Jayson Tatum is not winning MVP, Kevin Durant hears your disrespect, Victor Wembanyama the greatest defender ever_

Brendan Abban dives into the MVP race and gives his thoughts on what Jayson Tatum's realistic chances are to win the award. He then talks about Kevin Durant's comments about how he is not appreciated as a leader in the NBA. He then talks about Kevin O'Conner's comments about Victor Wembanyama possibly becoming the best defender of all time?! All that and more in this episode! Hope you enjoy!

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
What is going on? Everybody?Welcome to the KBR Sports Podcast. You
really know, the best sports podcastof your twenty four hour day. Thanks
for tuning into today's episode of thepodcast. Of course, if you are
new to the KBR Sports Podcast,go ahead and hit the subscribe button,
hit that followup button. It's apleasure to have you here listening for the
first time. You are a newlistener. If you are a returning listener,
what's up? What's happening? Gladto welcome you guys back to the

(00:21):
podcast. Obviously, right now,I think we're in a period after the
All Star break now where basketball's backin full swing. Now everything is good.
We got essentially NBA's just taken offin terms of all the different storylines
and stuff we got to talk about. But it's weird now that the NFL
has hit this law point. Butyou still have a couple of stories coming
out from the NFL, like AdrianPeterson's trophies getting auctioned up, but when

(00:46):
he wasn't the one that was behindit. It was an auction house that
had put his his items up forauction, and he said he was going
to take legal action against them becausethey had put his stuff like his MVPs
or his MVP, his Rookie ofthe Year and stuff like that on auction.
When he did not approve with thatbeing done, he said he would
never do that for his ard ownedtrophies, and it kind of get the
perception like Adrian Peterson was down badfor money, because why else would you

(01:07):
auction off your trophies and stuff likethat. So it was one of those
moments that you know, you hadpeople looking sideways like ap, what's going
on? You know, I'm notgoing to get into his whole personal situation,
but it was a situation that youreally were sitting there thinking like could
this actually have occurred? Like couldthis be something that's real? But it
is. It is wild to thinkabout. But you know, aside from
that, obviously with the NFL,then you also have some stuff like Marcus

(01:32):
Valdez scantly getting released today and Ithink a lot of people are now talking
about how it seems as though likewhen Kansas City Chiefs receivers get released end
up at the Jets or something likethat. And it's one of those situations
where I think Mikole Hardman had justmade comments about the Jets offense, and
then the Jets punter I think madea comment kind of firing back at him,

(01:53):
and so it's funny just seeming toexchange it between the two guys,
and it's just these little side stories. It's always funny the off season to
see what things end up getting talkedabout as side stories and whatnot, and
just what ends up bubbling up interms of for the NFL. And then
now you're at MLB preparing for springtraining. I just saw my guy show
Hal Tiny get his first home runyesterday in the Dodgers' uniform. You love

(02:15):
to see it. You gotta getshow Hey won man. Dodgers got to
get show Hey one ring. TheAngels let him down all the years him
and Mike Trout. I don't knowhow you have that tandem together. You're
not able to pull off one Worldseries run at all. That team has
been terrible despite the talent that thosetwo had between the two of them.
So now you're in a situation whereshow Hey is in a Dodger's uniform and

(02:38):
we're gonna see how well the Dodgersare able to maximize in terms of having
this roster try and buy for aWorld Series title, because even last year
was a very big disappointment for theDodgers. So we'll see how things go
around this year. But a lotto talk about today in terms of the
NBA. Got to talk about JasonTatum. I have some thoughts about Jason
Tatum. Obviously, Kevin Durant kindof trolling people with his lead being about

(03:00):
his leadership and his boardroom interview,and I think that this is something I
recorded a smaller video on but Ididn't want to talk about in the more
expanded view, and then I wantedto. Also, there's some other NBA
stories I'm going to get into,but I think that I want to talk
But guys, before we get intoall that, how is your week going?
Guys? I hope your week hasbeen fantastic. Right now, at

(03:22):
the point that you're listening to thispodcast, we are just about about we're
past hump day. Now, we'repast the midway point of the week,
so hopefully now you're feeling like thatweekend Jitters coming in And honestly, this
week has kind of flown by fast. Me maybe it's just been it's been
really busy for me at work,so that's also part of the reason why
sorry y'all that I couldn't get upThis podcast is supposed to come out on

(03:42):
Wednesday, but it's coming out onThursday, just because of the fact that
my work schedule has just been busyand along with other things. And it's
not to be fair, it's notlike work takes all my time, as
my previous employment has done in differentinstances. But it's just that I get
so my schedule was so revolved aroundwork and then going to the gym,
then coming back making content, andthen the different forms of content I have

(04:05):
to make, and then also tryingto attain to a or having to tend
to you know, your pets,your girlfriend and so on, and then
also trying to maintain your social presencewith your family and your friends and so
on. It's tough, man.Look, I will say for anybody that's
listening that's under the age of eighteen, enjoy it. Enjoy it. And
I think you know funny enough,I always say, you feel as though

(04:28):
you didn't live in the moment oryou didn't appreciate the moment when you didn't
have all these responsibilities and all thesetasks. I feel like I genuinely did.
I feel like I enjoyed my time, and I think it was because
I had a lot of older mentorsthat rang it into my head how much
things would change when you are anadult working a full time job and you're
really the one that's managing all yourown expenses, you're overseeing the roof over

(04:51):
your head, you're taking care ofyour own home and stuff like that.
Then when you get pets, whenyou have a girlfriend and stuff like that,
you just have different things. Andif you're if you're a woman listening
to this podcast, boyfriend or ifyou know, depending on however whichever way
you swing boyfriend, girlfriend, whicheverone, that's your prerogative, but just
essentially saying that whenever you have athe more responsibilities you add on, the

(05:17):
less that time just becomes available toyou to be able to do the things
that you enjoy doing in the gameor in the day. Because gaming,
for example, gaming is one ofmy favorite hobbies to do. I love
to play video games. Anybody thatknows me, There's been multiple times I
have debated starting a gaming podcast justbecause of how much I enjoy gaming.
But I also I also come tothe realization that I just don't have the

(05:39):
bandwidth to do that, right,I already struggle at this point to always
get out content. Got just supposedto be our Wednesday. So even struggling
right now with my primary driver andstuff like that, I make revenue off
of this. This is my primarything, and I'm even struggling to get
this stuff out on a consistent basis. So then to then look at the
gaming sign and be I want tostart a gaming podcast, It's like,

(06:00):
dude, how many things are yougoing to commit to and have this pulling
at you in different different respects anddifferent avenues, you know what I mean.
It's a tough It's a tough bargain. So I look back and I
reflect on so many things and I'mlike, well, like I sit there
and I'm like, well, youknow, as you get older, you
got to sit there and think abouthow you optimize maximize your time in every

(06:23):
instance, because the thirty minutes youmight sit down and you're scrolling on Twitter
could be thirty minutes that you couldhave used to get something done, to
get something in your day done,so you could just get and it sounds
weird because as an adult, it'slike you're just working on a long checklist
and it's so it's so interesting tome because for me personally, this isn't

(06:43):
to make it seem like I'm betterthan I'm not saying this thing as if
I'm better than anybody, or theway I'm doing things is the right way
to do things. Because sometimes I'menvious of my peers who can come home
from work and just sit there anddo nothing. I mean it like when
my some of my friends, they'reable to just get on the like there
their end of the day. Theyjust come home, play video games.

