Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios in the Eastern Conference | Real Ones

What's popping? Real ones, they say I have to look into this camera, so I'm going to look into this camera. The intro, my name is Logan Murdoch, and I am here with my esteemed co-host Howard Motherfucking Beck. And from the pride of Oklahoma, Tyler Motherfucking Parker, how are you doing, buddy? I'm just having to be here honored to be here. Yeah, you know, I just really excited to get down dirty, you know? So we've been off for about a couple of months now, and you know, that builds up nerves here, right? Because of nerves here at Ringer headquarters, or when people come into Ringer headquarters and by nerves, I think one Howard, who has been, he can vouch for me on this, has been using the better part of the last three and a half minutes to ask, is everything okay to that? What team are we going to be doing? What's the order? What's going on? He was having heart populations. I think we're going to make this work though. I think listener, what you need to take from that is the HB, he's not mailing it in, okay? He's trying for you. He's working for you. He's there for you. He's still caring. I just like to be prepared. Yeah. I want to be prepared. Yeah. Yeah. Is that wrong? Okay. One last thing before we get to this real quick, and you guys can edit this out if you'd like to. It's fine. I got a text just today. We're all flying and I'm flying it from the Bayes, flying it from New York. And somewhere over Nevada, Howard Bexson's a text. Hey, man, do I have the right stuff here? Am I going to have the right takes? I think I'm going to do this, right? Accurate representation of Mike. But continue. And then I'm like, dude, it's fine, bro. Don't pod before the pod. We're going to be fine. So let's not pod before the policy get right to it. All right. Enough of all that. We are here to play a game called best case worst case where we talk about every team in the league and see their best case scenario or the worst case scenario of their season. We're going to make some predictions. So the first team on our list is the Boston Celtics. Do you have or you got a scroll? You good? All right. The Boston Celtic. What's the best case scenario Howard and the worst case scenario for them? The fun part here is that that was already like the top of my doc here. So thank you. You actually made it easy on me after all that stress. Best case scenario is definitely NBA finals. I don't think that's a question. I think there are multiple teams in the east, which we will get to that I think you could all say, in the best of all worlds are making the NBA finals. That includes the Boston Celtics. Whether they'd win the championship or not against spurs slash thunder is a different question. But if you're there, you can win it. So best case scenario, you could even say championship. Jason Tatum. I'm presuming as 100% all the way back. If they can win 56 games, whatever, with Jalen Brown and no Tatum for most of the season and Tatum better player of the two of them. Now we have Tatum, but no Brown and a team that's been a little reformatted around him. I don't think that that is too high of a bar. NBA finals is the bar for the Celtics. I I think unless there's some sort of, you know, kind of injury bug that grabs a hold of the team, which is the case for all of them, then yeah, I don't see why they couldn't make it to the NBA finals in this, you know, new kind of revamped East. I think the Mitchell Robinson ad is like sneaky, really important for them. I think it's going to do a lot for going up against the Knicks and the Sixers. He's got just tons of experience going up against these big boys in the East. And so I think that'll bow to well for him. And yeah, they made it work with Jalen and all these guys. I don't see why they couldn't make it work with Tatum and all these guys. Yeah, I agree with you guys. I think there's something to be said about great coaching. And Jonas who is well, I think he is in the pantheon of coaches that you kind of just, oh, we're going to plug in, you know, an overachieving. I think last year he proved that, oh, okay, no matter who is on the roster, we can overachieve, right? And we can figure out ways to do that. I think JJ Redick is also in that conversation. There's a lot of Eric Spulster is obviously in that conversation of guys that can just enhance the team based on their coaching. So I think my best case scenario is things go right. People stay healthy, right? Because the things that you guys didn't lay out and that'll probably get to my worst case scenario before I go to you guys on it. But best case scenarios, they have to stay healthy because you're relying on a guy like Jason Tatum who couldn't even get through a postseason last year, right? And you're relying on him to go in for a full season. I'm not saying that he can't, but it's not proven yet, right? And you have Mitchell Reifers and who you guys just talked about. Can you shoot free throws? You have to, he plays himself off the floor, whether it's with foul trouble or free throw shooting. That's something that is going to be a problem in the playoffs. So the Celtics have great front court depth, which is what I do love about this team, something they were a little bit thin on last year. And the Mitchell Roberts in addition helps with that. I'll put that right into my worst case scenario, which is Jason Tatum can't play a full season. Paul George is on the team, right? That means he will probably be if Jason Tatum can't go. Paul George is he is he the lead dog on here? Like who was it? P.G. Not really known for his durability. Also another guy that's not known for his durability, right? So the injuries can really, it can really undercut them and also just undercut really Howard, just a run that should have been in my opinion, because I'm more on the worst case scenario here. I am not sold on this team, but I think that when you talk about a team that had plans to just have a run, this is kind of a disappointing outcome, man, because, you know, Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum, I get the expenses, I get all of that, but scared money, you don't make money. Now, if you are going to try to continue this, this, this, whatever run you are going to have, I thought Jason or Jalen, excuse me, the two J's should have been together. And now it just, it doesn't seem that much like that much enthusiasm for this team, man, like they do have an MVP candidate in Jason Tatum, but I'm just scared powered that it might not work out. The injuries, the worst case scenario, I'm leaning towards it because everything has to go right for this team in order to be good. And that's a lot of big ifs. But I think for most teams, that's the case now. Like puts the Thunder and Spurs aside for a minute because they are like mutants in this conversation. They are outliers in this era of the NBA. Everybody else, it's like, well, if Yokeach and Jamal Murray, if, you know, Brunson and Kat, if like, everybody's got like the one guy who's like the absolute supreme guy in that team has you named, aren't coming off Killy's tears. No, no, no, for sure, for sure. But if we're talking about like, you're overreliant on your best player, because every, like, only handful of teams have a true MVP candidate, right? We've got 5, 6, 7, maybe in a given season. Yeah. Most of those teams, their second best guy, like if Brunson misses any length of time, it's not like Kat's going to carry them for a month. That's not what Kat does. He needs Brunson. And most teams are built that way. The Celtics were not built that way. They actually had two guys. So to your point, yeah, I think anybody who's a general basketball fan could be like, that's a bummer that those two guys has an amazing one, two punch, both like big wings who can do a lot with the ball on their hands. That is the formula. And you broke it up and Paul George, that was the, that was who he was 10 years ago, but not this version of him. So yeah, there's a lot of volatility there. There's a lot of risk. But if you assume health, and yeah, we have to put some big fat asterisks on that, the talent is there. And like, they got a lot of playmaking like Derek White, Peyton Pritchard, Jason Tatum, all average like five plus assists last year. So to Jalen Brown, multiple guys you can run offense through and with, which is a bit of a cheat code in the modern NBA. A lot of ball movement and a lot of three point shooting, you can get a ways. And we know the defense is going to be there. Yeah, which is your worst case scenario for the Celtics. That they, uh, that they get so dinged up that they don't make the playoffs. And they just feel like they've got to just pull the rip cord for this year. Um, that would be such a, that's, I don't, it would be such a bummer. I don't think that will happen. Sure. But I think if you're just looking at worst, the worst case scenario, right, is like, shirman, even Pritchard, these dudes who are going to get an uptick in minutes that like the efficiency that was there last year that that kind of wanes, right? That if they are having to guard up in terms of like the other teams offensive hierarchy, all of a sudden, does that put the defense in more of a bind than they're used to being in? Well, that's the other thing that I, that is really interesting that you say because now teams, back when you had this full team and you had Jalen Brown on the roster, those guys could play within themselves a lot more, right? Now teams are going to be scouting Derek White as a second option. Sure. And that is going, I think that that's going to be an adjustment for Derek White. And saying what you think, why it'll be the second option? Or do you think it'll be Paul George? Like they're both healthy. Who's the second option? Right. Now I think I just think that Derek White is the better player. I agree with you there, right? Like overall, I think at Paul George's best last season, and when he was in the playoffs last year, is when he was playing more of a role type of specialized role. I'm going to get my shot with the second unit. I'm also going to play great defense when needed, right? You're not going to ask any more of me. So now to put him into a position where he has to be a number two option, what he's like 37, 38 years old. He's a really old guy with a lot of injury history, whose game is regressed, right? So I would say Derek White is going to ultimately end up being that second option. And that that's going to be an adjustment for him. There's a little bit of Peyton Pritchard in there. He can do some things with the ball on his hands too. there's also a lot of by the way like Mitchell Robinson's like the best offensive rebounder in the NBA. So a lot of their offence is just going to be like, when Stephen Adams didn't healthy, he's the best, Howard Beckley's over the last three seasons. Mitchell Robinson is the highest offensive rebounding percentage in the NBA. So you're going to get a lot of second chance points off of that too. Anemius Keta had a pretty good season last year with a lot more on his shoulders. And now he's going to be able to share the load a little bit with Mitchell Robinson. So like, I think like, there's no one way they're going to do this. It's a combination of things. But yeah, you're, you're hoping that like the majority of this is still resting on Jason Tatum's shoulders. And then he can get through it and that the Achilles is behind him and that there's nothing else new to deal with. Okay, enough Celtics talk. We did enough just to keep our jobs. Appreciate it. The time for it. We're going to go to Howard's hood. We're going to go to the Brooklyn nets who added Julius Randall and Keon Ellis and some other folks, but not much. This is going to be really quick. What's the best case scenario for this team Howard and what's the worst case in the best case scenario is Julius Randall plays like an all star. We know he's capable of doing that. Yegor Geoman takes a leap. Yeah. Michael Brown pops immediately. And then that's finished 14th in the in the Eastern constant. 