Will anyone beat Thunder? Do Lakers survive without LeBron? Wemby MVP leap? | 5 Big NBA Questions

Jason Timpf breaks down his five biggest questions heading into the 2025-26 NBA season including whether Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will become the best player in the world for the Oklahoma City Thunder, what teams have the ability to upset the champs, how the Los Angeles Lakers can survive (or not) with just Luka Doncic while LeBron James is hurt, whether Victor Wembanyama can make a mega leap to MVP status with the San Antonio Spurs, whether the New York Knicks will be able to vault up a tier in the East, and more.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. All right, well, good hoops, tonight you're at
the volume. Have you Monday?

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Everybody hopeful if you guys had an incredible weekend. We
are one sleep away from the launch of the twenty
twenty five twenty twenty six NBA season.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
I'm very, very excited.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
I have some final preseason takeaways, a bunch of different
stuff I want to get into. So I thought the
best way for us to put that together today is
to call it the five Big Questions Before we start
the twenty twenty five NBA season. We're rebouncing all over
the place, gonna hit some stuff with SGA as well
as with the Thunder as a whole. I want. I'm
kind of interested in this idea of like what teams

(00:48):
are capable of upsetting Oklahoma City versus what teams are
not capable of upsetting Oklahoma City. After that, I'm gonna
give some last minute takeaways on the Los Angeles Lakers
after their final preseason game, which was a dress rehearsal
versus the Sacramento Kings. After that, I'm interested in who
has the best chance to get the two seed out

(01:09):
in the Eastern Conference. We all can agree that Cleveland
is most likely going to get the one seed out there,
but there's three teams I think that are in the
running for that two seeds, So we'll break that down,
and at the tail end of the show, just a
brief look at the MVP race this season, which in
Vegas is showing up very clearly as a three person race.
We'll talk about those three as well as who I
think is the best long shot candidate. You guys are

(01:30):
the Joe Before we get started, to subscribe to the
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It's also super helpful if you leave a rating in
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Make sure you guys follow us there for great content
throughout the rest of the season. In the last but

(01:52):
not least, keep dropping mail bag questions in the YouTube comments.
We are going to have mail bags basically weekly throughout
the regular season. We will have one coming up on
this Friday, So I'll be pulling questions from the comment
section on this video as well as the comment section
on our three lives that we have going on Tuesday, Wednesday,
and Thursday Night. That's our schedule this week. Obviously, the

(02:14):
five Big Questions today, then we'll live on Tuesday Night Live,
on Wednesday Night Live, on Thursday Night, mail Bag on Friday.
All right, let's talk some basketball. So first big question
as we head into the start of this season, can
shake you'll just Alexander take the leap to become the
best basketball player in the world. We had a debate,

(02:37):
if you guys remember in our mail bag like a
week or two ago, and talking about the idea of like,
you know, we have this theoretical kind of two telephone
polls that are holding up a wire, right and that's
Nicole Jokic, who's the best player in the world right now?
And then there's this onslought of Victor Webman Yama, And

(02:57):
we don't know when it's gonna happen. We don't know
when he's gonna take that leap to officially become that guy.
But what if there's a gap in there, what if
there's a gap in there where there's a spot for
someone else to jump up, whether it be a Luka
Dancic or Shake Gil just Alexander and an Anthony Edwards.
And one of the things I said in that debate
is that I didn't think that Shay could become the
best player in the world because he doesn't have like

(03:19):
a second thing that he's transcendently great at. And we
were talking about like how Ant has this defensive potential.
He may or may not ever realize it, but maybe
he has that potential. And then Luca has this ability
to score at volume and at efficiency the same way
that Shaye does, but that also has this transcendent playmaking gift, right,

(03:41):
And so honestly, I was watching the preseason and Shay
is just remarkably locked in. He was twenty for twenty
four from the field in preseason, ten for twelve on
jump shots, five for five from the mid range, five
for seven from three, that three point shot he's been

(04:01):
working on the last few years, seven for seven on
all off the dribble jump shots, nine for eleven at
the rim. Just completely ridiculous shot making, and it looks good.
Every bit is good on tape, as it does in
the box score. His start stop quickness is completely off
the charts. He's dusting dudes off the dribble. He had
this like snatchback dribble move against Brandon Miller in a

(04:22):
Hornets game, going down the right lane line where he
planted that right leg going full speed and pulled it
back and Brandon, who's a great athlete, just goes like
flying off the screen, and Shay just easily goes forward
to his left and lays the ball up. Everyone else
looks like they're stuck in the mud. And all I
could think was, as I was watching that, was I'm

(04:42):
an idiot for thinking that Shaye doesn't have the potential
at least to become the best basketball player in the world.
One day, I was really caught by his playmaking. He
had sixteen assists to just six turnovers in roughly fifty
seven minutes of preseason action. For those of you guys,
I look at those of you guys who've been looking

(05:04):
at the show for a while, I typically look at
per thirty six as a way to kind of translate
whether it be a small role player who's you know,
playing fewer minutes per game, kind of look at what
their production looks like at larger scale, or in this case,
in preseason when they're not playing their normal thirty six
minute type of nights, right, Shay averaged ten point one

(05:24):
assists per thirty six minutes. To give you guys some perspective,
he was at six point seven per thirty six in
the regular season last year and six point three in
the playoffs. Also a two point seven assist to turnover ratio.
Obviously small sample size, but the point is is Shay
somehow looks even better than he did last year. And
you know, I've been wrong before, and it's kind of

(05:45):
a natural part of this business. I'm sure I'll be
wrong many more times in the future. But I when
I was like thinking back on that, I was like,
that might be one of the worst takes that I've
ever had. It is completely absurd for me to insinuate
even if I don't think he's there yet, and even
if there's a chance that Victor comes on too quick,
or that Luca blows us all away and proves himself

(06:06):
to be a better player this year, it's absurd for
me to pretend as though Shay can't become the best
basketball player in the world. He absolutely can. He's actually
closer to it than we think in a lot of ways,
Like he needs to get more consistent in the postseason
as a scorer and efficient, Like he fell off a
cliff last year an efficiency from sixty four percent for

(06:27):
shooting in the regular season to just fifty seven in
the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
That's a precipitous drop off.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
He needs to get a little bit more efficient there,
needs to take a little bit of a play making leap,
which he's showing a bit of in preseason. But again,
like I just want to get out in front of
that in the sense that like I was wrong and
I just rather than going down with the ship, I'd
rather just admit that I was wrong and move forward.
And the truth of the matter is is like I've
been too low on Shay's big picture potential. He absolutely

