Hey, what's up everybody? We're back. It's Brockman. It's Adam.
It's TJ. We're back for the did we do one? We did one at the beginning of the year. We did a couple.
Yeah, we did a few in the beginning of the year. But then, you know, the season was just kind of just starting. There wasn't a really a lot going on.
Nothing going on. But now that we're legit guys, we're legit 29 games into the season. You know, teams have played anywhere from 27 to 29 games. We're a good chunk into the season. We're more than a third of the way into this NBA season. So we're back.
We'll probably do one here, maybe one next week, and then we'll be back in the new year, a full swing every week through the NBA finals. And we're excited. We're glad to be back. A lot, a lot, a lot has happened in the association, but first, it's good to see you guys. Adam, what's up, man? Hey, just living the dream on a Wednesday afternoon. Great game last night from the Celtics and Lakers. I'm sure we'll talk about that soon. So yeah, it's, it's good to be back everybody.
Yeah. TJ, what'd you think? What's going on, man? You know, it was great to see the Clippers beat the brakes off the Celtics and then it was great to see the Celtics beat the brakes off the Lakers. So it was all good in the hood. If you ask me.
Yeah, let's just get right into it. Then Celtics are out here in a West coast swing. They go, they go what?
Four and one, four and one on the West coast swing. I think that's a loss to the warriors. Yeah. They lost to the warriors and also the Clippers. I mean, the Clippers, I'm sorry. Yeah, there you go.
There you go. So the three and so we'll throw, let's see four and two on the road trip. They started out in Brooklyn and then went to Toronto Phoenix before losing the golden state and covers a four and two in the road trip, going back home and a couple of nights against Orlando.
I went on Monday to see my squad play the clip show. Uh, I mean, Monday's game, if you watch it, it's the ultimate, it's the ultimate illustration of how the NBA is a make or miss league. The Celtics were nine of 39 from three point nine of 39.
It's about 20%. It's so freaking terrible during the game, bro. It was cause they had open shot after open shot and it was just miss, miss, miss, miss clipper, fast break Clippers hit at three, miss, miss clipper, fast break. Kawhi doesn't move. Miss, miss Paul George. You're like, what is going on? And then the last night against the Lakers, just to contrast Celtics started the game nine for 13 from three just started fire from three last night.
So look ultimate maker, miss league. Uh, and you saw that in the two games, uh, didn't make any shots really, really struggled on all ends against the Clippers lose by 20. That game was over, um, pretty much midway through the third quarter. And then last night against the Lakers get a 20 point lead because you play so well and you saw what the Lakers could be right.
Kind of higher register, but you saw what the Lakers could be last night in that third quarter, early fourth quarter run where they turned a 20 point deficit into a 13 point lead, LeBron, a D Russell Westbrook off the bench combined for 90 points. They really shot well. Uh, they played good defense there to take the lead. And then it just kind of waltzed away.
Cause Jason Tatum is the best player in the league right now, arguably, uh, definitely the best duo with Jalen Brown. And he just kind of took over and kind of forced over time. And then once in overtime, they, they really dominated, but it was just a tale of two games for Boston who has kind of been not head and shoulders above everybody else as the best team in the league, but they have the best record in the league super consistent right now. They've been very consistent since the beginning, which when the season started was a giant question Mark, because of all the weird things that happened in the weeks leading up to the start of the year with the head coach and the mystery and circumstances surrounding Emo Doka's departure and Joe Missoula stepping in now, he wasn't even the first assistant. He was the second and third assistant and the young guy, 34, and he steps in and it's been like, nothing changed like the end of last year and through the NBA playoffs and a two, one lead in the finals. And then right into this year, the Celtics have picked it up and keep rolling.
Uh, what did you guys see this week? Just from a Boston perspective, I'll be honest with you, based on everything you just said about your coaching situation, I and I'm sure most people, I was sure that like, I didn't think that the Celtics were going to fall apart, but I definitely thought the first half of the season, you know, first few weeks, they'd be in disarray, you know, trying to find their identity, having to deal with those questions that they had to deal with. By the way, we still don't fully know on the outside, fully know what's happened.
