03: I still got to watch a little bit more film.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_03: But you get one of those guys, it really shifts the dynamic of this team.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_03: Because I personally, as a neutral fan and a casual watcher of the Utah Jazz, I don't see that 1A or that secondary option developing right now.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_03: Keontae, shout out to my guy.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe he ends up being that.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_03: And I think you need that when we talk about you.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_03: You mentioned competing again.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_03: You mentioned competing for a championship.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_03: That's quite a bit of ways, and you don't really do that until you get your 1A.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_03: And I think this draft class could be the one where you can get that.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, Control.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_01: How you doing, man?
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_01: Hope all is well.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_01: Big fan since 2019.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_01: Anywho, so I watch a lot of former NBA players podcast and a lot of people who are just nerds and love basketball like yourself podcasts.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_01: And my question is for you is why do you think former NBA players' views and opinions on the game are so different from people who didn't play in the NBA?
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because as I watch both podcasts, I just noticed how different uh former NBA players' opinions are from people who didn't play in the NBA.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I was just wondering, what's your take on that?
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_03: He surprised me with the full government.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_03: He hit me with a contrail.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't I didn't expect the contrail to come out.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_03: That was that was a surprising thing.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um, that's a really good question, man.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_03: Because, you know, there I think there's different types of former NBA player podcasts, right?
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_03: It is the the old head screams at clout, and then there are the other ones, like a Kevin Garnett's podcast who's like he's got the utmost respect for like this young up-and-coming talent.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_03: I think the disconnect is a lot of the times, listen, okay, when you when you do something at the highest level, and and that's what the NBA is, it is the highest level of basketball you can really play.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_03: When you're that successful, and a lot of the podcasts you're referring to are from players that you want to hear from, which means that they probably have really good careers.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_03: The KGs, um, even though Gilbert Arenas didn't play that long, but he was an All-Bay player three fucking years, like they were at the peak, peak, peak.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_03: And when you are that good at something for that long, it's a lot of things that you can't tell them, right?
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_03: The best baker in the world, it doesn't really give a damn about me, a novice who's never baked before.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_03: They don't care about what I have to say.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_03: So their perspective on it is from the perspective of I have been in this guy's shoes before and I know what he is thinking.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_03: Now, because of that, I think that you do get some cockiness from both sides, really, but from the former player because they've been there before and they may not um study it as much as me, who's has zero NBA experience, zero college basketball experience.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I think our perspectives have to be different because my opinion is only valid based on the amount of time that I've put into watching that.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_03: Their opinion is valid based on the amount of time they put in and playing it.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that's where the disconnect can really come in.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_03: Where a lot of the former players they just have a different perspective on, let's say, advanced analytics.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_03: Again, if they are a former player podcast, most of the most of that means that they probably played in the early 2000s or maybe late 90s.
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_03: And because of that, analytics did not exist.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_03: Where me as a 28-year-old NBA fan, analytics is kind of important to what I end up doing it.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I'm saying?
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_03: So I respect like both pers I think both are needed in media.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_03: The fucking NBA nerd that could tell you the offensive rating of Dyson Daniels, DeAndre Hunter, and Jalen Johnson on the court together, which is uh 113.2, by the way, that you need that, but you also need that boy nice, and this is why he's nice.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_03: You feel me?
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so I respect a lot of those dudes, man.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_03: I don't get around to listening to a ton of former player podcasts or even current player podcasts, but when I do see clips, I'm usually tapped in to at least hear what those people have to say um for that two to three minute segment.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_03: Shout out to everybody that sent in questions again.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_03: That is at Enjoy Smallball.
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_03: If you want to be featured in the next episode, shout out to the NBA Cup and Adam Silver, man.
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_03: I cannot wait for these games.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and next time we talk, maybe we'll have somebody along the ride with us, man.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_03: If you enjoyed the episode, be sure to leave a like, subscribe, and I'll see y'all next time.