First Annual Holiday 3 Wishes For The NBA, Eastern Conference Recap, and... 100th Episode!

[00:00:02] Hey, it's Sunday and we are proud to give you the episode that you probably were looking for on Friday. The reason why it's late, two reasons. We had a puppy situation. The puppy is fine,

[00:00:30] so we want to shout out, Max on the show. But then I got to look and this is our 100th episode. So, you know, it's the holidays. So here at FRPC, we want to thank our little listeners,

[00:00:52] and we ask you to share with you like your, you know, your co-workers and what have you and friends and, you know, put people on the pot because this is how we grow our numbers and grow our communities. So, I look forward to that in the new year.

[00:01:10] But man, we just got like a lot of stuff to get to. But I just want to show first appreciation because I wanted to get a holiday-deed podcast out

[00:01:26] which we're going to do and also get you that Eastern Conference Recap that we said that we were going to do for you. So, all of that is on the table.

[00:01:36] You were getting that. First, I want to give you the sentiments of Dane and Nico. They are ecstatic about coming, well, and Nico's case coming back and in Dane's case coming aboard, we're still working on it. So, in the new year, look forward to that.

[00:02:04] It will not just be my voice on this podcast. So, we got that to look forward to. So, keeping in mind of the holidays, we give you FRPC's 3 NBA wishes. Now, these were for the rest of the season. I chose to stay away from specific teams.

[00:02:38] So, we're not showing favoritism. So, there's nothing rocket specific. There's nothing lakers specific on this pod. Some people would say we're heavily biased towards a, okay, see, well, we're not. We just like to tell it.

[00:02:58] But these wishes are basically for us as podcasters, fans, you know, Twitter, how they get down. You know, and just little little, little changes that we thought of. So, the first of the three wishes for the NBA holiday season and going forward

[00:03:25] is can we have an act of trade deadline season. And, you know, a lot of people say, well, yeah, of course, you want that because you're a podcaster and, you know, you need clicks and,

[00:03:38] listen, that's transparent. I definitely want that for that for sure. Let's not get it twisted. These are the facts. But I actually did come up with three reasons why this should be something that we as fans want, it also, it just makes a lot of sense.

[00:04:00] And let me give you the three reasons. One, get teams to pick a direction. Okay. So we're looking at Chicago. We're looking at Toronto. Okay. Detroit. Yeah. Well, I have to talk about that a little bit.

[00:04:26] And then number two, it's going to squire conversation. Obviously, podcasters obviously, insiders, people on TNT, ESPN, wherever any time there's a robust trade season with multiple rumors,

[00:04:45] multiple names out there, different trades obviously it gives a lot of content for people. So, you know, I'm not like I said full transparency.

[00:04:58] And then the third thing is this, since the NFL has decided that they were going to put football on Saturday, Sunday and all day Monday, which usually was pretty much hell for the NBA for the longest period of time.

[00:05:19] A active tree market can grab some of the attention away from the political of the NFL season, which is the Super Bowl.

[00:05:28] Right. So this is kind of why I'm asking for a active trade deadline is because of this, you know, those three reasons I think and they're pretty good reason so

[00:05:42] All right, NBA front offices, let's mix it up. Okay. So Santa that's what that's on our list for Santa to bring to us tomorrow. And going forward, right? Okay. I'm going to see that one for last. I'm good. No, you know what? I'm going to get into this.

[00:06:08] We're going to get serious for a second. Can we get a second screen alternative experience from the NBA? Where we can get live sound that's on the court. Now, let me give you this.

[00:06:30] It would be a unique experience perspective to the game. Obviously, you would be able to hear players, you'd be able to see referee and player interaction coach referee interaction. Obviously, player player interaction things of that nature.

[00:06:51] You can farm out another revenue stream advertising dollar dollars, etc. So here's the thing. The NBA is always looking for whatever is next, whatever is new. They seem to be very open to a lot of ideas.

[00:07:18] Again, you know, this is something that is another way for them to go ahead and monetize the product. Now, my third thing is I'm taking into acknowledgement that the language on the court is very colorful,

[00:07:37] you know, and things that are in nature with the riffs and the players. You know, I understand that. So I would think that if you could put this on like cable or apple or Amazon, or whoever else would want this this NBA intellectual property,

[00:08:00] giving the fans an intimate insight and some insight to the night tonight, point of view of these incredible athletes. I think it's a win-win. But you know, you're looking at just you're going to be able to see how the fans energy,

[00:08:19] you're going to see how, you know, maybe some interaction between players and fans. So I mean, I just think there's such an upside to this, you know, and I hear from people all the time that, you know, they're tired of like the ESPN, you know,

[00:08:38] product, this far as that's concerned. TNT still gets high grades, but that ESPN product right now, which I like a lot of people on the show, you know, is my guy, you know, I quote him here on this podcast a lot.

