NBA Finals Recap, BIG Trades, New Album Releases, & More!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The NBA season has concluded with the Oklahoma City Thunder
crowned as the twenty twenty five NBA champions, and today
I'm gonna give you my finals recap after the culmination
of an incredible season that they had. I'm gonna go
over some of the trends and strategies that helped them win,
as well as the issues both teams faced and how
each can improve next season. Additionally, we got some pretty

(00:22):
major trades happening already in the offseason, with Desmond Baine
headed to the Orlando Magic and of course the long
awaited news of Kevin Durant being traded to the Houston Rockets,
so you know, I gotta talk about those. And then, lastly,
because it's literally been months since I dropped anything hip
hop related due to the playoffs, I will end the

(00:43):
episode sharing some brief thoughts on Lil Wayne's The Carter Six,
Slick Ricks, Victory and Clipses so be It of their
latest single for their upcoming album, Let God sort them out.
So I'm gonna share some of my experience listening to
those albums and then also share my experience at the
Kendrick Lamar and siss A Grand National tour I was

(01:03):
able to attend earlier this month, so lots of great
stuff to get into on today's show. I'm so excited
to get into it all. As always, I hope you
are and you got your popcorn ready for another episode
of Hip to the Games. Welcome to Hip to the Games,
the podcast for you, the basketball junkie and the hip
hop hit. I'm your host, Desmond and I too have

(01:24):
had hoop dreams and enjoy the beautiful genre of hip
hop and its history. Together we will enjoy some of
the greatest albums, songs, artists, players, moments, teams, and so
much more, while even mixing the two on occasion. All
in my hope that you remember why you love both.
For either of these to begin, you'll soon understand that
Hip to the Games is more than just a podcast.

(01:45):
It's a lifestyle. And if you were looking for a
platform that combines both basketball and hip hop, you've come
to the right place. They play my kind of basketball
and a lot of layers to this song. If you're
really paying attention, there's a huge shout out to you
for being Hip to the Games. Welcome to this episode

(02:10):
of Hip to the Games. Shout out to you if
you are a loyal listener and are showing that you
are indeed hip to the games by listening or tuning
in visually for another episode, whether you are listening on
your favorite audio platform or watching on YouTube, I sincerely
thank you for all your support, and if you do
happen to be new to H two DG, welcome, I
am happy to have you here in a part of

(02:30):
the H two DG family. If throughout this episode you
do like what you're hearing, be sure to hit that
subscribe button or that follow button on whatever platform you're
listening to or watching on to stay tapped in with
all things hip to the games. And before we really
get into today's episode, you already know the drill. I
gotta get my pregame shoutouts out the way. Okay, the
first one always goes to the creative director Jesus Christ

(02:52):
for another H two DG episode, as it's always a
blessing to get in front of this microphone and do
what He's placed in my heart to do. And the
second one goes to my nineteen media group family for
the opportunity to represent the home team. All Right, you
always see that blue and white logo sitting in the corner.
That's the home team, that's my squad. Be sure to
follow nineteen Media Group on Instagram, nineteen Media Group on YouTube,

(03:13):
nineteen m Group on Twitter to follow everything going on
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Trust me as an independent podcaster, all of that is

(03:34):
seen and felt and appreciated. Now as we get into
today's show. If you are a returning listener, you already
know how I do. But if you are new to
the show, it's only right that this episode is going
to return to the format that pays homage to the
classic hip hop song structure. Okay, I got three verses
for you today, which represents three topics for the show. Okay,
the first verse says the tone, The middle one has

(03:56):
to bring the climax or rising action, and then your
last verse it has to be the haymaker. It has
to be the best for last and bring some sort
of resolution or some kind of big bang at the end.
Of the song. So since we always got to start
verse one off with a bang, we obviously got a
tip off with that NBA Finals recap. This year's NBA
Finals matchup was every bit of the clash we all

(04:18):
thought it would be such a tit for tat Yin
and Yang seven game series, I mean game one, ok
See fumbles after a dominant and I mean dominant defensive showing.
The Pacers snatched a chain with another Tyrese Haliburton game
winner and pretty much foreshadowed a seven game series, I think.
But okay See bounces back in Game two. They look

(04:39):
more like themselves that game, only for the Pacers to
get the first game at home in Game three, and
then just when the Pacers looked like they were primed
to go up three to one after a dominant showing
in Game four, OKAC had a gritty, I mean gritty,
old school fourth quarter where Shae Gilgess Alexander put on
a masterclass that was reminiscent of the those two thousand's

(05:01):
you know, twenty tens, you know performances that we've seen
from a guy like Kobe Bryant or any other you know,
star player winning their team to victory d Wade. You know,
Lebron has done it like it was really that kind
of ugly basketball. You know, you know me, I'm a sucker.
I'm a sucker for ugly basketball, you know, I'll admit.
But you know, for him to knock down those tough shots,

(05:21):
get to the line, will his team to victory even
if it's ugly, That's what the playoffs are about. That's
what the NBA Finals are about. And that was such
a dope performance from Shay. And then okay, see goes
back home for Game five, right, and they gained control
of the series with another convincing win over Indy. But
of course Game six is the last time Indy's on

(05:42):
their home floor for this season. And and and you know,
the backs against the wall and they absolutely obliterated the
Oklahoma City Thunder thanks to great defense and incredible team
basketball that they really, you know, have used the whole
entire season right to to keep their season alive. But
then lastly, on Sunday, Game seven, we watched the Thunder

(06:03):
equally thrive off their defense and home court advantage and
fight for their franchises first ever championship. Now those are
just the cliff notes. Right, But I did want to
highlight some of the players and trends from both teams
that made this the awesome series that it was, because
it's a lot more that went on than just my
cliff notes. First off, I wanted to highlight the defenses

(06:25):
of both teams right, because both teams thrived in transition,
and that means that both teams thrive off getting turnovers.
If you look at a lot of those games, usually
the team that won was the team that forced the
most turnovers and got out in transition. With Indiana, we
saw it more with their full court ball pressure and
forcing Shay to do a bulk of the work, which
I think threw off their ball movement and allowed the

(06:48):
Pacers to jump into the passing lanes. There were a
lot of moments throughout the series where the OKC thunder
looked really stunned offensively. I think Rick Carlisle had a
great defensive game plan for a majority of the series,
dealing with a guy as skilled as an SGA right
and deciding to eventually put Pascal Siakama on Jalen Williams,
which I felt it put that that adjustment put OKC

(07:10):
on the ropes towards those last couple games of the series,
I think a lot of people were getting more confident
that Indiana could win this series because again, adjustments like that, right,
I think putting a bigger body on Jdubb kept them
kept them quiet. Just when he had the big game five,
you know, game six, Game seven, he got a little
more quiet because he had a bigger defender on him.
So I thought, Rick Carlile, you know, though they lost

(07:32):
the series, he did an excellent job coaching this team.
And I think for OKC it came from their versatile,
you know, physical on ball defense and ability to get
strips and interceptions. I know a lot of Pacers fans,
understandably so were a little salty that that Oka see
seemed to get a lot of calls that went their way,
a lot of no calls on the defensive end. And

(07:53):
my thing is, look, great teams, great defensive teams are physical.
We saw this. I mentioned it before. You look at
the o Wait Celtics. I you know, I have been
saying the whole playoffs, like, if you hate the OKC
defense this year, you would have wanted the Owait Celtics
in Rikers Island. You know, you would have wanted the
ninety six Bulls in jail, you know, like great teams, Yes,

(08:15):
there's some physicality. And I said that going into the series,
the Pacers were not going to be able to win
this series if they got in their feelings about the calls,
and understandably so, right like, there was some frustration, but
I did think they did a good job keeping their
heads in the game and extended that series as long
and as competitive as it was. So I was, I
was proud of the Pacers, but I did want to

(08:36):
make that clear that great defensive teams, yes, they do
happen to be physical. You know. Lou Dorton Alex Caruso
once again showed why they are the All NBA defenders
that they are. You know, I again, I know a
lot of fans don't like it, but it's old school defense,
you know, active hands, moving your feet, getting your hands dirty,
getting your body in there a little bit like you know,

(08:57):
they did have a tendency to get away with that
physicality a little extra, but again, when you're making that effort,
it's gonna happen. It's gonna happen. But you know, I
think those two guys set the tone for Okac's defense,
you know, when they were successfully fighting over screens, getting steals,
hustling after lose balls. The rest of the team follows,
because if you notice that Game six, there wasn't none

(09:17):
of that, and as a result, okay See just looked
dysfunctional on defense. So I thought those guys set the
tone for most of the series. But again, like I said,
I think this was a very Yin and Yang matchup
with these two teams. You know, if it wasn't okay
See playing great defense, it was definitely Indiana and vice versa. Specifically,
if we're sticking with defense here, you know, I love

(09:38):
me some good defense. Despite the loss, we gotta talk
about Andrew Nemhard's defensive masterclass on Shake gilg just Alexander
in games one through five. They let up off it
in Game six and seven, but most of that series,
Andrew Nemhar did an excellent job on Shae Gilger Alexander,
you know, playing on the Canadian national team together, I
think made Nemhard the perfect opponent for Shay Right, who

(10:00):
knows this dude like the back of his hand. Right,
It's a lot harder to score on somebody that knows
all your moves and the rhythm of your moves, and
how you like to get to your shots, what kind
of shots and counter moves you go to. Andrew guarded
Shaye ninety four feet most of the series and forced
Shaye to get lazy turnovers, either from trying to dribble
past him or make a pass while crowded. I think

(10:23):
Andrew forced Shay to make a lot of stubborn decisions,
and that means that Shay had a lot of rough
turnovers simply because of that defense Andrew played. You know,
a player that wants to guard is one of the
most frustrating players to play against. I don't care about
your foot speed, I don't care about your active hands.
While those things definitely matter, any player that is here

(10:46):
in their minds sits down and says it is my
job to lock you up. Those players are always the
most frustrating to play against. Andrew Nemhard, like I said,
I can't say it enough. He did that verse Shay.
I know they lost the series, but he did that. Man.
He guarded him as well as you can guard him.
And I think while Shaye did show some solid counter
moves against Andrew Nenhard, I thought for the most part.

