[W]roundball w/ Trae Adell [NBA Season Preview, Conference Preview 1]

In the distant future, mankind has reached the stars, but the prescription rules the airwaves with an iron fist, originality is the key to podcast dominance. The only hope for listeners lies with elite yappers and their out of pocket takes. These yappers will shake the foundations of the scene and change the course of history. They are desperate and will speak on it for a price, accepting missions to eliminate all obstacles. Welcome to the prescription. Yo, yo, yo, and away we go. Welcome everyone to round ball. This is Larry. Thank you to Dr. Smooth for those excellent intros that we're doing here now at the prescription. And I'm using this announcer voice because I'm trying something out here because everybody loves the introduction to the NBA. And we got a couple of big, big, big guys here. I would introduce first the host of round ball, our number one guy, you can call him American numbers, follow him at American numbers on Twitter, Arturo. You don't see me, but I'm doing the jump test from like, I'm doing, I'm like, I don't understand him. He's like pounding with a hand or like just doing the vibe with the hand on the keyboard. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. Yeah. Yeah, the story on that is kind of funny. I think he's got the acropolis on the videos. He's like in the acropolis and he's doing the NBA in the stone story about how he recorded it on like a telephone record like a telephone messaging machine. I remember the MC, it's a crazy little story. But it's funny because he's giving this vibe when he's doing it, and it's great because it is a really good song. So like welcome everyone, we're going to talk a little bit about NBA and we're going to talk specifically about my beloved Celtic. So what better way to do that that bring one of my favorite follows on Twitter and one of the guys why pay attention to as I'm watching Celtic's games and like he's breaking it down and we have a conversation, this is one of my favorite Celtic solos. Hey, and welcome and Larry's got the self-stacking performance. We have Trey Adele, follow him at TA, 1297 on Twitter. That's Trey Adele, Celtic's fan extraordinaire, Stead Guy, welcome Trey Adele. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, it's the wonderful intro. Yeah, it's like it's our little corner of like weird Celtic's Twitter, I think that like we have the conversations and I think that like again, like I think that like we will have our disagreements, but it is a fun conversation they have and I think we got a lot to talk about because like there is a vision with the Celtic's this season, I think it's important that we kind of like break down, talk about it, we saw, we saw some of that tonight. And then we also have our stats, our second stacks at X-Turk, kind of comes in and double checks my numbers and we have from Celtic's rather numbers, who is kind enough to have done like a full breakdown of over others to the season. Absolutely, from the Pacific Northwest, we have representing the TKZ, T-A-Y, K-Z-Y, YouTube channel Taylor. What's up, Tay? What's up guys? Doing that. As I was saying, it's K-Z-Times and everything. K-Z-Times. It's K-Z-Times. It's K-Z-Times. It's like we've talked basketball off season is just about over here, round ball is back. Man, it's it's stuck upon me a little bit, like it doesn't, I mean like it's great that it's back, but it is a little bit fast, you know. It feels fast. It feels fast. It kind of felt like the off season never ended and all of a sudden in the season starting. I mean, I think because I think some of it is, some of the uncertainty, we got a bunch of wild trades, I do think there's a bunch of talent still they sign, but like there's still kind of a baby possibly available, so it feels like we're kind of like, we're heading in, but there's a lot of like teams that are still kind of, I'm looking at your showing Golden State, I'm like, ooh, Golden State's still kind of in that bubble for me too, right? And obviously we got a bunch of new names and new places. We got Jalen and Philly, which is weird and sad, but it is what it is. So weird. I mean, I was explained to people like, I have a something like in my nightstand, I have a poster, like the little poster for some programs, and it's a Jalen program I have it. It's like sitting on my, like the pop of my nightstand, and I got that from the game program from the championship season, right? So like, well, yeah, and he's great, and I love him, and I've been watching him since like forever, I mean, I'm watching, I mean, I'm in Puerto Rico, but I'll try, like occasionally, when I get to the States, I'll try to watch a live, and like, I mean, I remember watching him in the working season, and it's been like a really kind of long progression. Something with Jalen is Jalen's a guy who, when he came in, you know, there, there, there was kind of a hard ceiling on him, and I think he's kind of gone. He went, he really didn't go past this to see