Old Kevin Durant Is The Best Version Of KD

[00:00:00] Alright, it's Monday Front Runner Podcast Collective is back on the air and it's your

[00:00:15] host Vince and I'm so happy to be here.

[00:00:19] And we have a lot of basketball to get to and we have a short period of time to get to

[00:00:25] it.

[00:00:26] The one thing that I want to talk about, let's talk about the social media is in the

[00:00:31] YouTube.

[00:00:32] If you are following me, thank you so much at Front Runner PC, that's on X and Twitter.

[00:00:40] Also make sure you are going to the YouTube channel.

[00:00:44] Thank you to the Nuggets fans out there, Thunder fans out there.

[00:00:50] Oh my God.

[00:00:51] San Antonio, thank you guys.

[00:00:53] You guys are really stepped up and we couldn't be more grateful to you.

[00:00:59] We will tell you though, subscribe to the YouTube channel Front Runner Podcast Collective

[00:01:05] to keep up to date.

[00:01:06] What's going on in the pod?

[00:01:08] If you can't get the pod the whole time, understand sometimes we'll leave you Nuggets on the

[00:01:15] YouTube page to get you squared away.

[00:01:17] What's going on here now with that being said.

[00:01:22] We got the Twitter, we got the YouTube.

[00:01:25] What else can we promote the podcast of course?

[00:01:30] If you're new to the podcast, welcome.

[00:01:33] We're so happy you're here.

[00:01:35] If for some reason you aren't new, be a friend, tell a friend.

[00:01:40] That's how we're going to grow our numbers.

[00:01:44] That's how we're going to grow our community and that's how I want to be able to connect

[00:01:48] with you guys.

[00:01:49] Also, if you're leaving comments on the YouTube page, drop a note, drop me a tweet.

[00:01:56] Hit me up because I'll be more than happy to respond or say, hey, why haven't you talked

[00:02:04] about this team or this specific player or whatever?

[00:02:08] That's what I'm here for.

[00:02:09] Make sure you guys are doing that.

[00:02:11] I will love to connect with you guys and with that being said, there is a schedule change

[00:02:16] coming.

[00:02:17] Actually, the first time this is a good situation.

[00:02:20] We are now going to go to Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

[00:02:25] Now I will tell you that two of those three podcasts will be basketball.

[00:02:33] The third one will probably be basketball but if there's just something on my mind, I don't

[00:02:42] have wrestling, other sports, something else.

[00:02:47] We might chop it up about something else.

[00:02:50] Know that you're going to get basketball at least two times a week if not three and

[00:02:56] we'll cross something in there that will let you know that it's not a basketball podcast

[00:03:01] or whatever it is.

[00:03:03] I'm just really excited that we're going to three times a week, three times.

[00:03:10] Good times for all and we're happy about it.

[00:03:14] But let's get into this podcast, shall we?

[00:03:17] The first thing that we're going to talk about is the Houston Rockets and the Houston

[00:03:22] Rockets right now are streaking.

[00:03:26] We're going to stay beating.

[00:03:29] We're going to the shout out Frank Deteg in old school play, why Will Ferro who is absolutely

[00:03:35] hilarious.

[00:03:37] They're streaking even though Alpr

[00:05:56] Bout are unknown at this point.

[00:05:58] We have started some sort of some sort of bridge to Canada to see where he is but the political

[00:06:08] parties and the powers that be have not allowed us to know the whereabouts of one young

[00:06:15] Nico Mietello, but I'll keep you guys up to date with that.

[00:06:20] Now, with all that being said, let's get more into Jellin Green, you know, Arjunks

[00:06:24] Sai, he's been playing great.

[00:06:26] He's been given a lot of effort and the thing that I've actually loved is that he's finding

[00:06:33] his teammates at an acceptable rate.

[00:06:37] If he figures out how he can be even more dangerous off the ball, it will completely unlock Jellin

[00:06:43] Green.

[00:06:44] He's a PNR master, okay?

[00:06:47] He's a picking a road myestro.

[00:06:49] We know that he can get his own shot whenever he wants because he's that athletic.

[00:06:54] He now knows what speeds that he wants to play at and at what times he wants to accelerate

[00:07:00] or de-accelerate to allow a man to go by him.

[00:07:06] But if he learns how to play off the ball even more, and I think it's going to be particularly

[00:07:11] important when Shingoon gets back and will get to that in a second, I think that this

[00:07:16] will make Houston even more dangerous than what they are presently.

[00:07:21] The other thing I want to get to is his last five games.

[00:07:24] Jellin Green's last five game, his average plus minus is 20.2.

[00:07:30] He's averaging 34.2 points a game.

[00:07:35] He is shooting 27 out of 54 from 3, so that's 50%.

[00:07:41] He's also rebounding at a rate at 7.

[00:07:44] The Rockets are one game bad behind the Go To Say Warriors.

[00:07:50] And that's where the final play in spot.

[00:07:54] This has just, I mean like I said, I called him dead as soon as the Shingoon happened,

[00:08:00] the injury happened.

[00:08:02] And now it's amazing that Adoka has gotten this group to just galvanize through this injury.

[00:08:12] It's a credit to the young players.

[00:08:14] It's a credit also to Dylan Brooks and Fred Van Vleet, who are the veterans that they

[00:08:22] thought the money was ridiculous at the time.

[00:08:25] Which you know what?

[00:08:27] Somebody said on a podcast recently, I think this might have been Bill Simmons' podcast.

[00:08:36] I rather pay overpay for a top 80 player that I know can get buckets and play meaningful

[00:08:44] minutes.

[00:08:46] Additive minutes on my team than just like working around the fringes like the Dodgers were

[00:08:53] trans and things of that nature.

[00:08:55] So it's an interesting point, you know, because I was thinking about Tobias Harris, right?

[00:09:02] And I was thinking about, well how much money is he going to get with his next deal?

[00:09:07] And you know there's a lot of teams out there who could use a floor racer.

[00:09:12] He doesn't necessarily need to be 24 points a game but Tobias was giving you a solid 16.

[00:09:20] What's that work to you?

[00:09:21] Is it worth 23, 27 million?

[00:09:25] I don't know.

[00:09:26] But at some point you got to spend some of this money, right?