21 wins. That's that's their their best case scenario is that a bunch of good stuff happens. And there's still the 14th best team in the community. Jordi Fernandez gets some minutes. Can you get like, can you do something? He probably could get minutes on this team. Would that be effective for this ball club? I mean, there's they got really got space for him if he can shoot. I like. I don't I mean, Howard, you're spot on. I mean, you know, you could throw MPJ in there. Like he still looks, you know, like a like a that might be the worst case scenario that anything if PJ related actually might be. I think I turned out well. I think for them, it's a part of the way really. What would you rate a MPJ summer in terms of like what the fuck from like a scale of one to like your viewing into like worst case scenario territory here where it's like Michael Portagio, you're puts up a new podcast episode every day of the season. Like now we're like, I'll forget if the whole season's off the rails were toast. Well, yeah, worst cases like him and Lana Rhodes start a pod together, which is in play. Is it really? It's actually in play. Well, I, you know, hey, more power to him, you know. Yeah, I don't I like if Julius Randall plays the way that he did his last year in New York, especially like in the beginning, then I think that's about all they could hope for in terms of him, especially considering how bummed he's probably going to be being there. Yeah. I, I've always liked Terrence, man. I always think that he's like going to raise your floor a little bit and hold dudes accountable. And I think they need guys like that, especially coming off a year where they had so many rookies playing and so many young dudes handling the ball and stuff. But yeah, the best case scenario for them is that they suck. But like both just in reality, like whatever the best case scenario for them is they're going to be really bad, but also like they, they, they should hope to be very bad. It would be bad for them if somehow they were mid lane. The thing that's going for them in that regard is they got a lot of dudes that want to play their way out of town, right? A lot of guys that are playing to get traded to be somewhere. Chicago Bulls are the same type of situation right now. I think that's going to be something that's going to actually help them how we're going into of the trade deadline and going into the lottery. I do want to caveat this because this is a conversation of how some folks around the NBA when they first got Julius Randall. There's a, in a different moment in the NBA and a different moment in the Eastern conference specifically five, 10 years ago, you get a guy like Julius Randall and you've got Michael Porter, Jr. And then a bunch of like dudes around them and yeah, some young guys who might pop whatever. And you'd be like, all right, that's like a seventh or eighth seed. Like you're good. Not in today's Eastern conference. And so part of the reflection here is not just bagging on the nets just to be clear here. This is not just like, you know, you know, killing them for the sake of killing them. The Eastern conference has gotten that much better. So when you're doing the exercise as we are doing here today of like, okay, but when this team slots here and this team slots here and oh, this team got a little bit better. No, the Pacers have Tyres Halberton back. Somebody's got to finish 14th and 15th. And like no matter how well it goes with Randall there, you're not in an air of the NBA or of the Eastern Conference. Now we're just plugging in a guy who's made a couple of all NBA teams suddenly puts you back into like seventh or eighth seed place. It's just not happening. There's too much quality now up and down the standings. I wouldn't make the argument that even in the worst times of the Eastern Conference, I would not bet on a team like with Michael Porter, Jr. and Julius Randall as a top two guys to do anything. Dude, there were years where like the eighth seed in the East was like a 37 win team. So like it was, you know, and that was a playoff automatic playoff back in the day before the play. So like, yeah, you know, I can't trust that. Oh, I can't trust that math. Um, worst case scenario, they could finish 15th instead of 14th. Worst case scenario. Sure. Yes. The worst case scenario. I think Michael Porter, Jr. Jack brings the league down with him on a podcast, right? Like it just does one of the conspiracy theory. He does his own Pablo Torrey. I think he should do, it should do deeper dives. I would, I would, I would love to hear him talk about anything but basketball, honestly. That's the problem. Yeah. No, I know. But I like a just at least he's a bad for the league. Good for him. Good for his algorithm. It's good. It's good for content. It's good for the, it's good for, you know, my own personal entertainment was sure. You know, we're all selfish people, you know, in our own way. Um, the New York Knicks back in Howard's domain, um, best case scenario for these guys in Worst case scenario for the, for the New York Knicks Howard back to the NBA finals. Clearly, best case scenario. Um, and that should be on the table, right? The only major loss is Mitchell Robinson. They plug in Andre Drummond in his place. You'll still get a ton of offensive rebounding, but not the rim protection and a little less mobility. Um, so it's, it's different. And I don't know if Drummond can, can manufacture a lot of, of what Mitchell Robinson did. So I, I think like that was a mistake, right? Like that would, I think that was a bad bet by, as I understand it, ownership there. Um, to decide to let him walk rather than deal with second apron issues. I understand it, but I think it was a mistake. When you've got a championship window, fuck the second apron, do whatever you got to do. Keep your team together. Um, never wanted to have to have a long time. I didn't know how to handle it. I mean, that's true. They got a lot of experience in that department through the pressures off, man. So, but the, they, going back to the finals is best case scenario and potentially winning another championship, although we are in an era when you, nobody goes back to back anymore. So yeah, I, I, I'm, I'm with you on the front court. I mean, just to ask Kat to play that much defensive basketball is, is just a, it's really hard, especially after what we've seen in previous seasons. I'm, I'm scared of that. Maybe I got to my worst case scenario a little bit too fast, but that does, what is your best case? Before I get to, hey, what is your best case? I mean, say, I feel like I'm just going to be, like, parodying a lot of what Howard says with some of this stuff because like, he's, like, you know, with some of these East teams, like y'all are talking about, there is, yes, best case scenario for sure is them going back and winning it again. I mean, it, it, uh, so like, somebody else get married on that team and like, just have a party. I think that's the best case scenario before the season starts. They've just been having like, yeah. The only thing that I would, that I'd like get worried about is like, if there's some sort of regression to the mean, like offensively, if they, you know, the switch gets flipped against Atlanta and then all of a sudden things just look beautiful. And if for some reason, they revert back to how stuff looked before, if they're not getting the ball to cat as much and letting him play make a little bit too, if, you know, Brunson goes back to maybe dribbling the ball a little bit too much, whatever. Or if they, you know, if, if they don't have enough shooting, you know, shammett played such big minutes for them and hit a lot of big shots, like, I don't, I don't know. You go, you go. No, well, I was just going to say, like, we forget our memories are short. We are, we are stupid, simple people, uh, and our memories are short. And my point is this, the next did not have a dominant regular season. There were about 53 wins, whatever it was, very, very good regular season. They were dominant for the two months that mattered most or about six weeks that mattered most. But prior to that, we were going through all this, our cat and Mike Brown on the same page is cat really fitting and whatever. And it was in the Atlanta series. It was all of a sudden, like, Nick's fans were ready to run McHale Bridges out of town again. And so like, you have these moments where it looked like this wasn't going to work at all. Something, the switch flips. And yeah, Landry Shammett's a playoff hero and Jordan Clarkson plays the best three minutes in spurts of his career or whatever. Everything falls into place because that's how championships are won, especially now, because teams aren't built like the old days where it's just like, oh, we're just going to kill you with our wall to wall talent, you know, we're going to shack and Kobe you to death or Scotty and Michael you to death. This is now it's like, everybody's got a role to play and they all got to play it to the hill and they did. So what we're really talking about is can the next manufacturer that six to eight weeks again, when it matters most, because the regular season is just like, we just got to get there, right? And, and that's the thing it's hard to ascertain is, are you, are you built for that 16 games as opposed to the 82? I think that leads to one of my worst case scenarios is, you know, Brunson, it's the way the offensive way to just too much for him. I think the other thing is how they respond to the weight of being of trying to defend, which is a really hard way to to have on you. Howard has a lot of experiences covering teams like that. I have some experience covering teams like that who where it's one thing to have that weight of a community or the headlines, but it's another thing to have it in New York. Now, I do know that New York has said, oh man, we're really excited to have a title. We don't even care if we have anymore for the rest of eternity. I think that there's going to be a lot more pressure on this team, Jim and Brunson's hosting SNL, right? Like it's just like the way of New York and the weight of this phenomenon that exists. The good vibes only last so long. And I don't care what any NBA fan thinks or any New York Nix fan thinks in this euphoria. When it gets to like, you say all that now, but if it's in December and everything goes bad for this team, you are gonna be really pissed off. - I wanna see if Jalen Brunson can be funny. That's the first line of pressure right there. Like can Jalen Brunson be funny? 