[00:08:55] But giving the fans a peek inside, you know, anything that we can get, that's a little insider, especially for the basketball nerds and the people who are really into this. I think it will be a worthwhile investment in something to look into personally.

[00:09:17] All right, let's get to the third one. And the third one to me is I love it. I'm here for it, but let's talk about it. And I got some notes, wrote some stuff down, so here we go.

[00:09:37] If we can get the thing to sit up there. Hopefully. Okay. Third, third NBA Christmas holiday wish, whatever you want to call it. Let's designate home color color way at home. Let's let's make it light colors white or if you are not white.

[00:10:02] You know, like with the legors, they're gold, purple and gold. Can we get the home colors to be what they are? Now, I might sound. And here's the thing, I'll even give you a lot of to it.

[00:10:17] I'll even give you a lot of to it with the light colors, but I just need them to be unerladderly the light colors. Now, whether it's the city edition, the statement edition, the Christmas edition, which they took away, which was weird. LeBron says something about that.

[00:10:36] That inherited month, racial inclusion, rock the vote. Sevenies or eighties night, our space. I don't care what the theme is as long as the color way is what we are accustomed to, you know, with the NBA light. And at home, she'll wear white. Not green, not black.

[00:11:12] They should wear white. We green trim. Now, here's the thing. Your shoes go crazy. Do whatever it is that you want to do with the shoes. But the armband, the compression pants, the headband, the wristband, the finger sleeve, all in that.

[00:11:34] White or green, you know, saying like it should match that your home colors. All right. Oh, here's the other thing too. Go crazy on the road. Go crazy. You can do whatever it is that you want to do on the road.

[00:11:57] You want to look like a sham rock shape. Go right ahead. You want to look like the American flag. Go right ahead. You want to look like your favorite anime character. I'm good with that comic book or movie, you know, Marble, cinematic movie hero. Cool.

[00:12:17] You want to wear a flat fantastic. Go with me with that too. Just as long as the home color stay the light colors, the traditional colors. That's all I really want to see variations of that. So however, like I said, however you want to do it,

[00:12:44] you want to put the, you know, the home name in script. You want to block, you know, like I said, you want to do the street edition or whatever. As long as the Miami heat, like the Miami heat. You know, like I don't know,

[00:13:03] some of these color schemes have gotten way out of control. On the night tonight basis. I mean, it's just this ridiculous to me. But those are the three things that we are given to the NBA as wishes. So I hope you guys enjoyed that.

[00:13:23] We're going to try to do something like that every year. So this was the first annual. And, um, man, you know, we have fun with it. And I hope you guys have fun with it. Let's get to the Eastern Conference recap.

[00:13:40] Now I wrote a lot of this on Friday. So these stats also might be indicative of Friday numbers. So bear with us on that. A couple things have changed. And we'll get into that right away. Okay, so how we did this is we work it up by division.

[00:14:03] And, you know, we're going to go division by division. But we're also going to give you their conference ranking or whatever because of record. So we're going to start off with the Detroit Pistons, the Detroit Pistons right now or two and 26. Yep, not great. 15 in the East.

[00:14:30] They signed money Williams to a long-term contract in the off season. Also it's very mentioning that Troy Weaver of late signed a contract. I think it was either early this year or last year. So he's like in the first year of like a multi year deal.

[00:14:52] They got Joe Harris who has done really nothing for them. And I think that Joe Harris might have seen his last days. Multi Morris is also not played for them very much. And they drafted a Saw Thompson. Okay.

[00:15:13] Now, here's the thing that I find interesting with the Detroit Pistons. And I was talking to somebody and I want to shout them out. Patrick, our guy from the discord. We were having a conversation about Detroit. And he said, I really liked the swings that they went after.

[00:15:36] He just didn't know what the scouting department was looking at because, you know, Marvin Babley III really hasn't shown too much of anything in his days in Sacramento. And obviously, why isn't him in getting a lot going on in the state.

[00:15:53] But my counter to that was if you have Kate and you already had Doran and you already had Stewart. And Kate is a guy you're trying to build around. Wouldn't you keep or get shooting around him if you know that that's not his strong suit?

[00:16:12] Maybe that's not Ivy strong suit. So the guys that you put around them are shooters, right? I did enjoy his point about taking a swing because you never know if somebody is underutilized. I bring up the name, Germain O'Neill a lot.

[00:16:34] And because it's just a tell, it's a cautionary tell. This guy was in. He was in. He was in Portland. Sorry about that. I was getting the text. He was in Portland and he went to. He went to Indiana and just took off.

[00:17:04] He just absolutely took off after that. So you never know. You always should take the swing. You always do that situation. If for some reason, you know it doesn't work out, you know, catch losses. But here's the thing with Detroit. It just did match.

[00:17:27] And when you look at this team, it just doesn't fit. The players just they don't fit at all. And here's the thing, you may be have egg on your face.