(11:08):
He definitely made it very tough on the MVP, and
I think with this in mind, in game four, we
saw Mark Dagnault make a key adjustment by using Shaye
and inverted pick and rolls to get switched on Nie Smith,
who was often in foul trouble or even stay on
themhard if Andrew fought over the screen. And the reason

(11:29):
why that was good no matter who was the defender
on Shaye is because it allowed Shaye to catch the
ball at the nail and see the entire defense and
work from triple threat get into his jab steps right
and those one dribble pullups. We saw that in game four.
A lot of people were talking junk about Mark Dagnault.
I peeped it because they felt like he had been

(11:51):
lazy or he had been passive as a head coach.
But again, sometimes you know, don't mistake people's quiet or
quiet nature for ignorance, right. I think he was just
kind of waiting and seeing what was gonna happen, and
he made his adjustment at the perfect time. You know,
I think that adjustment really got Okac through Game four

(12:12):
especially and a little bit of Game five. You know,
that's what great coaches, do you know? And we saw
how detrimental it was for Shaye trying to attack off
the dribble every trip down. And I said it in
the previous episode, Shae not having the off ball aspect
in his game is why getting free throws is so
important for him. Right, this was something the Pacers were

(12:34):
able to take advantage of. It is not good for
scorers to do everything off the dribble. You are going
to get exhausted and you're gonna be more susceptible for turnovers.
Because again, if you're the Pacers, you're looking at this like, oh,
if we goart him ninety four feet and he has
to dribble to get what he wants, and even then,
by the time there's ten seconds left on a shot clock,
he's still around the center court logo like oh yeah,

(12:57):
Like we're gonna make him have to make a tougher decision.
He's gonna have to drive through contact, or he's gonna
have to drive into a double team, make a tough pass,
you know, a tough skip pass, and we're gonna jump
in the passing lane like it was a masterclass. The
best scorers can serve their energy and still find a
way to put pressure on the defense by being able
to play off the catch. Again, if I'm getting into

(13:20):
my little you know, tangent, It's like, that was my
problem with the way the game is played today. Again,
it's very fun and everything. I don't have a huge
problem with it. But you notice that a lot of
the high usage players, a lot of the elite scorers
are doing a lot off the dribble nowadays because it's
turned into such a pick and roll heavy league. And
we saw how detrimental that all that off the dribble

(13:44):
work can do for a star player like Shay Gilgess Alexander.
But notice the minute he started getting touches off the catch,
it got a little lighter for him. It got a
little easy for him. You know. Andrew Nemhar did as
well as he could, but he couldn't irritate Shae without
him having a live dribble, right Because now you're at
you're at the offensive players, Mercy, It's like, oh dang,
he can see the whole floor. You know. Uh, we're

(14:05):
at the nail, so I don't. I can't really see
behind me unless you know, I'm in a more vulnerable
position here, and you know, Shay got buckets. Shay got buckets,
you know, and I think guys again like Andrew Nemhard,
aaron Ne Smith, they just suddenly found themselves at a
disadvantage because they weren't able to push Shay off his
spot right and getting his grill as easily as they

(14:27):
were when he had a live dribble. So I thought
that was a great adjustment for Mark dagnault. Speaking of
a live dribble, let's talk about the masterclass that TJ.
McConnell put on. Man, I mean, Andre Miller with a
nast dribble kept his pacers and a lot of games
this series, most notably Games four through seven, he put
on a absolute masterclass on how to get to your spots.

(14:49):
He was unguardable. You play too tight, he drives right
past you. You play too soft and he pulls up
at the dotted line. He gets a mismatch and just
uses his crawl over to throw off the big rhythm right.
You cut off his right side and he still will
slither to the rim and finish on the left side
of the basket, or even use that nash dribble to

(15:09):
dribble around and go right back to the dotted line
where he actually wants to get his shot off. You know,
it was he was just flat out dominant, especially going right.
You know, I was telling Davon when we were watching
the games, I'm like, you know, I thought, okay, Se
could have done a better job forcing him left because
he wants to get into that right pull up right,
and I felt like they didn't do a good job

(15:31):
forcing him left. Like I said, you still probably would
have gave up a layup because he's that talented of
a player. But you know, I thought they could have
did a better job. He wasn't always going left with
the pull up. He very much favored that right side,
so I thought they could have gotten his pocket jammed
him up a little bit. But you know, TJ did
his thing, man, no matter how they regarding him. And
I think the only way OKC contained him was when

(15:54):
they put somebody like Lou Dort on him, or or
they trapped him when he brought the ball across half court.
So he gets across half court, there's a double team,
and now he has to make a tough pass, especially
as a tough pass, especially as a smaller defender, you know,
who can't see over a taller defender in that situation.
And even this, I'm talking about his offense, but I'm
not even I haven't even mentioned TJ McConnell's defensive impact yet,

(16:17):
right like people forget a few seasons ago, TJ McConnell
I thought was the Steels champion. If I'm not mistaken,
you know he was always even as a Philadelphia seventy
six er, he was always a really good pickpocket, a
feisty player, and he found a way to get sneaky
rebounds and just play scrappy, in your face basketball. He
is the epitome of a guy that just MUCKs up

(16:38):
the game. And I said before the series his rim
pressure was gonna be imperative if the Pacers wanted a chance,
and his efforts were tremendous. He nearly willed his guys
to a championship. I love seeing how he played this series.
And now another player who I thought was tremendous, and
you may not have peeped this, but I thought he
was tremendous And he's actually a sleeper pick of mine,

(17:01):
Isaiah Hartenstein. And I know what you're thinking. I know
what you're thinking. Does he was quiet most of the
series but hear me out. I tweeted during this series that,
especially in Game five, Isaiah Hartenstein reminded me so much
of Joe kiem Noah. Again, I have I had the
luxury of seeing a lot of Joe kim Noah being
from Illinois. But like on the surface, right, he was quiet,
but he snagged a lot of key rebounds here and there,

(17:24):
and he got back to being I thought as the
series progressed, he got back to being involved in those
short role situations and and but the even with all that,
the attribute I loved the most was his passing. He
had a lot of really good assisting, especially in Game five,
and it looked exactly like what I saw growing up
from Brad Miller right back in the day with the
Kings and then eventually the Bulls, you know, and the

(17:47):
same guy who later taught Joe kim Noah how to
patiently wait for your guard to cut back door and
you just feed him boom. You get easy assists that way,
you know, or you come off the dho and you
just time that pass right like. He was great in
those situations and for the most part, made some key
passes when his teammates were struggling to do so, when
Shay couldn't get a rhythm, you know, getting his teammates involved,

(18:08):
when Ja Dubb all these guys, you know, like, I'm
gonna get more on this later. But OKC does not
necessarily have floor generals and playmakers. So sometimes that was
Isaiah Hartenstein making the right reaid off a dh O
making the right read off a short roll situation, trying
to feed Chet or even Caruso of coming from the
dunker spot right. It was. It was those situations, and

(18:29):
I thought he really stepped up in the small ways.
You know. Again, it probably didn't always show up on
the on the box score, but that was something that
I peeped, and like I said, it was most notable
in Game five. On the pacer side of things, Obi
Toppin emerged as a scoring threat that I didn't think
he would become this series. Even in Game one, he
got hot from three and for the most part, it

(18:49):
stayed that way the rest of the series. He had
plenty of momentum, you know, draining threes, and it was
the exact reason why you love pacer basketball that anybody
can go off, right, anybody can go off. And he
hit a lot of timely threes and got the crowd going.
You know, great high energy player, like I said, a
perfect you know, wide receiver if you will, to Tyrese,

(19:11):
Haliburton's quarterback. I thought he played. He had a really
good series. Again, I know Game seven was rough and
it had came out that after the Tyree's injury. You know,
he felt really bad because he was the one that
passed him the ball, so that was all he could
think about. So, you know, I feel bad that he
had such a such a quiet and rough Game seven,
but I don't want that to you know, get lost

(19:32):
that he had a really dope series and he impressed
me a lot. But flipping back to ok see again,
another guy was Chet Holmgren, and again I think he
had a shaky series offensively, but to me, he was
at his best when he took more of that Rudy
Gobert approach and took pride in his rim protection. Again
very similar to Rudy Gobert in the sense that these
are skinny guys. You know, there were moments where Chet

