Are Kawhi Leonard & Clippers contenders? Can Jalen Brunson & Knicks make playoff run? | Nerd Sesh

The nerds debate whether Anthony Edwards & the Minnesota Timberwolves or Kawhi Leonard & the LA Clippers should be considered No. 2 in the West right now. Then, they discuss Darko Rajakovic and the Toronto Raptors’ outrage over the officiating vs. the Los Angeles Lakers last night, and dive into whether the Miami Heat or New York Knicks are more dangerous in the East.

Timeline:
0:00 Who’s No. 2 out West?
16:54 Lakers-Raptors officiating drama
26:48 Heat or Knicks more dangerous?
39:00 What would it take for Spoelstra to get fired?
41:51 Who’s proving haters wrong the most?
53:02 Which NBA team is in the WORST spot?

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Welcome everybody back into nerd sesh as always I’m Carson breber and alongside me is Logan Camden and we are back we just won’t leave you guys alone this week because with all of the great NFL stuff going on we also have to talk NBA so we’ll start off with this Logan

Because I think we’re both in agreement that the Denver Nuggets have been the clear favorites out west for a while you took the Lakers in the pre-season but that was a long time ago now but this number two position has sort of been a shifting conversation who is your second

Favorite out west today this has been kind of a fluid discussion for me as the season has gone along and it’s hard in the early goings you know the Lakers I thought would take that uh Second position for me after the n Season tournament and as we know they’ve hit a

Skid uh for a while there I was convinced that the Suns with the return of Bradley Beal may be my number two out west uh just with their overwhelming offensive Talent the team that has slowly creeped into these discussions for me as the season continues is the Minnesota Timberwolves and it really

Starts with what the team can do defensively I mean they are stifling they are long they are physical they are unrelenting like the length in the size of this Minnesota Timberwolves team really is remarkable to me and that is a distinct advantage that I think they

Hold over every other team out west and why I think that yeah they could just swarm a team in a playoff series they are number one in defensive rating right now you got goar on the interior McD Daniels and Edwards as perimeter Stoppers and then cat playing great help

Defense I just think that they have the Personnel to match up against my theoretical teams with two superstars the Lakers and the Nuggets right both of those teams have immense size uh in hypothetical matchups against them I think the Timberwolves just match up better and then I think they have

Distinct physical advantages against teams like the Warriors the Thunder the Clippers like they are just Burly they are big and I think that really matters uh in a playoff series so it starts defensively there and I really love the cohesion of this team that’s something that I kind of do this Spiel

Periodically Carson I think we take it for granted the Nuggets took time to build up to where they had obviously they had to get healthy they had to get all the pieces lined up it takes a lot to win a championship that goes without saying continuity is a big part of that

The Nuggets had to play together for years and to learn this style and once they finally got it all together it took one beautiful year where they figured it out the timber wolves have had that year where it was kind of ugly it was nasty you know the fit didn’t look perfect and

I’ve led the ball movement Carson I think the the offense just feels more flowing the like for example you know you see a pick and roll with cat cat gets it in the short roll rolls bam Ali to NAS Reed it’s the team plays really well together that is my one concern

With this team Carson is half court offense Anthony Edwards is going to have to go above and beyond on the playoff stage uh to get this team through I mean I think a somewhere around 30 points a night six assists along with Mike connley pulling his weight cat

Performing on a big stage Rudy gobear not being played off the floor all of these things come into play and so half court offense is probably my biggest concern with the t-wolves but they have the physical advantages they have the defensive ceiling if ant reaches that Superstar ceiling if Carl Anthony towns

Pulls his weight I really like the Timberwolves as my too and that’s the other thing is I mentioned the continuity aspect I don’t think the Timberwolves necessarily have to make any more moves at the trade deadline for me to buy into them as a contender uh

And I will say it was really close for me with Oklahoma City because I think they are in the same boat if Oklahoma City or Minnesota make a move to upgrade their team uh maybe they will definitively you know take that leap and be my number two concretely but I think

They’re there already where they’re going to be a competitive tough out in the playoffs but uh that’s a big component of it to me too is that the Lakers have to make a move the Warriors have to make a move Minnesota for the most part is set in this rotation and

That’s an advantage I would give them so it starts with the physical advantages in the defense and there are some red flags for me with Minnesota but they’re my number two team right now man that defensive ceiling is something that I just think you can buy into right now

And that is going to be consistent throughout the playoffs I agree I have Minnesota number two and I’ve felt that way for a while now I did have the Lakers as my number two team out west coming into the year then there was a brief moment about seven games into the

Year where I thought oh my God look at this Warrior second unit once clay and Wiggins get their ax together and when draymond’s consistently out on the floor this team could really be something still waiting for that all to happen it is an interesting conversation and I think there’s three teams outside of

Denver that have been consistently playing great basketball for a while now in the west the Thunder are damn good on both sides of the ball I love them and I think that that is a group that has titles in their future no question but they’re really young and inexperienced

In playoff settings and they’re really slight on the front line and that absolutely matters against Minnesota and Denver and the Lakers a lot of these really good teams out west the Clippers over the last 15 games have been the number two offense in basketball but they’re 18th in defensive rating so we

Haven’t seen that two way ceiling from them yet and then the t-wolves are easily the best defense in the league but they’re 19th in offensive rating so all of these teams have some sort of concrete flaw it certainly keeps them a tier below Denver at the very least but

I do think that Minnesota checks the most boxes and I am normally very hesitant to buy into any team that isn’t a really good offense to go on a deep playoff run I just think that that is so important to be able to reliably create high quality shots it keeps you in any

Series the ability to keep Pace with basically anybody but the key to me is that Minnesota has been a good halfcourt offense they’re a 63rd percentile efficiency halfcourt offense they don’t get out and transition and run much because they have these two too big looks and so they can’t push the tempo

All that much but when it comes to those grind It Out Slow It Down playoff environments I actually think that that much better suits their play style they’re like the antithesis in that sense of the Memphis teams of the last couple years they may have posted a very

Good offensive rating overall but were quite bad in the half court in playoffs your ability to create in the half court is much more important to me than what you can do getting out and running in transition because defenses are more buttoned up the pace just naturally

Slows down they have two big time scores in those situations an to me has risen to the level of a high-end number one in the playoffs before he has that blend of Big Time pull-up shooting unbelievable athleticism and rim pressure cat has done an awesome job of mismatch

Attacking and shooting the hell out of the ball they have really good shooting as a team they’re fifth in the league in terms of three-point percentage and they are physical as you say and that scales really well to a playoff environment I love their depth I think they have as

Good a sixth seventh man combo as any team in the league in that defense is so reliably dominant and that’s regardless of matchup Rudy goar isn’t going to get played off the floor because first of all now they have another big who can attack mismatches if teams try to go

Small and secondly a lot of Utah’s defensive issues were a product of the fact that they had nobody who could defend at the point of attack and so goar had to try to compensate for everything and teams could exploit the team defense more than it was just goar

That’s no longer the case they have awesome point of attack defense in Minnesota the Clippers matchup to me is tricky though and the Clippers are my third team in the west right now when really close I do buy into them more than the Thunder because I do think that

