S11 Ep. 16 "All-Star Weekend and Conspiracies"

The All-Star weekend is behind us, and Keith and Dave recap and share which parts they enjoyed and which parts sparked conspiracy theories. Plus, an ISHOP award is handed out and Keith shares his secret power rankings.

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Episode 791 (S11 Ep. 16)

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
All right, and welcome to Fast Break, Breakfast NBA podcast.
My name is Keith Parrish, and I'm here once again
with my cat Dorothy, and through the miracle of computer phone,
I'm joined by Dave the Four Dave. Our All Star

(00:27):
break is over. It's a snow day here in Nashville.
How are you doing? How have you taken this break
from the regular season.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
I'm great. Took the opportunity to not turn on by
television for a few days. It was great. You didn't back,
You didn't Charlotte, you didn't go to the All Star weekend.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
No, oh, by the way, I mean no, I'm not
going to complain at all. So the league is back
on Wednesday with one game. Mark Williams again. Mark the Lakers,
Dawnton connect Mark Williams. They held him out after the trade.
Initially the Hornets did, oh, he's probable for tonight. We're
gonna see some bad blood. This is gonna be great.

(01:10):
Is Lebron gonna play? That's the question, right, is Lebron
too sort of play?

Speaker 2 (01:16):
This ankle thing just kind of he's been dealing with
a foot and ankle thing. I don't want to give
him a hard time. Lebron usually plays in the All
Star Game.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Yeah, so today's episode, it is a snow day in Nashville,
So I have to be a little bit more abbreviated,
because listen, I have a New Year's resolution. I'm still
holding up don't podcast when it interferes with time with
my kids. So it turns out now they're home from school.
So we'll do a little bit of a briefer show.
But we have to talk about the All Star break.
There's a loss of some things that happened before the

(01:44):
All Star break. And then of course I want to
look ahead to the last third of the season. We
might have to skip some breakfasts and some apologies.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
However, everybody already knows what I had.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
Anyway, Dave had oatmeal, maybe with some pumpkin in there.
The okay, fine, I had fors and berries cut up
inside of playing yogurt. There's our breakfasts, you monsters. Uh.
Lebron didn't play in the All Star Game. There was
some there was some criticism that I saw lobbed at him. One.

(02:16):
I have no issue whatsoever. Honestly, I kind of like it.
I I know there are the like the Norm Powell
demontes sebos Ja Morant fans who were like, like, I
think Ja Morant was next up based on the formula
of the combined votes of media players fans like, that's

(02:37):
why Kyrie got to go as the replacement. I'm I
think unless I'm mistaken, Jaw was next up. But like
an hour or two hours before of the All Star Game,
Lebron's like, yeah, I'm not gonna play to night, and
people were like, you could have. You could have let
us know, you could have let somebody else said no
one else needed it in we already had two replacements,
twenty eight guys or excuse me, twenty six guys already

(02:57):
made the All Star Game. We're fine. Although also Anthony
Edwards didn't play, could have been another, but we don't
need more players. We already did it. Also, Dave, when
were these extra players gonna play? Right there was there's
thirty minutes of basketball they.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Could have been. They could have done the mister Beast thing.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
They yeah, they did exactly. They they divided thirty minutes
of game time between thirty players as it was, so
you know, we're not we don't add more. But anyways,
I do think maybe if Lebron, Like, do they do
an injury report for the All Star Game? Like if
Lebron had been questionable, I don't think it was upset,
you know, if Anthony Edwards was questionable.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Wait, let me ask you, Keith the Turnould you gamble
on the All Star Tournament because that will tell you
right then if there was an injury report?

Speaker 1 (03:41):
Right well you can. So it seems like there would
have been an injury report.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
Anyways, that's an insane thing to gamble on.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
I want to I want to go positive because there
were a lot of really good things and it's hard
to not jump on the bandwagon of just yelling about things.
And I am gonna yell about a couple of things.
Maybe they're not the things you might expect, listeners. There
were things that I'm still like, why in the world,
But there actually was some really good stuff about this
All Star weekend. So let's go with our steak and

(04:08):
eggs best thing from NBA All Star Weekend, Dave, what
did you like the most about the All Star Weekend?

Speaker 2 (04:15):
When they were playing the games? They were fun that
first that first basketball game on Sunday was pretty fun.
I enjoyed it, and and then at the end of
the last game, it started to feel like an All
Star game. As soon as Steph Curry hit that half
court shot, we were back on.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
There was good competitive basketball until the tn T Yes
self congratulatory were positive. The basketball was good fun. My
guy Jared Jackson Junior was out there contesting shots, he
was blocking shots, he was trying hard.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
Was playing defense the whole like I mean, he was
trying hard the whole time.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
So Kyrie wanted to cook Wimby and that's what that's
what the All Star Game is for. We got it,
like we saw that stuff going on. Kyrie was playing defense.
Even the the Rising Stars team against is it I
can't is it Team Chuck? I guess the Steph Curry
uh that game. That game was close and competitive, and

(05:15):
there was a little bit of a scare put into
the All Stars and like Dalton Knnecks out there doing things.
So yes, Dave, the players got the message. Yeah, apparently
they were begging with the players. There was a meeting
to please take this game seriously, and they did take
the game seriously, even the Rising Stars thing on Friday night.

(05:36):
The players took it seriously. They were trying, they were competing,
so we actually got we actually got good basketball.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
So yeah, it was cool. Agree, it wasn't their fault.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
It wasn't their fault. Also, uh, here's a weird thing
I liked. I like the jerseys. I think the jerseys
look great.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
The court had not the court yet that's okay, all right,
they makes it. It makes the jersey.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
Does Adam Silver have a vision deficiency, like a color
deficiency of like?

Speaker 2 (06:05):
I just honestly, man, I think Adam Silver is like
too busy looking at Excel spreadsheets and other things to
bother with what the aesthetics of basketball look like on
it kill.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
Him to have a basketball court that looks like one
of the just universally accepted shades of brown, like shades
of wood, Like, that's a basketball court. If it isn't
Adam Silver saying hey, can we make this court more blue?
Could we make this more garish? Can we make people
want to adjust their television so the game is easier

(06:38):
to watch? If it's not him pushing it, who is
is there someone out there saying, man, we got to
have more blue courts.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
Awesome.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
By the way, the blue court did not match the
blue of either jersey. There were two sets of blue jerseys.
They weren't the color of the blue of the court.
The blue in the court was like warriors ish blue
with a yellow paint. All right, did we exhaust the
things I liked about the good things? Contest was good.
They struggled, but it was good. I mean that it's

(07:07):
hard to mess that.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
Up up dunk contests was it was interesting. I think
Stephan Castle actually had some nice dunks. But we're just
in a post dunk society. I think you know.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
Mac McClung jumping over a car was awesome.