(19:54):
looked a little lost offensively, but he made up for
it on defense. Again, it was a lot like prime
Rudy Gobert in that regard, Like I thought, that was
a great sign of maturity from him, even at this
young age. You know, there were plenty of stretches this
series where he struggled to score on the bigger Miles Turner,
but still found ways to be impactful by altering and
blocking shots on the other end, getting rebounds, occasionally getting

(20:18):
put backs. That's what champions do. They don't let the
struggles of one part of their game affect another, and
I was very proud of Check this series. Now, I
mentioned earlier how turnovers were everything for both teams in
this series, again because they thrived off transition. When the
Pacers got turnovers, they got to play fast, that's their
bread and butter. When they played more half court, it

(20:40):
was a bit harder to score, especially in games four, five,
and seven, which was again that was my fear with
this team, despite their excellent ability to get each other involved.
But what surprised me about Indy was that they were
the only team this playoffs to actually go with the
strategy I initially was promoting ahead of the playoff, make

(21:01):
shake Gilgus Alexander feel like he's out there dolo. The
Indiana Pacers Lo and Behold were the ones that did
that and have and probably had the best series against
this team. In the postseason, they nearly went up three
to one versus this team because of that strategy, and
and I think, like I said, I think the one
of the reasons why they lost is just they just

(21:22):
didn't have a guy like Shay or even j Dub.
You know, again, what we saw from Game four and
even Game five right where Jay Dub went off, like
the Pacers just didn't have that guy who just said,
forget it, I'm getting thirty five, I'm getting forty. Like
despite a solid games three through five, Pascal Siakam wasn't
that consistent. You know, while he showed he could get

(21:43):
to the free throw line. Ben Matheren was on and off,
you know, TJ McConnell, he was great, but I think, again,
not enough to carry an entire team. That's just not
his role. And even Andrew Nemhart, I thought he was
surprisingly quiet. I really thought he was gonna wake up
eventually and really put his on the game a little more,
but it just didn't happen. And again, get don't miss

(22:05):
what I'm saying. The Pacers team oriented style is fantastic.
If Ben Mathern or Pascal Siakam had an extra game
where they played really well, I'm sure they would be
the ones with the trophy right now. They really were
reminiscent of the twenty fourteen Spurs. I got so many
flashbacks watching them this series. Imagine if Ben Matherin was

(22:27):
getting to the line, knocking down jumpers, getting those quick
burst twenty point games more consistently. But that was my
thing with them going into the playoffs. I know it
works and it nearly won them the title, but the
casualty of team basketball is when nobody looks to make
a play, or they try to do so too late
into the game because they don't want to deviate from

(22:50):
the system. They don't want to deviate from the tried
and true system that works. Siakam, McConnell, nem Hard and Mathern,
these are all guys who are capable of making a
play outside the lines, right But I think we saw
Indiana struggle with that at times, especially facing a defense
like Okacs. Because again I said this versus with the

(23:11):
Knicks series. The problem with the Pacers is when they
they face a defense that makes them sit with that
ball they don't. They don't. They don't look nearly as
good as we know they can be. And we did
see that again. They pushed this team to seven games,
nearly won the series, but we did still see that
versus the OKC Thunder. But make no mistake, you know again,
I know it sounds like I'm going hard on the Pacers,

(23:32):
but even though they won the series, the Thunder had
their flaws as well. There were some ugly things that
went on this series for the OKC Thunder that nearly
lost them this this championship. When OKAC played tough defense,
they got transition points, but when they didn't, it was
a lot harder to score because everything had to run
through Shay, who honestly is more of a shooting guard

(23:52):
than he is a traditional point guard. Right, Like, he
can pass, but it doesn't mean that he's a good passer.
Right Outside of Games five and seven, his reads weren't
the best over the series, and it showed why once
upon a time they paired him with a guy like
Chris Paul, Right, they paired him with a guy like
Josh Giddy, but not having a floor general, you know,

(24:14):
that turned him into an MVP. If that makes sense
because you know, I think the playoffs showed that this
OKC roster is just not built for him to put
guys in position to score. So his dominance showed more
with scoring. And then obviously, like I said, don't get
me wrong, he had some great games in this series
five and seven where he was getting double teamed and
just making the right pass. You know, his best playmaking

(24:37):
performances were the ones where he was able to make
the proper read out of a double team. And that's
why they struggled so much to get assists and they
experienced so much, so many dry spells throughout a game
because they have guys that can make plays, but they
aren't floor generals or game managers. They have guys who
can shoot, but they don't have specialized shooters, right, That's

(25:01):
why they ran into so much inconsistency. Alex Caruso can shoot,
but he's not a sniper. You know, Cason Wilders can shoot,
but he's not a sniper. Jalen Williams can shoot, but
he's not Paigestoyakovic. Right. Even lou Dord, like I said,
forty one percent three point shooter. This regular season, had
a great game won where he went off. But that dude,
he's not a sniper, you know what I mean. Like

(25:23):
he can shoot, it's not his primary job to come
off screens and shoot threes things that nature. Like, they
just don't have those specialized shooters. And though they won
the championship this year, moving forward, what worked this year
certainly won't work next year. Like I hate to be
the guy to already be like, oh, can they do
it again? But but real talk, I think if they

(25:47):
think they can win the same way as they did
this season next year, they got another thing coming, you know.
Sue Bird talked about this on her podcast when discussing
the New York Liberty. Right, when you win championships, it's
easy to say, oh, well, this is what we did
last year, this is what worked last year, but it's
gonna be a new year. You have to throw all
of that away. Teams are literally fixing their rosters hoping

(26:09):
to beat you this time around. Okay, see, almost lost
this year's finals. Shoot Oka se almost got booted in
the second round and back to back seasons all because
they didn't have snipers and secondary playmakers. They have to
make the proper adjustments this offseason to fill these holes
because the Pacers they had guys who had specific roles.

(26:31):
That's why they found success, especially this postseason. But either way,
both of these teams should be looking forward to making
it back to this stage at some point in the future.
They both have all the tools. You know, lots of
teams are gonna want the same thing. A man is hungry.
Wenby is gonna look to bring the Spurs back on top.
Right Houston is knocking on the door even more now

(26:52):
getting Kevin Durant. You know, we'll see how the Lakers
build around Luca in the future, and if teams like Boston,
New York and Denver get another chance down the line.
You know, like there's some teams that are still trying
to catch up, but I find it hard to believe that,
okay see won't have more runs in them. You know,
they're so young, they're still getting better. You know, we'll

(27:14):
see if Nicola Topic or Topic can get into the
fold next season and provide some of that playmaking that
they're gonna need, that that secondary playmaking. And obviously, like
you know, I anticipate a Tyreese Haliburton led Pacer team
is absolutely gonna get another shot at redemption at some point,
you know. So again, this was a really good final series,

(27:34):
and as we know, the finals tends to preview what
we might see how the league shifts the next couple
of seasons. So again, it won't be it certainly won't
be a cakewalk for either team down the line, but
I do expect both of these teams to return back
to this stage. And lastly, I would be remissed if
I didn't give Tyrese Haliburton his more than deserved flowers

(27:57):
for the playoff run he put together this year. He
did everything you want your star, your leader to do
on that basketball court. He was consistently clutch when it
mattered the most. He carried himself with respect, He celebrated
his well earned wins and kept his head high and
took his losses on the chin. The Pacers followed his

(28:18):
maturity tremendously. An excellent player with a future that is
only getting brighter. Of course, I continue to send my
prayers up for a patient, complete recovery and a positive
mind for him after suffering this Achilles injury. You know,
people want to see players play through injuries, and that's
what did Tyres do. He did that he played in

(28:40):
some of the most important games of his career so far,
knowing the risk that it would take. And this is
actually what I want everybody to understand about this situation,
because there's a lot of discourse on the kind of
ethics behind this. Now, first off, we knew how risky
it was in the first place. When it was announced
he had a calf strain, right, we saw that it

(29:00):
was very reminiscent of Kevin Durant. He got a lot
of Kevin Durant comparisons because Katie went through the same
thing in twenty nineteen, had the calf strain, missed some time,
was able to come back in the finals, and you know,
h he hit a lot of shots, and again it
was very similar to Tyres. Kevin Durant shot a lot
of his first points. They were catching shoot threes. He
wasn't getting in his bag like that. He was letting

(29:22):
the game come to him. He was feeling out that cave,
seeing how he felt. He knocked down his first few jumpers.
Now he's feeling himself. But the minute he decided to
do just a little more, that cav gave out right.
And I don't remember who it was exactly, but I remember,
like a year or two ago, hearing somebody say the
harsh reality of being an athletic trainer, especially at the

(29:44):
professional level, is that their job isn't necessarily to heal
players right. Their job, at least during the season is
to get players well enough to play big difference, big difference,
and understand their job is hard because they may know
the right medical decision to make, yet they don't want

(30:06):
to place doubt or regret in a player's mind. Relationships
are everything, right. So if Tyree says I would rather
deal with the risk of playing through this injury for
a championship, then live with the regret knowing that I
probably could have played, but I chose not to, you know,
the medical staff is gonna honor that decision at that point. Well,

(30:27):
he got a point, and I can't stop him from
playing if he wants to play. So I'm gonna do
my best to get him well enough to be on
the floor so he can do exactly what he said
he wanted to do. And that's what we saw in
game seven. You can't blame Tyree's for choosing to play,
though it was just twenty three minutes in a blowout game.
You know, hey, I felt good last game. You know,

(30:49):
with two more days arrest, I should be good enough
to at least play one more game. Right, this is
game seven, Like, I think we can manage this. And
if it means I get injured this offseason, so be it.
But I'm not missing this game. I'm not missing my
chance to get a championship. And again, though it's ethically debatable,
it made sense. But unfortunately it just didn't end well.