(07:05):
They just come home, hang out, chill out. Like I know people
that are able to do that,come home, watch a Netflix show,
come home and watch TV, watcha movie. That's just not my life,
and that really it hasn't been mylife since college. College was the
last time I really lived in thatlifestyle. And whether whether you may say

(07:25):
that's good or bad, I mean, it just depends on the person.
It depends on what your aspirations are. That's why I always say I never
I never am one of those peoplethat's going to bash the person who wants
to work on nine to five,because if that's their prerogative, that's that
person's prerogative. I'm never the person'sgoing to bash an entrepreneur because if that's
the prerogative, that is their prerogative, you know what I mean. And
right now I'm in the I'm inthe path of both pursuits. I work.

(07:46):
I work a full time job,and I also do this as my
what you as what money would assumewe'll call a side hustle, right,
Because you're an entrepreneur doing this onthe sideway, you also have your your
main your main full time job thatis the your primary source of income,
right, So, and then you'retrying to build up your side hustle so
then it can at least match yourmain full time jobs income and then eventually,

(08:09):
once an eclipses it, you canthen make your side hustle your full
time right. And so it's oneof those scenarios that I've never been the
person that's like, oh, youknow what, I'm going to talk down
or whatever somebody decides to do withtheir day. But I do get jealous,
man, I get jealous because there'sthere's been events I've missed. There's
times that I remember when I waswriting, when I was covering the Rams,

(08:31):
Dude, I had to write somany articles all the time, and
I don't think the people around mereally got how much writing I was doing
because I would publicize it. Iwould put it out there and stuff like
that. But you know, ifit's not somebody, if it's not something
that somebody's into, they're not reallydirectly going to pay attention to it.
And why should they, right,it's not their obligation to do so.
But that was a lot of there. I remember I used to be in

(08:54):
a lot of Rams fan groups.I would I always had the pulse of
what was going on in the Ramsfan base, and I had to build
like a following amongst RAMS fans atone point. And it's so funny because
you actually see how like your hatersjust start to form because you're like,
you're this new, upstart writer that'scoming up in Then you're posting in all
these different fan groups and you're tryingto garner an audience, and eventually people
start liking the stuff you're putting outright, You're starting to get because you

(09:18):
have to kind of come in witha different approach than all the mainstream art
writers or the people who might havea different level of access than you do,
in which you're still trying to buildup those relationships you're still trying to
get put in. Like I hadto talk to the comms relations guy from
the RAMS so many times, justtrying to help me get into certain meetings
and get into different specific interviews andstuff like that. But it was just

(09:39):
so interesting because you had to kindof create a niche for yourself, and
then the fans that latch onto thatniche and the way your coverage style works,
they appreciate that in mind just happenedto be very like a deep analytical
analysis of the RAMS and different aspectsof Oh maybe Jared. At the time
when I was covering the Jared Goffwas a quarterback. But Jared Goff is
this and this on play action passesand noted when he goes to Cooper Cup

(10:03):
on play action passes he completed themseventy percent of the time. You know,
stuff like that, right, Andsome fans really loved that, And
then you had the haters that wouldcome out of nowhere. And I will
eventually get to the main show,guys, I promise, but I just
enjoy going through my you know,just my different message, I guess before
I get into the main content.But I would have these haters that would

(10:26):
come out of nor and be like, man, who'd you steal this content
from? And who did you takethis tidbit from? And it was almost
like the very It was such funIt was so funny because it was it
was like the same group of guysthat would always just comment the same thing
and they would just hate on everypost, right, and then they would
also try and debate me. Andthen I never forget when I first got
featured on Bleacher Report. It wasso funny because then one of those dudes

(10:50):
posted in the fan group like,oh so and so was actually a legit
writer because he was on Beacher Report. It's just so funny because it's like
you have to prove your legitimacy topeople in so many ways that you're always
having to prove yourself right. Andit's so funny because I kind of get
the idea in the mindset of athletes, right, no matter how much you
do, no matter how much workyou put in, you could be a
guy that's gotten to the NBA,right, but then there's some person that's

(11:13):
just a random due in the crowdthat's going to tell you how you should
be doing your job right, that'snever hasn't even done the grind to get
to that point where you've been,or the NFL or whatever the case might
be. Right, So I alwaysunderstand to some understand where players come from
when they say, oh, well, this person didn't even play, how
can they talk about this? Well, I also will say that sometimes,
you know, there are people thatcan be I think there are people that

(11:35):
can give constructive criticism, right,that actually would be like, there are
people that understand the art of thegame of whatever support they're covering and can
give that creative feedback and that constructivecriticism, just like people have been able
to give me constructive criticism when itcomes to this podcast, the YouTube channel,
when I was writing for that website, when I was even the different

(11:56):
forms of content I put out.In general, my consistency, like there
are people that are able to giveme critics isn't about that type of stuff.
And me and my little brother areboth in content creation. His name
is Joel Abin, if you guyswant to pull them up. But we're
both in content creation and a lotof times we're you know, we'll talk
and we talk about different ideas.Sometimes when we get on the phone with
one another, and you know,because we're both in the same kind of
space, so we'll talk about thattype of stuff. And sometimes even my

(12:18):
older sister she's also doing stuff.Now, you guys want to check out
her content on TikTok Tanika Abbin,go and check her out. She just
came out of her own new hairlineor sorry. It's a hair product.
It's to help hair growth and soon that it makes your hair healthy.
And I know for the ladies,look that's something y'all do. Look,
go ahead and pick that up becausethis look, it helps a hair growth,

(12:39):
helps with keeping your hair healthy,looking healthy in the whole nine.
So I encourage it for y'all.Go ahead and go ahead and cot that.
All right, go ahead and domy sister a favorite. Go cock
that and then give her your honestreview, because that's one thing I always
say, if your family, ifyour friends can't give you an honest review,
if you can't expect that from them, because those are the people that
you want to get the most honestyfrom, even though they're biased, because

(13:00):
they're your closest friends and family.Honestly, you want them to be the
harshest to you because they are gonnalike tell you how it is, right,
and most your family mostly will willthey want to see you succeed.
They will give you their honest criticismto better to better your product and improve
it for when you actually put itto mass market. Right. So that's
just something I will say. Butthat's one thing that I just always understand

(13:24):
and correlate to when it comes toathletes and stuff like that. So that's
why it's important to have to alwayshave people who aren't just entirely yes men
around you. Right. You wantpeople that aren't just your haters and your
actual close proximity, right, becauseyou don't want people that are just gonna
hate on you for the sake ofhating on You want people that are actually
real and they're gonna give you actual, real feedback. But guys, I
don't really know what my whole messagewas here. I started from talking about

(13:46):
how I guess it's just essentially tooptimize your time. I think that's the
whole message. I'll be intentional withyour time. That's the biggest thing.
I need to make a tagline forthat. But it's be intentional of your
time. Don't just waste time.So many people waste time, and you
can find ten thousand self improvement gurusthat will tell you how valuable time.