[00:09:29] It's going to be a floor with the new CVA.

[00:09:33] But you know it just thinks to think about the one thing I will say about Jaylen Green

[00:09:39] going into next year, it's going to grow him to and I mean this is more of a doca thing.

[00:09:47] So you know what it does involve the players.

[00:09:51] A doca is going to have to find a way for the shingoon, jaylen green thing to work because

[00:09:57] it should be able to.

[00:09:59] Those two players should be able to have a chemistry and be able to figure out where

[00:10:05] each other, where they want to be, where exactly they want the ball, what spots are very

[00:10:13] more effective in to get their shots off.

[00:10:15] And I think that is something that a doca in this off season will kind of, I would say

[00:10:24] strongly suggest would be the right word, right terminology for that.

[00:10:28] So we'll see how that all plays out now I will say to me that's face to I know that the

[00:10:36] owner for teeta says that they're already in phase two but connecting shingoons nail creation

[00:10:43] and jaylen green's progression as an offensive primary of could booth whether rockets could

[00:10:49] be next year.

[00:10:51] And there's no reason for us not to believe due to some things that we're going to get

[00:10:59] into a little bit later, but you know I'll allude to it the deterioration of some of

[00:11:04] the older teams.

[00:11:05] There's no reason for us not to think that the rockets couldn't make some sort of Sacramento

[00:11:12] kings lead next year.

[00:11:14] I mean it's all on the table for them.

[00:11:17] Especially if you're going to see this type of improvement from jaylen green.

[00:11:22] The other thing that I do want to point out that I want to shout out my guys don't forget

[00:11:26] about cam with more and do not forget about a mint Thompson both guys are they've had

[00:11:34] up and down well cam hasn't I love cam will get to him a second but I'm in you know he

[00:11:41] got the injury early you know took a second to get some play in time now has a play in

[00:11:48] time.

[00:11:49] Now he's in a rotation getting heavy minutes and he's that all around guy we know that

[00:11:56] the shooting has to come around that's the major thing with almond Thompson this is the

[00:12:00] same thing for our sore as well.

[00:12:03] But at this point just getting them minutes and getting them meaningful minutes in games

[00:12:08] that actually matter because like we said there one game behind the golden state warriors

[00:12:14] for the last plan so all these games right now that they're playing are essentially playoff

[00:12:20] games.

[00:12:21] So I'm really happy that almond Thompson is getting this time to play and I listen I'll

[00:12:29] tell you this I like the jaylen green explosion I know that this holds well for the future

[00:12:35] for him but I'm going to tell you right now jaylen green cannot rest on his laurels because

[00:12:43] the one time that he does cam with more is coming for the head okay cam with more could

[00:12:53] easily slip right into the world that jaylen green is currently in the way that you may

[00:12:59] adoga has his hand on the button which is basically using the bench to guitar it basically

[00:13:07] curtail the diet of silly shots that jaylen green game plagued him his first couple seasons.

[00:13:15] So I'm hoping that what we're seeing is the renaissance of jaylen green and that he doesn't

[00:13:22] fall back into bad habits because here's the thing his numbers have been incredible over

[00:13:28] the last five right and his volume definitely has gone out now it's been needed I'm not going

[00:13:35] to say that it hasn't been needed but it's just one of those things that you just hope

[00:13:42] that we can continue to get good shots, get percussful paint touches and if he continues

[00:13:54] on that trajectory I think the Houston Rockets are going to be a foreign little team to deal

[00:14:01] with for years to come.

[00:14:03] All right the next thing that I want to get into is let's get into the standings update

[00:14:09] and I think the reason why we're doing this right now is because on the back end of

[00:14:14] this we're going to start talking about teams and head into the Aussies and stuff like

[00:14:19] that but let's get a quick update of where we are so it's Monday, it's four specific

[00:14:26] standard time at this present time and in the east the one two are locked by the Celtics

[00:14:32] and Bucks.

[00:14:34] Okay the Celtics have the best work in the NBA they're playing phenomenal basketball

[00:14:40] we talked about them on the last pod again if you are new to the podcast Apple Spotify

[00:14:50] Amazon music I heart radio pen door front runner podcast collective is on there and you

[00:14:58] can go ahead and get into the archive pods and I would tell you to do so I think that's

[00:15:04] the right move personally but we talked about Boston how great they were and how what

[00:15:11] kind of historic one they were on the last pod but those two spots in the east are locked

[00:15:17] in so one two locked three four five there's a game between the Cavaliers, the Knicks

[00:15:27] and the Orlando magic.

[00:15:30] Now it looks like the Knicks are getting healthy we still don't have a real update on random

[00:15:38] when he's going to return but all everybody else is starting to get healthy now the other

[00:15:42] guy the X factor is are they going to get anything out of Mitchell Robinson we still having

[00:15:49] to kind of update whether there was a lot of talk about him returning I'm going to

[00:15:56] check up on that and on Wednesday's pod will will break down some of that and whatever

[00:16:02] I can find out we'll have on that.

[00:16:05] The magic to me that's another team that we talked about on the last pod but again

[00:16:10] I cannot stop singing praises of their coach Mosby and Paulo being hero and the rest

[00:16:18] of the guys down in Orlando.

[00:16:21] I mean it is incredible what they're doing with you know we talked about what Houston right

[00:16:27] Houston needed veteran leadership and it's funny if you look at what the Orlando magic

[00:16:34] has especially in their starting lineup there's really not a veteran in there not a real

[00:16:42] veteran. I'm talking about somebody who's been in the lead eight nine years going to play

[00:16:46] off a two seeing some stuff in the NBA that's kind of what I'm talking about and for them

[00:16:53] to commit to the defensive end of the ball and to see them play for one another is one

[00:17:01] and most enjoyable things that I get to watch it also one and most fascinating thing gets

[00:17:06] to watch because I would really like to have a sit down with their head coach who I think

[00:17:14] definitely deserves some coach of the year recognition.

[00:17:20] I don't think he should win it.

[00:17:21] I mean Dagnall does out there, Finches out there, there's some dudes out there that did

[00:17:27] the damn thing this year but a couple of votes for our guy in Orlando will be much appreciated.

