The New Twenty Four
Episode 8 - "Fallen Casualties"
Now, does you think because the Christmas day festivities have passed and the New Year's Eve ball has officially dropped, then we were going to leave the Hank and then not return with another episode to kick off 2025 in grand fashion? Well, if so, then your thought wrong is we're back and set to provide you with all of our thoughts on the latest happiness around the NBA as you take the time to wind down from all the jubilee and make the New Year's Eve parties you would think it were if you were here. Happy New Year, everybody, and welcome aside to another episode of the New 24 podcast, episode 8 for everybody keeping up to date wherever you may be listening in from. As you know, that we truly appreciate you to the fullest. I mean, host Gabriel Wilkins, beside me as always, is my co-hosts in the distinguished one himself, the touring staggered. The Christmas day game to the surprise of many lived up to the hike. We also even saw a couple of squaboos take place on the court to the surprise and delight of some fans is noticed across the reactions to the incidents on social media and whatnot as well. Alongside a few boyhead shots getting knocked down late regulation, the guy changed the pivotal victories. They feel proved to be monumental and will define the course of some seasons. For some, how are you doing? We made it, as we did. And last week's episode of the New 24 podcast, The Attorney's sought to examine the cases of several all-stars whose names have surfaced across the radar of lead scouts and executives as players that could potentially be moved prior to the trade deadline 36 days away. I'm also seeking to uncover which places might make for the best potential landing spots for them to end up in an event that they are moved within the coming weeks as the action on the marketplace continues to heat up. Now, we'll seek to examine a trio of teams in the Western Conference who all reside in the same state as one recently made national headlines for making a change on the sidelines to the surprise of many a couple of days following Christmas followed by a team in the Eastern Conference who was seeking the shot critics and make their first playoff appearance in six years after boasting the worst record in the NBA just a season ago. But before we get into all of the main topics, let's take some time as we always do to tip our cap to the Association's premier performers with our opening tip off segment, beginning of a pair of players who managed to provide the fans in Madison Square Garden with a Christmas Day classy that they'll never forget and pick the Wimpy Army with the San Antonio's first and Macau Bridges of the New York Knicks became the first pair of opposing players to each record 40 plus points and a Christmas Day album since 1961 is the NBA's reigning rookie of the year recorded a game high 42 points in 18 boards in his Christmas debut for San Antonio however, Wimpy's spectacular efforts wouldn't be enough, his bridges dropped the season high at 41 points and wrapped the knocking down six triples to help New York rally back to earn a close win against the Spurs in addition to a former star by the Bay Area who recently etched his name further in the record books and had his Clay Thompson with a Dallas Mavericks who passed the Hall of Famer, the Indiana Pacers icon Reggie Miller on Christmas Day to move up to fifth place on the NBA's all-time three-pointers made list as well as a native of the city we're recording from in Chicago who was once a play about play man for the NBA on NBC in the 90s in addition to the voice behind many various assignments and countless shows across CBS Sports, the great Greg Gumbel who passed away after a recent battle with cancer just last week, the age of 78, as our Dawson players go out to his family. You know, Torrance, I usually open up the show each week by asking what are the top things that stood out to you the most across the NBA landscape since our previous recording however with 2024 officially coming to a close. I like to switch it up a little bit to ask you what are the top moments of players across the league that left quite an impression on you over the last 12 months that you won't forget when taking the time to reflect back on it in the years to come. All right, at the top, I'm going to start with LeBron James scoring 40,000 points back on March, I'm not going to elaborate on that, but he's the first player to do that in NBA history. So number two, Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum. Jason Tatum was kind of like a topic on social media this week. You know, some reason he's always in comparison with Luca Donchick and Shay out Gil just Alexander Joelle and be like the new crowd for stars in the NBA. But to me, Jason Tatum has separated itself, especially finally winning the title. You talking about a guy who probably should have been a number one pick in the draft, he ended up being picked with three by the Boston Celtics. Mark Hill folks went one to the Sixers, Lonzo Ball went two to the Los Angeles Lakers. And the Sixers, like the Sixers, they traded up to take Mark Hill folks. He's dealt with Kyrie Ervin coming to the team and then leave a different course, different coaches. And he's at 26, he has a lot of playoff experience. He finally has a reign. I think this season, if the Celtics managed to get the one seed, he should be the league MVP. Oh, Jason Tatum this year, definitely stamped itself. And Jalen Brown also, Jalen Brown, this is more of a futuristic thought. But his ability to step up during the NBA finals and be the wingman to Jason Tatum. And unlike a Scotty Pippa or a Kyrie Ervin or a Dwayne Wade or Kobe Bryant, when a quote on quote side kicks, Jalen Brown actually won the MVP, finals MVP and the Eastern Conference finals MVP. So really it's more of a let's see what's to come with him because his ability to I would say play his role, but still grow his game could be the difference between the Celtics being one-time champions and potentially being a dynasty. That's what I'll say, Torrance, and I agree with you in regards to Boston. I was a team that really showed a tremendous amount of growth over the last year and seeing them finally get over the hump was a special moment to me as well, considering all the playoff battles that they went through. We saw this team a couple of years prior look like they were on the precipice of getting to that NBA championship, but they ran up against the team that had been there and done that before the Golden State Warriors. And they've been through countless playoff battles, like you said, time and time again, but they failed short. However, with the dynamic duo and Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum alongside the new addition at last season, Lisa and Chris, that's for Zingas. They found a way to put it all together and bring it home. And that was real dope to see, especially when I could recall seeing Jason Tatum up close in person, not only when he was in high school, deal with the pressure of being the top five player in the country, born from at the Duke, and then to Boston, his rookie year and making an immediate impact. And now you look at his resume, we talk about a five time NBA All-Star, the guy that's won the All-Star Game MVP, the guy that's been named to the All-Olympia first team, three times. And at the age of 26, like you said, has a very impressive resume and it's done everything that there is to doing a game, really, outside of winning MVP award. And I believe, even if the Celtics stay within the top two of the East, which they will, if he puts up the numbers that are good enough to warn it, that he should be the MVP of the league. That's just my opinion. - Donovan Mitchell. - Donovan Mitchell. - Donovan Mitchell. - That's fine. - Donovan Mitchell is just as deserving of MVP, but he have other guys like Shay Gilder Alexander, that's on the tear right now, that's going to have something to say about that, alongside of Nicole Eoq, to the Denver Nuggets as well, putting up the scoring numbers. I don't agree that he should be the MVP either, but he's going to be in the thick of the conversation. Now, it regards to the top moments when players across the league that left an impression on me over the last 12 months, I'd have to say the guy that really stood out to me was Anthony Evans in the Minnesota Temple Awards. Here's the guy that, last year, got him in Minnesota to the top three senior Western Conference. A lot of people didn't expect that from them, and managed to go on a playoff journey that stood out, and it's not every day you see guys and only just their third playoff appearance go from winning a first round series, which is a major landmark in his career, but also knocking off the defending world champions in the Denver Nuggets and a seven-game series that went down their wire, and in one point in time, the Timberwolves were down as many as 19 points, and although he struggled and received help from his supporting cast at the time, such as Carl Anthony Towns, Jay McDaniels, Nas Reed, and the like. When he hit that big shot in the corner, and you know, was talking this shit to the Denver crowd, that was a moment that I'd never forget, and it was real cool to see his growth and transformation. He put Minnesota back in the forefront in the way that I hadn't seen him since the days of Kevin Garnett when I was in the 11 year old, and that was very fun, the witness man in the hole is a fan of the game and it's a spectator of the game. You never know what the future holds for certain guys, but for him to be able to have that moment, a moment that I believe was a pivotal one in his career, it made me excited to see this how far he could continue to go in his growth and development alongside of a Minnesota Timberwolves team, albeit with some changes, still will have a bright future as long as number five is around. He's sued too. He's sued, right? Yeah, for sure. He had to do it a year. Great marketing campaign, because like, man, besides what, Katie and LeBron, there really hasn't been a signature shoe that really has just like stuck around, like, for real, like, okay, you see Hardin's shoe, you see Jason's Adam's shoe, you see Lillard, Derrick Rose had like, I know people that they would buy did like D-roll shoes, but like Anthony Edwards, he kind of like really created some organic hype