Speaker 1 (07:23):
Mac, it was Ang's first dunk was outrageous. It was
so good And also one of the reasons that one
of the many reasons it was so good is because,
like a stunt man, he put his body in peril.
He clipped the car coming down, he stumbled onto the court.

(07:47):
It was dangerous, which also demonstrates maybe why Mike mclung
shouldn't be allowed in the dunk contest because a normal
NBA player, no one should be doing this. Mac McClung
shouldn't have been doing this. It was too dangerous.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
It's like E CW with pro wrestling, right, like it's
the gimmicks are out of control it and and honestly, look,
people were breaking out the phantom cam footage on Mac
McClung and saying when he's jumping over people, he's getting
a little bit of a push at the top.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
Of course, I don't.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
I look, I'll just say this, guys, if we're doing
phantom cam on the dunk contest and.

Speaker 3 (08:24):
We're not just going ooh and ah, we've.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Lost the plot, like, so let's get up, let's end.
It's over there. Are don't start that special anymore, Keith,
I mean, maybe not like that. We've got pro dunkers.
You're people to make up living dunking.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
And I thought I thought, I thought McClung's first dunk
was so special. And also McClung, he's such a showman,
and like, I'm watching this, I'm watching this with my kids,
which is great. This is like, apparently so what you're
supposed to do it. By the way, as we may
be criticize and parts of All Star Weekend, I feel
like there's a lot of people out there who are like, hey, listen, loser,

(09:04):
it's not for the forty year old hardcore NBA fan,
it's for children. Well, let me tell you. I have
a seven year old and a ten year old, and
they have a lot of feedback. They had a lot
of question very simple things. How do you talk to
your kids when you're when your kids say, hey, who
won the All Star Game? And you're like, oh, uh,
I think yeah, I think it was the Ogs? Uh

(09:27):
the og beat the Young Star Basketball Reference doesn't even
know what to put in, like the name of the
team because the NBA is calling it the Ogs, the
other one's calling it Team child Like but like so
very simple things, Hey is this the first quarter? No, son,
I'm sorry, they're playing to forty you know, like like
very simple childlike questions. Where But anyways, but they loved

(09:49):
the dunk contest. You know, it was great and that
part's entertaining. That's parts super fun. But he's a showman,
and I was explaining to them, like, you know, they
were upset by modest Bezillis's first attempt. They were upset.
The children were upset. I assume Bulls fans were too.
His second dunk, it was good, but he had the
I'm sorry face, you know when he finished it, he

(10:11):
was like like that was his facial expression, and I
paused it, and I'm like, listen, you know what, I
work in theaters and stuff, and I'm like, it's all
about the presentation. You can't you can't apologize with your face.
You have to stick the landing. Also, yeah, you like
mac McClung is a showman. He finishes the dunks. Also,

(10:34):
he's amazing at it, like having the final little flare
when he throws the ball in. But then when he
gets on the ground, you have to sell it to
the audience you did it. You also have to have
the right what do you call him? These assistants, these
dunk coaches? Yeah, is it not a conflict of interest
to have the same dunk coach for multiple people? It's
like it's like talk show hosts all having the same

(10:55):
agent competing for the same spot. It seems, you know.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
I think it's more like if you think about like
an Olympic team gymnasts, like they have the team and
but then they have the individual all around and they.

Speaker 3 (11:06):
Have you know, they share a coach, but they're competing
with each other.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
I think, you know, dunk contest nowadays, everybody's very buddy
buddy no.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
But like what if, what if in the Olympics it
was like Romania, China, Usa, France all had the same
just gymnastic coach. It feels like maybe I don't know, I.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
Don't know, it depends what if it's a great coach.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
Right, So one of the guys, so all right, there
were two. There were two. I'm gonna call him bros.
There were two bros in like like leisure wear, helping
out with the dunk contest.

Speaker 2 (11:41):
Realize that.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
So the joggers, the joggers and backwards hat guy was
too cool for school and I felt it it detracted
from the dunks. He's like throwing things to Steph Castle
and is like his passes aren't totally accurate, and it's like, right.

Speaker 3 (11:56):
Beard's a little too lined up, it's a little two
not right.

Speaker 1 (11:59):
But he's seeing he's not the showman. There was the
other guy, maybe the slightly stockier who had coordinated things
with Mac McClung. When the McClung dunk went in, He's
doing his celebration to punctuate the dunk. He's also like yelling, replay, replay,
go look at the h This why I got distracted.
So you were saying, how like we're going to the
santom cam.

Speaker 2 (12:20):
No, no, no, no, I'm oh. So what you're saying
is they weren't giving the same amount of ensemble cast
vibes for the rest of the guys that they were
given for Mac McClung. Was mac McClung's score being artificially inflated?
This is sort of like when the Minnesota Vikings. You know,
the one guy does the dance, right, but then when

(12:41):
they have the group dance, that's when you see it
on Sports Center.

Speaker 1 (12:45):
Is that what you're saying exactly? Yea, I do you know?
I hadn't actually thought of this angle. That isn't where
I was going. Maybe you're right, Maybe of interest, the
hype celebrations for the McClung dunks, they were maybe more
on point. Maybe it's easier when you know your guy
mc is gonna make his first dunk every time they're coworker.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
Because he's not an NBA player, he's a professional dunker.

Speaker 1 (13:09):
But I want to go back to the phantom camp.
So there are some dunks where I don't know how
I feel about this. The dunk, the mac McClung tap
it on the rim where when you do the dunk,
initially you're like, okay, for mac McClung. That was not
take your breath away moment. But then they're like, look
at the replay and then you're like, oh, in the replay,
it's amazing. This goes back to the Gerald Green blowing

(13:31):
out the cupcake, the candle on the cupcake, where it's like,
you saw the dunk, you're like, huh. Then you see
the replay, You're like, oh, it's better on replay. Now
there's some that take your breath away in the moment,
and then the replay makes it look a little bit worse.
And that was the Stephan Castle dunk, the one he
finally completed on his like eighth try when the guy
finally made the layup the right way. But Stephan Castle

(13:53):
completed this breath taking dunk where he catches the ball
out of the rim then goes between his leg. Incredible. Yeah,
it was incredible. But then you see on the replay
his foot's on the ground when he catches the ball,
so he's still touching the ground, where it's like this.
That was a lot of show. It's also the the
Jammarant like how did Joamarant hang in the air for

(14:14):
so long? Well, he didn't. He landed you know, it's like,
that's obviously a travel we didn't see it in real time.
So the staff I felt that the Stephan Castle, the
SlowMo took away some Also going back to what you said,
Stephan Castle's dunks were incredible. Stephen Castle left out of
meat on the bone with his dunks, right, he was
up in the air for longer, and it's like, man,

(14:35):
you could do another half twist. You could do that.
Mac McClung patented, just hold the ball for one second longer,
just pause, do the paws in the air. I felt
like with a little more I don't know, equitable coaching,
if he had the same coaching tips that McClung got,
maybe Stephencastle wins this dunk.