(06:55):
has the potential to join that conversation with the very
best basketball player in the world right now, with Nikola Jokic.
I still think it's Jokic right now. I think Wemby's coming.
I think it's going to be hard for Shay to
outpace Wemby when Wemby gets to his peak.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
But they're very well.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
Maybe a pocket in time there, and I think, you know,
I have the players that I'm drawn to. I'm drawn
to playmaking naturally, and I do think that that scoring
archetype like Shay is a little bit tougher. I think
you've got to be transcendently great at it. But he
is transcendently great at it. And if he takes a
playmaking leap this year and he gets up over seven
and a half assists per game, that closes the gap

(07:32):
with Luca on the playmaking front in a way that
I think it starts to complicate that conversation, and so
I just want to again get out in front of that.
I was wrong to say that. I think Shay absolutely
has the potential to become the best player in the NBA,
maybe even sooner than later. One of the specific things
that I've noticed in preseason two is just his willingness
to take easy reads early in possessions. This is one

(07:54):
of his things in the postseason that kind of ebbed
and flowed with his game management. But his scoring ability
is becoming such a damn problem for defenses that when
he starts to probe off the dribble a little bit,
they're fully compromised. They're completely throwing their attention and effort
at him, and so you're starting to see these like
really easy kickout reads that he's taking advantage of early

(08:16):
in possessions, and it's getting the engine flowing for Oklahoma
City's offense early. He's making those raaids consistently. If he
does that, it's going to keep his teammates in rhythm
night tonight, and it'll even loosen up the defense on
him to make things even easier on him as a score.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
And last night on SGA.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
Before we move on, I've just really enjoyed watching Starting
Five with him and just getting to know him a
little bit more on a personal level from the access
that we get from that show. First of all, I
absolutely love Starting five. If you haven't watched it yet,
it's on Netflix, I highly recommend you check it out.
It just does such a wonderful job of capturing the
cool of the NBA and its players. Like I fell

(08:57):
in love with this game as a kid, I'm sure
most of you guys did too. And you just idolize
the league and you idolize the teams, and you idolize
the players. They become like almost like they become like
fantastic to you in a lot of ways, right, And
I just thought that that show has done an amazing
job over the last couple of years of just kind

(09:17):
of immersing us in the NBA in a way we
don't get to just by watching the games. I really
enjoyed watching it, and I've just really enjoyed watching Shay
and just kind of learning a little bit more about
his personality. Talked a lot about his consistency and just
how his daily process is the same and that's why
he's consistent in his performance on the court. I love
the perspective he offered as it pertains to media criticism.

(09:40):
I've always talked about how, like media criticism kind of
comes in three phases for players. When you're young, everyone's
just excited about what you're great at, and all we
do is talk about how amazing you are. And even
when we talk about your weaknesses, we talk about them
in the context of, yo, well, you're eventually going to
get better at that, like oh, like Wemby just has
to work on this, if he figures this out, like,

(10:01):
oh man, the league's in trouble. It's like even criticism
takes on a positive connotation and that's like a phase
that Victor Wembenyama is in, and then there's like this
middle phase. And in the middle phase, all of a sudden,
the dynamic changes. We're no longer comparing you to the
lesser players in the league. We're comparing you to the
very best basketball players alive. And when you're doing that,

(10:22):
all of a sudden, it becomes kind of nitpicky. It's like, well,
he's not as good at this as some of his
peers are at the top of the league, or he's
not as good at that, And that's where Luca is
right now, That's where Shay is right now, That's what
Yannis has been in the last few years. And part
of it is kind of the reality it's a blessing
and a curse being one of the best basketball players

(10:43):
in the world. Like you're experiencing all the fame and
success that comes from it, but it comes with you
being juxtaposed amongst the greats, and that just comes with criticism.
And like, that's the thing. We're not comparing Shade is
Zack Lavine. Comparing Shade is ac Lavine. It's gonna be
an overwhelmingly positive conversation. But if we're talking about him
compared to Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic and Jannison Tenakumpo.

(11:05):
It's gonna come with a lot of criticism. It's a
healthy it's it's kind of like a healthy part of
the discourse. In that environment. You're you're being welcomed into
a very exclusive club. And then there's like a third phase, right,
which is Steph and Kadi and Lebron. Those guys, they're
just no one's comparing them to the top guys anymore, so,

(11:26):
no one's being that nitpicky. Everyone just kind of has
a profound respect for them for the most part, except
for some bad actors out there, right, and so the
coverage turns overwhelmingly positive. So like Luca and Shae and Giannis,
those guys are all stuck in the hardest part of
it right now. And what I liked about seeing in
the show, Shay just talked about how it doesn't really
get to him because he's harder on himself than the

(11:50):
fans are, or then the media is, or then even
his coaches are, is what he said in the show,
And like, I thought that was really interesting perspective because
not only does that drive you. But it's one of
those things where I thought back to the last last
year's playoff run where he had some struggles with game management,
he came through every time when they needed him to,

(12:11):
Like for all of the bad games in there where
Oklahoma City's offense fell apart, every time the chips were
down and the title was going to get determined, he
played a good floor game. And so's it's a testament
to self awareness. It's a testament to the fact that
he is his biggest critic and that he uses that
to push himself. I've just really enjoyed watching that show

(12:33):
to get a little bit more perspective on who Shay
is as a person. And again, I just want to
get out in front of that.

Speaker 1 (12:39):
Like I have been.