So you would assume that like, maybe all of that would got on them. You maybe have gotten up to a slow start and it was just like, nothing had ever changed. They did a tremendous job of blocking out the noise and just concentrating on the goal at hand. And I mean, look, they're killing it right now, 22 and seven, you know, roughly 30 games into the season. So I mean, they put that what could have been and what really is a just an awful situation and just a sad situation and unfortunate situation.
They've been able to put that in the rear view and just keep going ahead towards the goal. Yeah. And for like a month to them for like a month, the only team the Celtics could lose to was Cleveland and your Chicago Bulls. Yeah.
Unbelievable. The Bulls have been so mediocre this season, but for some reason we have Boston's number, but I believe that the Celtics signing of, of Malcolm Brogdon, that was a great signing. And then the surprise low key, great signing for the Celtics has been Blake Griffin.
Yeah. He's been, been a really solid rotational player. Obviously he's not the superstar that he used to be, uh, but he picks and chooses his spots and he's the type of guy that can be incredibly value valuable in the playoffs. So that was a great signing by the Celtics. And you know, last year, Jason Tatum didn't have a great NBA finals.
I think we can all agree on that, but you know, he was beat up. He hurt, you know, and nobody's played more minutes in the last like four years and Jason Tatum totally understandable. But the point I was trying to make was that I believe even though he didn't play well, that that allowed him to have another level of confidence to at least show him that he could be in, in the championship and he's carried, I think that confidence to this year and in, in gone a whole nother level. This guy was a superstar last year, but this year he's gone from superstar to top three player in the league.
So he's made another jump him and Jalen Brown. Like you said, they are the best ones who punched in the league right now. So the fact that like you said, TJ, that earlier that they haven't really dropped off at all there, there weren't any problems. It's been a shock to me how, how well they've been playing. So props to the Celtics.
They're looking great right now. Yeah. Yeah. You mentioned Tatum. It's just, it's the leap. It's 14 points per game as a rookie up to 16 in his second year, up to 23 in year three. And then he was 26, 27 last year.
And now he did it again. He's now averaging 30 points a game. It's that consistent leap. The, his rebounding numbers have gone up each year.
You could just see it. He looks different this year. He's playing with a different level of swag. He kept coming off the first team all NBA last year, and now going into it a legit MVP.
He is the MVP betting favorite in Vegas right now. Like it's just been a remarkable run in year six for him. And still TJ it's his sixth year, only 24 years old, only going to get better.
Not even in his quote unquote prime yet. It's, it's, it's really awesome to see, especially as a fan of the team like myself. It's not that awesome to see when rubbing salt in the wound at TJ, Hey, I'm just salty.
And you know why? And even though you constantly tell me it wouldn't have happened, but just like the fan of me, like I said, I will always revert back to the Sixers having that first pick. It's like, how could you not have drafted this guy?
Like, what were you thinking? Nobody thought he'd be this good though. We, I, people thought he'd be good, but not this good. Adam, you and I are both Duke fans, right? So we watched him and you could, you could just see like some guys, maybe not, but you can, the eye test is a big thing and you could tell this kid was special, man. I thought he was going to be a 20 point scorer in the league, but I didn't realize that he'd be a super duper top three player in the league. I didn't realize he would get to that level. And Adam, the other thing that bothers me so much is we already had Ben Simmons, right?
We already had a non-shooting point guard, and now we're trading up the draft Markel Foltz, another guy who doesn't really have a defined position who can't shoot. My, I will never forget. I was in Monaco when that trade happened.
And I remember looking at my phone going, what is going on? I had, I will never understand this. Jason Tam's going to go, he's going to be NBA top 100, you know, when it's all said and done and the Sixers will never, and also got to put the Lakers in there. They will never recover from not drafting this dude.
That is just a mistake that you could never, ever recover. That's the thing too. I don't know if you saw the quotes this week that Tatum said he, he, you know, obviously we know how much he loves Kobe Bryant. He, you know, he wore the shooting. He wanted to play for the league, wanted to play for the Lakers more than anything thought that's where he was going in that draft.
And well, you know, the other thing, and ultimately, of course we know what happened. I mean, he went, the other reason I bring this up a lot too, maybe a lot of people don't know. Jason Tatum is Larry Hughes nephew. Larry Hughes was drafted by the Sixers played with the Sixers from seeing us. So there was that little connection, but that even guys brings me back to something that the Sixers did.