They are more physically imposing in that front Court they have bigger stronger wings like a kawhai like a PG alongside zubot who is also a bigger stronger five and when you’re thinking about the particulars of okay how do the Timberwolves guard the Clippers I think

What you probably have to do is put cat on zubot who matches up as a big body and then goar on Terrence man so that he can be most effective as a helper of course last time goar was on teren man in a playoff series it was against the

Clippers and teren man had 39 points in a game and that’s pretty memorable but again this is a different situation with this Minnesota defense but the Clippers scare me because they have such elite shot makers and they have three dudes who are such highlevel offensive threats

On the floor at any time and just generally picking against a healthy kawh Leonard Le team scares me that dude is lethal in playoff environments he just gets better and better because of the combination of strength and Big Time shot making for me right now the

Difference is just I need to see the Clippers defend at a higher level I need to see their ability to make the other team uncomfortable because until I see that then I am still going to worry about okay what happens if James Harden does regress a bit in the play play off

Scenario even though I think here there’s less offensive burden he’s dealing with team’s third best perimeter Defenders often that bodess well but I do also worry about the size still in a match up like this the timber wolves are just so big so athletic but the Clippers

Are really really good and they are better than I expected and I said at the time that I thought they should have made the Harden move just because they had to do something because they had to push their chips all in otherwise Kawai and PG were just going to leave and with

The new Arena they just had to commit to this current timeline with their stars and they’ve succeeded in that objective now because Kawai just extended today for three years 152 million and yes it is becoming more and more commonplace that dudes take their extensions and then will just demand a trade as opposed

To maintaining their traditional free agency because less and less teams have cap in the offseasons and more and more players do have the ability to just force trades but I don’t think the Kawai would have done that unless he was really encouraged by what he’s seen as

Of late and I think that he should be I think this team clearly has a higher ceiling with James Harden and if they can stay healthy they are really scary I still worry about a match up against the Nuggets because I think that team defends better I think that team is

Bigger I think that team has the best player in that series I think that team has the more reliably Unstoppable offense but against everybody else yeah the Clippers are really really scary right now I agree with you and it comes down to one thing it’s the three point

Shooting I mean if the Clippers get hot and go on a run where five or six games in a series they can shoot 40 or 50% behind the arc because they have that caliber of Shooters you can run any team out of the building that’s kind of the

Beauty of the three ball I I do think they get big bodied by Minnesota I do think that’s a difference I think they get big bodied by Denver and I don’t think they defend super well but I wasn’t with you Carson I was skeptical about the Paul George move now I agree

With you at the time I thought you got to make a move James hard move what did I say sorry Paul George Paul George excuse me uh yeah at the time I didn’t I thought they should make the James Harden move because the only real Superstar on the table you needed to do

Something like you said you got to commit to this timeline uh I wasn’t as convinced that it was going to lead to seamless offense I’ve been super impressed with Harden like the he’s a real point guard man he’s like a legitimate point guard at this

Time and that was the one real need that we pointed with the Clippers Kawaii and PG while they’ve grown as Playmakers aren’t reliable great number ones and when a guy can create advantages for you and he notices everything on the floor like Harden has impressed me with these

Crosscourt passes where I mean if you help off a little bit on a guy who’s maybe uh creeping for a cut or you’re helping off because you think Harden might blow by his guy because you don’t have a greatest defender on him Harden is noticing that or if Kawai and PG are

Leaking out back to the top of the key he’s got really great vision and he really has helped this team offensively I I’m skep skeptical though Carson I really am skeptical about the Clippers and I don’t think I would have them as my number three I think they would still

Probably to be be number six or number seven no way yeah no no I’m serious injuries are still a big concern for me with this team defensively I still concerned and then yeah the physical rebounding matchup even in a hypothetical against the Lakers I don’t know but to the Lakers

The the Lakers man the Lakers are justers the Lakers they never change I don’t yeah they’re like they’re they’re somewhere between five and seven for me wow I just can’t agree with that I think that we have seen that this is a team that has arguably the most lethal

Combination in the league of catch and shoot just lethal dudes from deep and then this really lethal perimeter on ball creation and that doesn’t mean that I think this offense is perfect because the one dimension that they’re still missing against some of the elite teams is that highend Rim pressure but I think

These dudes play well together I think that they are all lethal in isolation or pick and roll I think PG and Kawai are playing well away from the ball even in terms of the size matchups it’s not like they are totally out of their league like this is the seventh best rebounding

Team in basketball and if you’re telling me that it’s going to be Kawai guarding cat I’m not just like oh that’s food Kawai guards the post well Kawai guards bigs well because he is so strong and he does have that sort of length so I’m just not seeing enough red flags here

Like even if Harden’s efficiency as a scorer does take a step back and his production as a scorer does take a step back he’s your third option and I still think he’s facilitating in a high level and Kawai can go nuclear at a moment’s notice and I do like these role players

Like Terren man needs to shoot better if he shoots as he has this year he’s been 26% from Deep Rudy gobear would have no trouble aggressively leaving him in the corner being super active as a help Defender and not getting punished for that but Terence man’s a better shooter

Than that and he will shoot better but I think the zubot has been awesome as that interior finisher and as a highle rim protector Off the Bench I think that you do have some quality pieces with Norman Powell and Russ like this is a different looking Clippers team as we talked about

They can’t go small in the same way they used to because now You’ve Lost That dimension of Batum at the five you are less athletic your point of attack defense in terms of guard play isn’t quite as good as it used to be but they have another highlevel offensive threat

And Kawai and PG are still doing what those dudes do so the Clippers are really really good they’re really really good and this offense isn’t going anywhere this is a top five offense in basketball yeah you’re talking you’re talking me into it a little bit more and six7 then you’re talking about the

Kings to have a team like the Warriors above them I don’t think there’s any way to have a team like the Suns above them I just think what we are seeing from the Clippers is this incredibly reliable high-end offensive production from their stars and versus a team like

The Suns the suns are going to be more inclined to rely on that mid-range area whereas the Clippers have more potential to explode because it’s the classic threes for two situation and then they are bigger they are more physical I do like their role players more they’re

Just better yeah I you make some good points I was going to say like I was debating Sacramento and Dallas cuz I kind of had them in the same tier but the the difference really is Kawaii and PG on the other side of the ball because

It’s not like the Kings or the Mavericks have any any kind of defensive stoppers on the wings at all Keegan’s good I’ll give Keegan Keegan’s a good Defender but it’s not like the Mavs have the Mavs have no Wing defense the Kings have no Wing defense outside of Keegan and

You’re right and uh the one thing I will say about the Clippers in those hypotheticals against the Lakers against the Timberwolves against uh the Nuggets where they are at Clear distinct physical disadvantages I think it is going to take Kawaii and PG Harden man a committed and concerted effort on the

Glass like I think the team is going to have to sell out on the boards to win that series I just don’t think that they’re like crazy outmatch there I think that the difference in terms of overall caliber as a team between them and Minnesota for example is Slim and often

Times I am inclined to go with the team that I think has the best player which without a question is kawhai in that series and that has the better offense because that’s so reliable now I do think that Minnesota’s defensive Advantage is so great and I do believe