(14:09):
Time is the one resource you justdon't get back. And I think it
is important to always, you know, do the things that you enjoy,
but also when you got stuff toget done, get it done, because
once you get done, you justfeel that weight off your shoulder. Right.
You don't want to feel like youhave a backlog of task and things
that you need to get done,either around your house for your job.
Right, just get it done.And obviously work within the parameters of what

(14:31):
is expected. I guess, workwithin the like if you're somebody that has
like a specific amount of hours supposedto work for a job. I'm not
saying like kill and kill yourself toget certain tasks done. But I'm saying,
while you're there working that job,while you're there doing that task,
kill it. Don't be sitting hereon your phone watching TV. Whatever the
case. Like, kill it,get it done. And then so you
feel comfortable leaving at the time you'resupposed to leave at so nobody can come

(14:54):
and tell you, oh, youlike, you know, your work still
isn't done, or whatever the casemight be. You know, not.
No, I busted my tail toget all we what I did get done
done. So I'm out deuces.I got nothing to tell you all right,
guys, let's get into talking aboutsome of these topics. Man.
First off, talking about so,y'all, I have I have a dilemma

(15:16):
here right. So for the lastweek or so, I've been hearing so
many different bids. You heard,you heard me and snack Hill right before
I'd say the All Star break wewent and broke down are our current like
favorites for different awards, different topteams, top players, the whole nine,
right, And a lot of thatstem from the fact that we wanted

(15:39):
to we wanted to bookmark how wefell out the halfway mark. But now
recently after the All Star Break andso on. There were a lot of
interviews that came out from All StarBreak, and a lot of people gave
their opinions and thoughts on things,and I'm sitting here and I'm like,
okay, Well, one of themost notable interviews was occurred with Jason Tatum.
I feel like going into All StarBreak, there was no buzz about

(16:02):
Jason Tatum being the league MVP,zilch right and now we're in a position
where I feel like Jason Tatum isgetting He's getting like almost pushed to be
MVP in some respects. Right.People are now trying to push Jason Tatum
to be the MVP, and they'retrying to push him to be in in
that category where guys like a NicolaJokic, Shay Gilgos, Alexander Luka,

(16:23):
Doncic, Joel Embe is now notqualified for it, but Giannis's head kumpo
those type of guys. And whatI would say is that, and I
feel for Jason Tatum because I thinknow he understands where his deficits are.
Right, So Jason Tatum is takingthe angle pushing the oh people. If
people watch my team, my statsmight not be where the other guys are,
but if you watch my team,it's not what's required of me.

(16:45):
But I'm on the best team,right, So Jason Tatum right, he
is right though. The Celtics havethe best record as it stands right now
in the NBA, and it's welldeserved. They're forty six and twelve in
the Eastern Conference. They're ahead ofthe Minnesota is number one, Oklahoma City,
who's tied for number one, Minnesotaat forty one to seventeen for their

(17:06):
record, and Denver who is thirtynine and nineteen, and there are multiple
games eight games ahead of the MilwaukeeBucks right now, who are thirty eight
and twenty one at third place,who would be fielding Giannis as their MVP
candidate against Jason Tatum. But here'sthe problem, right here is the gap
in Tatum's resume. I guess youwould say it's no coincidence that in recent

(17:30):
years counting stats in a lot ofways, are we want players that are
as all around as possible or eitheryou have to be as all around as
possible, you have to be supremelyefficient with scoring the basketball and at least
having a modest effort when it comesto assistant rebounds. I would say right
now, Tatum is doing a solidjob in terms of his numbers with the
rebounding right, averaging eight and ahalf rebounds. Yes, it's just outside

(17:53):
of the top twenty. Is notgoing to be up there with a lot
of the best centers, power forwardsand so on. But in terms of
rebounds per game, he is inthe top twenty. Eight and a half
rebounds per game is a good effort. But one thing that I would say
then comes to fall short for himis that the guy's in the same category
for him that going up against him. Luk at doncis eight point eight rebounds
per game. You have Jiannas Tetakumpoeleven point two rebounds per game, and

(18:17):
then you have Nikola Jokish at twelvepoint three rebounds per game. Right,
So already in that category, he'sfalling behind. He's lacking behind those other
guys in terms of trying to getthe counting stats on his side. Well,
obviously, if all these guys,you might say Jayson Tatum is possibly
the most flexible scorer in some regard, right, But then when you look
at the scoring stats, Luka doncisleading the league, is scoring right now

(18:40):
thirty four point five points per game. Then you come down from there and
you have Jannis tete Kumpo thirty pointseven points per game, right shooting,
they're both scoring the ball more efficientlythan Jason Tatum at this point in time.
Then you have Jason Tatum at ninthaveraging twenty seven points per game,
right, which is a good that'sa good scoring effort. I don't want

(19:00):
to make it seem like twenty sevenpoints is not a good score on efforts.
Hell, twenty seven points per gamein two thousand and eight would have
led the league in scoring. Grantedwe're in twenty twenty four, but you
get my point. I'm trying Itrust me. I'm not trying to be
condescending there. I'm just I'm beinghonest. Tatum, I would say,
in regard and respect, if you'regonna average twenty seven points, for people

(19:22):
to really take that and say,oh, okay, we're comfortable with him
averaging twenty seven points, eight anda half rebounds and then be lacking an
assist at four point eight assists becausehe's ranking forty fifth and assists at four
point eight. But I've seen You'veseen guys like Steph Curry win with averaging
like six assists, five assists,Kobe Bryant similar, similar thing, and

(19:42):
so on. Right, the assistantthat all around numbers are all that matters.
But Steph Curry, let's say,for example, his first MVP,
he was incredibly efficient when winning thatfirst MVP. And I think that that's
where we have the issue with therub with Jason Tatum here. And then
you go down to different, Yougo down to different and look, guys.

(20:02):
I know, as much as peoplehate stats, MVP voters love stats.
That's just a matter of fact.It's not even a it's not a
oh maybe now, it's a factlike, if you have the counting stats
on your side, your MVP caseis gonna look a lot better. And
Tatum, I just want to sayhe doesn't have it. He's nineteenth in
defensive rating, he's nineteenth in PR, he's fifty seventh and true shooting percentage,

(20:26):
So mind you, the one thingscoring two, scoring two. Shooting
percentage takes into account you're scoring fromtwo point range, from three point range,
and your free throw shots and combinesthem into one percentage. Right,
he's fifty seventh. So it's notlike he's one of the he's one of
the premier guys. Right, eventhough he's he's scoring at a lesser pace
than all these other players that areahead of him in the MVP voting.

(20:48):
He's just not as efficient as them. He's not efficient as efficient as Shay,
He's not as efficient as Nicola Jokis. He's not as efficient as Luka
donc As Jiannis, as multiple guysand so I think that that's where Tatum
is lacking, because Tatum, he'sgetting he's being hurt by the fact that
he doesn't have the all around stuffdespite the fact that his usage rate is

(21:11):
even though it's like sixteenth right nowin the league, which is at twenty
nine point nine, which is lessthan those other guys, Which is why
you can make the argument, yes, he wouldn't have the counting stats to
combat those other guys, right,Because if you're not using the ball as
much on the possessions of your team, then yeah, you're not gonna have
You're not gonna have as many opportunitiesto get assists, to get to score

(21:32):
the ball, and to do theseother things. But the problem is,
though, is that when you dohave the ball, you should at least
be supremely efficient with it, whetherit's assist to turnover ratio, whether that's
you scoring the ball. That's whereI think that Tatum's MVP case gets thrown
back in his face. I justdon't think Tatum has those numbers to then

