Moses Moody Tells Us The Truth About Life As A Warrior | Ep. 122

Most players in that scenario get drafted, they go to a rebuilding team, whereas you got drafted to a dynasty.

It's a different situation. The things that you do on this stage are magnified. It was funny one time my 11th grade year, Cade and Ryan, they was wrestling for like an hour.

An hour is insane.

And it was like mattresses and stuff. I don't know why they was doing it.

Y' all are serious.

Like, just cause you on a bow and arrow don't mean you need. You don't need to know how to use a sword when that opportunity comes.

He got spinning, he spitting.

He been out this whole time. He ain't even been able to be on the court. I'm like, I ain't trying to be the one that hurt Klay Thomas. Right now we need figure out ways to win, so however I can be beneficial to that.

The cranium is crazy.

Oh, my God.

I mean, I really don't know.

Don't know what to say.

Crayon eaters, rejoice Put some.

Put some side, baby, give me a wall.

Gonna be busted down for real.

Okay, I'm including that, y'. All. They just started dancing before I started the intro. I'm not gonna sex. There you go. Welcome back to another episode. As you guys saw the little intro that played before Donovan and Mo started. Getting down with it. Very special episode today.

Getting down with it.

This is a serious episode.

Very special episode. We have a special conversation with warriors guard Moses Moody. It was a cool conversation. We went out to the warriors facility, got to sit down with him, talk about his career coming into the warriors, what it felt like coming into a team playing next to Legends of the Game and Steph Curry, Draymond Clay, etc. Really cool conversation from a guy who has a. Interesting perspective compared to other young players.

And let them know after he talked to us, he had a great game. He put up 19 points. So, like, listen, we kind of had. You know, I'm going to take credit for that from. From us three. I'm going to. I'm going to say, see that our conversation was motivation.

You took credit for that. I've been. Took credit for it two days ago when it happened, so I'm way heavy. I already took all the credit. There's nothing left for you to take. It's all over here. I think we gave him the juice, and I'm taking the most credit for it. But yeah, man. After we have this interview play for you guys, we'll get into our normal episode stuff. We're going to do the secondary main topic of this episode, we're doing a vibe check for a lot of teams around the league. It's going to be an hour long of that, so you're not missing out on a normal T3 app. There's going to be a full, full episode for you guys, followed by, obviously, an hour of TikTok time games. It'll be a fun time. But for now, before we get into all that normal stuff we do, I'm going to send you over to Moses Moody. All right, y'.

All.

We are joined today for a very special episode. Usually when we start these, I do these cold open intros. There's three of us here in different environments, you know, just three of us, as always. Today we're joined by a very special guest, Golden State warriors guard Moses Moody. How you doing, man?

I'm good, I'm good.

Appreciate you coming through.

Oh, yeah, no problem.

You had a really good 2024. You know, it's December 29th recording this. It's the end of the year. 2024 has been good to you. So I gotta ask, how does it feel to be paid? How does it feel to have you the second stage of your NBA career?

Yeah. Yeah, it's really cool in the sense your whole time you got the. You. You're in the NBA. You know, you get your first contract, which I don't mean to like that. That is. That's substantial and it's a great, great opportunity. But then just moving into that next level and being able to, like, support your family in that. In that way, and then it's opportunity, but really just security for life. So being able to kind of do that for the first time is really big time.

I feel like every time people do a player podcast and they ask people about the first big payday, it's always, what was your first big purchase? I bought my mom a house. All this stuff. I don't want to know that. I want to know, is there any bougie habits you picked up on? Like, for instance, Mo here as soon as we got a little bit of podcast money? He's never rode the subway day in his life since Uber everywhere.

I cannot confirm nor deny.

Did you feel yourself doing a little small bougie stuff you allowed yourself to do?

Probably. I use Uber Eats a lot more than I used to.

Yeah, that makes sense. Listen, I gotta know, are you still on a family phone plan? Because I'm still. I'm still on a family phone plan. I'm not leaving. I'm riding that to the wheels fall off.

Yeah, I wrote it as long as I could. I got off about two years ago, but I was in the league on the family phone.

Gotcha. That's real.

Your parents tell you what a championship ring, they're like, nah, no more.

It's time now that you are at this point though, and you have more flexibility to do whatever it is. What are like some of the cheaper habits that you have that you just simply won't believe in or won't splurge on?

I'm. I'm a really simple guy in a lot of ways to where I don't.

The more.

The more simple I feel like my life is, the more peaceful it is, the less complex. So I don't try to complicate things that don't have to be. Yeah. So it's a lot of things that I. That I don't change.

That makes sense.

Gotcha.

Yeah. Getting onto the basketball side, I think you're super interesting. I feel you have a very interesting POV as a young player in the league because, you know, highly touted draft prospect, you knew you're going to be a lottery pick. Most players in that scenario, some of your peers from high school, from college get drafted, they go to a rebuilding team, so you know, they have tons of opportunity. Go run 30, pick and rolls, get all the touches, develop on ball. Whereas you got drafted into a dynasty, you come in with expectations of being the second timeline, kind of giving new life to a dynasty. That's a very different perspective. As a young player, how do you feel that kind of altered your POV coming into league compared to some of your peers?

It was definitely different, but good stuff, bad stuff, who knows, type of thing because some of those guys are put in a situation to where they got to where they play and get to work out the stuff off rip. But you also show what you can't do off rip. But being in a situation like this, you're able to kind of go develop behind the scenes, pick up habits and pick up things from players. You watch players you're playing with on the same team, learn how to play winning basketball, learn what that means, learn how to practice, learn different habits and stuff without being thrown out on there on the main stage and then had letting that happen later on. So, you know, it's just a different journey.

Yeah, that makes sense. You know, fit is obviously everything. Some guys get thrown into the fire when maybe their game isn't best, running 30, picking rolls. So, you know, do you feel like there's more pros and cons to that whole experience?

I mean, it just depends on perspective, depends on the person, case by case scenario. You know, I like to hoop. So you get to hoop more than that. Positive, too.

Yeah. Yeah.

What's that balance, like, because obviously, like, you've been in this organization for a couple years now. What's the balance between going into the off season and trying to, like, work on your game, expand your game, you know, try to add different things into your bag? But then you come into this system and you don't. You may not necessarily get the opportunity to show that. And so, like, how is it navigating, thinking, like, I can do this, and then you get to camp and it's like, okay, the team needs me to.

Do X, Y, and Z. Yeah, that's an interesting dynamic, but it's more. So I'm gonna work on it. So I got it if I need it. Like, that might not be my road to do it every game, all game, but there's definitely gonna be times to where you need to have it. I think of it back like when it was, like, when people.

When it.

When it was like Vikings and all that everybody was fighting and stuff. Like, just cause you on a bow and arrow don't mean you need. You don't need to know how to use a sword when you win it. When that opportunity comes, he spin bars.

Got you. Got you.

So since you've been in the league, I want to ask what has been, like, the most elevating tips that you've gotten on the court or either off the court?

Yeah, I get a lot of. I get a lot of gems and stuff, but I like to learn the most by observation because, you know, somebody can tell you one thing and they can tell you how they want to do stuff, but you can see how they do it, see how they move and, you know, learn better from observation and even what they would say. So I picked up a lot of stuff from that on the court and off the court. I done had some really good financial literacy conversations with older guy, rather if it's Andre C.P. steph Dre. Everybody's been able to just talk about personal finance in a way, in a different way that I've learned it before because it's a different way. So that's all been good.

I love that you said Andre first, because we were joking earlier, thinking about you've played with some crazy amount of vets. The guys you named, obviously Steph Dre, Clay, Chris Paul for a year. It's crazy when you think about like the timeline of NBA greats. I just knew that you were going to mention Andre and financial literacy. We were joking. Like, I bet he got him right with the 401k, all these investments, everything. So that's great. That's actually true.

Yeah. Yeah. It's cool because he, you know, Andre love to talk too. So you can go ask him a question. He'll sit there and tell you everything you want to know. But being in the Bay with it too, he's so tied in with so many different people. It was a couple of times I was in, I went, you know, Dreamforce happens here every year with Salesforce, that convention. So then I went to, like, my agent Rich got me. Got me into this, like two super, super big meet and greet type of situation where Mark Benioff and everybody was up there at the top floor Salesforce. But then I see Andre in there. Like, we didn't come together. Yeah, but that was cool.

That makes total sense. So obviously you've learned a lot of off the court stuff in these guys. Except you just mentioned. I'm interested in, like, the on the court stuff, what you learned from them. Because we mentioned you coming to this specific circumstance, playing for this not just contending team, but a team that has a history of winning. They also have the history of winning because of their obviously very unique offense. What was it like adapting to that? Because I imagine in college and high school, you weren't setting so many screens, running off of so many screens, making these reads, having to pay attention to where Curry and Draymond are. All these very unique styles of play. You got to play with the Warriors. What was it like making that adjustment?

Yeah, it's different because you kind of got to play. You got to play into it. You, you, you gotta. You gotta. You can't just. Yeah, they can't just teach you everything before the season and then, you know. But you gotta make mistakes, you know, get into it. Different things as it evolves, as it changes and get used to it. And that's kind of what it's been early on, figuring out the nuances of the offense. And then it's changed, too. Different players come in different. Different things. You see coach changing the game, playing, whatever that may be, but being able to keep up with that and then being able to hoop, too, and not be a robot.

Yeah.

What were some of the, like, tougher nuances that you had to learn on the court that just wasn't connecting to you immediately?

We play different than most teams that I play for is usually you know, the point guard is like the distributor and then like the wing positions are like, you know, that's a traditional offense a lot of times. But being with Steph, you got to know where Steph is at all times. If he get off the ball, you got to know where you're coming off the screen, set the pin in whatever that may be. Uh, and then, then Dre being the, being the center and the point guard, a lot of times where he bringing it up, playing at the top of the key, that was, that was different for me early on. Although it is a lot more space. But just knowing where those sp. Where those spaces are going to be, where the open shot is going to be, we took some adjustments with how is it a.

You know, obviously there's the uniqueness of playing for the warriors on the court. I think most people don't realize, like off the court. I feel like being a Warrior is probably extremely different than other teams because the warriors fan base is insane. It's like, it's so big, it's almost like a cult. Like, it's so intense that for so many people around the world, not just in Golden State, Steph Curry is like they're Michael Jordan. So you are like, you travel around, go to all these different countries, different cities. You guys are low key, like superstars. Do you feel more, I don't know, support from that or more pressure from that being that big of a larger than life team?

I feel the support. It's a different situation. It's fun, you know, just being at the top of the NBA and just in a fans eyes, in the public eye. You know, things that you do on this stage are magnified. Like that's what I always say about the playoffs. Like you make a, you make a. The same play you would have made in a regular season in the playoffs. And it's like, oh, you so amazing. Yeah, same thing on the bad side too. You make a small mistake and it's magnified too.

Exactly.

That's just like high stakes basketball. And that's the most fun way to play.

Yeah, you're either you're the hero of the day or you're the guy that ruined Steph Curry's 35 point game in game two. Like a lot of bad comes with the good.

How, how have you like ingratiated yourself with, with the fans? Whether it be like, you know, going out and having different events in the community or just picking up on like small Bay Area things. Like what, what kind of like Bay Area slang have you added to like, to the way that you talk, like, do you say hella a lot now? You know, you listen to hyping music. What kind of stuff? Like, has Bay Area culture gotten into you?

Yeah, so it's been a. I had to kind of adjust to it. It's different then. I'm from the south, so it's. It's different, but it's also a lot of similarities. And as I've been able to, like, go to Oakland and move around, I. I get to know people and I get to know why things are the way they are. And. And you really get to make some relationships. And that part. That part has been really cool about being here on. On in two different ways. Like, me and my. My brother live here too. He worked with the warriors in the media department, so we've been able to kind of move around. And he's the one that really brought it to my attention about how cool the culture is here.

For one.

It's so rich and so deep. Like, most of these. Like these people been here for a long time. And like the. From the, like, you know, with Tupac and all of the. All of the greats that came through here musically and like, activists and all type of stuff. Like, it's. It's like the roots run deep in Oakland. So that part's been cool. And then how, like this, the. The people are cool too. Just like, because of that. Like, you can feel that in interaction. But it's also Silicon Valley, and it's a lot of ambitious people here. They got a lot of resources, they got a lot to offer. And I really like to learn from people, especially, like, people that really know what they're talking about. Really been doing something for a long time, so I've been able to get in some really good conversations and just really sit up and listen and pick up on game. Rather if it's vc, rather if it's real estate, rather like so many different things. The ways that. And then. And then to just learn from people that have had money for a long time. Like, I've just acquired like, some. Like just some. Some traction and all of that. And I know you can give somebody a million dollars that they don't know. They don't know what to do with it, and it can mess up their life. So that knowledge is what really makes it good or bad. So just being able to be in a place that you can pick up on a lot of that and you've.

Been around, like, you've been able to, you know, be in different places, but Obviously, like you said, you're still from the South. So, like, what was one of the bigger culture shocks coming from Arkansas to being out here in the Bay Area?

Yeah, it's like I said, with. It's a lot more ambitious people. It's a lot more going on, a lot more at stake in a lot of conversations. A lot of stuff that's different because the south or Little Rock in particular. In particular is more. It's like. It's a slower pace. So that comes in conversations. It's like that conversation that you having with that person is just about that conversation that y' all having. It's not about the insinuations that they making or what that person can do for you or whatever that is. It's genuinely about this conversation. And that. And that part. That part's cool.

A lot of networking going on around here, trying to get in with the right people. How do you mean?

Which is cool, too, though, because it's like the people that you talking to, they have the power to do stuff and then, like, all that. And it's cool to. It's cool. And it's cool to have genuine relationships with those people, too, because I feel like a lot of times I can feel in conversations like that that a lot of business people that are. They're used to having a lot more transactional conversation can kind of let their guard down because they see I'm just trying to talk to you and trying to have you teach, and I got a genuine intention when I'm coming to people to have conversations. And a lot of times I can see that they're not used to that because they're used to having those conversations.

They're not used to selling chart out here at all. I'm glad you mentioned that, because I was watching a lot of interviews you've done. A lot of times you talk to the media, I feel like people don't know that you are, like, incredibly mature for your age. I don't know if you grew up being told you're an old soul and stuff like that, but that's the first thing I thought about. You have so many quotes I've heard you say in the media. I want to run through a little of them. Let me know what you think about them. You already gave us one earlier in the interview, so clearly you just. You got a bank of them. I heard you say, a fool looks for happiness in the distance while a wise man grows under his feet.

That's ours. That's tough. That's tough.

Said don't be surprised when the boat rocks during the storm. It's supposed to. Life is a storm, and everything's a journey. And my favorite one, you give a pick a pancake and he gonna want some syrup. Where do you get all these from? Because you have so many in the bank that are so insightful. Where does that come from?

Like I said, like, I'm observant. So, like, when I talk to people, somebody say something that made sense to me, I'm gonna remember it forever. Yeah, it's because I understood it. And then I gotta. I got a lot of old people in my family, too, like my. My great uncles and aunties and all of that. I've been sitting on the couch hanging out with them my whole life. And then my dad kind of talks with him too.

I got to ask, right? So obviously, like, you're from, you know, you're from Arkansas, and right now, at least online, people are talking a lot about what people from the south may eat for the holidays. Right. And so I saw the other day, like, Jerry Jones, who said he's from Arkansas, he said that him and his family, they eat raccoon and like, they, you know, squirrel brain. Is that. Is that something that you and your people do? Like, do you beat in raccoon like that? Like, what's one of the countries things that you have eating?

Nah, we.

That's not you. That's not you.

N not. I mean, to each his own. I'm sure some people do their own thing. I probably didn't got into crazier stuff since I've been out here. Oh, like what I would think.

Yeah.

I mean, Kamar, if you think about it, that's kind of crazy. Octopus tentacles. Yeah. I don't know. I'm adventurous. Like, I'll try new stuff.

Speaking of adventures, this past summer you went to South Africa and you went over there, you were coaching the youth and you gave a lot of game and all that. And I understand you were giving a lot of information, showing her the roots and the way to, you know, be professional. But as the teacher in that instance, what were you able to, like, gather and learn when it comes to giving back to the youth?

Yeah, I was able. That's a great way to ask that question because, like, going over there, it was more so me learning than me teaching. Because we was in South Africa, we was in Johannesburg, but it was kids there from all over the continent. They live in so many different ways. And so, like, all my team, all the players on my team and stuff, I'm I should have been talking to them about basketball more than I did, because I'm sitting there, like, asking, where you from? Like, how y' all live? What y' all do, What y' all do for fun, what you eat? So, like, that was a really good experience for me in that way. But the main. The main thing that I was trying to get across to them was, like, capitalizing off opportunity because all of them wanted to be basketball players. They want to go to the NBA because that's what they hear about. That's the way to make it, quote, unquote. But I'm trying to tell them, like, no, this is an opportunity. Like, basketball is an opportunity that doesn't have to end up in the NBA, but this camp is the opportunity. It's plenty of people here that can have an effect on your life. So just being able to be. I'll be. Be open and looking for opportunities and trying to capitalize off of them.

That's awesome. Now, going back to the thing about you coming to Lee being very mature, do you feel like you gravitated towards those older teammates early? Because I was listening to those podcasts you went on with some of those teammates, like Draymond, it seems like he really felt a connection to you early on, it seemed like. Was that likewise? Did you feel like you really gravitated towards more veterans in the locker room?

Yeah. Yeah, I did. But a lot of the connections that I've had on this team, I feel like, are really genuine.

Yeah.

Just because I'm open to other people in conversations, I feel wherever those conversations lead can make a connection. Yeah.

You want to learn.

Yeah. So I used to go to Draymond Room all the time. I still go in there all the time and just have conversations, let him talk, see what he got to say. Because, like I said, coming into the NBA, I ain't never been here before. And you've been here for, like, 11 years at that point.

Yeah.

So I just wanted to. I just had questions, and he answered them. And that kind of. Kind of relationship kind of formed from that. Same thing with Loom Wiggs, Juan D. Lee, all those guys that was here my first year.

Yeah. Always wanted to learn. Makes total sense. I was listening to another podcast where a football player was talking about from the point he was a rookie to, like, year six in the league, he learned a lot of, like, OG tricks. Like, in the NFL, it was wear the same color gloves as your opposing team's jersey, so if you hold them as a corner, they won't see it. Now you're talking about Draymond. Who is Draymond? Did he teach you any OG tricks like that? Any small things that you can get away with?

Yeah, it's a lot. A lot of stuff. You can see that he do, but I ain't going to tell you.

Yeah, he taught you how to do those moving screens, didn't he? How to use those hips.

We know.

We know. When we're talking about, like, Arkansas and going back to that and, you know, your experience over the summer, I think one of the really cool things that you did was, like, you had the trade summit, and you were teaching kids, you know, like you said, playing basketball isn't the only way to make it right and you can do other things. And one of the things that you said in an interview was, like, you were out there, like, laying bricks with them. Like, can you expand a little bit more on what that experience was and, like, you know, helping kids understand it's not basketball or nothing to make it in the world.

Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. I see. I really did y' all research.

Yeah, of course.