(31:11):
And here's where the on court element of the situation
comes into play, right, because if you notice, like I said,
very similar to Kevin Durant, Tyrese Haliburton was moving around
the three point line. He was just waiting for those
catch and shoot threes, right. Those last two threes that
he made were deep threes off the catch. He was ready.
He was just sitting around the arc waiting for the

(31:33):
rock to eventually swing his way for an open shot.
The Pacers are that good, right where the ball can move, move, move,
and eventually it gets to Tyreese. They made the thunder
defense scramble like they were doing really good early in
the game. But again, when that happens, right, so tyres
is sitting at the three point line. He's not worried,
you know, he's really not trying to put stress on

(31:54):
that calf. And I credit him because it was a
wise approach to this game and it was paying off.
But looking at that hot start, okase knew that eventually
they're gonna have to run him off the three point line.
He's cooking right now. But what is that gonna do? Now?
Usually tyres is just gonna blow by his defender and
get an easy layup or kick it out to a shooter.

(32:16):
But with the calf strain in play, it now forced
Tyrese to make a split second decision to either stick
to his approach and settle for the contested three, or
still do the smart thing and attack the close out
and drive, risking more stress on that calf with the
same movement that often results in those lower leg injuries

(32:38):
we see in basketball. Tyrese you could tell he didn't
want to repeatedly make those movements because he knew the
stress it was gonna put on his calf. But the
way the game was going, it seemed inevitable that he
was going to put stress on that calf. With Okac
starting to close out hard enough to take away his threes, right,
and it was heartbreaking to see the result of that.
I mean, man, that the reaction from Tyree's Haliburton. Man,

(33:01):
that that'll make you shed some thug tears, you know,
cause you know, even for me, man, I was like
watching my little brother go down on an injury. You know.
That was just that was rough. That was rough. And
additionally I saw people urging to shorten the season again. Right,
anytime somebody gets a career ending or career ending, career
altering injury, everybody wants to suddenly shorten the season, especially now.

(33:23):
Right we got Kyrie out, Dames out, Jason Tatum's out,
and now Tyre's Haliburton are all gonna miss time next season.
Superstars in this game are gonna miss the entire season,
most likely next year. But my response to that is,
once again, eighty two games was never the problem. It
is the pace. The way the modern NBA game is

(33:43):
played puts way too much stress on players' bodies. I
said it before when referencing Joel Embiid, this game was
never supposed to be played this fast for forty eight
minutes eighty two times. Not everyone's body is going to
be able to hold up for a full season. A
lot of these dudes are not meant to be running
up and down the court like guards. We love saying

(34:04):
that we're in the era of positionless basketball. We love
saying that everybody's guard like we love throwing that term around.
And then they get hurt, and then you realize that's
probably why these big dudes stick was sticking they button
the paint most of the time because they're not supposed
to be making all these moves like guards do. And see,

(34:25):
there's nothing wrong with the pacers up tempo style of basketball,
but I think when the game is already faster than ever,
and even the slower teams of today are at a
faster pace than teams fifteen years ago, it makes very
little room for balance. And while I know it's something
Adam Silver can't single handedly change, I fear that it's

(34:45):
only gonna take more injuries from superstar players for the
league to wake up and say, a right, enough's enough.
There's a reason why the traditional game was played the
way that it was played. These guys' bodies are what's
paying for the one hundred miles in running style we
see in the game today. It's easy as a fan
to see the entertainment factor, the high scoring games, the

(35:07):
depth that we see now, but when guy's bodies are
paying for it. Now, at some point you got to
look and think, okay, like something something's gotta change. But
but just like I said with Jason Tatum, I think
this injury will allow Tyres to work on his body
and his mind, especially so young, you know, and I
think when you look at tyrese his frame, right, this

(35:30):
isn't a guy with a lot of definition, not the
strongest guy, and I think it worked to his benefit
as a shooter, right, Like smaller guys have a softer
touch shooting the basketball. So yeah, Tyree's may not be
as hungry to lift weights and and really get chiseled
in diesel because it may affect this shot. But now
I think this injury is gonna wake Tyres up just

(35:52):
a little bit and help him focus on how he
can improve his body and figure out his body and
what he wants it to look like and still maintain
his skill level and you know, work on that as
much as his basketball skills. And for that, I'm excited
to see the fruit that comes out of this uphill
challenge for him. This year's NBA Finals certainly lived up
to the hype with a very entertaining seven games series.

(36:14):
But what are your thoughts on the thunders championship run?
What's next for Indy If they want to get back here,
will they have a shot at redemption in two to
three years? Be sure to share your thoughts with me
down below if you are watching on YouTube or at
me on the Socials, at Hip to the Games or
Desmond Powell Underscore, to share your thoughts with me, as
I would love to know what you think as well.
Verse one is definitely off to a great start, but

(36:36):
there is plenty more to come across basketball and hip
hop as we transition to verse two, where teams have
wasted no time get into their offseason trades. But before
we get into those, if you like what you're hearing
and want to know how you can support Hip to
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(36:58):
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Welcome back to Hip to the Games and switching gears

(37:20):
to more offseason related topics. Given this episode as being
recorded before the NBA Draft, I'm sure there are going
to be even more trades to come this summer, but
so far, the latest NBA trades have featured some teams
a couple teams from each conference looking to increase their
championship odds, the Orlando Magic, the Houston Rockets, and the
Boston Celtics. Now, first I want to talk about the

(37:41):
Orlando Magic receiving Desmond Baine in exchange for Contavious Calwell, Pope,
Cole Anthony, and four first round draft picks. While most
of the focus has been on the Magic benefiting from
Desmond Bain, I think this was a win for both
teams In all honesty, I think the Memphis Grizzlies are
now able to surround John Morant with a three and
D champion in KCP, and they're also able to use

(38:04):
Cole Anthony as a much needed spark plug off the bench.
If I'm Memphis, I'm gonna see if we can keep
Lou Cunard and then now bring in KCP, so then
we can essentially have two reliable shooters to put around
John Moran and kind of make up for that loss
of Desmond Bane, who was a really good three point shooter. Obviously,
Contavia's did not have the best year in Orlando shooting

(38:26):
the basketball, but should he return to a more consistent percentage,
I think this trade would prove itself to be nice
in the long run, especially given his abilities as an
off ball defender. Similarly, Cole Anthony unfortunately found himself out
of the Magic's rotation even after a couple of seasons
playing productive basketball. You know, there were even moments this

(38:47):
past season where he found his joy and his role
again after stepping up in the wake of injuries to
keep players. And again, I think Memphis issue their primary
issue from day one in this John Moran era has
been shot creation. They just don't have it. Even after
this trade, that hole is still there. I thought they

(39:09):
should have went after brandon Ingram the past few seasons,
but of course that didn't work out. He's in Toronto.
Now you know, Jimmy Butler didn't want to play for
this team. Kevin Durant had his eyes elsewhere, And so
now I think that they should really try to get
DeMar DeRozan, as it seems like he will either be
in Miami or Memphis come next season. But of course
only God knows, you know, anything can happen. But while

(39:31):
Desmond Bain was awesome in that role for the Grizzlies,
you know, flirting with twenty five and five averages the
last few seasons, there were still so many moments the
Memphis Grizzlies looked static on offense, especially first OKC this year,
it was legit like I was watching a couple in
playoff games like this looks like NBA two K when
it's the user versus the computer. Like after a while,

(39:53):
you just are able to lock up the CPU because
you actually have a human brain. So you're winning by
twenty or even thirty points and your defense is just
on a string, right because the CPU just is not
that smart. That's what it looks like watching the Memphis
Grizzly sometimes. But for me, if Cole Anthony can show
folks that he's still a talented player in this league.