(21:52):
come and make a claim that heshould be the MVP for just having the
best team. I think that,yes, we've seen guys like you can
made the argument that some people argueSteve Nash's MVPs one should have went to
Shack, one should have went toKobe, whatever you want to argue,
right, but one thing Steve Nashwas supremely efficient in those years. Even
though he wasn't leading the league inscoring, he was dishing the ball all

(22:14):
over the place. He was oneof the league leaders in assists. I
think he led the league and assistsboth years. But he was also supremely
efficient while shooting the ball. Ithink he had a multiple fifty forty ninety
seasons and those two MVP years,And when we're talking about fifty forty ninety,
that means fifty percent field goal percentageoverall in the field, you' shooting
fifty percent, forty percent from threepoint range, and ninety percent for the

(22:37):
free throw line. That's one thingSteve Nash was. He was supremely efficient
and a great ball handler. Hewas the center of all the sons,
the seven seconds or less suns offense. And so I just don't I think
Tatum is lagging in that respect totry and garner MVY because I feel like
now every sin time I'm watching ashow, like for example, first take
or if I'm watching, if I'mseeing now you you see, it's funny

(23:02):
because you're starting to see the andit's normally the usual suspects, right.
And when I say usual suspects,I mean like they like a particular brand
of basketball and a particular style ofball that guys play. A guy like
Stephen A. Smith loves wing scorersand guys that are smooth with their basketball

(23:23):
game. Right, so he's afan of a guy like Paul George.
Now you see, And guys likePaul George are very popular amongst NBA fans,
especially younger fans. They love aguy that makes that makes basketball look
good, that makes basketball look cool. Guys like Kyrie Irving, Paul George.
Jayson Tatum, you could argue,falls into that same basket. He

(23:45):
might not be as smooth as aKyrie Irving or Paul George and when they
when they play, especially of allthe handles and different dribble antics they're able
to do. But Jayson Tatum doeshave a smooth basketball game, but it's
just not as efficient as the otherguys. And see the NBA, the
actual analysts that make the voting,they don't care about the smoothness and all
that if it isn't transitioning or rathertranslating into actual efficiency and buckets scored or

(24:10):
assist being dulled out. They wantto see actual all that translating to your
impact and that when Jason Tatum ison the court, let's say, like
his team is able to get intothe bonus X amount of like you know,
and a lot of those things theyshow up in Player Efficiency Rating and
PR. And like we noted before, Tatum is even outside of the top

(24:30):
ten when it comes to PR.He's nineteenth, which is a far margin
from guys like nicolea Okish, Luka, Dont Jannas, Tete Kumpo, Shay
Gilgris, Alexander the main guys thathe's being put up against, Like right
now, if the Celtics weren't theoverall number one overall, see Tatum would
even been getting considered in this conversation. I think people want. I think

(24:56):
people recognize that, hey, Tatumis in the stuff, is in a
tough field right now, and hisstyle of play and the team, the
way that he's utilized on that team, and even his method of scoring right
now isn't gonna probably win him anyeasy MVPs. Luka doncis the most all
around offensive guy probably you can nameoutside of nicolea Okic, Lebron James and

(25:18):
so on, still hasn't won theMVP himself. And you can argue that's
because his team hasn't had the success. I probably will say that's because his
team has not had that number oneseed type of success that I will say
that for Luka Doncic. I thinkif Luca is putting up these type of
numbers and his team gets one numberone seed, then he would be in
this conversation for he would be thefront runner for the MVP. But that's

(25:41):
just not the situation it is rightnow. So then I say, when
you bring a guy like Jason Tatum, his his impact isn't as noted or
isn't as seen, or isn't evenlike he's Tatum isn't doing things better.
I will say that he's he's abetter defender right than Luka Doncic from a
two way perspective and so on.But then when you're talking about his impact

(26:03):
overall from an overall standpoint, likehow you when you compare it to a
Yiannis or you're compared to a NicoleJokich. It's just tough because people consider
people always say Yokisch is some badbut the team is solid defensively, yok
on the court, like he's notsome guy that just gets abused defensively all
the time, or you see moreteams just targeting him all in every pick
and roll. But that's just notwhat happens with the Nuggets. Yokish is

(26:23):
solid on defense, and Nuggets havea good defensive scheme that's able to also
protect yo Kisch defensively. But thenyou look at the Celtics and they're just
such a strong team. I mean, the Celtics have lost, or rather
than Celtics have not lost to anEastern Conference team at home since March of
last year. They're the most efficientoffense in NBA history of one point one

(26:44):
point nineteen points per possession, thehighest offensive rating and franchise history, their
top three in offensive rating, defensiverating, and net rating this season,
and the highest home one pertend sincenineteen eighty seven at point eight eight nine
or probably one up now to pointeight ninety nine since they won last night.
But I just don't think that's allthat. Even those are incredible stats

(27:07):
but I just don't think all that'sgonna be enough. I don't think that's
gonna be enough to win him theMVP. I just don't think he has
the numbers to back him. Andlook, I know people love their eye
tests, all right. I knowyou love I know you love seeing a
guy just do stuff on TV andbeing like, oh my gosh, that
like that's the best player in theleague. Look, man, I'm sorry
to break it to you, butthere are stats that back that that tend

(27:29):
to have to back those things up, and you can you can see a
guy hit five spectacular shots, butif it took him twenty shots to get
there, I don't know. Idon't know, man. It's kind of
like the guys that dropped forty buttook them forty shots to score forty,
which is not the ideal way youwant a supreme efficiency. It's like,

(27:52):
Okay, my guy scored forty,but he took twenty five shots to get
there. That means you got tothe free throw line, you hit threes,
and you know you took you justtook good quality shots as well.
But taking forty shots to get toforty, you know, it's a bit
tough. You're not shooting many freethrows in that instance, you're probably and

(28:15):
if you are, that means you'rejust missing a lot of shots. And
that's they I think there's some shotsthat Tatum could you know, Tatum caun
massage out of his is at leastthe frequency of which he takes those shots.
If he adjusted that, then hisefficiency would go up, especially his
walk up threes. At times hewalks into threes that they are contestant.
Sometimes he hits them, but Ijust don't think that at the rate that

(28:37):
he's hitting them that he needs tobe just you know, waltzing up to
three and just letting it fly.I just don't know if that's that's really
helping his case. But transitioning fromone wing to another. Kevin Durant Man
Kevin Durant was on his Boardroom podcasttalking to his agent, Rich Climbing,
from which you know Rich Climban talksto Kevin. He asks him, you

(28:59):
know, he's says, why dopeople and I'm paraphrasing here, why do
you think people in the league don'tdon't respect you as a leader, don't
see you as a leader? Right? And Kevin also mean paraphrasing goes on
to respond and saying that he thinksit's just because he doesn't have he's not
charismatic like his his peers. Hedoesn't have the leadership where he's over here

(29:23):
like yelling at guy's being demonstrative onthe court. He's not. He's not
that guy. He doesn't sell theleadership thing. He's not doing his interviews
aren't selling him as this leader ofthis team in all these different ways.
Like he goes on to say,you have to sell that. It's actually
like a brand type of thing foryou to sell that type of image.
And he goes on to say thatyou know that, and the other points

(29:44):
of the interview, even beyond theleadership thing where he says that you know
him being him being the type ofleader or his personality that he had in
Oklahoma's City. He said that personallywas exhausting for him. He personally says

(30:06):
that was an exhausting to keep thatup, to keep up that persona of
how he was in Oklahoma City.He wasn't really out there putting himself out
there in terms of speaking or goingagainst the media, speaking up for himself
and all these different things. Havingit when he had issue with things that
he would, you know, vehementlyspeak speak out speak against those things.