Yeah. It was an event that we did, focused on the youth, but it was. That was a. That was the gist of it, just because it's a lot of jobs and opportunities that come close to basketball. So so many people don't make it to the NBA or don't make it overseas or whatever it is in basketball, so then they end up doing something completely different. But it's a lot of jobs that are parallel, so it could be, like, nutritionist, chefs, and then we got, like, stylists, we got photographers. Y' all do podcasts around sports. Like, it's so many different opportunities and jobs right next to it. That's not that big of a pivot, so. And kids don't think about wanting to do that because they're not exposed to it. They don't know about it. So that was. That was a big thing, just bringing people back. So we had, like, a room like this to where somebody would just. It was very interactive to where it's not a teaching setting. It's like, no, we having a conversation, and I'm just telling you about what I do, and you can ask about it, talk to each other about it, and make, like, a cool dialogue like that. But it was also. We partnered with a group called Trades for Life, who did the. Who had, like, you said, laying brick. Had a barber out there. We had, like, a car where they learning how to change a tire, welding, like, all type of trades that you could have. That don't necessarily have to be full time jobs, but it's just skills that you can pick up on. And I'm out there learning just like they are. Like I ain't know how to lay brick before I got out there, but I learned at the same time they did. So just. And it's also creating the community around learning how to learn because that's a big thing. Like a lot of people, it's not that they don't, not that they don't want to learn something, they just don't know how to. They don't know the questions to ask. They don't know their own learning style because school is kind of based off one learning style. So people get confused and don't think they smart.

And for you. So like if you weren't in the NBA, what's a job that you can see yourself doing?

I could see myself doing a lot of jobs just because that I have that, that mindset. Like I would want to pick up on a lot of trades so I could, like, I would, I could be back home and I could be doing all type of stuff. Like I learned how to cut hair, I could learn how to like invest. I can learn how to invest in real estate. I can learn how to like it's so many different things to where I don't, I don't, I don't know where I would go, but I'd be in a lot of different. And I don't even got to be from not an NBA because like I said, those are all trades you can do with the job. So I'm still going to learn how to do all that stuff. I'm talking about.

I watched an interview where you said that when you were 13, 14 years old, you for a second you wanted to become a judge, right? Is that true? And then you witnessed someone get like 30 to 40 years to life and you're like, I'm good.

Yeah, that was, that, that, that was kind of, that wasn't really. It got. I know, I know what you're talking about. It wasn't really like that. I never really wanted to be a judge. The thing I was saying was like as a kid you kind of need something to say. Cause everybody always say they want to be a basketball player when they grow up. So that was something that I kind of was like, I wonder what it is. I wonder what that's about. And then we had an assignment for school where everybody had to go job shadow a job. And I went and job shadow the judge And I seen that, I sent it to 40 years. Cause I was thinking about it more so in a way, like, I got a lot of uncles that done been to jail that's been through a lot of stuff. So I want to be in a position to where I can help them and see the good in people and make. But then I. When I went in there, I saw the opposite and saw people that really did need to go to jail. And you the one that got to kind of make that happen. And that wasn't. That ain't what I wanted to do.

Yeah, maybe the judicial system kind of sucks. So it's way different when you're 13 versus, like, 16. You know, a little bit. It's like, nevermind. Yeah, I'm glad he mentioned the. What other job, what you kind of want to do in the world? Because I transitioned it. I want to play a little game. I kind of want to, on that same topic, see how well you know some of your teammates.

Okay.

I want to name one of your teammates, and you tell us what job you think they would do if they weren't in the NBA, just based on the personality and what their interests are. Okay. Does that make sense?

Yeah.

So first off, how about Draymond Green?

Draymond. He'll probably be doing tv, podcast, that type of thing.

We.

I just asked. Well, I was just in a conversation, and everybody was kind of saying what they would be doing if they weren't in NBA.

Really?

Yeah. And he was saying. He was saying some job that everybody in Sagar, Michigan does. I don't know if it was a factory job or whatever it was, but, I mean, probably. He would probably end up be doing something different. But he was saying if he's back home, then that's what everybody do back home.

I could see him doing some on tv. I could see him being a talker for a living. That adds up. Exactly. Easy pivot. Okay, what about Klay Thompson? So he's a man of many interests. Which one you think he'd go down?

Yeah, the easy answer would definitely be something with the boat. But if you really know Clay Klay Thompson, it's a hard one.

He's a man of many interests.

That's what I say. This is gonna be kind of hard. Yeah. Like, I know what people like to do, but do you want to do that for a living? Yeah.

Okay, last one, then. Steph Curry.

Steph Curry. Yeah. Golfer.

Golfer.

Easily. I've seen the clips. Like, he's gotten a hole in one before. He's done all this stuff like he, he. The way he talks about golf sometimes it sounds like he loves golf more than basketball. He loves golf and then he.

Well, he a golfer for real. Like he golf like for a while too. So it's not like you just picked up on it when you was in the NBA. Like. No, he really likes to golf, so I could see him going in that direction.

Have you been on any of the golf trips with Steph and everybody else who golfed on the team?

Nah, I'm trying. I'm learning how to golf, but I ain't on that level yet. But when we was in Hawaii, my dad was there with me. So we went to the golf, we went to the course and they was going to the course too. So I just rode over there with them. But then I went with my pops and they went together.

Oh, gotcha.

What are some other off the court activities you're really into, like golf or whatever? It may be any other kind of sporting related ones. You kind of get that competitive stuff off in.

Yeah, like I said, I like a lot of different stuff. So I be. I like. I like golf. Me and my brother and my dad getting into that. I like ping pong.

Ping pong.

When I was in Montverg, we played all day. I like pickleball. I've been doing that in the summertime. I want to learn how to play some instruments. So I kind of been, kind of been playing around with that a little bit. I want to learn how to. I'm trying to get into shooting like bow and arrows and stuff.

Oh yeah, that's crazy. Bow and arrows is wild as like a hobby. I've never heard anybody say I should just pick up this bow and arrow here.

Jerome Robinson, he was, he was with our team last year. He did it like on off days. Like he lived in my building. So I would walk running to him. He finna go shoot bowling. I ain't know how to do it at that point, but I like to try that out.

That's cool.

So you mentioned Montvert earlier. I want to know how was your experience there, how Montvert came to be the option. And how did you like differentiate Montvert versus all the other schools that you were leaning towards?

Yeah, I never really thought about other prep schools. That was. I was. It's not like I wanted to go prep, so I needed to go find a school. It was kind of my verb. Like I met them, they told me what it could be. I went and toured the school and everything and just went that way. But I was In Arkansas playing. And I'm glad you asked me that because, like, I know a lot of kids now, like, they're in their hometown, and they. They feel like when they get. They supposed to go prep and all of that. But prep is not for everybody. Prep is not for most people. So I would. If I'm. If I'm encouraging or talking to people, because even in my city, I see a lot of people trying to do it similar to my journey. And see. Think that's how you get to the NBA. But it's like, it's a lot of benefits to staying back home and playing around there and learning the game that way.

What makes you say that? It's not for a lot of people. What specifically about prep happens in between those doors that just, like most people ain't built for it.

You moving away from your family.

Yeah.

And your friends. And when you go to college, everybody moving away, so it's easier. But when you. And when you 15, 16 years old, everybody else is still in high school doing the same stuff they were doing before you left. And that seems fun. Like, you want to be a part of that, and you go on to meet a whole new group of people, and then you're not around people that, like your coaches or whatever. Like, they are. Everybody around you is at work. Like, don't nobody really love you like that. And you still a kid, so you kind of. You got to grow up a lot earlier, a lot sooner.

I feel like that sounds like something that would kind of lead to you getting, like, a close relationship with the people you do that experience with. So do you feel now in the league, like, a certain type of bond with the guys you were teammates with there?

Yeah, yeah, for sure. That was my dog. I would even probably still say my senior year, the team we had there was probably, like, the closest that I've been with the team, really. Just because we, like. We live together, we go on tournaments together, but we all really liked each other. We always was wrestling and playing and all day. That was my dawg.

Who was the best wrestler out of the group?

Me. No question. No question.

You versus Scotty Barnes 101. Hell in a Cell. You're coming out on top.

It was really. It would always be. It would always be like, me, Cade. Scottie didn't really wrestle like that, but he would. He would. But it would always be me, Scotty. No, no, no. Me, Cade. Usually me and Cade versus Ryan and Caleb Nemhardt and Houston.

Yeah.

No, he and my. The Magic.

Yeah.

But in the world Be me. K. Dayron vs. Ryan. Caleb Derique Whitehead. I don't know, we just used. Always wrestling.

What kind of wrestling we talking about? Are y' all over there doing like.

Me or I don't know if I know.

Well, actually. Actually it was funny one time my 11th grade year. Ryan and K. Ryan. No, Kade and Ryan, they did this whole little wrestling. They was wrestling for like an hour.

Hour.

Insane.

And it was like mattresses and stuff. I don't know why they was doing serious, but.

Right.

But Caleb, I mean, K. Slamming him on the mattress and everything. It was funny though, cuz they do an actual wrestling move. But N. We just was always fighting. So we slap boxing, catch boxing, wrestling, whatever it turned into.

That sounds like some lifelong friendship shit. That makes total sense. So how does it feel now? Cade's like, he's always been really good, but he's making that leap where the whole national media is understanding this guy's at an all star level. What's it been like seeing that for him and how does it. What do you feel like is a difference for him this year?

Okay, he can hold. So he. And he's smart. So I feel like the more he gets to, you know, he was hurt all second year, but the more he gets to like pay attention to stuff, pick up on tendencies, be in the same situation, had a ball in his hand. He's gonna get better just cause he's so observant and he know how to play the game.

When you first got to Mount Vert, was it. Was it like very clear and obvious, like, okay, he's going to be like this level of a player?

Yeah, yeah. Cause that's when he started playing point guard for real. He didn't really play point guard before that, I don't think. I don't. I ain't really watch him before he got there. But yeah, just being a. However tall he is. Six, eight. Point guard. And handle it and control stuff like you do. I can see it.

Do you remember one specific moment or game where you looked over and you're like, that's a future star.

No, not one moment. But I mean, Obi around somebody for long enough, then. Yeah.

Makes sense.

LeBron be having the things where you say like that one thing.

His memory is crazy. I don't expect you to have that encyclopedia in your head like he does. He's crazy.

When you first went into Montrovert, you came into school with a left foot fracture, correct? How was a lot of people. When it comes to injuries, we see the player get Injured. We see you in crutches or whatever, and then we see you come back. How was the actual rehab process? Because no one really knows that.

Yeah, yeah, that was. I was. I ain't never been hurt. I. I ain't never been hurt like that before in my career. So I didn't have no surgery or nothing, but it was just a long time and I came back too early. And then for me, like I said, prep school is not for everybody. Yeah, I, I moved out here away from everybody to go to play basketball, and I can't even play basketball for like the first four months I'm there. I'm going. I got to go to practice every day. I can't do rehab. I can't do nothing. I'm just sitting there on the side trying to stay awake while after school, watching practice and stuff. So it was tough. But, you know, our rehab got right. Got back together.

What does rehab look like? Are you like, stretching and like taking your vitamins or whatever?

I mean, all that stuff too, but it's a lot of weights involved to it, but like reteaching muscles that's kind of falling asleep since you've been hurt or things you're not using as much because so many people get hurt and then they get better and come back and hurt themselves again because now they've been limping on, putting more weight on one side than the other or whatever that may be. So it's kind of just correcting everything, getting used to playing again.

Speaking of rehab, I read that when Klay Thomason was doing his big rehab from the multiple injuries, you were often in charge when you return to practice of doing one on one drills with him. It seemed like when he came back that first couple weeks, he was getting a lot of bag shit off where he looked like he was deep in the post doing the stuff that we really seen do before. Was that what he was working on during that time against you? Were you just stuck in the gym one on one, getting bagged up by Klay Thompson?

It was different for sure because I'm coming in and I didn't know, like, what this is because he's been out this whole time. He ain't even been able to be on the court. And now y' all telling me to go play with him. I'm like, I ain't trying to be the one to hurt Klay Thompson. But then he come out, he getting straight in his bag, getting the hooping. So we had some really good runs.

I have one last question for you about your School, Mount Vert. So there's been a notorious conversation about who y' all got. Mount Verde or blah. Or Mount Verde or blah. And I want to run that with you. So I'm gonna ask you a question, and I have a few NBA teams in line, and I want to see if you guys would be superior to them. So who's better? Montvert or 2016?

Tino Hills, the famous debate everyone talks about online.

Yeah, I mean, I'm gonna let online have the debates and all of that, but, I mean, we was a really good team.

That team. If you're in the NBA today together, how many wins did you guys get? That same starting five in the NBA?

Yeah.

If U.S. as NBA players or when.

We was in high school, as NBA players. Like today, as you are in 2024.

Yeah. So when we was in high school, we not be no NBA team.

Of course not.

But as NBA players, I think we'll have a really good team.

Yeah. Could you imagine, like, those five in the NBA where you guys are today? That's a lot of NBA players on that team versus, like, the Villanova Knicks. You know, they're all together now. Like, that'd be a fun matchup. You think you guys get that?

We could. Because, I mean, we all play complimentary. Compliment complimentary positions, so it could happen.

Baked in chemistry, too. Yeah.

Yeah. So let me see. We got K Me, Scotty Day, Ron, Caleb, Reek, the Re Whitehead.

Yeah.

And then Ryan doing his thing over.

There versus Jalen Brunson, DiVincenzo Hart, Mikhail Bridges, Spellman. Y' all taking y' all on that one?

I'm gonna take us with every matchup.

I got a few more for you. What about Duke 2019? You got Trey Jones, Cam Reddish, RJ, Barrett Zion, and Marquis Bolden.

I'm going with that.

It's just clean sweep.

Yeah.

Okay. That's fun. Which one of those players do you feel you have a better, best, like, rivalry with? Now, when you. We play against each other, do you ever have, like, you playing against the Pistons or the Raptors or the Magic? Do you ever feel like you. You really want to, like, take on the experience of guarding them?

Come on. My teammates.

Yeah, your former teammates. Do you have a certain extra edge and a little extra goes into when you get to play against one of your. I would think it's still a friend.

Yeah, it's always kind of like that. You know, it'd be weird when you see, like, players talk, play against their friends, and people be thinking, oh, they wouldn't Play. Play as hard because they're playing in Safran, but that's people you want to beat the most.

Yeah, play harder.

And it's just fun being out there, like, knowing we was in high school together, and then now we're in the NBA with all of these other things going along. But y' all are still out here together. That part's always cool. And Cade, especially one of those. Cause we was roommates for those two years that I was there, so that's my dog.

What's. What's some of the things. Because, like, obviously you're playing against your former teammates. You're really competitive. That's your friends. You're here every single day with the same, you know, 12 to 15 guys. They are your friends. You're making these relationships. But obviously, like, all of you are very competitive players. What are some of the things that you guys do around the facility where you might be, like, the best at? Like, are you guys having, like, daily. Like, daily card games and you are trying to make sure, like, you win all the time? You're playing daily chess games? Like, what. What are the things that you guys do around this building?

Oh, you talking about the Warriors?

Yeah.

A lot ofpeople's on chess.com. so, you know, on there, you can. You can play chess games, but it's not like you. You don't got to sit there and play right now. It's like, I can send. Again, I can send a. Make a move, send it to you, and when you get free, you make a move and send it back to me. So I still. I got a game with Clay. I've been going. We've been. We've been playing for like three years, however long.

Three years on one game.

Not one game like a running record. But we. We still play war. Yeah, but it's a lot of. But it's a lot of guys on the team and staff and everybody kind of be playing that.

I feel like right now, especially, like, we're seeing, like, chess get really, really popular in the NBA. And like, you know, Wemby was out in New York the other day playing chess with people saying that there should be like, an NBA wide chess tournament. If you were in that, let's say, like, NCAA style. 64. 64 people. Where are you coming out?

I think it's levels to being good at chess. Like, it's some people that just know how to play, and then you can be good against everybody else that just knows how to play. But then, you know, if you have, like, an opener Then you better than all them people that just know how to play. Cause you gonna make. It's just gonna end up better for you. But then, but then if you. Then, then it's like you can be actually know how to play the full game and oh a, a two to this place. And then I'm a castle here and go there and I'm not at that level.

You're not there.

So if, if you talking about players just like that, then I, I don't want no smoke. But if you're in my range. No, yeah, I'm good.

So on a scale of like 1 to 10, what would you say your range is right now?

I know I got. I know how to do an opener and I know how to like just make good moves within the game, so.

Gotcha.

That's. That's. That's kind of is good. That's my level. The same thing with ping pong. I used to say that. I thought you was asking the question about my verdict first. And I would have said ping pong because the whole team, we used to always play there, play that because we get out of practice at like 6:37 and then they lights off at like 10. So that whole time you either you playing ping pong and so. But it was like I could be. I could beat anybody in the school at ping pong. And unless you play tennis. If you play tennis, I don't want no smoke. They different.

That skill translates over.

Yeah, 100%.

I never even thought about that. That's funny.

Yeah, it's different.

Are you, are you a big NBA jersey guy?

Nah, I'm from Arkansas. We didn't have a team, so it wasn't like.

So did you. Do you have a favorite team at all?

The Warriors.

Lovely answer. Well, since you came into the league, I feel like the warriors have one of the stronger jersey collections you guys have every year. The city jerseys, especially the throwbacks, have been really, really good. So I kind of want to get your opinion on some of the jerseys you've worn in the league. So what I'm doing is I have this iPad right here. I'm going to show you some and I just want you to tell me from 1 to 10, how much, how would you rate it? You know, there's some, some better than others, some you probably have personal attachments to. We'll start with this is my favorite jersey in the NBA the past like five years. What about this throwback warriors jersey?

Yeah, yeah, I like that one a lot. I'm gonna give that one A. I get a 10.

Yeah, that's an easy 10 to me.

The.

The way, the colors, that's. That's how you do throwback jerseys, right?

Yeah, I love that one. Nah, it's a 10 out of 10.

You can't deny it.

Yeah.

Okay, well, let's do one that maybe isn't so a little more controversial. Did you like this one with the rose in the bottom?

Yeah, a lot of people didn't like it, but I ain't. I didn't. I didn't hate, was I. I don't. I don't even really see the rose when I'm looking at the jersey. I just kind of see the. And then that part is kind of tucked in anyways, but, yeah, I give it a seven.

Yes. And when it's tucked in, when you guys are fresh to start the game, the tip off, 9 out of 10, third quarter, when it comes out a little bit, I. I see that gradient a little stinky. Nah.

Straight 10 out of 10. You're not a fan of black and yellow?

I'm not a fan of gradient flowers on a jersey. It looks like it's for goodies Beach.

You pay too much attention to detail. That's all it tells me. The black and yellow always saves me.

Okay, what about. What about this year's city jersey? You like this one?

Yeah, I like that one a lot, too. As a matter of fact, I'm get a last one. I'm gonna bump it up. I'll give it eight and a half.

On the last one.

Really?

Yeah. I ain't not like it. A lot of people didn't, but I didn't. I like it. Okay, that one, I like that, too. Especially because when we wear it, we bring out the, like, the red sleeves and the headbands and the court.