[00:17:39] So now getting on to 678, 678 have a half a game separating the Pacers, the Miami Heat

[00:17:49] and the Philadelphia 76s.

[00:17:53] The Pacers is kind of gone through a lull.

[00:17:57] I don't know if Tyrese Halliburton has ever gotten back to being healthy after he had

[00:18:04] the growing injury.

[00:18:06] It just seems like he's been not as good but that game last night between the Lakers and

[00:18:14] the Pacers, let me tell you something that was a hell of a game and there were just a

[00:18:19] rush of threes that were hit by the Pacers near the end where they Dan and they pulled

[00:18:26] off the comeback but Tyrese has been slow by injuries.

[00:18:30] Now the other question that people have had is have the loosening of the rules when

[00:18:38] it comes to fouls or fouls being called, has that hurt Tyrese Halliburton's game because

[00:18:45] even last night it was a really good game.

[00:18:49] 12.6 reguels, he had 10 assists, only 5-13 shooting, 2-6 from 3.

[00:18:57] He pretty much everybody else got off like Siacham got off and Miles Turner and McDermott

[00:19:04] Mcbuckett's, McDermott, Mcbuckett's, Kilmock the Banshee gave him 14 so these are the type

[00:19:11] of things that I'm worried about with the Pacers.

[00:19:15] Is that are they able to kind of, is there a switch?

[00:19:20] Is it not a switch?

[00:19:22] Is it a because do they miss what he healed more than we realize?

[00:19:29] Because the one thing that I do remember is Tyrese Halliburton being on the JJ Redic podcast,

[00:19:36] not to be mistaken with the LeBron and JJ Redic podcast that's out.

[00:19:42] And we talked about that in the last part as well, but the thing that I find interesting

[00:19:47] with all of it is that I remember Halliburton talking to JJ and he said that he was now

[00:19:54] working on what Buddy Heel was doing in the picking role again and being the actual person

[00:20:02] that was setting the pick.

[00:20:04] Now we also know that Tyrese Halliburton is sinewy.

[00:20:10] He's his frame is a little more fragile than Buddy Heel, so I don't know if he's really

[00:20:17] meant to do all that but at the end of the day is that they really have not found their

[00:20:22] footing with a spicy pea, Pascal Siacham and Tyrese Halliburton.

[00:20:29] Now obviously any time you inject a player like Halibah Siacham into this mix, of course

[00:20:39] there's going to be some growing pains while who's taking shots, where they're taking

[00:20:42] shots.

[00:20:43] And again I always re-innerate that a lot of NBA teams do not practice and I would think

[00:20:52] that on a team like Indiana with a coach like Carlisle and some of the vets and some of

[00:20:59] the injuries that they've had, I'm sure there's not a lot of practice going on.

[00:21:04] There's individual work and shootouts and things of that nature but not actual practice

[00:21:08] where we're going over reps and what we're doing and where ball placement needs to be

[00:21:14] and stuff like that.

[00:21:15] That thing those are getting worked out in the game.

[00:21:19] With that being said, they to me are a team that I don't know what it's going to look

[00:21:26] like towards the end and then you got the Miami Heat that just will not ever go away.

[00:21:34] They're like a bad rash, I tell you.

[00:21:38] Like no offense to the Miami Heat people, you know I love your team, I love the heat

[00:21:44] culture, I love that you guys get it out the mud, you know that but it is literally

[00:21:51] Jason Voorhees.

[00:21:54] This do will not die.

[00:21:56] I don't care if you set him on fire, I don't care if you stabbed him with an arrow.

[00:22:01] I don't care if you hit him with a nuclear missile somehow Jason Voorhees finds a way

[00:22:08] to live and kill more people and camp crystal late so without that being said the Miami

[00:22:17] Heat have found their way to the seventh spot and they could actually avoid the plan

[00:22:24] altogether.

[00:22:27] And then we got Philadelphia, if Philadelphia they're just kind of holding on.

[00:22:33] At this point I mean there's been real positive news about Joel and B, they do expect him

[00:22:39] back.

[00:22:40] They expect him back and there seems to be no hesitation whatsoever coming out of the

[00:22:49] 76th organization when he comes to Joel and B after having the surgery to his knee.

[00:22:57] So if they're having that type of positive block roster, look out because that makes for

[00:23:06] a interesting plan and it makes for an interesting playoff because a healthy Joel and B with

[00:23:14] Maxi also now with the three point assurance of what Buddy Hill brings.

[00:23:23] And then you're also slotting people back in their natural position where Maxi is not

[00:23:28] being the guy that they have to you know, key on first he becomes the second most important

[00:23:35] person on the whiteboard.

[00:23:37] So it's all interesting and then we in the East we have we have a we have a we have a

[00:23:48] little guy who have made an incredible turn around.

[00:23:53] We talked about IU disumar on the last pod.

[00:23:58] We sung the crazy's of Kobe white on the last five but it is worth mentioning again.

[00:24:05] This team was was left forget when Zachalovine was playing on that team.

[00:24:11] That team had no life, no energy, nothing as soon as that dude left it was like the clouds

[00:24:20] parted and no this is no shade towards him.

[00:24:25] Maybe it just got old maybe it just got to a point where he just wasn't happy to be there.

[00:24:33] They were happy with his production or his leadership style or whatever it was, it

[00:24:38] just seems like a marriage that needed to end.

[00:24:43] And even though he had foot surgery to not go to Detroit which I don't blame him they

[00:24:51] play so much better without them.

[00:24:53] There's an energy there's a renewed purpose.

[00:24:57] It seems like everybody is fighting and pulling on the same side of the road and that

[00:25:02] is good to see so they're holding down the nine position and the hawks are just chilling

[00:25:07] in the tent.

[00:25:09] And no ones around them, they don't have to worry about it so they can win games, lose

[00:25:14] games.

[00:25:15] It doesn't matter.

[00:25:16] They're still going to make it.

[00:25:18] They're just chilling in the 10th and they're hoping that they get trade young back.

[00:25:22] So this playoff situation is still in flux.

[00:25:29] We know the 10 in the east but we still don't know what actual order everybody's going

[00:25:36] to be in but we'll wait to see how it goes.

[00:25:40] Now onto the west side here.

[00:25:43] Shout out IceQ, Mag10.