'Cause like he by design, he does not give anything away. - I would say the media is so serious. - He kinda got a little funny. Especially when they started winning championships. Like as soon as they won a championship, you're like, oh shit, he has a personality. - Yeah, but he has been so disciplined and so reserved. And that's very about that organization too. That's like, aside from Josh Hart. Like Josh Hart should host Saturday Night Live for sure. Hopefully like Jalen Brunson came for a skin, you know? - I think the monologue is gonna be the thing where they bring on a lot of, you know. I think, you know, Mr. Carter Tay is gonna be there walking on during the monologue. I think he still might be there walking on. I think Tracy Morgan might be there walking on. I think they like to do that, especially with athletes. Like let's take a little bit of the pressure off of them. But if you make it live, even a Saturday Night Live when they won the last championship? - It wasn't Saturday Night Live. I'm not sure who it was. - No, a Saturday Night didn't start until like a couple of years later than that. I think it's like 75 or 76. - Yeah, so they're all that to say like with a New York Nick after a championship hosting Saturday Night Live. It's gonna be so simple. - Has never happened. - But that goes back to the weight of expectations that I'm talking about there. If they got real Hollywood this summer. So if he has a good monologue or you then gonna be like, you know what, like what they're at, it's happening. - Yeah, here's the other concern. So we think the satisfaction, complacency, whatever Pat Riley's disease of more thing where everybody wants to do more. Or they think they're the ones who are responsible. So like, oh, I should get more shot. So there's that concern, right? And that applies to everybody who ever wins a title, not just the Knicks. But here's the other thing too. Ring the bell for the minutes police 'cause I'm going there. Over the last three seasons, the Knicks have three of the top seven players in total minutes, not counting the playoffs. And that's adding a ton more. I didn't know how to use basketball efforts to combine regular and postseason. So many can teach me that later. But just in the regular season alone. - In Pennsylvania. - But it's a lot. And like Brunson's usage rate every year and his minutes are high. There's been a lot on him for a long period of time here and some deep playoff runs and things like this was like the second win of their, the quote unquote, Knicks run, right? Of their playoff runs over the last five years, right? So like they have already had their bodies taxed in the tips and now to go into this. - And who else is manufacturing a shot or keeping the offense humming if Brunson is limited or out for any length of time? Hopefully he's healthy for all 82. That'd be great. But I just think fatigue is real, attrition is real. These guys have a lot on them and Brunson and Bridges and Hart in particular, those guys have logged a ton. That can take a toll. We'll see. - Let's go to the Philadelphia 76ers. They had a bit of an off season. I traded for Jalen Brown, signed LeBron James. This is like the it team of the NBA at this point. I don't remember the last time the sixers were the it team. Maybe a one would probably be the closest thing. I'm not sure. What is the best case scenario, Tyler? And then maybe what is your worst case? - Tramship, best case. I mean, it's there's that starting five if they're just operating at the peak of their powers. It's probably, you know, you can make an argument. That's the best starting five in the league. I think that LeBron is going to get to do even less and preserve his body even more than he has been with the Lakers. And yeah, I just, I think the world of Maxi, I think that guy's like a movie and I don't see him slowing down. Him and LeBron have such a good relationship. I think LeBron's going to be pumped to put the ball in his hands like he was with Kyrie, like he was with Luca at times, Austin Reeves, what have you. I think that offensively things are going to look really good, especially as they sort of get time together. Yeah, I think all the pieces fit very well. So it, yeah, I don't, I don't know how the best case could be anything but championship, honestly. Worst case is like these, these old dudes get dinged up and be can't stay healthy, right? Same thing with LeBron, if he all of a sudden starts, you know, feeling the, the nag of old age. And yeah, I'm, they wind up getting knocked out in the second round or something like that. I think that's, these are the sixers. That's totally, you were a little scared, which you take back in there. You said there's a world where they couldn't make the plain worst case scenario. I would love to have a take like that, but you're lying. No, you said that back there. I would love to have a take like that, but you are worried. Well, everybody's just scared of their takes now. This is what's going on, that's what we're at, right? Now Logan's trying to lie in front of the world, Howard. He wants to jack the ratings. This is, yeah, he's, he's really about clickbait. I can see, no, I mean, look, maybe I should do, I need to start doing more clickbaity stuff. You know what, Lebron, Lebron should retire today. He should retire now today, and they should, and the sixers should start brawny in place for a max. Oh, okay, all right, all right. Best case worst case scenario. I mean, like for like with several these other teams, right? Celtics, Knicks, Sixers, it's NBA finals, which by again, implies maybe championship. It's hard for me to take the Eastern Conference teams and say best cases championship because I fully believe whoever's coming out of the West is winning it. I hear you there, but yeah, I mean, could the sixers win the championship? We thought that last year. I'm just saying, this is a new year. Victory Phil Hard. It's a new season. Victory Phil Hard last year. Their worst case scenario, like, like there's a scenario where they're a play in team, and I think they probably still come out of the play in and then it was in the first round or something. But it has to do at least somewhat with like the health stuff, right? It can be at all clickbaity. It's a good clickbait. Well, it is funny doing this because they're, the worst case often does align with just like, well, yeah. But, but I was going to say it's more than that. Yeah. They have the added element here of we don't know if these guys are all going to actually be able to mesh with each other, right? Jalen Brown want like the reason that the Celtics among the reasons that the Celtics decided to move off of Jalen Brown. There was some financial stuff. There's this that, whatever. There's Twitch streams and all this shit. But there was some concern about like this is a guy who really wants it to be about him. He wants to be at the center of this. And we have a guy Tatum who we think is our our centerpiece for the foreseeable future. Hopefully the rest of his career. And Jalen Brown just landed with a team that's got like five number one options. So Jalen Brown has to fit in. LeBron has to to reorient himself. I think he's going to be the least of the concerns. There's a hot take for you. I think LeBron is the least of the concern. I can't, I can't, I can't, let me finish. Let me finish. Let me finish. I simply can't agree with you. Let me finish. Mag Edgecom is young. Maxi is, is, is young enough and I'm sure it was like, hey, man, I can win a championship with these guys. Embed is a concern because he's always been a concern, but also like Embed knows his body well enough to know now. Like, I can't carry this stuff at the level that I was five or six years ago. LeBron is a consummate playmaker in addition to being the greatest score of all time by career points. He's a playmaker at heart. He's like, he's going to be the one who either pulls this thing together or doesn't. And if he doesn't, then no, that this whole thing could go to shit. But like, I'm, I am less worried about LeBron than pretty much anybody else on that roster. I would worry about Jalen Brown and Joel and B first and foremost. So the chemistry is bad. Yeah, now they're, now they're a dysfunctional play in team and, you know, the coach is getting fired and everything else. I got to push back on the LeBron thing, man. I think that, that, that is part of, I think the best case scenario is what you laid out and I am confident that, I don't know what I'm confident in that way, but I think in the worst case scenario, more so the weight of LeBron coming to your city and all everything that comes around with that. Not just, you know, the podcast that is around the corner from what we're sitting right now, but like, also, there's going to be a swarm of media. We've dealt with this covering our respective teams, you with the Lakers, Me with Golden State, where just all of this coverage, all of these media members just to send on you every single day and the weight that LeBron is used to that though. No, I'm not saying LeBron is used to it. I'm saying everyone else that is there. I mean, the sixers and even the Celtics though, they haven't exactly been short on drama. - Yeah, but it went like, also, but I'm a new cycle though. Like, anything LeBron does is Top of Sports Center. Everything LeBron does is Top of NBA today, right? And that's a different type of spotlight than when, oh, okay, we had like a controversy here or there, but after a couple of days, it'll end. Like, that's the thing that concerns me more about anything like LeBron does or doesn't do. Every team he has been on, there has had to be an adjustment, not only from, you know, the front office and