Speaker 2 (12:41):
Under selling Shay's big picture potential. I don't think he's
the best player in the world yet, but I think
it's foolish for anybody to insinuate that he can't get there.
And when I said that, I was wrong and I'd
rather just get it right. So that's all I got
for Shae for right now. Let's move on to question
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code hoops tonight h oops T O N I G
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Please support our show and let them know that we
sent you. How many teams do I actually think are
capable of beating Oklahoma City in a series. I was
thinking about this concept after watching Minnesota last year in

(15:12):
the postseason, we talked about kind of Minnesota, and when
we did our player rankings and when we did our
contender rankings, I talked about how like Minnesota kind of
needs Denver to follow to number four and beat Oklahoma
City in the second round in order for Minnesota to
get out of the conference, because I don't think Minnesota
can beat Okay. See, they have like a couple of

(15:33):
key weaknesses in key areas that affect that specific matchup
on both ends of the floor. So, for instance, on offense,
Oklahoma City has this combination of like real athletes that
can get up into ant guys like Lou Dort, guys
like Alex Crusoe, guys that, like an it's not going
to have this unbelievable athleticism advantage against. But then they

(15:58):
also can protect the rim. And we've seen variations of
that even beyond Oklahoma City when it was Derek Jones
Junior and Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford and suddenly went
down a big level offensively, right, So, like Oklahoma City
presents that athletic on the perimeter and rim protection dynamic
that Minnesota struggles against. Secondly, Minnesota is not a high

(16:20):
level processing team. They were nineteenth and turnover rate last
year eighteenth and assistant turnover ratio. They can shoot the
ball plenty, well, they got plenty of shooting, but they
don't have great passers. They don't have a lot of
ability to quickly process the defense, move the ball through it,
get it to the open man. And as we know,
Oklahoma City can be so aggressive that that's the way

(16:42):
you beat them. You beat them by passing through their
defense and knocking down open shots. And then on defense
Jaden McDaniels for whatever reason, and I think it has
a lot to do with him just being upright. I
think I think the Jada McDaniels type is like too
tall and easy for Shay to be shifty against and
to beat off the dribble. We saw Andrew Nemhard, a
smaller kind of fire hydrant guard who's very quick laterally

(17:05):
and great at anticipating Shay's moves. He was the guy
that made life harder on Shae because he was able
to beat him to spots. And so, in a weird way,
Minnesota's defense built around Jaden McDaniels is not a great
matchup for Shae, he can't keep him in front. Some
of that was game plan. We talked about the unnecessary
ball pressure, but I just think in general, Shay's good

(17:27):
at getting lanky players out of position, and so that's
one of the It's just a tough matchup for Minnesota.
And then finally, even when both teams do successfully contain
the ball with their rim protection and their athletes, Shay's
just way better than it right now as an over
the top scorer. So I don't see a scenario where
Minnesota can overcome all of those things and beat Oklahoma City,

(17:50):
not in one years of one year of improvement, and
I'd even argue that Oklahoma City is going to get
more internal improvement than Minnesota will this year. So I
don't think minnio so To can beat Oklahoma City. So
with that being in like kind of the framework for
this discussion, who can beat Oklahoma City? Now we've talked
about Denver, I picked them as my championship favorite. I

(18:13):
was on with the Nerd SESSH guys last week and
I had like a forty five minute debate with Carson
at the top of that show, going back and forth
about that specific Denver Oklahoma City matchup. So I'm not
going to spend any time on that today. If you
want to see that, we talked about it in our
Contenders preview, and I talked about it at length with Carson,
but I gave Denver a when I said to Carson,

(18:33):
was fifty three to forty seven, like very very very
slight advantage towards Denver in that specific matchup. The gist
of it is just the Jokic problem. He's an entry
point for their defense, high IQ defenders on the other
end of the floor of the ability to kind of
make Oklahoma City think and that combination of playmaking and
play finishing, which I think is so important to beat

(18:55):
Oklahoma City. So let's talk about that. Let's move on
past Denver, and let's talk about what you need to
have to beat Oklahoma City. Because again, for all these
other teams, every other team that I list here, no
one's picking them over Oka See. Okay See is going
to be the gambling favorite. Alahoma City is the team
that I will pick. It's the team that you should pick.

(19:15):
Oklahoma City deserves to be favored versus all of these teams,
but in order for them to have an upset threat.

Speaker 1 (19:22):
What do they need to have?

Speaker 2 (19:24):
So, first of all, it's that combination of playmaking and
play finishing. Oklahoma City does a ton of gambling, playing,
passing lanes, double teaming, fouling. They play super physical. They
beat the shit out of you from the opening tip,
hoping the refs won't call anything, and they just force
a lot of turnovers and then they run it down

(19:44):
your throat the other way in transition. So you have
to be able to space the flour and you have
to have high level playmakers that can pass through that
without turning the ball over. And then you need guys
at the tail end of those sequences that can knock
down or finish at the rim as cutters, vertical spacers,
whatever it is. You need to be able to pass

(20:05):
through their defense and finish. I don't think it's a
coincidence that Denver and Indiana were the two teams that
had the most success against them last year. Both of
those teams are super smart, super organized, and loaded with
playmaking and play finishing talent. Now, as we know, Indiana
is out of the conversation for this year, so now
we're into the upset territory. So this is the second

(20:28):
piece of it. I think if you're going to upset
anybody in any sport, you have to have some kind
of legitimate advantage. Another way to kind of frame this
is to say, yeah, they might be better than us,
but we're better than them at this thing. That's what

(20:48):
you need in order to have an upset. So, for instance,
you know, over the course of a series, this thing,
whatever it may be, has to rise to the forefront
and kind of dominate the flow of the game on
both ends of the floor. That can be a kind
of thing that can counteract a talent advantage. You gotta

(21:10):
have some sort of leg up on them, right. So
for Denver, it's self explanatory.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
Right. They have the Jokic piece of it. They are a.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
Much bigger and more physical rebounding team, so they have
a couple of clear advantages. That's a big part of
why I view them as a substantial upset threat versus
Oklahoma City. Right, But let's talk about the rest of
these teams. I want to start with Cleveland. This is
the only team I have in the Eastern Conference that
I actually think can beat Oklahoma City. To start with,

(21:40):
they have a nice set of circumstances. They're in a
weaker conference and they have a much better chance of
making it to the finals, in which case they would
just be standing with Oklahoma City is the only barrier
between them and the final and the trophy right. The
second piece of it though, they're a high level playmaking
and shooting team. They were top five and assist to
turn onratio last year. They were second and three pointers made,

(22:03):
second and three point percentage. So when Oklahoma City is
throwing the kitchen sink at them, Cleveland can move the
ball through their defense, they can get to these open threes,
and they can knock them down. And then lastly, this
is that key piece. I think Cleveland has a couple
of advantages. One, I think a healthy Darius Garland is
actually capable of taking advantage of Oklahoma City's bigs in space.