(30:26):
He said it was exhausting to dothat, and he just eventually just you
know, going back, let mejust be who I am. I'm Kevin
Durant, right, you know whoI am, and I and it's one
of those things that I do isI do sit back and I'm like,
you know what it is weird becausethe national media is they pick and choose
who is a leader. And it'sjust so interesting to me that the media,
of all things is who's picking theleader there? In some ways,

(30:48):
so many ways I understand why somany players are starting podcasts, why so
many players are creating their own meansof communication with the public, whether it
be the Player's Tribute, whether itbe Uninterrupted, whether it be I Am
Athlete, whether it be the Pivot. All these different podcast platforms right that
you have, podcast be these differentplatforms players are going on to try and
tell their own story that the mediacan't write because in so many ways media,

(31:11):
the media does choose who who peoplesee as this legendary mythical figure,
whether it be Michael Jordan, whetherit be Tom Brady, whether and a
lot of times the public agrees becauseof the fact that, oh, this
person is so accomplished, or thisperson has done this much, and they've
been able to see how dominant theirrun west throughout their time, whether they're
whichever sport, whatever medium, theyperformed at that height at end. Right.

(31:36):
But then when it comes to leadership, that is something that's so subjective.
It's so interesting to see that,you know, the guys actually take
take notice of that and say,hey, media, just don't they don't
buy into the guys that aren't asout there with the leadership. Right.
And it's funny because I think formany people, if you ask them who
the leader of the Golden State Warriorsis not the best player, but the

(31:57):
leader. So many people say DraymondGreen. Draymond Green is the most outspoken
voice. He's the loud guy,He's the you say, he's the defensive
leader, He's the vocal guy.But then nobody uses that to discredit Steph
Curry as a leader, even thoughSteph Curry is way more reserved in terms
of his form of leadership. Butbecause Steph Curry does sell that image,
sell he goes out there, hetalks on behalf of his teammates. He's

(32:21):
he's still out in the media doingthe interviews and being outspoken in many regards.
I think Steph still gets that credit. But Kevin Durant, It's always
been this thing that I remember atone point people were arguing if Kevin Durant
was if Russell Westbrook was a betterplayer than Kevin Durant, or in Oklahoma
City, who was the leader ofOklahoma City. And it seemed to come

(32:44):
out from a point because Russ wasthe guy that was out there. He
was Russ had that bravado, hecarried himself in that manner, and it
was one of those things that Russwas very out there where ease. Kevin
was very much more reserved. Eventhough Kevin was It wasn't like Kevin was
the best player on that team,but Kevin just wasn't. Like there were
times where it came to late gamesituations, people are like, why isn't

(33:07):
Kevin just telling Russ give me theball, like move out the way,
give me the ball. But maybeKevin doesn't think basketball should be played that
way, right, And it's notlike to say Kevin never did that,
because Kevin did do that with Russat times there were times Russ acquiesced in
which he did and there were timeswhere he didn't. But there are also

(33:29):
that might also be times where Rusfelt like might have felt like, hey,
look, I have a mismatch heretoo, Grant. And most people
say, you're gonna go with yourbest player in those instances, right,
or that's at least what you shoulddo. But I'd say, man,
I think that Kevin Durant does getan unfair rap in some regards to his

(33:52):
leadership, just especially now that becauseof the move to Golden State, him
deciding the Golden Golden State, Ithink it took a lot away from how
people viewed him as a leader andhis impact as a star player. Like
obviously people knew it was a rapit was Curtains when he went to go
to State, but then because hewent to Brooklyn and how the Brooklyn fiasco
went, people just didn't want togive him that credit. And I think

(34:15):
it's crazy to say that, Likepeople don't think Kevin Durant was one of
the leaders in the Warriors' locker roomwhen he went there, because I think
Kevin Durant was still one of thosesteadying forces in the locker room even when
things got crazy for the Warriors atdifferent points in the seasons when he was
there, whether it was chilling guysout, whether it was knowing that in

(34:37):
that Cleveland series, even though manypeople believe, like, hey, look
they got Kadie, Cleveland's cooked,right, those Cleveland games, for the
most part, were still competitive andKevin Durant hitting those walk up big threes
in game three. I think ofthe twenty seventeen Finals, his Game three
walks up there history in Lebron's face. You see the game three, A

(35:00):
game four I'm remembering, but Iknow he walks up history in Lebron's face.
Same thing in twenty eighteen, doesthe same thing again in another close
Game three, And I don't know, man, I think that knowing the
moment, telling your team you wantthe ball in those are the things that
a leader would do. I thinkthat it's weird, but I think that
because Golden State was an established entity, people just assume Kevin Durant just came

(35:23):
there and just was chilling, likehe didn't say nothing when many people and
it's always funny to me because that'sthe b less like the perception people give
to Kevin Durant, but then youngteams literally bring in veteran leaders to come
and help lead their teams. Obviously, Golden State had already won a ring
at that point, but then theyhad just lost the following season. So

(35:45):
then maybe Kevin Durant comes in thereand gives his own because obviously he did
butt heads with Steve Kerr at onepoint in time. There was obviously ways
that they implemented him into the offenseat times where it was a little different
than how they implemented Steph or KlayThompson or even Draymond right to a lesser
degree dramon because Raymond wasn't a shooter, but they were pulling a lot of
more mid range pinned downs for KevinDurant. A lot of those things.

(36:07):
This is to get quality buckets andcrunch time moments where they knew, Okay,
we have this guy that can shootover anybody in mid range. Is
his bread and butter. Kevin Durantat times being willing to play the five,
being willing to play the four onGolden State to help them keep their
death line up out there. Idon't know, it's weird to me because

(36:30):
people will say Andregudala guy like that. What had leadership in Tangibles was a
leader, was a leader in hisown right. But Kevin Durant doesn't get
that same credit. I don't know, I really do. I do see
how the charisma thing and all thatstuff does end up becoming a thing,
like you have to sell it,and people really do get sold on this
stuff and they create the narrative ofit. A person who's always been regarded

(36:52):
as a leader to me, Ihear in multiple places. I hear Charles
Barkley, steven A, a lotof these different guys say Chris Paul's Chris
Paul is the best leader in basketball, And I'm like, Okay, that's
cooling on. Like Chris Paul,Yes, he's definitely gone to teams.
You see him directing traffic, beingable to recognize the team sets, recognize

(37:14):
the team's deepensive formations before they evenget into them, and all this differ
suff Chris Paul is obviously one ofthe best point guards of all time.
I've been trying to take that awayfrom him. But then when you're talking
about a situation where Chris Paul hasbeen on teams that have blown three one
leads as the leader as the bestplayer, doesn't Chris Does that not take

(37:35):
away from someone Chris Paul's brilliance inthose moments, Because in those moments where
you expect your leader to be ableto study to tie get your team,
be able to get your team intoa set that can get you an easy
bucket, those go two plays likewhat's happening? Chris Paul coming up shorten
a lot of those moments, rightThe turnovers against OKC, the blown three

(38:00):
one lead to Houston when he wason the Clippers. To a lesser degree,
it's I can't fully put this onhim, but because obviously they actually
know what. Kevin Durant gets hurtand they still lose to go in the
state in the Western Conference Semis.Kevin Durant got hurt and everybody was like,