the people that are working around, but also the players that have to adjust to the spotlight that he brings on to him. And sometimes he, every stop he has used that to his advantage, whether it's like, I'm trying to get this message out here, I'm gonna link this to somebody else. I am going to try to control every single narrative. That, I wish I could be more confident that the LeBron factor wouldn't be a LeBron factor, but he's simply has not showed me that throughout his career. I've had a whole lifetime of seeing him do the exact opposite. But I think we're talking about two different things here. I'm least concerned about him in terms of fit on the court. Oh, fit, okay, okay, fit. Yeah, for sure. They have a bunch of guys who all want the ball, they got a bunch of guys who are elite scorers at various stages of their careers. I'm concerned about LeBron's feelings and how that is. You're talking about that atmosphere. You're talking about like extras. Yeah, the extra stiff that LeBron brings, 'cause from a basketball standpoint, Obviously, he's the greatest of his generation and arguably the greatest of all time. And not just as a player, but as adjusting into different environments, but it comes at a price at every, at every stop he's ever been on. That's what I'm scared of, Tyler. - I hear you there. I think that he is going to be very locked in this year. I think that he will sort of rightly see this as his last good opportunity to win a ring. - That's why he chose this. - Yeah, and so I don't know, I don't know. I totally hear all those reservations. I don't worry as much about it because I think in a way you're gonna be dealing with him on his absolute best behavior across the board, off the court, on the court. Yes, there might be some things that leak. Yes, people like to talk, but I don't think he's going to come into there and be dealing with a bunch of people who aren't trying to listen to him. You know what I mean? Like I think- - But what if he has like his tantrum and doesn't get his way about something mundane to us, but like big to him? - Yeah, I don't know. I mean, if he made it work with the Lakers last year where he was just sort of the- - There was still some stuff that came out on him with the Lakers last year. - It was some stuff, but like LeBron for the most part being as old as he was and where he's at in his career. Like I thought he had a very good season. - Yeah. - And so I, like he's a skeleton key in a lot of ways for an offense. I just think he can fit wherever you need him to. And yeah, I don't know, there's, maybe I have too much faith in a LeBron season without a lot of shouts and murmurs and things like that. But I just, I don't know. I feel like he's got bigger things on his mind right now than trying to make sure that the social hierarchy in the locker room is where he wants it or something. - No, Logan's not wrong to bring up all that stuff in the Machiavellian part of LeBron as well, documented. But I think that that was more prominent part of his approach when he's in Cleveland and it's like, hey, it's my time and it's my show and this is my town. Goes to Miami. Hey, I brought this ability to win championships here. So now you revolve around me, although Pat Riley put up some firewalls there. And LA's similar thing. This is different. It's fundamentally different when he's going there at age almost 42 on a team that already has all these other guys. It's not like he's just gonna be like, oh, I'm a roll guy. He's gonna assert himself on the court. I don't think I'm as worried about, yeah, the off court stuff, organizational stuff as in earlier parts of his career. All right, man, let's go north of the border, Toronto Raptors. I just want to say at the time of recording this, we don't know if Kauai is going to be a Raptor. So that could be my best case in worst case scenario, right? Like if the best case Kauai comes, championship contender, worst case, he doesn't come. And Scotty Barnes is your lead dog, which isn't a problem necessarily because he puts those up Goddy stats, but he hasn't proven to be somebody that can carry a franchise in the way that Kauai can. And also there's a worst case scenario. If Kauai does come and or go to Toronto, it's somehow that injury bug comes back, right? And that's always gonna be the biggest question mark with him. How do you manage his injury history and his injury future? And that's gonna be something to keep an eye on. What's your best in worst case scenario for the Toronto Raptors, but Parker? - The best, I mean, when I was thinking about this, I was operating under the assumption that the Kauai trade's gonna go through. Like how are you in the know? What do you, I mean, I know this is all weird, but like what if you, if you just, someone was like, hey, you got to put money on this. What do you think? (laughs) - I have changed depending on the day of the week over the last couple of months. - Yeah. - I thought it was gonna fall through. There are multiple times where I thought it was going to fall through. And as we sit here on the day that we're recording this, we do not know. It has not resolved the clippers of apologizing. - Yeah, last night with the day we're recording last night, Balmer posted his apology. - Alright, so the clippers are like, yeah, we might have screwed up. We're not gonna admit it, but like, think mistakes happened. Passive voice things happened. So does the deal go through? Like why isn't it gone through? Oh, well Lawrence Frank isn't there. It doesn't matter. - The clippers have paid out. - You could have the third in command. You could just tell. And Balmer's not supposed to be running things right now. He's accepted his suspension. You can, I think pass a note down the line. Somebody like the intern in the PR department can tell the raptors were good on the deal that we agreed to back in June unless somebody wants to change the terms. So why hasn't it happened yet? No one's provided a actual good reason. - So the clippers are so petty. - 'Cause they acted like this wasn't going to happen at this whole summer and they engineered the trade because they figured something was gonna come down the pike. And now all of a sudden they're like, "Kawaii, why you do us like that?" - What is, what's, I, what the hell? - Let's assume that whatever is going on, while we're still sitting here talking, it's all gonna go away that's gonna happen. Trade goes through, Kawaii's going to Toronto. I think it'll be because everybody, they had their handshake deal and they want to honor it. - Yeah, that's the right deal. So I think to your question, Tyler, yeah, probably happens because of that, right? It would be dishonorable at best for this sudden lead to dissipate for both sides or one side or the other, unless they both want to walk away. So probably it goes through. And if it does go through, Kawaii Leonard reunited with Alex McKecney, vice president of health and player care and everything in Toronto, that was Kawaii's best season health wise. I'll do respect to the Clippers and their health folks, but like Alex McKecney's a freaking genius best in the business. I think that that'll be good. - One of the rare team guys that Kawaii trusts. - Yeah, and I think that'll be really good for Kawaii, but he is that much older too. So they nurse him through the season and they get back to the fight. Like that is on the table. The rafters winning the East is on the table, just like it was for the Sixers, for the Celtics, for the Knicks. I think that's the end of my list of, I know there's one more. - Yeah, I got another one more. - But I think the worst case scenario is obvious, right? One worst case scenario is they don't get Kawaii. - And then you got to deal with sad Brandon English. - Hi, Brandon and Grady. - Yeah, that's right. - Welcome back. And so you have the awkwardness. - To be fair, I'd rather be sad at this particular moment in Toronto than LA and B.H. Clipper, you know? - I don't know, man, the beaches here are awfully nice. So there's multiple bad worst case scenarios for the rafters. You get Kawaii, and he can't stay healthy. You don't get Kawaii, and you've got awkwardness and still not enough high level talent to get there. So yeah, there's a lot in play there. - Anything else? - No. - Okay, let's go to Chicago Bulls. This is gonna be really quick. Best case scenario, you know, they got Nick Claxton in Norm Powell during this off season. I think the best case scenario is they play their way out of town. Even though Norm Powell says that he doesn't want to play his play out of town wants to be here, but I don't believe them. I think that's the best case scenario, worst case scenario. I mean, they're the Bulls. I think like they're pretty much an NBA parker tour, which is the worst place you can be. I don't know, it's the best case worst case scenario. - They were 12th in the Eastern Conference last season. Their best case scenario is like 11th, and their worst case scenario is like 13th. Like they're somewhere between 11th and 13th. And again, all due respect to the Bulls and new front office and coach and everything, they're trying to like turn this thing around, but like you got a lot of obstacles in front of you, a bunch of other teams that are already good or getting better. So even if they've improved, they're probably stuck in terms of where they are in the standings. So yeah, to be continued, we'll come back to them this time next year. - Yeah, but I mean, best case is like Caleb Wilson wins rookie of the year, looks incredible. Like a dude that you can build around. You're either like, you know, number one, number two, type of dude. And they're terrible and get another good pick. Like that, but yeah. - Where are you on the Richter scale in Caleb Wilson? - On the Richter scale? - Yeah. - What is that, what is that? - You know how we said. - Oh, I don't know, it's a Richter scale. I wanted to tell you how excited are you? Are you like, are you like 2023 Scoot Henderson? (laughing) - Where are you out of him? - I don't know, I mean, I was Scoot. I was floating in 2023. The, I'm very pumped about, I'm pumped about Wilson. What, what, what, one to 10? Give me, give me like a, give me an eight. - I don't know if that's the kiss of death. - He looks like, look, he looks, he look was really fun. Like I saw some summer league, right? - I'm offended by that, but that might be the kiss of death. Maybe I'm excited about somebody who might be the kiss of death. - Yeah, that might be the worst case. - We don't, we don't really know these guys until they actually got to the league. And the, and summer league is not the league. So, but like, yeah, there's a ton of upside there. Modus Busellis, still out of upside there. Josh Giddy was pretty good for them last year. Like there's like a, a nice