[00:25:44] Shout out how we do it.

[00:25:47] The battle for one there can only be one okay.

[00:25:54] Shout out to the movie Highlander and shots out to my wife, Belinda who loves that quote

[00:26:03] from Highlander.

[00:26:05] There can only be one.

[00:26:07] And basically right now I'm going to tell you it is a war for the one Denver, okay see

[00:26:18] in Minnesota.

[00:26:19] There's one gave separating those three, okay.

[00:26:23] You know, I mean Denver is Denver.

[00:26:26] They're the prohibitive favors to come out the west.

[00:26:29] Yokeage is playing out of his mind like he always does.

[00:26:36] Jamal Murray.

[00:26:38] I think they've gotten a little bit more out of Michael Porter Jr this year as well so that's

[00:26:43] kind of interesting little development there.

[00:26:45] So I like their team a lot.

[00:26:49] The thing that it will come down to with the different nuggets is that the thing that we talked

[00:26:53] about all season.

[00:26:55] It's going to come down to that bench.

[00:26:58] It's going to come down to those young guys on that bench, are they going to be able

[00:27:03] to contribute?

[00:27:04] If Christian Brown going to be the guy that he was last year, that's we need to know

[00:27:11] those type of things.

[00:27:15] So with all that being said, they still got Yokeage and Murray.

[00:27:20] And Michael Malone is I like Michael Malone a lot because he's petty.

[00:27:26] And I think petty in the best way possible, okay?

[00:27:31] So when I say that, I know it sounds like it's very disrespectful but it's not meant

[00:27:36] to be.

[00:27:37] But what I think Michael Malone does is that he just holds on to receipts.

[00:27:43] Anything that he feels that is some sort of kind of slight to his squad or whatever.

[00:27:49] Michael Malone puts that on the bulletin board and says, this is what they think about

[00:27:53] as well as so what we don't do.

[00:27:54] The one thing that you do see is that Denver has gotten out of its dough drums of I don't

[00:27:59] care in what does life matter?

[00:28:03] You know, I think Denver was in its philosophy phase for a while where they were just trying

[00:28:11] to find the meaning of life.

[00:28:12] And now they're back to playing basketball and the great part about that is, is that, hey,

[00:28:18] we're on top of the west right now as we speak with like 12 game left to go or 13

[00:28:25] depending on who you are.

[00:28:27] Okay, C is still right there.

[00:28:30] Okay, C we win this podcast, Front Runner podcast collective has been given the thunder

[00:28:36] a lot of love over the year.

[00:28:38] I was the one to proclaim SGA, Chad and Jalen Williams as a week three.

[00:28:45] You don't need to go out and look for another star or whatever you need role players to

[00:28:49] go around those three dudes and let those guys just flourish into whatever they're going

[00:28:55] to be.

[00:28:56] So you know, go back and go to YouTube is on there.

[00:29:00] I said it.

[00:29:02] You know, I'm saying I got receipts from one stuff too.

[00:29:07] The thing that is going to come down to with okay, C is just going to match up.

[00:29:11] It's match up dependent.

[00:29:13] I know my thunder family doesn't want to hear that.

[00:29:18] I know they don't but they just don't have enough beef on the inside.

[00:29:24] I'm sorry.

[00:29:26] You don't say it?

[00:29:27] There's certain teams that y'all can go and roll up their certain teams out there that

[00:29:33] you can go ahead and do that with choose wisely.

[00:29:36] You know, is what I would say.

[00:29:39] And then you have the Minnesota timber wolves and I want to talk about three things here.

[00:29:45] One, how good has Nasrid been in the starting lineup?

[00:29:49] How good has Nasrid been moving his feet and getting out to shooters and defending the

[00:29:55] rim and plan excellent offensive basketball.

[00:30:00] How good has Nasrid been with that said, you know, we all know they're missing Carl

[00:30:05] Anthony Towns and we're hoping that, you know, he can come back this year is still up in the air

[00:30:11] but never fear because Anthony Edwards is here.

[00:30:18] And Anthony is just out there every night putting on a show.

[00:30:22] The one thing that you are seeing with Anthony Edwards as well is that his distribution

[00:30:28] of the ball is going to lot better.

[00:30:31] He's not just making passes to make passes now.

[00:30:35] He's actually, I noticed something that he did in a previous game.

[00:30:39] Anthony Edwards went to the paint but instead of like going straight out the rim and attacking

[00:30:46] it because I want to get into a couple things that he does do that worry me a little bit

[00:30:51] but give me one second.

[00:30:53] I can't remember the team that it was against but he goes to the paint and kind of goes parallel

[00:30:57] to the rim.

[00:30:58] And then what he does, he kind of continues to glide it, glide it all the way to basically

[00:31:04] the baseline and then skips a pass to the open three point shooter that was sitting in

[00:31:09] the short corner and four three.

[00:31:12] Now this is something that Anthony Edwards refused to do last year, either A. He didn't

[00:31:20] see it because he had such a tunnel vision for the actual rim because he was trying to

[00:31:26] destroy it.

[00:31:28] But, you know, it's the Anthony Edwards show.

[00:31:34] I don't think Anthony is good like that.

[00:31:37] Anthony is an ultra competitor.

[00:31:40] I just think that the game needed to slow down for him in a house and he's just made better

[00:31:46] adjustments and as Carl has left the team his efforts on the defensive end and picked

[00:31:54] up.

[00:31:56] He's taken more the brunt of the offense and knowing when to get off the ball, when

[00:32:02] not to get off the ball.

[00:32:03] We're seeing a really big leap in development with Anthony Edwards and it's great to see

[00:32:08] because of the fact that he are looking at this guy as one of the young American stars

[00:32:15] in our league and what a great guy to represent the league.

[00:32:19] He's funny.

[00:32:21] He's competitive.

[00:32:24] He says where his own is mine sometimes.

[00:32:28] Sometimes we shake our head but most of the time we laugh so Anthony Edwards is our guy

[00:32:33] and that's the those are the three in that cluster.

[00:32:37] So then you have the four or five and they're in their own little subgroup and that's the

[00:32:42] clippers, okay?

[00:32:44] And the clippers since, you know, it looks like they lost their mojo since that 26 and

[00:32:51] if I run they had in the middle of the season, the clippers look too cool to do the little

[00:32:57] things right now.

