#002 - Feels like losing my virginity

The G'day MBA podcast discusses various topics related to basketball. They thank their sponsor, Boxed Out Breaks, a card breaking company. They talk about the Lakers' scouting department and their successful draft picks. They also discuss Austin Reeves and his impact on the Lakers. They mention the signing of Gabe Vincent by the Lakers and his unselfish play. They then move on to talk about the Australian Boomers and their chances in the FIBA World Champs. They discuss the growth of basketball in Australia and the popularity of the sport among kids. They mention TJ Warren's 50-point game during the bubble season. Hello and welcome back to another episode of G'day MBA, we are the home of the triple dribble where there is constant banter and we take ill-advised shots. Before we start today's podcast we'd like to thank our sponsor Boxed Out Breaks. Boxed Out Breaks is a reputable card breaking company here in Australia, run and owned by a Celtics diehard, Aiden breaks Monday to Fridays nightly at a very reasonable price. Card breaking is an affordable way of collecting basketball cards with the chance of hitting rookie autos, veteran autos, game-worn jersey patch cards and many more cool inserts. Be sure to check them out on Facebook and don't forget to box out. Alright on with the show, today I'm joined by another Lakers tragic, Mitch Beardy-Beard. How you been dude? G'day NBA fans and hey Paddy and warm welcome to everyone except Jim Benner. We will hear from Jimbo I think next week, he keeps using soccer as an excuse but he reckons next week will be his week to shine on the mic which it will be nice to have a Celtics point of view, I had Sean on last week to talk all things Lakers or just talk more about the pre-season but do you make much of the pre-season, do you watch much of the summer league, are you paying attention to the trades? Yeah look I paid attention to a lot of the trades and some of the contracts going around, I didn't get to watch as much summer league as I would have hoped, a little bit of the Lakers of course, should be an interesting year, a lot of movement in the trade market and some good rookies out there as well. Yeah plenty of good rookies, it was good to see Wemba Nyanema take the floor, big hype on him but yeah your boys the Lakers, Max Christie, he had a pretty impressive summer league. Yeah I don't know what it is dude, the scouting department at the Lakers just seems to be red hot, getting value out of these guys in the second round and you just look back over the last 10 years, the guys that they've taken and where they are, a lot of them are starters in the NBA now, so yeah when I was watching him last year, obviously he was pretty phenomenal in the limited minutes but he looks like he's ready to take that jump this year and be an impactful role player. Most definitely and thoughts on Austin Reeves, I think that's one of the best contracts in the league, the fact that, sorry if I'm wrong, I'm pretty sure it's a 4 year $56m deal. It is, it is, you know like AR as they refer to him, mate he's been huge for us, he loves the moment, he's cool under pressure, he obviously looks like an accountant but yeah he analyses the game really well, high IQ and dude I just love his story as well, you know obviously he got offered to be drafted by Detroit I think and he turned that down so he could bet on himself and join the Lakers on a two way and it's paid huge dividends for him and he was an integral part of our playoff run last year. Most definitely, he's definitely the third guy and he did show when either LeBron or AD were sitting down that he could well and truly take over the game. Yeah 100%, I think Vogel when he was there started to give him the ball and his hands a little bit and you saw glimpses of it but now those veterans on the team, trust him with the ball in hand, he knows how to get to the free throw line and yeah he knows where the ball needs to go so he can pass, he can shoot, read the game and I think that's why everyone enjoys playing with him. Yeah most definitely and I was speaking to Shawno last week on the podcast about your signings for this season, the pickup of Gabe Vincent, very handy pickup. Mate, huge and interestingly enough he went to college at Santa Barbara where my wife went so yeah he's from Santa Barbara and I think closer to home now for him but another second round guy, I think most of the Heat guys are second round picks aren't they? Second round or undrafted. Yeah, look I was surprised that he left but I think Palinka's doing work, he seems to but every interview I've seen about guys joining the Lakers is they were contacted immediately, felt wanted, had a specific role that they wanted to fill with the Lakers and they jumped on it so yeah there's some good work being done there but I'm excited mate, he's not scared at the moment, he can defend, you saw throughout the playoffs when he had to turn it on he put up points, great three point shooter, strong playoff run with Miami last year so I think he brings a lot to our team. Yeah most definitely, he's definitely an unselfish player which is what LeBron and AD both need. Alright we'll move on and we will talk about the week that was, although it is the off season let's take a look at a few things that happened this week. Starting off on Monday we'll look at the Australian boys, the Aussie Boomers, they went into camp ahead of the FIBA World Champs, yeah so they're based out of Cairns, the boys they look well and truly settled in, I think they've got the best team chemistry in terms of the teams competing in the FIBA World Champs, what are your thoughts on that? Mate yeah I think so, I think they're on the up and you know I was watching NBA Today the other morning and Mikael Bridges and Torres Halliburton were on there were actually talking about the Aussie team and you know how people need to be wary of them because they've got a lot of talented guys and they love playing for their country and they do have that chemistry so yeah I think it's known by a lot of people out there that that's the case. Yeah most definitely and what a lot of people are forgetting, you know that bronze medal that we did win in the Tokyo Olympics was our first medal, the bronze medal, Dyson Daniels and Josh Giddy weren't in that team. Yep. Two big names and we're not up against the USA that took place there in Durant, Tatum, Lillard those sort of calibre players so yeah the Americans are at $2.15 to take it out followed by Canada at $5.50 and then us Aussies at $9 where the only ones are the three teams in the single figures. I don't know we do have a pretty easy draw outside of Germany we've got Finland and Japan as well. I'll tell you what that's pretty interesting because I was reading something yesterday in the couple of scrimmages that the USA team had with the USA Select team that they lost both games that they played against each other, the top team versus Select team. The Select team just had obviously other NBA players in there that were just on the cusp of making the squad so I thought that was pretty interesting. Hey look you might not read into that but for all you punters out there there might be a value bet to bet against the US if that's true. Yeah well most definitely that Canadian line-up headlined by SGA. Yeah 100% yeah I think Canada is sort of in a similar place to the Aussies it's weird how that works you know you change the culture there you start to win a few games you know become more noticed on the world stage and then you know all the guys want to come back and play for their country which is what it's all about you know a lot of guys talk about winning NBA championships and going to win gold at the Olympics like a lot of the USA guys and they say you know there's nothing better than winning a medal for your country and you know the Australian guys said that last year and Canada all the guys are available there wanting to play making themselves available so