assemblage of talent here. And then, oh, we'll bring in a couple of vets. Norm Powell, Nick Claxter's kind of. - You want to see your team, go to the Chicago Bulls game. If you want to see your team come into town or play in the bulls, that's, you know, that's what you're going to do if you're a fan. Right? So, this sounds about right. All right, let's go to Cleveland, where the unction is on the horizon. - I don't know what that means. - We have, out of a Mitchell scientific for a year, 272.7 million dollar extension. James Harden also signed a $3.97 million dollar deal. He's getting to the baggage claim. They also got Payton Watson's big size over here in the Ernst country. - What a life, what a life. - Payton Watson is also there after a standoff with Denver, there's a, yeah. I think the best case scenario here is, you know, they do what they did last year. You know, they're mathematically or at 3P, team. They want to stop it. Stop it. I can that can send really messed up. Second that shit. It was such a stupid thing. The thing is I get it. You get it because you say that in the offices in the summer. You don't say that you just look stupid. The problem is there's cameras everywhere, right? And he did say this in a presser, but like everything in the modern like media escape, everything is bugged with cameras so there could be like a hard Noxmo, but he goes in like, hey guys, everybody, you know, we mathematically are winning the series and it's on a camera like in the NBA finals. Right. Maybe that's what he should have done. Maybe he should have just did it in the locker room. He's like, hey, actually, I was just talking to my team was making the point about process about versus results, but whatever. People can have their fun with it. I get it. Best case worst case Howard. I'm ratcheting down from where I used to be with this team. The last couple of years, I think best case scenario would have said they're making the finals. I'm saying their their ceiling is now conference finals. I can't I can't I can't I can't I can't go there with them anymore. Burn too many times. You were you were trusting down on the Mitchell and James Harden in the backstress of the playoffs. No, I was trusting Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland and Jared Allen and Evan Mobley, but that team kept petering out and then they flipped Garland for Harden. So that happened mid season last year. So this time last year, we couldn't have projected this particular version of it, but Harden at this stage of his career, especially and with everything that we know about him in playoff series, like I just I and I just watch it like I was there for that series against the NYX or at least the games in New York. Like I was hurt. I was there for the last last year. The one where the lights were too bright. Well, there was the no lights too bright. Yeah, the first time that that mobley and Garland even made the playoffs and they were just deer ahead. And then we and then we then the one this past spring, where, you know, they're up whatever 31 points were ever in game one and blow it off. I don't look the part all stars on the Cleveland Cavaliers right now. Look the part all stars. Yeah, interesting. A lot of them. Right. Donovan Mitchell should be like the top score should be like he is. He is. No, he's no it matters, which is what he's the one I believe in the most there. If we're ranking them by how confident we are in various Cavaliers, Donovan Mitchell's the top of the list. I don't know who's second at this point. I mean, it might be like the resume of James Harden. Yeah, I guess it should work. Yeah, but it didn't practice. It never works out. No, yeah, Eastern Conference Finances. Do you get your hopes up for like James Harden elimination games at all? Do you ever like, oh, this is the time he's going to turn the corner as a guy that seems absolutely not. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. There's been too many. I mean, truly after that game seven, when he was in Houston, the game seven, they had when the spurs ran them off the floor. From that point on, I was spooked out of trusting him in any sort of, you know, series, clincher or whatever. Like it, and it feels like it, you know, sort of only been vindicated since then. I mean, he can still, I think he's still like a weirdly a great regular season player because he plays. Yeah. And he's going to run your offense. He's going to the assist counters going to ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. And, you know, he still has enough of his bag offensively. Like he can, he can get his own shit without needing a bunch of help from somebody. And when he's on, it's a beautiful basketball player, bro. When he's on, it's beautiful basketball. Beautiful, beautiful. I don't, that's, that's, that's a, that's a big, that's a big adjective. Yeah. The aesthetics of his game, I've never really, like, I'm about to get clipped for that. I mean, like, you know, it's funny. I've just been watching, I've been watching the highlights of these guys that we're talking about. Yeah. Yeah. Watch the highlights. It just hits different. No, he's like, he is one of, when I say beautiful, I don't mean like when I go to the game and watch him, I mean, like the clip of a beauty of a basketball player in James Harden has that ability. I want to, I want to, I should probably walk it out. Let me walk that. You got worried. That, that got really worried. That got a second of my mind. I'm, I'm pumped up about Peyton Watson though. Yeah. Are you, are you, what are you, how do you feel? I'm not pumped about it, but he's not the guy that's going to put them over the top. He's not, he's not one of those guys. He's not going to put them over the top. But I think he might be the type of dude that's fearless in the right kinds of ways in some of these big games where they, but I want to see a Peyton Watson on a team that has like reputable dudes on, right? Like I wish that we're going to talk about later, but Denver. I wish he would have been, I wish he would have stayed healthy last year. He does have two elite scorer playmaker types to get him the ball in the best possible positions, which they will do. So offensively, they'll make the best use of him there. Defensively, the Peyton Watson, Jared Allen, Evan Mobley, front court could be a fucking terror and you need that behind that back court. So, um, so they're like, I see, I see the outline of it. I see the logic of it. Like, and there is, I want to be clear. Like there is upside there. I just, I can't, I can't talk myself into them. You're not taking that kind of thing anymore. Well, there's, because no matter how well Peyton Watson fits in and no matter how many new elements he brings to the table that I think are actually what they need. Yeah. It still comes back to, can James Harden, Evan Mobley, Donovan Mitchell, especially those three get you there when it matters most in the post season. And I just don't have a ton of confidence. So my worst case scenario for them is like, they slipped to the plane because there's that many good teams now in the east and they lose in the first round. Like that's on the table too. I would add to that that Garland looks really good with the Clippers and Harden finally starts to kind of show the wear and tear during the regular season. I think that would be a worse. Suddenly we're all going like, oops, maybe you shouldn't have. You got this dude for two more years. We're in L.A. Miles Garrett, Rams fans are dealing with that same notion. So I have just gotten word that we forgot to do the Milwaukee bucks on best case and worst case scenario. So we're going to do that here. We're just going to spice this up. We're going to spice it in. This is what producing is best case and worst case scenario this season for the bucks, Jason Concepcion. Best case. What's the best case for them? Milwaukee somehow eaks out 30 wins and like a little where makes it all defensive team. Okay. The best case scenario is that they get a great haul for Tyler Hero and Miles Turner. And Janice goes easy on him in his returns because they played a nice tribute video. That's fine. That's fair. Yeah. I'll take that for everyone. That's the best case in the worst case. Do you have any best case or worst case? Oh, you already just did. I mean, that was the best case. But the best case is still them like finishing 14th in the worst cases. I finished 15th. Yeah. So, you know, okay. Let's go to the trade pistons. They got John Collins via sign and trade. They also got Isaiah Joe, Torian Prince. They're in a bit of a stalemate right now for Jalen Dern. Yeah. What? What? What? What? What? What do you do? The King's leverage. Which is something you never want to do? That's right. What's the best case in worst case scenario for them, Howard? They are also in this category of yes, they can make the NBA finals. I believe that. They with 160 games last year. That doesn't happen by accident. And the Eastern Conference is that much better and was last year too. So to win 60 games is not small potatoes. Tobias Harris is a loss, but John Collins, I think will be a nice fit there. I love the Isaiah Joe pickup. Get some more shooting out there. They still do have the fundamental problem of, okay, when it's not Cade, then who? Yeah. But again, so many teams have a version of this. Yeah. And so maybe Dennis Jenkins is like, go some other level and he's so fun. Love that guy. So NBA finals is on the table for them. I say that with a little bit less confidence than I do with say the nicks or the Celtics. But it's on the table. It's just that I don't know was this a season that just everything broke right for them. And like, and that's how they got to 60. Also, it didn't show up in the playoffs. But look, we still have an Osar Thompson leap to be had somewhere along the way here, not guaranteed to happen. But maybe it happens. So if you, if they've got enough young guys who have somebody pops, Dennis Jenkins, Sar Thompson, then we're talking about them in a much different way. But if they just stay basically the same, there's just such a cluster of good teams at the top of the east and gets, it gets hard to break out of. So there's also a version here where in their worst case, they could slip to like fifth or sixth in the east and losing the first round or maybe in the second round. So like all of these teams, I think have great variability. Like, there are going to be teams that we could talk ourselves into making the finals in the east. And if they lost in the first round, that also shouldn't be a surprise because there are that many teams in that same tier with them. I think they are the right kind of grimy and scrappy that as long as, you know, the health is solid. I think they've just got a really high