[00:32:58] They're not diving for loose balls.

[00:33:02] They're kind of you know, they're sleepwalking through the offense.

[00:33:06] There's no ace to it.

[00:33:07] There's no zip.

[00:33:08] There's no jubes to that offense right now and you know, I don't know if it's okay.

[00:33:16] And now have proof of concept and they decided to, you know, ease off the accelerator a little

[00:33:22] bit or they somehow lost their chemistry which is weird but it's not out of the question

[00:33:32] and I'll get to one second.

[00:33:34] Okay?

[00:33:35] So don't let me forget to go back to that.

[00:33:38] But the other thing that I want to say is this is that you know, they were doing all

[00:33:42] these things and you know, I will tell you this podcast was starting to think that this

[00:33:47] might be a really actual contender for you know towards the Denver Nuggets as a finals

[00:33:53] contender.

[00:33:54] But without the clippers doing all the little things and playing at that level that they

[00:34:00] were playing out before when the ball seemed to move quicker.

[00:34:04] It had a zip to it that you know we talked about and I'll actually, I'll put it this way

[00:34:09] Westbrook is coming back of I think he was clear Monday.

[00:34:14] So today wonder, I wonder if this will sound too hyperbolic.

[00:34:19] I'm not I'm not intending to be but I wonder with Westbag can they get the key get the clippers

[00:34:26] back into that chaos energy that they are sorely missing right now and it's lacking that

[00:34:32] you see it and here's the thing.

[00:34:35] But Pelicans are coming for that four spot.

[00:34:38] Okay, the New Orleans Pelicans are right there with the clippers like I said we say they're

[00:34:47] a game between those two and it's just crazy to me that you know we're in this position

[00:34:54] that we're still wondering which Clipper team is going to be there.

[00:34:59] But the clippers better get it in gear because if they don't they might play four games

[00:35:06] in New Orleans and that might just be the end of whatever this iteration of the Clipper

[00:35:14] team is sad to say.

[00:35:20] Excited for though the by you we're really excited Pelicans fans, you know we talked about

[00:35:25] you on the last pie we talked about coins Zion.

[00:35:28] We talked about we talked about how Jordan Hawkins can even get in a love and then I see

[00:35:33] him Monday night he out there stroking three so shout out to our guy are you con guy okay

[00:35:41] you can we know what's going.

[00:35:44] Hey I'll pitch you in the tournament okay back to back by the way I know is not clever

[00:35:52] I don't have a Cinderella going far I don't care about you Cinderella people I care

[00:35:59] about blue bloods getting to the dance dominating the dance and then marching off with your

[00:36:08] girl that's what I care about honestly so you can't doing their thing kudos to you Jordan

[00:36:15] Hawkins went off last night he was hitting three he looked incredible and that team is

[00:36:21] just deep I know that Brandon Ingraham is out but you got Trey Murphy the third to kind

[00:36:26] of just go right into that and actually it might give them even better spacing than they

[00:36:34] did with Brandon Ingraham and I'm not saying it as he is a better player than Brandon Ingraham

[00:36:41] make no mistake about it Brandon Ingraham is the better player who do you want the ball

[00:36:47] in their hands in the last ten seconds of a basketball game trainer for the third Brandon

[00:36:55] Ingraham I will tell you that it will probably you know we're going to be on Brandon Ingraham

[00:37:01] side a little bit so but the clickers have worked to do in the New Orleans Pellet Hinsley

[00:37:09] breathing the breathing down their neck and we'll see how it all goes now for the next

[00:37:14] little group of people let's get to it okay we got the sons the kings the mavericks

[00:37:20] they're all battling for that last final actual playoffs by okay so we got the suds we know

[00:37:28] what the deal is all year with them they don't have a lot of depth now they created depth

[00:37:34] shots out to them James Jones has done an incredible job out there with air Gordon who knew

[00:37:46] Grayson Allen was going to shoot like Steph Curry I mean I don't know this do is incredible

[00:37:57] I think what is like 47% from three right now it's ridiculous nobody should be shooting like this

[00:38:08] we're still getting the off and on Brad Bill I know he's been healthy and been back in the lineup

[00:38:13] they just never had their team and they don't know who they are and we're still trying to figure out

[00:38:22] where you know when is going to be bill time and when I mean you know when is it going to be

[00:38:29] Bradley Bill time and then when is going to be Devin Booker time when is going to be Kevin Durant

[00:38:34] time and we're going to get to Kevin Durant in a second but yeah I am really interested to see

[00:38:45] how it all works out with the sons the other teams in this in this group are really interesting

[00:38:52] Sacramento has cried all year about their guys not you know tonner love a tonner respect I did a

[00:39:00] video clip on them about House of Bonus gets everything out of his game earlier this season I

[00:39:10] want to say it was around December or whatever you should go back on YouTube and check that video out

[00:39:15] I did a really good job on that video anyways um was that being said there's just defencelessly

[00:39:23] unfortunately with Sacramento you know they can play at an incredible pace they're extremely fast

[00:39:33] they're extremely athletic they all seem to zip around the bonus and he's just a orchestrator

[00:39:40] of that offense and they all thrive and they all eat very well off of it uh fortunately on the

[00:39:49] defensive end he's a problem he's just not big enough like I think he's 6'8 and a half

[00:39:57] like I know they lift him at like 6'10 6'11 but I don't think he's anywhere near that

[00:40:03] and he's incredibly strong he's incredibly there is not a part there's he is getting everything out

[00:40:10] of his physical tools he's not leaving anything no stone unturn whatsoever so

[00:40:20] we'll see how it goes but I think they might be the one team that needs the six spot depending on

[00:40:26] matchup but they might be the team that I would be like yep you need to stay out of the plan

[00:40:32] you need to stay away from the one game you know it's not one game and it's over for you because

[00:40:38] they'll be on the front end of the plan but you don't want to be in a one game you know

[00:40:44] eliminator kind deal and and that is something that is squarely looking them in the face right now so

[00:40:51] I think they're going to take the last 12-13 game very seriously as well and then we get

[00:40:56] to the Mavericks and the Mavericks the Mavericks are a conundrum I mean they are absolutely the