The court is tough. The court brings a lot of order points to the jersey.

Yeah, I'm gonna give it a. I'm give it a nine and a half.

Nine and a half. Okay.

Yeah.

This one's a little controversial. Do you like this one?

Yeah, I like the one. I honestly, like you said, I think that the warriors have done a very, very good job with their jersey rotation outside of that rose one. I personally, I can't get behind that, but everything else is good.

What do you like about that one? I'm not a fan of that.

I mean, it just looks kind of like classic. Yeah, a little bit like classic.

Yeah, it looks the opposite of classic.

That. That, like navy blue and the red. It makes it feel a little bit like the old school warriors jerseys. So that's why, like, I can kind of get there with that.

Okay, let's talk about some more classic ones. How do you feel about the We Believe era jersey?

Yeah, yeah. That's cold. I'm gonna get that one. A ten.

This one's undeniable. This is a fan favorite. Everyone loves this one.

You.

You almost got to wear it. They brought it back in 2020, so you were, like, 18 months too late from wearing it.

Easy 10. So many memories attached to that in jersey, too.

You remember third grade?

Yeah, I remember. Vividly. Asked me about anything.

I'll tell you what I hate that day.

You're watching Jason Richardson highlights back then.

Absolutely. In the lab every day.

How do you feel about the sleeve jerseys?

Nah, nah, nah, nah. They kind of look like that looked like the compression shirt you wear under the jersey.

This picture, they did them so wrong. This picture makes us even more awkward. So the yellow one, we're giving this.

Get out of five.

Five.

We gotta go lower. Those are easily the most, like, controversial jerseys in NBA history. Just the whole, like, sleeved era. And I, again, like, we have a friend, he gets so mad because LeBron, like, won the championship in the sleeve jersey. And it's like all these iconic NBA moments, and you're wearing sleeves on a basketball.

Listen, but I ain't gonna hold you. When. When y'. All, when they was wearing them back when they had them, I liked them.

Really?

Yeah, I did. But now I don't like them. But, you know, it's trends.

He grew up.

Honestly, you were about 13, 14 when this happened, I think. Yeah, you were supposed to like it. These were for 13, 14 year olds. Nowadays, as an adult, you're like, nah.

Okay.

The other one obviously sucks. What about the black one? The Chinese New Year one? That any better?

I like the. I like the logo and I like the color, and I like the design on it minus the sleeves. And it's cool.

You can't look past the sleeves.

They need to bring it back.

I give that one, like a four. It's better than the one that the other one is, but it's still not great.

Yeah, I'm with that. I actually, I. That's one of the main sleeve jerseys that I like. I'm actually. I'll go like a six and a half on that one.

Generous. I feel like if you have a sleeve.

Nice.

Your cap is like a four or five.

Yeah, I'm being nice.

All right. Remember, so outside of what we were talking about, about the past, some of the present a little bit. How do you feel like this season is going? How do you feel about, you know, the general? Every season has ups and downs and you know, fans, when the season started, you guys were hot. You were top five in offense, top five in defense, going crazy. And obviously there's downsides that come with the natural season. What's it like in the locker room when you have those ups and downs, but your expectations and the attention given to you by the media really, really makes those downs feel worse than they are? How do you guys kind of stay afloat and stay level headed amongst all this? What's the message in the locker room?

Different teams kind of react differently. This team in particular has been good just with the energy and the way that it feels in the locker room. It's going to be hard to get out of a rut. You know, we won yesterday, so that's, that was a good hard fought win. But just stacking wins together so doing what it takes, make sure everybody locked in. But it's been a cool.

I know Steve Curry had a comment in the media the day where he was talking to the young guys in the team. I think is a verb which he used where he was talking about he's noticing a habit of playing outside the offense. He said something along the lines of keep the ball moving, it'll come back to you, get the ball to Steph Curry and yada yada. And I know that wasn't necessarily directed at you, but you're one of the young guys so you're going to take it with everybody else when he says that. How do you guys take that in as a core of young guys? You kind of just like hear it yourself individually. Do you guys ever talk about that? Is it addressed in the locker room?

We didn't talk about it when he said it. Yeah, I don't really be watching the press conferences like that, but yeah, I mean who, guess people, different people take it different ways.

So throughout your entire NBA career, usually people get frustrated. It's natural through the ebbs and like flows of just life in general. So particularly through this season for you, I guess my question is what do you do whenever you're like super frustrated through, after a bad shooting game or bad practice or whatever it is?

Good question. I kind of need to figure out a good way to deal with that type of stuff because I mean I'm kind of like, I'm a resilient person. So when I, I, a lot of times I, I can think my way out of stuff Like I, and then I know everything's gonna be better over time. Everything feels the worst right when it happened. And then ever since then it gets better and better. And then also thing I, A lot of times I think about is that like there's nothing in the past that you've went through that you like, man, I'm, I'm just as mad, I'm mad that I went through that. Like every time you go through something hard, you are, it's always like, man, that's one of the best times. I learned the most from that, from that time that. So whenever you end one of those moments, you can think about that and be like, man, I'm gonna learn from this. And this is, this moment is going to feel a lot better in the future. That's a cool thing to think about. And then another one is. I can always. I read it in a book, the, the Four Agreements. One of them was saying, try your best. It sounds cliche, simple concept. But if you went out there and you did exactly as hard as you can, you tried what you can, you, you, you, you did it. You took the shots, you made the. You was aggressive when you should have. If it didn't play out, it just, it just didn't play out. You can't be mad at yourself for that. So at that I can be cool with myself. And the fact that I, I did it, I took the shot, I missed it, I took it though.

Yeah.

And it's comfort to come in that.

How, how is it like you talked about the energy of this team? What's kind of the difference between the energy on this team versus teams in the past and because at the same time like it's a, it's a new year, but you also have new guys. It's kind of trade season. People are coming in, going out. How, how is the energy right now in the, in the locker room and how is it different than, you know, maybe last year, two years ago?

Yeah, it would have to be. Each year so different, you know, it's a new group of guys, new energy, different journey, different season. But honestly, even to the, even every year around this time during the year, like new year time, I don't. You gotta fact check me to be. But every year it seems like we kind of go into drought around this time and then it's like until all star, you know, trades and all that, all that's happening and it's kind of similar.

How do you all react to like hearing trade rumors and like just seeing other people, the outside world Talk about it. How does your mental like go ahead and digest that?

Yeah, well, I can only speak for myself. I don't know about everybody but me. Me, like, is no point in being wound up about something that that guy to put up on Twitter like saying like, oh, this would be a good trade, whatever that is. I don't even look, I don't even really get on there and look at the stuff honestly. But it's so many different things that could happen. It can't happen. So many possibilities. What's the point of being tripping about something that ain't happened yet. Yeah, if it happened and it do. If it don't and it didn't, that's fair.

And not not being on social media, is that something that you did whenever you like first when you got into the league or have you just really like throughout your life? Not really been big on like even just like scrolling and not posting, just not being on social media.

Nah, I was on there a lot, especially as a kid. And then even my first couple years in the league, I never, I never really got on Twitter. But Instagram, I would always be on Instagram. But I don't even not get on there because of basketball. I just realized that I'd be spending so much time scrolling on my phone and two hours went by and I ain't do nothing. And like I just like to be more present conversations and doing. Being productive because it's a productive time in your lifetime. Yeah, you could be, you can be picking up on some stuff, picking up on game to get you somewhere. So it's time to do it rather than wasting time.

A big conversation right now out there on the Internet that you may have heard, may have not heard is that a lot of people are just complaining about the proctor basketball, blah, blah, can't shoot too many threes. If you were commissioner for a day, what would be something that you would change or adjust in the NBA it's.

So much stuff to be like, I don't want to get in do they job because you know, you change something and then something else happened that you don't like and then everybody will be talking about that and you shouldn't have made the change. And out of respect for what they do and how hard their job is, then I wouldn't even want to impose on it. But it is, I would say that it is like you don't nobody want to watch everybody come down and shoot threes every possession. If you watching a good game in high school, you seeing dudes get in Their bag step back, pulling up a mid range and it's not as productive a basketball, but it's fun to watch and it's fun to play that way. So I don't know what they'll do about it.

Yeah, it's such a big topic that like so much of it is just based on like fans emotions and the, the type of like changes they want to see. Don't really make sense for the reasons you said because it creates a new issue. But there's some validity to it, I guess. Like you said, some people, if they find it boring, they find it boring. But there is still so much stylistic difference. Like the way you guys play is nothing. How the Lakers play, it's nothing. How the Kings play, how the thunder play, etc. So do you feel like people still kind of underrate the amount of different styles there is in the game today?

I mean, I think there is a lot of similarities to the way that all those teams play. Just. But everybody has their own superstar and that's who plays different and everybody else kind of plays around them. But if you think about any position, anybody that's a superstar, everybody just says, oh, we need to, we need to put shooters around that guy. Yeah, yeah, like no matter what they do. And that's the best way to win games. And if you're looking at analytics and looking at it on paper and numbers and all of that, then you're going to say, okay, well this is the best way to play basketball.

Yeah.

But if you actually out there hooping and thinking about the art of the game and thinking about it that way, then you can probably, you'll probably have a more fun way to play and more fun way to watch.

Yeah.

So is that, is that a conversation that happens a lot in, in this building and then even with, you know, the people that you know around the league, happening in, you know, in. On teams around the league, just people coming to their players and saying, okay, like we, you know, you got to play this way, you got to play that way. And then you come back and you talk to your people and it's like, hey, we're all getting told the same thing.

I mean everybody, like, everybody enjoys winning. So if you trying to tell somebody how to enjoy basketball, trying to make it, trying to make the game fun, well, fun. Winning is fun. So if you got to play this way to win, then you have fun when you win.

Yeah.

Maybe not when you, But I don't, I don't know what to really say about the strategies and all of that.

Like, speaking of fun, just a random question. What is the most like, what's your favorite moment that you've had personally on an NBA court? What's like your favorite play?

It's got to be winning the championship. But to have a better answer.

Besides the championship.

Yeah, yeah.

Hit someone with a nasty cross.

I crossed LeBron and then stepped back and hit a shot in the playoffs. I love LeBron. Coming up, I'm with Clutch, so, you know, that's just the guy that I look up to on the basketball court. So being that. Cause he been. He got drafted in 03. I was born in 02. Damn. So I've been watching him my whole life. So just be able to be out on the court and get a move like that in the playoffs was cool. And it was my first second year, so. Second year.

Do you have that picture hung up in your place?

I got the picture blown up. I ain't got no.

He's ready. He's ready to get framed. I know you shot that. You were like so glad I didn't miss. The worst thing ever is when someone gets the cleanest cross bricks the shot. Were you immediately like, thank God.

Yeah. I mean, I felt good when they left my hand.

So you knew it was going in. So you said. You mentioned you grew up. LeBron's your favorite player.

Nah, Growing up Joe Johnson.

My favorite Joe Johnson.

That's a good Little Rock connection right there.

Yeah, I love the. I love. People have unique players. Everybody likes LeBron, everybody likes Kobe, all this stuff. What about Joe Johnson's game really drew you towards him?

He from Little Rock. That was the biggest part of it as a kid. But then ISO Joe. Yeah, my cousin, he played in Atlanta. My cousin moved to Atlanta, so. And then he would come back and do stuff. He put on like a 3 on 3 tournament in the neighborhood. And me and my brother, we won the whole tournament. We was that. And he was two years older than me, so we usually couldn't play together. But it was like he put goals in a parking lot, big old parking lot with a whole bunch of basketball goals. And then like everybody, age group, you out there playing three on three and you gotta win to get to the big court where he was playing at.

Oh, that's dope.

Yeah. So that was a bet. That was cool. But you know, it's ISO Joe, so he got a fun game to watch.

Yeah, yeah. So who would be like your all time starting five of your favorite players growing up? If you put Joe Johnson there, put him at the Three, who else is around him? Of players that you really grew up.

Really idolizing, like, as a kid. I like the NBA. I like watching the NBA. I had like, I like the Celtics with Ray Allen and all them. And that was my team.

Yeah.

But when I was a kid, I was watching, like, the high school kids in my city. Like, that was the ones. It was the professionals. To me, that's. So I'm watching Quan De Khalil, my brother. I know y' all might not know these names and all that, but these was the dudes when I was coming up, so my starting fire would have to probably be with a lot of them.

Do you feel like Arkansas's basketball culture is kind of underrated because, like, all the guys that you named and even throughout history, like Scottie Pippen's from Arkansas as well, like, there is low key, like a lineage of really good basketball players from Arkansas.

Yeah, yeah, it is. And it's like a lot of guys, they make it through whatever situation they from wherever because, like, Malik from La Penta, Arkansas, Austin Reeves, I don't even know. I. I didn't know Austin Reed until he was at Oklahoma. And. But like, I ain't never heard of the Penta Arkansas other than the Malik. So, like, it's. But it like these guys make it from whatever situations they from. And that's. That's a cool thing in itself, but it is a lot of talent at Arkansas.

What's a future project or a dream project that you want to do for your community? Maybe not now, but like 10, 15 years from now or whatever I got.

I really want to make a difference. Like, it ain't as much as, like, I want to put on these big old events. They get all of this publicity, and it's cool that I did it. Like, I really rather get like a group of kids, like four to five kids that like, we really got a connection that we talking. That I'm talking to. We dealing with working out specific problems and, and making a difference. So then they can do that for. For other kids and all of that and kind of like make an infrastructure rather than like a big event.

Gotcha.

That's dope. That's dope.

But then I want everybody to have fun too. So, you know, I. I bring. I. Clay came to Little Rock. That was crazy. The Summit, like I just said that I did. That was cool and impactful. The camps are always fun. I brought Rich, came down and did a talk for a lot of people. So that was cool.

Cool.

Before we're almost done here before we end it. Is there one thing that you want to say that you're really focusing on the rest of the season? Is there anything that you really, like, have in top mind, something you want to improve on, get better at as an individual? What's your main mindset going to 20, 25.

Right now we need to figure out ways to win. So however, I can be beneficial to that. Figuring out my game, figuring out what I. Different teams call for different things. So just figuring out what my team needs.

Perfect, man. Well, we appreciate you coming through. It was a great, great time talking to you. Hope you have a good rest of your week, man. Welcome back to the regular T3 content post interview. What was your favorite part of the interview? Now that everyone else is done watching it, we can talk about a little bit. What was your favorite moments?

It was clearly the fact that he was not trying to snitch Andrea for teaching him about illegal screens.

Oh, yeah.

Because you asked him that that question and he was like, I mean, you.

Know.

We got you.

We got you. We got you.

Yeah.

I would love to hear Draymond talk about all the small stuff he can do when he's done retired. When he's already retired, done playing, he can finally spill the beans a little bit. I would love to hear more about that.

I don't even know if he'll get.

To that point, though.

He's so passionate on gems and jewels.

I want a cut up of Draymond Green. Like, you know in the. In the last dance, when Dennis Rodman was talking about rebounds and he was like, click, go there, click go here, click go there. I want that. But for Draymond Green just being like, hip here, hip there, thr like.

It was also punch. It was also lovely to hear about the wrestling sessions with Scotty Barnes, Kate Cunningham, and Andrew Nemar.

He said this. He said they lined up mattresses everywhere and Cade would be slamming people.

Remember that clip of Kate Cunningham? You ever seen that clip of back in the AAU of Cade messing with Jalen Green? He hit a bucket and he was running back and Jalen Green was on the sidelines, like, waiting for his game, and Cade, like, flicked his nose and Jalen Green hated it.

Yeah.

They're like, I'm sure Kate was a.

Bully, bro, growing up.

Absolutely.

He was a gimmick. Swirlies. The straight head in the toilet.

As soon as I heard that story, I can just tell Kate was that, like, just always trolley, immature kid that's always just messing with his friends. Like, I totally imagined I grew up with plenty of cake cutting hams. It's always the ones who are like 6 inches taller than everybody else.

Exactly.

It made sense.

Like, you know, you just, like, you're not gonna beat him up. He's six, five, whatever, you know, like you can't do anything. They just get away with anything.

It seems like it must been a hilarious teenager.

Yeah, man.

On to the next segment, this episode. I want to talk about Vibes today, and I know we do that a lot, but I want to talk about Vibes around certain teams, certain players, because we're at the point of the season where, you know, the first 25, 30 games happened. We gained our initial view of players, initial view of teams, how their season's going, and now we're kind of entering that lull this season where some teams are getting hurt, some teams are falling off, some teams are rising up. So I want to do a general vibe check across the league. Some of the teams that are very interesting right now, and I kind of want you guys to tell me how you're feeling about them. Not necessarily their encore product entirely because like I said, some teams are just injured or some teams have, you know, however the past couple weeks are going. What are the vibes like? What kind of momentum are they carrying? The 20, 25?

Yeah, I'm, I'm. There's a, there's a couple teams I've had my eye on. I'm sure we're going to talk about them today. And so I think, I think vibe check is, is perfect because, like, it's not necessarily like a power rankings and you still like, we're what, like six weeks out from All Star, from All Star Weekend. And that's kind of where like the final pushes. So I'm, yeah, I know where I feel about, about some of the teams. I'm very curious to see where you guys land on some of them.

Okay, let's talk about the first team that I've been dying to talk about because we had certain thoughts about them early in the season and things are not going super well right now. What is the vibe check right now? One through 10 for the Phoenix Suns.

Goddamn. Zero, bro.

Not gonna lie to you.

This team, the Vibes, are distraught.

Absolutely. In the mud. When I watch this team, I feel like I'm watching a lottery team. I'm watching a smushed together rust package, unfinished products. It's just a disgusting way to format a basketball team. It's just they don't have no chemistry. Guys are consistently going in and out Devin Booker, the entirety of the year hasn't been his normal self and hasn't like sustained a certain level of stardom defense. He's ass as well this year. For, for whatever reason during the summer everyone was like, oh my God, bro, Devin Booker, he's the perfect co star, blah, blah. His defense on ball, defense is amazing. Off ball defense is amazing. And he's just like.

Nobody said his defense is amazing. We relax.

It wasn't during the, during the Olympics people were just, yeah, od. Lazy.

It was good.

It was good. And so.

Yeah, yeah, he had a good Olympics, you're right.

Yeah. And so like seeing that does not carry on in the slightest. I think a lot of issues reside in him because if he's the normal consistent Devin Booker giving you like 27, 28 a game, cool. But you're asking a 20, a 37 year old Kevin Wright to be the best player on your team, the best defender on your team, the second, third best like facilitator on your team. Yousef Nurkic is there. You have a backcourt that has, that relies on defense of Tyus Jones and also Devin Booker, your defense is meant to be cooked, bro. This team is ass overall.