floor because they play hard every night. They're, they show up. That's what helped them last year when Kade was out. Yeah. That's what helped them keep, keep the ship afloat. And I like, I think that when you have a team that is that competitive, that is that committed defensively, when you've got somebody like Kade who can just take over late, then you're going to have a chance in every game, right? Like I just, I think it, it, you, you take care of a lot of the potential little potholes that might pop up over the course of a game just through effort, especially when it's a team who's still trying, like, they're still going to be trying to prove themselves. Like they're in this weird kind of fortunate position of like, yes, we were one seed last year, but nobody believes in us, you know what I mean? And so I, I, I, I, I want to believe that go the far. finals. I did, I did Easter conference finals. That's my, I think Isaiah Joe is like a really big pickup for them. I do. I think that he, because not an incredible defender, but works on that end, like you can't really play him off the floor down there. And he can get hot in ways that not a lot of dudes in the league can, and they need that bad. So like he's a guy who, you know, he, he's not going to be, you know, he's not going to, his win shares aren't going to be way up higher or anything like that, right? Like he's not, you don't, you wouldn't see that and be like, oh man, game changer. He's taking him to the finals. But I just, and it's because I'm a thunder fan. And so I have a soft spot for him. But he's, he's somebody who, uh, you can't leave him. And he's tireless in the way that these shooters are tireless. And they're going to be running them off all these screens. I think Bickerstaff's going to have him just running all over the place. Um, him and Duncan Robinson. And so I think that like there's the, I think that the opposing defenses are going to have to be considering more this year than they were last year. And that is good for them as a whole, but also just especially good for Cade, because they can't load up on them in the lane like they used to be able to. That said, if you told me they were a six seed, wouldn't, wouldn't like blow my mind. Yeah. Yeah. So like to me, that's kind of worst case. It would surprise me if they like wound up in the play in. If they just, if they stay healthy and they went up in the play in, but five or six seed, I could see that he's just good. I think, uh, my best case scenario is, you know, they went about 56 games kind, not as good as last year, because I do think last year was a bit of like Howard said, everything going right were like 60 on the dot last year, 60 on the. Yeah. Yeah. And there were some, some hiccups there that didn't show the requisite amount of toughness in times when they needed to, um, throughout the playoffs. My concern, though, the biggest concern that I have though is this is whether Duran ultimately resigns or not, who is going to be the secondary option for Cade. And because if he's there, we've seen what he has been in the playoffs, something is not clicking for Jalen Duran in the playoff for whatever reason. He is super young. He's super duper young. But yes, that was, it was terrifying. It was, it was, but that was two straight years, two straight contract years. And it felt like that was all in his head going into that postseason. Like I have, he looked so robotic in those two series last year. And it was really, it was really hard to see. So if that happens, if he stays on the team, that I think is going to be their biggest Achilles heel. And if he's not on the team, they're still going to have to figure out how to feel that boy of a secondary score and secondary output as a whole. And I think he's, I think he will resign. He'll be on the team. This is why it restricted for agencies working against him. He'll end up still being in Detroit, I believe. But it's either he signs for less than he wanted. And he might be a little bit or about that. And there's going to be a lot of questions about, hey, Jalen, do you think that the postseason last year had a big impact on that and how are you going to overcome that? And it's going to be like, what is there for him to prove that the chip on his shoulders now going to be the contract itself? Or he gets closer to what he wanted. And the pistons had to bend more. And it's now you got to live up to this. And by the way, we're still going to be asking you about what you did and did not do in the playoffs last spring. So like that, the specter of that flame out and the way that that fed into the protracted contract discussions this summer is just there. It's a wait. And it's up to him and the pistons as an organization to try to alleviate that. But it's such a shitty situation too, because it's he's now one of these types of players where it almost doesn't matter how good he looks during the regular season. Everybody's just going to be like, okay, well, let's see what happens in the playoffs. Like it's there. There will not unless he just all of a sudden starts like raining in threes or something like that. But like it's amazing. Yeah, but the, but yeah, it's a, like, you know, usually it's like a team that gets into these sorts of situations like where it's like, yeah, well, who care? Like the calves or something like that, right? Like, well, who cares it? How good they're going to look during the regular season? Like, are they going to be able to show up in the playoffs when it counts? That's a bad place to be. Because nothing you do is. And it's such a good. It's such an awesome place to be right now. Indiana Pacers. Tyrese Haliburton is coming back. Vika Zubak is there. They acquired him last year. They also have a little Kelly Ubrae action. I know you're excited about that. I think Larry Nance Jr. is there best case worst case for the Indian Pacers. I think I either lied or had bad math earlier when I said only had one more finals team because I'm going to say the Pacers are also. Okay, good. Yeah, best case scenario NBA finals. Sure. Like, it would be incredibly disrespectful to answer with anything other than that. Four out of their five starters from their finals team are back. And the only one missing is Miles Turner. And they got Zubak to replace him. Different kind of player. And he can't, he's not going to shoot the three and stretch the D, but like Zubak brings other things to the table. So anything they've got like seven of their top nine or 10 guys back or whatever from that NBA finals run. We are all obviously hoping and believing that Tyrese Haliburton will be the guy that we last saw in the finals a year and a half ago. So why not NBA finals? This team is tough as hell. They're hard to defend. Really really past him. Amazingly past him. And like, I know Haliburton in some quarters, especially my backyard is a bit of a villain these days. But I love that about him. Like his encore still a villain in New York. They probably don't give a shit. Now, now, now, now it's going to be like, yeah, I bet you they cheer him the first time that the past year. No, I bet you there. It's like, we got our title respect. Yeah, I bet you they bet you there. We want to do what it is. It depends. It depends. It depends on how the season is going for them. Okay, I'll answer there. Yeah. The championship does change a lot of stuff. I you're you're not wrong. Um, but like they will stop. I said, I respect. No, I love New York. There was not even New Yorkers. Like when you watched him go down in game seven, there wasn't, I mean, I'm a thunder fan. There wasn't anybody that didn't feel horrible. Yeah. I like just felt it was like everybody. I think everybody, he's in a he's in this like crazy kind of fortunate position of like, yeah, literally everybody is rooting for him. He's he loves to play the heel on the court, but he's clearly a good guy. Nice guy thoughtful guy. He knows the game. He understands it. It's, you know, like it's a WWE kind of approach. And that's fine. Um, I think he's actually very easy to root for unless you are the opponent, unless you were Nick's fans for a couple of series over the last few years. Um, so yeah, Haliburton back to being Haliburton, you still got Nemhard, Neesmith, Siakum, uh, teaching him a conno, like this is just a really good, scrappy, bust your ass kind of team. Um, there's not a ton of offensive, you know, shot creation there outside of like Haliburton in a little bit of Siakum, but like they make it work. We've already seen it. Proof of concept is there. And so, and you can throw the ball to zoo. Yeah. And he, the zoo boss can get you some stuff. I mean, he's not going to, you know, he's not going to like face up and just like go get you 30 or anything, but like he's the zoo with a good point guard like Haliburton. I mean, he hardened had him eating well. And as a rebounder too, I mean, he's just like, I think he's extremely underrated. Um, same thing as a rim protector. So I'm, I'm pumped about zoo. It will be interesting to see how the offense sort of adapts to him where instead of having Turner picking and popping all the time, you've got somebody go and straight down the middle lane. It might wind up that, you know, there, it opens things up in a way because people are having to pay attention to him. Also, you do have Siakum, a three point shooter at the four. So it's not like you have two guys who are not shooters at the four. So like, I think they'll be fine in that regard, but they will be different. Yeah. So worst case scenario, Howard worst case scenario. And again, this is not, I don't believe this will happen. But like, yeah, there's a version of this where it's, it's hard to get that, that same kind of rhythm and feel back. And Haliburton, maybe still be getting his body back in order after the Achilles and all that stuff. And they end up a high plan team, right? And I think in that scenario, you make the playoffs, probably, and you're maybe out in the first round. But, um, and again, it's mostly a numbers game. I'm just looking at how many teams could be in that top six, seven, eight. It's hard. So one of the teams that could be in the top six, seven, eight, or actually the top five, four, three, two, one, the Atlanta Hawks, the best case, worst case scenario for you, Tyler Parker. This was one of the harder ones for me, because I want to, I want to believe the way that I hear you believing to me, I still think best case scenario is like a second round of the playoffs kind of thing. I have a hard time. I have a hard time. You know what it is? Is it like just like the Atlanta Hawks? Like, I wouldn't call it stanched, but they're the Hawks, right? Like, I don't know. I don't, I don't have, I don't, I don't have that. I'm sorry. I feel that way. They have never just