[00:41:03] best way I can put the Mavericks is this is that I look at Luca and Kyrie and I've been astounded by

[00:41:09] just the chemistry and how what they've been able to pull together and they wow it's

[00:41:16] I didn't think it was going to work it has I was wrong I mean more than half we say I was wrong right

[00:41:24] but the PJ Washington all in move so far hasn't really paid dividends the

[00:41:32] Daniel Gafford move has been better he's actually you started Derek Lively Jr as a starter right now

[00:41:41] but Derek Lively is giving good quality minutes off the bench as well and it's really going to come

[00:41:47] down to what they're going to get from like Josh Green PJ they got to get something from PJ Washington

[00:41:56] they have to because if they don't they're going to get bounced early and I wonder at what point

[00:42:05] does Luca go I don't know if I want to be here anymore and I'm not saying he is in that mind

[00:42:10] said I don't know but I wonder when it does kicking or the pressure starts to push him that way

[00:42:18] right that could also be the case the pressure pushes him towards like yo they're telling me I'm not a

[00:42:25] winner but I don't have all the tools I need to win so what is it now we sung the praises of this

[00:42:34] this deal um I was I was worried about all the future assets that were going out um we talked

[00:42:43] about it at length on this podcast and where where's the way out now that's a question that I have is

[00:42:52] where's the way out if they do want to hit the jag button and my problem is it seems like

[00:42:59] how you would get out of this if you would trade Luca now I mean not saying I would I mean that's

[00:43:05] one of the best players in league you could trade Kyrie but what are you getting for a 32 33 year old

[00:43:12] Kyrie who played well with you you know and maybe because the performance that he's put up in the

[00:43:20] last you know year so allows people to feel a little bit better about bringing him on but you're not

[00:43:27] getting a huge haul for Kyrie Irving like he's not he you're not getting three first round draft

[00:43:35] picks for Kyrie you might get one and maybe a conditional on top of that but that's what it so

[00:43:42] you have those three teams it's going to be interesting who who wins out for the six by and then

[00:43:48] let's get to the Lakers they pretty much have the nine spots selling up nothing to see here

[00:43:54] they're just getting ready for the plan and they know they got two games to get to the to the

[00:43:59] spot and then whoever they face is whoever they face that's where we are and then we talked about

[00:44:07] the Warriors we talked about they are precariously uh inching closer and closer to not even being

[00:44:13] in the plan which brings me into two questions and I really want dub nation to answer this question

[00:44:22] is this finally the death of the the dynasty that is the Golden State Warriors we had the title a

[00:44:28] couple years ago so i'm not saying like oh you know let's super over but we can now ask the question

[00:44:36] now right because if for some reason Steph Kyrie doesn't make the playoffs this year that's

[00:44:42] going to signal something different because the other question you ask yourself is I'm paying

[00:44:47] $300 million for a non-playoff team i mean i know lake oak is mister light years away and all this

[00:44:54] other stuff but even he would have a hard time swallowing $300 million in a non-playoff team so

[00:45:05] there's that the second question maybe even the bigger question is and i wrote this down because

[00:45:10] i looked at it for a long time before i bought it to the masses but i'm gonna go ahead and ask

[00:45:18] you guys this now and thank you guys again um Steph Curry and Levin James which on this clock

[00:45:26] as will be referred to oh we're talking about Levin Levin on this clock as from here on out will

[00:45:35] be referred to as blue James now people will ask me events why would you call him blue James

[00:45:45] i'll give you a reason it's another nod to first of all old school shout out wolf you know

[00:45:52] wolf arrow and the gang and it's a it's a nod to the hilarious comedy and wolf's heroist character

[00:46:02] grabs a old veteran off a uh from a bench and as a pledge hazing goes on in

[00:46:10] fail refers to the old vet as blue and then we get the classic line you want to be with me

[00:46:17] hey why loves that i love that movie all right so you know i am here's here's my question for

[00:46:23] you guys with Steph Curry and Levin James i'm gonna ask this to the tv networks whoever has the

[00:46:33] tv to the mba for the like the next couple of years or whatever it's tnt and espn right and then

[00:46:39] i don't know what happens in the next couple of years i think it'll be Netflix or somebody what

[00:46:44] we'll get to that when he gets there but two espn and two tnt were kind of broadcasting network

[00:46:50] whatever case may be if the warriors and the lagers are going to be meddling franchising with

[00:46:56] aging out giants of the mba can we get other teams in naturally tell tell by spots you know i'm

[00:47:04] just asking a question for a friend you know um i know that sounded very harsh or or cavalier

[00:47:12] and it doesn't it doesn't mean to be but last year we were at this point where we had the

[00:47:20] golden state warriors who are proud champions who couldn't win a damn game on the road right

[00:47:27] and they got in to the plan and then end up playing um who uh sacrameno whatever got beat

[00:47:39] then played the lakers lakers playing last year playing this year you know usually it doesn't go

[00:47:48] oh we get we we are going steadily down and then it gets better

[00:47:54] we shoot up 20 games or 10 games or whatever it is that it will take for them to be not in the plan

[00:48:01] anymore usually when it starts to go down like this it continues to incrementally go down

[00:48:09] and i'm just asking the networks could we possibly get i don't know myth is with a job back

[00:48:18] in the rest of the crew that's not what i love jaw talking nothing but trash on the court

[00:48:26] dismissing people ducking on people hopefully with an injury how about more

[00:48:31] pelicans love now that Zion is played you know for him pretty much a whole season right he's playing

[00:48:38] more games than he's ever had before if this is what it's going to be and this is going to be

[00:48:43] constant which you know i know we can't bank on it you know you know we can't bank on it but um

[00:48:50] we'll see right we'll see and then everyone sure want to see the magic i know that

[00:48:58] i talk about the magical out here i just i'm just impressed with what they're doing

[00:49:03] they're huge they're just huge all the way around if you look at their front court i mean it's like

[00:49:10] you got pallow at like six ten six eleven you got window card or junior at six ten six eleven

[00:49:17] you got frauds who's a legitimate six nine uh and then they bring in Jonathan Isaac who six eleven

[00:49:25] but he has a wingspan of a tear ductile and he looks ridiculous with them long ass arms