it, absolutely, and, and he has his flaws, but like, he's a guy who looks extremely, well, we're going to talk a little bit about the kind of the issues. But he's a guy who's very fun. He tries hard. He used to be a really great brother, he's a good brother now. I think he isn't quite the brother he was like, you know, five, six years ago. And, I mean, also kind of when he's on, I mean, like, I think the key part of that title run was part because he was, he was on a heater, right, and he got on a heater, and that just made it click, right? And obviously there's a team built around him, but like, the fact that he would be like his, his, his offensive production going extremely positive during that off season was kind of like a really poor part of like keeping everything moving and helping and kind of like helping them get that hot, like, um, and but the problem with that is sometimes like, sometimes Dylan gives and sometimes Dylan kind of like takes away, right? And we don't know that, and because I remember the previous finals, right, and and some of the problems in that one. And I think that, I mean, like, it's some of the previous champions, so like, it is kind of like a really interesting thing. I think there, obviously you'll brought, obviously, Giannis is some of the other stuff. I think the Salt Lake is some really interesting things in terms of the roster. So actually let's start it with this way. Try it. If I asked you to rank, give me the finish order for the Atlantic. What do you got? Can you bring? In my brain, I would go, oh, that's tough. Um, yeah, because I mean, obviously Celtic, I think we're going to win the eat. Um, are they going to win or are they going to win the Atlantic? Oh, yeah. I think. I think I like that more for the Atlantic than the east, but I can see the east as well. So who do you got? Who do you got second? Number two. Uh, right now, I'm thinking, uh, right now, I would go to wrong. I'm the same way. I think people underrate the fact that they traded kind of like the biggest weight on, like one of the most overrated guys on the roster. Why? Right. Right. Yeah. He was demon hours without without, uh, you know, anytime I didn't have my out there and like trade that for two months, it's kind of like Brandon Ingram is literally the ultimate lemon. And you trade him for a guy who had a career stop making season. I mean, who I, who I played like the best player in the NBA for long stretches of season. Right. Exactly. And we know his limitations, but it isn't like they're trading. Why for like a positive player, they're creating quiet for like the most overrated players. There is two players like, and it got really bad, too. So it's like, God, that team, great, great, it couldn't play that, they, I don't know what he does and bringing room is Brandon Ingram made happen for cold. That is, that is a very, like that is a very, like there aren't weak spots on that team. Like they're, they're front five. It's really good. They're very well coached. They got. That is a weak spot that, that don't I mean, I struggle with Toronto. Their problem against the Celtics is like, and we're talking about the Celtics destruction. It's like when you look at the Celtics big man rotation, it's kind of insane. And I think it's going to be a real problem for somebody like Toronto. But Toronto also like, I think that team is going to be like demon hours in terms of defense of balling. Yeah. Yeah. So like, that's why I really like them. They do have some fragility. But again, even if they, so if you just took Brandon Ingram out, right? Brandon Ingram doesn't exist. I think, what top? I think Toronto won. What? What are your games last season? I'm like, my wall. I'm going to like, I don't know. That's the 50. So they were really good. But yeah, they did, they did well. For me with Toronto, I have hard time divorcing myself because I'm a trade machine nerd and they have two of the worst contracts in the league and, and quickly in total. But when you divorce yourself from that and just look at the roster, basketball wise, I think I could definitely see the vision for them coming second in the Atlantic, because There is a lot of talent on this roster. What the thing with quickly is he's a bad partner. But he's still a good player like he can shoot right he can shoot just get out the ball He doesn't turn over he defends. I don't think he just need to stand at heart. Why are we saying quickly is a bad? I don't think there's a bad contract at all. What's he make like 40? He makes like 33 million a year for the next three years. He is I mean he I get he is he somewhat overpriced Yeah, but he's a positive if he's a positive player on the guard. Oh, okay. That's that's not a bad deal I mean, I think probably the weirdest the weirdest home that team is probably I mean We're gonna talk about that contract. We're gonna talk a little bit about Barrett, right? Yeah, Barrett's like Barrett's the one We're like you're like and Barrett's at least an expiring though, but yeah, right I mean, I