And we've talked about this. I know last season, just like some of the bonehead moves they make. When I bring up the fact that Larry Hughes got drafted for the Sixers, what you got to remember is the Sixers passed up on the guy who probably should have been number one pick in that draft. And that was a guy named Paul Pierce. We could have had Paul Pierce and we took Larry Hughes instead, which left the Sixers. I mean, which left the Celtics to grab Pierce. Now, Larry Hughes was a very nice player. Paul Pierce is a Hall of Famer.
So basically we've lost two generational Hall of Famers to the Celtics. And again, you can't recover from those type of boneheaded front office moves. So yeah, I mean, Chris, I know you always say, like I just said earlier, they weren't going to take him.
But in my mind, as someone who watches basketball and new Duke, it's like, how could you not have taken this kid? So it's just going to bug me. And it bugs me that I don't hate him because I want to hate also the score. And I can't. I love watching this dude play basketball.
And, you know, I'm just going to have to grin and bear it for the next 12 to 15 years. And to piggyback on what Adam said, like I think coming in, you saw the guy, you saw how like athletic he was. You could tell he's going to be tall, that perfect small forward body now in today's game.
I think Tatum's six, nine, almost 610. He's definitely put on some. I mean, he's getting he's getting a little muscular now, but a 20 point score for his career. I think that's a reasonable expectation when he was coming into the league, a 30 plus point a night score, an MVP candidate. I mean, he has the Celtics record for all time, 50 point games already in 24 years old.
That is bananas. Nobody thought this when he entered the league and to see him develop and improve every single year, he's averaging eight free throws a game this season. That's up from six a year ago. He's getting to the line more. He's finishing more. He still doesn't get calls and the respect from the officials, but that'll come still a young player win an MVP suddenly. Now you get more of those calls and now he's averaging 32, 33 a game that, I mean, the sky's the limit for this guy. And to think that, Hey, he did have a struggle in the NBA finals and to bounce back this season, really not miss a beat and even improve that bodes well for the chances for the Celtics.
And it's interesting. It's interesting that it's the beginning of last year, the Celtics were struggling and there are a lot of, there are a lot of people in the, you almost forget about that. Yeah. There are a lot of people in the media saying that Tatum and Jalen Brown didn't work. Yeah.
Break them up, break them up, start it over. And then you saw that turnaround in the second half leading all the way to the NBA finals. Then you see the momentum from last year. It's, it's pretty amazing that turnaround that the Celtics have had in the last year.
It's incredible. And also, you know, we're always talking about like face of the league and who's the next face. And Jason Tatum's name is a name that never for whatever reason, doesn't get mentioned.
Here's a guy, right? No off off the court issues on the court. He's everything you could imagine. He's a family man. He's always got his son with him. He's a guy like if you want to elevate somebody and go, this is our, this could be the face. Good looking brother keeps his nose clean. I mean that in both senses, like you don't ever hear any off court issues.
Don't ever hear any dirt about him. He comes, he puts it in the work. Good family man. That's a guy who we should be propping up and elevating it at every turn really. And I just hope he continues to do the right thing and just make sure he keeps all distractions out and just focuses on the goal at hand.
Cause this dude is special. And you know, he's one of those guys who deserves to be, you know, a face of the league and the other guy who also should be, you know, right there. And they're the second best team in the NBA right now. We're talking about Giannis. We're talking about the Milwaukee bucks. Once again, there's the bucks right there. One of the best teams in the league, consistent, you know what they're, you're getting out of them. Now that Chris Middleton is healthy, you really see what the, how the bucks are kind of operating on full cylinders. Giannis is once again, an MVP candidate, him and Tatum or one, two, uh, they've strung together four to five wins. They've strung together eight out of 10. The bucks are really feeling themselves. And you Adam, that you once again have to consider Milwaukee. One of the title favorites.