[00:17:39] But stay neutral for the sake of saving face to be clearly right three down three years down the road when Ivy learns how to shoot or be able to be on the court. We can't at the same time.

[00:17:53] I mean, I don't know how long it's going to take. But excuse me, Ivy needs to fall. Caden is wall. And quite as kept our sword needs to fall a little bit too, but he can play without it. All right.

[00:18:16] You also got kill your haze who needs the ball. He's in the mix. Marcus Sasser gets less and less time. And again, it's not if Caden is your guy. You got to build things around them that are going to breathe success and they just haven't.

[00:18:39] Now, here's the other thing that I want to read to you that I also think is very, very important. K Coney Ham first over our pick 20, 20, 21 draft. Okay? Now when I get to the end of this, actually no, I'm going to do it now.

[00:19:01] So he was drafted in 2021. He's only played in 104 career games. J. Nivey fifth overall pick 20, 22 draft. He's been in 98 games. Our sword Thompson, obviously this is his work a year or so, 20, 20 plus. J. and Duran, 13th overall pick 20, 22 draft 81 career games.

[00:19:32] You're going to start to see a pattern here. Marcus Sasser doesn't count, rookie. James Wwiseman, second overall pick 20, 19 draft. Only 102 games, marring badly the third, second overall pick 20, 18, 21 games. And Isaiah Stewart, 16th overall and he's at 215 games.

[00:20:06] He's the closest one to playing the kind of prerequisite amount of games in your time and league. But if you look at that, there's not one guy in eight guys that has three years of basketball in the eight basketball on court experience.

[00:20:27] How can you win like that, man? Like how can you win with that kind of mix? I just don't see it to be fruitful at all. I don't know what direction they're going in and honestly, to tell you the truth.

[00:20:46] Because if pick is caught up on some pick swap this year, they can't even trade it. So honestly, I think you guys start selling off pieces. And whatever those pieces are, if you're looking for more pick equity back, get that.

[00:21:10] If you're looking more for a player, get that. But right now, this isn't great at all. We move on to the Chicago Bulls. I have a record at 13 and 17. Keep in mind, these are as a Friday night standings.

[00:21:35] Billy Donovan is the head coach and our tourist card mission is there, exact. Here's what they've done. They basically signed their guys in the off season, Kobe White will get to him in a second. I owe De sumo and Javankarter.

[00:22:05] Is that living in left with a sore heel? He's out until January. Since the legion injury, Kobe White has just been, I mean, he's gonna be ridiculous. I like that kid. He's provided juice to a lifeless starting line up with Levine, asking to be traded basically.

[00:22:29] And he looked like he had checked out. Towards the end of Levine, the last couple games and he just didn't look very interested to be there. In the last five games, White is averaging 22 points against seven assists.

[00:22:44] White has quickened the pace since being inserted into the starting line-ups. For Chicago, it really comes down to what you think they are. And I think they're in their team in limbo and I personally think they should go ahead and start making trades.

[00:23:08] Now, here's the problem. Levine, tree market, is not as great as people want it to be. It's just not. I know there will be people who will finally jump on that.

[00:23:25] But I think they should go ahead and focus on what they're going to do with the rows in and or Carruso and go ahead and take care of those and see what you can recoup back.

[00:23:38] And then make the Levine trade because I think he might be the lesser asset of the three at this point as far as value. So that's what I think of the Chicago Bulls unfortunately, it's not a great scene there. Okay, let's get to the Indian Pacers.

[00:24:05] They have kind of fallen on some hard times but 14 and 13. They're eighth in the east. Okay. We're car wells that had coach Kevin Prettchard is the exact. They signed Bruce Brown in the off season.

[00:24:24] They created Chris Dorate to Sacramento and they also got Obie talking from the New York Nicks. How about in his made another leave, obviously. How about in his been incredible. His volume has gone up. But his efficiency has stayed at the same is is increased as well.

[00:24:50] So listen to this. He's averaging two plus more field goal attempts this year, 17.2 to last year's 15. His field goal percentage this year is 48.9, right? That right there just tells me that he's is he's just locked in.

[00:25:21] Another thing his three point attempts is also went out this year from 7.2 last year to 8.5. So I mean, he's just shooting the wall with a credit incredible efficiency. And even with the struggles, I think that Hyalbert and Michelle that he's definitely taking another step.

[00:25:42] If the end isn't a really really good place with him. So he's talking about a lot of more numbers that I got here with him. So he shooting in three, he shooting 40.9% this year last year 40%. So not much of a change but more volume. So nothing's really changed.

[00:26:04] His effective field goal percentage is 59.8 last year is 58.6. His three pro attempts this year are 4.4. Last year with 3.6 his assist total obviously up 12 this year to 2.4 last year. And the scoring has gone out by almost 4.7. Jerry's Walker, which we haven't seen.