look I think it's good just for international basketball in general to see the best of the best go at it. Most definitely and the game has definitely grown in here I was reading an article the other day obviously soccer is still number one in this country followed by basketball kids between the ages of 6 to 13 years old that are playing sport and playing basketball. Yeah and I look I can't quote exactly what the stat was but I'd seen that basketball was up there as the fastest growing sport in Australia and that's you know that that's what happens exactly with the soccer when we made the World Cup when Aloisi scored that goal and sent us into the World Cup you know every kid wanted to play soccer you know so now we're starting to get that momentum on the international stage with basketball and kids want to want to go up and be Josh Giddey's and stuff no Ben Simmons but yeah we won't go into that that's another time. Look I do I do wish Ben all the best this season but yeah I don't know need to start being a teammate more than anything else. 100% get in the gym Ben if you hear us. All right moving on Tuesday the 1st of August on this day in 2020 we've seen bubble TJ Warren score 50 points for the Suns against 76ers I don't think he's done anything since anything before or anything after but yeah I don't know if you can remember or not but bubble Warren was different. Yeah I do vaguely remember remember that but I don't know like I don't know I feel like there's there's a lot of players out there where you see this that you you know you see them score a ton of points and then then they go somewhere else and they're parked on the bench and I don't know I think when it comes in to the NBA when you've got so many good players that being in the right environment to do really well is in is important I mean you know you're a Celtics fan look at the numbers that IT was putting up in Boston you know loved in Boston and then he obviously did have a hip injury but when he's even been back to full health you've never seen anything like that where the defense has become more prominent he's a small type of guy but like those numbers he was putting up were ridiculous and TJ Warren seemed like a pretty important role player but yeah maybe it's just the environment or who knows. More currently too Cameron Thomas that was playing for the Nets around the trade period where Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving got moved on yeah the former Kyle Bridges and Cameron Johnson so Cam Thomas actually yeah he was getting solid game time like 30 minutes a game and he was putting up 40 plus points same scenario it must be obviously just defensively orientated where where he's not getting picked. Yeah like I thought that was a weird one with Cam Thomas backs against the wall Nets not really doing anything you got a guy that obviously could score some points you know I saw a couple of things where his attitude seemed pretty poor about not playing might have hurt him but look some of the comments he made he wasn't wrong but when you've got you know guys like Durant and Kyrie yeah I don't know I just think that team lacked leadership all over the place and in my honest opinion that's why I think Durant and Kyrie have not been successful since they've left LeBron, Golden State because surrounded by leaders and they could thrive where that's not their strong suit great players but just because you're a great player doesn't make you a great leader and I just think that had a lot to do with Cam Thomas not being able to play. While we're on it Kevin Durant I just want to quickly talk about the Suns and why I picked them as my most disappointing team prediction for this upcoming year and it's the same reason just because they do have those great players I don't see a leader within the Phoenix Suns. 100% and look and I was surprised by the Vogel selection I think they only picked Vogel because they're like oh our team can put up points and he's a defensive minded coach but I don't think he has the personnel to be able to implement his system that's what he struggled with at LA when after a year of winning the chip the next year we broke the whole team up and then he was given players to try to make them good defensive players which they which they weren't and he struggled then he got you know let go and I think you know he also struggled with I don't think he's a player management type of guy he's just a good X's and O's talented defensive schemes and that kind of stuff so look I think he's going to have a hard time with the Suns because of that I don't see it lasting but look anyone that watches the NBA Pat knows that if you're serious about winning you need to be good defensively especially in the playoffs now yeah you may arguably have got two of the most gifted scorers ever in the NBA and you've traded away your two best defenders and who was it McHale Bridges and Cam Johnson right McHale Bridges literally marked the best player on the other team every game and then you've traded them away for for scoring but I don't necessarily think scoring was your problem so yeah it's going to be interesting to see how that how all that goes yeah and speaking of McHale Bridges it wasn't for Marcus Smart two years ago getting Defensive Player of the Year it was it was going to McHale Bridges in my opinion 100% couldn't agree more yeah so moving on just a quick one on Wednesday the new Celtics man Chris Atzfor Zingas turned 28 so shout out to him happy birthday the Latvian warrior the unicorn the unicorn yeah I don't know I just want to say a nice healthy year from him this year last year was his best year in terms of staying on the court healthy yeah dude how do you how do you see this playing out my concern I spoke with Sean about it the other day my main concern is in the starting lineup will be Chris Atzfor Zingas and I dare say Robert Williams alongside him they're two dudes that have struggled their whole career to stay on the court that's my that's my concern I'm okay yes smart going that locker room guy I don't know who he's going to take control of the locker room I don't think it is one of the Jays but who do they listen to where they did always respect smart because he did get their pride to them in Boston look I am interested to see how this year goes I'm not disappointed I'm not up like upset something did have to happen I just don't know if this was the right move yeah I agree dude I don't think your front court was a problem I mean Al Horford did his thing Robert Williams you know did his thing obviously offensively you know not as gifted as some of the other big men in the league with jumpers and that but they did their roles like yeah Al Horford stretched the floor defended really well one of his best seasons I've seen for a for a while I thought he was on the way out tell you the truth but he's found the fountain of youth and he's back and you know Robert Williams was a great pick and roll guy for you and I just I think the problem was the inconsistencies with Tatum and and Brown you know obviously that probably came with coaching but you just didn't know what player you were going to get up like really did they ever turn up on the same day playing well and yeah I think that's where the the struggles lied and you went away from what you were really good at so going on from that I was really surprised by the Brown extension I thought one of them had to go to be able to you to build your team out a little bit more strategic because I think you know you've been doing the same thing for the last few years with that team even though you've been close and I'm not saying you you should tear the the house down but does Chris Zapps change that it's gonna it's gonna be interesting but yeah look I there's no doubt Boston are a good defensive team but also you know is it a thing with the Suns where you trade away your best defender your heart and soul of the team yeah I honestly thought Jalen Brown was going to be leaving this season