around his shoe, you know, I've never seen a second, like, we on the second season of the same shoe, like they've ran the same shoe back again. So that means he might actually be following a Michael Jordan footsteps. We might actually see the A to probably at the all-star game this year. And like, yeah, I just think that was a cool moment for 2024, like, for real, like just off the court, like really bringing back hype around signature shoes, because now I'm more entoned to see what Jason Tatum's next shoe looks like, what Luka's shoe looks like. And WNBA, they got Sabrina has a shoe, Caitlin Clark has a shoe come coming, Angel Reese, Angel Wilson. So we got a whole new, like, generation of signature shoes and signature athletes coming, and I think AE broke the mold and Kanye broke the mold, because I mean, that shoe is basically a Yeezy, and that might be the hold-up for the AE2. Yeah, I mean, it could be, but I was excited just to see it. And yeah, his campaign with Adidas was one of the best sneaker campaigns that I've seen for a sneaker, especially a debut sneaker, when the last 20 plus years. And it was cool to see him and his friend Nick Maddox, you know, involved in it. I see he even had a shoe where he allowed Nick to make his little personalized edition of twist on AE1 that dropped a couple of weeks prior to Christmas, and that was real fun to see. And I believe he wore it a couple of days prior to Christmas Day as well, and they're actually in Tumblewood's color. So I know just watching the season that he had come out with the marketing campaign, it made you want to see when he was in the playoffs, just how far he could got a Minnesota Tumblewood squad to-- That makes it a classic shoe. Did it to the playoffs. The more you see somebody do something in the shoe that adds to the legacy of the shoe. And from with the high top to the low top, he was actually able to balance both of them, which was like real cool to see. But let me ask you a quick question. Sure. You said, what was your favorite shoe campaign? And I'll give you mine. My favorite shoe campaign in my lifetime? Yeah. Yeah. What are you going to tell me about Magic and Bird? I like the campaign for the LeBron Force. I think we talking about-- we might be talking about the same campaign, maybe. When he had like the LeBron series. Yeah. And it was different variations of LeBron. Yeah. I enjoyed that one. The one with the pool. Yeah. I enjoyed that one. As a kid, I always enjoyed the little mini commercials with Nike. I actually have a little mini belt still to this day like that, though, from an office space. Yeah. That was pretty cool. Man, you kind of took my answer with that LeBron. The Bernie Macron was cool with the church. That was cool. Because that was cool. He had like all the gear when that first drop, he had his own basketball jump suit on it. That was crazy. I don't remember Mello really having like no shoe campaigns, no D-way. Mello had one with Tommy Davis. I don't remember that. I got to go check that. I'm going to have to go check that one out. I don't even tell me Davis and that Mello only going to make sense together. See, that's why it ain't no more. You're just doing something. I like to see James Harden have a cool commercial, like for real. Yeah, I think James Harden sound like a cool lifestyle commercial. And then I say another campaign that stood out to me, it was prior to Jordan's last year. It might have been his last season with the Bulls, where he was playing like a myriad of like characters in like 1930, 1940s film and like one of the scenes involved him like doing the dumb man over the board of trade. I don't know. I don't remember that commercial. But all you telling me is Mike had on some big suits, you know, like that was a regular day for him. He wasn't dressing up. He definitely had that. But he still had the aura around it, you know, at the time, you know, he could he could pour that off without a like this was this was before means of came he had the Lord. That's crazy. It's the aura. That's crazy. He did. It did. Another guy that stood out to me in 2024, who happened to win a gold medal which gave the team USA, even though he wasn't the main star, I would say, in the pair's games. It's Kevin Durant. I just really appreciate Kevin Durant's ability to engage with fans and connect with fans during these times. I know it may not always be the easiest for athletes to do that. However, he's made himself accessible in a way that a lot of stars have it by openly engaging in dialogue with fans about the game. I mean, how many all star players do you know, but willing to step into spaces for a man on X have a conversation with you about your thoughts on the game and maybe challenge your perspective or force you to see some from the vantage point of a player that you might not always have access to. I appreciate that from him. And I think he's making himself a very unique figure from the standpoint as opposed to his peers. He's embracing the opportunity to be an ambassador of basketball and he's giving back to the next generation by doing that, I think, in a great way while also enlightening fans in ways where he's not trying to come off his do his hollyard and now, but just trying to get you to see it for where he's coming from. Oh, man, Katie, he definitely got some Roger Mayweather around him. He'd definitely be letting people know that they don't know what they're talking about. We ain't about to give him the humble road. You say it out for you. We ain't not. I mean, he ain't for me. I'm with that again. At the same time. He just keeps, he's just a laid back dude, but we ain't going to just plan like he don't be talking this shit though. But this is what I want to say. Well, he's aren't that right. I mean, of course, if you want to. But this, this is what I will say about Kevin Durant. And this might be an important distinction for basketball going forward was Katie just one with his 4th Olympic gold medal, so that makes, he has the most gold medals in Olympic basketball history. You also talk about somebody that got drafted in '07, what, four years after LeBron. So he became almost like the new car model. You got a bunch of seven footers that play like Kevin Durant. You got Victor Wimbin Yammer who you hear his height and everybody wants him to be shack and wheel Chamberlain, but you listen to him talk, you watch him play and he's an evolution of Kevin Durant in the same way LeBron was an evolution of Magic Johnson in the same way Kobe was an evolution of Michael Jordan. And when you hear what Vic had to say after the Olympics, that that was pretty much his main goal. He'd rather have a gold medal than he would an NBA championship because that is the one in the world's best place. And for Kevin Durant to be looked at as the goat by a lot of the new, like new players coming in the league and for him to be the guy with the most gold medals and the way he like he's playing, he might be on a 20, 20, 18, that might be his farewell tour. I mean, like, I don't know, I just really want to get Katie, Katie, his dude because that gold and state situation just kind of like changed the narrative on him in a way where it's crazy because Katie is definitely no less than top 10, like best basketball players ever. And if you ever hear players talk, they tell you that he actually might be the most talented player of all time. Definitely a ball player that's worth the price for mission and watch play live too with the best scene in the house, if you had an ability to do it, I had a chance to check him out before he left Brooklyn over a year ago. And it was a very spectacular scene, a watch, you know, the way he's able to get to his spot and he can't really speed him up or slow him down. It was a performance that I definitely appreciate. And I wish I definitely would have got a chance to see him a lot sooner with the fact that his game pertains to age like fine, why I didn't mix you under sometimes just how much longer he could continue to play because if he continues to play at the level that he's been playing at, man, he might join or get closer at 40,000 point club alongside LeBron Sunday, but I want to move away from briefly highlighting the weak smart key stars in the moments that defined the last 365 days, 366 days, because 2024 was a leap year to discuss a recent story that managed to captivate many around the league this past Friday out in the capital of California, but the Sacramento Kings fired their head coach Mike Brown as then halfway through his third year with the club while they were in the midst of a five game losing tree. Brown went to coach of the year honors in his first season in Sacramento back in 2023. It was informed of the news as he was driving to the team playing for a flight to Los Angeles according to several reports, the 54 year old had a 107 and 88 record and two plus seasons in Sacramento with a winning record in both of his full season. Joining the Hall of Fame, Rick Adelman is the only other coach in franchise history to ever generate a winning record in a season since the Kings moved to Sacramento. Since then coach Doug Christie will take over the range as the interim coach, Torrance Brown's sudden firing happened to come at a time when Sacramento was currently in the midst of their longest losing tree in nearly two years and lost an NBA words nine games this season after leading in the fourth quarter with the most recent one coming in Brown's final game as a head coach against the team we'll discuss later on in this week's episode. Brown had recently signed a three year extension to 2027 to remain with the Kings this past June so he'll be compensated well nonetheless but when you look at Sacramento's situation from the top down here are all the recent reports out there of the last several days, what do you believe is truly at fault with their most recent woes as a dream? Oh man, the owner of X and Dan Fox. Do you care to elaborate on me? I mean look man, we don't get into it, we can just get into it. The Aaron Fox is pretty much halfway in and halfway out with the Sacramento Kings, right? There's rumors that he might want to go to a team like the Houston Rockets, the San Antonio Spurs, so on and so forth. He believes that he's underrated, you know, he's not on national games. He wants to be able to play deeper into the playoffs, you know, he just wants to just do and he needs, he's