think that there's a chance that they're gonna probably they may move they may try to move him too, right? I think it would be good I think that's like this is like the the thing I say with Brad which is like when I'm picking the Celtics to be in this season I always to be over on them. I'm like Brad has shown that he will make the team better doing the season like Brad will make a trade And that trade will make the team better, right? So yeah, like whatever you think of the team I suspect that Brad I mean like if you look at this roster. It's low difference. They're gonna make a trade It's gonna make the team better. I kind of feel it's not a bit sanding. I like the boots of it's traded didn't work I thought it may I thought Vouch made us better, but you were starting from a very low point I thought the butch trade made sense because they were saying that like with this roster if we bring him in Right, and it kind of showed when he was healthy that like he added a dimension to the team kind of needed um And because it was a better fit for him than the situation was in Chicago because like the stuff We're not asking to be the primary one So like there's like this is when people sometimes don't understand you can you can trade for Kevin Love Well, I can trade for Bushwick if you're not you I'm not putting him under the basket. He's never going to be able to ask Yes, right. He may be there on help, but he's not going to be the primary that makes it fine You kind of wanted his passing around and when he was there and he was healthy was working The issues the Celtics and I will get it to those are we're not about Vouch really Um, and I think after that Who do you have third? I got the next turn Yeah, and I think the next can I mean like the next the issue is Uh, you know, they're the owner get the owner got cheap right, but I mean like that's kind of the way the systems set up Or like I mean they won the 53 games last season. I think they're gonna be slightly worse than they were They may be like yeah, I think they're after one forty six and they're better. I think the Celtics one fifty six and they're better I mean, I think if I wrong, I think the Celtics are better this year than the world No, you're not wrong at all. Like we were going over this and like and I get the jail thing But effectively those minutes you're going to get you're going to say them you have more corporate or more richer The the young guys are all like a bit like the year old or I think Google we're expecting Google to kind of make a lead Well, you know, Garza's a dude We got like wash as a guy who can actually make a leak to and then you added a bunch of like talent around that We love Mitchell. I always love the guy was I thought that was one of the best signings of the office We're looking at the center of the Celtics and like we're looking for center rotation center rotation is quita Robinson Garza who's a Who's it? Who's it? Who's it? Who's it? Who's it? Who's a man? And then Zena who's a guy who's a five star prospect He went to like a weird Houston program has an 18-year-old is coming in. He's like six 11 Super athletic just does things like the you know, this is a guy with really eye upside And we're looking at that him this game and he's just like doing like these monsters Athletic ways of like oh shit, and that's like that is like your fourth center, right? And you probably like can run you're gonna run rotation sometimes you're gonna run Google there, right? So like and Like the big man rotation for the Celtics and the amount of rebound in this team is gonna get it. It's just gonna Yeah, they got they have a lot of size on on the wing That you can go big and small with it It's a thing. We're like since everyone's taking freeze if you have a team that can just grab all these loose balls Then you can you can score in bunches. And I think we saw that a little bit tonight. We're like I was mentioned this like They they you know, I would go they weren't shooting well But like all of a sudden like if it's Cleveland didn't shoot perfect and they started making misses like you know The Celtics would go up 10 right because like they were just like getting them all like getting out of the break It's a very old-school liquor team and like we're gonna get all right Which I mean, I think is kind of it's an interesting way to kind of build the team. I think it actually is very fitting to the way Kind of it's a way to respond to everyone taking all these three And again the Celtics are gonna take them shit those three but three pointers But I mean again having guys who can like recover these balls are gonna be like loose and the field is kind of like a like it's like a superpower I think it's like a cheat code. I mean, you're Completely insulating yourself from duty socks if you're grabbed like they what they were at 34% of their offense Rebounds last year. I mean if you get to where Houston was last year Houston what grabbed 38% Were one of the worst shot making teams in the league and me like top 10 offense I