(38:22):
oh what this is the time,Houston, not your chance. Chris
Paul and James Harden. What happened? Many people obviously say James Harden was
the best player, so he gotthe brunt of the of the of the
blame. Wasn't Chris Paul supposed tobe the best leader. So that's what

(38:45):
that's my thing, Like, Idon't know man, I just think it's
weird how you pick and choose.I think all I think all great leaders
have their their their false their fallsand stuff like that. I'm not saying
that Chris Paul should be seen asany less of a leader, but it's
just weird to me that Chris Paulis regarded as the best leader in basketball
by some of these analysts that wehave on television and in national media that

(39:07):
normally drive these narratives. But thenKevin Durant is not in large part because
he went to Golden State, butbecause he went to Brooklyn because of what
happened with Kyrie. I asked peopleall the time, what was he supposed
to do about Kyrie irvingthing? Nobodyhas an answer for me when I ask

(39:29):
that. All these old players,I hear Isaiah Thomas, I've heard some
other old players say, oh Iwould if he was my team, I
would have forced him to get thevaccine. Man, No, you were
not. Nobody was going to forceanother grown man to go and inject something
in his into his body and hedidn't want in it. It sounds good
when you're not playing, Yeah,it sounds great that you can just say,
oh yeah, I was going toforce a guy to go and get

(39:50):
something that, you know, justfor our team could be able to play
and win something, right, Butall that stuff was deeper than basketball.
You try and get that message across, and you think, how do you
think that that chemistry is going togo over in the locker room. To
the best of my knowledge, Kyrieand Kevin Durant are still cool, they're
still boys. But I can onlyimagine how the temperature would have been if

(40:15):
Kevin Durant would have been And Imean, I don't know if Kevin Durant
even pressure. We don't know that. We just know that Kyrie didn't do
it. But I was also oneof those funny scenarios that Kyrie if he
if he wasn't playing in the stateof New York, he would have been
able to play outside of some ofthose arenas where they didn't allow players to
be able to partake if they're notvaccinated. Ky it just still happened because
he was in New York, andNew York's laws at the time prohibited that

(40:35):
being a circumstance for him to play. But I don't really know what people
expected Kevin Durant to do in thatscenario. Even when it comes to the
following season when Kyrie made the antiSemitic comments and he had the whole thing
with the movie and then blew upin his face. I don't really know

(40:59):
how that was to Like, whatwas Kevin like? Kyrie don't advertise them?
He didn't like? How would hehave known? Like? How would
he have known? How does heknow what Kyrie is going to say in
the press conference? How does KevinRant know how the organization is going to
react to that situation? I thinkin so many ways we always want to
say we want to give star players, like we give star players so much

(41:23):
credit, what they deserve, right, they deserve so much credit. But
I think that we often don't credithow much of the organizational hierarchy plays a
role in that star's success and howmuch that star is able to do what
they do. Like Bob Myers isobviously a critical He was critical to the
Golden State Warriors winning all those championships, being able to win four championships,

(41:44):
he was critical and doing that,being able to manufacture a team, keep
that team together, negotiate contracts overthat course of time. All that stuff
allowed Steph allowed Draymond allowed Clay andall these other guys to be able to
come out and be able to performin the roles that they were, and
he built teams around them that theywere able to to perform it with.
And I think so many times wewant a credit guy. You should credit

(42:06):
guys what they do on the court. But I think some of the higher
level things we're blaming Kevin Durant for. But you need to go talk to
Sean Marks, You need to gotalk to the Nets owner, Joe Tsai.
I don't know, man, Idon't know. Lebron also seen as

(42:28):
one of the best leaders of sports. Are we gonna pretend like Lebron's tenures
at all his different stops haven't havebeen perfect without any issues. Look,
I'm a Laker fan. Lebron andAnthony Davis did not handle the Russell westbrook
situation ideally at all. Dumpster fire. That's something that the team is still

(42:50):
reeling from, by the way,making that trade has impacted the Lakers.
So I think making that trade,that Russell Westbrok trade, can you can
kind of go back and look atit. And while I think the Lakers
have have worked to the best oftheir ability to undo the damages of that
trade. I think in summer respectsthat trade. If Lebron and ad do
not win another championship together, Iwould probably blame that trade because I think

(43:15):
they overreacted to getting bounced out ofthe playoffs the very next season after their
championship run. Literally do when Lebronwas dealing with an ankle injury and a
groin injury and Anthony Davis had gottenhurt in that first round series. The
Lakers overreacted, felt like they neededto go and get star power in certain
ways, and they traded away alltheir assets, let go of guys that

(43:37):
they could have brought back that werekey in the championship run, and they
could have they could have improved ina more organic manner, I guess.
I guess you could say, butthey just went swinging for the big fish,
and it just what. It's noteven that swinging for the big fish
was wrong, but it's the playerthat you got. Everybody who knows basketball,
if you're building a two K team, guess what. I'm not putting

(43:58):
Lebron and Russell Westbrook on the samecourt with each other and Anthony Davis.
I have three below average street pointshooters on the court at one time and
today's NBA no shot. Just itdoesn't work. People rationalize that trade talking
about the Miami he with Dwayne Wade, Lebron and all Chris BA. It's
not even the same league. It'snot even the same league. If you're

(44:22):
watching NBA offenses from twenty twelve versustwenty and twenty four cooked, how important
three point shooting is today versus whatit was then? Cooked? But pretty
much. I say all that tosay I think Kevinurrant deserves his kudos as

(44:44):
a leader. I think it's crazythat he doesn't get that credit in that
respect. But I don't know,man. I ran a poll on the
KBR sports Instagram page. I dida story, and fifty percent of people
who voted say that they don't thinkKevinrhan's a good leader. They don't think
he's good leader. Hey, everybody'sopinion, man, everybody has their opinion.
But I'm like, damn fifty percent. Tough, brou tough, tough.

(45:14):
Oh man, it's tough, butbut it is. Hey, man,
look it is what it is.You're dush the hands you're working with,
all right, But okay, let'sget to some other news stories.
I'm like, I'm bouncing back andforth to my I'm trying to keep up
with NBA that's going on right nowas well, and there's so many games
on tonight, so I'm trying tokeep my eye on whatever. I just

(45:34):
saw the Pelicans. Just watch thePelicans lose to the Pacers. But and
then I see the Mavericks beat theRaptors. Obviously, Luka doncis making incredible
plays. I think right now LukaDonchters is averaging like a throughout the stretch
of Maverick games, Like the lastten games, i think he's averaging like
a thirty four point triple double,which is insane. But just some smaller
tidbits Cleveland or the Cavaliers showed loveto to Kyrie everything returning back to Cleveland.