Absolutely. I have Giannis on my fantasy team. So I see his numbers day after day after day, just 30 points here, 12, 12 rebounds every single night, every single night. Just so consistent. The guy is just unbelievably dominant. Some of the plays he had last night against golden state were just ridiculous. You know, dribbling maybe five steps from a half court line and dunking on people. Just his, his, his ability to get to the lane so easily is a seven footer who can handle the ball is just something that really the NBA has never seen before.
The guy's incredible. And then you have to talk about the bucks. You have to talk about Bobby Portis. Who's averaging, I believe 14 points and 10 rebounds a game. Yeah.
Let me look at this 14. Yeah, 14 points, 10 rebounds a game for Bobby Porter. It's frustrating as a Chicago bulls fan. Two of the most improved players this year, while remarketing in Bobby Portis, both on the Chicago bulls, we let them go.
We thought they were dead. Laurie marketing comes to the Utah jazz, a ragtag group of, of players. And the guy's been great this year. And then Bobby Portis, who is, who's been clutch for the Milwaukee bucks for the last couple of years. And he's really put it together.
I know he's tree is training with lethal shooters. So his shootings improved. And if you can get 14 and 10 from a guy that, you know, is probably the fourth or fifth best player on the team, that's, that's incredible. And then he's, he's kind of stepped in for, for Middleton.
And now that Middleton's there, he'll probably take some of the points away from Portis, but that's, that team is looking really good right now. And if you had a bucks Saltics Eastern conference finals matchup, that would be so fun to watch. Sign me up for seven of those games, right? TJ? I mean, yeah. Why not? It's just, I just love them.
Basketball is played really well at a high level and that's what you would get. But obviously, you know, I still have to put the Sixers in there. We, you know, we've lost some games injury, of course, and maybe I'm jumping the gun here, switching over to them, but you know, I'm going to miss the few, which he's always going to do and hard and miss the stretch. And Maxie who was absolutely on fire.
Adam, I almost made the biggest mistake ever. He was trying to trade me Maxie, like in the first two weeks of the year. He's like, I have too many guards. I could not get him because I had Luca. I had Maxie. I had Chris Paul. I had Dame Lillard and I had Jamal. I was like guard heavy and just, I couldn't get him in my starting lineup. And then after Chris turned me down, he went on the stretch where he averaged like 23 game. I'm like, oh, thank goodness. I didn't get rid of this guy.
What was I thinking? But he's been on the show for about two weeks now. I'm not sure when he's getting back. But you know, when you talk about duos and beaten hardened, just like I would imagine those are a duo that you probably don't want to run into in the playoffs either.
No, absolutely. I have the Sixers winning the East at the start of the year and the fact that hardens been injured a lot. I still still believe that there's they're trying to figure out their chemistry together. They haven't been playing together that long harden was traded the it's a trade deadline last year. I think Doc Rivers mentioned that a few months ago when he called into the big show. Yeah.
So they're still figuring out. So you cannot you cannot take take away the credit that the Sixers still might be there in the Eastern Conference finals and beads. Unbelievable this year. He's putting up MVP numbers leading the score in the league. And you know, with him and you guys know this, it all just comes down to health as it does for everybody, really. But especially with him, because and beads like the king of just like some weird injury. One year in the playoffs, he dislocates one of his big fingers and it's hanging off the side of his hand. And then there's always like a knee issue or a hamstring or a broken hand or a broken eye socket.
It's always something weird, man. If he could just stay healthy, it would be amazing. Yeah, that's the thing about Philly.
So much talent. We've just never really seen you guys at full on 100% health, 100 percent. I'm hoping this is the go and this you know, this could be the year now that James is back missed about a month. But Maxi really he has to come back, pick up where he left off. And then this is a very dangerous squad if that happens.
Yeah. And speaking of dangerous and playing really well right now, I think it's time to talk about the Brooklyn Nets, what they've been doing eight of the last 10 games, including four in a row. Kevin Durant is pouring in some kind of season right now, despite all the all the turmoil and all the controversy and all the off the court stuff that has been going on with this Brooklyn team seemingly for the last three seasons.
Here's old Mr. Reliable Kevin Durant, 30 points per game. Like it's just nothing is what 16th, 17th NBA season, just doing it like he always had. And Brooklyn is now fourth in the east. They're right behind a half game behind Cleveland for the third spot.