[00:26:36] We've seen very little of at this point in time. He's kind of the Swiss Army knife out of the University of Houston. But the emergence of O'Wee Toppin has cut into Jerry's Walker's development. And the reason why is that O'Wee Toppin's shooting 38.7% from 3.

[00:26:59] And that was a problem with Walker coming in to the league was the shot real. And I think with Toppin and Nase Smith shooting at the 4 spot, there's just not a lot of room for Jerry's Walker at this point in time.

[00:27:15] Still got a lot of promise, a lot of, you know, I think the kid works hard. So I'm not saying that it's never going to come. I'm just saying he fell into a developmental kind of black hole.

[00:27:29] Because unfortunately, he's not going to get the time on the court because they got off to this great start. And the people that are playing his position can actually shoot it from 3 and that's kind of often stay won't run. So then the breaks.

[00:27:47] Let's talk about the Cleveland Cavaliers a little bit. They are 16 and 13. They're 7th in the East. J.B. Bigger staff is a head coach. Kobe Altman is the executive. They got strewns from Miami and a trade. They re-sign carrots, levert.

[00:28:12] They side tied Jerome to a contract and George Vying as well. Evan Mobile is out with a knee injury. And this is terrible timing for this.

[00:28:28] And, you know, the thing that I'm having a hard time with Cleveland is and I think a lot of people start to bring this up is that The down of him, Mitchell trade might have sped them up a little too quick.

[00:28:45] And what I mean by that is that they have a point guard in Darryl's Garland who is, I mean he was at an all-star level, you know, before Darryl even got there. And now, you know, he is taking back seat to Darryl Mitchell, which we should be, right?

[00:29:05] You know, Darryl Vying is the worst that was guy. He's also the guy who is shown that he can be money in the playoffs. He's also shown that he can not show up in the playoffs.

[00:29:17] So you get kind of a hanging angle with Donovan but on the pecking order, Donovan would be number one when it comes to the cat list. But the offense just looks, it looks stagnant and the, the, are the lack of development of Evan Mobile is going to stounding.

[00:29:41] I mean, I don't know, the shot is disappeared, the touch is disappeared and he's too light at this point to be a sinner. So we're kind of stuck. So this dude needs to find the jump shot and he needs to get on that post-hase.

[00:30:02] I don't know, I mean, I mean, I mean, the statement about Donovan Mitchell getting traded, then there have been things been floated out there that, you know, Donovan is not on trade market.

[00:30:18] But I think for this team, they need to go ahead and see if they can get this real imagined a little bit. I think they should turn over the reins to Garland. And then augment him with a winning group. Use the star power or Mitchell to get back.

[00:30:40] What they need, you know, with the shooting and whatever the case in beat. Now, the problem is that there needs to change because mobile is out.

[00:30:50] So now do you go chase, you know, something to replace mobile or do you look at whatever you're getting as an additive to what mobile and Garland could be? There are so many things with that.

[00:31:06] You know, it depends on where you stand with mobile and what your, I guess, in the day, mobile you will look like. I'm still real high on them. I think it can turn around, but yeah, definitely there needs more work to need to be done in development.

[00:31:26] And also, I think reps, reps with the ball help and it's going to not happen when you have Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland who both need the ball a lot. All right. I think they're on my little bit under the weather, but I don't feel it.

[00:31:48] All right, let's move on to the Milwaukee bucks. Milwaukee bucks are 21 and 7. Their second in the East. Adrian Griffin is the new head coach. John Horst is the executive. And the Milwaukee bucks quit with the retention plan. They resigned, Lopez and Middleton, Jay Crowder, the youngest brothers.

[00:32:17] They did get Ty Ty Washington. And then they made the big trade for Damian Liller and all seen well in Milwaukee until two days before this regular season. And Stots who was going to be the assistant coach and kind of run the offense with fired or quit.

[00:32:44] Actually, it's quit because he said it was being maraded by Adrian Griffin. Here's a deal. We've not seen the picking role between Donovan and Dam as much as we thought we were going to. And here's the other part.

[00:33:04] The picking role, if frequency for garnish is gone from 1.8 to 2.3. I don't know if he likes running though. I don't know if he likes the physicality of it. I don't know if it's I want the ball in my hand. I don't know what it is, but.

[00:33:22] That is something that's going to have to change before they get to the playoffs. It's the super power. It's the weapon. It's the. It was the reason to do the day and create in the first place.

[00:33:39] So you were looking for some easy, dynamicism in your in your play and kind of giving your offense a boost. And here's the other thing. Damian still part of the league leaders in picking role. He's just not doing it with Janice.

[00:34:00] He's doing it with Lopez and Portis instead of garnish. So until that kids better, I mean they're winning. They have a lot of talent. Middleton seems to be rounding back in the shape. Conniton has started to play.