(22:28):
He's going to be able to get the ball into
the teeth of their defense and break them down at
the point of attack. That I think is a legitimate
advantage there. Two, they are a much much much better
three point shooting team than Oklahoma City. Those are real
advantages that Cleveland could ride to an upset. And for
the record, Oklahoma City was twenty nine to one versus

(22:48):
the Eastern Conference last year, guess who That one loss
was against the Cleveland Cavaliers. So they're my one team
in the East. I don't think the Knicks can beat them.
They're a solid playmaking team with the highestess to turnover ratio,
but they're a mediocre three point shooting team. They're eighth
and percentage, but only twenty fourth in makes. I also
don't think they have a big enough advantage anywhere else.
Like Jalen Brunson is just a lesser version of Shay,

(23:09):
I think that's a matchup that clearly favors Oklahoma City.
They have some bigger guys like kat No Janaobi that
could take advantage of Oklahoma City's smaller perimeter players, but
none of them are good enough at passing the basketball.
And we kind of saw this with Julius Randall in
the conference final series. But like the big bullyball player
that doesn't read the floor super well, that dude gets

(23:29):
chewed up and spit out by Oklahoma City, and we
saw that with Jared Jackson, we saw that with Julius Randall.
So I'm not as optimistic about guys like cat or
Og and Anobi having great series against the Thunder Orlando.

Speaker 1 (23:41):
No way.

Speaker 2 (23:41):
They don't pass or shoot the ball well enough. They
were a bottom five assistant turnover ratio team last year,
or jump shooting team in the league by a mile. Yes,
I know they added some guys, it won't be enough,
and then we go down a significant level of talent
from there. Milwaukee doesn't have the players, Indiana and Boston
are hurt. Atlanta doesn't have the players, even if I
like them as a regular season team, I think Detroit's
too young to win that type of matchup. So the

(24:04):
only team in the Eastern Conference that I actually think
can credibly give Oklahoma City a run for their money
is Cleveland out West. I have four teams here, and
several of them I strongly contemplated leaving them off, but again,
I'm trying to keep my options open here in terms
of the theoretical upset we're admitting Oklahoma City is picked

(24:26):
to beat these teams, but do they have a shot? Sorry,
with Houston, I almost left them off this list because
of the ball handling issue. I just think you have
to have high level ball handlers to move the ball
through Oklahoma City's defense, and with the loss of Fred
van Vliet. It pretty quickly goes from Kevin Durant to
Read Shepherd and Alburn Shannggoun, who I think does a
decent job managing defensive attention. It's not great at it yet,

(24:48):
so like that theoretically would be a death sentence in
this type of matchup. But I left them on because
they have a couple of advantages. So first of all,
their frontline is just ridiculously massive, and they're far and
away the offensive rebounding team in the league. Those are
things that can give Oklahoma City issues from times from
time to time. And then secondly, they're an elite defense
with a player and the Men Thompson, who theoretically is

(25:10):
like the perfect type of player to deploy against Shay.
He's got a good combination of size but also insane
lateral quickness to potentially be able to beat Shade his spots.
I think a guy like a Men would struggle with
Shay early in a series, but after he got enough
opportunity to really look at his moves and kind of
dial him in, I could see him Men to be
the type of athlete that could give Shay a little

(25:31):
bit of a harder time deeper into his series. They're
essentially the Rockets just too good to write off completely.
I worry about their lack of ball handling and shooting
in this matchup, but too good for me not to
give them an upset shot. I'm gonna listen both LA
teams here, although I think they're both long shots. The
Clippers have really high level playmaking talent. They're not a

(25:51):
particularly great three point shooting team, just in terms of volume.
They're a good percentage team, but not by volume. Zubots
is a big advantage, just a monster inside that can
cause Oklahoma City some problems, so I'd give him an
advantage in this series. My main concern would be Kawhi
does not handle double team as well, and we saw
in the Denver series how that looked. Oklahoma City would

(26:12):
just do a better version of that. But I do
think they at least have the talent to have an
upset shot for the Lakers. It's just that perimeter size
dynamic that we've talked about, Like Luca and Lebron are
much bigger than Oklahoma City's primary perimeter defenders. That gives
them a little bit of an edge in terms of
being comfortable getting to their spots and then they're both

(26:33):
super high level playmakers and the Lakers are surrounding them
with a lot of play finishing talent. We actually saw
this in their regular season matchups post Luca trade. Again,
that doesn't mean I would pick the Lakers to win.
I'd pick the Thunder to win. I think the Lakers
have a huge athleticism disadvantage, but as a proof of concept,
we at least saw how those big ball handlers that
can pass with good play finishing had the ability to

(26:55):
score against Oklahoma City. I think that gives them at
least an upset threat. But again, my main concern for
the Lakers would be they have no hope to guard Shay.
It'd be a game planning series. JJ would have to
pull a David Adelman and mix up coverages a ton,
run a bunch of zone, and just get super gimmicky
and hope that Okay See missed a ton of shots,
which is what makes him such a long shot. Lastly,
the Golden State Warriors, and you know, ironically, it's their

(27:18):
defense that makes me think they have a shot. Jimmy
and Draymond and Al are like the perfect trifecta of
like old smart savvy dudes to have on a back
line to kind of play into okac's indecisiveness, especially with
the guy like Draymond who's so good at like having
a foot in the paint, but then throwing the kind

(27:39):
of clothes out that'll scare the shit out of the
dude who's shooting in the corner right, And so I
just think that they would actually be able to play
Oklahoma City into some pretty substantial offensive roles. And then
from there, there's a lot of things that would lead
you to believe they wouldn't be good in this matchup,
Like they don't have a lot of three point shooting,
they don't have like a super reliable offensive player off
of Steph, But Steph do create a lot of different

(28:01):
types of opportunities in terms of bringing two to the ball.
He would absolutely go attacking guys like Chet and guys
like Guyai Hart and sign in space and at least
create some four on threes where Golden State does have
a strength in terms of their overall playmaking talent. So
just in general, I think Golden State represents the older,
smarter type of team that can give Oklahoma City some issues.