whether he was put up on the trade table and the packaging around it just never worked out you just you do never know about those things but yeah I guess we're just gonna have to to ride it out yeah and I and I think look it's gonna happen one or two ways dude is that great players but are they good leaders they're gonna be the leaders now Marcus Smart's gone where I think he probably kept a lot of that in check so I think this is going to be the defining season but that the commitment that you guys are given those two guys if it doesn't work out this this year then where do you go through go to from there you know that's why I thought Brown was going to get traded because we had two really good opportunities as a championship I think the one against the Warriors was more of a learning curve then putting Missoula in his head coach did that change much apparently his assistant coaching staff wasn't up to scratch yeah they've given him another opportunity this year which which is great it doesn't work though yeah I wouldn't mind like getting it blown up well you know I've heard a lot of comparisons um Missoula is very similar to Brad Stevens and that's why I like him so much and you need the Brad Steven coaches of the world that can bring a team so far but it's almost like this is why EMA was probably good for you guys you've seen a little bit of a um take control tell it how it is a lot of accountability um where Missoula and Brad Steve they're X's and O's guys you know what I mean they're not exactly people managers yeah Missoula um not Missoula Adoka definitely had control of that locker room seemed like he kept everyone in check just couldn't keep his uh old fella in his pants yeah that's that's exactly right which led to him getting fired yeah he didn't mate you probably have to retract that question because I don't think he had control of the locker room correct correct all right on Thursday nothing much happened so we'll move on to Friday and something that we thought we'd never see Gobert making his first three yeah boy talk talk me through it oh bro it was pretty funny he compared it to losing his virginity now I don't know what that's like in um in France but that's a wild comment that's very out there isn't it yeah yeah I saw an interview with Edwards and his Minnesota teammate and they asked him about it and he um he goes Gobert's my guy but he's crazy yeah so that was um that was pretty funny one of the most probably fucked up contracts I think I've seen or that trade last year four first round picks yeah something like that far out yeah yeah this is another thing that is Mini ever going to go anywhere with that Towne says he's it everyone thinks he's not in Ant's good Gobert I don't I don't even know what he what he's doing out there sometimes I think he's only good at pick and roll and defending but he wants to open up his arsenal the little jump hooks and that but all I see is air balls and I think it just frustrates the the hell out of any everyone but yeah I made I thought it was yeah I thought it was a wild trade I saw they'd given up that much for for him um when you already had Cat but I don't know like there's teams out there that are going to be the double big man approach but putting all that money into two big guys when it comes playoff times nearly all the teams make you go small and only play one big you know let's let's talk about it Cat and Gobert and they're they're playing the Warriors and Draymond's at the five yeah you know they will get killed yeah you know what I mean like I it's a lot of teams talk about when they're trading people and signing in free agency they're not worried about the season they're signing them for the playoffs and who you're going to match up against 100 you know it's just matchups because you know as long as you get into to the playoffs it's got to be win one out of seven you know and like everyone talks about the suns and yeah the suns are red hot but they're going to put up 140 points a game to win if they can't defend and they're not going to do that for four games they're not doing that in four games yeah that's exactly right so you know I think maybe it's those smaller markets do that are just like it's a business it's a billion dollar business we're just going to make make it look like we're doing something but to me a lot of them don't make basketball sense well I don't think I made any moves the offseason just gone the Wolves Nazarede actually you picked up Nazarede the Lakers picked up Nazarede no no Tyrone Prince yes that's right yeah yeah yeah which is an amazing pick up just quality 44% from three for nothing though yeah yeah win three in D yeah um just on that Nazarede was phenomenal for them this year he was really good off the off the bench yeah I think they might be forced to play him play him a bit more which is going to upset you Kat and Govert but he's not only can he shoot threes and good in pick and roll dude he just he just works hard the other one too is Kyle Slomo Anderson who ended up playing really good at the back end of last season even though the Wolves weren't doing much he was putting up triple doubles he they got him for nothing from Memphis they picked him up from Memphis and they got him for next to nothing also yeah he's like he's one of those players isn't he you just you just go oh this guy's not that good and then you look at the box score and the impact he's like well that's wrong because he's obviously doing something but he's doing something out there yeah he just I don't know he just sort of goes under the radar a little bit but yeah that is a that is a big big pickup do you see he's playing for China in the FIBA world champs no yeah playing for China I yeah I think he's dead yeah it might be Chinese but you have a look at the bloke and you wouldn't pick it yeah right there you go might have to take this out so I don't get cancelled anyway I'll look into that one all right moving on to Saturday uh yesterday for you listeners this will be dropping Monday but yeah Saturday which is yesterday for us the AD extension the man that is getting the most coin in the NBA a three-year 186 million dollar deal let's talk through it dude yeah that's big money what are your thoughts I want to hear your thoughts first I'm going to run these ones and I'm going to align it with the Jalen Brown firstly AD look if he he's a top five player shout out to you Jimbo you're really going to enjoy that comment he is a top five player when healthy how many games do they get out of him this upcoming season and does he make it all NBA team again so where I'm going with it is that is a lot of money for a dude that potentially could play half the season and not making an all NBA team and simply they got they got shut down against the Nuggets last year I don't know if it was just exhaustion from the amount of games they had to win leading into the play-in and then into the playoffs where the Nuggets were well rested and they just ran out of gas or if that's just where he's at in his career dude I um look when it comes to this kind of money do I think that he got a lot yeah 100% do I think it's a huge contract for you know for his durability yeah I do but at the end of the day I don't see any team out there in the NBA that ain't giving him that contract because it's one of those things that your way up when he's on he's he's the best and when he's not um and when he's not available then you know it's it's hard because he's a big part of that that team so I think it's one of those things that you you go okay he's not durable and we get rid of him who do you get in to replace him and then what happens when he plays for another team and he's kicking your ass like what he was doing with the Pels um but look I I think when it comes to AD he gets scrutinized heavily about his you know his durability his playing time he had some significant injuries probably rushed back a little bit on some of those because we're under pressure to get him back