Speaker 3 (14:52):
Which Lonnie Walker would have been in this dunk contest
by the way.

Speaker 1 (14:54):
Welcome back Lonnie Walker.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
He he is one of the more athletic leapers I've
ever seen in my life. Yeah, and he was on
an NBA team. How about that right right before the alls.
We could have gotten him in there.

Speaker 1 (15:08):
So I felt the dunk connest was by the way,
except for like Andre Jackson catastrophe, how are you? How
are you so bad? Minus buzailis We're watching that first
dunk attempt and you're like, there's no way this is
gonna happen. I need to know. I didn't know how
many times out of ten when he's alone in a
gym he even pulls that off, because there's no way
it's more than fifty percent. Like that. That seemed like

(15:30):
an impossible thing he was trying, and he didn't get
close to doing it. The three point contest was fun relatively,
I felt like maybe the basketball was a little bit off.

Speaker 2 (15:41):
Can answer the question, yeah, just before you get to
the actual contest. How do you have a three point
contest in the Bay and not have like Stephan Clay.

Speaker 1 (15:52):
I don't understand anything the NBA did in a lot
of avenues, and frankly, possibly the biggest is just not
having Steph there. And I know there's some talk about,
well they were trying to work out Steph and Caitlyn
Clark and Kaitlyn Clark who would have been the biggest
star there. I understand because like, are you gonna pay
her an appearance?

Speaker 2 (16:12):
Feet of people who were mad that she said no,
And I just thought to myself, Wow, what a loser.
It's not her. Literally, the NBA having to beg Caitlyn
Clark to come is kind of a sign to me that.

Speaker 1 (16:25):
But I mean, if I'm Kaitlyn Clark and if i'm
if I'm her representation, Yeah, you're like, oh well, how
how much like a million our NBAF there's gonna be
cool with paying you know, several million for this appear.
I mean, it would have been a huge riveting event.
As it was, it was not a huge riveting event.

(16:46):
I will say as much as I personally old man
does not like the starry moneyball, I don't like counting
some for three.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
Yeah, that's all.

Speaker 1 (16:55):
That's all My kids cared about. They were They were
beyond excited when someone finally made the story when Buddy
Healed knocked down a couple starry moneyballs or whatever they're called.
They were so out sided. That part definitely translated.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (17:08):
Also, they like the skills competition. It's it's a relay.
The funniest part about this, watching this with children is
how poorly actual NBA talent translates in the skills competition. Like,
all right, just put yourself in the eyes of children,
ten year old, seven year old. They know some things

(17:29):
about basketball. They've each played recreationally basketball. They're watching Donovan
Mitchell and Evan Mobley and they're like, these guys can't dribble.
What's wrong with it? Yeah, Like they were like, these
guys are horrible, and like donnovd Mitchell was stumbling and
traveling and my kids are like, what's a travel I'm like, yeah,
you can travel. In the skills competition, Evan Mobley looked
like he never shot a basketball before on his first run.

(17:51):
They're missing passes and they were and I'm trying to
tell like again, I'm the quote unquote expert. I'm dad
who knows about everything, and I'm like a children, those
are the best players participating in the skills you know.
And then Moses Moody was incredible. Moses Moody makes every
shot and they're like, this guy's amazing.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
They're all yelling he plays eight minutes a game.

Speaker 1 (18:12):
The funniest takeaway, yeah, I'm like, that's the worst player here.
That's the worst player you'll see all night. No, the
funniest thing was like the Spurs cheating thing where that
was the first one we saw, so they didn't know,
they didn't the kids didn't know what was happening. They
didn't care, but my seven year old when we watched
the dunk, so we had to watch the dunk contest

(18:33):
the next morning because it was very late. When they
watched the next morning, when Stephan Castle was the first
one to dunk based on the stuff they saw from
Chris Paul and Wibin Yama, my seven year old goes, oh,
that's a spur. He's probably gonna cheat. When Stephan Castle
comes out for the dunk, I.

Speaker 3 (18:49):
Was so, that's amazing.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
It was my Ruth Condon moment. It really was.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
Well, so let me tell you so, because like I
actually have a thought on this. Number one. Look, Wemby
is very obsessed with everyone finding him clever, and I
find that's obnoxious. I really like I'm just out on that, right,
like the whole chess thing. Chess guys are their own thing. Yeah,
because if you're into games and you won a game
of strategy, you're probably playing go not chess. I'm just

(19:15):
gonna throw that out there to everyone. But I actually,
I while I'd say, hey, man, spirit of the game whatever,
it was funny to try it one time, right, Yeah,
this was a funny thing to do. What drives me
nuts is that the NBA didn't have any fun with it.
They treated it too seriously and I wouldn't let him interview.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
The guy refusing Ali the Forrest from talking about Chris Paul.

Speaker 2 (19:42):
And I'll give Wemby credit because Wemby did find it funny,
which it was. And when he said, well, they didn't
boom me. They bowed Chris because he knew Chris Paul
was getting blamed.

Speaker 1 (19:52):
For this, but they did not, So Chris Paul did
not find it funny because you can tell that Chris
Paul was arguing and they literally had that one security
guard slash rules enforcerr like pull out the sheet and
be like, here's what they actually written. I don't know.
Can the skills competition? Can? Can the Spurs file a

(20:15):
formal protest?

Speaker 3 (20:18):
Can they hire Darryl first? Darryl to get him down there?

Speaker 1 (20:24):
All of those things. I think they were entertaining enough,
not where we have to nitpick. I don't like saving
the dunk.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
Raymond knocking over the rack of balls was perfect.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
Oh it was great. You know, being horrible was so funny.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
Yeah, there was some good stuff. Look again, man, when
the league just lets the players go out and have fun.
That's when we have fun with them. And so every
time they did it during during the All Star weekend,
I had a good time.

Speaker 1 (20:50):
Yeah. Congratulations to Tyler Herro winning the three point shootout
the actual by the.

Speaker 2 (20:57):
Way, doing a photo shoot on a private jet because
you won the three point contest at All Star is hilarious.

Speaker 1 (21:05):
What about what about him having a press conference today
and are raising canes? I like that, that's.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
Kind of it.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
The canes is low key, kind of and sort of
balances out private jet on the one hand to shoot now,
you know, the raising canes, fast food chicken establishment, the
actual All Star format And of course this is this
has gotten a lot of ire from people, and maybe

(21:34):
there is something to say that, like Kevin Durant's criticisms
of the media are valid or is the media? Are
we fueling these issues? Let's actually talk about we. Oh
what do you mean?

Speaker 3 (21:45):
It's not we, as in me and you.

Speaker 1 (21:48):
We criticize everything.