[00:34:16] You know, there's still missing a couple pieces at this point in time. But they're going to have to lean on somebody. And the next two. That's the other thing that we up talk about is that a boat champ and. Andre Andre Jackson Jr. from Connecticut.

[00:34:34] Those kids are going to have to play. I think their defense is. Going to need them. So we'll see how it all plays out. All right, so let's get to the Washington wizards. I'm going to be like this. Washington is 522. They're 14th currently in the Eastern Conference.

[00:35:00] Their coach is West Unsealed. And their exact is newly minted Michael Winger who came over from the Clippers organization. They. They made a trade obviously builds and Phoenix. Chris Paul went to Golden State Jordan pool went to Washington.

[00:35:25] They also got ties Jones and the market smart deal for the porous in this situation. They resigned Kyle Koosima because that's an asset retention deal. Basically this season is what we thought it was going to be a lot of Jordan pool taking It'll elevate shots.

[00:35:44] It's been a lot of what we really thought it was going to be unfortunately. I want to talk about something that I heard on the right time with Bomani Jones. And he was speaking to Gilbert Arinas and Gilbert Arinas was starting about Jordan pool.

[00:36:10] And he thinks that Jordan pool fumbled the back. And what he said was this is that how are you with curry, clay and drain mine? And how how could you have not soaked all that championship knowledge? That was just going to be freely given to you.

[00:36:33] How could you not take any of that? You know he was just asking a question. And unfortunately Jordan thinks a lot of himself, you know you got to have a lot of confidence in yourself in the NBA.

[00:36:48] But I think sometimes you could slow down and maybe listen to the vets and you might have become a little bit better product and maybe you wouldn't have ended up in the situation that you did in Washington. The Charlotte Hornets are the next on deck. They are 7 and 19.

[00:37:10] 13 in the East, Steve Clifford is still the head coach. Mitch Coutchak is still the exec. They got Brandon Miller and he was second over on the 20 and the 2023 draft. They resigned while bridges. PJ Washington and Nick Smith Jr. Now I think basically where we are with this team.

[00:37:48] And you know I didn't think about it at the time because almost like oh they got to come in and clean house level of law.

[00:37:55] The problem is to think about when they took over like what day of draft or like right after which also means that free agency starts like almost pretty much immediate out immediately after. So this is probably just kind of a holding pattern season for them.

[00:38:19] I think keeping Clifford aboard, keeping Coutchak aboard. Now you have a lay of the land hopefully you have gone on some of these road trips to kind of talk to other execs and other foreign offices and see what you want in the future for your team.

[00:38:40] But this is definitely a holding pattern but a couple of bright notes. I was hard on Brandon Miller when he came out.

[00:38:50] There are several reasons why one I didn't think he was physical enough and when I saw they were putting him at kind of a front court roll you know in the sense of he's six eight he's going to play basically smart or

[00:39:07] I didn't think that was going to be a recipe for success. I was in thinking he was physical enough. I thought he was light and I thought he'd get pushed around and here's the deal. I was wrong on all accounts Brandon Miller has played very well.

[00:39:25] He is shooting 38.2% from three. He's also shooting 79.2% from free throw line 15 points 2.3 assists and 4 rewards again. He's showing good touch around the rim. And that bold well for Miller's future as a shooter. So I'm impressed with what I have seen from Miller.

[00:39:56] I was wrong and I'm not afraid to admit it. But he is kind of like the shining bubble for him. I mean, the mellows kind of getting in and out of line up. But he's played well. So at least we know we got something in Brandon Miller.

[00:40:14] We're going to move on to the Atlanta Hawks. The Atlanta Hawks are 12 and 15. Their 10th and the East. Quinn Snyder came aboard kind of like late last season. Just to get a feel. This is his first full year.

[00:40:31] Now you got landry fields is now the exact remember there was a kind of ravine change there. Travis Slink who was now like third in command in Washington or whatever case. I mean, be you got that. They traded John Collins.

[00:40:52] Which opened up a spot for Jayland Johnson and we'll get there in a second. They drafted Kobe buck in who I'm still high on. I'm keeping on my Kobe buck and stock in this last year's draft.

[00:41:08] And the best part is Jayland Johnson in his third year has really blossomed and the one thing. I think he actually might hold the key to what Atlanta. Future will look like. Johnson has exploded with his opportunity. He is nearly doubled his field goal attempts.

[00:41:33] He's raised his field goal percentage. By 20% he's gone from 59.4 this year from last year to 49.1. I mean, the numbers are just getting incredible for this kid. And he shooting the ball more this year in averaging more 3.5 attempts. Last year he was at 1.5 this year. He's at 2.7 this year.

[00:42:11] He is shooting 42.5% from 3 last year he only shot 28.8. So Kudos to Jayland Johnson and his development. Now I think it's not a secret that once Jayland Johnson got hurt. It was out of line up for a second Atlanta. They didn't play well.