curious to know if he could do it in Sacramento. You bring in the murder of the Rosa, not quite the best fit this season. They blame the coach, but the Aaron Fox is the guy who made the key mistake a few games ago, filing the jump shooter on the three and causing a four point play, Mike Brown calls him out about it in the press conference, Mike Brown is fired the next day. That's a coach just calling it like it is, like we all saw it, but this is how the owner comes into play because he wants to keep his superstar. We know how the storyline works in the NBA versus the coach, then it's a trade, then it's a GM and then we get to the superstar owner never leads, but he wants to keep the Aaron Fox, but at the same time, if you be Aaron Fox, you're not a household name. You don't have a lot of playoff success, but you're trying to stick the Kings up for as much money as possible. And this is how you do it. You start play, you start, uh, what's the name word, uh, delegating the blame around coach. Hey, next he going to tell the truth and say, look, man, we need a better big in the middle other than some, than the mindset of bonus. He put up good numbers, but come on, man, what are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing with Anthony Davis? What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing with Ted, like what are you doing with Zion? What are you doing with Derek Lively and gaffer? Like, I mean, only guy he could probably match up with his nurkage out there and Phoenix trying to get rid of him. So it's really like a game of cat and mouse with this contract negotiation with the Aaron Fox and Vivek. That's like really affecting the Kings for real because you can go one or two directions and we're clearly going in one direction and so we'll get to that in the next few moments. When I look at Sacramento situation, it's a lot of people with fault, but Mike Brown should not be the, the fall guy for it. And I, I believe it's, it's V. Nick Brown, a debate, the owner of the Kings, he's one of them. And the Aaron Fox has to, to take some blame as well because I don't understand how you can continuously take the criticism of a coach that you know has been there for your girlfriend to develop it to the level in which you did because that wasn't the first time that the Aaron Fox got called out by Mike Brown. Mike Brown been doing this for the last few years at Sacramento. But dear Fox, his credit was very receptive of that. Now, like you talked about towards guys in search of a new deal, has new representation. Just recently got his own shoe deals, part of Stephen Curry's brand or under armor. Like a he want that profile, but to whom much is given much is required. I look in Sacramento's situation and I see a team that didn't necessarily or front office rather, that didn't necessarily know their personnel. Sacramento's greatest strength over the last three years under Mike Brown is in their office. They've always boasted top 10 office, they can score with the best of them. The issue was always the defense of side of the ball and a lot of that stems from the personnel in which they have on their roster. My testimony is as great as he is as a orchestrator and a playmaker out of picking roads and in the low pokes and it can put up 2010 and five easily. He's not known for being a shut down defender or a guy that gets up for being a high energy impact defender on that side of the ball. He's not known for that. Moreover, it was some things that they did with the way in which they constructed their roster, like giving Harrison Barnes an extension. Now it was questionable. You trade him. You try to bring in Demarter Rose. When you bring in Demarter Rose, you go into training camps and what an expectation is to make it to the playoffs, but you never ever show it up. The one issue that you've always had and that's your defense, your team defense and Demarter's opponents is great as he is. Maybe he's a force that of a fight. However, we'll never know that in Sacramento because they never ever sought to address the center position, like in the closing minutes of the game that we'll get into a little bit later when we play the team to talk about them on a lot of portions of the show. The Kings have Ali's landed. In no disrespect to Ali's land, but that's not your guy that you want to be playing heavy minutes. He's more of your backup option. I look at everybody as being in fault in this in this predicament. In the front office has to take some blame as well because you can't just make haphazard decisions when you know the limitation that your roster has. So let me ask you, do you feel like at this point in the season, you put in Doug Christie as the interim coach. You got the D. Aaron Fox contract situation alone. Demarter Rosen has a new deal, but it's only 23 million. So it's kind of moveable. And you know, the rumor out there is that Mike Brown wanted him to come off the bench because the mark, the mark don't play the way the Kings play. The Kings did a lot of like dribble handoffs, a lot of ball movement. And we know the more he's a one-on-one isolation score, he can handle the ball. He can make plays for others too. So I don't want to downplay that part of his game. But when it comes to putting the ball in the basket, he's more of a solo artist. So do you believe that the Kings at this point, do you think they need to start trading, to win games, to get back into the play in hunt, to make the playoffs? Or do you feel like they should trade D. Aaron Fox and them began to like just start this whole thing over again? When I look at Sacramento's roster right now in the state in which they're in, if guys not willing to buy in, you're going to have to think about letting pieces go in an attempt to build a better pathway towards content in the future. And yeah, I do believe that Demarter Rosen got no way in which the Kings offense likes to play, because like you said, they like to play dribble-hand off their up-tempo type of team. As soon as they get a rebound, they want to push and run a gun and attack. They've been able to do that in the minutes without Lamar. But Lamar is what coaches nowadays would deem as a ball stopper, similar to what you described Brandon Ingram has, in last week's episode, we were talking about players that could be moving to the trade airline, like a guy that, it was the mid-2000s or the early 2000s era. He would be widely appreciated, or even like the late 90s. But now, he's not appreciated in an era where pace and space has become king. So yeah, I would seek to sell pieces on their roster. If you're going to trade D. Aaron Fox away, you might as well trade Demarter Rosen away. You also might as well trade Malik Monk away, who's a guy that you're going to see surface in a lot of trade rumors if Sacramento continues to play at the course that they're currently on. See, the funny part about this is in theory, maybe they should move on from D. Aaron Fox, but they got to ride this out because they don't know when they're going to hide a next chance at a D. Aaron Fox. It's Sacramento and also to shoot them a little bill, they're in the same division as the Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Clippers, and the Phoenix Suns. Somebody got to miss the playoffs in that division. And if you talk about free agent destinations, people would rather be in LA Phoenix in the bay. I would assume. So they plan what they have tied behind a back. So at this point, they have to keep a D. Aaron Fox. Yeah, I think they're going to keep on a massive and miss the playoffs. That's the, that's true too. They very welcome Mr. playoff, but I think they're going to keep it because they've invested so much into this year. It was going into this season. It was playoff for a bus. Also New Orleans in the play in the season ago, we're trying to find a way to get back. But then again, you had the coach that got you back for the first time in almost 20 years got you through in the game of reaching a Western conference in my finals a couple seasons ago. And all of a sudden you want to bail out with him and hop out the ride that he took you on. You still were boasting, might I add a top 10 offense under his leadership? Yeah. And somebody mentioned this to me, I'm gonna, my cousin, he mentioned this to me. He was like, yeah, he, he said that he feels like the Marta Rosen took, took away from Keegan Murray's development. And when you say, bring up Mike Brown in the top 10 offense, like you said, this wasn't the problem. So it was like, you brought in a piece that just made things awkward, but if they were maybe a smarter franchise, they may have been looking to move the more for that big that you said that they, that they need. That's obviously the move to make, you know, maybe you get a big that's more willing to come off the bench, you know, from a team. I, I mean, I haven't looked into it, but let's just say a guy like Robert Williams or Nicki Robinson, you know, somebody that might have injuries or something. So, hey, telling you to come off the bench, not that big of a deal and the market, the market help a contender, because he might be more willing to come off the bench at that point. I got my money. I know, I know how to league looking at me now. And they telling me I can do my thing off the bench. Then that might be the thing to do, but just the Sacramento Kings and they do dumb shit. So at this point, I'm expecting them to do nothing. And it's interesting how you, you say your cousin was elude to entire the move, the shot out of the sorry, like you was talking about how he said the move to get a guy like Demarter Rosen, he can marry a fellow. Last year, Keegan Murray average, 15.2 points per game with almost six rebounds a game. He was shooting 35% for three-point land, shot 45% from the field. Thus far this season through 32 games, those numbers have decreased. He's averaging close to 12 points a game, yet a rebound is picked up in nearly seven and a half, but he's shooting under 30% from three and he's shooting 41.3% from the field. And when you put all that into perspective, that's a far cry from a guy who in his first two years in the league was never shooting below 35% for three. It's rookie year, if I'm not mistaken, I had a number up in front of me. He made 206 triples, which I believe was a record at the time for a rookie. So it still may be a record. So when you put that into