Yeah, they, it's frustrating to me because, you know, all summer I was very high in the Memphis Grizzlies. Ever since the draft I was talking about like, watch out, the Grizzlies are going to be that team next year. Last second. During the preseason when we did our power rankings, I put them below the Suns because I bought in on the Mike Budenholzer hype that he would implement enough changes that would make enough of a difference that this team will kind of live up to the talent level that we all thought we'd see whenever they added these, you know, three star players together. And you mentioned up top of your statement that they haven't been able to stay on the court. That's the biggest thing they've had very few minutes with their three stars together. They keep taking turns getting injured. Sad part is that's just who they are. Bradley Beal gets hurt a lot. Kevin Durant for sure gets hurt a lot. So at this point that's baked in. And part of my thinking of why I thought they'd have a really good regular season is because with these three guys, they can. And now with Tyus Jones and Monte Morris here, who aren't amazing, but they're competent guards, with all these guys, I figured they could sustain injuries and they wouldn't need all three guys to be able to take care of business on a regular, regular season perspective. That was wrong. They have not been good without their three guys together. And even when they do have the three guys together, they played less than 150 minutes together, but they are losing those minutes. They have a -2.7 net rating with their three players all on the court together at once. So even that hasn't been pretty. I kind of just feel like Mike Budenholzer, the three point volume is high. It's top 10 in the league. They have a top 10 offense. He's not a wizard. He can't fix his defense, man. End of the day they still are who they were last year.

There's a couple things that Josh said. Well, I think for most saying that like it looks like an unfinished product. That's probably the best way that I could describe the Suns because it just like because, because everybody's always going, going in and out. You always feel like they are two pieces away, right? Yeah, you always what you always watch them and you're like, okay, you probably need another score and you need another playmaker, need some more creation. And then just because like you know, Narciss be out there, you're like. And then you need some like an actual rim defender. You need somebody who could, who could defend the rim, guard the paint, do all that stuff. And then we've seen it in Los Angeles and something that like I'm not sure what, what to call it yet. I am workshopping it. But you see the, but you see the theory of like new coaches can come in and at the beginning of the year they can kind of catch people by surprise with all of their changes. And yeah, every, and like the vibes are very high. Everybody's very optimistic at the beginning of the year. You get to January, everybody has seen you play for 20, 25 games now there's tape on it and so now you're kind of capped out. So I don't know what type of like attribute boost or like what I want to call it at the beginning of the season, but that is exactly what happened with the Phoenix Suns. And Isaac, like you mentioned the lineups like and you mentioned the fact that you know, they're never on the court together right now the, the Suns or the, the number one lineup in the, in the league is obviously like the, the Knicks starting lineup of Hart Bridges.

Right.

Exactly. According to cleaning the glass, they've played over 11, over 1100 possessions. Now the next, the second team, which is a normal NBA team who doesn't run their players into the ground during the regular season. They have 800, you know, about 800 lineups played. The Suns, that starting lineup of ty Jones, big three and Nurkic, they played like 230. It's not good. It's so few minutes that I don't, I don't know what to think about this team and in like a playoff context and right now like I think my vibes for them and even as somebody who had them really high in our, in our first power rankings, it's probably about like 2 out of 10. I'm, I don't feel good about that.

It's a good point with the coaching changes. You said you don't know how to workshop that, what to call it. I think it's just reality. Like you have a new coach, you make changes and you have priorities as a team. They clearly were emphasizing certain things. Getting three point volume being up is chief among them. Right. They knew they can't be this super mid range heavy team to the same extent they have been in the past years. You come into the year, you focus on that and that's worked. But as time goes on, these players are who they are and you can have these coaching objectives and you can try as hard as you can to do bud stuff. When you have such a big sample size, you see the talent is a talent and end of the day they still are just way too small. They still are not good on the boards. Nurkic is still a shell of what he was in the past. They still play a 65 small forward and Bradley Beal. You're never going to have good rotations under the rim at help side defense when your only good defender in your starting lineup is Kevin Durant, who is a good defender shouldn't be your goddamn perimeter stopper. Plus your best weak side shot blocker. The talent is a talent and eventually those things wear off. And like you said, coaches make rival coaches make adjustments and they know how to make your weaknesses come out.

Yeah, 100 degree. It's so interesting looking at this team when you break it down through the stats like they defend the rim pretty well. They're not like terrible at it, they're not the greatest at it, but it's like pinpoint. It's not a pinpoint weakness necessarily when it comes to, when it comes to like their three point statistics and what they allow their opponents to do and generally defend the three point line pretty well. Like what Mike Budenholzer is doing. The game plan is there. I just don't think he has the Players like you guys alluded to to execute it whatsoever.

Exactly. Now when they lose, they lose possession battle every game. Their offensive rebounding is abysmal and they just do all the small stuff that they can't put it together. So even if they do have all these systems in place, it doesn't matter if your talent level isn't quite there.

Yeah, exactly. That's why a lot, some of their stats, I don't want to say is like misleading. I think they legitimately have the, the game plan but they don't have the necessary things to execute it.

It's tough, man. And vibes wise like, yeah, the team isn't good right now. We know that. But you know, it's a long season, they could get better. It's just tough because the vibes are, anytime the sun struggle, the vibes are going to be in the tank because when they struggle it looks really ugly because their big suck, their size sucks, these things around their star players suck. So their losses look really horrible. The wins look fine because you know, they win with this talent, they have the shot making whatnot. But you get, you get reinforced to remember how terrible this roster is around their best players when they lose. So it makes Suns fans go through like an existential crisis because they remember where they were a few years ago. So any small tumble down the standings, it's like, fuck man. We used to have Mikhail Bridges, Chris Paul, Cam Johnson, Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton. It was so nice. 2021 was so blissful. How do we get here?

And it looks bad. And it looks bad whenever your star sucked too. Like Book came back last night after missing five games. He was 4 of 20. And so like that's been, that's also been a theme. So I guess like so, so if you guys. So right now look, I'm looking at the standards right now. Phoenix is 15 and 17. They're a game behind the warriors for the 10th spot in the play in right now. If you guys had to bet if they would make the playing or not. Are you, what, what are you saying?

Yeah, yeah, they're gonna make it. It's a long season. They're gonna play in.

Yeah.

The team set the four teams above them. You got the Lakers at seven, Minnesota at eight, San Antonio warriors at 10. Who drops out?

If they're gonna, I would hope, I would hope they can pass the warriors and spurs barring changes.

They should.

I would hope, I would because again, but then again, the biggest issue has been health and we can't assume this team's gonna get healthy. Booker, I mean, Beal got hurt again in his last game when they lost to the goddamn Memphis Grizzlies, who were missing nine players.

So the Grizzlies keep happening in that game. Didn't have Marcus Smart, John Morant, Salty Aldama. Zach E. Wasn't playing. It was a Jaren Jackson led team without any of his offensive weapons outside of like Desert man, they lost so.

Many games like that. They lost the, the, the game that Nurkic got suspended from when he got in the fight with Najee Luca. Luca got hurt in that game too, like, or Luka was out already. So like it's, it's those kinds of games, especially in the Western Conference where everybody is like a game, a game and a half, two games, whatever, behind each other. You have to get those games at home to stay competitive, to stay afloat. And they're not getting the ones that they should get right now, which is the one that, that's probably one of the more concerning things about them.

And even if I do think they'll make the plan, I think I wouldn't be shocked if they get to six. Like, it's so close together. We know this team has a gear. Like if you told me they, over the next two months they've righted the ship and ended up being the six or seven seed, I wouldn't be perplexed. I'm not saying this team is cooked, but vibes wise, you just can't have good vibes when you know that this team is the team. Most teams that are struggling can look to the trade market and say, we can mix some shit up, we can do this, we can do that. They are who they are. They are in the second apron. They have no cap space, no control of their picks until 2031. Their best player is old. They are locked into what they have in every single way imaginable. And their young star is having the worst year of his prime for reasons that you can't write off to injury, you can't write off to so and so. He's just not making shots. That's not encouraging.

It's a down year.

Yeah, there's no, there's no, there's not a lot of hope to latch onto. And for that, their vibes are in the toilet.

Yeah, yeah.

This is the worst efficiency, this is the worst, this is the third worst efficient year that Devin Booker's had of his, I guess, pushing 10 year career.

And it's the worst since he's become a star.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. And to see that, like you said, they don't have. They don't have any, like, flexibility whatsoever when it comes to the roster construction and how their payroll bank breaks out to be. That's. We're witnessing the Bradley Beal trade. Not to say that like, he's a pinpoint issue because I think he's generally like, led up to expectation, even surpass him when it comes to certain things. Feels like he's at a. He's definitely performed better than Devin Booker when it comes to fulfilling his role as well. But in terms of, like, what can we do to fix this team? What can we do to help, you know, make our team more versatile and break up, break more pieces loose. He's the guy, but you can't do that because his contract is literally like locking you, putting you in a head.

Yeah, it's not Bradley Beals fault per se, but it's. Acquiring him was the issue. It's like the Russell Westbrook thing where, listen, he didn't trade for himself. No one told no one. No one. He didn't pick to go there. The team traded for him. And it was the wrong move in every imaginable way because of all the fit and how it has a cascading effect down the roster. The Bradley Bill trade was a mistake. I've seen some people on Twitter kind of like looking back at all these moves they made and saying, was the KD trade a mistake too? I'm not going that far because when KD wants to come, you fucking get kd. But I had. The real thing is, why didn't. Why did they trade DeAndre Ayton for Yousanurkic? I hate it in the moment and I know him and Monty Williams butted heads. So people kind of rationalized it because Ayton's PR was in the toilet. That was so fucking stupid. I cannot lie. Making yourself that old and going down the Youssef Nurkic well was so fucking stupid. Giving up on a young talent despite the issues he had with the coach. It's just so stupid.

Yeah, well, that was, that was. That was interesting too, because they had gotten rid of. They made double changes. Like they got rid of money.

Yeah.

And they got rid of a. And if, like, if you had asked me before everything went down, I was like, okay, you make your choice. You either pick Mani or you pick a. And obviously it's. It's always easier to pick both of you.

Fuck off.

Yeah, it's always easier to pick the coach. And so I think whenever it happened, I was like, yo, that, that's really, really weird that, that you would still send DeAndre in. Which to me at that time, with the way that their roster was constructed, I was like, oh, they really don't like DeAndre Aiden in the, in the locker room. Like he has to be that much of a negative presence if you've already made these changes. And they still, they still sent him out of there. It honestly felt like that the whole way. When they re signed him, they didn't want to resign him. Like they waited, they waited the maximum amount of time that they could give him the extension. They waited until Indiana gave him the, the offer sheet and then they were like, okay, now, now we will match. But for a guy that they drafted number one overall for the last, you know, two years of his tenure there, they never seem super committed to it. So that whole, that whole run, I, that's why, like I'm with you, Isaac. I, I never think that that KD move was a mistake because it did seem you could see kind of the holes in what they were doing and kind of where their ceiling was. And especially if DeAndre wasn't happy and you are paying him 30 something million dollars. It never seemed like it was going to fully work out in terms of getting back to the Finals, getting, getting a chip, doing all that stuff. So I'm, it's been a weird, weird what, five years for them and I, I don't, I don't know where they go from here.

I'm still holding out hope this season turns around, but it's not a bright future at all. We'll say that.

Facts.

Sad, sad stuff.

Let's, let's flip gears up. Too much negativity. What are the vibes right now for the Cleveland Cavaliers? An NBA best 29, 487 win percentage. One of the top three win percentages in NBA history thus far into the season.

Our all time high. I'll give it nine. 10 out of 10.

I mean, yeah, 10 out of 10. How could it be anything less than a 10 out of 10?

Yeah, you see guys like Evan Mobile, who's probably gonna get his first all star birth happening later, happening next month. Darius Garnes having a bounce back season. He hasn't been, hasn't had any knickknack injuries. Averaging like 20 and 6, 20 and 7. Donovan Mitchell, still Donovan Mitchell having a slight down year, but in terms of like shooting the fuck out of that ball. He's doing that and then all the other guys all around, whether it be Ty Jerome, Sam Merrill, Isaac Coro like they're just slowly and surely like developing and improving. And Max Rus is finally back too.

The vibes are a 10. It's time. Too much of this season has been oh, shout out. The Cavs having a great start, yada yada. I don't know what it means, but good regular season, cute story. Glad they didn't fall apart. Yada yada. It's time to really take them seriously as you can put them as the title favorites. I understand the Celtics are the Celtics and if you want to say that you still are going to pick the defending champs in a playoff series to do what they did to the Cavs in that regular season meeting a few weeks ago, I understand this Cavs team is a juggernaut and I get it. The NBA brain is like I got a seed in the playoffs. Show me first. I understand how that works. It doesn't surprise me. I'm not saying you have to pick them as your number one favorite. Everything evidence wise. That's not based on that type of emotion. That again, that emotion is understandable. Everything evidence wise on the court suggests that the Cavs are the best team in basketball and are fully capable of translating this to the playoffs. Nothing about it is unsustainable. They are an incredibly well oiled machine on both sides of the court and fixed every single issue we've had with them the past few years. There's no reason not to give them respect as arguably title favorite.

Yeah, okay, I think that's where. That's why I disagree. Title title favorite is a is a bit far from me. Dude.

29 and 4 is crazy. That's so impossible to do. Like this is not just a hot start anymore. This is irregular.

Well okay, so like I understand the hot start but title favorite is still a bit far because I get it. I get it because like I would still have Boston like if we're just going off I would still have Boston as the title favorite. If we are assuming that Chet is going to be healthy I would still have Oklahoma City above Cleveland and then I could put Cleveland there. I think, I think right now for them in the argument for them is can they push into that like tier one and but not like the favorite. And so like I think like inside the building vibes are obviously 1010 out of 10. For me it's probably about 8 1/2 out of out of 10. Just because I still think that Boston is just like they are for a lot of teams. I think that they are perfectly set up to go in and demolish what Cleveland has built this year.

And again, I get it. I'm not saying I fully respect Boston. I'm as high on Boston as anybody right now. Yeah, I don't know if I'd pick them. It comes down to it, but they need to be viewed 1A, 1B. Like, they have a real chance. It's not like you can't write off and be like, yeah, but they can't be Boston. So it's whatever. They have a real chance. This team is the best in the league. Just as good as Boston at creating threes. They have two insanely skilled ball handlers that have finally connecting with each other. They're both fantastic on and off ball. Kenny Atkinson has put in a lot of really, really effective plays where they get them both moving off screens to make each other better when the other one has a ball. That's in the biggest difference this year between the guards. Evan Mobley's made a pretty real shooting leap. He's not shooting a lot, but he's shooting 40% from 3 on very small volume. And that.

That's something that's important, bro.

It's a real shooting Leo. No, that's big. That's big, dude. That's. I think that's why, that's why I'm like, I, I feel confident putting them into that tier one where I'm like, yes, the. And like, the phrase that we always use is like, they can look the Celtics in the eye in a, In a player series. Right. And I feel confident saying that. However, if we were to play out, you know, seven game series, ten times, I think Boston wins seven times out of ten. Yeah, that's, that's, that's why, that's why I feel about that.

And also the Cavs wings are so good. Dean Wade is so good and so important in what they do. His size defensively next to those two giant bigs is so helpful. Great shooter. Obviously have Isaac Okoro. Caris Lavert looks great in this system. Yeah, they don't have any flaws right now. Their offense is a machine. And obviously they have those two bigs that hold you down. Defensively, they are incredible.

And what's so, like, insane about this team is is that their offense is a consistent machine. Like usually with all the elite teams you can think of, it's like, okay, damn. Nicole Yokic is off the court.

Holy fuck.

This team looks completely different. And we. They. Their identity is just like, absolutely in shambles. This team, this Cavs team, specifically because of how they're set up by having double big walls, having like double super ball. Not super ball dominant guards, but you know what I mean, Double guards who hold a lot of responsibility and carry an offense. You just allow the team to have no breaks in the second that these secondary third, third string players have to come in and have to hoop for 10, 15 minutes. Their mind is boggled, bro. Like, you get no breaks whatsoever. Yeah. This team, to me, I remember when this, this Donovan Mitchell trade first happened, Isaac, you were like all in on them. And I said you were wrong at that point in time, which if your perspective, you want to be like, yeah, you were wrong at that time. Cool. I'm gonna go ahead and say you were not wrong. We were just two years early. That's all it was. And per usual, we've witnessed guys like Evan Mobley go ahead and evolve into, evolve into like an actual top three pick that we like know that he can be by extending this three point range, being that dude defensively, but offense, seeing him like push the, push the ball here and there and not being timid and actually realizing, Holy, like I'm 6 11, I got a little handle, I could shoot a little bit too. And I'm actually going to put the ball in like down your throat and stuff it in your face. He's been so aggressive.

Big throat stuffer.

Yeah, exactly. He's been so aggressive. And I think he. What Kenny Atkinson has been doing to him and how he's been empowering him has like changed the entire look of this Cavs offense. The defense is obviously ridiculous too.

Kenny Atkinson's rotations are perfect. Honestly, he's been deploying his talent so perfectly. You mentioned two years ago when they first made that trade, I was hiring them because I said I can't imagine the team having this duo of talented ball handlers plus his duo of talented bigs that is such a rare combination that you can deploy in such versatile, crazy ways. Together and separate. It didn't quite come together because the offensive issues that came with the bigs not being able to shoot wasn't ready yet.

And then on top of that too, they didn't have the chance to fill in the guards, the guys in the gaps, and now they have that.

But also Kenny Atkinson is deploying them in such smart ways with how he staggers it where, you know, we talked early in the season, how it's like 48 minutes, you have an elite room protector out there and that's, that's just a crazy weapon to have with those two bigs. But he's kind of discovered that pairing Garland and Jared Allen together for bench minutes is perfect. You can let Garland use that role, man, and kind of get into that 20, 22 back he had before Donovan Mitchell where his playmaking is just ridiculous. And that really lets Garland do his thing with Donald Mitchell off the court and then vice versa. You pair D. Mitch and Mobley together, they have a great two man game because they don't necessarily need to operate in that traditional pick and roll sense. They're both really good at playing off each other in more free flowing way. It's just crazy dynamic different looks that. It's kind of like what we talked about okc that with those two bigs they have versatile approaches that if your team is really good at defending them with just Chet on the floor, bet we'll go Hardenstein and Chet. If that doesn't work, we'll go just Hardenstein for some minutes. Like you can go different looks based on what opponent's strengths are. The Cavs have that same exact thing.

Yeah, I love that too because I think and like obviously I've been kind of, I've been I guess like out of us three right now I am the most negative. But I think like that's the, that's the, the key for them and the major advantage and I think the way that you can get not only all the other teams in the, in the league but also Boston is that you can like when Boston turns it up and they start making threes, it feels like an avalanche and like you know, you can just be playing the game and then all of a sudden, boom, boom, boom. They hit four threes in a row and you look up and you're like oh my God, we're down 13. Like it was just a one point game. Like what happened? The fact that having consistent pressure, there are not a lot of teams that can handle 48 minutes of like elite basketball. And that's the, that's the biggest thing to where if they, you know, if they made it to the, to the conference finals. Like I think that their ceiling right now and we'll see how much that they take off, you know, take, take their foot off the gas as we get further into the season. But like are they going to win, you know, 65 games? Like yes, you know, you know like what, like how many, how many wins into the 60s? Because 60 should be, should be very, very reasonable. Like I think I find it very hard to believe that this team is going to lose. What, what, what would that be? 17 more games for the rest of the year.

How many times did they see the Atlanta Hawks?