Speaker 3 (21:50):
No, no, no. But there's a way to do it, and
there's a way not to do it.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
I think let's let's talk about that. Let's have some
let's have some cream of wheat. Worst of week right
after this short Break all right, Dave Cream of week
worst of week with the NBA All Star Game and weekend.
I am not objective because I was not pleased with

(22:17):
the idea of the new format. I was already outraged
when they announced there'd be an on court MC. And
this is nothing specific to Kevin Hart. Just finding out
there was going to be an on court EMC for
a game you were trying to take seriously. Those things
are at odds, and then it turned out okay. The
actual format, which frankly was like a multi tiered multi

(22:42):
day tournament because there was four Rising Stars team, There
was three Rising Stars teams, the one g League team,
and then the winner of that one got to go
to the final semifinals on Sunday. So there actually was
this serious basketball and the format did force people to
play hard. But T and T, what are you doing Slash?

(23:03):
Who thought this whole thing was a good idea? The
most common question that I feel like has come through.
I mean, actually, there were a couple of really good
conspiracies that came out of this, But like one conspiracy
Slash question that a lot of people have asked, did
TNT tank the broadcast on purpose?

Speaker 2 (23:23):
I'll tell you right now that that I was told
through a source. Oh I never do on the other show, but.

Speaker 3 (23:30):
Through a source I was told.

Speaker 2 (23:32):
No, a lot of this stuff, yes, was TNT. But
stuff like mister Beast doesn't that's not a TNT. Ask
like T and T isn't saying hey we want to
put mister Beast here right, Hey we want to have
Kevin Hart on this broadcast. That's not TNT from what
I have been told.

Speaker 1 (23:52):
Can I I do need to point out as far
as me saying, all right, it's hard for the children
to watch the All Star because you can't even tell
them what the teams are. You're like, oh, yeah, that's
Team Candice, that's it. Who's on it? Well, just different
guys people. However, mister Beasts segment amazing for the children.
They were they were thrilled with that. Also, well, Dave,

(24:16):
and also, I know how you and I feel about
a lot of things in the world, the whole, the whole,
Like we've had this multiple times now. Any any competition,
any like half court thing, anything involving players and citizens
just regular people where it's you either win or the

(24:36):
money goes to charity. Do both. What's wrong with you monsters,
like why is there money? Why is the amount of
money going to a charity up in the air. That's disgusting. Also,
it seems so much like one of those memes of
is it. I don't know if it's like a Joe Rogan,
there's like a lady like a North Korea. It's this

(24:57):
meme about like America. This is wrong, and literally this
one was in America. If you want to go to college,
you have to beat Damian Lillard in a three point
contest before the NBA throws into commercial, and then mister
Beast will give you money to go to college.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
Like that, while mister Beast is trying to mount you
like a backpack.

Speaker 1 (25:19):
I thought, mister Beast, though, was he not doing the
basketball psych out? He was talking to Damian Lillard. He
is like, DA was the most cut shooter ever. He
won't miss oh he missed. Thinking, I felt like mister
Beast so I had a different interpretation than a lot
of people. I felt like he was psyching out Damian
Lillard by building him up before every shot.

Speaker 3 (25:41):
I felt like it was the other way.

Speaker 2 (25:42):
Damian Lillard actually stepped up and kind of boxed out
mister Beast. So that the other guy could shoot. There
you go.

Speaker 3 (25:48):
I don't think Dame was trying to hit shots after
he made one.

Speaker 1 (25:51):
You think he was trying to miss a little bit
for the drama.

Speaker 2 (25:54):
Yeah. But also, I mean, listen, hey, yeah, let's pitt
Let's pit millionaire professional athletes in their sport against just
some random guy out of the crowd for money. Yeah,
let's do boxing next. But literally, what if we do
that with mma? Let's do that John Joe. If you
beat John Jones, you can go to college.

Speaker 1 (26:17):
I talk a lot about you know how, like obviously
I'm a podcaster and you're a podcaster. And then sometimes
I see people who are on television or on radio,
and I'm like, they're way better at this than I am,
like like like Max Kellerman, much better at talking than
I am. And then you see like mister you see
like mister Beast, and you're like.

Speaker 2 (26:37):
Oh, yeah, you're.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
A you're a YouTuber. You're a YouTuber. You're not a
television person. You're a YouTuber. But I did think it
was funny when he was trying to hype up the guy.
He's like, if you win one hundred thousand dollars, what
do you.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
Do and the guy was like, save it, help my
family family, maybe go to college.

Speaker 1 (26:55):
It's like America, baby.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
What had to hate that because what they really wanted
with him to be like, oh, you know, I'm gonna
buy another may Box. I mean, Adams over just was
on TV, you know, talking about how they're this lifestyle
brand and all these things, and then they rub our
face and their money all weekend. So and the Mister
Beast thing to me was one of the more distasteful
ways in which.

Speaker 3 (27:16):
The NBA has rubbed money in my Also.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
They're like jumping the money.

Speaker 2 (27:21):
Yea. It's like it's just weird man. Nah man, it's
not for me, buddy. I don't think we're gonna have it,
but stuff like that in a few years, Keith.

Speaker 1 (27:28):
I think they are because that that right there is
like the stuff that they're they're pushing on socials and
that's the stuff that gets the biggest yeah views on
social media. And that's what Adam Silver's gonna point to.
We criticize the fact that there was you know, like
one there's less than one half of actual basketball during
the All Star Tournament, and he's like, well we got

(27:49):
we got twenty million views on Mister Beast.

Speaker 2 (27:52):
Can we talked about inside the NBA as we're sure
talking about the worst things?

Speaker 1 (27:56):
Yeah, inside, Then we get into the game, they're stuff
about the game too. Yeah what inside the NBA?

Speaker 2 (28:01):
I don't watch that show all that often, you know,
and I never have because I'm not that type of sportsman, right,
I watched the sport. I care about the ball going
through the hoop. And that's it. Unless you're really adding something.
I don't need to hear what you got to say.
Those guys haven't really added anything to the conversation in
my opinion. Ever, it's funny because they're like, goofy, it's

(28:24):
not funny because it's good. So we were like, we
turned it into this thing where it's become a quote
like cultural part of the NBA, and this was like
the grossest example of that. Yeah, which they're still going
to be doing games, man, Like they're not going away.
If they were going away, and I was like, hey,
this is the last time I have to think about this.

(28:44):
This whole thing great, but they're not. And so they
just disrupted what was a pretty fun afternoon outside of
the Mister Beast thing, but the basketball was fun. And
then they interrupted it for this weird it was longer
than the game itself, masturbatory it was. It was ten
minutes and where the Again, we're the wrong guys to
talk about this specifically, because just it just so happens.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
Neither you nor me are huge inside the NBA fans,
where it's like I don't when the game's over, I
watch movies. You know.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
I look, man, they sat and dumped on the product,
like they dumped on the basketball. They dumped on the players,
they dumped on the format, they dumped on the young guys,
they dumped on the dunk contest. They dumped on everything
the entire weekend. And then I'm supposed to say, oh, hey,
all right, guys, yeah we love you.