[00:42:37] They need that type of athleticism on the court flying around doing what he does to make them decent. I think they're going to start targeting wings like this soon. And it might not become something of drafting and might be something because of trade.

[00:42:59] I know that Dejante Murray is probably looking at his probably last days in Atlanta. It looks like the nicks are in. I think other teams should be in. So as this story starts to develop and we start to see some of the players that come around,

[00:43:23] we will keep you up to date on that. But that is what I take on Atlanta. We're going to move on to the Miami heat and what can you say at the bottom? They're 16 and 12. They're 16 and the east. Eric Spostra, Pat Koch, Pat Riley is the exact.

[00:43:40] I'm a great scientist. Orlando Robinson, Josh Richardson. They got Jaime Hawkeyes Jr. with 18th overall selection in this year's draft and he's just been absolute gold. 12.9 points again. The 3.6 rebounds 2.6 assists and one still.

[00:44:04] He shoot now at 37% clip from 3.84 point 2% from the free throw line and he shooting his effective field goal percentage is 56.1. So all great things from a really solid player at UCLA and he's going to be really solid for Miami.

[00:44:29] I never think of Jaime Hawkeyes as like a star but I definitely think he could star in his role. And he's one of those guys that could work himself into an NBA rotation and play significant minutes in a high pressure play okay.

[00:44:49] What if you're asking me if I think Jaime Hawkeyes is ever going to be a one or two option? I don't think so. But he is a necessary evil to have for I tell you what and you're glad to have him in Miami.

[00:45:06] So shout out to our guy Jaime Hawkeyes Jr. You know UCLA, a clap wall day is going to be real every time we talk about it brewing on this podcast. All right, the other thing is bam out of bio we're going to talk about it scoring.

[00:45:24] I want to let you know that his scoring steadily gone up the last four seasons. Now this season he's ever been 22 points against that would be a career high last year would have been a career high at 20.4.

[00:45:38] The year before that, that was a career high at 19.1 the year before that 18.7 and then the bubble year that was also career high at 15. So he's a steadily on up. His growth has just been great man.

[00:45:56] I mean, just could host a band just just working and getting it done. He's expanded his game. You could tell this year there's a little more passing aspect to it. He's more aggressive with taking post ups when he can.

[00:46:14] Obviously he's going to be a effective pick and roll guy. So bam out of bio has been absolutely great this year. I've been really impressed with just everything about him and everything about him. That you Jimmy Butler doesn't have to push him very much right.

[00:46:36] All right now we're going to get to one of my favorite stories of the year. The Orlando magic are 16 and 11. They're fourth in the east. Jamal Mosley to me is is is absolutely a coach of the year candidate. And John Weldman is the exact here's the thing man.

[00:47:07] Who who hasn't been impressed with Orlando right? I also think we're starting to see a separation between Apollo and France. I know France had the big game, but Apollo is getting awesome. And I think that's okay.

[00:47:23] I think anytime that you can get your packing order in the correct situation as early as possible, you just ahead of the game. It looks like Apollo is going to be the number one guy and France is going to be the number two guy.

[00:47:38] But it may know mistake about it both are very impactful to their team. Let me give you some stats on Apollo because they're all trained enough.

[00:47:56] This year I think the thing that I liked about him is that it really is going to be real gradual as going like little tweaks. So he's averaging 16 field goal attempts again last year if he averaged 15.6. It's just a little different.

[00:48:16] He shooting while 46.7% from the field this year. Okay. Now last year he shot the ball a lot worse, the thing was like 42%. He shoot less threes. It's a four is four three point attempts again. Actually it's three point five this year or four last year.

[00:48:44] And then here's the thing that I liked. The three point shot last year was 29% this year is 38. So he went and just absolutely did it. Here's another thing that we're going to talk about Anthony Black. He was a six overall pick.

[00:49:14] This kid I don't know if he's going to be like a star star, but he's definitely going to be one of those guys you're going to love having on your team. He's found like a 20 minute game. We're already.

[00:49:36] He started 21 or 25 games and his defense of pressure whether it's on ball or just in the passing lanes and just his energy is infectious. He just bring some chaotic nature to that team. And it's some length as well.

[00:50:01] And obviously we know about the the pay making of one. Anthony Black does the thing that we were really excited about in the draft coverage. Early in the year so if you want to kind of go back and listen to the draft coverage. Get into the archive pots.

[00:50:22] All right, get in to those archive pots. All right here we go call. Oh, co-amphane. Let's talk about here real quick. He's thrived in the six manual. We talked about it in a previous podcast last year. He did not fully embrace it this year.

[00:50:41] He is absolutely embracing it and he's thriving. He's definitely in the running for six man of the year and shots out to him just to understand like, hey, this is how I can be valuable to this team.

[00:50:57] This is he might not be the best player there might be shooting things or might be shooting. Some of his attempts to me sometimes give a little shaky but. He's a runner which sometimes you need to come up the bench and give them some juice.