been a team where like no matter how good they've been. They're still the Hawks. I don't, I don't, 61 game. They win 61 games. How dare you talk about Tim Bontan's franchise like that? That's my friend. They're the Hawks. Hey, they're the Hawks. They've made, they've made some good moves, though. They have lately. The, the, the, the, the Kill Out was Andrew Walker is one of my favorite players in the league. Yeah. He's one of my favorite guys to watch. I think that he is just ever solid. You know what I love about him. Both of them. I saw him in Detroit last year. Yeah. He is just a dude that, that was born to play basketball in the way that he's like, he has the swag, he has the thing and he can go on these little scoring benches where you're like, it's kind of you for it. I'm not going to lie. It's kind of you for it because he does like the little jump stops, shoots the shot and does like a little pose and then there's nothing like a pose that you get going into a timeout. You know what I'm talking about? As we're going into commercial break, he is like the king of, I'm going to pose before we go to commercial break. That's what I like about him. And like Doris Burke is saying something demonstrative about his ability. Yes. Yeah. The, I mean, yeah, what are you, where are you at with him? Let's go to the expert. What we're talking about. Well, no, I mean, but like, like, yeah. I mean, six seed is there, is there ceiling, right? Six seed and maybe they went around, upset the third seed. And they're like, is it just blocked by too many better teams? Now, is there a version of Jalen Johnson just becoming the dude top five town? So he is the man. He is the man. But he was not in the playoffs. Sure. So he was too deferential. It had to be like, if CJ couldn't, you're in the regular season. If this is breakout, you're like, holy shit, he took the leap. Is that on the table here? Wouldn't he and all star last year? Yeah. No, but there's, you're saying like even more, like even more. Right. Yeah. He needs, he needs another leap. Not like, not like Kyrie like 2014 all star, but like Kyrie like, oh, shit, 2016. He needs another, he needs another leap if, if the hawks think that he's like a number one and can like lead him. If he's not, then they still need that guy, right? If he's not your a number one, then who is Johnny Barnes and Toronto? Right. You have, you have this collection of guys who are like, Oh, Nikhil Alexander Walker. Really good. CJ McCollum, you know, back half of his career, but like CJ's really valuable. He's the one who got you a couple wins in that Nick series. Jalen Johnson is the one with the most talent and the best, the most ability potential to be like a perennial all MBA guy who can lead you year in, year out and win series for you. But he did not show that in that playoff series against the next. So you're, you, there's still another leap or two from him that needs to be made. But it's, it's tough to criticize because like I like everything they did. Like they picked up Lou Dorte. Pour out a little liquor. They picked up Aaron Wiggins. Pour out more liquor. I wish I had some. I think that was all the thunder. That's the only fun. We've got and we already mentioned Isaiah Joe to the pistons. So we're, we're through the hardest emotional part of this conversation. Kill Alexander Walker went to have some courtside seats last last post season. They've got a bunch of really good players. They've got nice depth. I like all of it. But it's like, yeah, if Jalen Johnson's not the guy, then who is? And I don't mean that in a regular season fashion, I mean, the playoff. So yeah, I think they're just blocked by too many other better teams that are further along in their development. And I think they're probably fine with that. I think they know who they are. Yeah. All right. Let's talk about a team that doesn't know who the fuck they are. The Charlotte Hornets. Got Nazari. Got Grayson Allen. Got Dennis Schroeder. Had Roy Sonil on the off season. They also retained Kobe White. The Mellow ball is gone. We will get to him in a few. I can't wait for that. Still have Brandon Miller. I don't know what I feel about this team. You think they don't know who they are? I sort of assume we would all be excited about the Hornets. I'm not excited. I'm not excited about them. I don't see any like we just talk like we're talking we talked about in previous seasons, just like, you know, the East is down and all this up. The East has depth because we've been talking about throughout this podcast. I just I don't know if they have the top line talent to compete and I I think last year and this is probably I should have saved this for the hottest take, but I'm going to do it right now. I think that that was their peak last year. I'm sorry. I think that that I don't have any reason to believe that they are going to are they going to be a five four three two one. See, I don't think so. So best case scenario. I guess what they're playing team. They're playing team. They're they're one 44 games last year. They get maybe back to right around that range. 42 to 44 playing team probably losing the first round if they make it out of the plane. They won one game in the play in last year and then they quit the other one, right? That was weird. That was so weird. Yeah. After they had the game of the season and then they go back. Yeah. I don't know what team do believe it. I mean, I I think that's what they're trying to figure out, right? And so that's why they're kind of like, you know what we're going to move on from the mellow. We're going to move on from Miles Bridges. We're going to bring a guy like Nas Reed who is like just unimpeachable as a teammate and as a high character guy and who's going to bust his ass. I think no Miles Bridges Karma factor. You got you're all right. That should be good for a winner too, right? They're just just in just in Karma points. But they're not just they don't have enough, I think, collective talent or the most like Brandon Miller is really good and Konkeniple was, you know, this close to rookie of the year. Like they're like I like what they've got. I just don't know that they're like, Lamella was the talent to put that over the top if you kept him, but he was also the guy who might be holding you back. And so they made him because the heat was a perfect gap. They made a calculation. And so yeah, their best case is probably playing team worst cases lottery again. And they're used to that. Yep. Hold on a second. Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry. It wasn't sure. I don't know. I don't know. I'm a little more exciting team. I'm sorry. My bet. Go ahead, Tyler. Put the car in neutral for a second. Okay. The first of all, they've got the best player in the league. Mr. Diabote. Okay. So I think we have that has to that has to take it. We have to take that into account. I also think the Colby White thing is that's not nothing. He was good for him. I'm gonna go to the next team. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No, we're not doing that yet. Charlotte, I stand up for you. Hold on. Hold on. Then what's their best case scenario? If you're second round of playoffs, the best case. Let's have some fun. Wow. Fuck it. All right. Fuck it. Let's have some fun. It's totally possible. Aggregate that shit. I mean, please don't. I don't want anything to do with you people. But yeah, fuck out of here, man. No, I'm done with this. No, you don't. We're going next. You're tearing. Now you're terrified. It's going to happen. I can see you. I'm terrified of the rest of the world. We have a long way to go. All right. Let's go to the Miami league. Best case, worst case scenario. They got. They got Yannis. They got Clay Thompson. They got Bobby Portis. I'm really excited to see Clay Thompson in Miami. Not even for on court stuff, just all of the. I hope it takes the boat into the games again. I want to see that. When he got traded from Golden State, I was like, he's going to be miserable in Dallas. It's landlocked. What the fuck is he going to do? Yeah, no. And he turned out to be true. I didn't know that Luca was going to be gone then, but it turned out to night. It did Clay. Anyways, um, may also have Andrew Wiggins. They have a really good roster, man. Like I, I'm higher on the roster than I think everybody else. They have a lot of dudes, which is something that we all like in this, in this room. I just dudes that have been there before. Oh, love the coast. Love dudes. We know this. We're getting big into dudes. I hate that too. Yeah. Yeah, I want to see that on real GM. It's, it's, it's, bring your staff right to Tyler Parker. Loves cool to say. And he's big into dudes. The best case scenario, worst case scenario. Tyler Parker. Easter conference finals. I'm not, I don't, I can't say finals. I just don't, they always find shooting. I know they got Clay. I, but the, I, the, I don't, I don't think they're going to quite have enough offensive firepower to be able to, where I can like say like, oh, they'll make it to the finals. I, I, I'm like, still big, honest believer. And I think that he's going to be more motivated than ever. And I think he's going to be like, I don't, like, I'm not going to pick him for MVP, but I think he's like top three next year. Okay. When it comes to that sort of thing, because I think he's going to be, I think he's very, very angry without everything went down. And the way that everyone has placed him in their minds in terms of the league hierarchy. And I think that he's like, fuck all of you. Like, I'm still the man. And spulster is going to be able to use him in ways that Milwaukee, I don't think I, I mean, but he, he, he love bud. They obviously had success there. But he hasn't had a coach that's as good as spulster. And I think that he's going to unlock some things with him. Like, I think it's going to be so fun to see him in transition him and band together. I almost think that this trade was like two, three years too late. It could, it might be. Yeah. You should have did this. I'm just, and like, if you were like, you were telling me like, I got to put money down. I'm not putting money down on these covers, finals. But in terms of a best case scenario, that's what I got. Okay. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm an optimist on the heat, but a little bit shorter that, um, I think they could be top six in the east. I think they can win around or two. Conference finals feels like a big leap to me. Um, partially like we can do the is you honest going to stay healthy stuff. But all right, let's just like put that to the side for a minute. There's a Janus Bamfit because neither them are really shooters. So there's a little bit of that defensively. They're going to be a terror offensively. They have some stuff to figure out. Spulster's a genius. He'll figure it out. But like, it's a thing. Yeah. Shot creation outside of like, Janus, like, Janus can do a lot. But like, it can't be just him. This is Davy on Mitchell. He's not really a point guard. He like, he plays the position, but he's not really that kind of point guard. Um, I liked him hard away. Junior Clay Thompson going there for the shooting and the spacing and everything. But like, a lot of miles on them. Like, there's just enough kind of like, I'm like, they need one more guy. Like, they really need like, especially at the point guard position, if they just had one really reliable shot creator, scorer type there to take a little bit of the pressure off Janus and get guys in their spots and and keep the offense humming. I'd feel better. So it's a lot on Spulster to just kind of like, X and O's. The this thing up and make them better than some of their parts, but there's enough talent there. Yeah. Top 16 winner round or two. I just think you're going to have BAM and Yannis combining for like what, like 120 points of game. You figure BAMs going for 80. Yeah, that, that, that, that, that, that, right. I feel bad for that, that, that, who, that's a guy who's going to go through murder as a row. He's going to go out of clanks, a lot of dunks. It's going to be, feel bad for him. He's taking that, that in and out like every like two weeks. Angel Reese's brother, that guy, he remember him just getting, really getting put in the bucket. Yeah. It's going to be tough. I, so my best case scenario, I think that they are in the finals conversation because of Eric's bolster. I do think that they are in the finals conversation. I will give them the benefit of the doubt on that. I do believe that there's anybody that can make it work. It is their exposure. That being said, my worst case scenario is like, maybe, maybe they're weirdly like a plan team. They could be. I think they're like, weirdly a plan team because like, that's my, that's what I go. And you, because go back to the Eric's bolster point on the high end, like you're saying, oh, man, like he brought like, you know, that squad would Jimmy Butler, you know, to the finals multiple times. But if you go look back on that, that is a roster that goes together, right? You have a whole bunch of shooters around Bam and then you have a shot creator and just a creator that can be a hub in Jimmy Butler, right? I don't see that type of symmetry on this team. It's basically just like a cloud of dust, right? But if there's anybody that I can, you know, think about, you know, overseen all of this Eric's bolster having success with it, that's what it is. But I do think that, because I think that's the variance that I have. I think that they could be at a finals team if bolster figures this out somewhere. He's way smarter at X's than those and all of us combined in this room. But there's also a world where this is like, it simply just doesn't fit. This just doesn't work. And Yanis, man. I should have just asked out a couple of years ago. That's the bottom line. When this thing was clearly going. That's what I'm trying to say. Yeah. He spent too much time being passive aggressive about it, saying whispering things behind closed doors and then saying different things publicly and go, I want to be here for the rest of my career. Like, everybody knows what's going on here. You just need to say it. And if you just say it, it'll happen sooner. But he didn't want to be the bad guy. And this is what happens. Like, there was either a better version of Miami a couple of years ago, maybe, or landing somewhere else that was more prepared to just take him in without giving up too much of their roster, right? Like, the tough part here is like, Oh, Tyler Hero and Jaime Hakez might have been really nice next to Yanis in Miami. But like, you've got to give up something in the trade. And it's just there's not quite enough left there. And so it's up to Pat Riley, Andy Ellisburg and the rest of that front office, it's a very good front office. But they, they have to be really creative about trying to find pieces. And they got Tim Hardwood Jr., they got Clay. But these are guys with some, some miles on them. And it's, you know, they've had to put out the word of like, Hey, guys, it's not a one-year thing. We're going to have Yanis for the long haul, which okay, fair. But the second you get Yanis, the rep, the expectations go through the roof right now. Sure. So it's fine to say we're going to use a couple of years to rebuild around him. But you know, time's ticking. All right, let's go up the floor of coast to Orlando. That's the proper response. Yuck. This was one of the hardest ones for me because there were both bad scenarios. You couldn't, you couldn't be optimistic because I could eat like both them being good and them being frustrating are both so plausible to me. Like that you could tell me that last year was just like bad vibe, I just hate watching this. It's not enjoyable. League Pass or not. That's what that like, you had to do it for your job. But the Detroit Orlando series was god awful. Yeah. No, no, no. It was okay. It wasn't. It was a guy that will not be on NBA TV's hardwood glasses. I will tell you. Bed money on that one. Go ahead. I'm sorry. No. You wanted to give my thing. Yeah. Give your thing. I interrupted your thing. Six seed is kind of where I'm at for the best case. It also could be worst case. Maybe. Maybe. I mean, I don't like you think I'm being generous is that you think the offense is just that bad. Yeah. The range is basically a best case scenario is that they're a high play in team and the worst case scenario is that they're a low play in team. There's there's seven to 10 and like that's us that to me, that's a hard ceiling. All to respect to Sean Sweeney, who I think everybody around the league expects it going to be a great head coach. Yeah. Because the first time had coach and coaching was not their problem. Like it's a personnel thing. That's their problem and shot. I'll put it. I'll push back on that. Like, I think it wasn't a coaching problem in the fact that your players quit on you. Well, that is an issue. That's an issue. You don't think any amount of coaching, scheming, exing and owing is going to somehow make Wagner and Bancaro a better fit with each other. It's not even just that. Bancaro and the playoffs just doesn't know what shot that he needs to take. He does not have a go-to shot whatsoever when it's crunch time, which is very frustrating player. When you combine all the, like they didn't change anything about the roster. That's so weird. When you combine. It's so weird. It's so weird. It isn't. It's kind of just what Orlando does. But if you just take what they are and look at the rest of the East, all the things we've already talked about, all these teams that we, all could make the finals, all these teams that we, I think there's too many teams that could be top six and there's only six spots in the top six. Like, somebody is shut out of this and the magic are one of them. There's just, I just don't see there's any way that they are getting past, like are they leapfrogging, Detroit, Boston, New York, Cleveland, Toronto, Atlanta, Philly, and a revived Indiana plus Miami? Like, I just named nine teams that I think are better than the magic. I don't want to do this anymore. Let's go to the next team. I think this is your, wait, damn, the next team is even more depressing. The washing wizards. Some people are really high on this team. I'm low on this team. Yeah. There's some, there's some over here. I'm pretty low on this team. I think that people are, I'm just going to go worst case scenario because I think this all I get out right now. Worst case scenario is, um, Trey Young plays like himself and Anthony Davis also plays like himself in 26, 27. I don't think that that's a formidable, I don't think it's a formidable duo to lead your team at this particular point. Right. Like, it just simply, I'm still just as confused as I was the night that we had, the night that we talked about the trade because like, if they don't make either one of these trades and they get the bands up, they're in great shape. Why do they have to trade for two guys that want to win a title, but have, they have no ability to actually do so? This is the most wizard shit of all time. I am low on this team. I don't know how low, probably, I don't really, they make the playoffs. I don't even think I had a, I had a moment just thinking about the wizards this week, or last week, but I was like, Oh, yeah, Deandra Aitens on that team. Yeah. It was Chris Middleton again. I forgot about that. Like, just sort of the, I mean, I don't think I'm as low on them as it sounds like y'all are like, I don't think they're going to be a good team. I think there's a world where they're fun to watch. But that's like, there's the big if there's like a stretch for trade young and Anthony Davis are injured and the young guys get to play or, or if somehow they can talk, try into not needing to dominate the ball. Oh, I don't look at that. I don't think they're going to be able to do that. I think that's annoying. Honest hard to cut you off. But I'm just so annoying with this. We just had like three, four years of Washington being known as like this savvy front office, and rightfully so because they made savvy moves and all of a sudden they do this and it's like, yeah, what the fuck were you doing all of that for? Yeah. I mean, maybe they'll be able to flip Davis for some stuff. I don't know. The, I really like DeBonza. I'm still on the like trade Johnson train. I still, I like Kaishan George, champagne is good. Like they, they, they, they do have pieces that to me are fun to watch. DeBonza is the biggest question mark, obviously, if only because is he good, is, is sharing a court with tray young, the best way to develop a young perimeter player who ideally is going to be like your lead handler of the future. And the answer is probably no. Maybe I will just always have the slightest hope that tray will change and it's just my own delusion. But like, it just, just take it from a 10 to a seven, you know what I mean? In terms of the, I'm the man, I'm the man, I'm the man, I'm the man. Like it, I, maybe he can recognize that like DeBonza's here and this is a lion. And I need to like, acquiesce a little bit, I need to, but I, yeah, I mean he got his contract so maybe, maybe he will do that, maybe, yeah. All right. That's been, that's been the first half of this real one's discussion. It got really sad towards the end. Yeah. When you get down to the, the end of the alphabet, it gets kind of rough. Yeah. Part two, when we talk about the Western conference will be a doozy. That's going to come on very, very soon, talk to you on a bit. [MUSIC]