Speaker 3 (29:35):
No, we don't. Man, I'm tired of these guys.

Speaker 2 (29:38):
You know, it must be nice to be able to
sit on TV and be cranky like here's it's just
weird to me. It's supposed to be a ce celebratory weekend.

Speaker 1 (29:48):
So the the way that the T and T people
have become so integral, I think for me shows itself
in the strangest way, just with the T team names.
I can't get over that the that the all Star
teams were called Team Kinney, Team Chuck. I can't get

(30:09):
over when you look at Basketball Reference and it's like,
you see the the fifty year history of the All
Star Games. Then it's like East West, East West, East West,
and then it starts going Team Lebron, Team Yiannis, Team
Steph team, and then and then finally East West and
then now at the very end it says, what.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
Is this, Uh, it's the self absorbed era of the NBA.

Speaker 1 (30:37):
It's uh, the last one Team Shack forty one, Team
Chuck twenty five. When the historians go back and look
and they're like, hey, what what happened?

Speaker 2 (30:47):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (30:47):
Is that the was that when the war? Like, oh
that was before the war, that's before the war broke out.
It was Team Shack forty one, Team Chuck twenty five. Also,
by the way, I don't think Basketball Reference right now
knows what to do with the staff.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
Oh, because these count toward people's career stats because they
have career All Star stats? Does does Zach.

Speaker 1 (31:09):
Edie and Jalen Wells both have two All Star Game points?
I guess do the Simmis count because they don't, like,
if you were not an All Star, can you compile
All Star game, you know.

Speaker 2 (31:20):
It's it's not an All Star now, It's not an
appearance anymore. It's an All Star selection, right because appearing
in the All Star Game doesn't necessarily mean that you
were an All Star, which is actually one thing that Draigmond.
I think he was a little salty about it, a
little too salty, but he was right about He's right.
So that's about so here. Here's here's another.

Speaker 1 (31:40):
So one conspiracy was like, did T and T blow
this broadcast on purpose to maybe make the I don't know,
to be because they're spiteful about losing the product. Another
one that I kind of liked was did Lebron refuse
to play because he's like, I'm not playing rookies, I'm
not risking that. Also one of the biggest issues with

(32:02):
the format. I mean, of course, the games are too short.
That like, like a game to forty is nothing. Literally,
like if you're a Pistons fan watching Kid Cunningham, where
do you play four minutes or something like Alprin Shingoon
played four minutes. Jared Jackson Junior, you know, played like
eight minutes, like that's all you got, Like without exaggeration,

(32:24):
they literally played. Let's say let's say let's let's generously
call it one half of basketball. Let's call it say
it was about one half of basketball. That's one half
of basketball, not even split between twenty four All Stars. No, no, no,
it was split between twenty four All Stars minus Lebron
and minus ad then also eight rookies and sophomores. So

(32:49):
it's one half of basketball split between thirty players. But
also because the games are so short, that lends itself
to upsets. That gives whoever comes out of the G
League Rising Stars game the best possible chance at an upset.
And you you felt like that showdown was was it

(33:10):
was good, Delta connect making shots. It was close, but
like you know, I think Kevin Durant was taking that
game seriously, Jayson Tatum was taking that game seriously. But
it was close because you're essentially playing a game to
fifteen by ones, you know, like it's a very short game,
like you're saying.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
For NBA players, And by the way, they weren't playing
like lockdown defense.

Speaker 1 (33:31):
But they were, but they were kind of trying. The
whole idea is listen for the All Star Sunday night,
you're gonna play one quarter against the rookie sophomore team
and you have to win that one quarter. If you
didn't want an upset, you make it much longer. So
like the conspiracy, Lebron said, wait what No, I'm not

(33:52):
playing like you're setting us up to fail. And I'm
sympathetic to that. This is this setup format was made
for upset one game to forty. I don't I don't
like it. By the way, I've reached out to Basketball Reference.
I'm a Basketball Reference brand ambassador because I'm looking right

(34:12):
now and I'm trying to find out, Hey, like the
All Star stats are not have not been added yet
on Basketball Reference and I want to know, like, hey,
I've actually asked him. I don't have an answer. Unfortunately
they said that. They said they're looking into it, because
I was like, hey, does Jalen Wells have All Star
Game points? Has the league provided any guidance or like

(34:33):
the all time scorekeeping because we have the All Star
we have the all time you know, most points in
All Star Game history. We have all these records that
were keeping up with and like, did any of that
matter because we have Team Chuck? Also, how did a
men Thompson get in the game. Amn, Thompson's team lost

(34:53):
to the g leaguers, And I know I can find
this answer, but I've refeed used to find it. I'm
just bringing it up to you.

Speaker 2 (35:02):
Because I don't even know how no idea.

Speaker 1 (35:04):
Because he was not on the team that had jam
Le Wilson Zach Ety, like the Thompson Twins they lost
to the g leaguers because their team had no shooting.
It was kind of funny. Yeah, but uh but I
was like, wait, now I'm in Thompson, Like, did team
came to get to draft like one guy or something
off of the.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
Team injury replacement or something.

Speaker 1 (35:26):
Maybe they didn't even care overall, Like again, the basketball
was good, yeah, the whole Like here's a twelve minute
game and broken up by three and a half minute
commercial breaks, and then we had the Mister Beast thing
for eight minutes. Then it was another twelve minute game
and then it was then you had all right in
Vogue performed That was awesome, who cares?

Speaker 2 (35:46):
That's an all star awesome? And then thank you.

Speaker 1 (35:49):
But then like we have these like again these they
are there're seven commercial breaks, Like we're getting a full
three and a half minutes on every break, the game
would go for three minutes, they'd have a three and
a half minute break, and then to come back and
find out there's a sketch involving the T and T
guy that that's where I'm like texting this the listener slack.
I'm like this is psychotic, Like what, like what is happening?

(36:11):
And like also even not even mentioning the uh like
the fact that there was an MC, but also that
Kevin Hart was was not good at it, but like
the arena sounded dead. I mean, of course, cause it's
partially empty at times. Also it's a corporate event, but
like him talking trash to Shakes Alexander, it was cringe
level for the broadcast. Maybe the NBA players think it's funny,

(36:34):
Maybe they don't care.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
No, I don't think they did, honestly, and in Shade
in particular, looked very annoyed at the entire thing. And
I I just don't understand what you're trying to do,
Like what is the point? What is the point? What's
the point. I just want I just want to know
we got more Kevin Hart than basketball Keith.