In their halfcourt offense enough to where I’m leaning them and even though they aren’t as experienced necessarily as the Clippers all of their dudes have been in playoff environments several of their key vets have been in multiple deep playoff runs so I think that they are battle tested in that sense I like

Minnesota a lot I like the Clippers a lot I think that those are pretty clearly the two and three for me right now but when it does come to the Lakers Logan it’s just clear to me that they need to make a move and I know there’s a

Lot of people who just want us to be entirely out on the Lakers and I just can’t get to that point because I still believe that they are one move away not from being necessarily a title caliber team it would take a whole lot for me to

Believe yeah that team can beat Denver but ad and LeBron are playing at an unbelievably high level and when that is the case you just need role players around them who are shooting well enough and defending at a high enough level and I don’t like this team as much as I did

Coming into the year of course and there were a couple of additions that I was high on Christian wood hasn’t had the impact that I hoped Gabe Vincent I thought that’s a quality guard you’re bringing in for depth and he’s barely played this year he just hasn’t been

Healthy their overall effort has been horrible like the Lakers just have not been a good regular season basketball team but I didn’t ever expect them to look their best in the regular season and I don’t think that this is a finished product so no I am not out on

The Lakers but until they do make a move and show us they’re a better basketball team I can’t put them up against these this version of the Minnesota Timberwolves that is consistently playing great basketball but there Lakers stuff like last year the take that I got the most Flack for was that

After the deadline the Lakers who by the way I did not like at all during the regular season last year I thought that as long as Russ was on that team they were unserious they were not even playoff caliber once they made those moves I said hey they figured out some

Stuff they’ve got a really high defensive cealing they played well down the stretch of the regular season I said I think this team is going to Western Conference Finals everybody hated that take and guess what it happened so people aren’t always rational about the Lakers that being said Logan there was

Actually quite a bit of discourse today about the Lakers and perhaps some bias in their favor because they shot 23 free throws in the fourth quarter against the Raptors last night who shot just two so quickly before we move on just because that’s kind of the story of the day what

Was your take on all that drama awesome game fantastic game I was uh beside myself that the refs chose to interfere the free throw discrepancy was one thing it was staggering in that game in the fourth quarter the Raptors get outshot 23-2 in free throws ridiculous on the

Game as a whole they got outshot 36-13 the one play that was disgusting to me again beautifully flowing basketball game they’re just going blow for blow back and forth also I have a new take on the Raptors Knicks trade I think that is an absolute crushed home

Run I said it was mutually beneficial for both teams I think both teams crushed it I think that the Knicks got a great deal I think the Raptors got a good deal RJ in it’s all about roles you know what I mean OG’s role with the

Knicks fits so much better IQ and RJ’s roles with the Raptors fit so much better uh I think Dennis Schroeder is really Expendable and the Raptors don’t need him and shouldn’t play him uh but RJ and quickley I love I think they fit perfectly RJ looks rejuvenated to be in

Canada sorry I had some Canada I had some Raptor thoughts to get out here uh I quickly just the man dude oh I love Emanuel quickly they the Raptors so desperately needed halfcourt guard creation and these guys I just think just fit way better uh in Toronto but

That game specifically uh one of the final plays of the game uh I made a video a while back breaking down Scotty Barnes Amazing Leap this season he’s been shooting the hell out of the basketball and late in this basketball game the Raptors are down three uh they

Kick the ball to RJ the the Lakers are playing really good defense it’s a stagnant possession they kick it to RJ on the wing and Scotty is at the elbow uh RJ drives past his man and his guy drops right there right when ad and the point of attack Defender need to figure

Out who’s going to pick up on who Scotty relocates from the elbow where ad is on him and gets back out to the wing RJ takes both Defenders uh and kicks the ball right back out to Scotty right as he kicks it to Scotty sets a screen to

Set up Scotty for the three Scotty bangs the three and they call him moving screen on RJ I just thought it was a horrible call they tie the game up me and my roommate are really excited uh we’re either going to get OT we’re going

To get LeBron and AD trying to get a final bucket the game is setting up for a classic basketball moment these are the moments that you live for as a basketball fan we’re either going to get a the Raptors are going to steal the game or the Lakers are going to steal

The game and they call a moving screen uh Lakers get some free throws to wrap it up like the entire fourth quarter I sympathize with Darko uh the head coach for the Raptors like the free throw discrepancy speaks to exactly what he was talking about but that play that play where RJ creates

That three you just can’t call that in my opinion and RJ is moving just a little bit is what makes it so frustrating it’s it’s a clear moving screen I have to disagree with you at that point in the game at that point in

The game you do not get to L take two steps into a guy’s path as he’s trying to recover to a shooter and initiate contact with a bump that is like a flagrant moving screen I think that you have to call that why you mean at you’re

Saying at that point in the game does the offensive player have more right to bend the rules than the defensive player has a right to to pursue a shooter just because the Raptors tied up the game and it was an exciting moment I don’t think

That you can do that I think that that legitimately had an impact on that play 1,00% and it was a clear moving screen yeah I’ve never played a day of organized ball in my life but I wouldn’t call that on the pickup Court man well

Okay so what dude you might get an elbow to the face and not call it in pickup that’s what I’m saying you don’t call anything in pickup man I just hated oh RJ made such a good play man he took both Defenders it was so crushing uh took both Defenders by shuffling right

Into ad I mean it was it was a good Vision but it was still a moving screen it was a beautiful basketball play and that’s why I was frustrated the the free throw discrepancy was real for the entirety of the game the entirety of the fourth quarter uh on the flip side of

This I don’t want to make this all about the officiating oh my God what an amazing game by Anthony Davis he has been so much more physical taking advantage of of mismatches he had uh he gets a late bucket in this game that pretty much seals it on Pascal SE yakum

Where uh the right low block is open and he just big bodies him it’s the right play what did did you think that the Raptors were uh you know unfairly uh that they kind of had this one robbed from I think the free throw discrepancy was big enough I don’t as a basketball

Purist that final play frustrated me but you’re right RJ was moving uh yeah the free throw discrepancy was huge to me and I think that did have an impact on the outcome of this game I didn’t think that this game was well afficiated I thought that the Raptors overall got the

Short end of the stick I just don’t think that that’s the play to point to I think that that was actually pretty clear but I thought that Austin Reeves got two free throws that he did not deserve did some classic trickeration hard Andes hooked thad’s arm so it

Looked like a reach and then just sort of flailed and goes up with a half-hearted shot attempt and he got rewarded for that I thought maybe Scotty should have gotten a call on a drive or two I generally think though that outrage over free throw differentials like this can be oversimplified and can

Be overplayed and guys will just look at the bottom line number and they won’t think about play style they won’t think about context right like the last six free throws the Lakers took were all off of intentional fouls it was already a large discrepancy but that certainly

Makes the number even a bit more exaggerated and people will start to act like every single call was wrong when in reality it’s just going to be a couple it’s like to me the Steve Kerr outrage with joic right there’s maybe a couple of those that are Ticky Tac that were