think one thing and I was mentioned that I was gonna get into it a little bit like so Missoula is a guy and the Celtics in the team working that maximize the Efficiency of their place like so their strategy is optimized To get the most point points out of the roster and out of like the talent that they have during the regular season So that this is something that they do really really well And I think they they've highlighted those strengths here that Becomes a problem in the playoffs because the playoffs are not exactly the same as the regular season and teams can Optimize to basically block your path, right? So You know if you if you're always used to running like the most efficient possible play if the other team knows it's come in They can basically like gain plans specifically to get you out of that And then like if you're kind of opposite it which is I think what happens with like I'm gonna missoula was always like a little bit like this first Three coaches which do the same thing. It's like they they know what the most efficient play and they always want to default right and That can get them to trouble with guys like Spowe or guys like Adam and like sorry. I'm not a tallile Who know this and it's very specifically lane plant stopping right and then because of this because they're like very much Convince it and they are right. I'm statistically it's the best player in the season, but They will stick to that particular playstyle longer than they should. Does that kind of makes sense to you try? so I don't know I 100% get and I do think that there is an element to that No, I think Do the the the trade I spend a lot of time watching like the last I don't know what like whenever Joe got a 2023 a lot basically All the playoffs series that we played no not all but most of most of them probably like 80 80 percent of them And I think for the most part like our best moments in the playoffs still come When we're you know jacking up 30 and we have this immaculately spaced court and I think The issue came when we didn't do that and I think A lot and I would say that the overwhelming premise of the Jalen Brown trade was them going like Hey, if we if if we're going to do this style then we have to do this style 48 minutes and basically anytime You know, we would go you know to the JB and friends lineups with pay them off the floor and whatever Yes, well, you know, you go and you go and you go and you go and basically put me just I so yeah, it's just it's not you and and it's not just I so well it's I'm going mid range I so for and Jalen Brown game is I'm not taking pull up three time taking pull up You know 10 12 putters and I'm gonna make them at like 35% so you know and it's a lot different you're asking not asking the defense To the conference once you find in that can work during the season the issue Remember I said about the playoffs being different problems going to be then the playoffs. They're not going to whistle the same You're not gonna get the same foul call And so effectively that kind of ball if you're doing that the other team is the smart and Knick nurse whatever else you think about it. There's one more coach. He's gonna He is going to bump the shit out of you so like The thing that happened in that series and I was like I was watching that series like and I was I was tweeting this out live People getting mad they're not treating this out a lot So what does what the what the six of her doing is they were sitting on the primary initiation action What that means is when the Celtics would bring up the ball they have a favorite action that they run So ballhandler brings up the ball. There's action coming typically from the left side coming towards the ball handler Or like and they're like basically like doing action and then moving the guy on the side and pull George and like oh god I'm what is this like our name I forget I'll get a maxi maxi and maxi and George are basically sitting on that passing lane They're pressing the ball and sitting on that passing lane and they were doing it continues And the Celtics were continuing to run the same action instead of doing what they would do it differently in the season Oh, somebody's doing that. They would go to the b-action which is bringing a secondary ball handler Pritchard or white and essentially run off like the secondary ball handler So you're not running the initial action, but they were they kept going back to that And like the funny part about that is when they went to do it in the in the next series Especially back ground left with them and just started throwing ballhandlers And they're like, yeah, yeah, he started going like he had like three ballhandlers at the top of the key and then couldn't fucking do that because he's basically moving out the point he was she was moving the the initiation point of the key who's changing on her possession is killing them. They were trying to sit on it, right? So and it's funny and I say this because like one of the first pieces I ever wrote for like asking about it was about Mike