Speaker 1 (36:54):
I just know we literally did. I was trying to
time it. I got I got tired of it became
the overwhelm story, and everyone else was taking the lead
on tracking the time of basketball versus everything else. But literally,
I like the one stat I wanted was actual time
on the basketball court between Ernie Johnson and the guys

(37:17):
who made the All Star Game. Yeah, like you know,
like I know, Ernie Johnson still on the court longer
than Jared Jackson junior did, for sure, And it's like,
why why can't you just let him play basketball? And
I don't I think beforehand, Dave, we both said, there's
not really a fix. You just play. You play East
versus West, and you get what you get. That's that's

(37:37):
been my oinion. You get what you get.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
Like the thing is competitive is not the goal. Fun
is the goal? Like, why couldn't you just make the
All Star Game? Do the rock and Jock format, put
a twenty five foot hoop, put a five point shot
and just say, look, guys, hey go try hard ish

(38:00):
and have fun. Mike Cup, some guys like, you know,
do whatever.

Speaker 1 (38:03):
Just apparently guys were they didn't even use it, or
maybe they're gonna use it for social media stuff later.

Speaker 2 (38:10):
Probably it's probably gonna be used for some documentary I'm
not gonna watch.

Speaker 1 (38:15):
I even disagree with you, Like I don't want any
of those frills. I want just a basketball game.

Speaker 2 (38:22):
Sure. I mean, if you want to make changes, do
it in a in a in an Arcadie way, right,
Like there's a way to make it. Okay, this is
gonna be more fun like the Nickelodeon stuff that they
did with the NFL. I don't have to do that,
but you could make the game like put fun stuff
on the court. The players would get into it. You know.
I just think you can make it fun and make

(38:46):
it a little bit more of like an extravaganza of
a game versus what I mean. This is obviously this
stuff wasn't for kids, you know what I mean, No
one's out there like, oh, look at that. They gave
Charles Barkley fishing gear, right, what's his YouTube channel?

Speaker 1 (39:04):
That's for children? Children find fishing gear Hillery.

Speaker 2 (39:06):
I love it, they love it. I mean it also
started at what eight thirty?

Speaker 1 (39:11):
Each said the All Star game was on at eight No,
it tipped off at eight forty.

Speaker 2 (39:16):
Yeah, that's it.

Speaker 1 (39:17):
And then and then and then again there was there
was a fifteen minute basketball game that had sixpensive commercials.

Speaker 2 (39:22):
All these changes on time.

Speaker 1 (39:24):
We answered most of these things, but we got to
give our patron supporters a shout out. So I'm gonna
rit A couple of listeners submitted questions. These are the
cossap question ah any questions, Yes, are you going to
finish that?

Speaker 3 (39:41):
Quiss knock yourself.

Speaker 1 (39:45):
Out, Magnus, We're going to answer this. Magnus asked, did
TNT take the Alstar game presentation intentionally? What do you
get out of that?

Speaker 2 (40:00):
They tanked it? But I don't know if the tanks, but.

Speaker 1 (40:01):
It wasn't wasn't on purpose. Caleb wants the nose. A
good question from Caleb. Do you value first dunk, attempt
execution or dunk greatness more?

Speaker 2 (40:14):
For me, it's first dunk once, you know, once you've
attempted something crazy and I kind of see what you're
gonna do.

Speaker 3 (40:23):
Yes, I just I don't know.

Speaker 2 (40:25):
It feels like you're just gonna you're gonna do it
until you get it. I'm assuming you've done it before.
But if you get it that first time, it just
there's that it's almost like a knockout, you know what
I mean?

Speaker 1 (40:35):
Agreed, absolutely, it's it's not. It's not all or nothing.
Like if he's picking do I want greatness or first
dump dunk execution? You know, I think there's probably a
degree where the greatness can overcome something. Oh what Like Honestly,
when Stephan Castle pulled off that get the rebound with
the balls going through the net after the layup and

(40:56):
dunked it, I said, who okay, because I set there
for forty seconds thinking like there's just no way, you know, Okay.
So then when he did it, that was pretty great.
But when there's a spectrum on it, like eighty percent
of the battle might be just executing the first time,
we were like, oh you did it. You did something creative,
interesting and difficult, and you kneeled it the first time.

(41:18):
That for me is always gonna be like the bank,
give him a fifty, don't even worry about it, Like
it's really hard to get a fifty after you tried
something multiple times.

Speaker 3 (41:26):
I feel like, right, that's the thing is there's a bias.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
But like if Michael Jordan had gone down to the
under other basket, sprinted to the free throw line and
not made the dunk on there, it wouldn't have been
the same, not as exciting. We don't maybe we don't
get come fly with me? Do you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (41:43):
Do we believe any of the guys who are talking
now about maybe getting inspired. I don't believe any of it.

Speaker 2 (41:50):
I don't believe the contests. I don't believe one on one.
I don't believe anything we.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
Yeah, so we have Jahn Morant saying all right now,
I'm gonna do it, which, frankly, we always say there's
no upside for guys risking one losing to like if
it's not Matt McClung losing to modest Buselis or Andre Jackson.
But it does seem like Jaw could have not for
any of his off court behavior. But I'm saying, like
a redemption as far as becoming back in the primary

(42:17):
in the public spotlight, although he's still i mean social
media views and or Jersey sales job, still like a
top five guy. So but I can see that. But
like Zach Levigne, Aaron Gordon talking about it, Jannis talking
about it, Yeah, I'm with you. I'm skeptical they're not
actually gonna do it. They're just talking.

Speaker 2 (42:38):
You think Janis is who you want to see in
a Nope, dunk contest. Not me.

Speaker 1 (42:42):
It's it's so hard for the tall guys.

Speaker 2 (42:44):
Yeah, I mean, if Yannis is gonna dunk from the
top of the key, now we're talking, I'm in, I'm
in Wemby, Come on, I would do, I would do.
I want to.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
I want to. I want to Wimby versus Jannis. Legal
basketball play. How far back can you dunk? Like you
start on the opposite baseline, one dribble, gather, two steps dunk?
Can they do it? I think maybe, Like that's.

Speaker 2 (43:08):
What I was honest, Giannis has a really good pushed dribble.
Oh so I think he could.

Speaker 1 (43:13):
Yeah, No, I'm I'm on text threads where people argue
about Giannis highlights whether there's a travel or not, and
I'm like, listen, I think he batted the ball forward,
which is not a dribble, so he's then allowed to
pick it up, and then he took a step and
then he released the dribble and then it's a gather. Yeah,
that's legal. Like I'm always the one even though on
the rules, like normally I'm saying that he the sexton

(43:35):
travel about man, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (43:38):
You gotta think about like taxes, some of those steps
are deductible.

Speaker 1 (43:43):
Yeah. Also that everyone's talking about they're willing to do
a one on one, I don't. I don't believe hardly
any of them. I mean, I believe Kyrie is a
secret dog like Sharon said he would, and I actually
believe Jaron. I feel like has very little shot blockers.
I think have to get rid of their shame sometimes

(44:03):
because they're like, I'm gonna get dunked on. So I
think he would try it.