And it's probably time to talk about the Nets as serious contenders in the east. Right, guys? Yeah. I mean, when you have Kevin Durant, you're always a contender because that's all the guy does. Right. You don't want to do anything else but play ball.
You got a guy like that who's literally a walking bucket. You know, it just depends. It depends on what you're going to get out of Kyrie. It depends on can Ben Simmons give you anything like because right now I don't really know what's going on with him. I'm looking at his averages. He's he's averaging eight points, six rebounds and five assists.
He's essentially just a role player at this point. And he's only played in 19 games. He's not playing back to backs. He's not playing when there's three or four games in a week. He's only playing half of those games. You know, he's eight.
What do you say? Eight and seven right now in six point seven rebounds and six assists. I mean, still, it's like he's he's really filling up the stat sheet. He plays good defense also. And he plays good deep.
But you're not getting that 15, 10 and eight, which you kind of thought, which is very doable for him. You're not he's not scoring twenty five a game, but you still he should be out there getting 12 to 15. He should be out there getting four or five, six buckets and a handful of free throws every night. One thing you can say about Ben Simmons is his homeboy gets to the rack with ease, man, with ease. So he should just be getting to the whole, you know, minimum five times a game, you know, off the layups. He should be getting 10 points per game. So for him not to average, I don't know. That's that's weird to me.
I don't understand that. Kyrie Irving. I mean, look, he's missed.
He's missed eight games, missed nine games. But when he's out there, man, he is filling it up. Twenty five points per game for Kyrie. He's really playing well when he's out there. I mean, yeah, Kyrie is one of the best in the world at what he does, you know? Yeah. And that team's still trying to develop their chemistry as well.
For sure. Too many injuries. If they can run into form around the playoffs, though, and they're not injured, they are dangerous. You can't deny that when they have two of the top 15 players in the league. And and what's amazing to me about Durant is after he tore his Achilles, there are a lot of questions of he'd return to be the same quality of player that he was before the injury. And and he's proven that he's absolutely the the the same quality that he used to be.
So that's that's been important for them. You know, you see somebody like Klay Thompson who's who's getting better, but you could tell he's still hesitant. There's something a little not the same about Klay ever since that injury.
Granted, he had two injuries, the ACL and the Achilles. Right. Well, so Katie. Yes, I was going to say it.
But but with Katie, there's been no drop off at all. The guy is averaging 30 a game and it feels like he could just do this coasting essentially for the next five years. That's what it feels like. He's 30. He's a unicorn, man. Like, you know, he's like one of one for sure.
Yeah, he's so special. It's so ridiculous. But the problem is, you know, with the Nets, when you look at this roster after Durant, Irving, like, where do you go now to get a bucket of those two?
Yeah. Not that you'll ever lock them down, but if they're off like the next highest point total is Nick Claxton, followed by Seth Curry and Royce O'Neill. And none of them are averaging over 10 a game.
So that's the thing. Like, where's that third man coming in? Yeah, I mean, it's not like Nick Claxton is a shooter either. He's their center. He's the guy underneath. He's averaging nine boards. He's averaging a couple of blocks.
I have him in fantasy, which is how I know all this. But yeah, you need you need the guys. You need the shooters. You need Seth Curry's.
You need the T.J. Warren's. You need Joe Harris who's been in trade rumors the last couple of weeks. You need these guys to make open shots, especially, like you said, on the off chance that both Katie and Kyrie are having bad shooting nights. You need some of these guys to step up.
And that's kind of being the thing with them. They don't really have that third got a go to guy like some of these other teams have. And I'm glad you mentioned T.J. Warren, you know, because we think back to the bubble bubble. T.J. Warren was a breakout.
And you thought like, OK, this to turn the corner like career is going to be different. Then he got hurt and he hasn't been the same since. If they can get back bubble T.J. Warren, then, you know, then then you got your third guy. But he's only played five games so far, averaging eight points per game.
So we'll see if he can, you know, get back to, you know, where he was or close to where he was before he got hurt. Yeah, let's go to the West, because the West I mean, where where the East is seemingly top top heavy with, you know, Boston and Milwaukee, Cleveland has 17 wins and Brooklyn right there waiting for Philly to get healthy. The West is just absolutely insane.