Brown being a bad playoff coach, right? And this is I think 2007 I want to say and and the thing that's funny because I think Mike Brown over time is actually like learned like Mike Brown, I will say this. I thought Mike Brown during the playoffs was perfect, right? He's awesome. Yeah. Like every time he had a response every time like a team would try something and they had like multiple playtimes as a response like I think back to the one player where like the the the inbound pass were basically pull up cat on the inbound, right? And cat basically tips the ball and that's why they win the game and because everything they it was so well done in terms of like having an answer to the like it is it's not about it's essentially being prepared for the obvious to come, right? And and knowing that these obvious counters are coming and having like a plan B which might be slightly less efficient but get you out of the situation, right? Because sometimes it's a little bit tricky because sometimes the like the dribble of the playoffs is sometimes you have to throw away the book, right? I think guys like Missoula and guys like Pavlovich was guilty of this too. Don't want to throw away the book, right? Yeah. The trick is the trick is once this happens you have to like sit there and kind of figure out, okay wait a second, like you have to figure out these counters and this is what I want to see from Missoula is like when we get this like he should in his brain know that they beat him this way like figure out a counter, right? Which is what reminds me of like the if you remember the heat series where the heat's first series where the heat is for like this first like ended up losing on in seven like the next year they basically ran the heat off court because they spent a year thinking about okay how do we stop this? They were doing it, right? And I think that's kind of I think to what you're saying some moment what they've done the season has been team construction specifically the counter of the things that were like I mean I think there are two couple things going on because I do think last year they did a really good job building a team but really it was meant to be kind of a in-between season if that makes sense. Right. Yeah exactly. I don't think anyone in that organization knew that they were going to you know go and win 56 games like they'll have it optimistic. I think it was like I think it was like 44 43 and I was like no they're going to go wait they're going to go over that. I thought they were going to wait. It was even lower than that. I thought it was going to be 45 50 and I was like okay we're going to be good regardless. I think it was going to be the key for the team was the fact that like I think Brad did a tremendous job in like drafting a bunch of really good guy like the death like the ability to hit right on the young on the same is what made it so that like that team was so good and it made it even better. I was like well even the guys we traded like some of the guys that like they had they ended up like like let it go or trading we're good right. Yeah mine I was good. I love mine I'm mine I was good like I mean obviously we did like but like I mean I think Simon's was pretty good. I have pretty I'm pretty was actually better with the Celtics that he's been on other teams and I but I mean I never thought he was going to stick around. It ended up like it just like really it ended up they maximize the guys they brought in which is a skill like yeah by the way so we we said so we said Nick's third Sixers fourth right. Yeah Sixers fourth I'm I'm pretty low. I think the thing with the Sixers is the Sixers have a lot of fragility in their depth chart and and that obviously is envy but well I don't underrate the fact that I don't think LeBron is going to play that like I think LeBron is going to be unlike a limited clock for this team so yeah you're you don't want to do that so you're going to wind up with a lot of tired and maxi edge co jale which is gonna be fucking interesting because they lost they just lost hot hurdle towards Achilles which oddly is pretty devastating for them because you can't count on it and be being healthy so losing their backup center and we like can't get forward to get another center I get what what's like if mb is out what is their center rotation it's what they have jubari walker that's going to play D weight at the five yeah bona bona would be the only center so wait and jubari walker in a game against the Celtics who's rolling out like cuida mitra ugo sorry ugo garza and cnack and Jason tatus that's that's going to be kind of problem the problem is our demo LeBron going to cover the five because Jesus fucking bright so it's going to be kind of a mess so what is my big problem is I don't know how they rebound I don't know how many how how they can you know get up enough threes and I don't know how they can't care as ball and those are three big issues any basketball yeah it's a lot of overlapped you know my thought was they were gonna try to trade