[00:49:31] and now you know he's playing like pretty consistent 15 to 18 minutes of game

[00:49:39] and he's one of the best defensive players in the league you know um i don't say anything out of turn

[00:49:47] he just doesn't play enough but uh he's in powerful when he does play with those are the type of

[00:49:53] teams that i want to we'll want to see i would my whole thing is i just don't want to be force fed

[00:49:59] you know next season the lakers or the warriors and these are teams that can't get you know five games

[00:50:08] or six games over 500 it's not it's not compelling basketball and we can be telling better stories

[00:50:16] with with some of these other teams instead of just finding out you know in the playoffs

[00:50:23] oh my god door land on magic some indian they made the playoffs you know jeez i did not know the

[00:50:30] minister minister of the timber wolves were like battling for the number one seed all year well

[00:50:37] if they're never on tv how is anybody gonna ever know these things just saying i'm gonna get

[00:50:45] i'm gonna change gears real quick on this podcast or in my own curiosity or admiration

[00:50:52] for older current NBA players um i have like an affinity for when like the old the aging superstars

[00:51:02] get out there and then they're just they just feel free to say whatever it is they want to say

[00:51:08] now again i said older current NBA players and usually i'm talking about like the standard bearers

[00:51:16] of the NBA you know like when kovie got older rp our guy kovie grind but when kovie got older

[00:51:24] it was funny because kovie would just say stuff he just say stuff like yeah on the west row

[00:51:30] like i am the best like nobody out works for me i'll get up at 4 30 in the morning i like throw

[00:51:38] i have people throw rocks at me or whatever he did for training and you know even lebron now

[00:51:46] now it's a little more polished because lebron got the you know he tries to keep like the

[00:51:51] presidential kind of stay like right down the middle type of situation but every once in a while

[00:51:57] you get one from lebron you know you get a dose of just a transparency from lebron you know but

[00:52:08] i must tell you that my favorite older superstar is katie and katie is just amazing

[00:52:19] and there's so many reasons why but what i want to do is i want to get into some of his

[00:52:26] his best quotes that i found and the reason why i want to why i want to bring these up

[00:52:34] is because katie has been a has had a complicated relationship with the media he has had a

[00:52:40] complicated relationship with the NBA universe the fans you know he's had a complicated

[00:52:48] relationship with the teams that he's been on but the one thing with kd is it's that kd has

[00:52:54] been really one of the guys and i and i'll hold it to the end but here's some of the

[00:53:00] quotes that katie has given us over over period time i want to go down as a winner that must hurt

[00:53:08] dev nation that must that must sting a little bit i ain't gonna lie when i saw that i was like

[00:53:15] okay next one i fell so many times and i got back up i've been through the most challenging

[00:53:27] the most challenging with my family but i'm still standing i don't know what that means

[00:53:33] but that's a that's a kd this is one of my favorites i like this one per katie when you got people

[00:53:39] behind you you can do whatever you want you know what there's a lot of truth to that but

[00:53:46] there's another truth to that that we can talk about it but we're not doing that right now okay

[00:53:52] this is the other one uh last one and then we can get we can get to uh we get to the other kd stuff

[00:53:57] and i'll tell you why that he's one of my favorite players everything in in my life i've had to

[00:54:04] i've had to take it they're not they are not going to give you give it to you

[00:54:12] out of sympathy i wouldn't want any any other way these are kd quotes now we're not gonna go

[00:54:19] through the whole deal um it is being oversaturated by podcasts um talking heads

[00:54:27] score shows are like everybody's hit on this topic we all know kd left okahoma city

[00:54:34] you went to go say this this this all this we are we know his history okay right we don't need to

[00:54:40] say about the just the oversaturation story of his his multi exodus exodus from a team we don't

[00:54:48] need to talk about that but what we need to talk about is lately we got an

[00:54:54] okayd which is fun katie okay dorent has been speaking on his place in uh on top of the uh

[00:55:02] on top of the pantheon of the gold debate right and i know these comments are like you know a couple

[00:55:08] months old but um you know it's not like he's it's not like he's uh shine away from these comments

[00:55:15] these comments are still like he bleeds these there's no there's no uh backing down from his comments

[00:55:23] and whatever case to make beat so couple comments that he has said why not why not why not kd has to go

[00:55:31] the greatest of all time why not and then another thing he says uh what have i'm not done right

[00:55:39] like these are the quotes that went around everybody knows all these quotes

[00:55:44] now kevin de rent has seen his former teammate Steph Curry get a ring he's also seen i guess his

[00:55:50] closest rival or i guess what he would consider his his closest contemporary which is crazy because

[00:55:57] Steph would be up there too but lebron surpassed kareem outdo jibbar as the all time leading scorer and

[00:56:05] also win a championship in l.a. kevin de rent has seen these things and then the other thing you

[00:56:11] know he's seen um it's kareem and you know i was talking to somebody the other day a day about

[00:56:19] it while kareem and i was like you know it's the damnedest thing kareem for some reason has been able to

[00:56:30] all the stuff that went on in brooklyn it's gone it's gone in Dallas they don't talk about it

[00:56:37] we don't talk about it anymore we talk about crazy the crazy bag work that he puts in and the

[00:56:46] filthy his his his his filthiness at the rim that's what we talk about okay kareem has a

[00:56:54] gets a crazy approval rating you imagine that like kareem still gets a real crazy approval rating

[00:57:01] um and then we don't need to talk about the english on the ball and the imagination that he uses

[00:57:05] he's just special so where does katee fit into all of this right and to me it's real easy

[00:57:13] he's a he's a lethal scorer of this era his bag work for a seven footer is ridiculous

[00:57:22] his midi game to me is best of all time i said it kevin durant's midrange game is best of all time

[00:57:32] now you can take that for however you want to take it i stand ten toes down on it and uh y'all y'all

[00:57:40] can go ahead and get out of me whenever y'all want but the other thing that he's been is he's

[00:57:44] been the most open of an NBA mega star that we've seen there's uh earnestness to kevin durant there's

[00:57:54] a sense of discovery to kd but kevin durant to me is the classic brooding like recording artists

[00:58:02] this is never perfect enough it's never good enough it's never you know it has to be this and the