The wrong call but whether joic was going to shoot 14 free throws or 18 like he actually did you were still fouling him a lot and this feels similar to me there’s a couple calls that probably go the wrong way but I thought that the quickly flagrant that a lot of people

Were upset about that’s a tough one but I’m never going to be surprised when any sort of elbow contact to a player’s face is called a flagrant like yes it is a relatively natural basketball move but ripping through high like that with your elbow at the level of the defender’s

Face is dangerous they are trying to legislate that stuff out of the game out of the game and regardless of intent that gets called a flagrant pretty often and then the moving screen I thought was the right call so I just think often times people will look at something like

Free throw differential and when it’s large they will just say that is the key here that is the reason that this game went that way and when it’s as close as this one was I totally understand that if you are a raptor fan if you are doar

Rakovic then I would be upset too because those things on the margins do really matter but then people try to make it some sort of widescale conspiracy and say this always happens with the Lakers when I think the Lakers have been a very disciplined team and

They put a lot of pressure on the rim they drive hard I think a lot of that explains the free throw differential that they generally have and we had to have this whole conversation last year so yes there were a couple blown calls but I think people just often take

Things too far when they go with the whole blame the refs approach and the Raptors are pretty undersized like you mentioned I do think the Raptors win this game too if they just don’t play Chris bue that guy sucks man like that guy is legitimately bad at he’s not good

I would not play him saw him saw him miss a three-pointer off the ston yesterday a corner three just hit it right off the side of the backboard it was very ugly chillon Canadian and Pack 12 Legend and g-league Legend Chris bue and warriors Legend Chris bue who has

Hilariously been a Toronto Raptor for like six years at this point they love that guy okay so we talked about who we think is that number two out west out east it has been more of a clear pack at the top where the Celtics the Bucks and

The Sixers Sixers have just been totally separated from the rest of the conference in terms of record up to this point consistently after those top three Logan we just have a whole pack of sardines it’s actually pretty hilarious there is one game separating the Knicks at the four seat then the Heat Pacers

And Cavs all of the same exact record just a half game behind the Knicks and then a half game behind them is the Magic in the eight seed so between the four and the eight seed it’s just one game of separation out of that whole pack who do you think

Is the next best team in the conference behind those top three to me it’s between New York and Miami right now I’m going to say the Knicks but it’s really close between those two teams to me uh it’s really because of the move that they just made that I

Alluded to earlier I just think OG anobi takes this team up a notch with what he can do uh they are 5-0 now with OG anobi and first I I think he just fits culturally with how this team wants to play I think tibs needed another point

Of attack guy a dog a mentality guy and consistently night toight if it’s uh taking the opposing team’s best perimeter player if it’s being a helps side rim protector on the backside uh OG can do it all defensively uh they have a defensive rating of 93 with OG anobi on

The court that’s outrageous uh this is just a five game sample size but they’re 38 points better defensively with OG on the court uh and then offensively I think he can just do more of the little things that RJ and quickly can’t right you think about it RJ’s not a great

Defender right he’s got the tools he’s not a great defender quickly uh tries you know he plays hard he’s not a defensive plus OG immediately comes in and his both of those can take twos threes fours ones you know wherever you need him to go and then offensively uh

You know quickly can fill it up can get you buckets you have a guy like Jaylen Brunson you have Dante dant chenzo you don’t really need more ball handling you don’t need RJ more ball handling more self creation you know there’s some redundancies there so OG comes in and he

Can do all of the little things he can really play a true garbage man role and that’s not to be disrespectful you need OG guys like OG are very valuable to winning titles you need guys to do the little things and OG is going to cut

Hard he is going to spot up he is going to and this is so underrated he’s going to be in the right spot positionally right like guys like OG anobi Josh Hart Dante d venzo these are guys that win you rings I don’t know if it’s going to happen I’m

Certainly not counting the Knicks out though like I really like New York I think this is a home run and I don’t mean to make this guy an absolute punching bag really the only thing holding back the New York Knicks right now is Julius Randall to me if the

Knicks didn’t have Julius Randle I’d be all in like offensively you have a Bonafide playmaker on offense who is going to make you great Jaylen Brunson this last week uh leads the Knicks to a 4 and0 record he puts up 29 and nine a night and then they just have

Complimentary pieces that fit perfectly I think this is a team that’s going to play hard that is going to play physical that is going to kill you on the glass uh and they have a guy on offense that is going to generate good offense for his teammates consistently and Jaylen

Brunson uh he may not be a 1A but he can damn sure lead out a great offense he just he gets the ball into the paint he’s Dynamic uh brunson’s the man the reason I say that it’s close for me between the Miami Heat is the Jimmy

Butler and Bam matab bio effect and the fact that I think Eric olra in any given playoff series can schematically swing a series right now I’m going to say the Knicks because I think they’re more physical but I like the heat too the Knicks to me definitely have a higher

Ceiling and I agree with you it’s either New York or Miami when we’re talking about the other teams in this range the magic just aren’t at the level offensively yet to where I can respect them in this tier they’re 22nd in offensive rating 27th in three-point percentage 27th percentile halfcourt

Offense the Pacers as we all know are not fun to date because they can’t guard anybody 26th in defensive rating you cannot be so deeply flawed on one side of the ball to be at this level for me and then the Cavs yes they’ve been dealing with a lot of injuries this year

But I just think they are still so lacking in quality Wings their star skill sets are to still too redundant where they have these defensive issues in the back court and the offense they have these massive offensive skill issues all the same things that made them struggle in the playoffs last year

They haven’t addressed to me so it does come down to New York and Miami and the Knicks look awesome right now yeah OG is a great fit everything he does away from the ball defensively shooting the out of it the Knicks have been 5 and0 with him they’re blowing people out

Their defense has been by far the best in the league since adding him and I do really like this Supporting Cast overall you mentioned Josh Hart Dante dant chenzo Quenton Grimes all these dudes are just good complimentary Wings who make winning plays and hardenstein is balling Mitchell Robinson out for the

Year and hartenstein has stepped up he’s protecting the rim at a high level holding people 12% below their typical field goal percentage inside of six feet really important to anchoring this very good Nicks defense right now that hadn’t been so good earlier in the year he’s got good hands defensively and then

Offensively he’s a physical finisher he’s got good touch he’s a really good rebounder he’s a legit starting five and so when you combine that with Jaylen Brunson who I do think is a top 15ish player certainly top 20 I absolutely believe in as a shot creator in that playoff environment and Julius

Randall like that’s a really good team but it does come down to me to my lack of faith in randle’s game translating and the inconsistencies that we’re going to see from him and this Nicks team is better now and their spacing is better so when you think of teams aggressively

Helping on Brunson and Randall every drive and then the Knicks not being able to hold them accountable with spot up shooting because it’s RJ over there I think that that Dynamic is different with OG and maybe that makes Randall better because then teams can’t send as much defensive attention his way and his

Playmaking which we’ve seen at times regress in the playoffs that’s not an issue and the one thing that I am always going to be worried about him is his consistent settling for tough jumpers and just not being consistently good at those shots so to me it’s not just if

You removed Julius Randall I would love the Knicks it’s more like if you could just have a better guy in that archetype a big scoring Wing who can play make a bit like Julius randle’s volume is there he’s what you need over the course of a regular season but in the playoffs yeah