perspective, yeah, I can see why your cousin would think that way, and then on top of that, he moved him to the fourth spot. And I don't think Keegan Murray is the guy that is best suited at the fourth. I think he's the guy that's better suited at the three, which is where he's playing through his first two years in Sacramento. And I wouldn't mind him going after a guy like Rob Williams to start, Mitchell Robinson would be a godsend for them in their defense. You put him besides a bonus and moves a bonus to the fourth, you can make some things happen. I don't think that they're going to just make trades for the sake of making trades. I think cops will stay put. But if this does not work this summer, yeah, you have to make some trades and you're going to have to wipe your hands clean with a few guys who say, hey, it was nice knowing. Yeah. I want to say the errand. He's the errand second, that's super max if they offering it, he can play like he want to leave. That's a part of the negotiation. They offering him that super max money me, he going, he going to sign that deal. And he probably should because he ain't going to get it nowhere else like he didn't care, but at the same time, I'm just, I'm looking at everything from the top down, not just from the errand standpoint, but just from the organizational standpoint. And I'm just like, what the hell is going on? Because a couple of seasons ago, the things that managed to shock me around the league, they won 48 games to grab the third seed in the West, Brown's inaugural season at the helm to end the NBA's longest playoff drought, it's 16 seasons, and then they failed short. So getting out the first round as I mentioned earlier, you can fall in a golden state in a thrilling seven game series. However, this led to a lot of short term expectations growing larger than ever in the years to follow as we talked about is the front office group that made it clear, we decided to trade for the Martarosa that some of the expected to make the playoffs once again. If you look at my Brown situation in Sacramento, do you believe that it's safe to say that he became a fallen casualty due to the immediate success that he delivered to Kings upon his arrival? And for those that don't know out there before you answer to it, Brown is the second coach of the year recipient in the last three seasons that happened to get fired by the franchise in which he won coach of the year with, look, at the everything we just named, of course, it wasn't his fault, somebody got to take the blame. This is the NBA way Mike Brown been through this before, man, he didn't been fired because somebody got to take the blame, you know? And like Brian Fox said, man, you still getting paid and you might end up in a better situation because y'all not winning shit in Sacramento. And a guy like that deserves to add his knowledge of the game to somewhere else. Like he was an assistant on the Golden State Warriors. He coached LeBron James, he coached Kobe Bryant, he comes from the San Antonio Spurs coaching tree. So, I mean, this a guy with incredible basketball knowledge, like I'm not going, I'm not a coach, you know, I'm not going to ever pretend that I know more about the game than these guys. You know, do I see things that I might disagree with? Of course, but I'm just a fan at the end of the day. A guy like Mike Brown, I can't say he got a raw deal, but somebody, you know, somebody just had to take the blame, just how I go. The more trading, the more the rose and I love the more the rose and that's clearly the difference with the team, but we can't do that because then that means somebody else got to admit to making a mistake and it ain't they turn yet. It's someone that has had the privilege of seeing some internal structure within organizations. I got to say, Mike Brown was a fallen castor, or he at least became one in this situation. And yeah, you right, someone does have to take the blame. And it is unfortunate that like Brown is one of those guys. And like you said, he has a hell of a track record, a hell of a resume. And we know that he'll be back in the league again, whether it's an assistant coach or whether it's as a head coach with another organization. However, I think a lot of times when organizations find success immediately following change, they're quick to jump the gun and assume because they find that success, that they're just a step or two close to a championship. And it's not always like that. You know, it's 30 teams in the NBA and it's only a handful of teams each year that go in with a legitimate shot of winning an NBA championship. The Sacramento Kings with the exception of maybe the 2001-2002 season have not been among the top four in the NBA for a prolonged period enough to say, well, you know what we have when it takes the winning championship. I think Mike Brown did an impressive job with the Kings organization. And I believe that he should have had the opportunity to see the season through because it was still a lot of games left to be played. You know, I'm not going to sit up and say that someone deserves, even though I may feel that way, but I do believe he became a fallen casualty. And I do think it's unfortunate that coaches have to hope you that in today's game, especially when you want to have as much time as you possibly can to build a culture that is sustainable and that promotes and induces winning. Yeah, oh, and I just wanted to mention that with Monty Williams with the coach of the Phoenix Suns, he won the coach of the year and he was fired like the next year, the same thing happened in 2018 with Dwayne Casey, Toronto Raptors. They lost in the playoffs, he was fired the year after winning the coach of the year. And I mean, we're not going to point out the obvious common denominator between these three guys, but I mean, that's something they got to be fought for more in the league too, man. A lot of these black coaches, I'm just going to say it now, fuck it, a lot of these black coaches, man, they, they always got to take over these shit teams. They build them up. They get to a certain level, like maybe second round exit the occasional conference finals like a Dwayne Casey and then they get fight, they get fired. You know, and like, sometimes they don't, they don't get another good job. Cause what? Monty Williams, he left the Phoenix Suns, he had to go to Detroit, personally, ironically enough, the way in case he got fired and he had to go where? To Detroit. Like, come on, man, like, it's just too, it's just too, it's just too obvious. You know what I'm saying? You got to like deal, you got to deal with the bullshit to get nothing in the end. Hey, everybody just they, I guess, you know, tap them on a back and let them know you're still getting paid and you got a chance to live your dream up. Exactly. And, and that's why I said I don't think that it's fair for coaches to go through that in today's game. And especially black coaches, because we had a season not too long ago where three out of four coaches represented in the Eastern and Western Conference finals were black. And once that happened, it was interesting to see how the league shifted. We started getting more of an influx of black coaches from people started talking about it and speaking about it, the way that it should have been spoken about. Oh, for sure. But I want to move the show along from the discussion of circumstances out of Sacramento over the Los Angeles where the franchise with the second most championships in NBA history recently made a trade at the top of the week to bring in a vital reinforcement on the way in an effort to help supplement their defense. After being expected by most of you rather active on the trademark, the Lakers finally will prove the least to be true by sending DiAngelo Russell in three second round picks over to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Dorian Finney Smith and Shae Milge. Finney Smith started in Dallas for six and a half seasons, averaged 10.4 points per game through 20 contests this season for Brooklyn while shooting almost 44% from downtown. For instance, although this may not have been the pick a lot of us to move that most Baker fans have won it, we discussed it amongst ourselves once it went down. What are your overall thoughts on this move as it pertains to the purple and gold? Man, this is a simple trade. Dorian Finney Smith on paper, he's the traditional three and D guy, you know, come in, play some defense guard the threes, guard the power for it on the switch could even like handle a possession or two guard in the opposing center. Now, my problem with this is these guys always come to the Lakers, Dorian Prince, Jerry Van der Build, so just so on and so forth, I'm not going to, it's been a lot of trades like during the LeBron era with the Los Angeles Lakers. They hyped up to hit these threes, they never hit the fucking three. You know what I'm saying? Never hit the fucking threes, like it's always the same thing, but I will say this, JJ Redick, the one thing I've seen is he's not afraid to show who his favorites on the team team are. And those guys have been performing very well under him. DeAngelo Russell got traded because he's felt like Austin Reeves is a great ball handler and a great playmaker. So you now you've essentially moved Austin Reeves to the point guard position and I between me and you in conversations we had earlier in the season, I said, man, the Lakers moving the ball well at the beginning of the season, everybody touching it, everybody coming down with it. But I say how long is LeBron going actually allow that to happen before he decide he needs to play point guard again. We've getting through a third of the season and when Austin Reeves ain't got it, LeBron playing point guard and AD, he's doing a little point guard action in the half court. So man, it wasn't no room for DeAngelo. He wasn't, he up and down shooter and consistent turnovers and the Lakers needed another wing that could defend because at this stage of his career, LeBron ain't guarding nobody. You know, unless he really locked into that game. Absolutely. And I think my thoughts on the move is like you said, in the three and he mean, the question is, is always in Los Angeles, kiddie shoe, you know, sometimes with certain guys, when they playing in the city of angels, those lights get too bright. You know, when you put on that purple and gold