(28:23):
But to be clear, all four of those teams upset
threats does not mean that I would pick them. I
would pick Oklahoma City overall four of them. That was
it for me in the West. I told you guys,
how I don't think Minnesota can beat them. San Antonio
just doesn't have the talent. As we've talked about most
of the summer. Dallas doesn't have the ball, ball handling
or shooting, and then we fall off a cliff to
the rest of the teams in the West in terms
of talent. Today's show is brought to you by our

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(30:34):
Third question, Can the Lakers survive without Lebron James. I
watched their dress rehearsal against Sacramento on Friday. A lot
of good, lot of bad. I've been generally underwhelmed with
the Lakers in preseasons so far, but I'm trying to
keep an open mind because they haven't played all their
guys that much. Luca looks great. He scored at a

(30:55):
eight of thirty seven points per thirty six minutes in
preseason on sixty five percent true shooting. I think people
forget how much of an absurd volume and efficiency scorer
Luca is, and I think we're going to see that
in a big way to start the season with Lebron
James out. Luca's three point shot is super locked in
right now. He's ten for nineteen overall from three eight

(31:16):
for fourteen on his pullback three. That's step back three,
which is obviously one of the most important shots for
him right now in terms of his scoring volume, still
plenty of room for improvement, though for Luca, like he
was just one for seven on short twos. Again, that's
like floaters and jump shots inside of seventeen feet. Those
are the shots that I think when he's making, puts
him closer to the Jokic tier on offense, because that's

(31:38):
that like hyper reliable short range scoring mixed with the
insane scoring volume and efficiency mixed with the ultra high
level playmaking. That's when he starts to enter into those conversations.
So I'm a little bummed because that was a big
problem for him with the Lakers last year, and then
he did really well with the short range shot making
over the summer with Slovenia. Not so good in preseason.

(32:00):
But it's seven shot attempt so I'm not about to
lose my mind. I'm just saying it's an area of
improvement for Luca to keep an eye on to start
the year. The lob chemistry with DeAndre Ayton is really
off right now. That was a big thing that stood
out to me in the Sacramento game. There were like
three or four easy roles where Ayton was wide open
and Luca and Aaytan just couldn't connect on the pass.

(32:21):
Not too hard to figure out that. Lob chemistry is
something that takes time. It's very much a timing thing.
We've talked about this a lot this summer with Dearon
Fox and Victor Wombenyama. But it takes time to kind
of get like dialed in in terms of like does
he want me to jump with this footwork or that footwork?

Speaker 1 (32:38):
Am I?

Speaker 2 (32:39):
And it's more for Luca to figure out Ayden is Ayton.
Ayton's gonna do his thing, but Luca's got to figure
out the timing. When does Ayton want the ball? If I,
what window am I passing to? And when That's the
kind of stuff that Luca's got to figure out, because,
like you know, the team actually looks pretty sharp in
their offensive execution and they're running a lot of good stuff.
They've been running a lot of stack, pick and roll.

(32:59):
But in the stack actions that they've been running, they've
been getting good lobs for Aighton, good corner kicks, but
it hasn't showed up in terms of efficiency yet because
they haven't been able to connect on that vertical spacing
piece of it. So again, something to keep an eye on.
Luca's playing great, but he still hasn't figured out his
vertical spacing window and he still hasn't figured out that

(33:20):
like kind of short range shot making piece. So point being,
Luca can still get much better. Still don't love what
I've seen from him on defense in preseason. No big deal,
just preseason. He's been scoring at it insane clip. Something
to keep an eye on, though he's still dying on
screens and come playing at the refs getting beat off
the dribble there. Let's just say that if there is

(33:41):
some sort of like new skinny Luca devotion to defense,
it didn't show up in preseason. Just something to keep
an eye on.

Speaker 1 (33:49):
Again.

Speaker 2 (33:49):
Overall, I think in terms of their execution, I think
they're ahead of where they need to be on offense,
but behind where they need to be on defense. Not
hard to be surprised by that. This is a team
that I had pretty low defensive expectations for to start
the year. But on offense, again, they're running good stuff.
JJ's talked a lot about working on their screening, and
they are setting really good screens in their stack actions.

(34:11):
One of the things I notice against Sacramento is a
lot of NBA teams do this, but they know teams
want to run stack, and so they again all that
stack pick and roll is. For those of you guys
who haven't heard on the show before, it's just a
pick and roll at the top of the key with
a shooter underneath the basket who comes up and tries
to backscreen for the roleman so that you can keep
an opening for a love and if the shooter's man

(34:34):
helps on the lob threat, then the shooter can relocate
to the top of the key and he's wide open.
It essentially just makes it so that it's far more
likely that either the roleman or the shooter gets open
versus just a regular two man game where it's a
lot easier for teams to defend that action two on two.
It's more likely to bring in help, right, But a
lot of these NBA teams what they try to do
is they try to jam up that screener. So essentially,

(34:56):
as the guard is trying to run up to backscreen
for the roleman, guy who's guarding the guard will basically
shove him off his line and try to prevent him
from getting into position to set that backscreen. I actually
thought Sacramento did a pretty good job of that in
this game, but they were able to set that screen
enough times to get some openings. And in general, I
have been pleased with their screening throughout the preseason games

(35:19):
that I've seen. They're running some really high level stuff.
I like where the offense is at. There's also a
lot to be excited about in terms of guys being
in rhythm. Lucas shooting the ball really well, like we
talked about, Rui is in a good groove right now.
Gabe Vincent is shooting off the charts. We'll talk about
that in a minute. Because I've seen a lot of
pushback from Lakers fans about the idea to start Gabe Vincent.

(35:40):
I think it's defensible. We'll talk about that in a minute.
Austin Reeves had a struggle in the Sacramento game, but
he's generally been great in preseason, scoring at a ray
of twenty five points per thirty six minutes so far
in preseason. Only real beef with Austin as I was
hoping he'd come into camp a little bit more sharp
with his three point shooting. He was five for twenty
from three in preseason three for fourteen off the dribble

(36:02):
and two for eight off of the catch. It's just
his biggest weakness right now. I thought that was pretty
clear after the Minnesota series, so I was hoping he'd
come out a little bit hotter. But I'm sure he
worked on it all summer. Let's just hope that that
translates at some point soon in the regular season. But
in general, again, I think they're in a decent spot
on offense to start this year. On defense, I still

(36:23):
think they have a long way to go. You can
see them executing their stuff, like you can tell that
JJ's trying to get these guys organized. They're just not
quite at that like game speed level of execution yet.
They're just like a step behind on most of their coverages.
When you're already a step behind athletically, you can't also

(36:45):
be a step behind mentally. You're gonna put yourself into
situations where you have to recover and you're just not
the type of team that's going to be super fast
in recovery. I'll give you guys an example, like on
their xouts. So like all it xout is is if
if you bring low man coverage over So let's say
that the guy that is on the opposite corner steps
over into the paint to help on a drive. When

(37:07):
that happens, there's a two on one that forms on
the weak side, right, the guy who's helping his man's
in the corner.

Speaker 1 (37:14):
Then you have the guy at the.