I worry and we’ve seen it before so if he was able to maintain good Julius Randle level for a playoff run I would view them more highly than I do Miami but the formula of Jimmy bam good shooting and good team defense is just really scary and they are clear clearly

On paper a better team than last year in every way haime hawz is I would say the best roleplaying Wing they’ve had the guy is’s an extremely versatile scorer really can do it from all over the floor can do it as a ball handler can do it

Out of the post has been a solid spot up shooter a good instinctual cutter like the guy is just really really good and ready to contribute now he’s a versatile Defender a solid playmaker Duncan Robinson who we saw have his Resurgence in the playoffs last year is putting the

Ball on the floor and playmaking way more than ever before and he’s shooting at that classic 42% from Deep clip Caleb Martin and Josh Richardson really quality supporting wings so it’s a clearly more talented roster like forget losing Gabe Vincent and Max stru they have replaced those dudes with I would

Say better Wing play overall but when you look at some of the things that went their way last year like Jimmy played at an obscene level he was like a top five player for a couple rounds at least and they shot 45% from three in a couple of

Their Series so maybe they can’t sustain those things but I do think a I’m not talking about them making a finals run again and they are a better basketball team I think this Supporting Cast is their best since 2020 since the finals run and I have a lot of faith in that

Duo I have a lot of faith in bam to Anchor a really good defense and Jimmy just consistently takes his level up a notch he is physical he dominates from that intermediate area which can be really valuable when you can get to your spots at will he control P the pace of

The game he playm makes well he defends well like he just always steps up his game is so playoff made so yeah the Knicks do have a big size Advantage I do think their offense can be better than last year I also think that this isn’t a

Great matchup for Randall I think that bam defends him really really well in isolation situations I think we saw even at times a guy like Kevin Love who we can’t overpower was able to fa okay in those matchups with bam and help I’ve seen Miami do it more and they are the

Team that when you underestimate them they tend to make you look silly and so because I still do worry about that Nick’s fatal flaw with Julius Randall I’m leaning Miami wow I don’t blame you for that too and there’s another guy too that you did mention that I like that

Really helps their wing depth Nico yic has been getting some burn recently too and I just like him is you know you think about Miami shortcomings in the playoffs these past couple of Seasons it really has been size athleticism and you know yovic isn’t going to take their

Offense up oh another component too that I meant to mention uh Tyler hero is healthy too and playing phenomenal basketball you know I mean they didn’t have him for the playoffs until of course did did he play in the finals or did he uh was he out the entire run he

He played one game yeah play played one game I mean he’s invaluable to have for this team and he’s again playing phenomenal basketball yic though I just think with his length uh in a hypothetical Series against the Knicks he could be really valuable to crashing the glass hitting open shots and just in

Terms of Versatility right you have Duncan Robinson who if you want to attack a matchup if if the Knicks are going in a zone or something like that uh and you want a guy who can hit you know open threes put him out there if you need more size and defense and other

Things put yic out there I think he can be valuable even though how young he is I think uh hakz and yic could be valuable in a playoff run and one final thing about Randall Carson because we have our guys that I know that people

Think that we rag on too much if we’re talking NFL and it’s Tua if we’re talking basketball and it’s Julius Randall it’s not his skill set guys like like that be clear good Julius Randall when he is taking guys to the hole when he can overpower guys he’s really physical he’s really

Strong when he’s hitting his pullup jumpers when he’s hitting open looks he’s good the issue is just consistently when he’s taking the offense out of rhythm right it would be nice to have a guy who’s just making winning plays and what I mean by that is instead of

Randall catching the ball in the corner and then he hits a jab step and then he hits a pump fake well if Jaylen Brunson just created you an advantage that Advantage is now gone because Julius renold didn’t drive the lane he didn’t attack that close out he didn’t take

Advantage of what the guy did for him you know he can just Julius Randall more than many other stars in the league can just do that and I think a connecting piece would be so much better how they gotten OG a a connecting stall would be so much more valuable to the Knick’s

Playing winning basketball I I I don’t mean to hate on him too much but it is a it’s a real flaw that we have now seen in two playoff runs and consistent in bad regular season games totally like there’s no denying the guy’s ceiling right he’s scored 35 points in three of

His last five games he had one absolute dud in there when he was one of 11 that’s kind of the Julius Randle experience but negative assist to turnover ratio in his playoff career down to 17 points a game 39% on twos 28% on threes does take your offense out of

Rhythm can be that black hole isn’t going to be high effort defensively like all of these things are real and it’s just hard to win a multiple playoff series when you have a dude in that high volume a role who is going to have some of those limitations but the he have

Been able to find a way to win multiple playoff series even if their talent doesn’t necessarily Stack Up and a huge huge reason for that is Eric spoler Logan oh yeah SPO just got an eight-year $120 million extension it is historic so we’re going to play a quick game I’m

Going to give you a hypothetical scenario you tell me if that would get spell fired or not okay let’s do it all right he exclusively bumps logic in the locker room and when players complain he tells them they don’t understand his lyrical genius or the complexity of his

Upbringing fired or no for that canned that’s egregious okay he orders a life-size cutout of Paul George for the locker room and after every coaching tip he gives Whispers to it what do you think goat fired or no that’s kind of kinky I like that but instead could we

Do like a life-size cutout of like Dr Phil I think that I think I’d like that a little more unfortunately it has to be Paul George dude I’m not even mad at that that’s awesome yeah okay all right good good for the culture apparently how about this one every time the opposing

Team scores he makes all the Miami players huddle up hold hands and scream heat culture fired or no for that I like that that’s good for the brand wow okay see this is what we’re talking about spos some real job security all right what if he disrespects any of the Norse

Gods let’s just say it’s the Raven flanked god Odin Maybe says something like Raven SCH smaven and as a Divine punishment Duncan Robinson loses his jump shot again should SPO be fired for that or no he should not only be fired I think he should be struck by lightning

It should just come down on him appropriate so that would be Thor responding in retaliation for his family member that makes sense what if he starts only referring to Kyle Lowry as kaked up Kyle or Caboose Kyle ultimately creating an uncomfortable workspace fired or no well I don’t think that’s

Uncomfortable I think Kyle would quite like that I don’t know I’m not going if I’m Kyle Lowry I’m not going to HR all right noted so basically the only things that can get SPO fired are play playing logic that’s the only way in which he would be let go I think everything else

You said you were good with right if he plays my glorious by racial King yeah yeah okay so he can’t oh no actually also if he disrespects one of the Norse gods all right all right that’s good to know so Pat rally um keep that in mind

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Disrespected considerably over the years some people might say Julius Randle is one of those guys I would just say is it disrespect if it’s accurate probably not but which disrespected NBA player do you feel has done the most to prove people wrong this year I got a couple

Candidates I’m going to start with a guy that I spoke about earlier uh and that is Jaylen Brunson we had a little bit of this discussion back when Becky Hammond made her comments about uh Jaylen Brunson and then all the uh misogynistic douches on the internet

Uh you know came back after her she made a valid point about Brunson in the fact that he is not in that traditional mold uh as a number one you know we went through the guys normally you have to have a top five player on the planet to