I don't. I guess two. I guess two. I guess 2. If they can split with the Hawks, they can get. They can get to 67 wins. You know, like, that's the, that's the question is like, how high on the, like all time regular season list can you get? They have a real chance of doing that.

Yeah, yeah.

If you told me they hit 70 at this rate, like, well, that's crazy. Hope they can do the playoffs, but that doesn't surprise me. And I think if Boston's at their best, I'll pick Boston. They're fully healthy, fully clicking. Nobody's in a slump. I'll go Boston, but Boston better be at their goddamn best. This is a real, real threat that they didn't have to deal with last year.

Yeah, exactly. Like last year. Of course we saw them go through injuries. Jared Allen wasn't there, but it was clear as day outside of the Dallas Mavericks, obviously. Although the series was a pretty much gentleman sweep, the Boston Celtics had a tough time dealing with Evan Mobley empowered at center. Once that line, once that Jared Allen injury happened. Now, of course, like, Darius Garland struggled the most and I think he was like a huge, A huge, like he still got like a, like a sore thumb when it comes to why they lost. But if he's able to, if the pressure around him is be able to like be a leaving and the game is opened up by guys like Kara Silvert and the Dean Wades and all the other guys, obviously Donovan Mitchell too. I think he's a real, like a real X factor in my mind. When you think about that Boston matchup and how well he's able to sustain himself in front of these big wings.

Yeah, okay. Yeah, we'll see how that goes. But vibes are an all time high for the Cavs. This is the best vibe since the 2016 season at this rate. This is an amazing season for them.

So literally, bro. Shout out to Cleveland next.

Vibe check. What is your current feeling on the vibes of the MVP race? MVP discourse online? How are you feeling that it's going? Does it feel civil? Does it feel like it's compared to previous years?

Obviously not.

It's not.

It's not civil. I don't. I honestly can't remember the last time that we had a civil MVP discourse. Like, it's impossible throughout the year. It's not like people latch on to the. The MVP discourse always goes like this. Somebody has a crazy 20 games. You find your guy in 20 games. And that is the only spot that you have to. To jump off the bandwagon for whoever you thought was going to win it in the preseason. 20 games happens. We play four months of basketball that nobody cares about, and then the last 20 games happen. People have massive pushes and then you end up judging people off of whatever narratives form in the middle and then two pushes at the front and the end. And that's normally how it goes. So like it's. It's never once we. Once we get to like March. So a lot of times it doesn't feel indicative of like what has happened throughout the entire season. You're not actually looking at a full body of work, a full, you know, 70 games of basketball. And so right now, honestly, it just sounds like a whole bunch of noise whenever we talk about the MVP discourse.

I think it's not too bad right now. Shay has real momentum and it's so funny because there's like, there's a weird contingency online that I've grown to hate Shay because there's been like a successful psyop of haters convincing people that Shay is like a foul merchant and like not fun to watch, which is so insane because he's nowhere close to the biggest foul merchant or the highest free throw rates in the NBA. But he's become the face of it for some people, I guess because the vacuum that's been left with James Harden not being his prime, people just need a guard to hate. And it's become Shay. He is having such an ethical season that, you know, early in the year he's doing it in such the right way. His team is really good. But offensively he's the reason they're good. They have a top 10 offense despite having no chat and not having their stretch five. That really brings everything together. And outside of J Dub, who at this rate after adding all this weight is not the greatest on ball creator. They don't have any creation on this roster. It's a bunch of defensive goons. Hardenstein who shout out him is passing who's done wonders for them. There's 161 since adding him into the lineup. My boy Shay makes his offensive go Austin. I'll make his offensive system go to such a rate that you combine that with his individual production. He's once again doing his normal 30 point per game stuff, having big performances, carrying the team that's missing their second best player, which matters. He has a real MVP case. And unless Jokic gets a top three seed, yeah, I think there's a good chance Shay's gonna get it.

Yeah, I 110 agree bro. What we've been seeing with Shay, OKC in general, such a talented team but they have like actual flaws offensively. We all know like their three points, their three point shot throughout the entirety of the season hasn't been the best. They weren't. They're not nearly as efficient compared to last year especially too obviously due to like injuries. Some guys like Isaiah Joe hasn't been having the greatest three point shooting season. But through all that, one thing that continues to persevere is the generational bucket getter that Shay is like in my mind the reason why I look at him as a top tier like tier S tier NBA player in terms of just like who would I rather have. I think we had this conversation during the top 30 player rankings or whatever. I think me and Donovan lean towards Shane, you lean towards Tatum because of his all around game which is understandable. I just saw what Shay is in terms of like his ability to get buckets at insane right in this pace is just sets everything up so beautifully. Like if he isn't this S tier generational type of like Michael, damn Michael, damn near Jordan type of basketball. God when it comes to putting the ball in the basket with his efficiency, I don't think this OKC team would be as unfuck withable. But they are.

Yeah, yeah. The offense is built around his skill set to do that. So that that's why like if he was in Boston it wouldn't be quite as necessary. It wouldn't feel as essential because their team wouldn't be built that way. But yeah, you're right and that's why I think Israel MVP case because it's like the Nuggets where everything only works because of Jokic. Offensively they're similar here. The offense only works when you have this downhill demon that can be the real drive driver of open shots. For others they don't have like they fully bought in on defensive talent and off ball catch and shoot talent around him. Like guys like Casen Wallace, Isaiah Joe Wiggins, they're going to stand there with their hands up, they're going to cut, but they're not going to be doing things with the ball in their hands like that. They'll do their screen setting stuff, they'll be competent but it only works to a high level if Shea is the engine and that is a real MVP case because without him they would be nowhere close to a top 10 offense.

Yeah, I think having having the one seed. There's like, there's certain levels of basketball watchers that all have different criteria for the mvp. Having the number one seed satisfies a large percentage of, of a certain, you know, population. And then you have the like kind of, kind of middle guys who are just like hey, like who's out here? You know, like getting buckets at a high level, stuff like that. And for Shay it's, it's honestly very funny to me that a lot of people are starting to like turn on him. Be one part of it is that like one it happens to everybody. But the other part is like everything that everybody says is like quote unquote wrong with the NBA. Shay doesn't do like Shay, I know like Shay, Shay's taking 21 shots a game. He does not take a majority or even like close to half of them from three. Like he gets his buckets in the paint. He takes, he takes tough midis. He goes into the mid range, gets into his bag like all, all of that stuff. He's, he's a two way player, right? 30, 36 and 5, whatever. Like he does everything on a nightly basis. He's so consistent. Rarely has like an off game. And so it's very funny seeing people do the like the heel turn on him but like having, having that level of efficiency on the, on the top team and being a, a legitimate like, like, like being a good defender. Right.

Is yeah, he's like point guard Kawhi Leonard in my mind with how okay his mid range game is.

Okay, okay.

Yeah, that's what I mean offensively in terms of like how unstoppable his mid range game is and not being known as like.

I know, I thought you were going with defense too.

I was like oh, me too. I was like chill the out.

No, I'm thinking, I'm thinking about straight offense in terms of like his limitations in terms of his creativity and actual ability to pass.

Yeah, I think again. But yogic is still. The debate is going to be yokes for Shea because despite all this Jogic is having an utterly ridiculous season. His the I said the stat lines that Shay has like he said 40 and three the other day. Like a really efficient 40 points on the same night. Yoga. Chad, another 35 point triple double 20 rebounds as he's done a million times this season. He is still having the better individual production seasoning season. It's been ridiculous. There's been a lot of like focus on his defense because it's been worse because there's worse defensive talent around him and he's the type of player that needs good defenders. No one's saying he's a great defender. You can't anchor your defense. You need Aaron Gore to be healthy. You need a KCP type perimeter defender to make his pick and roll life easier, and they don't have that. So he's looked worse defensively because it's a worse environment and people are really nitpicking that. But as of today, the Nuggets are up for the four seed. If they stay there and get higher and continue to be on a roll like they have been as of late. Because Russell Westbrook and Nicole Jokic are on the same page, clicking, going crazy, man. If he gets. They're only two games out the second seed. If the Nuggets get higher, it's going to be a real crazy debate at the end and it's going to get toxic. Real toxic.

Shane needs a 50 point game. That's he needs in March. He needs to have one of those moments where. Where Shades is like, unstoppable. I'm getting. I'm getting 50 tonight. I'm putting on the full arsenal, the full offensive arsenal. And you can see everything that I do and I can show you that I can go into this, like, upper echelon of score and that I'm not just like, kind of capped out at like 30, you know, 31 to 39 points per game. He. He should. Or, you know, having. Having that. That kind of performance would do a lot for him, in my opinion.

You know, the vibes are good right now. Yeah, vibes are good right now because there's no fan base right now that's making themselves like, the face of victim complex, like we usually see. Like last year, it was Mavs fans that were losing their fucking minds because Nicole Jokic got it because he was the one seed, or tied for it, I guess. He actually was the second seed. We'll have an amazing season and Luke had a great season, but, you know, every year there's a fan base like that that makes it seem like national media wants their favorite player to die because it'll make him mvp. We're not seeing that right now because Lukas Hurt and Giannis fans, Bucs fans, always had that victim complex because he plays a small market and they think everybody hates him in the world. That might become a thing towards when we get towards the end of the season, but right now we're not seeing a big push for it because the Bucs record is so much worse. So that's why the vibes are good right now because we don't have an insane fan base making themselves the face of everything negative in the world.

Guys, I gotta get you out of these Twitter like wormholes, bro. In order for us to. It's literally our job to be in touch with these fans or whatever, but, like, just paying attention to them would be insane. Like the other earlier last night, I was like, I think I was in the Phoenix sun subreddit folks are talking about trading Devin Booker and stuff like that.

What the are you talking about? You going on subreddits is crazy. Team subreddits are just like the depths of hell. Everybody there is in despair after every loss.

Yeah, yeah. But one, one more thing that I wanted to touch on when it comes to Shay is you were mentioning how he's just consistently like elevating his game and he's sharpening his knife and what he's good at Donovan and yes, I remember earlier in the season though, maybe in the first 10, eight games or so, whatever, if we all remember, he was one of those players who just decided to say, you know, be like, you know what, I'm gonna go ahead and take like eight, nine, ten threes a game. And he was letting them fly. And along with that too, he. His efficiency and his in it through his efficiency wasn't the greatest and it threw off his whole like system as a player and he reverted back to what he knows and got even better at all the things that he's been doing when it comes to get him to the rim and the crazy where he's hitting all of his shots. I like the wearers.

I think Nicole Jokic should win MVP because when Westbrook and Jokic share the floor, Russ has a 60 true shooting and Denver has a 126 offensive rating. When Russ plays without Jokic, he's a 47 true shooting and Denver has a one on one offensive rating.

Listen, man, don't use should be MVP.

Because he's made Russ into a goon and it's so helpful to them to have that second guard that is this level. Russ looks like Wizards. Russ, he looks so good and Jokic needs the MVP because of that.

Don't use Brody as a prop. Don't do that. He's a person.

No, but unironically incredible. Jokic makes him so much better.

It actually is wild how after it's been what, like three years since he's been in Washington and we've seen the ups and downs of Russ and now he gets to play with another all Time grade. And it's like, oh, yeah, this is.

This is how you fight for each other. Like the way that Russ is so good at feeding Jokic on these cuts. Joker is always a really good cutter, but they don't have great passes around him to hit him on his dimes. Him and Russ share a brain right now. Like, they are both just running up and down the floor throwing dimes to each other. Like, yeah, the talking point on Twitter has been, look what happens when he plays with LeBron versus play somewhere else. And that's just missing the point that Jokic is just the perfect player for Russia. In any era of Russ's career, Jokic would have been like the ideal player all time to pair with him.

Yeah, I agree. It's also like so interesting to see for Nicole Jokic too, is that throughout the entirety of his career, he never really played with many good passes. The best pass I can probably think of off the top of my head that he played with is who, Taku Compazzo and you know, and Russell Westbrook. If there's one thing that he's got his. He. I'm not. No one's ever sent over here and saying he's like one of the best passes that the league has ever seen or anything like that, because the type of passes that he tends to get off or whatever. But in terms of like knowing the assignment and making the obvious plays and having the ability capabilities to get the ball to a certain point with his entry passes and just like quick, quick passes, he's. He's great at.

Yeah. And, and Russell try it. He'll. He'll try. He'll try those, those passes that not a lot of other people will. And like, that's, that's. That's a necessary skill that it takes to be a good above average passage. You have to be able to like take risks. And I'm not saying that he's out here throwing, you know, Magic Johnson. He. He passes. But like, you need, you need stuff to, to click like you said, and work quickly. And that's what, that's what Russ is doing.

Yeah, Russ is. Russ has made his passing career off of dump offs on the interior. Remember back in those days of Steven Adams where he get by his guy and dump it off to him down low? That and trailing threes. He's really good at getting to the paint early and kicking out to the big man that's trailing from three. Who's. Who has amazing touchdown low for dump offs and can hit trailing threes. Nikola Jokic.

Like, it's.

It's the perfect fit from talent and position.

I agree.

Wow.

Man, could you imagine a prime Russ and prime Jokic duo? God damn.

Pretty cool. Pretty, pretty cool. Okay, that's the vibe check on the VP talks. I think right now we're at a strong 8 out of 10 on that. It'll get disgusting as the end of the season comes along, but right now it's feeling civil.

What's the.

What's the vibe check on the Timberwolves for y' all right now?

Man, oh, man, it depends on the day. Sundays, I'm just. Honestly, you know, they're starting to figure it out. I see the defense creeping up. They're better than they were defensively last year, and they were the number one defense last year. But on offense, it depends on what type of Mike colony I'm getting. It depends on the mood of Julius Randall, what type of basketball player that he wants to be on a certain day, you know?

Yeah. 17:15 right now. 5. 5 in the last 10. Sitting at the 8C right now, half a game above the spurs for the nine seed. It's hasn't been as horrible as it was, but I'm going the. For me, the vibes are really low, specifically in regards to Anthony Edwards. If I'm Anthony Edwards right now, the vibes are a goddamn zero. I'd be so mad if I was Aunt right now. He's catching so much slander, especially after this game where he played versus Shea when they played the Thunder a few nights ago. And the takeaway was like, man, he is not on Shay's level. Shea had 40 and Ant got nine shots off, or 11, whatever it was. The OKC guards blitzed him, made him get off the ball early, and just completely shut him down. And on Twitter, all I'm seeing is, I told y', all, Ant's not that guy. He's not who you want him to be. He's not a superstar guard. Because in the minds of the average NBA fan, every star guard just plays the same way and is good at the same things. And if you can't do the same thing as another guy, you're simply not him. But this goddamn starting lineup that the Timberwolves will play right now is the worst fitting lineup I could possibly imagine. The paired Ant. It is a goddamn travesty, the support he has for his specific skill set. They're trying to make him play like a point guard. Like he needs to play like Damian Lillard to succeed with this team. The worst spacing, front court you can imagine in Randle and Gobert. That part's obvious. You get worse space than you have a cat. Mike Conley can't create anything anymore. He's a spot up shooter. At this rate he's washed is what it is. He's old, that's fine. But that's a problem. Anthony Edwards needs to play with the point guard and spacing. Now he has neither. JDM Daniels can't do anything with the ball in his hands. He has been so bad, he. It's. It makes me so infuriated watching him try to create and passing the ball and he's just.

It freezes you. You continue to tell the truth about Jada McDaniels and I'm so happy. And I'm never going to accuse you of telling a lie. It is just so funny how upset you get about how bad J. McDaniels is.

I thought you were the one man.

Yeah, I did. I was so high on him, but I'm just not even okay if he's not who I thought it was. Offensively that's fine. That happens. Not every 3 and D wing develops into Mikhail Bridges. Offensively it's cool. But just the way they've surrounded a rising star who needs to be empowered to take your team to the next level. Especially if you're going to trade your other star. You need to be in a situation where Ant can take over. But to surround him with the worst possible talent you can imagine to the point where he's going to play poorly. Because how could he not? He has no ability to get to the rim with space, no ability to have any shots created for him. He has to do all the creation with the ball in his hands. Create for others. He's not a fucking point guard. You're just setting him up to get slandered online. And I know he feels that because his life is really difficult and people are recognizing that that's not a good way to empower your star who you need to keep him happy because you are on a small market team. After all. It's just bad vibes. If I'm Anthony Edwards, they are.

They are pretend. The vibes are perpetually low. Be. I think it's. Unless they went on some magical run and got up to like the three seed, this entire season is going to have low vibes because you are coming off the heels of a Western Conference finals trip with a different team and you traded away, you traded away a franchise piece, your number one pick who was there for almost a decade and everything finally clicked. And when you were at the highest point that you've been in 20 years, you said, yeah, let's. Let's blow it up. There's. There's not going to be. There's not going to be anything that the Wolves can do to where on a nightly basis or when we look back on the season, you are not instantly going to compare them to last year's version of the Wolves and be like, wow, we had it so much better nine months ago.

Yeah, you see, my thing is at this, when this trade initially happened, when we were on, when we had that emergency live stream, it was, yeah, we had that emergency live stream. I, out of the three of us, was trying to be, as usual, the most optimistic about the entire situation. Flexibility this, flexibility that. But as time has gone on and I'm just seeing Bodega Cat doing his thing, thriving and all that, and thinking about how just it's been a complete 180 in terms of, like, how the Timberwolves are viewed now and how they're present. Their future is set up. I'm just like, bro, like, like to. To your point, Donovan, they. They've been in the mud for 20 years. They are one of those NBA teams that just have been consistently pitiful. And the second that you do have, like, massive success with this new young star, your old star that you drafted back back in the day, eight, nine years ago, you just, like, dismantle all that.

I'm glad you mentioned. I'm glad you mentioned Bodega Cat. Yeah, dude, I don't drink. If I was a Timberwolves fan and I had to watch Bodega Cat get all this love in New York City, I'd be at the bottom of a motherfucking bottle. I'd be losing my mind. I would be having a terrible year.

Dude, before we came, before we, we came on, Shams tweeted out the the first wave of fan of fan votes for the All Star. So Anthony Edwards is fifth among guards with 411,000 votes. Carl Anthony Towns is third among frontcourt with over a million votes. The complete heel turn between what Anthony Edwards was in May when everyone's like, that's Michael Jordan. He's the new face of the league. The Timberwolves are set up for the next decade. And Kat now being in New York and being one of the most beloved players in the league, like, that's, that's insane. And to go, like you guys are saying, to go off and watch him go somewhere else and continue to thrive and be Embraced by another fan base like that. That has to hurt if you're a wolves.

Cat is living his best life. Hitting Soho, blowing bags, Living the best life you could imagine. Eating chopped cheeses, Eating it up. Eating chopped cheeses. Power, friendship through his fucking veins.

Smoking, meanwhile, dances, dancing to bachata. He's in Queensland at Dominican spots. Cat is loving it.

And Anthony Edwards is locked in hell in a cell, fighting God's toughest battles.

Randall isos consistently again, bro. We go back still there.

Y' all saw the play with Julius Randle. Tried Jalen Williams three straight times just trying to throw his shoulder into him. And then eventually got. Got pickpocketed.

Yeah, I saw that basketball.