and beat for a D that's that was always kind of my problem yeah because that was our theory and I think that might actually stole I mean I got a look but it might still be on the point because effectively this is the team LeBron thing and what I mean by deal abroad is Maxi LeBron guy LeBron LeBron and I think like I think you're gonna get like the LeBron all stars or like guys who are signed by his agency you're going to be like clutch guys they're going to be kind of and and you know what and don't be surprised as I blow up the at the words get blowed up if you if you get some of those guys I'm longer you coming to say today which again this is this is a very whole team right yeah so there I can see the ways on this I can totally see it it is hard for me to see how this team wins 51 games in the regular season it is not hard for me to see how this team wins 35 that makes sense to it reminds me of a more freakier version of that Devin Booker Bradley deal Kevin Durant that's a good one that's a good one where it's just like you stack all these okay yeah we got four whatever three five 25 points for games scores but who's defending who you know who's who's running the offense who who's rebounding the basketball like these are very you can't just ignore these I mean look at look at look at look at their bench it's like what Simmons LaBarran Phillips KCP oh my god what are we doing boys it's it's it's it's Jesus compared it to the next but the next bench basically like walks like dog walks this team it's kind of insane it's and then it'd be a good roster for like 2015 you know how you win games in 2020 such you know it's kind of scrappy and I respect I respect Brooklyn even though they're gonna finish I love watching I love watching them I call now saying that I think that Brooklyn's a professional basketball they're always a team I never feel like Brooklyn is given up on a fucking game they they're always playing strong they're always playing hard they may not have the depth of the players but I can I mean I differently will consider them there and I think they're gonna show up with the player I mean I think I think 120 last year I think they're probably gonna win it I think they're probably going to start I think that like that's what I was thinking once you're on their own on bro 24 and a half they have the lowest in the in the east oh that's pretty oh that's tempting that's so tempting to go over on the lowest in the east they're going to win more games in a box yeah I mean yeah I thought the same I think I saw the great line from box reddit was like the non-deionist minutes are gonna be tough yeah oh shit man that's so hilarious like who is even on the box at this point who's still proud who's not it's all guys who's not I mean coffee isn't it saying you're afraid I remember those talks oh my god I cannot believe that was actually ever a comparison that she had me so mad it was that stuff and when they were comparing well now it's not so silly but like back then when when like maybe like 20 22 when they're comparing JB to like OG and no be now it's like okay OG's like one of the best from OG oh I think it's always always always been a guy who is perfect as your as the fourth best player on top these like a guy who's like just perfect like yeah I got you need that you need that guy who does shit you know what I mean like I need a killer I need a killer who does shit and he's never scared of the moment and OG's a guy god I remember this I remember that series of the Celtics in the Raptors with OG and like like Disney and God OG has never been afraid of the moment the moment it's like it's like that's the thing with that mix team is like they had a bunch of guys who've never been afraid of that moment ever in the yeah OG they got like Alvarado they actually brunson just guys who just like and then it's like Anthony Townes who used to be afraid of the moment who now is not afraid of the moment at all right it's kind of like it's kind of wild how much that guy's actually got in the food they're they're like literally a pitch perfect mirror image of the 2011 Dallas Mavericks all down to the fact that they are going to that the the year later they're looking on her cheeks out on a very cool starting center like there were those two teams were like perfectly constructed like that's they that might be the only roster that configuration where you can get you know elite defense around dirt nobody's the elite defense around you know Jalen Brooks and and when it's time yeah you're not gonna get it again but look look at this this book's depth chart is Ryan Rollins Tyler Hero Johnny me to quest junior Calcuma and I'll start. Oh boy, ooh, well, I mean, here's the thing. Well, actually, the problem is they're going to give-- they're going to give so much use, such as Calcuzma. That team, Jesus Christ, right? The worst part is they're probably going to lose, like, two to three picks, because they signed Gary, trying to do here to a fake contract. And it's fucking right. Like, that's going to