(40:15):
I'm sure he's already looking forward to the opportunity to
prove himself again. He will help the Grizzlies, especially off
the bench, tremendously, you know, but he cannot do it
by himself. Like I said, there is still a hole
for a shot creator. And as for KCP, he will
help spread the floor and serve as an extra perimeter defender.
And again, in the event they lose Luke Canard in

(40:38):
free agency, now KCP serves as a more than solid
replacement due to his ability to contribute on both ends
of the floor. That's the thing about Luke Canard. As
accurate as a three point shooter that he is, he
often gets played off because of his defensive limitations. So
getting KCP, I see their vision for kind of bulking
up that defense a little bit and maintaining some of

(41:00):
their three point shooting. And you know, I think if
all those fails, you know, if I'm wrong about all
of this, they still have those four first round picks
that they can either keep or trade in the effort
to get another star or just more help alongside John
Morant and maybe you know Jaren Jackson Junior. So even then,
you know, save the twenty twenty five twenty six season

(41:20):
is underwhelming for the Memphis Grizzlies, they still have options
to work with centered around those draft picks, So an
overall solid move for Memphis. Now on the flip side,
the Orlando Magic got a much needed score at the
guard spot. And it was very interesting because Aunt Simon's
name was thrown out there a lot, Kobe White's name
was thrown out there a lot. Even Trey Young's name

(41:41):
was thrown out there, only for them to end up
what is probably the better option in Desmond Bane. And
I say that because obviously Trey Young looks ready to
lead a hopefully healthy Hawks team to a deep run
next season, especially with the East kind of looking as
open as as it's gonna look next year. Aunt Simons
is an awesome talent, but admittedly, you know, he had

(42:02):
a he has questionable shot selection at times, as cold
as he can be, you know, he's a great, great score,
you know, very talented. But and of course now we
see how that played out. He's going to Boston. More
on that later. But and then Kobe White, right, He's
had some really good seasons with Chicago the last couple
of seasons. But funny enough, Desmond Bain has generally had

(42:23):
better assist numbers than both of those guys and Simon's
and Kobe White, and has a higher three point percentage
as well, And to me, that was the difference. That
is why you get Desmond Bane, because not only is
Desmond Bane capable of playing off the dribble, but he
gives good effort on defense, is a stronger body to
guard multiple positions on the floor, and more importantly, he

(42:45):
does not need the ball to be effective. He can
fit as a spot up option with Polo Banko and
Franz Wagner handling the ball. That's the big thing with
Desmond Bain. That was the ultimate reason why they mutually
agreed on Desmon Ban. Desmond Bain even said on the
young Man in the three podcast right like he was
looking at Orlando because he knew this and he's eager

(43:05):
to help Orlando solve their league worst three point shooting issue.
And after watching this year's playoffs, not only will he
help them from deep, but he should be able to
take some pressure off Polo Bancaro and make plays off
the dribble on occasion. You know, the Celtics. They were
able to bait Polo to settle for mid range jumpers
on a repeated basis because he just they were clogging

(43:28):
the paint, so we couldn't bull thoze his way through.
You know. It forced the Magic to be very predictable
and dry, especially because of their three point shooting woes.
You know, they couldn't shoot threes, they didn't have many playmakers,
and the shot creation generally came from one player. As
competitive as as they showed themselves to be, it just
wasn't a great recipe to have a long lasting playoff impact.

(43:52):
While more players have to improve from three point land.
Desmond Bane is a great acquisition to help them get
to where they want to be, especially in an Eastern
Conference that may look very different next season with the Bucks, Pacers,
and Celtics all missing star players due to injury. This
was a real nice win now move I think for
the Magic, who, by the way, might have the best

(44:12):
jersey rotation next season, so you know, dope stuff all
around going for the Orlando Magic. Now sticking south this
time in the Western Conference, the Houston Rockets are the
latest team to fill a hole in their offense by
acquiring superstar Kevin Durant in exchange for the tenth overall pick,
five second round picks Jalen Green and Dylan Brooks. And

(44:33):
to me, this trade was fantastic by Houston. They were
already a great defensive minded group, so they could afford
to sacrifice one of those defenders in order to get
a star via trade. And we knew it wasn't gonna
be a Men Thompson, who pretty much became untouchable this season.
And then they decided to stay younger by keeping Tari Easton.
And then, you know, I felt bad for Dylan Brooks

(44:55):
because he chose to go to Houston in free agency
two seasons ago, but it's a business, and he now
has a unique opportunity to help a Phoenix team that
desperately needs some changes. And of course, even after a
hot month or two of hoops prior to the All
Star break, Jalon Green was involved in this deal because
at the end of the day, he was a talented scorer,

(45:16):
but not necessarily a reliable score. He was super streaky
in his first playoff series unfortunately, you know, having more
single digit games than double figure games scoring the basketball.
And you know, anytime you have the chance to turn
that kind of player into a guy that can still
get you twenty seven points in his sleep at an
efficient all time rate. One dribble pull up, two dribble

(45:39):
pull up, hesy pull doesn't matter. What you do is
cash and Kevin Durant. You take that every single day
of the week. And keep in mind, teams have been
able to see just how important depth is after watching
the success of teams like the Thunder and the Pacers,
right and I think y'all knew the Rockets postseason would

(46:03):
have went way different if they had a reliable go
to guy. You know, well they have that now in
Kevin Durant. And if i'm ime Udoka, a lineup of
Fred van Fleet, Amen Thompson, Tarry Easton, Kevin Durant and
alper and Sangoon is legit. Fred and KD they can
be they they can get buckets. But obviously Fred van
Fleet is gonna be able to do some floor general

(46:23):
type uh you know, creation for them. I think even
a men Thompson, if he can continue to grow as
a playmaker, he can he can do a little bit
of that. But again he's also gonna be the guy
that attacks downhill. You know, a men Thompson and Tarry Easton,
they can take turns guard in the opposing team's best players.
You know, Sengoon, He's definitely still gonna get his post

(46:44):
touches for balance, right. KD is a guy, great plug
and play player, loves to play the game the right way, right,
So he's not gonna come out here, be selfish and
try to get thirty. He wants the Rockets to still
be themselves. You know, you know it's gonna be a
fun situation for KD because especially when you think like
he hasn't really been this much of a top dog
per se, probably since twenty twenty one in the playoffs

(47:08):
when Kyrie and James Harden were both hurt with injuries.
So you know, I'm excited to see them on this,
to see him on this kind of roster. But you
want to know, actually, what I'm excited for even more
than that, though, is the fact that Jabari Smith Junior
is still on this team. I really was telling like
when the KD rumors first came into play, I was like, man,

(47:30):
Jabari Smith, this is his opportunity to go somewhere else again,
like a phoenix or somewhere else and really get some minutes.
You know, he's been hungry for that. He's been hungry
to show what he can do. And I thought he
gave great spurts in the playoffs off the bench. I
was very vocal about the Houston Rockets, you know, finding
ways to use him more. And now he's in this

(47:53):
position to learn from a future Hall of Famer who
made his exact play style acceptable in this NBA. You know,
having a rotation of two six ten guys who can
score is such a dangerous cheat code. If all goes well,
that dynamic wooh boy, I'm excited for that. I'm excited
for that in a best case scenario situation. Now. Additionally, though,

(48:14):
this trade is also going to open up more minutes
for Reed Shepherd right, who was one of the best
rookies in the Summer League last year and just somehow
couldn't find a fit in the Rockets regular season rotation.
And then the best part about him is that he
can shoot, which the Rockets still have to improve on
this season. So him and KD in the mix now
should help with that. Next season. Also, Cam Whitmore, he

(48:36):
should get more run. You know, he showed flashes of
athletic ability and scoring punches in limited minutes, similar to
Reed Shepherd. Right, we saw how high a lot of
people were on him on draft Day, and you know
he's gonna be able to have a big year this year,
a lot of more opportunity than he has the last season.

(48:56):
You know, I think just in general, right, like I
love this trade on paper, uh, and it's gonna be
a huge year for Amen Thompson, Reed Shepherd, Cam Whitmore
and Jabari Smith Junior, you know, because a men. Even then,
he still has to improve his three point shot, you know,
or teams are gladly gonna leave him to double team
Kevin Durant. You know, Reed Shepherd, he's gonna get the
opportunity to be the primary backup. Cam Whitmore should get

(49:20):
more minutes at the two and the three spots, and
Jabari Smith, like I said, may finally get the chance
to show what he can do on a consistent basis.
I love the idea of them presenting a challenge to
OKAC next year, but only if they improve their spot
up shooting abilities. You know, Okay, you got your go
to guy and KD. You know your youngins are gonna
be able to play, and they've had time to learn

(49:41):
the game from the bench and whatnot, have some time
in the G League. But they they still got to
knock down some threes this team, So you know, we'll
see how that that works out for them. And again,
like I said, they're they're definitely got. They definitely got
their eyes on OKC next year. But then on the
other side of this train, even with the Phoenix Suns,
you know, we'll see if Jalen Green, if they reroute him,

(50:04):
We'll see if he can get a fresh start on
a team like Brooklyn and maybe form a scoring duo
with Cam Thomas or maybe for me, right, I think
a sleeper pick would be, you know, the Detroit Pistons man,
somebody I would like to see Kay Cunnaham with a
two guard. I would like to see him with somebody
that can get a bucket. You know, obviously I think
best case scenario it's Devin Booker. But again, see if

(50:26):
you can get Jalen Green. You know, see if you
can get somebody to go opposite to Kay Cunningham and
really make that a fun situation in Detroit. Either way,
you know, I definitely don't think Phoenix is done making moves,
as their shooting guard room is way too crowded and
not at all cohesive. But as for Houston, like I
always say, they are much closer to creating problems instead

(50:48):
of having them after this trade. And lastly, at the
time of this recording, Sham's hit me with a last
minute trade to add to my notes for today's episode,
and that is the Boston Celtics sending Holiday to the
Portland Trailblazers for Ant Simons and two second round picks. Now,
this is a dope trade for Boston because they do

(51:08):
get younger and they steal a scoring threat that a
lot of teams would have liked to have. And obviously,
with Jason Tatum's absence next season, some extra points were
gonna be nice to have, an extra offensive burst was
gonna be nice to have, and the Celtics have indeed
extended their scoring depth by acquiring one of the more
streakier ones in Ant Simon's. Now, with that in mind,

(51:29):
I think it's really cool that they can start Peyton
Pritchard and let Simons come off the bench, or even
vice versa, as they both have shown to be spark plugs.
In this league. I believe Peyton has earned the right
to start. I do believe he's put his time in,
he's paid his dues, he's improved his game, he's stuck
with it, even after demanding a trade a few seasons ago.