but I did see some stats the other day that I'm throwing it out there to everyone but why isn't the same energy out there for the likes of Paul George and Kawhi you know I I mean as much as some of those Celtics fans say that it's a fake chip the bubble chip that can be another conversation later but which it is yeah but we won the won the chip there we've been consistent in the playoffs yeah every time AD's out everyone wants to get on social media and talk shows and just absolutely bag him out but what about Paul George and Kawhi the Clippers have literally done nothing except beat the Lakers in in-season games when we talk about the biggest disappointments of teams like this year last year previous year have they not been the most underperforming team in the league based on talent yeah 100% and I just I just find it find it wild but you know yeah look we can say anything about about AD and people say that he's soft and everything like that but man some of these games that these guys are taking taking up like I don't think there was any game that AD if he could play didn't play like he was obviously hobbled but yeah I don't get that yeah what's your thoughts on that or am I just being a biased Lakers fan over it no I think you've been I think you've been pretty fair with it and what do I want to touch on and it's going to kill me I can't think of who they played in the first round the Clippers of the playoffs just gone like everything was on Westbrook because Paul George and Kawhi were sitting out Was it the Suns? Yes it was yeah it was the Suns yep thank you for that yeah Westbrook had to take control of that team which only got there a couple months months before in that trade deadline period so yeah that's probably not a that's not a bad shout in terms of being heavily scrutinized AD okay is it deserved yes no you at home can be the judge of that but yeah Kawhi Leonard and Paul George definitely fly under the radar in terms of disappointment or they don't get scrutinized and my opinion of it is because the Lakers is a franchise where they're at in comparison on the market the franchise market in terms of the Clippers it's a Lakers town here you hear everybody say LA like it's home to the Lakers it's not home of the Clippers is that why do you you reckon they get scrutinized more than the Clips yeah where the Clips just can fly under the radar a little bit more I just thought that was always odd but as I said man yeah it was you have to let him go anyone anyone else was gonna pay him that and that's you know it's the same with with you guys and Brown like when you made the decision to keep him you you knew you had to had to pay him pay or trade that's exactly right so yeah it's a big contract locks him in it actually locks him in to be to have more years at the Lakers than he did with the Pells I think that um I've seen something about that the other day so how old is he now 30 yeah early 30s 30 yeah okay right about that 30 mark so I still got a little bit a little bit of time left yeah 100% and yeah dude like I I think last year he showed he's back to his his best he is he is phenomenal I think there still needs to be and I think this was a problem with his injuries dude he you know that that year that we that we won had Dwight Javale next to him taking a lot of the you know the heavy lifting at the at the five he was a lot more lighter he could roam you know he's blocking everywhere he's he was knocking down threes at a Clip um and his jumper was highest percentage of his career I think and uh then it was like now we're getting rid of these guys the following year and you're playing more five so he bulked up then he got injured but then he doesn't move like he used to and then it's like the following year then he dropped kegs and then we're gonna get I think we got Dwight back and then he got injured again and I'm just like oh yeah it goes back to those few years ago dude I'm like why why break up something that's you know what I mean like it just you know when we traded everyone to the whiz yeah that was wild and I think that's been a been a problem for him but hopefully this year we get a full off season you know under our belt with all those new guys that were integral part of our run last year and um yeah I think we'll be better off for it and you add in Gabe Vincent and Prince like I think we've got a well-rounded team Max Christie coming up AR like how he finished off last season yeah D'Angelo showed glimpses of what he what he can do so yeah I'm pretty excited for the year actually it's a much deeper roster than the year just gone sorry not the year gone the year before that yeah exactly yeah all right moving on uh news that dropped this morning haven't read too much in it but Ricky Rubio puts a hold on his NBA career due to mental health wasn't clear why but he's come out and said he hopes people can respect his decision and give him any some give him and his family some privacy last year Rubio had a good length out he tore his ACL on his knees had a horrid run of injuries decent play man like yeah he played well for the Cavs at the back end of last year when he did come back and yeah he's been a bit of a journeyman but um yeah what'd you make of that dude I um yeah I think before he did his ACL he was playing some really really good good basketball he he's jumper and he's three-pointed come a long way which he struggled struggled with and he became pretty easy to defend for teams but once he developed that um you know a bit more maturity too as he was getting older he was um yeah he was you know really good veteran for for a team yeah ACL you know like when you feel like you're you know wearing his shoes at the moment but you feel like you're you're reaching the top of your game you're playing well you found a new home you're winning ACL you're gonna try to pick yeah you're gonna try to pick up pick yourself up off the canvas at an older age yeah it's hard to get back you've lost all your momentum other guys have had another year under their belt they've had more exposure then you're at the back of the queue again because it it takes a while to get to the front of the queue you just wait for your opportunity so maybe that was hard for him coming back from that so he said he said that but i think a lot of not only nba players but a lot of sports people you know struggle with that because it's it's hard when you're just sitting at home doing nothing um you know when you're at the top of your game the week before yeah yeah and that's where you can be one of the world's best players you can have all the skill sets in the world but if you don't have that mental toughness a lot of players yeah they just don't bounce back yeah that's exactly right i mean sometimes they get put on these pedestals you know they're these elite sportsmen but at the end of the day when you when you meet elite sportsmen that they're humans at the end of the day you know what i mean they go through the same ups and downs as as we do they've got kids they don't have much sleep all the all that other stuff yeah as well thrown into that and the pressure of being on that stage can can weigh on you i think yeah most definitely and i guess one of the positive things about social media there is a lot of negatives but one of the positives is that he come he can come out and say why he's stepping away from the game yeah right otherwise media can make of it what they will and people will make a judgment purely just off what they read yeah well that's exactly right i mean i think i think a lot of that needs to be attributed to kalof coming out when he did about his struggles he was probably that player that came out and said that yeah i've been struggling for years and this is where we're at and he got a lot of a lot of support and out of that and then a lot of other people started talking about it and opening up about it and and look at kale i've got that monkey off his back and then we got traded from the cabs and he was a big