The top six teams separated by three games in the standings, the top 10 teams separated by four and a half games in the standings. And look who's coming on Memphis and New Orleans. Finally, the top two picks in the NBA draft from a couple of years ago. We're talking about Zion Williamson.
We're talking about John Moran. These guys are now living up to all of that hype that they entered the league with. And we are seeing it. And I want to talk about Zion first because of the shenanigans, quote unquote, from the other night against Phoenix. That game's over. Game's over.
Pelicans, they come in, they put the hurt down on Phoenix. The game's over. Closing seconds. Zion on a leak out, throws down what is that a 10 out of 10?
Is that a leak out? It was like they took a shot, took a shot. And he's got the rebound, kicked it out to him and zeros now with zeros. No, there was, I think the five seconds. There was a couple seconds.
A couple seconds. Zion throws down this 360 windmill. First of all, that would have won any dunk contest. I'm pretty sure I can speak for the three of us that we're all throwing 10 up. Oh, I got thrown up 10.
You know, I can't believe how angry is amazing because you're at home. That's what the fans are paying to see. That's what the NBA wants to see. Zion became the biggest, I guess, YouTube sensation as far as basketball players go. Before he even got to college, he was known for doing these dunks.
We missed out on a full, basically two years of him. This is what we want to see. We're talking about faces of the league.
Like this guy's a face. He threw down this dunk, which was ridiculous for the sons to get all butthurt about it is I just, if you didn't want him to do that, then you shouldn't have shut the ball at the end of the court. Like then dribble it out. You know what exactly this is? This is people getting mad at cam Newton dancing in the end zone. This is unwritten rules of baseball level type crap. Like this is what we want to see.
This is why you pay your money. Go to the games. I'm seeing Phoenix. I'm seeing D book. I'm seeing Zion tonight.
I'm seeing B I like let's go. And Zion puts on a show for you. Think about a little like nine year old kid that's there for the first time ever. And he sees that Zion's on. He will remember that dunk for the rest of his life. He'll remember that game. So that's the type of stuff you especially cause it caused a kerfuffle on the court.
So he's definitely going to remember that. And here's the thing. The new Orleans fans, they had no Zion all last year. They're desperate for a winning team. They're desperate to see Zion. So every three 60 dunk that he does every windmill mill, every crazy layup, they deserve it because they miss out on an entire year of him worrying about whether he was going to be a complete bus.
Meanwhile, watching John Moran ascends to superstardom. So for that fan base, to be able to get Zion back and at least for now him being healthy and dominant is, is great to see. So I was so happy to see him do that dunk and to bother the sons, because listen, I respect Chris Paul. He's a hall of fame player.
Sure. He's a hall of famer, but a legend, but he is one of the most dirty, annoying players of all time. And so for them to shove it in his face a little, that's that made me feel good because that guy, you see the clips on Twitter where they isolate some of the dirty plays he'd made.
We've shared the posts on Instagram. This guy, Chris Paul, cliff Paul, he's got the good image. He's state farm this state from that. He is on the court, a bad person. Two of the greatest point guards of all time, John Stockton and Chris Paul, both known for being like people tell you, they thought they felt the same way about Stockton. He was a little dirty. He'd throw elbows in the ribs coming across picks. Maybe it has to do with the fact that these guys are just small and they got to get every advantage it is. And if that means they got to throw a little bow in your chest and your rib cage, then that's what they got to do because they're out there in the land of giants.
And one of them were very big. So yeah, you got to have a chip on your shoulder if you're six foot and you're going to play point guard and you got to be a little nasty. Zeke was a little nasty. Isaiah Thomas, for you that don't know, Stockton was wasn't like quiet as the dirtiest players, very nasty. And Chris Paul's got that nastiness to him.
So, you know, yeah, it's just something like you need that kind of chip, I guess. But yeah, I have no problem with that dunk. I thought it was great. And it's just so exciting to see the Pels, man. They've won 12 out of the last 15 games. They dropped on the other night to Utah. But, you know, big wins two in a row over the Suns. They beat the Nuggets to beat the Raptors who've been playing great. Golden State and Memphis like they're really coming together.