uniform, everybody is watching you not just in Los Angeles, but across the country. And we've seen that in regards to a player who is getting through a little bit later on in the show, who recently started in Los Angeles not too long ago and came in with a reputable background for being one of the case from his shooters. However, when he got over there, he was, he was cold and he never was able to really find his foot. I said, we'll get to him later on in the show. I'm previewing that part of the show, we got to, we got to, we got to keep the audience in game. But when I, when I look at the Lakers, man, my overall thoughts on it is they got a three at the wing, a guy that's going to come in there and really play the Jared Vanderbilt wall. He said he actually can shoot and, or has been a reputable shooter, and it just remains to be seen how he's going to fit, whether or not he's going to start consistently, or is he going to come off the bench? I think it does show the amount of trust that JJ Redic has and also Reeves, who is a late, has done his exceptional job of getting downhill, finding shooters on a perimeter as well as getting to the rim and getting buckets on his own right. I believe he's been putting up like 20 and seven over the last, like eight games since they switched up their start lineup. So I'm curious to see how long, how much longer also Reeves could continue to keep that up because he definitely will be the secondary initiator and creator in his office alongside a LeBron James, who, as we know, when he's out there for the majority of the time, is not seeking to come off the ball for anybody, and is always seeking to be the orchestrator and the conductor of any offense that he's leading. Oh, yeah, for sure. It's the top, oh, yeah, my bad, no, you got some to add to it, all right. Well at the top of the week, Lakers head coach JJ Redic, who played besides Finney Smith and Allen, is well as Shane Milton during his time in Philadelphia, told reporters that he will continue to stick with the current lineup of next Christie, Austin Reeves, Free Hotchamur, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and that he informed Finney Smith that he will be coming off the bench and Los Angeles for the time being. Redic also said that he will continue to evaluate the Lakers' start lineup as well, however, the Lakers have posted a six and two record since the insertion of Christie into their start in five as of this recording, as they currently have a matchup on the horizon against the Cavs for both the NBA's best record in 2004. When you look at the Lakers' current start in five years in the success they've had today in a limited sample size, what do you think has led to the instant turnaround? I mean, the whole point of the trade, man, we move D-Lo out the way, man. We can't just keep having bad defenders out there. Adam Reeves is not a great defender, D-Lo is not a great defender, LeBron, he ain't always rotating like, he's not always rotating all the time. So adding a guy like Max Christie, it makes a big difference in that lineup. Now you got somebody that you can make a primary defender. You got young licks, we're not asking you to carry it a little offensively. I think that's really been a big difference. That's the reason why they signed guys like Gabe Vincent, supposedly Jerry Vanderbilt. Max Christie has been able to fill that slide while he's still developing his offensive game. Yeah, Max Christie, over the last few games, he scored at least 16 points or more in each of the Lakers' past three games. And you add that on top of the two-way presence that he provides, the results have been there. And he's made an immediate impact, and it's been even cooler to see that because I don't know if most people remember, but he struggled early on during the season. He was shooting 25% from three in October, which is 31% in November. And even though they were flashes of greatness that you could see in November, including a few games where he scored in double figures, it was a lot of up and down with him. Now he's starting to develop some consistency, and he's a guy that I always wanted to see in the rotation, personally, during the days when Arthur Hand was the coach, but we were seeing sporadically. JJ put this trust in him. I got to give him a lot of credit for doing that, especially for him being a young player, but he's finding success in that road, and now that he's starting, it seems like he's really got him to amp up a little bit and do what needs to be done. And hopefully continue to keep that up. A-Vincent has even played a little bit better off the bench as well, as of late considering the slow start he has been shooting the ball a lot better, but I see that they got shake Milton as well. And I'm wondering if shake Milton could possibly be the gay eventual placement somewhat, because if you look at the numbers in the set, he's been shooting the ball better from three-point land. He can get him a little bit more of a spark off the bench, offensively in my opinion, the gay level. No, I'm pro-trading gay events, and I ain't got, you know. Hey, it's funny you say that, because, like, we talking about a Lakers roster that I don't think anyone would label as an instant championship contender in a wicker than Trey. And this is a team that can't see Sam back with LeBron James, who is now 40 years old on the roster beside his front court running mate, Anthony Davis. Despite playing at a high level of the age of 31, he know he has an extensive injury. And that leaves many to wonder if it's days at the peak of his power to come to a close. We know that they're going to make an effort to at least put a competitive roster around their all-star duo, especially with LeBron James, still intact. Do you expect the Lakers to make another move prior to the conclusion of the trade deadline? And if so, which position do you believe they will look to address that move? I mean, I don't believe the Lakers will actually end up making another move, but maybe that's me being biased because I watch them all the time. But if they able to get Jared Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent and some type of deal and bring back a five minutes to put next to Anthony Davis, that would be the most ideal situation. Because that's how the Lakers won the title in 2020, and that was what four or five years ago at this point, and everybody keeps bringing up the same redundant point. But it was true. They played great because they were bigger than everybody. Like if they wanted to go NBA 2K style, at one point, they could have put LeBron at the one, Kyle Coosman at the two, AD at the three, and DeWite and Javille McGee at the four and five. And you wouldn't be able to go anywhere against that same offense, because everybody could switch on a rotate. They were just bigger than everybody. That's how you unlock Anthony Davis. You take possibly the best post-defender in the league, that guy, the rim protector. Now he's able to play more free safety while somebody else guards a Nicola Yokech or Joel and B, and he can clean up all the other mess and have the support. Somebody else that can do the bulk of the boxing out for rebounds. You know, you brought up Rob Williams earlier, as a guy that would be a hell of a fit for the Sacramento cane. I feel like Rob Williams would be the best fit for the Los Angeles Lakers, and although you've seen Jonas Balochunas name linked to the Lakers in a lot of reports, the only reason why I will push back to that is much as I think he could be a force on the boards beside AD, he doesn't have the lateral movement to really like stick and hold his own on a lot of these pick and roll switches, but you know, teams will seek to hunt him down on in the best of seven series. Rob Williams on the other hand, based off of what I've seen during this time in Boston, I believe that he will have that energy and ability to do that, because he's shown it and he's proven that in postseason is a reason, and they need a guy like that beside an Anthony tape to unlock another element to not only their offense, but defense as well, because that's going to be critical as to whether or not they can actually go on a deep run in the Western Conference, similar to how they did a couple of seasons ago in 2023 against the Denver Nuggets, and then a few years prior, like you mentioned, when they won it all 2020 in the public, you know, they got to have that big there, man. I mean, the reason they keep bringing up Valentine's is because if you look at the analytics, you look at the part 36 fat, Valentina is a third and rebounds in the league this season, you know, so at this point, when you look at the league, you just bust down the minutes like you would any other thing, you got your starters plan 32 to 40 minutes, everybody else that's coming in the game, best case scenario, they are specialists. So yeah, Valentina's might not fit defensively always as far as his lateral movement, but when you're coming in the game to guard a team's other center, that's probably not perimeter based, more of a beast in the middle, sort of speak, then that's why he can come in and give you the 12 to 16 minutes to relieve Anthony Davis and LeBron of having to like handle rebound and do duties because the Lakers give up a lot of second chance points. And it's always the three and it's always the threes that bite them in the ass because they can't respond on the other end to hit the threes. So Valentina's like, yeah, he comes with some flaws, but he's also a upgrade in a lot of ways. Oh, for sure, I'm not saying that I will be totally against it if they have Valentina, but I do know I just believe that it will be some downsides to it slightly. And I just think Rob will be the more ideal fit in their in their rotation. But you talk about how the Lakers have a bad habit of giving them second chance points and lead to a lot of wide open threes for the opposition. I saw that firsthand when they played the Atlanta Hawks a few weeks ago, and that's something that Diamondique Wilkes in the Hawks broadcast, the color commentator over there was a little too about how the Lakers got a bad habit of that that's something they got to clean up if they really want to go to another level in a Western conference that is we know it's going to be stacked carrying on from all the Lakers chatter to highlight a team. It's played beside a downtown Los Angeles, but