[00:51:17] So you got to love it. He's actually one of the players that I really enjoy watching with the Orlando magic. All right, let's get to the Toronto Raptors there 12th in the East there 11 to 16. The coach is Darko. Roger Covich and their exact is Messiah Jerry.

[00:51:40] They let Van Vleet walk without compensation which I thought was absolutely criminal. They resigned Yaka Pertal which they had got in a trade last year when we thought they should be kind of tearing it down. They also signed the new shooter former Laker and also.

[00:52:03] He turns into Kyrie Irving when he plays with a German national team. And they picked up greatie dick with the 13th overall pick in the draft. Here are my questions. See, I'm OGM, noby Gary Trent, Junior, Dennis Schroeder all are on expiring contracts.

[00:52:33] And these are players that will definitely impact full on other situations maybe winning situations. And I just don't understand why we have not pulled the trigger. You can't lie dormant and be this passive any longer. And I don't know why people aren't asking that question. I really don't.

[00:53:03] This seems very, I don't even know it just like a derelicted duty almost down there if you think about it. Like, Siakun walks after this year if you don't trade him, you get nothing. You got a lot of teams buying for real legitimate championship aspirations.

[00:53:28] You can't run up the price on one of those teams. I don't know. OGM noby they were trying to get four or five peripheral draft picks last year. I mean, I like OGM and noby don't get me wrong.

[00:53:46] But I'm not giving anybody that amount of picks for a 16 and five guy. And I know they say he can do more. I haven't seen it ever. Just give good 3 and D do.

[00:54:02] I understand you want a more role, but maybe you just need to do your role as great as you can possibly do it. And maybe in another environment, you will appreciate that role. All right, let's get to the Brooklyn nets. They are 13 and 14, 9 in the East.

[00:54:24] The bond is coach Sean Marks is the executive. Dennis Smith Jr. Lonnie Walker, Deris Basley, some of the signings. Dereak Whitehead and Noah Clowney were picked back to back in the first round. This last year both were coming off like injuries and what not.

[00:54:46] So we didn't think to we were going to see a lot of them anyway. Now, it is a thing, man. Cantoness likes to shoot the basketball this boy. Woo! Lo's shoot. And the counting numbers have exploded. I mean, 24 points again. I mean he's getting the shots.

[00:55:13] He's providing a level independent offensive initiation that they slowly lack. So he's the type of guy that if you have five seconds left on the clock and nothing has worked, you can give him a ball and he will take the shot. Because he's not scared.

[00:55:34] And he's not seeing the shot that he has not liked. So, which the irrational confidence guy can be good for certain teams. And seeing like this with the offense, kick it bogged down. I can see that. But there's another thing that, you know, what are we doing?

[00:55:58] Where are we looking? What are we looking to do? Are we okay? We're trading water? Remember they don't have their draft pick this year? It's Houston's. So keep that in mind as well. The New York Nix are 1611, fifth and the East. Tom Thibodou is a coach.

[00:56:20] We all rose is the exact. The villain of assigning day of D'Vincians, they'll sign to go with Jalen Branson and Josh Hart. I mean, it's just villain over all day every day there. Jalen Branson continues to exceed expectations.

[00:56:47] Jalen Branson has maintained his volume as a number one option. So his name is showing up on the whiteboard. It's constantly he's another one do and still. The efficiency is still great. 45.8% from three, man. Are you kidding me? This dude is ridiculous, bro.

[00:57:14] Like honestly he's like six foot one. He kind of reminds me a little bit of Tim Hardaway and I'm not talking about Tim Hardaway Jr., I'm talking about senior. You know, the skill level, the dance with the basketball.

[00:57:35] He just has a lot of that in him, the 101, monomono, mono. I can get to Mossbot. You can't stop me. Tice situation in him and it is certainly well. That dude is just kind of amazing. Now, Bob News, the Mitchell Robinson thing, Alfred is seasoned. This is terrible.

[00:57:56] Jericho Sims got hurt. This is devastating. Especially when you were maybe looking to figure out which position you were going to upgrade, which was the Julius Randall or Jerry Ardjane Barrett situation and seeing maybe hey, if I got Mitchell Robinson, I got all the villain over guys.

[00:58:23] You know, I got a manual quickly. Maybe I upgrade one of these positions and we take off to our higher level. Now, with Mitchell Robinson out, do you go get a big? You know, do you kind of give up on this season a little bit,

[00:58:43] you know, to kind of fall back and get over whatever you need. Here's the thing, they're going to be too good to get like anything, why you know, really, really viable. Unless they get lucky and lottery.

[00:58:58] The other thing is that you don't want to just go out and grab something when you're in position of weakness like this. I mean, I understand the just the, the organic nature is just feeling like we need to do something.