part of the heats run last year everyone thought he was probably going to be out of the league sometime this year a lot of people probably thought he'd just be the new uh adonis haslam yeah which in some ways he is but he's a locker room guy and it's shown at cleveland and i've listened to gabe vincent on the old man in the three pod and he talks about the role that kevin love did play and he's part of the reason why they did turn it around i don't know if you can remember but the miami heat only just beat the bulls in that playoff tournament yeah it all started from there and they went on to beat the one seed the bucks quite convincingly yep yeah all right because the coach's job yeah tough old tough old life out there being a coach isn't it that was a very hard week for budenhauser um he lost his brother in the same week too you know yeah in a car crash shit yeah tough tough week fired for yeah far out there's two things but um all right we're just going to take a quick break and then we will be back to talk about predicting the future all right welcome back quick piss break we are predicting the future so we'll look at rookie of the years defensive player of the years coach of the years most improved and mvp so we'll give two two players uh like a best bet and a best value bet also please if you are having a punt to gamble responsibly so we'll start off with rookie of the year which for listeners at home it does actually include chet holmgren as well as he is um he had all of last season off due to injury so he is included betty i'd like to start off can you give us your rookie of the year a best bet and a value bet well as i said to you on the drive over here i was thinking about chet holmgren yeah i forgot he didn't play last year but look you know having a a full year of recovery and then training under your belt in the nba environment and then coming out as a rookie look i think there's a good chance he he could be rookie of the year but i really do like scoot henderson uh i think he was a big pick for the blazers i think he was that big of a pick for the blazers that pretty much showed you know to me that i think if dame's out the door like even regardless like we want this guy and i think it was the line was put in the sand that we're taking this guy regardless of what you're doing because he's such a good player he can be that guy and and i know from what i read there was a lot of people that were pushing for the spurs to draft him but you know i mean you could imagine what it would have been like in san antonio if they didn't pick victor but um yeah that was the that was the talk there but you know i think he's going to be really really good and had a strong summer league showing when he did play the other ones the thompson brothers i think they're both very very talented well they have the rookie blues but yeah they might take a couple of years to get going with their respective teams but yeah i think they're both going to be really good and uh dark horse is uh grady dick from the raptors yeah he could be up there as well i think you'll get a lot of opportunity to play in in the raptors so yeah he's my dark horse there and uh my best bet that was general best bet for the season for rookie of the year for rookie of the year yeah i think i think if chet's if chet's available has to be rookie of the year yeah i don't mind that shout also i i'm in the same boat i've overlooked victor webb and yama mainly because he's come from the french the european leagues where the season was 50 odd games yeah coming to an 82 game season being that big i think you will see a lot of back to backs you know imagine having a back-to-back uh road trip where one night you had the nuggets and you're up against jokic yeah and then you're expected to back up against the lakers something like that where you got ad you have a look at his frame it simply can't handle it so i i will be looking at also scoot henderson i've got him at number one game will be getting moved on it's not a matter of if but when when it will happen i think it will happen before the season although summer league isn't a great reference point outside of college it is the only reference point that we can go off and i think in the one game that he did have he has proven that he can be that guy portland will be in a rebuilding phase and yeah i think they will look to rebuild around him you know in a breakout year the only reason why i didn't look at chet as highly is because they do have a lot of talent at okc which might make it harder for him to stand they do have giddy they got sga and they've also got uh jw jaylen williams so yeah my i will go with scoot henderson and then my value bet was what we're talking about just before off-air in cam whitmore what he can show um yeah so that he can score the ball and he's got a great opportunity in houston although he probably will be coming off the bench i think in my coaching there if whitmore is proving himself there's no reason why udoka won't push him into the starting lineup yeah i think he's got that sort of attitude udoka like he doesn't care about making those sort of moves so he's value so we'll just quickly go over those odds scoot henderson on the tab is at four dollars to take it out chet holmgren is at 40 40s geez that'd be doing yeah let's go house on um four dollars 25 there and then our two values are both at 41s yeah there we go there's some juice there's definitely some juice some good each way odds most definitely on victor dude what are you what's your thoughts on him what kind of career do you reckon that he could he could have what's his what's his ceiling or is are we going to be looking at a you know a joel mb first five in five years in the nba or another greg oden where he's he's one broken foot away from being a bus retiring yeah it all comes down to that body yeah he's a big frame he does have a little bit of filling out to do i'm sorry he's got a lot of filling out to do i just don't know how much he will be able to fill out exactly yeah yeah just just because you are a generational freak talent and you are the size that you are seven foot five or whatever it is something ridiculous doesn't mean you that you're going to be healthy yeah your career can be in jeopardy if you can't uh if you don't have good injury management so it really comes down to him being professional which i think he is he's at the right system under yeah i don't know yeah what do you think uh look dude i can he is he another chris steps type player can he i don't know dude to me look he does he does show some flashes of dirk and tim duncan you know what i mean but it's just getting his body right well how much weight can he can he hold and be effective and those those kind of things but it's important to get that right in these early years you know i hope he i hope he does but there's a lot of lot of pressure on him as well so number one pick it's going to be it's going to be interesting most definitely all right moving on we'll look at our coach of the year so last year it was the sacramento kings coach i believe that got it yep um what's his name mike brown that's it apologies on the on the pause there sorry mikey shout out to you he is a listener yeah yeah yeah i did see that on his insta all right so who have you got uh coach of the year give us yeah again your best and someone that's maybe at a bit of value dude look i i really like him at uh at houston i think he is the right type of coach for that team i think he's going to bring the best out of them i can see sort of a similar rise with them to okc over the last couple of years yeah that someone needs to take control over there because it's it's an absolute shit show look i don't i don't know if you know their pickups in the offseason with dylan brooks and van fleet they're gonna make them they're gonna make any any noise um but hopefully they can be a bit of a veteran presence for uh those those young guys but yeah i think he can instill a culture