That's. That's tough. That's tough. And I bet you Anthony Edwards was just in the corner like, all right, bro. Like, come on, like, we're open. I'm here.

And in his head, did you see the Aaron Yeager meme from Attack on Titan? Just.

Yeah, just upset. Like, I.

It just safe to say that the vibes are like 0 out of 10 to me.

0 out of 10. 2 out of 10. If you're a Timberwolves fan, because you have to. You can root for Ant. You got a little bit of vibes. If you're Anthony Edwards, 0 out of 10. These are the worst vibes you can imagine.

I feel bad because somebody's about to get. Get fired. Some. Somebody's. Somebody is going to get fired. Somebody's not. Is not going to have their job. It is a bad basketball fit, and it's a bad, you know, kind of locker room fit just because of how, you know, Julius Randle can get from time to time. And so if it's not going all well, now we're here. Now we're here. And you guys are fighting in the playing.

Man, oh, man, oh, man. It's not fun right now. Okay, let's. Let's shift the other way again one more time for one last story I want to talk about. Get a vibe check. What's your. Guys, what's the vibe check? Right now on the Los Angeles Clippers, it's reported Kawhi Leonard is close to a return targeting this week. I think it was January 8th, their matchup or something like that. Maybe it was a fifth. I forget. A Kawhi Leonard return is around the corner. Norm Powell is still averaging over 20 points per game, giving you more production than Paul George did last year. I'll say that he's. As a scorer, at least he's been better.

Paul George this year. Would you mean?

Yeah, obviously. Obviously.

Duh.

But. So we should, we should talk about that. We should talk about the Vibe check on the 76ers. But.

But that horse has been beaten dead. Still a star scorer for the James Harden doing James Harden stuff.

Yeah, I'll say about like 7 out of 10. I actually feel pretty good about them considering that Kawhi is coming back, because, like, I just keep looking, like every time you log on and you look at the, you look at the stats and you see, you know, who's leading in offensive rating, who's leading in defensive ratings, it's always just like, wow, the Clippers are still up here at like the top of the league in defense and like, amazing they. For them to do all of that. They honestly, like, they've exceeded my expectations defensively, offensively, they are who I thought that they were going to be in terms of, like, when you look at them holistically, right, like you're a James Harden led team at this point in his career. He's not super efficient. This is kind of, you know, like what the ceiling is. And even though that you're getting this amazing production from Norm Powell, your offense is still led by a lot of James Harden creation. You don't have a lot of creation outside of him. So it's going to be what it's going to be. And it's not great like they're 23rd in offense right now, but, oh my God, but you put Kawhi Leonard in there, somebody who can go get his own shot. Can you get to. If you have a top five offense, can you get to 14 right by the end of the year on. On offensive rating maybe? And that specifically, it's not going to make you a championship contender. It will make you dangerous. It will. It will make you go into a playoff series where it's like, hey, we're not just going to beat this team in five games and be on our way. Like, we're actually going to have to sit down, lock in and fight. So I actually do feel good about the Clippers moving forward.

The Vibes are especially good right now because before the year, they were in the goddamn toilet. The vibes were a 0 out of 10. As soon as we saw Kawhi's out again for another indefinite period of time after they just paid him an extension and let Paul George walk. They had a lawsuit for Paul, for Kawhi. Leander's knees being handled poorly, which that went into thinner. Who knows what happens with that, right? Dude, the vibes were negative 12. It was like, holy fuck, we have no picks for a long time. New arena owner wants to win. How is he going to win? We're employing Mo Bamba, the guy with the three letters.

Leave Mo Bamba alone.

Worst of all, we got the guy with a three letter nickname who I won't say his name because he's a piece of shit. We got to root for him. Yuck. It was just gross. And they have the whole goal for.

He's, he's, he's trash.

Before the year, you had to hope that we could stay afloat before Kawhi came back and just like, oh, man. Trash person, trash.

I used to go to Rockets games down here and like, obviously you're like that. That would be like fake basketball. I would leave the arena so frustrated every time it would just meet me and my dad would leave every time we're like, this guy does not know how to play basketball. It's ridiculous.

You can't keep his goddamn hands to himself.

Terrible.

The whole goal was, can you stay afloat and be good enough so when Kawhi comes back, you can have a decent team? And they've done so much better than that. The fact that they're not even in the play in. They're a top six team without Kawhi. And they can have the hope to say we're going to add a top 10 player in the world. Get him back to speed. He doesn't got to do too much start because we have three 20 point per game scorers that are cooking. We can let Zubacz cook, let Powell Cook, let Harden do his thing, ease Kawhi in. That is so much hope for a team that's been devoid of that for the past calendar year. The vibes are a 12 now. From negative 12 to 12, we got a 24.5 swing in the span of two months. It's a good year to be a Clipper fan.

Hold on. You said 324 Gigi scores. I thought I was. I was like, oh, my God. Zubac is putting. Giving us 20 feeling this 15, but I know what you mean. I was like, yeah, yeah.

On any given night, on any given that he can give you 20.

No.

Yeah, for sure, for sure.

Yeah.

The vibes are 10 out of 10. I think we were on a TD3 stream on a Tuesday, specifically 6pm Eastern. Tap in. If you know, you know, I think I said something along the lines of this Los Angeles Clippers team is primed to up someone's goals and dreams, whether it be for a playoff berth or push or actually in the playoffs in the first round. They can definitely upset a team based off of the nature who they are. And they're like a defensive led team led by James Harden and a lot of tough buckets from Norm Powell and of course James Harden. Again, I don't, I don't think no one can look at them and take them serious as an actual like championship contender. But in terms of like them looking you in the eyes and taking a series all the way to six, seven games, that's a very realistic thing. And I don't think no one will be happy and no one's necessarily like rolling out of the, out of their bed excited, jolted with energy to go into the Intuit Dome and have to have to play them four times in a row.

Yeah, and I'll say this too, like, for Clippers fans, do not get your, I'm saying this as like as a warning because I, I actually care about your well being in this moment. Whenever Kawhi comes back, do not get your hopes up because obviously we've seen in the past Kawhi is his health and his needs are not something that you can rely on. So even if you do make a playoff push, like, everything at this point in the season and in his career with Kawhi Leonard in my eyes is gravy. It's just a cherry on top. I'm not looking at anything that Kawhi can provide as like a foundational piece. And so like, even if Kawhi does end up going back out, you still should be able to look at your team and look at the way that the Clippers have performed the season and still have really good vibes because again, you could be like the Suns and be in a similar position where you don't have, you don't have control of your picks for a majority of the decade. You are, you know, you have these old stars. It could be a lot worse and it's not. And I think that for the Clippers right now, it's at the top. And like Ty Lu should be on the finalist ballot for Coach of the year. He should, he should be one of the three final coaches on that, whether or not you want to give it to him. Right. Whatever. We kind of know the criteria for it. But like they've been, they've been good. And if they, especially if they finish outside of the play in, if they're in that top six. Oh yeah. Ty Luke needs to be coach of the year candidate for sure.

Easily. I agree. Yeah. Vibes 8 out of 10. Who would.

Have thought coming into this season that we would say clippers fans, life's going good for you. It's a good vibe season and we.

Care for well being. I've never heard about them, but I care about you.

That's on you. I. I can't say I care too much, but I'm happy for you.

I care about you now.

But I will say if it does turn around, I. I will laugh. So I guess I can't claim to be that. I can't be that much of an ally.

Like listen, in the illustrious words of Lamella ball, New year, new me, same me though, you know?

With that being said, that concludes our hour of NBA vibe check. Looked around the league, the most interesting stories. Who we gotta feel out the vibes. We're done with that. Mo, what is the time for?

Dude, this is the first TikTok time of the year. 2025. Nothing but funny moments, interesting segments. I'm ready to eat on these new pack of crayons, bro. Turn me up please. And let's hurry up and get to TikTok time. 2025. Let's do it.

Let' play some games. Let's get goofy. Let's get some Tom foolery going on. Let's have some fun. Let's go to TikTok time. Welcome to TikTok time. We are once again beginning with the draft. This is gonna be a very fun draft. This is one that we've been looking forward to for a long time. It's really the definitive draft. You know, when you think about building NBA teams and putting together something that requires real discourse, requires real intellectualism, real analysis of the game, just overall ball knowledge. It's this draft right here. This draft is going to be a draft of fictional characters into NBA teams. We're gonna draft point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, center, full teams, all the only criteria. It's a fictional character. Do with what you want with that.

All right, let's do it.

I got this first pick, we got Donovan. Second pick, Mo. Third pick, me. So Don, where are we going in the first pick of the fictional NBA or fictional basketball player draft?

With the first pick, I would like to take Wilt from the Foster's home.

No, that was my pick.

God damn. Damn. That is the right one. One. We got a seven foot demon. You got it?

Yeah.

You know what?

Damn.

Okay, you got it.

Go ahead.

You got it.

That was literally scramble on your draft boards.

Okay, I need something to counteract with that length and All I need. When I think about that, I need to get more size. With my first pick of the 2025. 2025 fictional players draft. Johnny Bravo, you are drafted as my center. Congratulations. Yeah, I need someone to distract.

I don't know how this guy slipped to me. Give me Air Bud. At small forward, that's an obvious pick mismatch. Air Bud, I need his intangibles.

Is that a dog?

Yeah, yeah, it's a Hoopery Bozo. And then shooting guard, I need a sharpshooter. Give me Hawkeye.

Ah, that's good.

I'm not missing from three.

My pick.

Abra Driving kick. It's ridiculous. Those.

Those were my two shooter picks. Don't know where to go from here Now, Mo.

Where are you going?

Okay, so at my point guard, I need someone who could really slow things down and catch you off guard. Give me Meat Wad. You're Meat Wad?

Meat Wad?

Yeah. Okay, Meat Wad.

Listen, I don't know if you have the mobility you need from a point guard, but go for it.

Listen, I'll throw you off, bro. You look at him, you'll think he's the basketball, but really, you holding him. Technical foul. Two points on my side. You're out of the game.

Okay.

All right.

At my point guard again. Your point guard has to run the team. Your point guard needs to be able to have vision, creativity. And that's why, for me, I'm taking Phineas from Phineas and Ferb.

Oh, Icon. Okay, listen. The brains behind the operation. That makes sense.

Yes. I like Phineas and my point guard. And listen, don't tell me you're getting the duo.

Don't tell me you're getting the duo. We let them both fall to you.

Listen, sometimes you need somebody who is just. And actually, I'm not. I'm not going to do it. I will break up the duel. It is okay. Phineas is undersized. I need. I need somebody big body to defend. Give me Raphael the Ninja Turtle at my 2 guard.

Okay, big homie. Raphael.

That's athleticism.

Yeah.

I need somebody to make up for Phineas's shortcomings on the defensive end. He's the offensive engine. He's the defensive engine in the backcourt. Perfect tandem.

Okay?

Okay. I need someone who doesn't play any games and is who's long, has hella options and mobility. Give me Squidward for SpongeBob. You don't play. No, bro.

Yeah, you got a drill sergeant on the court.

That is Julius Randall. Your vibes. Listen don't let y' all get down by 10. Your vibes would be terrible.

Okay, I need a big man. Give me Hodor at center, okay. From Game of Thrones.

Okay.

Never watched it.

Give me a big body and point guard. Give me Larry David. Who? This man is so uncultured.

Where is Larry David from? Labor. Yeah. Where he's from.

Hey, if you know, you know. If you know, you know.

Yeah, it's fine. It's fine.

Those who get to get it.

Yeah.

Do you even know?

Don't worry about me.

He doesn't know either.

Don't. Don't. Don't worry about me. Don't worry about me.

Crickets. Anyways. All right.

I just hope you know you're the problem in that. Not the crickets. You're the uncultured one.

Crickets at my two. Guard. I need a dog. You said you got airbud. Air bud. I got someone who actually. I got someone who actually is a real dog. Someone who will snitch on your ass. Someone who protects what's important. Give me courage. A cowardly dog. Someone who snuff out anything that's wrong when it comes to my defense or.

My weak ass dog out of here.

Weak ass dog. He's the best dog that you could ever imagine on your defense.

He's not the goodest boy. He's not the goodest boy. Get that. Get the out of here.

I don't need somebody who's the goodest boy. I need someone who's going to do his job.

All right? It's on me. These are my last two picks.

Yep.

Add my power forward. See, I have creativity at my 1. I have wilt at my 5. I have a defensive specialist at my 2, and I just want another big body. I want somebody at my power forward who, whenever you see them coming, you get scared. You know, you are not running through that brick wall. Give me Groot at my four. Groot's a great screen setter extraordinaire. His highlights. We are going to. That is a traditional power forward. Boss man DLO is playing in his highlight team. That is what I want. He's at my 4 and at my 3. Again, a weird amalgamation of talent that I have on my team. So you need somebody who can fit a whole bunch of stuff. You need somebody who's flexible. I need somebody who's versatile, somebody who can be anything that they want, Somebody who can transform into anything that my team needs. Give me Bumblebee at my three.

You got a whole car.

He can be anything he needs to be in this world.

That's funny.

Oh, my God. All right, so I got my. My last pick. I have a pretty versatile, flexible lineup. But I do think I need more playmaking. I need someone who can make plays for me. And with that in mind, give me one of the best playmakers, bad getters, bag chasers in cartoon history. Ed from Ed, Edd and Eddie the small one. I need him at my 3 because he's a great connectivity.

He's a schemer.

Peace, bro. Exactly. He's always thinking, okay, yeah, I'm not.

About to get out dogged. Give me the goodest boy. Give me Clifford the big red dog, a power forward. No.

Okay.

You got hella dogs on your team.

Okay?

My dog level's not getting beat out of here.

All right, all right, all right.

Between listening. That. That's a. That's a good matchup right there between Clifford and Group.

The paint is not getting scored in. I'm not gonna lie to you.

You will have to shoot from half court.

Clifford Hodor has a lot of girth.

I'm like, I just need to give that boy a belly rub. And he'll be. He'll be like so distracted, bro. He's not playing no defense.

That's a foul. You can't rub somebody.

No, it's not. What happened to physicality? It's not no foul.

There's no. There's no hand checking.

It's not hand checking. It's paw checking. I'm. Have courage.

Okay, that's the draft for the day. Let's get over to some basketball talk. Specifically, let's talk celebrities. I'm going to show you guys an NBA player celebrity look alike. And you got to guess who the player is.

Talk to me.

Okay? We've done this before.

I got a whole another round. Another 10 for you. We did last time. You guys did a decent job. Some of them threw you for a loop. I think Terror Crews is. Nas Reed threw you guys for the biggest loop. We'll see if you guys can do a better job this time.

All right?

Bet.

So, real simple. Which NBA player is this? First off, we got Prince, all right?

There's only one person that I can think of, and there's only one person in the NBA who'd wear something like Prince. And you kind of see the hair a little bit. Is this the Shay?

No. What the fuck? He looks nothing like Shay. It's whatever. He look alike. It's not drip off.

All right? That's my guess.

I've never been so Lost in my entire life. I have no idea who this is.

Yeah, you're not getting this one. You're cooked already. Honestly. I'll just give it to you immediately. Set the tone. This is Andrew Nemar.

Oh, okay, okay, okay. Never. Never seen that. Never seen.

That's good. Andrew gone for a minute. He's just came. He's just not coming back. He's been absent on my mind.

And keep in mind, I didn't make any of these up. These are all pulled from Reddit so they're not my look alikes. If you guys disagree, take it up with Reddit. But apparently Engine m heart is Prince.

Listen, I'll be in the subreddits tonight because I. I got. I gotta see what I. Yeah, I gotta see what they're talking about.

I see. I can't believe you said Shay Donovan. That's insane. Just because it's aura, like.

Oh, aura.

Who can I think of in the NBA?

That's what I thought we were going with. He's just light skinned.

Okay, next one we got Bryce Young.

He looks like somebody, man.

That's the point.

Somebody that I know. And it's starting to brew in my head, but I can't spit it out.

This one's not hard. This one should be one of the easier ones.

Not hard. Kind of looks like.

Is this C.J. mcCollum?

No, K.J. martin.

K.J. barn's a good guess. That's pretty close. It's not who we're looking for though.

It might be better than the original one.

I know. Depending on what these people are coming up with.

Damn.

Not bad at all. You guys cooked? You got stuck at this today.

Yeah.

Unbelievable. This is Jordan Poole.

Ah, yeah, yeah. Jordan Pool with this fro especially. Yeah, that is.

Yeah, the mustache and the little chin hair and the eyebrows. Jordan Pool.

Yeah.

Damn.

Okay, over two. Unbelievable. Lock in.

We have to turn up.

We gotta lock in hard. We got Lil Nas X.

Who is this player, bro?

This picture is also just funny.

Staring into my soul.

He's locked in.

See, like the. The mewing reminds me of shade. The hair reminds me of ja. Don't know where to.

It's not Shay, but I saw somebody on Twitter on Reddit say, shay.

Bro.

I have no idea where to go.

Are we. Yo, we just cooked today.

This. This has to be some young player. Some young player, not an old player. Yeah, no players doing this.

I have. I'm lost. I'm. I'm completely lost.

Oh my God. Over three. You guys have no thoughts in those heads this is John Moran. All right.

This is so.

Okay, I should.

This. They look nothing alike. He just set up his hair on top, bro. Yeah, this is not right. This is not right.

Very targeted.

Take it up with Reddit. I mean, just see, you see, you see it. It's not.

Yeah, I mean, I saw. I saw the hair and said shade, but I mean, it said job, but like, that was it Reddit.

Y' all need a. Have more of a diverse friend group. That's all that tells me.

Low key. This is low key. In this picture, John looks more like Bryce Young than Lil Nas.

Yeah. Yeah.

Okay, next one.

Can you.

Can we finally get one on the board? Chris Brown.

Oh, I know this.

You know this.

I'm all too familiar with this face.

Please.

Yeah, in my mind, when I see Chris Brown, I think I see Dejante Murray.

Oh, my God, you guys suck at this today.

No, it's not design.

What?

Holy. I mean, let's go light skin for light skin. This Kelly Oubre.

No, no.

Hell no.

Hell no.

He's not a current player.

Oh, he's not a current player.

Oh, okay, then. Shannon Brown.

Yeah.

Yes, this is Shannon.

Yeah, Yeah.

I was gonna say this is a famous one. Come on, get one right.

I thought. I thought we were just going off of current.

Yeah, okay.

No, okay, finally, we're on the board. This has been a struggle. This has been not good content.

Are they cousins for real or no cousins?

I don't know. Would you get that from Brown? Brown.

I don't know. Online.

If I said it. Next one. Booker McFarlane.

Man, oh, man, we all know this.

We all know this.

The fallen soldier towards the top of the tippity top of the NBA world.

He's not dead.

Yeah, yeah. We can get out the way. This is Lyle Williamson.

This is Williamson. I had to do the classic in there, get some easy ones for you guys. I figured you might struggle at the beginning. Well, a little bounce back. I want you guys to see the ball go in the net.

It's insane how. The resemblance is uncanny. Same exact face. Copy and paste, bro.

Next one, we got Poussay from Orange is a new black.

Bro. Who are these players?

This was actually really good. Say Pousse Washington.

Never seen the show, by the way.

Best character in the show.