now resides 25 minutes out in Inglewood, and that's the L.A. Clippers who recently received positive news pertaining to one of the NBA's premier star. According to Law Murray, the athletic Kawhi Leonard is targeting the Clippers game against the Atlanta Hawks on January the 4th is the day he will be set to make his official season debut after missing over 30 plus games to start the season due to inflammation in his right knee. The two-time NBA Finals MVP has been quietly ramping up behind the scenes, and also recently practiced with the Clippers G-League affiliate in San Diego this weekend as part of his rehab program, the make is an anticipated return. The Clippers currently sit just a half a game out of the 4c in the West as it is recorded with 19 and 13 records currently are in the midst of a three-game road trip with games against the Spurs and Thunder on a rise before facing off against the Hawks this coming weekend. For instance, this is a team that has managed to boast the top five defense without for life, and despite having their share of offensive struggles and still manage the weather and storm for the first quarter of the year, the help of James Hart to keep the Zubak and Owen Powell who could be a Dark Wars contender for the most improved player award all bid in his 10c's. When you look at this Clippers roster from the healthy Kawhi in the midst, how far do you believe this team could go in the postseason? You gonna keep trying to get these old guys at that most improved player award? I see what you're trying to do, but it's not gonna work bro, they ain't change, they not changing that award, that's not how they do that, but I respect it though. I know you trying to figure out a way to give somebody their flowers, but no bro, that's not that award for him, but Norman Powell shout out to him, he definitely doing his thing. He's definitely been a great Kawhi replacement. Um, look man, this Kawhi Leonard question is redundant man, like we know he gonna come back, he gonna go crazy, because that's what Kawhi does. Robot Jordan, he got a lot of nicknames, the claw. He one of my favorite players to watch like game, very simple, dominate from the free throw line with the mid-range jumper, but man, look, they have first, the second round exit, that's what the Clippers do, that's what the Clippers are, I don't want to talk about what I think may happen with Kawhi when he comes back, I don't want to jinx an old body, but we've been watching the same story for the last four to five years. You know for me, it all come down to match ups at the end of the day, and the Clippers roster, I think with a healthy Kawhi in the fold, pending on the matchup, and do well. What? As always, well for them, getting a conference final will be in achievement, but I can do that. I'm, I'm finished, the likelihood, the likelihood I would say is slim, because they don't have the most important team on their side whenever they do have good teams in make or run, and that's health, that's health. I, I, I look at this team as a team that's Western Conference semi-final now, if things go right, but it's not, yeah, they can do it, I don't think that they healthy they could do it. Well, that's fine, and I, I mean, I understand it's the Clippers, they, they, a lot of people shit on me, and they all the second team in the second city, but I think that this is a team that at best, yeah, they, they probably will get to the second round and get dispatch. They could be a dark horse for the Western Conference finals, depending on how the matchup shake out. That's just my thoughts on it. I'm just going off top of my head and match up for match up. I just don't see them beating certain teams that's above them at this point. I mean, Kawhi and James Harden, they, they, these guys and they mid 30s. What they doing is incredible, but they, man, they legs old, just like bronze stuff and Katie and I'm like legs old, and all them guys fighting for a play in spot right now. Well, let me ask you this, we know that Clippers owner, Steve Homer, is always more than willing to make necessary upgrades when the opportunity presents itself, whether that's him making a call to go from the crypto.com arena to the $2 million palace going to send to a dome out in England, or being willing to push the button on the James Harden trade a year ago. Many may have opinions on his business practices, it pertains to the team. However, one can't question his commitment to winning at this point. Do you expect the Clippers to be aggressive buyers at the trade deadline, because you got a lot of people, he had a lot of people prior to the season, saying that, hey, it's time for you to blow this up. However, it's team that's come together and been more than just respectable, but a team that's staying among the middle of the pack in the Western Conference then. No, I don't think the Clippers doing anything. Kawai is the move and if Kawai don't come back and make it work, then so be it. Like at this point, the way that the Clippers got the contract set up on a team, they clearly are students for 2027. Yeah, that's when Kawai was on the last year, his deal, James Harden, his contract expires the year before. And if at that point, he'll be 37 years old, so at the most, they might give him another one or two years, but they won't be at the same price he's making now. So right now, I don't see the Clippers making any significant moves. You know, they got guys that they're taking a chance on, like Bone Tylen, Amir Koffee, Colby Brown, Kevin Porter, Jr. So that's about it, oh, PJ Tucker sealed up. I expect the Clippers to make a move. I don't know how aggressive of a move, but I have a player that I think would be a great fit for them. Got it. I didn't even get a chance to really highlight too much, if at all, on last week's episode, and that's Nicole LaBouche. He's currently averaging nearly 21 points per game. He's averaging 10 rebounds per game. He's shooting almost 57% from the field. And on top of that, he's shooting 45.3% from long range. I think he can make for a nice stretch four for the Clippers to have and compliment Evica Zuboz game in the front court at the five spot rather well. I really think he'd be a great pick up for them. He's only due, I believe, 20 million this season with 21.4 on the books for next year and his contract is set to inspire after that. That's a deal that they can make and it could be a low risk, high reward move. You know, he fits the harden and Kawai window as far as contracts are structured. Why not take a chance on a guy like Nicole LaBouche's, who's market, is probably not going to be that hot to where everybody is going to want him. So I would look at Nicole LaBouche vision, if I was the Clippers, I'm pretty sure a thing like the Golden State Warriors would be interested in the color booth, which is well. They've been rumored and reported to, according to a lot of people that I know, that's tight on the Bulls media scene, shout out to my man, Drew Stevens, with the bigs. But yeah, I like, I like the Clippers to make a move. It's not a couple, you know, and the color booth, which is one of those guys that I can see being a target of theirs. And I think he could fit perfect, tie around a little system. And I like Vouche for them, but the Bulls aren't fooling me. I'll believe they'll make a trade when they make it. But the idea of them having another center that can get buckets, because Zubarky, he be putting some points off some nights, so that'll be cool. We know James works well with a lot of center. So I mean, they might be another team you could see throw into that Rob Williams situation. So like I said, they got the PJ Tucker contract, the Terrence, Terrence, man, I don't anticipate them trading him. He kind of like a clipper lifer over there at this point. So well, but I don't really see them doing anything significant, man. I just, it's certain teams, like I said, man, they just letting these old guys ride off into the sunset, sell my competitor. Yeah, we're not going to spend luxury tax money to get you to the finals, but hey, you will have a chance at the play. This thing going to go as far as you pushes play in or no playoff. You determine when your, when your work schedule, but that doesn't have Jones, Jones, Jones, we ain't doing that no more. We not spending that Joe money no more. I say this, I wanted to say this in regards to the point you made earlier about Norman Powell. The reason why Norman Powell has a case for most improved player in my book, he's up to his points per game total, like plus 10.3, I believe this season. That's the biggest jump of any player in the league right now. Of any player, and I know he's 31 years of age, but you got to tip you a cap to this dude, and he's finally getting the opportunity in the starting five and he's thriving in. The most improved player of the year award, last time I checked, it wasn't an award that was meant for top lottery picks to always win. It was meant for players that show improvement over the course of a calendar year to obtain it. Regardless of what status they were in the league, be it as a young player or a player that was in year eight or ten of their career. I mean, I feel you, like I said, man, he deserves something for just carrying the weight of replacing Kawawa, he's allowed to get time to get healthy. He's done his thing, but at the same time, hey, man, that might, sometimes that's enough. Like bro, you got more shots this year, bro, didn't you have more fun this year? You got to shoot the ball a lot more. You might even make more money now because hey, you did do your thing when you got the opportunity. But we going to get that award to somebody that's probably in year five and down. Keep tradition going. Well, for those who don't know, Norm Powell is on pace to become the third player in NBA history. Six foot four or shorter to average at least 24 points per game or more on a 63 percent true shooting percentage or better for a season joining Steph and Curry and Damian Lillard in that category. So when you add all that up and you put it into full perspective, he's a guy that has to be in the running. I know Jalen Johnson's name is going to be in the mix. He probably should have won most improved player last year, if you ask me. But over Tyree's maxi, no disrespect to Tyree's maxi, but I ain't coming in half. Yeah. Evan Mobley cake. Which is the thing? I