there to really get them on the improve yeah i think they'll be big improvers so yeah he would be my coach of the year if he can get that to work or just cut off the fat and move on and i also think mark dagnell from um okc you know what he's done with them over the last couple of years has been extraordinary i think they will be much better for that little taste in the playoffs this year and yeah i think he could be close to the coach of the year this year so yeah i was it's always around for me the coach of the year it's always you know the most improved team or someone that hardly hardly loses so but mike brown did really well i was i was surprised michael alone didn't get it tell you the truth so what he's done over there just in not just this year but previous years yeah but uh yeah they'd be my two mate how about you what do you think yeah i'm i'm gonna kick it off with um my value bet and that is in the indiana pacers coach rick carlisle yeah i think they've signed really well around halliburton and miles turner love seeing miles turner you know stick it out he could have moved on last season to the lakers there was a lot of talk around that so the fact they've got bruce brown now a championship player i think that's a great pickup and they picked up ov top and two who fell out of favor in um tom tibbittos uh rotation there so i see them being a playoff team this year which from last year i think they fell down to about 13 so if they go from that 13th mark up to say seventh or eighth position it puts him in good stead to um yeah to be coach of the year so yeah they're going to be a fun time to watch haliburton he's a great way to watch i think yeah he's going to grow off the back of his all-star year so even thinking is he someone that we should be having the conversation about most improved um you know he's going to have to take a probably a bit bigger leap this year because he was pretty buddy good when he was caught last year yeah um you know all-star but yeah look he might be a dark horse for that that as well yeah most definitely um obviously you got the likes of spolstra at miami nick nurse is up there in the market in terms of philly coach i don't see him doing much this year especially if harden does get moved on so yeah my other one i'm i'm not too sure i'm just going to go with rick karl actually i'm just going to stick with the one on that one it's a good bet yeah so we have got uh mark daggin halt at 11 there for okc rick karl he's at the 15 dollar quote and sorry mitch what was your other one that you had uh the okc mark sorry yeah no we had that one anyway so he's at the 31 dollar quote he's at 30 yeah oh i think that's juicy you might be worth it that is a responsible uh responsible throw out the stumps on that one oh seriously i mean what the rockets will last like yeah yeah that's it all you have to do is get up to about 10 yeah take them to a play on play in it a lot of the decisions is like the noise that's made around the league too yeah like i feel like the judges or the selectors of these awards that they do somewhat listen to what's being said around the league yeah yeah yeah well they don't need to they really don't need to move the needle that far what they didn't even get 20 wins last year did they would have been borderline yeah right on the border of 20 wins yeah right so we will look at now the most improved players you know there's the the likes of giddy's benedict matter and there's so many i think this is one of the hardest awards to predict in my opinion it's hard to say how it's judged but i tend to look for a rebuilding team um that has that has a leader like someone that's willing to take the reins like marketing did that's why he won last year for the jazz in my opinion they weren't hit to do much and i don't i don't know if you remember early on in the year they were like second or third they were high up and like yeah it obviously didn't translate to playing i don't think they played playoffs did no no they didn't so it didn't translate to anything but yeah it just goes to show the impact that he had and what yeah it eventually led to getting most improved by the right environment yeah correct so yeah is there anyone that you like in particular for most improved no i like you i like your picks there dude for for sure um yeah i think obviously giddy being an aussie is a good thing but i just i think the development maybe three point game um you know just another year under his belt i think he could take a really big step and you know especially a lot of those times he took he took a fair bit of pressure off um shay too when he didn't have it going so yeah i i think i think that's a that's a good bet let's not say which i did say um yeah so give me your most improved look i'm gonna go with my man giddy i think yeah yeah giddy up giddy staying staying with giddy yeah we're gonna stay with giddy all right i do like that take let's do it i um i like jordan pool simply on the fact um yeah washington are going to be the shittest team in the league for this upcoming season kuzma jordan pool it's really between those two who's going to take control of the team and can jordan pool have a bounce back here i think he was a little bit rattled with the whole draymond thing i think he did have a attitude problem um i've heard it from from or from what sources say it's not just draymond that has reacted out to him yeah draymond lashed out but players have also reacted out in terms of yeah they're not the biggest fan of him so i think the traitor washington might be a bit of a wake-up call for him so yeah i don't mind him i think he might be able to get back to old form so yeah that'll be that'll be interesting with jordan pool dude because yeah i read a fair bit of stuff about him and they had a lot of issues with cominga as well apparently um you know just poor attitudes it's interesting to do you know seems to be you hear more and more about young guys coming into the league getting big money paul got paid last year yep and then it's like relax the work sort of goes out the window and this has been a big thing that they said about simmons too he got his big contracts i was just out of time and you know he's hanging out with la and people say he wasn't working out i start to believe that now because he seems to be posting a lot more videos of him working out i'd like to prove yeah i'm working out yeah um so yeah i think that might have been the case with with paul and i just don't think that that was just not going to work with those with those alpha dogs there i mean steph's work ethic and clay draymond's you know leadership like they're going to take shit like you are we're here to win and if you're not here to do it then see you later and i mean proof's in the pudding to me it was you gave jordan pull all that money and then you still kept draymond and let him go like you know what i mean something but they must have seen something bad after they gave him that money to say you you out yeah yeah 100 speaking of those big contract um and you're talking about ben simmons i'm also i'm going to throw him in for a roughy in terms of most improved player that's a wild bet but if the tab are going to offer me 81 dollars all it takes is like he got he was number one pick for a reason um and he did have a couple of good years in philly before yeah completely going off the rails listen to paul george's podcast the other day they had mikhail bridges on and he was saying yes ben is the healthiest he's been and we're all behind him um his attitude has been great this season he goes i can't talk about the years before wasn't around it but the attitude this year's been really good so i listen to that it's like a little positive note have a little scroll through and that yeah they're going to offer me 81s yeah responsible very responsible um yeah well dude let's be honest if he plays more than 20 games you should get the most improved surely he hasn't been on the court yeah it'll be