(46:00):
Look, i think I've always beenin the mindset that it's always weird
for how long our fans gonna booa guy when he returns back to playing
there. Right, Like, ifa guy leaves, gets traded, whatever
the case might be, Like,yeah, maybe the first year when he
comes back, you're a bit saltyat him for crushing a trade, essentially
breaking up your Championship corp of LebronKyrie, Kevin Love. He gets traded

(46:23):
away and then you come back.You're feeling salty when he comes back with
Boston. At the time, Bostonfelt like they were just juggernaut type team,
and then you know, they werebooing Kyrie like every single time he
touched the ball. Then that samenight is I think that was the same
night Gordon Hayward broke his leg,I think, which was just yeah,
that derailed the whole season. Butyeah, so then that happens, and

(46:47):
you're sitting there and you're in asituation where you're like, damn, man,
ain't looking good. Ain't looking good? Right, fans are booing them.
And now by the time, rightnow, we're about many years,
we're about six years removed from Kyrie. And it's always weird because I'm like,
how many times do teams feel aneed to give a guy like a

(47:08):
video for their return back to theto like the Cleveland or something like that,
right, because Kyrie's played in Clevelandlike multiple times at this point since
he left, whether it was withBrooklyn, whether it was with the Boston
Celtics, the Mavericks, Like youjust give a guy a walk home home
to Cleveland video every time they comeback with a new team. I mean,
I don't know. I've always wonderedhow like how that that decision making

(47:30):
goes. But I don't know.That's about my pay grade. But I
do think first year fans, ifyou want to boo, go ahead and
boo right, get it out ofyour system, because then that's that's when
the boon is like the deepest.But like if you're gonna blue Blue,
if you're gonna boo Kyrie or anyguy for leaving, Like if Oklahoma City
still boost Kevin Durant for leaving,it's like, bro, get over it.

(47:53):
I don't know what to tell you. It was nine years ago.
I'm sorry, eight years ago whenhe left eight twenty sixteen. Yeah,
eight years ago. Man, damn, eight years that feels. I remember
where I was sitting in everything.I remember. It's so funny because you
you just have moments in your lifewhere the memory is like burned into your

(48:14):
like your it comes to like theforefront of your mind. I remember where
I was doing, where I was. I was cleaning my bathroom at my
parents' house at the time, upstairsbathroom, my room was right next to
it, and I had Sports Centeron breaking news. It was July fourth,
breaking news, Kevin Durant has madehis decision of where, Like,
you know, Kevin Ran has decidehe's going to the Golden State Wars.
I was like, no way.I literally was like, oh no.

(48:36):
And that's when you get stephen Agoing on there saying this is the worst
move ever made by a superstar,or this is the most weak move whatever,
the weakest move ever made by asuperstar, the whole nine right,
and so oh man, time timehas just elapsed. I mean, let
me know what you guys thinking.Do you guys think there's a time frame
of when a guy like how longshould fans be booing their players when they

(48:59):
come back? How long? Howlong can a guy be a villain for
just just for deciding to go toa different team of requesting the trade?
How long is that going? Like? How long did the Brooklyn Nets fans
boo Kyrie? Now at this pointdo they even boo Kyrie? Because everybody
left, Kevin left, James Hardenleft ky Why are you doing only?

(49:20):
I mean, Kyrie did cause alot of the controversy that happened in Brooklyn,
I'm not gonna lie, or atleast was at the center of it.
Okay, Then the NBA's last twominute report shows that the Pistons benefited
from more more from non call thanthe Knicks, per Pete Dewey from a
hn firedigital dot com. So thiswas something that happened. I think it
was like early this week or lastover the weekend, one of the two

(49:44):
the Knicks and Pistons had played agame in which the Pistons were I mean
they were in sense that there wasa late there was a late game.
It was probably about only about likethirty seconds left, and there was a
there was a late game scramble forthe ball right and Knicks guard Dante DiVincenzo
he should have been called for aloose ball found when he collided with the

(50:05):
Pistons rookie Asar Thompson, which causeda turnover late in the fourth quarter.
And that's something that the referees admittedin the two minute report that they missed.
They did admit to missing that conin you got Manni Williams going up
on the stand. He's going crazy, He's losing it, right, like
I'm sick and tired of we're doingeverything we're supposed to do. On Ppapherson,
I'm doing everything I'm supposed to do. We do what we do.
Our players are asking what else canwe do? Coach, We're sending clips
into the league, We're doing allthe things that they tell us to do,

(50:29):
and nothing is changing. He's likelosing it, right, and I'm
not. Don't blame it. Itwas a pretty bad no call, right.
But the funny thing is always happenswhen the two minute report comes out,
it goes over everything in the lasttwo minutes, so it's not just
the one pivotal play that and thatteam's perspective, and obviously it was the
latest play to happen in the game, so I guess the most shine.
But then when the two minute reportcomes out, it acknowledges the fact that

(50:51):
the Detroit Pistions, the Detroit Pistonsactually benefited from two miss no calls in
the final two minutes, and they'reloss to the Knicks. So it's one
of those situations where it's just alwaysso funny to me because now Monty Williams
isn't gonna backtrack and be like,well, I mean, it sucks that
we also benefit it from two noncalls. I just always find it funny

(51:13):
because the rests are under the mostscrutiny they'll ever be on, especially since
they started this last two minute reportthing. People come up with so many
things. The one thing that Ialways say that because I think it's it's
just human nature. Refs aren't gonnaget every call right. They're humans,
just like players commit turnovers. Becauseyou don't make every every decision isn't spot
on. You're not gonna be onehundred for one hundred. Anybody expecting a
ref to be one hundred for onehundred. You haven't watched basketball live.

(51:36):
You don't know how fast the gamegoes. There's so much flopping and contact
that happens that you just don't knowhow things are gonna go at times right,
and you can miss things. ButI will say the things that refs
get me mad about is the ejections. They're so quick to reject guys at
times that I'm just like, God, but what are we doing? How
are we throwing out people for justminuscule things like that, small like they

(52:00):
can't discuss a foul call with you. You don't want any back to back
dialogue with the players that you're like, none, no relationship there. Those
are the things that more so forme, I'm like, okay, like
refs, you're kind of taking alittle too far here, like you're you're
let's reel it in here, allright, let's less. There have been
some bad rests when it comes tothis in the in the past. Joey

(52:21):
Crawford is a notorious one. JoeyCrawford had a beef of Tim Duncan.
Of all players, Tim Duncan overthe what sixty years of the NBA.
Tim Duncan's the guy. I don'tknow, man, I don't know.
That's That's the one thing is theejections, ejecting the Kolok on Serbian Night
in Chicago, Chicago having one ofthe biggest Serbian populations in the US,

(52:45):
and you reject the cook on thatnight. That's my thing with the reps.
It's just the ejections and the technicalfouls, how they give them out
like lollipops. That's what I don'tunderstand, especially because players, people are
paying to come see those guys play. Granted, players have to stay within
the bounds of respect when it comesto discussing things with the rest, but
Russ gotta have a bit more ofa of a chill, relax, let's

(53:07):
take it easy. And then Ididn't want to talk about this final talking
point because I do enjoy giving youguys. I like condensed pocket. When
I have somebody on here and I'mgoing back and forth with them, I
do. We can sometimes go fora longer period of time we're just having
the banter or shooting this stuff.But when it's just me, I do

(53:27):
like to give you guys, youknow, a good morning drive into work,
time rise walk with the dog typeof duration of the podcast. Right.
If you like the longer podcasts,tell me I can make it.
I can add more topics to it. Let me know. But this this
topic I actually turn into a videolater down the road because Kevin O'Connor made
an interesting statement that I was like, Kevin, what do you mean by
that? My imagine the Drewski face. What do you mean by that?