Who are these players?

I can like if I squit. I feel like I'm kind of.

Once I tell you who this is, it's gonna be hilarious.

Is it a current day player?

Is it? Yes, kind of. I kind of see like Demar Derozan.

No, it's not. The water rose a little bit. Like, I get it. But no, you can kind of see the vision.

Is it a man Thompson?

No.

Now, damn, bro.

That's my guess.

Don, it is Delon Wright.

Oh.

See who be thinking about Delon Wright on a day to day basis.

No.

Bam. Dude, I look into P's face, I see Theon. Right? This is a good one.

I have bigger fish to fry than Delon Wright. Yeah, he's not on my fantasy team or any. No, I don't say what the law.

This is a good one. This is crazy. Okay, we got Pete Buttigieg.

All right. It's pretty easy. He's. He's white man.

Who's man.

It'S one of y'.

All.

Just. Just a general man's. Yeah, that's Brad Stevens.

This is somebody's man's Brad Stevens.

These guys are twins.

They look. So I showed my girlfriend this. She was like, wait, those are two from people. Yeah, they look exactly the same.

Yeah.

And shout out to Pete for having the Celtics hat too.

Yeah. He knows where he comes from. You know where I'm at. Next one. Chance the Rapper.

Oh, God. He know where home at. Shivers down my spine that phrases stand up.

Chance the Rapper.

Wow, wow, wow, wow. Another guy. See, I've been trying to give Chance a second chance. He doesn't want it. He doesn't want. He doesn't want that greatness.

Who's this player, man?

You guys have nothing going for you today, do you?

No. It's really head empty. No thoughts.

Oh, my God.

This is thoughts.

Hold on.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait a second.

Thought you were the man knower.

Oh, not today, bro. I guess like it's 2025 and my din. I'm like, the universe is giving me a new calling card. What is it yet? I don't know. But it's not knowing men anymore.

It's not man. This is Ken Bazemore.

Who the hell is thinking about Ken Bazemore?

That's wrong. That's wrong.

It is. I see it. I see it. It's accurate.

First of all, if you're going to do anything with Chance the rapper lookalike, put a hat on on Kim Baseman. That's the only way that you can look at Chance the Rapper.

Now if you throw a hat on him, make him look down a little bit. It's. It's there. It's there.

That's what I need.

I need that is. That is. That is Very accurate. That is very accurate.

We got. Oh, what's her name again? I forget the actress. Oh, why'd I forget her name? Let me look it up. I got another name.

Yeah, I don't even remember her. Her name.

Who is this? Who's on my screen right now?

Sitting on my screen right now.

Help.

What's going on right now?

Joey King. Bullet Train. Isn't.

Isn't she. Never mind.

She was in Bullet Train.

She's in Bullet Train? Yeah. Joey King.

I saw Bullet Train. I did not recognize her.

Yeah, she's the white girl. She's only one white girl. The white girl on Bullet Train who's like putting all the in motion.

I guess I haven't seen it. I guess I haven't seen it in a while.

She's the antagonist.

Okay. What NBA player is this?

Is it. Is it Jokic?

What the hell? No. What the hell are we talking about?

I'm just.

Oh, my God.

I'm sorry. I don't know who this is. I'm. I'm just a little bit into the bag. Just a little bit. Just a little bit into the bag. Didn't mean to.

Someone who's playing right now. I'm looking at a list of all the teams.

Run.

Is this Jaime Hawkez? What the.

No, it's not.

Was that worse than Jokic? Yes.

I don't have to.

This is Grayson Allen.

What the hell am I looking at right now?

See, people already had. They have too much time. That's.

That's what it is.

Touch grass.

This is hilarious. If you guys know who Joey King was, this is hilarious.

Physical activity.

Sorry, I don't mean to sound ridiculous.

But last but not least, we got the rapper Token. Oh.

Yeah, I know this one.

You have a clue, Donovan?

I mean, I. I have two options.

Yeah, who is it?

It's either Tyler Herro or Chet Holmgren.

No.

He'S just picking one.

Look at his stance. Look at the way that his hands are. He clearly feels some type of wit. That's what I was going off. I don't know who.

Oh, the most popular bright skinned boys. Yes. This is Bog. Yeah, this is Bogdan. This is crazy.

They look the same.

Wow, that was a generationally horrible performance. But you got to close it with a bang. You got one, right? Listen, we gotta count the small wins when you can.

We got three.

Three out of ten.

God damn.

Baseball. And baseball. That's a good percentage.

You're getting $100 million. Baseball.

Exactly.

It's all about perspective.

I love it. Oh, man, that Was bad. Okay, next thing we're doing. Let's talk about influence on the NBA world.

Let's talk about it.

What I'm going to do is I'm going to show you two NBA players. You're going to tell me who has more influence on. You know, you can think about whoever you want. Encore. Product, culture, the style of play we see today, the league at the time, whatever it is, however you view NBA player influence, you tell me which player has more of it.

Let's go.

Okay. Kyrie Irving or Kevin Durant?

This is so hard. Katie has influence in terms of how like long skinny kids want to play Kyrie. Yeah.

Yes. But Katie's sons are like 0.5 of the population because there's only a certain percentage of the population that is like 6, 10. And it has crazy athleticism. Everybody can relate to Kyrie Irving. Also Kyrie's basketball shoes as a.

How's Kyrie relatable to you? I can't relate to Kyrie have.

If you have never gone into. Into your backyard, onto the street, put a plastic bag on the basketball and tried to drill.

You got me. You got me. You got me.

I did that.

I did that when I was younger.

So I'm gonna get him today. I'm gonna get him at the right today. Like, that's Kyrie.

Okay. This one's close. I think on the NBA it's Kevin Durant, but on fans, it's Bobby. Kyrie.

Yeah.

How's it came around the NBA? Oh, in terms of.

Yes. Sons. You got sons. People want to play like him. Look at Michael Porter Jr. Look at Victor Womenyama. Look at all these big guys who shoot. Now, a lot of that's because of kd.

Yeah.

At a certain point in time, you. You'll be start to believe this, Isaac. But Jada McDaniels is getting Katie comparisons.

Great High School Jabari Smith Jr. Got drafted third overall because people were like, let's get a little bit of KD in there.

If you are. If you are 6, 10 and skinny, you are Kevin Durant.

And if you have a little bit of wiggle automatically, Katie.

If you shoot a little bit, then you're Kevin Durant. Just gotta shoot a little bit.

All right, a little. He had a little bit of wiggle in Auburn. Just a little bit.

Just had. All right, next one. Classic Kobe or LeBron.

Kobe's definitely more worldwide. He's touching everywhere, bro. Kobe's definitely more worldwide, huh?

Yeah.

What I am. He's more worldwide. He definitely worldwide.

If you think he's more influential. Fine. Worldwide. I mean, yeah, James, he's like the one of those famous people over the last 50 years.

Yeah, but like people in the streets are. China are not like rocking with LeBron like how they are with Kobe.

Well, that's for a reason. We don't know. That's neither here nor there.

Okay, this is a different conversation.

But even before, but even before that, they weren't rocking with, with, with. With LeBron like that over, over Kobe.

China's neither here nor there.

I'll say this. Kobe's playstyle still to this day, whether right or wrong, is what people think superstars should look like. In terms of like a two guard.

His back because of him or because of Jordan.

Listen, he also carried it on like he's part of that two, his basketball shoes are just hands down better than LeBron's.

That is true.

Okay.

We make Kobe clones for sure.

And three, if you are shooting trash into a trash can, nobody is ever saying LeBron. You say Kobe.

Exactly. In terms of like the actual NBA, we see so many players who thrive off of like having similar ish Skill sets to LeBron. And that's like the new blueprint in terms of like, yeah, you need someone who's humongous, can pass a little bit and just big down low. Shades of LeBron. We see that all the time. I think that's. That's more influence in terms of like actual NBA stuff. And also, of course, we can talk about the player empowerment. Blase, blase, blah, blah, blah.

That's the best argument for LeBron.

Yeah, it's not blase, blase, blah. It's. He's changed the fucking landscape of the NBA. How we view the league, how we empower the players, how stars are expected to carry themselves like his. We talk about the NBA ratings are going to fall off a cliff when they lose him. Because he is that influential to how we view the league and how fans perceive the NBA. He is the face of the NBA to a degree that nobody besides Jordan was. That is pretty influential.

In terms of the streets, it's Kobe. In terms of the NBA.

Yeah.

If you want to go get. Listen, if you want to go get your PhD in business ethics and whatever. Yeah, all right. LeBron got it. You don't have mama mentality like Kobe.

Yeah.

All right. In the world, what mama mentality is about. It's. It's kobe.

Those Chinese 8 year olds screaming Kobe till the day they die. That's different.

That's what I'm saying. I think I might lean Kobe with this one.

All right, man. Next one. Magic Johnson or Shaq?

It's Magic Johnson. Really, I. Shaq is just such like, a being and like a figure in himself. It's so hard. Like, Shaq. Shaq doesn't have any sons in the NBA because there's not like people aren't 77 2x amount of pounds moving the way that he was, have the personality that he was. Any. Anybody who is 6, 9. If you can't shoot but have a little bit of playmaking chops, it's like, hey, listen, maybe, you know, he's on that magic tree. He's on that Magic Johnson.

Who the hell says that? I've never heard anyone say that ever in my entire life.

Ben Simmons.

Fair. Come on, Magic.

On. He was. He was right. He was right there.

When I think of influence in this picture right here, in the setup right here, I think a Shaq in the. In lights of like, yo, he knows how to make a dollar. He is a bad getter.

Magic Johnson is with Starbucks. What do you talk about?

No, imagine Johnson. If we're going there. If we're going there. I think no. Magic was the blueprint for Shaq to get a bag. Magic is the first one that was getting his face out there. And all these commercials he was wearing these. These designer stuff.

Yeah. Magic perfected it.

This is a. Who influenced Shaq? Magic Johnson.

Did he. Let's go band for band right now. Who has more?

Definitely Shaq.

It is not definitely. Matt Johnson owns. He's like, part owners, part owner.

Of the Dodgers.

Of the Dodgers. He's in on the Commanders now. Matt Johnson's breaded.

Are we pocket watching right now?

Hey, we're going with the bucks. We're going Magic Johnson.

That's what we do. What do you mean?

Are you new here? Okay.

It's in the handbook.

Larry. Larry Bird or Allen Iverson?

Well, this is a two America situation.

Exactly.

It really depends on who you're walking up to. When you ask somebody on the street.

I think what Allen Iverson did for young Donovan, Larry Bird probably did for young Dylan.

It really depends on, like, where you are on the Mason Dixon line. And if you are above that in a certain area, Larry Bird is your guy.

But if you're below the back test.

Yeah. Like, if you're below that or by the Atlantic Ocean, Allen Iverson is your guy. And. And he really changed your life.

It's a simple. It's a simple, super simple conversation. Depends on, you know, it's all. It Is. But also.

But also, overall, it is Allen Iverson. This man had it.

Yeah.

Like, they. They changed the rules because of him. So whether Timmy likes. I know it's Alan Iverson.

You're going.

There's a lot of white kids out there. There's a lot of them. There was a lot of them in 1985. I don't know.

I don't care what Chad thinks.

I know that is true. But also there's. I think there's a lot more white kids who try to be like Allen Iverson. I. E. Christophs Pershing is. That man had a AI jersey on, put on braids when he was younger too. I don't know if there's many, you know, kids.

I do. Yes, there is. Like Larry Bird.

Like Larry Bird. Larry Bird.

80S in the 1980s, Larry Bird had aura. He had. Saw the way he had this mullet with a mustache and he was. Yeah, yeah. Those.

Those kids. Those kids have mortgages and like, are about to retire, you know.

Yeah.

But everybody. Everybody has. Has like cut up the sock and put it on as like a shooting sleeve. Yeah.

I might lean towards AI, naturally. Of course.

Okay. J.R. smith or Lance Stevenson.

Who has a better meme? This is the real.

Y' all don't know. Y' all don't know about Nick's tape is J R Smith, hands down, easily.

Why is it easy? Tell me about it.

Listen, I can't. I can't say, you know, particularly where his influence has come from on that side. But if we even talking about just the cap stint, the fact that he forgot the score and gave us the infamous LeBron meme. Right. Right off.

RIP that's JR who gave us the better LeBron meme.

Meme?

Is it JR Smith or Lance Stevenson? Me personally, Another grown man's ears.

But that meme is more about Lance Stevenson than It is about LeBron with the good combo.

Yeah. That's where the conversation ends. This is Lance Stevenson influence, bro.

What you just told me is Lance Stevenson, his iconness stands on its own more than J.R. smith does compared to LeBron. Lance Stevenson wins.

Look at you. See how LeBron's greatness just permeates in every single conversation. You use LeBron and what he was able to do to uplift J.R. smith in these conversations. This is what he does.

LeBron's influence that just makes.

He makes better. And we're witnessing it in non basketball conversations. This is LeBron.

This is where both of their careers elevate the most, is whenever they were close to LeBron. That's. That's the. That's the most we've ever talked about them. So, yes, I'm going to bring him up in this conversation about.

That's right. As long as you know. As long as you recognize.

Exactly.

Recognize what?

Greatness.

Okay, he's great. Now what? Like, what's the point?

Correct.

Next one.

Steph Curry or Michael Jordan.

Damn.

Probably the two biggest influences in the league's history.

We've said it before. I'll say it again. Nobody has ever been beat up waiting in line for some curries. I'm going with Jordan.

I mean, it's Jordan. It has to be. Jordan's probably one of the most influential athletes to ever grace the goddamn earth.

Yeah.

If anybody can rival him as Curry for this generation, though, he is close. Especially the style of play stuff. Every little kid wants to play like him. Look at Lamelo Ball. That doesn't happen without Curry.

I need to know. I need to know the exact number of how many grown men. Not adolescent men. Grown men shave their head bald because of Michael Jordan.

Yeah, exactly how many grown men looked at Michael Jordan and called him Black Jesus?

Probably like four.

No, a lot. No, no, that's his legit nickname. That's a lot.

That's a nickname that one athlete said one time. And everybody remembers. That wasn't a real nickname.

Well, I'm leaning towards Michael Jordan.

I'm going Michael Jordan.

Yeah.

Okay.

Stephanie.

Paul George or Carmelo Anthony.

See, you're trying to set me up and I see through your ways.

I've never seen an NBA team sit down and be like, oh, my God, he reminds me of Paul, of Carmel Anthony. He needs to. We need to draft him. There's that. That blueprint does not exist.

Trying to find the next mellow. Yeah.

No one says that every.

Every team wants an ex Paul George.

Yeah. Scaling.

I would love to explore George on my team.

Let's talk about it. Cam Reddish. We thought he was the next Paul George.

Let's talk about it. Donovan.

See?

Who the hell is walking mellows compared to PG's. Mellows are stinky.

Ew.

His logo, even back then.

Ew.

I can't puzzle.

I can't even say anything. Jordan Brand has some of the worst signature sneakers of all time. Whoever their designers are should have been fired immediately. I find Paul George. Got it.

You said that's so dejected. You feel like you, like, let the demon into your heart.

Ain't no demons in my heart. We cast those out.

Hey, LeBron's influence again. There you are not.

Not today, Lord. Not today.

That's hilarious. Yeah, Podcast game, too, if you want.

Oh, and the George who did the podcast first, Paul George who followed Mellow.

Exactly. Teaching Paris how to get a bag outside of the court. Bro, it's pg.

You want to talk about getting a bag outside the court? Listen, we're pocket watching right now. We could talk about Melody right now.

I don't have for pocket watching. Paul George wins that conversation.

You don't know what Carmelo has. I don't know what basketball career. You know what I'm saying?

You don't.

You don't know about the grown men.

Argue about who makes more money. You got no money like him, man.

He's not breaded like him.

Look at his watch. Look at his car.

Last but not least, Kevin Garnett or Charles Barkley.

Oh, my God, I want to spit my water out.

This is a crazy.

It's easily Charles Barkley.

This is the classic Isaac emote, bro. Anytime.

I know you just did this last week.

Yeah, I don't know what you're talking about.

I don't have.

I don't. I don't see you. Yeah. I don't see you walking around calling people Lord like Kevin Garnett, but you will stuff some churros down your face. So I'm going to.

That's racist as. What are you talking about, dude?

Just eating churros.

I haven't had churro in years.

Cap.

That's targeted.

Damn.

This is so racist. Somebody get him.

He just has an itch.

It's bad, bro. Just lost stuff and change it.

Stuff. It is crazy.

Oh, insane.

He only put that just so that he could do that on camera.

Exactly.

Let the tables be turned.

Go ahead. Go ahead. You won't get any push back from me. That's right. Let's see.

Next thing we're gonna do, let's talk about some jerseys. We've done a lot of jersey tick tocks over the. Over the years. We did city jerseys as of late is the last one we did. Let's talk about some forgotten jerseys, some jerseys that history doesn't talk about enough. And I'm gonna have you rate them from one to ten.

Okay?

All right, let's do it.

So variety from over the years, there's ones that I think will be forgotten over time. First off, we got the Chicago Bulls throwback jersey from 2005.

Yeah.

Wow.

These should stay forgotten. This looks like this. This is 100, like, AAU stuff where you have your reversible jersey and it's like, all right, who we playing at? 1. All right, flipping inside out. Who we playing at? 3. Flip it inside out. I do not like this whatsoever.

You don't respect the OGs, the origins, 1945 throwbacks.

What they were doing in 1945. Back then, they got. They got cracked 30 years early.

Prohibition days.

Yeah.

Facts.

They're making their own garbage moonshine jerseys.

Sorry, where are we going?

Oh, I mean, no, it's a clear 02, but, like.

It can't be a zero because you can actually, like, see yourself wearing these. These are convenient.

No, as a uniform, it's a zero. As a jersey, it's probably, like, a two.

Okay, we can go zero. Next up, we got these Yellow Hawks throwbacks.

I actually really like these.

Oh, man, I miss these so much.

Really?

These are fire. So. Yeah.

Yeah.

For.

For like a Heinz mustard. Look, stop. Nice little McDonald's collaboration.

This encapsulates what an alternate jersey should be, right? We're not gonna wear this. We're not gonna wear this every night. We're not gonna run it into the ground. But sometimes on special occasions, on just, you know, some fun Friday nights, we're gonna pull these out, and it's gonna be a different look. This is what an alternate should be, man.

Yeah.

To me, this encapsulates a brand that sells cheese.

Nah.

And what's wrong, Baby Bell?

And what's wrong with Baby Bell?

You don't like your calcium. That's all that tells me you don't. Lactose intolerant. That's not my fault, Monster.

My bad. Okay, okay, listen, if you guys are team mustard, you can have it.

Reggiano.

I'll get this.

Pecorino Romano. You don't mess with all that.

The cheese bag is deep today.

I know.

Talk to me.

4 out of 10. Not rocking with it.

No, it's.

Don't like it.

It's eight.

Don't like it.

You don't like fun.

You don't like. Just expose.

What about these St. Patrick's Day bulls jerseys? They stopped doing this. They need to bring it back.

They should.

The only reason why I hate when teams completely veer away from their colors. But you don't.