interesting definitely have we covered all the awards there that is the million question all right let's have a look at the defensive player of the year um last year was taken out by jaron jackson jr well deserved in my opinion from memphis it was between between him and ad in my opinion if ad did have more court time i think he was yeah the front runner so is there anyone that stands out for you this upcoming season for defensive player of the year both of them were both of them would would be last year i think they'll be up there again this year marcus smart yeah has to be up there i would have said mikhail bridges but it looks like he's taking a bit more of a scoring role with the net so he's probably not going to be as dominant defensively like he was at the suns but yeah like even more talking about that young guy who stood out to me as a good young uh walker kessler yeah yeah i feel like he he played really well you know defensively in his limited minutes yeah i don't know why that just popped out maybe i just saw a few of his games or something but yeah he definitely stood out to me yeah he's huge on the boards like i think every time i was looking through the the box score if i didn't manage to watch the game it's like minimum three blocks from the block yeah yeah just ridiculous on the boards always cleaning up yeah and giannis giannis has to be included somewhere out there doesn't yeah yeah yeah most definitely he's in the market for it it's one that i don't have a great opinion on i think it's it's very hard to pick especially because it's very rare for a guard to get it it's normally one of the bigs and load management comes into it so yeah you need to sort of get a reading in terms of all right how many games is this guy going to play or if there's two bigs on the team that's why i don't look at cat or i don't look at um go bear winning winning that award even though go bear has won it in the past um i don't mind bm i thought bm's been pretty close yeah the last couple of years so i i think you might yeah might manage to take it out this year yeah yeah i tell um i tell you who i who i actually thought was pretty good defensively last year outside of marcus smart when talking about point guards even though he's gone now was huge for us was dennis schroeder yeah i thought he was he was huge marking everyone else's best point guard and i think he he had a lot to do with why we won that golden state warriors playoffs in marking steph and just chasing him around through 100 screens yeah it looks tiring that's a tough that's a tough guy oh 100 percent and dude what's um throwing it out there as a celtics fan is jalen brown the dark horse maybe make having to take up some of that load as marking the the best player on the other team well i mean someone's gonna someone's gonna do it if smart's not there eric white was very good for his defense yeah you reckon he gets that yeah he gets that pickup yeah okay that's gonna be him because brown's gonna be more offensive okay offensive focus that's just my opinion yeah it's not a bad shout for brown but yeah i will say maybe even smart's energized going to memphis dude and really tries to set the tone there he might be a yeah might be close issue too yeah well yeah he might have something to prove in terms of or feel like he has something to prove the fact he got traded so yeah not a bad shout on that one we'll just have a real quick look into um yeah just a quick pick from the east and the west uh give us a best either from both or just the best from one and then a value bet um on these ones this is hard i i yeah i don't know i was thinking about this on the way over like i like boston i um i think philly will be good i don't know bro it's just i don't put my i don't put my faith in james i don't know i don't know which which person's going to turn up or or if he or if he's going to turn up he's been requesting a trade to the clip yeah i don't i don't know he look maybe it's never going to work out for him in philly because there's not as many strip clubs as there was in houston but um yeah i don't know boston are got to be up there you know based on how they've been going didn't think the heat last year but i mean can't keep ignoring what they're what they're doing i mean um but look i think yeah look all these changes dude if where lillard goes in my opinion too i think if he goes to the heat then they become favorites probably for for me but it also depends how much they give up they also lost stress vincent you know they've had a couple of losses but yeah i don't know dude i will will the bucks bounce back after having a first round plus they might be motivated um so yeah look i i'm gonna i'm gonna say it's gonna come out of boston bucks heat i'm wiping philly off just more i've spoken about um hud and dude my value bet for the east is it's not to win but orlando to make the playoffs no bad shot i think they're a team on the rise um obviously they picked up joe ingalls uh they've got some of their rookies back back healthy um yeah i think they're yeah i think that they can be big improve just you know most improved team i think they can be up there so i'm gonna just put a bet on them to make the playoffs don't know what that's paying but that's that's for me um in the west look nuggets nuggets are humming at the moment yeah i don't think there was a team in basketball that was going to beat them last year they were just yeah on another another level i think that they can repeat that whether they get the back-to-back blues i don't know but if jokic and murray stay healthy they've got to be the team to beat i think lakers and warriors will be up there as well the suns i don't know about we're speaking about this off air earlier they've brought in a defensive-minded coach in vogel was renowned for being a defensive specialist at indy orlando and the lakers but i just don't know if he's got the personnel there to be able to make that happen you know losing mikhail bridges and cam johnson um who were two of their best defensive players yeah and vogel has been renowned as not a very good player manager yeah and he's an x's and o's guys so i don't know if he can bring that together but i think improvers that could go close memphis depending what hole they're in when jar gets back that's that's what i was going to say to you um yeah missing the first yeah yeah yeah so that's that's a big hit market smart big inclusion for them i think that brings leadership that they have desperately needed so i think that they can be improvers but i i think i think okc will be up there for a long time this year too i think they can push for one of those middle seeds so they'd be um they'd be a value bet there for me but if you said you know who you're putting the house on it'd be you know probably be the nuggets but yeah let's go with a value bet okc um there what's your thoughts bud all right quick one nuggets at the six dollar mark to take out the championship and value for okc at 67s well yeah okay yeah and what do you think i'd like to say Celtics but i'm going to look outside of them i'm just going to go yeah one best and one value i'm not going to um do one from each so i also like denver to take it out from what i've seen last year they were they were a level above the rest of the competition yeah they never looked phased any stage during that playoffs they never looked in trouble it what they dropped they dropped the one game against the heat gentlemen's sweep they swept you guys they looked after who'd they have before that i don't know anyway yeah they just had a really cruisy playoff run like with no trouble yes they lose bruce brown but i think aaron gordon grew a leg jamal murray showed the player that i always thought he could be quick one way off topic fever champs sga jamal murray running a show for canada yeah i think that's that's going to give the americans a lot of a lot of um trouble yeah that should be a fun game yeah sorry back on subject yeah so i'm