(51:49):
But at the same time, I wouldn't be mad if
he does a Monu Jenobli Jamal Crawford Lou Williams right
and solidify a home as the sixth man and say,
you know what, I like this. I like being able
to the second unit. I can kind of be my
own star in this role. So you know, we'll see
how they deal with that. But you know, like I
said with Tatum out, I think Jalen Brown has to

(52:10):
be excited right to now have a nice trio of
guys who can score in Peyton, Pritchard, Derek White and
now Ant Simon's. And while I certainly wouldn't mind if
he did, I don't think Jalen Brown has to worry
about having some crazy career year because he's got a
lot of offensive help right here. You know, this is
easily a situation where Jalen Brown could be like, all right,

(52:30):
now's my time to score. You know. Twenty eight a
game thirty a game and show people what I can do.
But I don't think he has to do that. I
think he can still play within the flow of the
game and not force things offensively. And I think even
with Drew out of the picture now, I think Jalen
Brown can kind of fill that role a little bit
as a more physical defender, a stronger presence. You know,

(52:51):
I think he can. It'll allow him to kind of
do some of the things that Drew was able to do.
You know, I'm anxious to see how Jaln Brown approaches
this situation on both end. And you know, I think
with Drew getting older, you know, he wasn't gonna be
able to provide that same offensive burst he once was
kind of capable of bringing to a game. We saw
that more so in Milwaukee, right. But again, I think

(53:12):
we're looking at who just made the NBA Finals, right,
long term, how are we gonna keep up with a
team like the Indiana Pacers. We're gonna have to score
the ball and the Celtics did that. And I said
it before, you know, Joe Miszula, he seemed to value
offensive firepower a lot more than Emo Udoka did. E
may Is more defensive minded, while Joe Miszula seemed to

(53:33):
be a lot more embracing of the high octane offense,
like the more scoring, the better. And I think that's
with this move, you know it, this move really proves
that to be true. And then that said, though, you know,
I still think they have to consider the defensive identity
that they've had over the years because Ant Simons is
not the defender Drew Holliday has been for Boston, so

(53:55):
they will lose a lot of that by trading for him.
You know, there were games, like I said, if you
watch the Knicks series, there was a play where you know,
Drew Holliday, he's playing on ball defense, he goes over
the screen, then he has to run back and recover
due to switching and rotations, he still runs back and
switches on Carl Anthony Towns. Right, so no longer is
he on the point guard, but now he's guarding the
opposing team's center and holding his own in the post

(54:19):
contesting a shot. Right, Like, you lose man, that defensive versatility, man,
you lose that with Ann Simons by getting him. So
that's gonna be interesting to see. But nonetheless, you know,
should he remain a Boston Celtics beyond this upcoming season.
It does give them another guy who can fit with
this younger established corps for a nice amount of time.

(54:40):
And even if this is a one year rental, you know,
with an expiring contract, they can still flip him for
another solid piece. Right, A lot of teams are still
gonna win Ant Simons scoring punch, so you know they
don't really lose here. As for the Blazer side of things,
I love that this time it seems as if Drew
Holliday is gonna stay there in Portland and as a

(55:00):
veteran presidence, a leader, a champion, and a defender on
a youthful team on the rise. Remember they originally traded
for Drew Holliday in the deal that sent Damian Lillard
to the Milwaukee Bucks before he was bought out. And
while I do understand that Drew's contract is heavy, I've
always been a fan of defense and knowing that Chauncey
Billups potentially has Drew Holliday Toomani Kamara, Denny Avdia and

(55:25):
maybe even Matist Thibel as a as viable perimeter defenders
to work with when however, he wants that kind of
gets me excited. I'm not gonna lie. I'm already picturing
facing a team like okay see, and you can throw
all those different looks at Shake Gilders, Alexander and even
j dubb right, and then think about this too. You

(55:47):
got Donovan Klingon as an interior presence, and then if
they were to keep Robert Williams, it can get even scarier.
All that defense. Just guys, it has me a little
hype right now, you know. But you know, similar to
what I said about the Rockets pieces, I just think
this means that they are choosing to go all in
on Scoot Henderson and Shaden Sharp offensively. You know, obviously

(56:10):
Denny Avidya had a big year last year too, so
you know he's gonna be in the fold. But is
gonna be a big year for Scoot Henderson to continue
to show and prove that he's ready to be a
lead guard on a team that looks to at the
very least taste the play in And it's about that
time for Shad and Sharp to show that he can
be a twenty point per game scorer in this league
and maybe even reach All Star status. I think similarly

(56:32):
to how Zach Levine eventually evolved into a similar player,
right from coming into the league as an athletic finisher
to evolving as a more you know, three level scorer.
And again with these guys getting these opportunities still young
in this league, you know, my only fear is that
is the learning curve that comes with that responsibility, right,
that comes with having to endure, you know, with these

(56:53):
bigger roles now. But the Blazers should hopefully be one
of the more exciting young teams once again next season.
And you know, I think adding a veteran like Drew
Holliday to that mix should help them out a little bit. Obviously,
Boston is not done, as rumor has it, they've been
looking to offload Christabs porzingis as well. At this point,
I don't even know. I think we don't even know
if Peyton Pritchard is as safe as I believe he is.

(57:16):
And then we still got to see if Al Horford
returns to the squad. So Boston definitely has some more
moves in them that we have yet to see. And
you never know what Brad Stevens. Stevens is up there thinking,
you know, so we'll see what they do but for now,
the first domino has fallen, and I think they really
got a nice, talented young piece in a Simon's who
said we had to wait till July for the offseason

(57:38):
to heat up. Man, what are your thoughts on the
teams that made moves already this offseason? How much better
did the Magic get? Is Houston coming for okc's crown?
Where's Jalen Green's best fit? What's Boston cooking up for
the future? Drop your thoughts in the comments on whatever
platform you're on, or feel free to hit me on
the socials. In the meantime, I'm gonna take a quick break,

(57:59):
but don't go anywhere, as we'll be finishing today's jam
packed episode with the last verse flip into the other
side of the H two DG spectrum. What's Up? What's Up?
I'm Desmond and I'm the host and creator of Hip
to the Games, a podcast from nineteen media group from
hot topics across the NBA. How can you say we
done with the eighties or we done with the nineties? Yet?

(58:19):
That's who we learn from to album reviews and song
breakdowns and everything in between. I take immense pride and
genuinely appreciating the brilliance of basketball and hip hop's past
and present. If you two love the game of basketball
and the game of rap, that means you're hip to
the games. But no matter where you fall on that spectrum,
I'm sure you'll find your place in the H two

(58:39):
DG family, and I encourage you to join the fund.
He has a little more knock if you buck, if
you will, every other Friday on your favorite podcast platform
or YouTube courtesy of the Home Teams nineteen Media Group.

(58:59):
Welcome back to our last verse of this episode of
Hip to the Games, and finally your boy is back
with some hip hop talk. Man. I know I told
you before that is by far the hardest thing about
being Hip to the Games. Yours might be flipped right,
but for me, as passionate as I am about hip hop,
basketball has always been my number one. So taking you

(59:20):
behind the curtain as I often do on here for
this year's playoffs, if you noticed, I really challenged myself
to be everywhere, Like if you notice from the playoff
preview onward, I was really just trying to come through
with the videos, you know, especially on socials, you know,
posting multiple times a day at times you know, just
really trying to increase my presence a bit and overcome

(59:42):
the kind of self sabotage and impostern syndrome I tend
to suffer from as a creator. And I think even
because of that, right I revived the TikTok account I
was posting on TikTok, and you know, I just really
wanted to test the waters and show and really, if
I'm honest, just showed a basketball world that Desmond Pile
of hip to the game is really about this NBA
ish And you know, sometimes again with my schedule and everything,

(01:00:04):
and obviously I'm a human, I have a real life
outside of this, so I'm not always as consistent as
I like to be. But you know, that was the
playoffs was my opportunity to really just show a lot
of that consistency. And you know, so I say that
to say that's why I was off to one side
of the spectrum for so long. And although I still
feel like I could have done way better, I'm still

(01:00:25):
proud of how it went and I look forward to
the continued growth as always, and I certainly appreciate you
sticking around even without some of the hip hop content.
But today, man, let's talk a bit about beats and rhyme,
shall we, because I've been missing it, man, and I
know you have been as well, and you know, first up,
getting right into it, I actually wanted to start with