[00:58:11] lighting has to be this and then that's the only way that we could create great art and all of that

[00:58:18] that's cool look emo durant is it's incredible and now old emo durant salty kd is the best kd

[00:58:30] and i am here for it so i'm telling you right now kevin durant best midrange game of all time no

[00:58:39] doubts about it right there look that and then the other thing i'm telling you is that i love kd

[00:58:47] and he's one of my favorite players and i put him in a lot of the videos that i do now um kind of

[00:58:54] as our our voice of hoop or ism you know i'm talking well so he's our voice of hoop or ism so

[00:59:02] if you see kd pop up in a in a video that is with somebody else let's say it's luca or win

[00:59:09] by yama or whatever it's because kd is speaking on it through the eyes of all hoopers and he's

[00:59:15] kind of like the oracle of all hoopers you know i'm saying and he's also my spirit animal so shot

[00:59:22] out to kd all right so the last thing that we're gonna do is we're gonna talk about the end of season

[00:59:31] and we're gonna start breaking down these teams and what they might can do during the all season

[00:59:36] and the first team that i want to talk about and we'll get into other teams as this goes along

[00:59:42] is we're gonna get into the detoury pistons right now the detoury pistons are currently 12 and 59

[00:59:48] we know that's the worst record in the NBA at this present time they are coached by

[00:59:53] money williams who got that back you know and then you have Troy rewer in arm tell him

[01:00:01] as you'll exact that's your front office people their offensive rating at this present time is

[01:00:08] which ranks them 25th in the NBA not great and their defense of rating is uh

[01:00:16] 119.5 which is 27 in the NBA and then what we're gonna do is we're gonna have like little

[01:00:23] categories so the first category we have is future frontrunner usually this is going to go to the

[01:00:29] players right it's gonna go oh who they're keeping who's there who's their guys that are you know

[01:00:34] we've got to hold on to but really the future frontrunner uh of the detoury pistons right now is

[01:00:40] money williams because first of all he got the back right he just got the back the other thing

[01:00:46] is is that he is also the person tasked to get one of these guys these young guys to hit and what i

[01:00:54] mean by hit is this is real simple man just become a reliable offensive option you know it can

[01:01:04] either be K or IV both of them right now are not offensively efficient they're just not they take

[01:01:13] a lot of shots get a lot of points um and there's no shade on them because they're just young and

[01:01:20] they don't have anything around them to do anything with and the team is dreadfully put together there's

[01:01:26] not enough shooting on this team whatsoever um but it's up to our guy money williams to or to be

[01:01:38] to have one of these guys to carry or to be defended to to aren't to do so if it doesn't mean

[01:01:46] hold on let me just say this again we'll cut all of that what do these guys needs to be able to carry

[01:01:53] or to be depended on to do so it doesn't mean that either a one can't get to a place where they're

[01:02:04] at the re-level score with the least effort you know i'm talking about like they need one of these

[01:02:11] guys to be that and if you don't it doesn't work out it doesn't work out you go on to start

[01:02:17] get used to some of these other picks to get this but right now everything is hard when they go

[01:02:23] into their stuff on offense now i know fontecchio has been better for them um and the shooting's

[01:02:32] gotten a little bit better but it's still hard it's still really hard offense and i think personally

[01:02:38] for me it's uh it's it's crazy uh here's the thing detroit right now at this moment

[01:02:46] they sit with two unencumbered picks and those picks are in 2029 and 20 so the picks that have

[01:02:57] nothing on them or not contingent on whatever because keep them line for the next four years

[01:03:04] the detroit pick is is it goes to the nick is protected to a certain level all the way down from

[01:03:11] like 18 all the way down to 11 for the for for these four years but you can't trade them you know

[01:03:20] you can't make you know you is dependent on the next so you're in a bind right now

[01:03:26] i think it's imperative for the pistons to go out and get a score to e7 the burden off of iv

[01:03:32] in cunningham uh if they can get two professional bucket getters uh that would be

[01:03:40] great one to start and one off the bench would be perfect um the type of guys that i'm thinking about

[01:03:48] now i'm not reporting anything you don't need to aggregate me aggregate mean whatever but

[01:03:55] tomorrow's in will be a great piece off the bench you can see him running that second unit

[01:04:01] his his mid-range game is great he's now um his uh his not just ability to shoot the three but his

[01:04:12] his commitment to shoot the three is a little bit better as well um the other guy is more

[01:04:18] archetype more than an actual player and i thought of like tree Murphy III like if you got like a guy

[01:04:27] who could stroke it like just shoot it and you put him in between k and iv who can get downhill

[01:04:34] and get uh purposeful purposeful uh paint touches uh that would be great because then now you can

[01:04:42] kick it out and then you can swing it and now you got the defense on the move and that's what you

[01:04:48] kind of want that is literally what you want in a offense so that is the show for today um

[01:04:59] again i want to thank everybody i want to thank you guys for hanging in there with us

[01:05:04] we are going to three times a week so keep that in mind keep that on lock it's gonna be Monday, Wednesday

[01:05:11] and Friday um this podcast will be out hopefully with the next two hours so you'll have this

[01:05:18] and then the we'll have one on Wednesday what i want to leave you guys with is this the coolest part of

[01:05:24] you is you you know i'm saying and and what i mean by that is that do not allow anybody to exterminate

[01:05:33] your uniqueness or your voice or or whatever it is now uh can you learn can you discern information

[01:05:43] yes 100% we all have the ability to change but what i'm saying is is that uh if you sing walking

[01:05:52] down the street and somebody looks at you funny don't worry about that if that's what you enjoy

[01:05:58] doing it that's what brings your heart joy then then do that uh you're not hurting anybody um

[01:06:06] the other thing people want to talk well what people look like and this that and other and i'm not

[01:06:11] you and talking about myself because honestly i could care less but you know what's the standard

[01:06:16] and this is this is the social acceptability and blah blah blah and all this and who are you

[01:06:22] detailing anybody what's acceptable and what's not acceptable all right there's only one for me

[01:06:31] that i need their acceptance and that's god almighty but for everybody else again i want to let

[01:06:39] you guys know that i think you're cool and i want to let you know the coolest part of you is you

[01:06:45] and with that being said be easy and we'll see y'all later please