Speaker 2 (44:07):
Yeah, maybe they'll do it. They'll probably just do it
on their own though.

Speaker 1 (44:11):
Anyways, thanks for the questions, guys. Thanks everybody who hung
out in the Slack channel during All Star Week and
a lot of fun content going on over there. Also
during the break on Monday and Tuesday, it got weird
in there. We need basketball back very badly. Anyways, if
you want to join the Slack, if you want to
have your listener question answered, you gotta be a Patreon
supporter Patreon dot com, slash Fast, break Breakfast All Right,

(44:40):
David's now time for the awards segment of the program,
The International Stackhouse of Pancakes Award given to the worst
performance in a box score. The All Star Games weren't
long enough already want to miss a bunch of shots,
So nothing from there. But we do actually have a
few games, regular season games that happened after last week's
episode that we get two and we have some doozies

(45:01):
to talk about. So our honorable mentions Jayden Hardy oh
for eight, Kobe White two for thirteen, Trey Murphy four
for seventeen, Shake Gellos Alexander six for twenty one, and
a rare thunder loss. We have three nominees from just
a few days. Last week, Anthony Edwards was ten for

(45:23):
thirty three with twenty eight points, a lot of points,
but ten for thirty three. This is then a loss
to the Bucks, a close loss. Ten for thirty three,
twenty eight points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals, two turnovers,
zero personal fouls. Perhaps try ow Kobe White in another

(45:44):
game in a loss to the Pistons Kobe two for
fourteen to seven points, four rebounds, three assists, one steal,
two blocks, two turnovers, one personal foul. That was the
game where our tourist uh Karnisovas is like, all right,
we got to see what we have for the next
thirty games after not trading guys to the trade deadline,
and then they fell behind. Was it sixty five to
twenty three or something like that. They fell behind by.

Speaker 2 (46:06):
Twenty nine points in the first half.

Speaker 1 (46:10):
So Kobe White in that game was two for fourteen
and then Miles Bridges in a lossitt goal.

Speaker 2 (46:14):
For twenty as a team from three.

Speaker 1 (46:17):
Yeah, they missed the first twenty three pointer. Yeah, we
had some doozies. Also, we had that Bulls game against
the Thunder where uh, we're no the Heat. I'm sorry
the Heat against the Thunder. The Heat got outscored twenty
four to zero to start the fourth quarter. Incredible stuff. Sorry.
Our third nominee was Miles Bridges and the loss to

(46:37):
the Magic. He was six for twenty three nineteen points,
eight boards, four assists, one steal, one turnover, zero personal files.
Perhaps try, guys. We got twenty three shots no fouls
from Miles Bridges, thirty three shots no fouls from Aunt Edwards.
So anyways, our three nominees day ten for thirty three,
twenty eight points for Aunt two for fourteen, seven points

(46:58):
for Kobe White, six for twenty three, nineteen points for
Miles Bridges.

Speaker 3 (47:04):
I probably wanna go Kobe White.

Speaker 1 (47:06):
Yeah, even though it doesn't have the volume A real
horrible game.

Speaker 2 (47:09):
Congratulations, comedy game was awful. Yeah, I was tuning. I
tuned in when I saw how bad the first quarter
started off for them, and I stuck around until they
made a three, thinking, hey, it'll happen any moment now.

Speaker 1 (47:24):
So so Kobe White in back to back losses to
the Pistons on back to back days Tuesday and Wednesday
of last week, he went two for thirteen and then
two for fourteen. Kobe has the opportunity on Thursday to
be the first player in NBA history with three straight

(47:45):
games with at least twelve field goal attempts shooting under
sixteen percent. There's kids cherry picks out.

Speaker 3 (47:52):
Of the day, brought to you by basketball, brought.

Speaker 1 (47:54):
To you by Basketball refference. Who is looking into it
to figure out what they're supposed to do with the
All Star Games, to have they that they haven't yet
added to their comprehensive database of the league. I mean,
how many we don't have. We don't have the play
in the n season Tournament final because stats don't exist.
We have the play in stats, which finally exists somewhere,

(48:16):
but we're not sure where to put them. Now we
have the All Star Tournament? What do I do with
those stats? Good job and keep it up, Adam Silver, Uh,
I don't mind the tournaments. By the way I saw
there was someone said, h random NBA executive says Adam
Silver is too obsessed with tournaments. It doesn't help the game.
I disagree, man. I think the n Season Tournament has

(48:38):
helped tanking. I think it's it's helped the league get
eyeballs and excitement on the end of the year. I
think I think the n Season Tournament, the NBA Cup,
it's just added a little bit of juice to an
otherwise dead time. I have no I got no downsides.
There's tweaks. I like, I hate this stupid colorful basketball
courts that make my eyes hurt. But I think that's
been good. This got the players to play hard. Even

(49:01):
if I think it was super unfair to the All
Stars to play very limited minutes, it was super unfair
to the fans. Can you imagine buying a ticket to
that matter, don't sell that many tickets, but can you
imagine ever shelling out the money to go to that
and being like we got less than a half of basketball.

Speaker 3 (49:19):
Could the NBA get hit with a class action lawsuit?

Speaker 1 (49:23):
I mean, we have become too litigious as a society. However, however, Dave,
I think yes, probably so. Also, by the way, this
is the random thing Anthony Edwards. His ten for thirty
three is super rarefied air. But I got I gotta
obsessed with this thirty field goal attempts without committing a foul,

(49:45):
and then if you filter it based on who had
a horrible shooting night, there have only been eleven players
in NBA history who have taken thirty field goal attempts
in a game, made ten or fewer and also committed
no fouls. And it is like the great collection of
chuckers of all time stack House. There iverson, Kobe, Dominic, Quilkins,

(50:09):
just the rare guys with the full green lights. And
of course our guy, uh, Joe Falkes, although he usually
filed a lot. Shout out jumping Joe Falkes, par fadeaway,
Dave looking ahead as the season resumes. Of course we
had this exciting Dalton connect Mark Williams showdown game. But also, uh,

(50:29):
there's been some free agent movement. I feel like the
Marco Folts to the Kings thing. Doesn't it seem like
the pert rare. I mean, like once you lost to
Aaron Fox. They don't have a backup ball handler. I mean,
of course, Davion Mitchell previously traded already. Like they don't
just have a guy you know who think of it
as a guard to handle. They've been splitting it between
Monk and Levine. I think it on paper, seems like

(50:52):
a perfect fit for for folks to get back in
the NBA. That part, I think is super exciting. The
Lonnie Walker to the Sixers, Sixers are done, I.

Speaker 3 (51:03):
Think, yeah, they're done.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
I honestly, I will say that I'm a little bit
surprised we didn't get some kind of an MBAT shutdown
overall Star weekend. You know, we did start getting the stories, Hey,
Paul George is more banged up than anybody, No, you
know what I mean, Like.