(01:00:45):
my experience with the Kendrick Lamar and sciss A Tour.
On June sixth, I was able to decompress from my
life as a podcaster and attend the Grand National Tour,
which absolutely filled my cup to the brim. I mean,
I got to enjoy the experience with devonn and our sister,
and anytime we all get together, I try to be
really present, and if I'm honest, it was just absolutely

(01:01:08):
amazing to just genuinely enjoy the show that was put
together with two of my most favorite people in all
the land, and not have to worry about content. You know,
I think it was very much needed for me because
I'm guilty of always thinking about the podcast, always thinking
about content, and worrying about the numbers and my consistency
and my social media presence and all those things. And

(01:01:29):
I felt like, especially around that time, I was just
due for some genuine rest, if you will, you know,
I just really kind of felt that all my heart,
so It felt great to have that time to just
sit back, enjoy hip hop, enjoy live performances, and just
be Dez in all honesty and now as far as
the overall experience, if you're active on social media and

(01:01:50):
you're seeing all the fans that have attended the concert
and they're saying things like always ten out of ten,
you know, I didn't want to leave. This is how
life should feel like, you know. Kendrick and Sizzle were great.
That as one hundred percent facts. Like, obviously, Kendrick performed
a majority of the songs off gn X, but he
definitely sprinkled in songs from all areas of his career
pretty much. And I thought the layout of the set

(01:02:12):
list was impeccable, the transitions and everything, you know, I
thought it was a perfect ebb and flow of excitement,
emotions and themes. And as you know, I'm a bar nerd.
You know, I'm a performance nerd, and you and I
bond over our love for the art of rap, you know,
and boy, when I tell you, seeing Kendrick Lamar effortlessly
perform with no background vocals was the dopest thing. You know.

(01:02:34):
We had a great view of center stage and I
made it my mission to rap along to the songs
as if I was on stage with Kendrick for the
most part. You know, I know you see the professional
side of me on here. But because your HTRDG family,
you know, I couldn't leave you hanging. All right, here's
a look at how much fun I had because words
just don't do it justice. Life goes on. Honey, Know

(01:03:01):
my baby got goun don't come. He can put up
cop can't keep the home. He knocking people to keep.
If you printed by me, mister, get off, I get
off with my see. Hey, hey, hey, they come put
your feet. I mustard seed it. Bo I come pricking

(01:03:25):
season not to free the credit boll My left struck.
Just wait, my I struck to the Benny and the
Spiro to Fred seem like to keep it on the
high know mistevils toy and you a high thought. Come on,
I'm gonna pick it up. I take you down up

(01:03:55):
They are like gosh, they go all right, your boy
was your boy was hype. Your boy was hype. You
know you see that shaky camera footage. I thought I
was gonna be able to hold the camera. But yeah,
that that ended real quick. But you know, it's one
thing to see the clips, but man, to be there
in person those videos that you saw that like, that
was just the experience. Man, it was such a once

(01:04:18):
in a lifetime kind of moment, especially for Kendrick right
as he's reached yet another level of stardom and skill,
I would say, And then I even saw in a
recent interview, you know, Sissa was struggling with the thoughts
of feeling like, you know, most people came to see Kendrick,
they didn't really come to see me, and it kind
of struggling with that. And while admittedly, you know, I
may have heard Scissa for the first time back in

(01:04:39):
twenty fifteen when she was on Willet's song The Need
to Know, but outside of that one song, I was
really only familiar with a few of her newer hits.
You know, I just don't listen to her music like that.
But you know, I really entered the concert with an
open mind, and she really ended up impressing me. Like
the mic was on, you know, her stage productions were incredible.

(01:05:00):
You know, when her more intense songs like Nobody Gets Me,
I believe it was when that came on. You know,
she had that stage on fire Man, it was slapping
and her guitarist was on point. Even some of the
setup of the choreography reminded me of something from a
Leah or even Michael Jackson would do, and and like,
don't get it twisted. You know, I may have been

(01:05:21):
there for the hip hop, but Sissa did her thing
as well. She did her thing, and just overall the
synergy between her and Kendrick Lamar's just Chef's kiss Man
like they it was great, great experience, great experience overall.
Like I said, the experience was a great start to
the summer and definitely one of the coolest experiences of
my life so far. But getting into these albums that

(01:05:41):
have dropped recently, next up man the MC who taught
us how to tell stories, the legendary Slick Rick released
his newest album title Victory, and Lil Wayne dropped his
anticipated the Carter six album as well. And the reason
why I'm kind of grouping them together here is because
I've seen a lot of fans essentially like, oh, slick
Rick at sixty is better than Lil Wayne in his forties.

(01:06:03):
And while I don't necessarily disagree with that statement, I
did want to unpack it and show both sides, because
I think Slick Rick's album is what you typically expect
from him, right, he literally talked his talk on I
did that of flexing his achievements and recognitions and contributions
to this culture, right as a pioneer in this game,

(01:06:24):
you know, there's fables like so you're having my baby,
you know, which can be a little humorous but a
little like realistic as well. And then the popular favorite
Landlord is just so dope and like classic Slick Rick
man as he wraps from the perspective of a landlord
who has to hunt down his tenant for their payment. Right.
And you know, I think this is something that many

(01:06:45):
of our hip hop pioneers share. And notice when I
say that, I'm not even talking about rappers who have fame, right,
even the guy down the street who works at Walmart,
but is you know, he was rapping back in the day, right,
Like when you you can always tell who grew up
in that time period in that era where the recording
process was different, right, Like you literally everything was physical.

(01:07:06):
There wasn't as much digital work as we see today.
So they had to come into the booth prepared. They
had to be ready to knock their verse out in
one take, which means, like I always say, they they
didn't just have to have a verse, but they had
to know their verse. Master the breath, control, the pauses,
the annunciations, the vocal inflections, especially for a guy like

(01:07:29):
slick Rick, right, who that's his signature thing. Right, He's
a storyteller. So essentially, when you're a storyteller, you gotta
know when to change your voice, especially if you're introducing
characters in the story. Slick Rick he knows how to
you know, include the ad libs, and he knows when's
to when to change his voice. Right. There's moments where

(01:07:50):
he wraps like his regular self, but he might wrap
from the perspective of a woman, so he has to
get a higher pitched voice or maybe a child, right,
so we have to sound a little more youthful. Like
point being, he had to know all those things going
into his studio sessions. They had to be you had
to be as sharp as a draft pick, right, Like
you had to be as sharp as a as a

(01:08:12):
as a you know, number two pencil. You you had
to get in that booth and not play around, and
so imagine developing that kind of military esque discipline at
a young age. Right and again right with that in mind,
there are people in the military who have put those
days behind them, but still they wake up at a
certain time, they make their bed a certain way. You know,

(01:08:34):
they have a specific routine that they do every single
day because that discipline and that structure didn't leave them.
Rap is the same way. So yes, it makes total
sense why slick Rick at sixty years old sounds exactly
how he did in his heyday and hasn't missed a
beat Because it's the homework. It's the master of the
craft m C. Master of the craft man. It ain't

(01:08:57):
no surprise he's doing this. He should be excellent. It
wasn't about streams and hits. These men and women were
rapping for the love and the respect and the skill
and the hunger like all that. He's not trying to
keep up with what these youngins are doing. He hasn't
dropped the album since nineteen ninety nine. I was one
years old. Like to be away from the albums that

(01:09:20):
long and just suddenly be like, Hey, I'm inspired and
I'm gonna do my thing like I always did. He
could have easily tried to keep up with the Joneses,
but he knows his place as a pioneer. And this is,
like I said, this is even with such a longer hiatus.
You know, he stuck to his style. He stuck to
his personality and breaking news is not corny because individuality

(01:09:41):
or yes, individuality and originality is cool. It's actually genuinely
a dope and fun listen, you know. And even I
think Victory is a quick listen too. It's not you know,
Rick ain't asking for a lot of your time. He's
getting his bars off, he's telling stories and you're out
of there, you know. And even then it doesn't come
off as rushed or lackluster. OG finally felt like dropping

(01:10:03):
the album, so he did, and his on brand and
it may not get talked about much, but let it
be known, slick Rick is still about that life. In
case anybody's wondering, you heard it. Hear from him to
the games. Now. As for Lil Wayne, I listened to
it a few days after it dropped, so I had
immediately seen all the talk of how his beats were
trash and how he's washed, and you know, once I

(01:10:26):
listened to the album, I immediately thought of eminem because
he went through a similar thing. Even if he wrapped
his tail off, people were still gonna focus on the music, right,
They were gonna focus on the beats and or call
him washed because it didn't sound like their peak performances
and projects. And while I agree that there definitely were
some beats that Wayne should have passed on, let's be

(01:10:48):
clear about that. You know, I think I think a
cotton candy with two chains that actually was really catchy.
That was some catchy stuff. I am not gonna lie,
but the beat it just had me smiling and like chuckling,
because like, these are two rappers, two chains of Lil Wayne.
These are two rappers with some of the best longevity
in the modern era, and they rapping on a beat

(01:11:09):
that would play during the end credits of like a
I don't know, like if they made another grownups movie
or something like that. Like it just made me chuckle.
And obviously, you know, the Peanuts to an Elephant that
was noticeably bad, like if you went on garage band
and hit random and no dish to the producer, but
like to me jokes aside. I generally think that Wayne