Speaker 2 (37:15):
Top of the key exeres me on the opposite wing
with his defender that's kind of sinking into the lane there, right,
All an X out is is like, rather than me
the helper underneath the basket sprinting all the way out
to the corner, why don't we have the guy who's
guarding the guy on the wing drop to the corner
and I go out to the wing. That's the X right,
So guy on the wing goes to the corner. I'm

(37:37):
helping under the basket. I'm going up to the wing.
You're xing past each other. That's why I call it
an X out right. So in that specific sequence, there's
a play against Sacramento where Luca steps over as a
low man gets into the lane to offer help. Then
all of a sudden, when the ball gets contained, Luca
turns to Gabe and yells X out, and Gabe runs

(37:58):
to the corner and Luca runs to the top of
the he but the whole thing just looks slow and
stuck in the mud, and there's an easy swing pass
to the out to the right corner, and Luca's man
gets a wide open three that he just happens to
miss if I remember correctly on this possession, and the
whole time I'm sitting there thinking like like this is
the kind of thing where they're just a little bit behind.

(38:19):
Like if Luca anticipates that a second earlier and calls
it out, then Gabe has a good chance to chase
him off of that shot into an extra pass, where Luca,
because he has an extra pass worth of time to
get out there, can probably get out there. And now
all of a sudden, we're taking away that open shot
and forcing them to make a couple of additional.

Speaker 1 (38:40):
Plays in order to get a good look. Right.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
Those are those types of like little mental execution type
of details where they are a step slow right now
where they need to be sharper. You can see it
in their peel switches. You can see it in some
of their transition defense in terms of like getting back,
stopping the ball, getting to the basket, fanning out to shooters.
They're just on everything. They're a little bit slow right now.

(39:02):
I think they're working in the right direction. I had
hoped that they'd be a little further along at this point,
but I don't think this is a team that's going
to come out and be fifteenth in defensive rating in
the first month. I think this is a team that's
going to come out and be twenty third twenty fourth
in defensive.

Speaker 1 (39:17):
Rating in the first month.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
Marcus Smart showed a lot of good in that game,
but not in the ways that I think people were hoping.
Like he was able to force a turnover jumping a
driver in transition where he kind of jumped the right
hand drive and got to steal one out the other way.
He showed some ability to rescue plays, hitting some tougher shots,
so like late shot clock no one's really open hits
like a rainbow three off the left wing. Yet another

(39:40):
play where late in the clock he put the ball
on the floor and hit a little jump shot in
the middle of the lane. You can tell he's got
a lot more refined offensive skill than some of the
other guys that have played that position in years past.
But I don't think he's looked particularly fast. I don't
think he looks like he's ready to guard superstar guards

(40:00):
to start the season. I don't think he looks like
a primary point of attack option yet. Now hopefully he
continues to get his legs underneath him and then he
eventually gets to that point. But right now, I don't
think Marcus looks like a solution to their point of
attack problems. So again, as we kind of zoom out
on the defense, I didn't have super high expectations, but

(40:21):
I will definitely be watching them because they're a little
bit behind where i'd like to see them be at
this point in time. Really quickly, before we're done here,
I want to talk about that decision to start Gabe,
so jj Redick starts Gabe against Sacramento, tells reporters that
that would be a starting lineup in the Tuesday game.
For the record, I personally would have started Vanda. I'll
explain why in a minute, but I do think it's

(40:42):
hilarious how I've seen so many Lakers fans get upset
at this decision. I think Gabe Vincent is a perfectly
fine option to go to among several flawed options. So,
first of all, who are the options, Marcus Smart, Jared Vanderbilt,
Gabe Vincent, and Jake Lorevia. I don't think you could
make a case for any other guy, And so as

(41:04):
we start going through those four guys, I don't necessarily
see any of them as the obvious choice. Like Lakers
fans are clamoring for Marcus Smart. And by the way,
if he was faster, he looked quick and ready to
handle that massive point of attack job, I'd be right
there with you. I don't see that yet. To me,

(41:24):
he seems like a guy who should be coming in
off the bench and just doing all the little Marcus
Smart stuff that he does in that context until he
gets his legs underneath him, maybe in a few weeks
or a few months. But I don't see him as
an obvious pick right now. Jared Vanderbilt would be my pick.
The reason why is I think he's athletically ready for
the job. He makes the lineup more physically imposing all
of a sudden, With Vanderbilt out there alongside a giant

(41:48):
DeAndre and a giant Ruy Hachimura and a giant Luka Doncic,
you're pretty big. He raises the athletic profile the lineup. Obviously,
offense and spacing would be difficult, and that's the downside.
I also so like that it appropriately slots Gabe as
a secondary ball handler. Right, So if you have Lebron,
Gabe's your fourth best ball handler, he can really slot

(42:11):
it anywhere at that point. But with Lebron out all
of a sudden, he's your third best ball handler. And
so you can accomplish that through staggering, like pulling guys
out and putting him back in in certain ways. But
I think it's just a little bit more natural if
you bring Gabe in off the bench. That said, even
Jared Vanderbilt is not any perfect option. He's just two
for thirteen from three in postseason, had an ugly air

(42:32):
ball that was about three feet long into the left
out of the right corner against Sacramento. He's five for
eleven on layups, so he's been given twenty four layups
in threes and he's converted them into sixteen points on
twenty four openings. There the shot looks better. I'm a
big believer that it takes time to translate standstill shooting

(42:55):
to practice shooting to game shooting. So like, I'm not
giving up on van Do as guy who could potentially
in the future become a guy who can knock down
a catch and shoot jumper, but he's clearly not that
right now, and he still is struggling to finish layups,
so he's not an obvious pick. He's who I would pick,
but I don't think it's obvious. Jake Loravia has looked

(43:16):
slow and he's three for thirteen from three in pro
in preseason, so it's not like Jake Lolavia's earned the
spot either. So the point is is there is no
obvious choice. What Gabe does provide is a guy who's
solid at everything. He's athletically quick enough for the job
of guarding opposing guards, even though he's obviously undersized. That

(43:38):
would be a downside as he obviously lowers the athletic
profile of the lineup, but Luca ruey Ayton is still
a pretty big front line. They're not gonna be tiny,
they're just not gonna be as big as they could
be with Vando. Gabe can dribble, shooting, pass well, so
he can kind of do any role in the offense,
and he's been in a great rhythm since the start
of preseason. This is crazy Gabe Vincent is scoring at

(43:59):
a rate I have twenty six point two points per
thirty six minutes in preseason. He's fifteen for twenty seven
from three. And it wasn't just the nuclear showing in
Vegas against Dallas. I don't know if you guys had
a chance to watch that game. I watched it live,
but Gabe came out and hit like five threes in
the first four minutes and Drew fallon another just went
like absolutely ape shit to start that game. But then

(44:19):
he came out in a smaller role alongside Austin and Luca,
was four for five from three, fourteen points, zero turnovers
in the Sacramento game.