Win a title that’s normally a a component of it but I mean you think about where Brunson was a couple of years back and I don’t think people appreciated him enough you know us of course at nerd sesh we’ve been Jaylen Brunson fan since early Brunson in the

League uh little bit of a do-it-all kind of guy uh just made winning plays still even after a Western Conference Finals run that was propelled heavily by Brunson again Luca donic misses major time in that playoff run and Brunson is putting up 25 30 pieces just going to

Work and he kind of showing you these flashes of what he what he can do and now that he’s in this big time role I just think that people need to wake up and recognize and appreciate how valuable the way that Jaylen Brunson plays is

And what I mean by that is it’s not it’s a really atypical style of how he plays basketball it’s really methodical uh and it’s not you know you think about modern basketball and you probably think about Trey young and heavy pick and roll uh these high volume guys who shoot a lot

Of three-pointers and uh that’s really the base of their game I mean Brunson is just kind of a throwback in the way that he can go on the low block and back guys down with his uh with his strength um how he thought going to say caboose

That too he’s he’s pretty thick uh that’s a component of it like he’s a strong guy Brunson is good out of pick and roll he has good in isolation it’s just he’s not insanely athletic he’s not insanely quick it’s a really I think it’s an elegant way of how he plays the

Game is it’s really unique and there’s not really another highlevel offensive Creator again good Julius Randall on good Julius Randle nights can do it but when Julius Randall isn’t Jaylen Brunson is just a constant and what I mean with his style of play is it’s being Dynamic varying up your shot

Selection if it’s mid-range jumpers if it’s threes if it’s getting into the paint and taking layups if it’s floaters if it’s a post touch for Jaylen Brunson there’s a level of dynamism with him that you don’t get with other guards there’s also him just getting the ball

Down to the paint so consistently that is so valuable where guys have to turn their heads and pay attention to them and maybe help off a little bit and that just opens up things for his teammates jayen br just makes winning plays he is a winning basketball player and we’ve

Seen this for two years in New York now and we’ve seen this we’ve seen him make winning plays since his days back at Villanova Jaylen Brunson may not be a top five player on the planet or a superstar that is going to lead the Knicks to the NBA finals but that

Doesn’t mean that we should just totally discredit everything that Jaylen Brunson does he is a winning basketball player that makes the Knicks so much better uh I I just appreciate the guy so much and I want to put some respect on his name I think

I don’t know if I had him we had a brief All-Star discussion I think he would be one of my last guards uh as an Allstar on the East has to be yeah I don’t know if I said that in our All-Star episode but he would be for me no you did you

Did because we were talking about if there was a spot for Derek white and he was one of the six guards who had to be there I think that kind of the most disrespectful thing that Jaylen Brunson has to deal with isn’t outright I don’t think that anybody really comes outright

And says Jaylen Brunson sucks there was all the outrage over Becky Hammond but she said that he wasn’t the guy like a onea on a title team which is accurate to me like the sort of subtly disrespectful thing is the constant discourse about how they got to get

Donovan Mitchell to New York because first of all the fit doesn’t work there right you can’t have two small guards who need to have the ball in their hands like that that just doesn’t make sense just because Donovan Mitchell wants to be in New York doesn’t mean that you

Have to make that happen but more important cly like I think that Jaylen Brunson is probably better than Donovan Mitchell and I think that because he does play more versatile style of basketball because there is more shot variety there he’s not going to shoot you out of a game with 12 pullup threes

Only making two of them in a way that Donnie might he is a better playmaker like Mitchell has a really high ceiling when he is just riging threes and he can get to the rim a little bit more because he’s more athletic but it’s not like Donnie’s like consistently pressuring

The rim at a high level I just think Brunson plays a more mature complete brand of basketball offensively and that’s why he had such an unbelievable playoff run last year and Mitchell has had great playoff runs in the past too but I am higher on Brunson right now so

You don’t need to get Don with Mitchell okay he’s not the guy he’s not the guy for you any more than Jaylen Bronson would be that’s a good choice I have some honorable mentions I think sgaa has just proven that the Skeptics of his the people who called him foul merchants and

Said that he was putting up stats or whatever we’re absolute fools he is the man he he’s clearly a top 10 player even higher than that Chad I think also when we’re talking about thunder guys there were so many people who just hit the default he’s too skinny he’s going to

Get hurt he’s going to get pushed around and turns out ched is one of the best rookies this century and is absolutely going to be a superstar in this league for a long time and then I have cat because I’ve always been a cat believer but even this year I was like this

Specific fit early on given that last year was ugly I was like they might need to trade him it might not work him and goar and I think that he has done a great job of embracing what he can do to impact the game defensively as a second

Interior guy offensively I mean he’s damn near having a 50 4090 season he’s 0.05% from the line away from being there I think he’s been efficient he’s been a mismatch attacker and he’s just really contributing to a great basketball team right now and I think a

Lot of people you know if it’s because of how he changes his voice or because he hasn’t been at his best in the limited playoff sample that we’ve seen from him but people talk about him like he has a Julius Randall sort of drop off like he terrified at the moment I mean

Cat just gets slandered bro people just don’t like cat but he’s playing really well right now and I’m excited because of that but I actually think my choice here is going to be christops porzingis because that is a guy who had developed a reputation as soft and brittle and

Pass his Prime and basically people were just over him and they had sort of sold all their stock and I want to be clear a couple years back I was frustrated by KP I thought that he was far too reliant on just taking turnaround jumper after turnaround jumper never imposed himself

Physically really wasn’t embracing the end of the defensive floor to the utmost potential that he had there but last year I was like okay this dude is playing his best basketball ever and that really convinced me that he had changed and a lot of people ignored That

Season because it came in Washington but it was real and now you see him in a winning situation where he’s not trying to be the first option offensively or a second option but he can do all of these complimentary things and he’s playing an All-Star level he’s averaging 20 points

Per game on 66% true shooting he is the most efficient scorer in the league at that volume and he is doing that Logan during like the worst shooting year of his career he’s 32% from deep but he’s getting to the rim more than ever his free throw rate is much higher than ever

He is being used more as a roller and he’s crushing it there as a finisher being assertive in the paint he is scoring with 96th percentile postup efficiency just a nightmarish mismatch attacker and then defensively holding people 14% below their typical field goal percentage at The Rim defending at

A really high level on one of the League’s Elite defenses so we’re giving all the love in the world to Derek white and deservedly so he is playing arguably at an All-Star level we talked about are there enough spots but he is having an unbelievable impact on winning but so

Was KP and KP is a guy who yeah had this profile was nationally known as a star when he was in New York and then was maligned maligned criticized negative basically just bad coverage of him for years and now he is killing it in a contending situation and I’m happy to

See it and he deserves a lot of credit for that and porzingis said too that you know it was a mentality change for him too when he came over to Boston that you know I think it took him being removed from that situation in Dallas and that’s

Another thing too man is I don’t know if I wish he had committed more to playing hard in Dallas uh you know he never had the ball in his hands it was tough for him to kind of grow his game when Luca’s taken so many possessions but kristof’s