(01:11:29):
was challenging himself as a rapper, Like, when you've been
as rapp, when you've been rapping as long as he
has and have been rapped a rapper that's held in
high regard, you're gonna want something almost anything different to
challenge yourself. But this album didn't need that beat man
and and and that was my main takeaway. These were
just sparring sessions, right or shoot around if you will,

(01:11:53):
for Lil Wayne, Like, I think it threw a lot
of people off because of the title. Obviously, when he
comes out with a cover and you young Lil Wayne
on there and you see the Carter, you get hype
because we traditionally know what the Carter albums, you know
what what what those entail and and the history of
those albums, and as iconic as his mixtapes are, like,

(01:12:15):
the Carter is his bread and butter, you know. So
I'm with the people that have said that it's a
lot more like a mixtape than an album. Uh, you know,
shout out to my I got a shout out my
homie man uh Nashan. Uh. You know, if you're listening, bro,
like that, that's my guy, big Lil Wayne fan, tremendous
Little Wayne fan. Uh. And he told me. He was like,
you know, I've seen it more like a I Am

(01:12:37):
not a human being than a than A Carter album,
And I totally agree. I thought that was a spot
on assessment, uh, because you know, it's you know, obviously,
I think Wayne at this stage he has nothing to prove,
you know, he can do what he wants, and like
I said, there there were still some good songs on
this album. You know, I really liked Rari the Woe
with his son Cameron on the hook, like that was dope.

(01:12:58):
That's that's a nice way to use your you know,
involve your children and you know, make a record that's
actually pretty like dope. And you know, when you have
an artist like Wayne who's given us classic features versus
and albums, and like I said, is often held in
high regard all time, if he just wants to wrap
for fun now, I totally understand. Sure, it's it's nice

(01:13:18):
to see artists get older and you know, show they
still got an elite pen. But ultimately, he has nothing
to prove. The album isn't great, it's not iconic, and
while there are some hiccups though, there are still some
solid joints on this album. And I for the most
part was okay with it, you know, so you know,
shout out Wayne Man. You know, it's always good to
see the ogs doing what they do. And lastly, I

(01:13:40):
almost forgot too. I almost forgot to include this, but
Clips had continued their long awaited album rollout with their
new single so Be It. Where Push A T Through
plenty of jabs at Travis Scott. Now, admittedly I don't
care much for that. I just got to be one hundred.
I don't care much about that. I can't speak on that.
I never got onto the Travis hype in the first place,
so I'm indifferent with that. And likewise, even Push a T.

(01:14:05):
That's not somebody I listened to consistently. You know, I'm
not gonna be fake just because I have a podcast.
You know, I love hip hop. You know, I love
the art of rap. I love the craft of rapping.
But it's a bit harder for me to listen to
artists with subject matters I don't always resonate with, right,
it's just not my everyday lane. That said, I am
no stranger to Push A T's pen, and I am

(01:14:25):
no stranger to Clips. And what I enjoyed about the
reception of this song is that it's really got people
talking about pushes evolution as a rapper. I've seen quite
a bit of talk in regards to how Push a
T's luxury style of rap is reminiscent of what Jay
Z has done. I would say more obviously, more noticeably
in recent years than at his peak. You know, so

(01:14:49):
be it really sounds like those kind of posts watch
the Throne or maybe four forty four raps from jay
You know, the single is dope, it's gritty, you know,
it's kind of haunting, which matches Clips's energy as they
are set to release the album, which like I said,
had many hip hop fans on the edge of their seats.
You know, Push is gonna talk his talk and and
even no Malice right, Malice was killing out there. Man,

(01:15:10):
he was right with him. I love how in that
second with his verse he generally rode the same rhyme
scheme for most of his verses, but it wasn't dull
or repetitive. Uh. You know, I I really enjoyed the
energy they came with and their synergy is just perfection. Uh.
It really reminded me of what we see in sports, right, like,
because rap is sport essentially right, it's the it's sport

(01:15:31):
in the form of words and penmanship. I mean, come on, man,
when you listen to this song, Push had a bar.
He was like, because hit us that I that I'm
with like to draw when it's sketchy. I was like, man,
come on, come on, hit us that I'm with like
to draw when it's sketchy. Man, we keep we can't
keep acting like push a t don't don't got it, man,

(01:15:51):
we gotta keep acting like he do on got it? Like?
It made me think of too. I remember when I
first got on TikTok a few years ago, and it
was a little bit after the Pusher and Drake beef,
and you know, I shared a TikTok in response to
a tweet that was essentially a rapper ranking, and in
it I did mention like I wouldn't be mad if
you gave push a te to edge over Drake, and

(01:16:13):
somebody replied like, well, in what world is push a
tea better than Drake? Like I don't really see, And
I think they were genuinely asking, like, you know, I
don't I don't really see why, you know, people would
say that, And in hindsight, I really think it's similar
to what we've kind of seen from Michael Beasley in
the NBA world, right, Like, he doesn't have the awards,

(01:16:33):
but he has the respect. Real ones know how cold
he is, and if you challenge him, he is gonna
step to you. And I think it's very similar with
push a Te. Sure Drake has the awards, the fame,
the stadium, world towards, all this stuff, the Instagram quotes,
and he is a very skilled and talented rapper when
he's really trying to show that side. But head to head,
especially with Beef in mind, push a T is an enforcer.

(01:16:57):
You don't just step to him casually. It's not a
game to him. And while he's known for one subject matter,
for the most part, he's just as technically sound and
sharp as a lot of the artists who have been
at this rap thing for decades now. He is up there, man,
and so be. It definitely shows that you know. The
album let God sort them out drops next month, so

(01:17:17):
it'll be interesting to hear the full project. I know
there's been some other songs that have leaked. I know
the other single, what is it Like asan Trumpets or
ace trumpets, something like that, I can't think of it
off the top of my head, but you know, generally
from what I've heard, you know this is gonna be
a dope album for Clips, adult return for them. I
think the hype is there. I think the beats are hard.

(01:17:38):
The features, you know, we're allegedly getting a NAS feature,
a Kendrick feature. Those things have leaked, so you know
they got a heavy I think they got a heavy
hitter coming, you know, So it'll be interesting to see
what it sounds like, especially because it's been a minute
since their last album dropped. Now, before I go, I
know there's been a hefty episode, But before I go,
since the NBA season season is over, I just wanted

(01:17:59):
to give an outlook on what you can expect from
me and hip to the games moving forward. First, I
recently joined nineteen media group teammate Tyler McDowell Blanken on
his solo podcast for AZ where he highlights other educators
in the Arizona area who are impacting the community through education,
although this season he's actually focusing on broad in his

(01:18:19):
reach a little bit more so. I actually have the
privilege of helping him tip off his second season of
the show as a guest discussing how artists like Kendrick
Lamar can be included in education and curriculum. So that
was a really fun conversation. You can find that on
his YouTube channel for AZ. In July, I will actually
be returning to Wrestling and Life podcast Gimmick Infringement also

(01:18:41):
a part of the nineteen Media Group Family with Tyler
and his co host Brad Winchester to discuss the WNBA
season excuse me, similar to how we did last season,
so be on the lookout for that. That's going to
be next month. And as for h TWODG, I definitely
want to catch up and give you some fire song breakdowns.
As always, recommendation are greatly appreciated. I have been toying

(01:19:02):
with the idea of doing an album review from one
of Kendrick Lamar's projects. I think it's only right given
by recent experience. But as you know, album reviews really
take a lot out of me because we get into
so much detail and discussion. But that is a goal
of mine to do this summer that I can hopefully
do and of course expect to see you had to
be there episodes popping up this summer right the offseason

(01:19:25):
exclusive exclusive that will feature friends and colleagues of mine
reflecting on and giving flowers to their favorite and or
oftentimes underrated NBA players. So in a general sense, there's
still a lot to enjoy and look forward to with
Hip to the Games as the NBA world gets quiet
these days. But of course, with all of that said,
we have finally made it to the end of another

(01:19:47):
Hip to the Games episode from the awesome NBA Finals
series we watched this year, to the NBA already cooking
with some fire trades this summer and some hip hop
legends doing their thing for the love of the craft.
I hope you enjoyed today today's loaded episode, but as always,
these were just my thoughts, So now I gotta hear
from you. You can tweet the show at Hip to
the Games or tag me directly on IG or Twitter

(01:20:09):
at Desmond Powle Underscore and share your thoughts on any
of the topics discussed today, as I would love to
hear or read your thoughts, and I simply want to
say thank you for listening to another episode of Hip
to the Games all for the love of the best
combo there is, and thank you for being Hip to
the Games. In the first place and rocking with your boy.
All right, peace out, God bless hope you enjoyed this

(01:20:31):
episode of Hip to the Games. And if you enjoyed
this episode, be sure to hit up the socials at
Desmond Pole Underscore and at Hip to the Games on Instagram, Twitter,
and TikTok so you don't miss out on the fund
and please follow or subscribe to the show and leave
a review on the podcast platform. You're all right now
as your support. It's greatly to appreciated.

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