Speaker 1 (44:28):
He's playing well.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
So what JJ ses is a guy who he can trust,
who he knows will execute the game plan, who's capable
of the defensive job, and who's shooting the shit out
of the basketball as of late. So yeah, has gave
the long term solution to the starting three, Of course not,
but I think he's a perfectly defensible option to start
the season with. Overall, on the Lakers, I don't think

(44:53):
they're as sharp as they need to be to get
off to like a great start this year. I don't
think they're gonna be awful on defense, but I think
they're gonna be pretty bad. I don't think they're gonna
be amazing on offense, but I think they're gonna.

Speaker 1 (45:05):
Be pretty good.

Speaker 2 (45:07):
If they're gonna be pretty good on offense and pretty
bad on defense, that's a mediocre team, right, So I
don't think they're gonna get off to some great start.
That said, the one thing that might save them here
is they do have a pretty light schedule to start
the year, and that might be exactly what they need
to survive this stretch without Lebron. Looking at the schedule,

(45:29):
Golden State and Minnesota to start obviously a couple of
tough games there. You split those, you're happy, But then
Sacramento in Portland both are feisty and both have some issues.
Sacramento's athletes gave Austin some issues Portland. All of you
Golden State fans who watch Golden State over the preseason,
you saw how feisty Portland can be.

Speaker 1 (45:45):
They have a lot of good players.

Speaker 2 (45:47):
They're young and athletic and have some decent ball handling
above what you would think for a team that lost
Scot Henderson. So those are gonna be tougher games, but
those are games that you feel like Luca should be
able to do enough damage in that you can win.
Then Minnesota again, that's tough, Portland again, winnable game. San
Antonio winnable game, Atlanta winnable game, Charlotte winnable game. Oklahoma

(46:10):
City on the road without Lebron, that's probably a loss.
New Orleans winnable game, Milwaukee winnable game, Utah winnable game,
Utah winnable game. And if you get to there, that
gets you to November twenty third, and you hope to
have Lebron.

Speaker 1 (46:24):
Back by then.

Speaker 2 (46:26):
So I do think the Lakers could play mediocre basketball
to start the season and still be nine and seven,
and I think nine and seven with Lebron coming back
is not a bad spot to be. I think a
huge win for the team would be if Lebron came
back on the twenty fifth and your team's at eleven
and five. So that I think is going to be
a nice little barometer for how they've started the year.

(46:46):
So in short, I haven't been super impressed by the
Lakers in preseason. They have a light schedule to start
the year, so they have a good chance to survive
in the standings without Lebron. Question number four, which Eastern
Conference team will separate from the second team year and
compete with Cleveland at the top of the conference. I
like Atlanta as a regular season team to potentially steal

(47:07):
the top four seed, but I don't think they're good
enough to like go in fifty seven games and get
the two seed. I've been impressed by Boston and Indiana,
and they're basketball cultures. In preseason, They're both gonna be
a pain in the ass, but neither has the talent
to hang with Cleveland. The Bucks don't have the talent,
Miami doesn't have the talent. I kell Alwares look great
in preseason, I still don't think they have the talent
to be a two seed. And then Philly just won't

(47:29):
get enough games out of their stars, right, So that
basically leaves it to three teams, New York, Orlando in Detroit. So,
assuming Cleveland ends up with around somewhere between fifty six
and sixty two wins, I think it's more likely they
end up around fifty six to fifty seven because Darius
Garland's going to miss part of the start of the
season and They're not trying to outpace Boston anymore, so

(47:50):
I don't think there's gonna be as much night to
night motivation in the regular season. But I still think
it's reasonable that they'll be right around, like fifty seven
and fifty eight wins. Right That means one of these
teams in order to get to the two seed has
to win about fifty five games. I ended up putting
Detroit at the bottom of this trio. They won forty
four games last year. I like the moves for Karaslavert

(48:12):
and Duncan Robinson. I am a big believer in Kate
and I think he'll be better. I think he'll improve
as a three point shooter and improve as a late
game decision maker. But we did get some tough news
about Jade and Ivy's knee. Looks like he's going to
be out to start the year with a surgery to
relieve some discomfort. So I kind of look at them
as right around, like fifty fifty two wins for Detroit,

(48:33):
so I don't think that's enough for them to get
the two seed.

Speaker 1 (48:36):
New York is interesting.

Speaker 2 (48:38):
They were the three seed last year, so another way
to frame that is to say they were basically the
best non Boston, non and Cleveland team, So they already
are essentially kind of in pole position here. They'll have
a healthier roster because Mitchell Robinson's going to be ready
to go. They have a new coach. New coaching typically
results in like a motivated start. They're running in transition

(49:00):
at a higher rate to start camp. They're getting more
fast break points. Excuse me, they're moving the ball more.
I do think they're gonna be better on both ends
of the floor. So I think like fifty five wins
is on the table for the Knicks. But I actually
am gonna go very slightly with Orlando here as a
team that I think is a tiny bit more likely

(49:21):
to get that two seed. And really it's all about
their physical imposition on the game, because I haven't loved
everything I've seen from them in camp. They're still not
as like deliberate and smart with the way they attack
on offense as I'd like them to be. But I
think they're gonna be a great regular season wins machine
just because of their overwhelming size and physicality. Again, this

(49:43):
was a team last year that was devastated by injuries.
Jalen Suggs misses almost the whole year. Franz and Paolo
both missed multiple a long stints of games, right, and
they still win forty one and forty one because they're huge,
and they're physical, and they're great at defense, and that

(50:04):
sort of thing does show up every night in the
eighty two games. You take that you inject talent with
Desmond Bane firepower. Not only that, but talent and firepower
that directly addresses a need on the roster both deadly
catch and shoot shooting and a real dynamic offscreen scoring
threat that will open up opportunities for their offense that

(50:25):
they haven't had in the past. If they are healthy
this year, they have that combination of strong defensive foundation
and just enough offensive firepower to win some of the
closer games that they've lost in recent years. So I
give this Magic team just a tiny bit higher chance
to end up getting around that fifty five to fifty

(50:45):
six win mark. In staying close to Cleveland, I still
don't love them as a playoff team because I'm not
a huge fan of their coaching staff and the way
they play on offense. But I do think they have
the overwhelming talent and physicality to turn out wins in
the regular season. Guess right now, I'd say that the
top four seeds in the East in mid April are Cleveland, Orlando,

(51:06):
New York, and then Detroit, with Atlanta being the team
that if any one of those teams experiences injuries or
massively underachieves, I think Atlanta is the team that kind
of pops up into that group. And again, like the
injuries can happen. We just found out that Jaden Ivy's
out right all right, last question for today, who's gonna
win MVP this year?