[00:59:20] And they do and I'm not sitting here saying like don't do anything. But I just hope that there are strategic enough and make sure that they don't lose a ton of assets just to fill this role knowing that Mitchell Robinson is coming back next year.

[00:59:36] So we'll keep an eye out on that and see how that looks. But they do need a skyscraper and and that will be the search for right now. So we'll see what ends up happening, right? Interesting to see. The Philadelphia 76 is our 19 and 8th.

[00:59:55] They are third in the East. Nick Nurse is the head coach. Del Mory is the executive. Okay. So hardened gone, P.J. Tucker gone. Pat Bell comes in. The mobile comes in. They re-sign. Be ball Paul. Paul R. To. What is it the after rookie deal?

[01:00:25] They signed to a really good contract. I liked it. Okay, more than one another star remember that. And then we're from Game of Harden. I want another star and return. It looks like he already has one. The Tirey's Maxi is putting up 26 points against six points. Seven dimes.

[01:00:48] You know what I'm saying? So I mean, this is crazy for boards almost. So I think Mory can now re imagine the roster in a different way knowing that he has Tirey's Maxi in the full.

[01:01:06] To go along with Joel and B.D. who's playing at an MVP level. So when you talk about another piece for the Philadelphia in 76ers, it's all conjecture at this point. You know what they think they need and what they actually eventually go after.

[01:01:26] I mean right now it's all up to air, but they do have the pieces to do it. And they also have now the draft equity to go ahead and handle that. In B is functioning on a completely different level from previous MVP season. He's at 35 points again, 12 rebounds.

[01:01:48] It's the assists that are absolutely amazing to me. He's averaging six assists again. This is a far cry from what he's averaging past. I think highest is like 4.3 and now he's at six. And it's just the recognition of the teammates, the more movement that the Philadelphia 76ers

[01:02:14] have at this present time. It just makes for more well rounded MVP. You know, just put it bluntly. Another stat that is really interesting as well is that he's averaging. He's averaging 1.2 offensive rebounds more again. That's interesting because that's just an effort clay.

[01:02:42] That just lets you know how much he wants it and let you know that he's not looking at last season in the MVP season as the defining season. He is still after the championship, don't you worry. We're going to move along to Boston now.

[01:03:00] Now Boston, they have a record of 21 and 6. First in the East, Joe Mozilla head coach last year, remember how he got the job. He made Doka lost his job to, we'll just say, foggy decisions. And then we have right Stevens as the executive.

[01:03:23] Who went out a lot of people, Grant Williams went out. He's in Dallas, Marcus Smart who was the hard and soul of team. He's in Memphis, Malcolm Brogden and Robert Williams are in Portland. But it's what they got back is the important thing.

[01:03:41] Christoph for a Zingus and Drew Holiday have completely revolutionized that. That's starting five. Derek White jay the jays if you want to jay Jason Tatum and Jalen Prale both have significantly played better.

[01:04:04] It seems it's more under control, it's kind of a more quieter chaos with Drew Holiday and Derek court, Derek White, manning the back court. Another thing with Mozilla is that when we last left him, he was having a hard time calling time out.

[01:04:26] He was, you know, his staff was drippily under man just because of the fact of the circumstances behind Ema and Doka leaving. He has now re-stocked his staff with Charles Lee, he's a long time assistant and very respected in the league.

[01:04:46] He's been up for like three or four head coaching jobs. And Sam Cousel who was being part of Dr. River Staps and things of that nature and he's had a long stand in Washington as well.

[01:04:59] Sam Cousel is one of those guys that when you hear people talk around Lee, he's just highly respected. And it's a good move to have those type of people on the staff assisting Joe Mozilla.

[01:05:15] I don't need to get into the jays at all, the number I want to leave you with with Boston is this they have a 9.3 net rating. Okay, it's only second to Philadelphia and the only reason I think Philadelphia is so far out ahead.

[01:05:33] It's because last six to 69 games, they can play in nothing but like the lower end of the NBA. So their numbers inflate it.

[01:05:45] So 9.3 net rating, I mean, I don't know what to say about the Boston Celtics, but right now they just look like the best team in the league. So, not like to say, Kristok Kursingus and Drew Holiday are really great additions to the Boston Celtics.

[01:06:05] All right, so that's getting our Eastern Carmsys quote a recap. I want to thank everybody again, keep in mind that this is the 100th episode we are so excited that we've been able to do it and be able to do it for this one by the time.

[01:06:26] So keep on telling your friends out there to your mailman, we'll have you about the podcast and also get on following us on X front runner PC and at Nico FRPC. We will hit you with a new podcast, come next week.

[01:06:48] I believe it will be Tuesday. So keep on looking out for that. We'll be going over the Christmas Day games and thoughts and we'll have you see anything else of no comes out of the Christmas game. So without being said enjoy your whoop day on Monday.

[01:07:06] I hope that your holiday season is nothing but joyous and we will see you on Tuesday. Be easy.