(53:51):
That's me? He says. So, Kevin O'Connor said that he thinks Victor
wen Binyama could be the greatest defenderof all time. He said, wem
Beyama is going down as the greatestdefensive player in the history of the basketball.
If he stays healthy, he's readyto arguably the best in the league.
And I was like, hmmm,we given Victor that type of credit
right now, you know, Butthen they look I went and looked it
up. You know, sometimes peoplemake statements on I got we gotta check

(54:13):
the facts. Let me check thefacts real quick. When I check the
facts, Victor Wenbiyama, he's currentlyfourth in defensive rating at one on seven
point nine, behind only Rudy Gobert, Evan Mobley, and nas Reed.
Okay, guys that are known defensiveplayers that have good defensive acclaim in this
league. He's only behind them indefensive rating. He leads the league in
blocks right now at three point threeper game, and per Duncan threes dot

(54:37):
Com, he has an estimated plusthree point three plus minus defensive plus minus,
which is top ten in the leagueright now. I think actually at
the time of me recording this,I think that's top seven, top five
from last night when I checked.Obviously, games happened last night that impacted
the ray, but Victor was insanethe other night too, So that's why
I said I would say it probablygoes up from that point on. But

(54:58):
what meam I mean at seven fourhis wingspan is ridiculous. Like Victor Wembyama
gets blocks at times that you're justsitting there. You're like, oh,
he's just playing with them, likethere's a there's a there's a tweet that
brick Meuse tweeted of him blocking aguy and then the player tries to get
the reverse lay up on the otherside of the hoop, and Victor just
blocks it on both sides like itwas with no effort and just takes the

(55:19):
ball away from the guy and thenlike passes it out for a fast break.
And it's that type of defensive talentlike Victor. The one thing that
I will say that Victor wen Byamaalso does that's very key defensively, especially
for a young player. He defendswithout fouling. Young players are rookies especially
are notorious for this, falling foreasy up fakes, easy you know,
all these different things, flops,all these different types of ripping, ripthrews

(55:42):
to get your contact initiated, andthey draw founds with that. But Victor
has been able to be able todefend, protect the rim and avoid that
those type of calls. And it'svery interesting to me because with that wingspan,
with that defensive awareness right now,he even said that it's one of
the things that was advantaged to himplaying in Europe because of the fact that
playing in Europe, that was oneof the emphasis that they had, or

(56:05):
of one of their emphasis. Idon't know if I should have emphasis,
but it was. It was akey emphasis for them that they had defensive
acumen and they knew how to rotate, how to defend without fouling, how
to play proper health defense, andhow to you know always what to look
for on different drives, back cutsand so on as a defender. And
that's obviously has translated very well forVictor in the NBA right now, because

(56:25):
he's he's a shot blocking maniac,right and he leads the league in blocks
by a good margin. I thinkhe's averaging er point six by more than
the second place person. And Ithink it's one of those It's interesting because
Joel Embiid had comments from him.I'm going to cite the Athletic here on
this because the Athletic had a rightup on this as well, and in
that they include an interview interview fromJoel Embiid or outside of an interview,

(56:47):
they included a script from Joel ora statement rather where Joel says that he's
gonna be interested in this is paraphrasing, but he's gonna say. He said
that Victor's gonna have to choose whohe wants to be in the NBA,
right, because has the talent wherehe could be a Kevin Durant type player,
He could be a big in thepost like Dowell Embiid, He could
try and formula himself into something likethat. But he said he's gonna have

(57:09):
to choose because he said that it'sgonna be tough for him to do all
of it, right, And weeven see like Kevin Durant hasn't really done
all of it, like when hewent to Golden State and that you play
and now today's positionless basketball. Youcould argue it's the easiest to do all
of it, but guys still fallinto their lanes in some regard. Right.

(57:32):
You just might have smaller guys whoare able to perform bigger duties,
but they still fall into some typeof lane or niche in some regard or
respect. And I think for Victorit is interesting because when you see him
go up against Dwel Embiid, Right, Jewel Embiid seventy point game happened against

(57:52):
the Spurs, Victor looked outside outclass and all that when going up against
Joel Embiid, and it was largelybecause Jeld just had the size on him.
He had that, he had thewhole he had years worth of training
and all that encompassed into his abilityto dominate Victor Webbyam in the post.

(58:15):
But then you see other bigs tryingand come at Victory. They try to
utilize that size and some are ableto do it, but Victor's reach,
his wingspan, all that also helpshim to be able to defend against all
lot of those big players that justtry to use their size to kind of
create that space against them. Hisreach is still able to get out there
and block those same players. SoI think it's interesting to see how he's

(58:36):
gonna mature, because I do wantto know. Because there's there's even another
clip out there where Victor is doinga step back. He does an easy
step back bume back three and yousee I think it's Kyle Anderson that is
guarding him, and Victor just doesit so effortleously and turns around just he
knows what's going in. I'm like, nah, fam, I'm like,
nah, bro, this guy's crazy. This guy is freaking crazy. But

(59:00):
that's you know, that's the talentthat we've gotten in today's NBA. I
don't know what to tell you,Richtor Wibyam. I do think I think
Kevin O'Connor's onto something. I thinkhe could be one of the best players.
And the reason why I want tomake a video on it, I
want to illustrate all the different instances. Even though the Spur Spurs are awful
in terms of their record, They'vemade lineup changes. Like anybody who follows
KPRS Sports on Instagram and all thatknows that I've had multiple times in the

(59:21):
season. I've picked out multiple instanceswhere I'm saying, why are the Spurs
running Jeremy so Can as their pointguard? He should not be their point
guard. And I think it wasthrough like December or something like that they
had him as the point guard.Then after December they changed the lineup and
their defense has their defense was likein the bottom third of the NBA.

(59:42):
Then after making the adjustments to theirlineup, I think so can with the
power forward and they put I thinkthey put Matthew at point guard, and
now the defense has at least comerose risen up to fifteenth because I think
now Victor obviously is translating into both. He he's playing better defense, He's
able to play in a better roledefensively, they're playing more of their optimal

(01:00:04):
positions. And also the playmaking isjust better for him. Also, so
he has more he's gonna expend moreenergy because he's more involved in the team's
offense. I don't think it's brainscience, guys, But let me know
what you guys think. Man,I'm very curious to hear what you guys
thoughts are on Victor Wenboyama. Whattalent do you think he or how good
do you think he can be?Because I think so many people talk about

(01:00:24):
who's the next face of this ofthe league, who's this guy? And
obviously we have the normal suspects likeLuka Doncic, John Moran, Shay Gildess,
Alexander Anthony Edwards, Jason Tatum,so on. But then when you
really look at the you know,you look at the early early set of
the pack. Victor wenbyam is rightthere. He's right there, man,

(01:00:44):
and he's so talented. He's reallygood. He's so good. I don't
know, man, it's gonna beit's gonna be really crazy to watch how
he develops. He could be hecould be one one of the best defensive
players of all time. Kevin O'Connor'sgoing on the straight. I mean,
in today's NBA. The way hecan defend and all that his versatility might
go crazy. This is seeing howhe can impact because even putting him out
on the switch, that wingspan,that length, his athleticism, he could

(01:01:07):
still guard out on the perimeter,which is crazy. So that's gonna be
interesting to watch. But guys,that is gonna wrap it up for this
episode of the podcast. Of course, if you have not subscribed or followed,
go ahead to hit that subscribe andfollow button. Also, go ahead
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(01:01:29):
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(01:01:49):
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(01:02:10):
guys want to. Just ask mea question about if you want me to
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