And you're seeing the potential of this young roster. Six guys averaging double figures like twenty five from Zion. Twenty one from B.I. Seventeen from C.J. like thirteen and nine from Valanciunas.
And then off the bench, Trey Murphy, Herb Jones. This guy, Jose Alvarado. He's great. Is he the next he's that guy? Alvedova, like bro, that's the next level. Tell you, you need guys like that to win titles. You need the guys who who walk into a gunfight with a knife like he don't care like this dude. What?
Let's go. You know, you need dudes like Alvarado on your team, man. And, you know, you could tell he might be the heartbeat of that of that Pels squad. He dropped like almost 40 the other night. He had like a crazy hot shooting night. By the way, did you guys see the dunk Zion had yesterday where he just went by? He took a guy.
Oh, yes. And I don't remember who we dunked on. Crossed him over, went to the went to his right hand and took him down like across the key and two handed and just grown man dunk to the point where it's like I literally almost record and I almost pulled the you. I almost got my TV around. I'm the king, but I was like doing some stuff with Cajun.
I didn't have time, but I in my head I was like, I need to record this and send it to. Yeah, that was I mean, Zion, bro. Just please, Lord, let that man stay healthy. So we can enjoy. I want to see this.
I want to see a dozen more years of Zion. But also we need we need Brandon Ingram for the Pels to really kind of keep going. B.I.
who was playing. He's another guy I have on my fantasy squad who was killing it. He's been hurt like I just simply cannot feel a healthy team in our fantasy league, which is why I'm in last place.
But when all my guys get healthy, my team's nice. But, you know, B.I., he's another one, man. He just he's hurt. He's been kind of hurt a few games, but he's another one, man. He's a guy who, you know, the Lakers gave up on him and you thought maybe Brandon Ingram just wasn't going to fulfill the you know, the the talent that we thought expectation. And now the guy, you know, twenty one a game, you know, five rebounds, five assists. So as long as B.I., he's only played 15 games.
Get him back healthy. You might not want to see these pelicans. I was going to say, do you guys believe that they're for real in terms of potentially winning the West if they're healthy?
I do. I don't know if I believe they could win the West, but I feel that they're going to give whoever does, they're going to you're going to know you're in a battle. I think with them, I don't know if I see them coming out right now, but I think if Zion stays healthy and if B.I. stays healthy, there's no telling what this team can't do.
There's no I mean, they have the length. They have Herb Jones, Joe Murphy. I didn't even mention C.J. That's right. It's just a super quiet but 70 leadership.
You know what you're going to get out of him. Clutch down the stretch. I don't think there's I couldn't tell you who New Orleans is head coaches, by the way, like they could absolutely win the West.
Absolutely. Kind of like Memphis last year. Memphis kind of came out of nowhere, ended up being the two seed. They were the hot chic pick coming into the season to win the West. They're now the hottest team in the league. They've won six in a row. They're now healthy. I mean, both them and New Orleans are 18.
You know, they're 18 and nine. I don't see why either of those teams can can win the West. Like we said, the West is so wide open. Golden State is 10th. Minnesota Willie Green is the Pelicans head coach. I just knew that off the top of my head.
No one told that me that in my ear. Golden State is defending NBA champions or 10. And you know what? Golden State, I think, is just going to be comfortable kind of cruising into the playoffs. I'm not really worried about them. I know they're 10th right now. They're going to make the playoffs. So I think they're probably just going to coast the rest of the season to be honest.
And I got to say, T.J., I saw it on Monday. A healthy full Clippers squad is so dangerous. Kawhi, Paul George, Reggie Jackson, Marcus Morris is playing awesome this year. Zubat is a beast. Zubat is a beast.
Which one of you guys got him on fantasy? A rebounding and block shot machine that dude is. Yeah. Clippers are no joke, man. They get they get healthy. They are so much better than the current 60 at which they're at.
I could easily see them being top three in the West. And the clips are so deep. That's the thing, you know. And, you know, I know a lot of people.
Rich is one of them. They get mad about, you know, the back to backs and not playing. But you remember quite like blew up his ACL. So and I've said this countless times, like a healthy Kawhi in December. Cool.