Speaker 1 (51:19):
If you're Paul George, you've got to put that out
there because right with how bad you've been the two
point game.

Speaker 2 (51:26):
Yeah, like, what is the point for Philly now? You know?

Speaker 1 (51:32):
Protect that draft pick, like their odds got their odds
of hitting top six protected pick. Your odds are mini school,
not mini school, but like, even if you tanked out,
you still, like like a coin flip, you gotta keep
your pick. So I understand going for it. Also, dave
kudos to us last week saying like the Nets are
going to be a problem. They might, they might have

(51:52):
to take extraordinary measures to miss the play in because
they're better than the Sixers and the Bulls right now,
like they again, they have more talent post trade headline,
they ended up with a more talented team, and they
started the season.

Speaker 2 (52:05):
With gonna be moved to the coaching staff.

Speaker 1 (52:09):
They're already playing cam like twenty five minutes or it's like,
I don't know what it's supposed to do there. I
will say last thing, Dave, I try to do my
secret power rankings, and as we hit the final stretch,
do you agree we have three main title contenders where
it's it's the Celtics, the Thunder and the Cavaliers. I

(52:31):
don't put the Nicks in there. Would you put the
Knicks or the Nuggets or anybody?

Speaker 2 (52:34):
I would put the Nuggets, not the Knicks. Okay, I'm
back on the Nuggets.

Speaker 1 (52:38):
I so the Nuggets are a half game behind the
Grizzes now for the second seed. They have just been
playing I call it joyous basketball. Jamal Murray found his
groove last week with fifty five point game. They're playing
Zeke Nausey a lot. That's how I know they're having fun.
They're finding minutes for Zeke and he's doing fine. Of course,
Jokic has played something like hasn't played a fourth quarter minute.

(52:58):
He had like seven of the last I have the
Knicks and Nuggets. Just that's the top five.

Speaker 2 (53:05):
You know.

Speaker 1 (53:05):
I don't think either team is going to win the title.
Nicks maybe getting Mitchell Robinson back very very soon. The
next group, Dave, I have, I think eight teams that,
like frankly, I don't think are that good, but things
could work out for them. You can get a few
breaks and all of sudden you're in the conference finals.

(53:27):
And that's where I put my team, the Grizzlies. I
think the Grizzlies, the Lakers, the Rockets, the Clippers, the Timberwolves, Pacers, Bucks,
and even Mavericks. Things could go right.

Speaker 2 (53:39):
I guess I don't love anything health stuff. If the
Mavericks get healthy, then I think that that, yeah, I
have them up.

Speaker 3 (53:46):
I think, you know, I like the Mavericks before the trade.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
Once they got healthy, I thought that they had would
a shot as anybody coming out of the West. But
even after the trade, and especially when you look at
how good Max has looked out there, Hyree's had an
awesome year. Davis, Anthony Davis, when he's been healthy this
year as an individual defender has been awesome. And you know,
I actually feel like the Mavericks were a little bit

(54:12):
scary to come out of West. I just I just
don't know how they overcome the injury.

Speaker 1 (54:18):
Because a d is several weeks aways. Is that still right?

Speaker 2 (54:21):
Do we think, well, that's that's what we know now.
You know, remember this is a reinjury of an injury
that he maybe came back too early from. So I
don't know what we do there.

Speaker 1 (54:35):
I did not include the Warriors in that group. Is
that an oversight?

Speaker 2 (54:40):
I don't don't know. Man.

Speaker 1 (54:42):
I think they're as competitive. I feel like I feel
like where these teams, I'm like, all right to twisted
ankle for someone on your opponent, you can end up
in the conference finals. I feel like it's gonna take
multiple things. Even if they are friskier, tougher, better with
Jimmy Butler, I.

Speaker 2 (54:59):
Can Draymond Green and get the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball
team arrested, right like that would help the Warriors.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
The Kings and the Suns and the Pistons and the Magic. Sorry,
like you know, you're you're kind of my That's where.

Speaker 2 (55:14):
I have right Orlando Orlando is I don't know, people
start paying Look, nobody's really paying attention to Orlando this
year because you know, obviously they've been hurt a lot.
And then you know, but there is I'll tell you
they really miss Jalen sucks.

Speaker 1 (55:30):
Yeah, Palla sock is dropping. That's my top eighteen teams.
And then I have this cute, cutesy play in but
you're not good at all. That's the Heat, the Spurs
and the Hawks, and then I guess the seventy six ers.
I have them twenty second in my heat.

Speaker 2 (55:49):
Might wind up with a really great defense once they
integrate these guys fully and offensively. I think I think
what Wiggins does compliments Tyler Hero a little bit better.
I might be in on the Heat.

Speaker 1 (56:04):
So I'm in on the Heat, but only because they're
like the all podcaster team right now. They're the kind
of guy I truly believe in my heart of hearts
and it takes like discipline never to say it, but
I'm gonna say it now, Like I truly believe things
like like, oh, you give Spolstra, Alec Burks and Kyle Anderson,
You're gonna win some ball games, even though they did

(56:25):
not win ball games, but they all start breaking because
they were horrible in fourth quarters. The Nets, the Nets
and Trailblazers still intriguing playing good basketball, yea beyond.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
The thinking basketball did a too mony video right, like
you know, you know stuff is happening in Portland when
Ben breaks out a video on a guy that's great.

Speaker 1 (56:51):
And then and then the bottom trash teams I got
Raptors and Bulls, Pelicans, then the the humiliating teams Hornets, Jazz, Wizards.
If you read all those of all those names off
in order, That's how I view the league. Anything yet, Like,
are there any other Is there a pushback? Is there
optimism for anything else? Did I miss?

Speaker 2 (57:11):
Not? Really? No? I feel like we're getting into the
point where we kind of know who's who, and now
it's just who's gonna be healthy?

Speaker 1 (57:19):
Like I feel like I have a weird amount of
faith in the Timberwolves, even though they still.

Speaker 2 (57:23):
Can't string together.

Speaker 1 (57:24):
They can't string together like a week of being good.

Speaker 2 (57:28):
Can they do three games?

Speaker 1 (57:30):
So I just when I say I have a weird
amount of faith, when I literally try to rank the
teams in order, I end up putting them tenth. Just
some like am I am I? Am I gonna put
the Pacers over them? It's like, ah, maybe it just
could be better. Am I gonna put the Bucks or
the Mavericks or the Kings? Ah? I think I trust
the Timberwolves in a series. Maybe, but maybe I'm just again.

(57:52):
I would like to emphasize my my seven through fifteen
sixteen teams. They're all the same. I don't who made
seventeen threes in this game. That's the team that won. Anyways,
Thanks for hanging out, Dave listeners, guys are the best.
Thanks for listening, and remember breakfast is the most important thing.