be so brutal. They have no choice but to give Kuzma usage, because there's no other forwards on this team. I mean, you're going to keep up with their own-- I mean, that towel here. You're going to get the towel here, but they're like, you're looking at it going to go like-- I mean, Turner isn't bad, but the problem is Turner. Turner, I think, is the only really-- I mean, I guess, Tyler's-- for me, I think-- like, we're the plus defenders of this team. That is a bad team. Plus defender, Ryan Rollins. Yeah. And what do you-- OK, is it OK? Would you go to-- I mean, yeah, get one of those guys. I mean, I wouldn't be mad at you, because it's like my eight, man. Like, I wouldn't be mad. Like, we've seen him kind of like, yeah, he's fine. But this is like-- that's a rough team. They're like 24 and 1/2, and I'm like, even without-- like, what did the models stay there for them? Like, under, right? Kind of set other pluss. Yeah, I have them as the worst team in the East. Pretty handedly. Yeah, I mean, if I'm picking between them and who's worse, Milwaukee or Brooklyn? Definitely Milwaukee. Because I mean, the next have what, Randall, and they got MPJ. Those guys are going to-- MPJ. They're going to win those games. The nets have an identity. You know, they're not going to be a playoff team or anything. But they're like a defense first team. They got a lot of guys that'll give you a rough night. And on a regular team show, they're going to win a lot of those random Tuesdays. I like Michael Brown Jr., too. It's like, yeah, I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah. They've been not-- they've been not on that team. No, that's like that team. That team is-- that team's the worst team. They're a fighty little team. You cannot, like, sleepwalk through a game versus Brooklyn. Yeah. I tell you what, if you get one of those two night, if you get one of those two night, like, home stands where you go to New York, Brooklyn, like, don't sleep on that Brooklyn game. That's a tough game. You've got to wake up early. Get your sleep. And I think I think I think that I before, because it's going to be rough, brother. I think Brooklyn's one of those teams, too, that's going to make a lot of headway with Tanki and essentially being eliminated from the league, is if they have no reason to shut it down in March and April, they're going to steal a lot of those. What was the new rule now? They didn't really change. It's essentially three, two, one. So your odds are the best if you're kind of in, like, four through 12, I think, worst record. You don't want to be in the bottom three, and you don't want to be, like, in the play-in hunt. But if you're, like, firmly in, like, 11th in the east, that's the sweet spot. Yeah, so there's basically flattened out. And they basically, if you finish the worst, they basically get flattened down to two longer. That makes sense. So what they're saying is that, like, you, it's penalizing. See, that's-- well, no, I got to play. The play-in games are like, I would have-- I mean, I might have made it so that the play-- like, if you're finishing it like 3/10, you get an extra ball. I might have made it so-- Yeah, I was the same way. I would have preferred that. Yeah, I thought I'd be further going on a snake drafting. But like, you know, that makes it interesting, because that means that, like, when I do my modeling, I'm going to assume that the floor on wins is going to be higher. I don't know if any team is going to be, like, that bad as that. I don't think anybody's going to go on win the 18th game. That's exactly what I thought. I picked Sacramento Kings to go over, because they're 21 and a half. And I just-- I don't think any teams only win in 21 games this year, as bad as they can. Oh, man. Show me that Kings roster, brother. It's ugly. Get ready. He said, like, isn't Ben Simmons the best player? A little guy. Ben Simmons is, I think, by far the best defender on the team. Got that scrolled over too far there. They got a couple of games. Deontre on it. Oh, subonus. The best-- oh, subonus. Subonus is definitely the best player on it. Yeah, you got Sacklobe. You got Sacklobe in the subonus. That's-- I mean, Deontre on dirt. That's-- I mean, I don't know. It's actually pretty bad. I don't know if it's bad. It's bad, but it's bad. Is it 21 wins, bad? I don't know. I think it's not 21. I think it's there. I think I'd go. What did they win last year? I'm pulling it up. The King's last year won. 22. Oh, OK, so they changed the tanky ones. And subonus was kind of-- I think subonus first-- I think subonus won. I think subonus is mostly here. It's mostly 19 games, so I need to have subonus. And so I mean, I think they're going to have-- they're going to have-- if they're somewhat healthy, I think that-- and I think also Golden State is worse, right? So a couple of the Golden State is worse, the Clippers are worse, right? So the Clippers are a shit show right now. They have only-- Everything around them got worse. So I feel like you got a factor in the Grizzlies, probably