Really hinted at that he said that it was a commitment to making winning plays to playing a role and and he really has been effective I think that’s a phenomenal Choice Carson because I was in the same boat I didn’t know if it would translate and we can kind of take

These when these players go these places for granted you know what I mean and they really can play uh they really still can play winning ball this is oh yeah do you think this is the best year of Kristoff’s career or do you think it was last year in

Washington wow I think it’s this year because of the context because it just matters more like yeah he was defending really well last year in Washington and he was still scoring really efficiently and he was great on post-ups and all that but he was doing it for just a

Shitty team and now he’s just gone a little bit from that number one option offensively mindset to embrace even more doing the complimentary things doing the little things prioritizing efficiency and the results have been fantastic like I don’t know if he can be an All-Star this year because both conferences are

Just so stacked because he has still missed a DEC amount of games due to injury like to the extent where it could at least be a tiebreaker versus an equally good player but he is playing at an All-Star level like this is one of the certainly 40 dudes who you won on

Your team most and before the year I can’t remember if it was the ringer or ESPN or both somebody had Josh giddy above him and I remember like a week into the season being like hey guys who the hell had Josh giddy over Chris dos porzingis because you guys need to

Chill the hell out Chill on my boy all right Logan well we talk about KP having some of his injury struggles and having to overcome that really unfortunately for johnar and the Memphis Grizzlies he is out for the year with a shoulder injury just nine games this

Season is all we got to see from him after of course the suspension and now this really unfortunate year for Memphis overall just kind of feels like a missed opportunity which team in the NBA do you think is in the worst spot right now uh

I think the team in the worst spot uh is probably the Washington Wizards I mean I know that feels like probably lwh hanging fruit um it’s because it is I mean I just think it is the Wizards organizationally are just lost and what’s sad about the Washington Wizards is they’ve been lost

For yes I don’t 13 years uh oh I think we can go a lot higher than that I think we can go to about uh 40 43 years yeah they’ve been lost it’s about right uh they were good in the 70s and that was

It that was it uh Batman we got to go back to being the Washington Bullets oh yeah way a talk I mean their best time as the Wizards was I guess like Beal and wall 2015 and then the brief year with Antoine and Karan and no chill Gil like

2007 I mean they were good I guess for like a few years in the mid 2000s but when I say good I mean like first round exit good you know yeah and uh you know Gilbert Arenas brings his gun to the locker room they draft John Wall with a

Number one pick and here we are uh yeah I think that it starts with the trades the fact that they turned Chris Paul they turned Bradley Beal into Chris Ball and then they turned Chris Paul into Jordan p uh I don’t think they got a ton of Great

Value back for Chris doping I think they have blown both of their draft picks from the last two seasons effectively and they may pan out who knows Johnny Davis probably won’t I really like Johnny Davis I called him diet Devon Booker that was a freezing cold take uh

I like kabali I think he’s a role player probably at his Max on a winning team his offensive bag isn’t that deep he’s really athletic he’ll be a good Defender you know he’s not like a number one I feel offensively and there’s just no direction and there’s no

Guy to point to where you’re like this is our guy your two best players are Kyle kosma and God man that is so funny to say Jordan P you’re two best players no Daniel Gafford some respect on Corey kissper would you rather have Cory kissper or Jordan P would you rather

Have Denny OFA or Jordan P what’s the context who do you want on your team what does my team look like average NBA team I’m dead serious I would rather have both Denny of Dia I wouldn’t think about it Denny has been playing better offensively this year he’s been shooting

A bit better he’s a plus Defender he’s a good playmaker I mean is an elite shooter he can put the ball on the floor I don’t like I don’t like I don’t like Jord I just don’t like Jordan P’s attitude like I don’t he seems like he’s

I don’t need Jordan p in my life I don’t need him at all too good for I the thing that scarred I’ve seen it count times with golden state where there will be an advantage Jordan P wastes it the one play that got me with Washington was that one that was

Circulating on social media there’s so many gaps of him this year but the one where he is visibly frustrated in the Huddle not listening to the play that’s the guy that Washington said was their guy uh there always seems to be dysfunction with Washington sports teams uh the the at least the commanders

Had an excuse because Dan Snider was the dumbest and worst owner in sports for over 20 years the Wizards don’t really have that excuse the Wizards have just been toiling away uh for years now yeah for me it’s it’s not even close like like you look at the other teams the

Grizzlies great culture Taylor Jenkins is always going to get the most out of these guys and I think there’s a little bit of a silver lining for Memphis so many of these other guys going be able to grow their game a little bit you’re going to be able to evaluate some of the

Younger talent and really see what you’ve got in some of these guys because they have young Talent wiard don’t even really have that like at least this is an evaluation season for Memphis and again Taylor Jenkins is going to get this group to play hard and win games

They just have a great culture the Hornets who you might point to well they’ve got Brandon Miller and they’ve got uh lamelo ball they have building blocks the Detroit Pistons have Kade Cunningham they have a building block uh the Spurs have Victor wanyama they have a building block you know what I mean

All of these other teams have something the Trailblazers have scoot Henderson Shaden sharp they have building blocks the Washington Wizards have nothing yeah yeah I thought where you were maybe going to go with Memphis is that they’re actually gonna have a high draft pick for once that too yeah because that’s

Kind of been their curse it’s a classic thing that can happen when you get a really talented young player and they had such a good culture and they were well coached they just immediately were competitive once JW got there and so obviously they had had triple j the year

Before but they didn’t have that next chance to really draft highly and then this year they’re going to be picking pretty high because they’re just not so good without jaw the offense is a disaster they did they did kind of dog uh the Mavs last night though they did they sure did but

Uh that can happen man on any night in the NBA that’s the other thing like January NBA some wild shit’s going to start happening okay wild stuff is going to happen be prepared don’t overreact to one game I mean l and luk and Kyrie just didn’t shoot well you

Know yeah weird stuff happens in single games in January I do wonder if they’re cursed I do wonder if the Grizzlies have been cursed just for this season and I have a theory here I don’t know if I should share this publicly yet because I just don’t know if if the

World is ready to hear it but there is a Bridge Troll just east of Memphis known as balazar the baleful and often times to get into the city you’ll have to pass through and you’ll have to answer his riddles three and my understanding uh was that when he asked jaw to answer his

Riddles three jaw just flashed the tool at him and I don’t think that that was well received by balazar or by the uh by The Bridge Troll Association and so what they can often do is they can curse you it’s not unlike what happened with

Vulger uh who of course is a far more powerful warlock in what he’s done to the Golden State Warriors but the Bridge Troll Association when they unite they can actually be quite powerful as well I will say Union I think that this does need to to be some more extra time for

Reflection for John Mor and the only reason I say that is even in his games back like the celebratory like the you know him pretending to shoot the gun yeah true I just don’t think it’s a good look for him in the sense that we’ve talked about

This before I love J I love watching him play and the NBA has shown that they will buy into Superstars if you do right if you do right by the league and that’s just that’s just the other thing is like I want to really realize that he is a

Role model at this point in his career and he has a lot of status and a lot of a lot of power and a lot of influence over young children and it shouldn’t be something that he’s glamorizing or totally making seem cool it’s not cool j