Great. I need Kawhi healthy in May and June to try to make something happen here, because honestly, guys and as a Clipper fan, I can say this. There's only one thing that the Clippers can do with this squad. And and that is win a championship. Otherwise, that trade is going to go down quite possibly is maybe the worst trade. You gave up six number ones, including including a guy who's a superstar now.
Yes. So it's like they have to win a title or else that trade was for nothing, because also, I think at this point, Kawhi is probably here for a good time, not a long time. I don't know if you're going to see Kawhi, you know, in year 15, 16.
Matter of fact, I'm just going to say you probably won't see him play that long. So, you know, this team has to win a title or that trade is just man. And here's the thing. I remember that trade. It was July 4th. There was an earthquake and I mean, a major earthquake that happened like right around that time that that trade was announced. And I know because I was doing the thing Chris Rob's recording something on my TV when it happened that day. And I thought, OK, the Earth's moving because the Clippers are going to find a chip like this is the end.
And if you remember that movie. But yeah, they got to win a chip with the with these this team or else, man, what what was it all for? Yeah. Jazz have come back down to Earth. They're down to the eight spots. They're playing really well. Like we said in the first couple of pods, the Jazz had an assignment and they said, you know what?
We don't want this assignment. You got to give them props. They're 16 and 14. They played great basketball this year. They're not about to roll over and play dead, even though, you know, we got a seven foot four inch Frenchman that's waiting to make his way over here. But apparently, you know, they don't want him in Utah because the Jazz ain't going to lay down, man. And I really I do like that, that that team is is showing some fight. Now, the Pistons, on the other hand, I think you look with them and now they just sat Cade Cunningham.
They understand this. I think Sadiq Bey is going to get moved. You know, Isaiah Stewart's probably going to get moved. I think you kind of see where the Pistons are going.
They want they want Crown Vic and that's why I was just thinking about this. I'm looking at the standings. You have the Charlotte Hornets is the second worst record in the league right now.
It's seven and 20. But Melo's back. Melo's back. Melo's been hurt pretty much this whole year. Imagine if they just play terrible this year.
You have the potential. Oh, don't even say Vic. Oh, that would break the NBA. That would be that's the one guy you'd want him to play with. Actually, it would be so fun to see those two guys playing.
It's so entertaining. So the amount of alley oops would just be astronomical. I'd rather him there than Detroit for sure. Houston, right?
Absolutely. Houston is also going to be in the mix. We're looking at we're looking at the Spurs. We're looking at the Rockets. You know, we're looking at the Pistons, the Hornets, the Magic put Vic with Paolo.
My goodness. Could you imagine like that wouldn't even be fair in bowl bowl also bowl bowl. Those are your five teams are going to be fighting for the top spot. Oh, and Charlotte, Detroit. And all that means is like a team like I don't know, the Thunder are going to mess around, get in the lottery and they're going to end up winning. You know, it always happens. Or if the Lakers somehow win that pick goes to the pelicans.
Are you kidding me? You put him on that's what that's champion. What if the pelicans win the West and then get Victor is the next year. Well, that would be, you know, the Rich Eisen thing where he wins our fantasy league and then gets the first pick which by the way, I think I'm working on about that. Rich is like, what's it matter? Well, I you know, I'm gonna show in the next few days what it would matter only matters and we're going to change that for next year. I promise that's not going to happen. Now look between us. Does it really matter? No, but we're going to tell rich that at every point.
I'm just going to say we're never going to hear the end. Yeah, because rich, you know, although and I've said on record that I was for rich Michigan beating Ohio State because I like happy rich because I think it makes the show better. But now it's like, you know, he got to Michigan victories over happy. Now he's got, you know, he won fantasy football and fantasy basketball and now he's in first place again. You're right, Chris.
Maybe we got to take him down just to take it. All right. Well, it's fun to be back. It's fun to chat NBA now. So like I said, we'll hit one next week. We'll take a couple weeks off for the holiday break.
And then we'll be back in the new year with pods for the NBA Finals. Thanks for listening. We love you guys. Great job, TJ. Adam, leave some comments. Let us know what you want to hear next week. We will see you then. Bye.
Whisper: medium.en / 2022-12-18 07:03:29 / 2022-12-18 07:20:52 / 17