Speaker 1 (51:26):
First of all, who typically does win MVP.

Speaker 2 (51:30):
You gotta be on a team that's winning a ton
of games, and you gotta be putting up insane numbers.
You gotta be playing at that top tier superstar level.
The guys at the top of the league are too good.
You're not gonna get like a just for fun MVP
award from the second tier when you know that Jokic
is gonna average a twenty eight point triple double and
Shay's gonna be like thirty three five and I think

(51:53):
Shay's gonna get up to like seven assists a game
this year, So like it's just gonna be really difficult
for anybody to out pay those guys, Right, So those
two are the obvious ones, right. The Thunder gonna win
sixty plus games, They're gonna be the one seed. Shay's
gonna put up insane numbers. Shane's gotta be in the
MVP conversation, then, Jokic, I think Denver's gonna be a

(52:16):
top four seed in that brutal West. He's gonna average
a twenty eight point triple double. The on off numbers
are gonna be insane. So those two are obvious obviously,
the kind of like foundational MVP favorites of favorites to
start the season. So who else can meet that criteria?
I thought about KD. He's had some buzz, and I

(52:38):
think the Rockets as a team have a chance to
be good enough. But the problem is is Shane goun
is very much the foundational player there, and I think
it's just gonna be too hard for Katie to put
up the necessary numbers to compete with the guys at
the top of the league. So even though I like KD,
love that fit there in Houston, I just don't think
KD is gonna be able to have the type of
season he needs to seal the MVP from one of
those top guys put up the numbers. But I just

(53:02):
have a really hard time envisioning the Bucks winning enough games.
I was really thinking about this with respect to Wemby,
Like Wemby has deeron Fox, like a legit dude who
can go out and like consistently get into the high twenties,
low thirties and bring real firepower. Giannis doesn't have that
alongside him. It's gonna be really hard for the Bucks

(53:23):
to move up the standing. He's like, Yeah, if the
Bucks get the two seed, then Giannis is MVP. It
just feels like a long shot to me. Spurs same thing.
Wemby feels like a long shot because I just don't
think the Spurs are good enough. I'd be stunned if
they got a top four seed. I wouldn't be stunned
if Ant ended up getting a two seed. But I
just don't think he's as good at SGA, at the

(53:44):
key things that he needs to be able to kind
of circumvent that case. And Ant is also playing on
a very talented roster, as we talked about, Like when
we were talking about the Spurs and their roster, who's
the team I used to juxtapos with them, Minnesota. Nas
Reed's a really good player, Rudy Gobert a really good player,
Julius Ryannad's a really good player. Jaden McDaniels is a
really good player. The Timberwolves are pretty stacked with talents.

(54:06):
I don't think you could give Anton like he's got
the lesser team case to get the MVP either. So really,
the only other guy that I think has a good
chance is Luca, And it's because Luca is gonna be
able to score at the rate to put up the numbers, right,
Like he scored at a rate of thirty seven points
per thirty six minutes in preseason, and like, if I
said that Luca averaged thirty three to nine to nine

(54:29):
this year, that's not like me being out landish. That
pretty much falls in line with what we would expect.
If I asked all of you guys to just guess
Luca's stat line for the season, most of you are
gonna come in right around there. Those are MVP numbers.
So if the Lakers get up to like the two
or three seed in the West, which they literally were

(54:50):
the three seed last year, that means Luca's got a
good chance to get MVP. So if you look at it,
those three feel like the only real candidates, Luca and
Nicole Jokich. And by the way, if you go look
in Vegas, it's those three and then it's a massive
drop off before you get to Giannis and Victor women Yama.
So if I had to pick one out of those three,

(55:12):
I think it's gonna be Shay. I think the thunder
are gonna dominate all year long. I think Shae is
actually going to have somehow a more impressive statistical season
than last year. I think he's just a player that's
in the middle of mastering his craft. I think Shay
is gonna end up getting MVP. But if I had
to pick a long shot guy, I think I'd go
with Victor.

Speaker 1 (55:33):
Again.

Speaker 2 (55:33):
I think there's a world where some of these other
teams in the West get banged up. The Spurs day
relatively healthy. You get a massive bounce back season from
Darren Fox where he averages like twenty six points per game,
plays really good defense. Victor wemen Yama drags them to
like fifty three wins. They get the two or the
three seed, and Victor is averaging something like twenty eight points,

(55:55):
twelve rebounds, five assists, and five stocks a game in
his away the best defensive player in the league. And
if he does that, that is where you have a case,
like what I was talking about with Aunt, where that
team is severely limited in talent compared to some of
these other teams in the league. If Victor gets them
to a top three seed and puts up those kinds

(56:17):
of numbers, I think that's a really strong MVP case.
Because Jokic has the best roster he's had in his
time as a Denver Nugget. The Thunder have the most
talented roster in the league, even Luka Doncic just playing
alongside Lebron James and Austin Reeves. Right, So, like, I
think that's our best long shot threat is Victor wemin
Yama just having one of those special seasons and sneaking

(56:39):
in there to get MVP. All right, guys, that's all
I have for today. That's it for the preseason. No
more theoretical basketball, no more fake basketball, only real basketball
from here. Very very excited to get into it with
you guys again. Remember Tuesday Night Live on YouTube, Wednesday
Night Live on YouTube, Thursday Night live on YouTube, and
then a mailbag on Friday before we take the weekend
off and get back into it next season again. As always,

(57:00):
I appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting the show.

Speaker 1 (57:03):
I will see you tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (57:04):
Night on NBC for our first bit of NBA regular
season covers. We're gonna get a I guess I'll look
at Michael Jordan as a analyst there as well. That
should be entertaining. All right, guys, I will see you
on Tuesday night.