What is cool is that you have worked really hard and that you have gotten to this point you weren’t gifted with these traits athletically you had to work with them we’ve seen the videos the Plyometrics you doing this every single day after school you were a zero star

You you weren’t recruited you had to go to Murray State johnar is such a success story is so wholesome how he got to this point and it’s frustrating that we can’t appreciate that story like I just I want Jah to buy into himself as a role model and

Be the guy that I think Memphis in the league needs him to be because what the league has consistently shown us is that they do not need you yeah you need the league and I hope this is just some extra time for reflection uh for because

I wanted to clean up his act and and and be a be a real role model and a positive figure in the NBA and they will accept him and they will build commercials around him you’ll make tons of money he’s just got to buy in and I want him

To buy in because it it is a really good story that we just I don’t know can’t appreciate because he keeps doing boneheaded things on and off the court it’s not a good look and I want him to to reflect on this I’m not going to call

It karma but it there’s a little bit of that that that I feel like is is involved in this yeah I know it’s a good point like he does need to understand the gravity and the consequences for his actions and when you get suspended 25

Games like you do have to take a look in the mirror and even if you think it’s excessive if you return with the everybody else is screwing me over mentality you guys I’m going to lean into this gun thing and all that it’s not good for you especially because

It’s not like it was an isolated incident you can have your opinion about if that was too harsh a suspension mhm but everybody just keys in on on Jah having the gun on IG live as if there wasn’t also the whole incident with him fighting a kid right like this was a

Repeated pattern of terrible decisions that made last year whyland at the strip club I mean there’s yeah there’s a there’s a long list yeah yeah yeah so I think that’s a good take probably a little bit better than my theory about balazar the baleful although you know

Both have their place with uh like like Uncle Ben said man shout out Spider-Man with great power comes comes great responsibility and uh I don’t J’s a superhero to these kids man they look up to you I just want them to be a positive role model for the community man yeah

The Grizzlies definitely aren’t in the worst place in the league though even if we’ve both been a bit lower on their ceiling and all that like obviously they have a couple of foundational talents there and they have a culture I think it’s the Wizards and it’s exactly

Because of the reason that you laid out every other team you can look at and you can say okay no matter how bad they are right now the Detroit Pistons may lose 28 straight games and then win one and then lose another five in a row at least

They have Kate Cunningham and they have even Jaylen Duren but if we’re talking about like really the guy then it’s Kate Cunningham the Spurs have Victor W Manama so obviously they’re better off the Hornets as much as he may be hurt which sucks have lamelo ball who was

Playing at an awesome level this year the Wizards are the one team who just don’t have that guy Koz is playing well but obviously he is just going to end up being a trade piece he doesn’t fit on their timeline whatsoever and I think that he should get more buzz like when

They do show that they’re willing to move him because Koz is playing really really well I think that dude has gotten really good and again it doesn’t necessarily get a bunch of shine because he is doing it in Washington and I like kabali I’ve been really impressed by him

I thought taking him at seven was a reach I liked him but I’ve used him as much more of like that 10 to 14 range I thought that there were dudes in the sort of two-way mold who were just going to be better versions of that even if

They weren’t able to get like that foundational guard who I wanted them to because Anthony black had just gone so that guy wasn’t necessarily on the board but like kabali looks really really good man he has these great athletic tools crazy length can be an awesome awesome

Defender but also his shot last year was a question he shot better as the year went along but he’s been shooting really well and he’s looked smooth he’s looked comfortable handling he’s changing gears nicely as a driver like that dude has really got something to him when you

Consider how raw he was as a prospect and then he’s just turned 19 and he does have these physical tools like I’ve been encouraged I don’t I don’t think that he’s the guy but I think that he is better than I anticipated and I do like that as a pick

For them but yeah they have to get that Cornerstone for me to put them above any of these other teams yeah and Kali is like you said still extremely young too so I mean they have very young they have time to tap into into that but yeah I

I’m sorry Wizards fans good luck guys do you think do you think they should deal kozma at the deadline do you think a winning team uh with aspirations because I mean Wing depth is kind of a big concern across the league like do you think kzo would be an intriguing asset

For somebody to take a swing at well I wanted the Kings to get him in the off season CU I was like if you’re going to have somebody in that sort of Harrison Barnes forward mold right potential mismatch attacker guy who’s going to be decent enough as a spot up shooter why

Wouldn’t you get a dude who can do more with the ball in his hands who isn’t as good of a pure shooter that’s the one advantage that Barnes does have but is still solid there better rebounder better playmaker has shown the ability to defend at a higher level like to me

That’s what I would be looking at I like him more than a SE yakum there which apparently now that’s been shut down just because the SE yakum sabona spacing I think it’s pretty ugly and I think that that would at least take the king

Ceiling up a little bit of a level so I think that he absolutely should have Intrigue like teams want big wings and uh KZ is a good big Wing he’s very skilled I think uh I think team should be interested in him I’ve heard SE yakum

To the Mavericks too dude I don’t I don’t really know what uh I don’t know I expect him to get dealt by the Dead line but it seems like it’s a lot it’s it’s more difficult than than we would have guessed yeah of course there’s the

Warriors rumors but then like spicy p is apparently making it a little bit tricky where like he told the kings that he wouldn’t sign there it’s going to be interesting if they don’t move him then what a disaster by Messi like a year after year the last three years it’s

Been like Hey we’re not good enough but we have these win now assets oh we’re on the brink of moving them and we’re on the brink of finally pivoting our Direction and then they got good value for OG but if seum who should be the guy

Who gets you the bigger Hall gets you nothing that’s bad that’s that’s real bad they lose Freddy buckets you know basically for nothing too I mean I think that yeah if they if they can crush the SE yakum trade the Raptors can really set themselves up well for Success cuz I

Like the young core that they’re putting together now with IQ with RJ with Scotty I think all of these guys work well together you know it’s just about finding that next five that next Wing a benchu whatever it is that’s going to put you over the top uh yeah they I like

Gary Trent too you know I like the Raptors a lot I I like what they’re putting together there but they have to crush this trade it would be crazy if the Mavs got him and I actually like that so I because he’s a big forward you want them

To have more size in the front Court you want them to have more guys who can defend you can go spicy P at the five looks maybe you would have to give up Lively you probably would cuz that’s the problem with this the Mavs have no

Assets the Mavs have moved all of their assets they gave up their last intriguing assets really to get Kyrie and now a new one has popped up in Derek Lively but he’s playing a valuable role for that team and so then if you do bring in spicy P maybe you’re relying on

Him at the five or then it’s Dwight Powell back to starting five which isn’t great so if they could get him it would still be a win it might present some new issues but you would be adding Talent level in a archetype that is valuable but like for the Raptors are you going

To take one first Derek Lively and then like thj in whatever contract filler you need because like that’s what you’re getting dude and then that’s not what they have been targeting over the last couple years so uh it’s a little bit dicey in Toronto on that side but at

Least they did get IQ and RJ and those guys are both balling out right now all right that’s going to do it for us here today everybody hope you enjoyed if you did there is always more nerd sash content you can watch all of our full

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