You don't respect the Irish origins of Chicago. You don't understand the heritage here.

I. I heard they go ahead and they dye their little. Their little lake entirely green. That's cute. Like a five.

What lakes and rivers are there in Atlanta? Y' all got little lakes, little rivers.

They got ponds.

Don't ever disrespect the chatty hoochie like that a day in your life, bro.

The what?

You ever shoot the hooch in your life?

The Chattahoochee?

Yeah, Chattoo. You ever shoot them in your life?

Y' all are country.

I'm gonna give these jerseys a solid eight and a half. I rock with it a lot. It's classic. It's part of Bulls culture. I think they should do it every single year.

Just like I said with the Hawks. 1. This is. This is what an alternate jersey should be. You have a special day. It's one time a year that we're gonna put on these green jerseys. Yeah, let's do it.

I think. I think it's veering too. Too far away. Too far away. I like. If it was a Hinda green, I'd be like, yo, this is hard. But the entire jersey, green.

All I'm hearing is cowardice. You scared to change? Come on.

This is going to change, I think. Let's unpack this identity crisis right now.

Let's. Let's unpack this a little bit.

No, they're responsible.

Why are you scared to stand out from the crowd?

They need to know who they are. They need to stay ten toes down.

Yeah.

St. Patrick's Day. Cool. You're still in Chicago. You're not the. You're not in Boston. Let that keep. Keep the green jerseys to them.

Terrible take.

Be yourself.

No, like, tomato, tomato, tomato. I don't like that next one.

I also got.

We got these Cleveland Cavalry jerseys.

I used to get pinched all the time during St. Patrick's Day, so that's.

Why I don't get these captures. That's.

That's why. That's why these are hard. These are hard. And these are.

They wore these the year after the LeBron left, so nobody knows about them.

Damn. That's terrible timing, bro. The amount of or pictures that LeBron would have had in these jerseys. Man, oh, man.

Wow.

I'm sure there's gotta be a Photoshop out there somewhere. Who is this player?

That's Booby Gibson, Right?

Sure.

Too late.

I don't know.

Well, girl, this. This jersey is hard as. I'm gonna give this a nine.

Yeah. If we could have saw LeBron in this. It's like that famous navy one, but you got the black version. This is tough. I like it. It sucks. There's no history to it because it was the worst year of Cleveland Cavaliers history, but it's a good jersey. I'll give it a seven.

Yeah. That is Daniel Booby Gibson.

I Believe you, I just didn't know.

I had to double check because again, nobody cared about the caps that year.

This is the definition of a forgotten jersey, because nobody was watching this year.

Yeah, I. I love it, though. This is a. It's a 10 out of 10.

Oh, 10. Okay, next one. We got the Nets earned jersey from 2020. The NBA stopped doing earned jerseys, but I love this concept. If you make the playoffs, you get a cool jersey next year.

This is disgusting. I love the. The idea of the concept is cool, but this actual product of the jersey is disgusting. It's a Microsoft jersey.

Microsoft is like a tire company.

Yeah. Entire company is perfect.

You know what it is?

They got that Motorola patch. It looks like Motorola designed it. It looks like it's to the T. Motorola, yeah.

Android ass. Android ass.

Get this door. Like three out of ten.

I like this.

I kind of like it. I'll go five. I like the pattern.

Yeah. If you had, like, a jersey design website, you would load it up and this would be the default jersey on there.

Y' all don't respect the. The homage to the subway system, the street signs?

Well, clearly Brooklyn didn't respect either, because they changed their whole court doing that too. I. I don't like. I don't like it.

The street lines are always late in New York and Brooklyn anyway, so it doesn't matter. They don't respect themselves.

Bring back the earned jerseys. That was a cool concept, but apparently this isn't the coolest one.

Definitely.

What about this Pistons Thunderbolt jersey?

This is hard. This was like.

They wore this in their 2004 season when they won the championship.

I like this a lot.

This is definitely a cartoon jersey. This looks like the jersey you get a Six Flags a little bit.

But I was gonna say it looks like a screenshot from, like, Mike, but that's okay because that. That's a good movie and I like these jerseys. I'm gonna give some shit an 8 out of 10.

This looks like something that a team would do today as a city jersey, trying to appeal to, like, nine year olds. But it's cool because it's old and throwback. So I like it. But if it came out today, I'm.

Not sure I would not for came out today. I would be kind of happy with it.

With it.

I'll be happy with it now. Are you calling me a nine year old? Maybe.

You are a known crown eater. That adds up. I'll give it a good six, though.

I get a seven. This is very, very passable and very, very forgotten.

So it fits a theme.

Yeah, true.

Next one, we got the Gold Kings jerseys. I think history should keep this one forgotten. I'll say that these.

I will never forget these jerseys. These jerseys are entrenched into my brain for all the wrong reasons. I used to get destroyed on 2k. People will pick the Kings. Pick these.

Kevin Martin was giving you hell.

Oh, my goodness, no. I can't stand these jerseys. I hate them with a passion. When I see this, all I see is 20 point losses in 2k.

Tacky. All I see is Venice Beach. All I see is the flea market. All I see is temu. All I see is everything wrong with jerseys.

I want to like this jersey so, so, so bad and just stand out, but I can't even. I can't even troll right now. You can't even be different, genuinely. Like a one.

Yeah. I'm going zero. I'm going zero.

It's a Sharpay Evans jersey.

Don't disrespect sharpen.

This is trash.

Okay, what about the first year of city jerseys for the.

Oh, I hated these. Oh, I hated these so much. Oh, these are so stupid. These are idiotic.

I mentioned earlier the Motorola sponsor. Look how they designed it. Look at that. Goodyear sponsor. It looks like Goodyear designed this. This is a tire brand jersey.

If you had. If you put sleeves on this, this is what the pit crew would look like in a NASCAR race. I'm not rocking with this at all. And you know, I'm going one out of ten. And if you say something about LeBron making it like a seven, I'm gonna be upset.

I'm gonna punch you.

He hit a game runner of these. That's all I'm saying. He had a game winner over Jimmy Butler in this Jersey right here. LeBron made it. With that being said, I'm not even going seven hammers. I'm going eight Hammers me from glazing. Y' all gonna need chainsaws, bro. This is a 10.

The camera is on the way.

This sucks.

It's so funny. This is the first year City jerseys. So the cast fans started this whole series off on the worst low ever, and now they have some really good ones. So glad they learned from this.

But this looks like, like an Indiana jersey. Indiana Pacer jersey.

This is everything wrong with 2010 jerseys. This is so ugly, so angular, so futuristic. It's just gross.

We're not rocking with it.

Yeah.

What about the green Mavs jerseys?

Honestly? Any jersey? Yeah, any jersey that they have other than the ones that they have. Now shout out to y'.

All.

You guys are just trying stuff. We need more things that stick because they do need a rebrand. And I like the green.

It does kind of look like a bowling shirt, but I like it.

Are you not a good bowler?

I'm an average bowler at best.

Okay, okay.

But listen, if I had this on a shirt over there, I mean, maybe that'll empower me a little bit. You. Guess what I need?

Yeah, you. You can. You can bowl a 180 in this.

This.

And for that try, I'm getting. I'm giving it like, a 8.

I'll give it a good 7. It's cool. I like the idea of green on the map jersey. They should bring that concept back.

Yeah, I like the placement of the 412 as well. Very cool.

Okay, next. Mavs 1. The Mavs Trash bag jersey.

Come on, guys. See, I just complimented them for trying stuff. I take that back. You can't do this.

This.

You. This is also a 0. 0.

This jersey's forgotten because they wanted it to be. They wore it one time, and Mark Cuban said, never again. Throw that away. And you know what? It's actually not forgotten because we remember it when we think of the worst jerseys of all time. So I think they'd like us to forget it more.

Nope. Nope. Sometimes some things have consequences. And when you roll out an actual NBA team in these jerseys, you must be remembered for the rest of his.

This jersey looks like it's been. It's like aluminum foil left in the air fryer for too long.

Yeah, it's got that. That grease on there. Bacon on. Yeah, yeah. Listen. Some people. Places in history because they do great things. Some people have places in history because they're a disgrace to humanity. And this is the latter.

Yeah.

You wear this jersey, I'm automatically going to assume you stink, Hammers. Yeah.

Stink.

Yeah. Smelly guy.

I'm pouring oxygen on you.

Just. It's a terrible allegation.

Does Dirk look like he smells good in this photo right here?

No, I can't say he does. I really can't say he does.

Yeah, exactly. Point proven.

Damn. Next one, we got these Knicks jerseys with the numbers on top for 1970.

This is a hard throwback just in terms of, like. Like a fashion thing. If the Knicks pulled this out today, I would be like, oh, this is disgusting. But understanding that it came from a certain era. You respect the history and the tradition of, like, what led to the jersey now.

So I appreciate numbers on top of the letters is crazy. That's Crazy work. That is terrible. If they just flipped it, it would be cool.

They're pushing the boundaries though, and I can appreciate that. It's very different.

Yeah, listen, for 1979, Innovation Today.

Yeah, but am I gonna buy one of these online? Maybe, Maybe.

Now the shorts, the shorts are hard with that New York symbol that the Yankees use. Now, that's tough.

See, if they put that symbol on that jersey you got me sold. But I think I'm gonna get number five out of 10.

The numbers are so big. It looks crazy, dude.

Yeah, like the number 40 just on your chest is so disgusting.

Okay, that's the end of that. It's the last jersey we had. The next thing we're gonna do, let's do a king of the court game. We did this a few weeks ago, actually about a month ago now, where I listed a bunch of point guards in a 1v1. King of the court, where I started with one. And you know, you know how it works. The winner of each 1v1 matchup keeps going until we see who wins the. At the end, who's. Who was the king of the court. We're gonna do that again. We're gonna do a big man this time.

All right, let's do it.

So two players. You tell me who would win a one on one game, not who's better. Five on five, one on one, who would win?

Okay, this is a straight bag work. Okay. Pretty much size matters.

True. And these are all big guys, though.

Yeah.

Okay, first off, 1v1. King of the court. Boogie versus Zion.

Boogie's destroying Zion.

Destroying boogie.

Yeah.

Prime. Listen. Second, 20, 21 year old Zion, when he was insanely fast and strong, the.

Speed might get to Boogie in general, but I think Zion or Boogie has a better chance of stopping Zion than Zon has a better chance of stopping. I don't know about that.

Design was stupid athletic. Remember that game he gave Rudy Gobert like 38 points in the second year.

Yeah, but like, Zahn doesn't have the bag to do much. Like, he's just going to the rim. There's no versatility.

I think in one on one, when you can run straight real fast, real strong and jump real high, I think that's hard to stop.

Well, Boogie can instantly just back up and just be like, all right, take the shot. Because, like, yeah, you're just not gonna. You're not gonna hit that. Whereas if Boogie gets the ball first, Zion doesn't know what's about to happen.

Because his game is unpredictable.

Yeah. Boogie can do a Lot more things than Zion can. I'm gonna take boogie.

Okay. I voted. Okay. So now Boogie versus Mark Gasol is boogie with a deceptive postback.

I think I'm going Marcus all here.

I think Marcus putting boogie in a torture chamber.

Yeah. Marcus all is big, man. Like prime. Marcus all was. Was a big dude.

He can move his feet, too. He's not getting dusted.

If he wasn't as elite as he is in defense, then I would lean Boogie. But the defense matters for this instance, so.

Yeah. And mark and shoot, too, so they both got range. I don't know, dude.

I missed Marcos all in the NBA.

He was nice. Okay, Marcus.

I'm giving the nod to the older brother. He knows we'll go, Mark. He.

Oh, no, Pal's older.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm going.

I'm going. Pow. He knows him. He raised him. He taught him all the tricks.

Throwing it back to the days in the backyard. Yeah, there's a. There's a certain mental advantage there that you can't look past.

Exactly.

Seniority. I'm with it. Let's do it. I always respect.

Okay. Pau Gasol versus Anthony Davis.

Anthony Edwards. Davis is destroying pal Gasol.

Sorry, pal. I'm sorry. I love you, Lakers legend. I'm sorry. Yeah, he just.

He's not equipped for that athleticism.

Yeah, different.

One has the same beast. One has each queen. He might tear both ACLs at once, bro.

All right, all right. Let's not disrespect pal like that.

Calm down.

Getting dusty, dude.

It'll be an easy win, but I don't know if it's gonna break any bones. Anthony Davis versus Joel Embiid.

This is where this game might end, depending on who you.

I'm not gonna lie. Joel B. Might win this list. Joel Embiid is a perfect 1 player.

This is where this game ends, probably. Unless you have, like, Hakeem or something like that.

But listen, 36 point per game. Joel Embiid before he got hurt last year.

That.

That's gonna be hard to beat.

Yeah. DPOI level defense, bro, too, from time to time.

I think I'm willing to be seven foot two. Shay Gil. Just Alexander. I'm going Joel. Joel versus Nicola Jokic.

Jokic.

One on one. I'm going Joel Embiid.

Listen, I won't stop you from glazing jokes. You know?

Who gets ball first? Who gets ball first?

The winner.

So Joel Embiid.

All right. That's kind of tough.

Joel Embiid's winning one. V1.

This is the one. One time.

The one instance will say Joel will be better than Jokic and that's one on one.

Yeah, exactly. In a team. Yokich for sure.

But it's never happened five on five. But one on one. You got it, Joe.

Yeah, exactly.

Joel and B versus Tim Duncan locked up.

Tim Duncan.

What?

I'm going to Owen beat in this. I don't think I understand.

It sounds crazy. It sounds crazy.

I think.

I think Mo's right.

It's Joel Embiid.

You know why it sounds great crazy.

Why?

Because it is crazy. I'm going Tim Duncan. I'm going to.

Tim Duncan's scoring bag isn't necessarily equipped for 1v1.

Yeah, like I. I love the bank shot, but that's not enough, bro.

I think you want to be keep up defensively.

What do you mean it's not enough? It's unstoppable.

So is a Joel and Bead Midi.

See, even. Even Kitty agrees too. It's Dwell Embiid.

You have no idea how good Tim.

Duncan was this year.

Left block, right block, right elbow, bank shots all day running hooks. Tim Duncan has all the tools. He can score on Embiid. It's not like if they play the game to 11. What do you think? What do you think?

But how much could he score on Joel Embiid though, is the question.

Do you think time out. If they play the game to 11, do you think that Embiid is winning like 11 5?

I'm not gonna say 11 5. Maybe like 117 or.

I don't know.

The margin.

Yeah, I'm not thinking about the margin, but I think Joel beat wins.

Yeah. Tim Duncan just doesn't have the creativity. And I think you're underrating Joel Embiid.

He doesn't need the y' all gonna give me.

He does. It's one on one.

He doesn't need the creativity.

You just don't like Joel Embiid is all it is.

No.

You couldn't wait to have an all time great in this and just be.

Like, first of all, first auctions talking about Tim Duncan being top four in the league.

He can't.

He can't bear to hear Joel beats better at one on one.

You. Tim Duncan can go and do anything that works. If all I need to do is a drop step and a little baby hook. That's all that I need. I'll do that to you ten times in a row. Tim Duncan has all the tools to. Tim Duncan went toe to toe with Shaq. You think he's scared of Joel Embiid.

He's never seen someone like.

I'm sure Tim Duncan is gonna be real brave about it. I'm sure he won't be scared. I'm sure he'll be extremely brave. Nevertheless. I'm going Joel. And beating the close victory as Joel.

Sorry.

And we'll end it there. Just because this is a hilarious point.

That's hilarious.

Bro.

I'm Max. I know. You have like David Robinson next or something like that.

We'll keep going. We'll keep going. Joel Embiid versus Giannis.

Oh, this is where it ends. It's Giannis. I I Now something I will say is that it does sound hypocritical to pick someone like Giannis even though his offensive game was limited. But there's only so much you can do with like 7 foot running. Full strength at the. At the rim. Bro.

Like.

But he doesn't. Where are they starting from?

But he doesn't get buffers.

Well, he can stop.

Where are they starting from? Can you get a full head of steam or are they starting from the elbow? There's a big one. Where are we playing this from?

I think they. I think they start at the top. Top of the key.

If it's one on one and it's like two dribbles. Three dribbles. There's no way Giannis is winning.

All the dirty work. Though. He's gonna.

Can anybody stay in front of Giannis for three dribbles? Like. Is there anybody that can stop him from blowing by?

I'm going Giannis at that length.

But Jollibee is also long. He has the length to like make it difficult.

But I don't think he has enough foot speed though. I don't think the length is enough to recover. Plus getting on the ground for that ball.

Bro.

Giannis is.

This is a really tough matchup. I don't know. Like traditional one one thoughts? Makes you think Joel and beat the jumper is going to win. You can't stop him. The same reasons you can't stop kd. But I feel like Yan's athleticism is a cheat code of one on one.

Yeah, Exactly. It's. It's what you thought about Zion Williamson and how his athleticism could like steer him to wins.

Yeah, Exactly.

Real life that now he has also newfound mid range.

I'm going to beat on this one.

You're going Embiid.

Then we'll go with it. Bead. We'll let him be have a victory. You win the one on one. King of the court game. We'll end it there. We gotta give him.

He would be Giannis in a one on one.

I think, honestly, I lowkey think that maybe Kareem would beat him. But Joel Embiid, if it's all time bigs, has a good chance of winning. He's built for one on one.

That's crazy.

I mean, we know there's like, there's three guys that I probably like.

Hakeem is like the competition with him.

I. I would not pick him against Shaq, I would not pick him against Hakeem, and I would not pick him against Wilt.

I don't know. I don't know. But yeah, Shaq, I don't. One on one is three dribbles. I mean, that's not very mean. If you're starting from. Do we get to let Shaq start at the bottom elbow then?

Yeah, like Shaq would win, but you can't. That's not how one on one works.

Like top of the key point line. I'm not going Shaq. I guarantee I'm going dwelling. Yeah, well, honestly, it's very big of you to say Joel and beat his top five at least. So that's. That's baby steps for you.

2025 new year. It's not the new you, Donovan. It's not the same you, Donovan.

Stop that. I'm not.

You're moving.

I'm not doing this.

Dude, you love Joel Embiid. This is awesome. You really love him now.

He. At. There was. There was a certain point, like 2018, circa 2018. I was a very big Joel Embiid fan and he was like one of my favorite Joel Embiid performances. He scored 40 on the Baby Lakers in LA. That was amazing. Like, I was, I was a. I was a. I was a very big fan.

I think you might, you might have single handedly made me a Joel Embiid fan. I think just like dealing with the hatred and being like, what are we talking about? Has made me a Joel and beat fan by proxy. Like, I've spent so much time defending him. I'm like, oh yeah, he is the most underrated player of your generation. He does get hated too much, I think.

I love this generation.

Here we go.

I pulled out of my ass. Probably. Yeah, probably because of all the downsides. His. His upsides probably are super underrated.

I'll see you guys next week.

That's an episode.

This has been a great episode. It's been a great time. Hope y' all enjoyed the conversation.

If you have one defender. I'm still alive.

You guys are still here. Comment. You don't understand.

Right?

And we will see you guys next week.

No idea how good Tim Duncan was.

All right.

And we'll see y' all next week.