going to go denver nice and short at uh six dollars but my value bet and all celtics fans are going to criticize me here but i like the lakers at the 12 dollar mark in terms of value um i think you guys did have the best off season in terms of in terms of signing and darvin ham once he got his roster that i think he actually wanted i think he showed um sorry i think the team showed like how dominant they could be when everyone was on the court boston reeves grew that leg he's clearly that third guy i think 12 dollars is yeah that's pretty healthy i think they should be yeah yeah look in the single figures in my opinion yeah 100 percent i think they'll be up there too dude like i mean probably gets lost in the yeah we got smoked by denver but i feel like no one was beaten denver they were just on a different level but i mean we were pretty sure that we were the first team to beat the warriors in the playoffs since like the dynasty i don't think they've yeah right yeah yeah we'll have to say lost to the calves and then they won two straight after that yeah and every time they've been in the playoffs they haven't lost since then i think yeah i think in terms of the western conference yeah i think you're right we will have to look into that one i'm not entirely sure so yeah well if it's not a stat we'll make it one yeah we'll run with it yes that is correct in four baby all right enough of that nonsense um so that's predicting the future ladies and gentlemen finish on a few less listener questions that were coming in first one this should be good yeah first one don't know who this is but mike pronso asked who wins the clutch player of the year so this award only came in last season which darren fox took out and what it is i had to do a bit of research on it because i wasn't entirely sure but it's pretty self-explanatory clutch is the guy that shows up in those high intensity moments where a game is on the line and yeah someone needs to take control of the game so it does make sense why darren fox won it last year he's a fourth quarter guy so just for example um the guys in the running uh jokic luca sga darren fox donovan mitchell devon booker those types of colorball players anyone that stands out for you brother it's interesting that list where's jamal murray on that list great point he's he's a fair way down he's about 20 spots down jamal murray 34 that's a bad yeah yeah yeah wow that's interesting yeah because i was gonna say him and look i think you know yeah fox and shay um clutch fourth quarter last year were on another level but yeah i think they're gonna be up there again but yeah i'm looking out of those two you know i think jamal berry's a jamal berry shout out to him um yeah jamal murray's a bet there for me i love uh you know i love a value bet yeah you dude what do you got not a bad shout oh god it's um it's a tough one isn't it for a new award that yeah there's plenty of players capable i'm gonna go antman i think i think he's gonna learn a lot in the usa this year and he's also a fourth quarter guy so if minnesota can work a couple of things out if if they are in tight ones yeah antman is the guy yeah that's that's not a bad yeah you can join three so he's also at value at the $19 mark okay and just for uh lakers and celts fans out there there's uh any of the any guys from those teams make the clutch player or what jason tatum is uh pretty much alongside lebron james at the $26 mark there you go so yeah a bit of value there yeah there you go yeah all right uh the next question we have here is from the bore babble podcast which is a podcast i've been listening to they're just up and coming as well okay those boys cover a little bit of afl so yeah it's good to hear because you know we're not huge afl enthusiasts here in newcastle so it's good to hear their takes on afl they asked the question of which second year player is going to make the biggest leap for this upcoming season so last year's rookie class excluding chet holmgren because he didn't play so the likes of polo bancaro jabari smith jr keegan murray jayden ivy benedict maturin to name a few yeah i think polo takes a step again he was good last year yeah but um i think you know those additions all the other rookies healthy if they if they start to do well i think it'd be a big part of that um and i think ivy's a another one yeah he was he was really good for detroit this year yeah but the back end of the year i found him to be quite impressive with the ball in his hands a lot so yeah that's that's probably yeah those two there i reckon yep yeah what about you i'm gonna go with keegan murray from the sacramento kings he was very slow to come out of the blocks of last year's um yeah start the nba season he apparently he had a lot going on in his personal life um which is obviously gonna yeah it's gonna make an impact when you do take the floor the back end of the year he really started hitting some threes he understood his role being he was pretty much the third option in that team behind the bonus and fox yeah so i like him he got a little bit of summer league time which you don't want to really see him playing in but he only played one or two games and he put up like 40 points in one of the games right he was impressive first year that was you know in a good team as well yeah he showed that he um yeah just didn't belong in the summer league in in my opinion so to round it out we have i'm sure you know this guy on instagram beardy619 have you heard of him he asked which coach will be sacked first this season that's a good question nick shout out yes shout out um for anyone that doesn't know nick's my brother and um believe it or not they do stack shit that high um oh first coach to be sacked wow um do you want to hear your brother shout yep tyrone loo which i think's a great shout far out that's a that'll be a big big call but yeah yeah that could be that could be a chance who's been who's been there abouts and not doing much celtics yeah did they give him a similar yeah yeah oh i well i don't know i feel like if we didn't push that series out the seven games we got swept which was looking like the case yeah i think he would have been sacked already so i think yeah the fact they have rebuilt the assistant coach coaches around him i think yeah he he might be if if they don't improve which would be another finals or or championship i don't know bro i'm even gonna go i'm gonna go wild here right i'm all ears he's got a real short fuse over there the new owner um what's his name matt abisha at the suns yeah yeah he's got a real short fuse so i'm gonna say if things aren't clicking nice and early that we might even get a vogel sacking yeah i i yeah that actually makes perfect sense in in his eyes he's probably built the perfect team yeah so if vogel doesn't perform it's yeah yeah there's the doormat yeah as quick as you came in it yeah 100% enjoy your next three years getting paid sitting at home yeah yes that's that's not a bad that's not a bad channel at all actually yeah i don't know yeah i'll throw that one there the other one that i'll just quickly round it out with is um chris finch from the minnesota timberwolves yeah i feel like they like again the organization probably feel like they've got a team that could probably at least compete a little bit further like a second round as such they just aren't getting there so if they're not doing much early on in the year they might um they might too yeah yeah no that's fair enough all right guys on that note we're gonna wrap it up thank you for listening uh another week beers were cold again today i was slightly hung over but you get that on the big jobs don't you that's exactly right mate you're just gonna pick yourself up in the canvas and that's it have the hair of the dog 100% well it was within reason it was my cousin's 21st so yeah all right out to patty's cousin yeah happy birthday shes all right ladies and gentlemen thank you for tuning in again uh have a great week see you next time bye