just want to say some real quick before we move on to the next topic of this, Evan Mobley and Kay come to him were top three picks in the 2021 NBA draft class. They were guys that were looked at by scouts that I know that scouted them is guys that could potentially be dank tangers on a franchise. Their improvement was expected by me, at least, if no one else. Look, we got a lot of top three picks that that's like that's on a bus, flunked out, whatever. That's true. So, hey, like you, whatever pick you get picked that, that's one thing, but once you step into the league, you at a blank slate and we judging you year by year and you got about a good four to five year window to make these leaps to get that award. Hey, bro, hey, you've been, you've been doing your thing, but with the last few winners we got with John Moran, Lori marketing, Tyree's maxi, like the one exception was like Julius Randu and Brandon Ingram, but they also got traded to new situations and that played into the narrative of the award as well. But for the most part, like I keep reiterating, that's a young man's award. You get MVPs around like between year seven to ten. You get rookie of the year, obviously your first year that most improved. That's what like you, you add three through five, yeah, but there's also some special situations that you have to account for sometime and as a voter or someone that is that may be listed in his show, I will hope that they account for that when they vote this year because you have a veteran in Los Angeles that should at least be within the top three or four in consideration for most improved players. I'm sorry, but let's lead the franchises in the state of California where Motown resides to discuss the basketball team that hills in the city for the iconic label originated in Detroit. And that's the business, a team that lost a record, 28 consecutive game from October 30th to December 30th last season, but it's currently making a very strong case to go from the NBA's laugh and stop to a team on the rise. The Pistons who won just 14 games a season ago, a successfully matched last year's win total, went into the new year under head coach JB Bickerstaff has produced a feel good outcome for a team that hasn't had many over recent years in his first season out in the motor city as the Pistons currently sit in the 10th and final playing spot in the Eastern conference, went into the new year and behind the play of guards Jaden Ivy and Malik Beeson. In addition to rising star Kay Cunningham, who in his fourth year with the franchise providing fans in the 313 with a majestic campaign to remember, is the man who inked the five years, $224 million extension over this summer, currently averaging 24 points, 9.7 assists and 6.7 boards per game on the year for Detroit and appears destined to make his first all-star appearance in just a couple of months. Torrance, the Pistons may not be a team that's the top of the majority of NBA power rankings just yet. However, one could say that there within close proximity of being regarded as an average club, a strong leap forward from where they stood approximately a year ago this time. They're coming off a four-game West Coast road trip where they posted a three-in-one record and captured wins against the Phoenix Suns, the Lakers and the Kings in a thrilling affair where Ivy led a 17-6 Pistons run prior to hitting the clutch tray in the corner and were out to a four-point play late to officially seal the deal. Detroit will open up the New Year with eight of their first 10 games at home against likely lottery bound teams ranging from Portland, Charlotte, Brooklyn and Toronto. In your own words, what do you believe has led to the Pistons' sudden turnaround? And is this a team that you believe has what it takes to make the play in currently constructed? Well, we stood up and defended coaches earlier and we defended black coaches specifically. But the biggest improvement for the Detroit Pistons is getting rid of Monty Williams and putting J.B. Bicker styles in us. They have a coach that cares now. They have to force Monty to take that job. Monty had to get the richest contract for a coach in NBA history to take that job. That man wasn't trying to coach him almost. But he took one for the guy, he took one for the team because immediately after that sposters Steve Kurt, people clearly caught their agents and said, "Well, if he can get that money, it's time to up-max." And he figured out a way to raise the bar for the coaches. So I'm sure in that community shot out to him, but he got that job and he was cool on it. He didn't want, he didn't put a lot of faith and confidence into the young guy. Like Jayden Ivy's having a much better year. I know Kay Cunningham was dealing with injuries. That hurt the team a lot. But Monty didn't want that job. Now, a part of the reason he didn't want that job, and I'll make this my second point, is Monty wanted to coach Vett, and that's what they added this season. Well, Malik B's leads him hard of way to join your into by his hair. It got guys who can also knock down shots for Kay Cunningham, you know, who's a guy that likes to do a lot of driving kick and work from the middle of the court. I like kind of like Shay Gilles just Alexander. So those are the two big things now. I think having Jayden Baker's staff has done a load of wonders for the Detroit Pistons. He came in from the door and let dudes know off the top. Like, hey, don't be wearing hoodies in my practice. Like, we got to say whatever you want about it. Sometimes you got to set the tone with motherfucker. And you know that. And you know that. I don't care. I don't care with you with you like about it. He let them know. And guys who receptive to Kay Cunningham was one of them. It was like, hey, look, we had a win game. Now when they start, now when they start, we ain't, we ain't, we ain't getting there. We're talking right now. So when they start, we talk about the sudden turnaround and J. Bicker's staff has played us tremendous partner. And he's gotten guys to buy in to end of the floor that last year, they struggled in. And that's different. I am. If you look at the metric, it's still not up there among the top of the top teams in defense, but late in games, they're getting enough stops to keep themselves within games and also in learning how to close out games. Something that they be bigger staff to a young Cleveland roster when he first got over there. You know, he's a guy that knows how to work beyond players and is willing to meet them on a level somewhat and show them some things along the way that he's learned throughout his various stops in the league. You add that on top of the fact that they got veterans in there like you alluded to, veterans that have played in an environment and that have been in Eastern conference finals and NBA finals, such as Tim Hardaway with the Dallas Mavericks before he went there, guys that can knock down shots and boost case confidence up to trust them with the game on the line is he's a guy that likes to dish it out. When the double teams come, they collapse in the paint against them on driving kicks. It's leading to a lot of success. And I give a ton of credit to a guy like Malik easily who fits very well alongside a kid due to his ability to move off of the ball and knock down shots on the move. He's not your traditional catch and shoot three point ups. So when I look at Detroit and I look at what's led to the turnaround, I'm seeing a group of young guys that actually believe in their learning how to close out eight. And this in my opinion is what makes watching NBA basketball fun is when you see young teams go from not knowing how to win to learning how to win. And as a result, you see their confidence increase and you see them take that next step because everybody ain't going to be a championship contender in year one or year two right away. It takes time and it's a journey and it's a process of beauty. You're seeing that right now in Detroit. And as a result, you're looking at a team that's on the verge of making an upward transcendence a top of the stand. Yeah, man. Like all that gimmicky stuff that JB Bicker stuff doing. That's cool. Now it works at this point, but this is also the same reason that bikes, bikes them in the end as these teams develop and these same young guys don't need you to do all of that to get your point across. Right now is good. Right now, we've seen that he's helping the team, but we'll see where this leads to them down the road. Well, over time coaches philosophies can change. I mean, you don't have to be you don't have to be the way you are one year the next year. It can always change. And part of being on the team is learning how to follow some former structure. That's all he provided to me. And there's nothing wrong with that considering where they started or where they were a year ago. They didn't have a coach last year. And now they got one. And guess what? He got rules and some regulations to it. So what's wrong with that? But I want to ask you this, the Pistons currently do have the most cap space out of any team in the league as we speak. And they can make a move at the deadline or acquire a piece of necessary. Do you think that they should seek to get aggressive at the trade deadline? And if so, which player do you believe they should target in your eyes help the franchise get over the hump and into the playoffs for the first time since 2019? As we spoke on last week, the guy that they should be trying to go get. My opinion is Brandon Ingram. He really wanted to swing for the fences, then skip over Brandon Ingram and go out to Zion Williams. Somebody that can really just you slide them right into that Tobias Harris spot or Tim Hardaway, because those guys, they're doing great right now, but they're not going to be there for the long term. Hopefully the Thompson twin, he continues to develop. He can step into that spot, Jayden Ivy develops Jalen Durant. So that that three four spot, that's where you can make the upgraded. And those are the two guys that are pretty much the most available and looking for somebody to pay them. Now, do you want to make the Charlie Villanueva been Gordon mistake that they once made? Even the Blake Griffin trade, Blake was killing in Detroit, but they were perennial AC. You got to give yourself a chance to get to that top that top half. So you got to got to swing hard. I don't know if those are really the best moves, but like I said, they have the money available. See, the Blake Griffin situation was always interesting when they made that trade to me, because of his contract. And like you said, things were good when they were good, but when the injuries mounted up, that was a tough contract to move. And it became a burden on the front office over there in Detroit. But when I look at the business and I'm glad you brought up a Sir Thompson, because that's the guy I think once he ties up his hand, the sky's a limit for him. I think they should get a little bit aggressive at this deadline. And going after the guy like Brandon Ingram, don't inspire and deal. I don't think that would be a bad move at all. I think he would actually get perfect fit in the city of Detroit. And again, the guy like Zion will say, like I said, if you want to swing for the fences, we agree on those guys. Those are guys they should definitely target because it's not like you're in a market where you're going to attract free agents. It's some big games on a week 11 docket that fans should add their eyes on as we enter into 2025 with a couple of matchups that will feature some of the game's premiere stars. After losing with a shot to win it on the final possession in their most recent matchup, I'm in town, Anthony Edwards in the Minnesota Temple World. We'll see if you can get paid back in front of their home fans this time around. In the second and final installment of their regular season series against Jason Tatum and the Celtics, I'm downtown Minneapolis at the target center in the first game of the NBA on TNT, Thursday night double header going down at 730 p.m. Eastern time to 30 p.m. Central time, followed by Tyrese Maxie in the Philadelphia 76ers and now to the Bay to square off against Stephen Curry in the Golden State Warriors in the nightcap matchup at 10 p.m. Eastern 9 p.m. Central. Our NBA TV will feature an inner conference showdown between the pair of teams who are currently sitting among the top three at their respective conferences on Friday night is the Big Bookmaker himself, Carl Anthony towns who lead the New York Knicks in one of the NBA's toughest environments in Oklahoma City, square off against Shane Gilles' Alexander and the Thunder in a battle between two MPP Kennedy. That game, which will be the first half of a back-to-back road set for the mix over the weekend, is set to tip off the 8 p.m. Eastern 7 p.m. Central time. These are just a few matchups as we know that fans will likely be watching tours. Which ones do you have on your radar to check out for yourself and we can let? Alright Friday, I'm gonna start my night watching the two worst teams in the NBA play the Washington Wizards and the New Orleans Pelicans. There's no reason for me to ever watch these two teams so might as well kill two birds with one stone watching both at the same time for my opinion that I'm gonna keep for the rest of the season. And Saturday, I mean this probably, this is, yeah, Saturday, yeah. The most important thing, the New York Knicks at the Chicago Bulls, Derrick Rose Knight and Chicago, they're not retiring his jersey. I don't understand why, but if you understand Chicago sports and Chicago sports ownership, they probably trying to milk that for another day to make money down a lot. But is Derrick Rose Knight, I guess it symbolizes the numbers he's won throughout his career? Of course, number one, number four and number 25 back in semi-on where he, you know, created the beginning of his legend. I mean this is the Chicago as the kids say and it's gonna be a great night in the city. Hopefully the Bulls can take the nicks down as they've done historically, at least in my eyes. Because I mean they pretty much the same franchise, the Bulls and the nicks. The only difference is one has Michael Jordan and one got Patrick Owens and that's all you need to know about me and what I'm riding for. So, and we got and speaking of the Bulls, Monday night. We got victim, William Bemjana and the Spurs, they coming to Chicago. I'm looking forward to that match up as well because at this point in the season, we are third of the way through. And when you start looking at the standings, you can start to eliminate teams at this point. We know not making a playoffs. We got the Pelicans, the Utah Jazz, the Portland Trail Blazers. And I'll probably at this point might even say the Sacramento Kings Barn injured. The Washington Wizards, the Toronto Raptors, the Charlotte Hornets, and the Brooklyn Nets. Spurs, Bulls. Hey, let's just see which team could take a game like this and go into the second half of the season and really start to climb up the standings. They both are pretty much fighting for play and spots both at the number nine spots in the East and West. So I'm looking forward to that match up. No, that was a lot to say in between, but just want to kind of like let people know at what point of the season we had because we had the Christmas day games. And this is kind of like when the games really start to matter and teams have like, you know, worked themselves in the shape. They got a little bit of chemistry. We're making a few trades to clean up things on the edges. And just want to give a shout out to, you know, the teams towards the bottom of the playoff race. I'm glad that you brought up Derrick Rose Knight here in the city of win. That's gonna be a big night. And I'm glad that he's getting his flowers and it's just due. Even though he's not getting his number retired, I do expect for him to get his number retired above the Raptors of the United Center at some point. It just has to happen. It has to happen. And I don't know when, but at some point sooner rather than later, it has to happen. My games are the week to watch. I don't know how you're gonna make it through. They're watching the New Orleans world, but good luck to you. But my game on that Friday evening will be an 8 30 Eastern time tip off and a 7 30 p.m. Central time tip off. And it's a game that's going down in the Metro pics between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Dallas Mavericks. The Dallas Mavericks recently lost Luke Contanches over a month due to a strain left cast that he suffered on Christmas Day prior to the half against the Minnesota Timberwolves. They have lost two games in a row and they recently failed to Sacramento at the top of this week. Harry Irving, we know is one of the game's premier guards and premier players. And we're gonna get a chance to see just how far he can continue to keep Dallas atop of the stands alongside of Clay Thompson and other guys on a roster such as Derrick Leibnie and Dan Ugaffa who's been playing some good basketballers of late. I want to see how they play and measure up against the best team in the league right now in the Cleveland Cavaliers and Donovan Mitchell. And I'm sure that the maths and their faithful are gonna be out out and rowdy in the Metroplex for that nonsense. They better be an exciting game as you have three guards that if you a guard enthusiast like I am who you can study and track throughout the night with Donovan Mitchell, Kyrie Irving, as well as Darius Garland who've been playing some really great basketball in his own right after the last couple of seasons having some ups and downs where injuries are like. And then the other game that I'm looking forward to watching on Friday night at the Boston Celtics going on the road to take on the Houston Rockets. You know, these are two teams that have a lot of history with one another. Eighting all the way back to the 80s. And now you got, I mean, you know, a guy who led the Celtics to the finals a couple of seasons ago going toe to toe against some of his former mates and Jason Tatum, Jaylen Brown in the light. And they find a way to get a statement win at home against one of the premier teams in the league. Let's find out that game is going to be tipping off at 8 p.m. Eastern time, 7 p.m. Central time going down at the Toyota Center in downtown Houston. So those are the games that I'll be watching in week 11. You said the 80s. You said the 80s, man. Tell it, tell it, just give us a brief, give us a brief history on the Celtics and the Rockets history that's dating back to the 80s. Well, they made up in the finals twice that decade. They did. And they did. Boston won both series and six games. For those who don't know, Larry Bird, one, two out of his three finals against the use of rock. But those teams, those, those came who came was up. The king was there 86. Yes, he was. He got the most of them alone. Rest in peace. So it's a game got to the finals before Mike did. Sure did. For those that don't know, that's a fact. And Mike, and Mike ducked the smoked twice in the, in the 90s. And, and people never mentioned that Mike got picked third. Hakeem went one and you never hear people be like, well, Mike should have went one. You never hear that. They just be like Sam Booey. Mike, Mike, Mike know how to keep them and keep the, the, the African man out his narrative. Donnie. Well, it don't matter. I mean, I say this, but you know, the Houston. Oh, it's not a larger one. There's a guy down there. As he should be, man. As he should be. Absolutely. Shout out to email your doctor, though. All for sure. But with all of that said, that officially concludes this week's edition of the new 24 podcast. Thank you very much for taking out your time to open up the new year by listening to us. Whoever you may be doing so across the globe. If you've enjoyed what you've heard in this episode, including through the first seven episodes prior to this for all of the listeners who've been out in every week. We appreciate you. Please leave us a five star reading on whichever podcast the platform you listen to, to show on, to stay up to date on all that encompasses the MDA. In addition to also subscribing to our RSV as well, to ensure you don't miss out on future episodes set to drop every Wednesday morning. Throughout the course of the regular season, you will also be able to find all episodes there at rss.com/podcast/tntf. You can also follow us if you're on X as well, and what Gabe said, G-A-V-E, and Torrance himself at T-Stax underscore, S-T-A-C-K-S. If you'd like to engage and interact with us on dialogue pertaining to the game and more, for myself, Gabriel Wilkins, and my co-host, Torrance Stagger. Happy new year, everybody. Peace.