a little bit better. Manifax might be a little bit better. Yeah. Jazz-- I don't know. I'm up and down on the jazz. They could be around the same or a little bit better. I think that-- I mean, is Danny actually going to start playing this year? I mean, I don't think he's quite ready to-- They have to. They try to do their picks. Yeah. They don't have their pick this year. So they got to go all in, because they went for-- what's his name, Jan Jackson? Oh, Daniel, Jesus Christ. Why did you do that, too? Yeah, I did not move that move. Yeah, I did not like that move at all. I mean, I understood it. But-- Well, the thing is, the thing with Danny that always, like, you have to understand, is Danny's a sucker for a player that reminds him of himself, right? And people forget Danny was like a two sports, six-six guy, right? Like, people forget that Danny ain't just like, he is one of the great athletes. If you fucking-- so he was an actual legit MLB player. Like, he was a star. He's like an actual good MLB player. That's crazy. If he'd actually-- he probably, if he wasn't doing the double career-- like, he probably could've been like, in every day, a player in the MLB. He actually did play for the-- sorry, for the blue dude. And again, I think part-- I mean, obviously, if you're doing both, it's kind of hard. It's kind of insane. It's like him and D.O., right? And like, guys doing like MLB as well. And both Jackson, right? And I think, like, oh, it's the player reminds Danny of himself, like, Jesus Christ. You're going to take a shot with him. Yeah, I got his painting for sure, so I'll allow it. Well, painting's a shorty. Pain's like, what? I think it's like three or four inches short. For like five, two. Yeah, he's like, is he-- isn't painting like six-one? Oh, yeah, I'll let it-- I could-- yeah. Six-one and six-one and six-one and six-one and six, basically. We like the-- we like the shorties actually do a lot of these. OK, so, huh. OK, since we're moving on on this, right, let me ask you, what is-- if you have to pick, like, a story out in the-- like, a thing that's going to be much, much better for much, much worse than people think? So I think-- I see a lot of people kind of dismissing Detroit. And I don't really understand that. Because they won fucking 60 games. And there's been a very consistent growth pattern in that team. And they've been pretty rapid. And I think one, they understand one who they are as a team. They're going to, you know, defend the shit out of, you know, for 48 minutes or 82 games, regardless of who's out there. They-- they're-- they remind me-- I mean, they're obviously not as good, but I feel like, defensively, they have the talent of OKC, where they can just bring in waves of just demon defenders. Kade cunning him, had an awesome season last year. If he takes a leap as a cheater, specifically, I think if he takes a leap as a-- just as a pull-up shooter, he can just up his volume on, you know, taking threes off the bounce. And if you just get more comfortable with those shots, I just feel like they have-- they're the team. I would say I would be most worried about in the East, just because they think size and their athleticism. I think that 49 and 1/2 number is silly for them. So you're saying that the pistons are 10 and 1/2 games worse than last year. And I thought getting rid of Tobias for John Collins is a good move. He fits way better with how they want to play. They want to play fast. He can-- he's a good lob target for Kade. He's a 40% shooter. I mean, you get Isaiah Joe, who's a knockdown shooter. Ealy-- he existed in a defensive-- he existed in OKC. He got on the floor in OKC. He's not-- I mean, I think they're probably on the whole-- I think they're slightly worse if you just-- if you assume that they're not going to get better for me, but I don't assume that because there's a lot of employers and they're improving. I think that their division got worse outside of India, right? I think India got way better. I think Cleveland's worse. I think Milwaukee's way worse. I think Chicago is fucking Chicago. Yeah, and so I think that 49 and a half is kind of insulting. This is okay. I, you can, I can talk myself like it's very easy for me to see how the distance win 56 games. Yeah, easy things from, it is thinking like, like how do, how do the pistons win 45? Like, the main has to die basically. Yeah, absolutely. Like, it's boring like a catastrophic injury. Like, what are we, what are we doing here? It's fun. And I really liked getting rid of beach too. And I like beach too as a player. But Paul Reed, it just way better think Paul is a way, way, way, way, way. They way better player. I mean, Kate, Kate is 24 coming off career season. And essentially, he's, he's just going into his prime because basketball players have, typically have the best seasons like when they're 26, 25, 26, 26, 26. So he had like this crazy season as 24. But he's like set up to have that. And again, he's going to be beating up on plumbers a lot in that situation. So I'm like, I'm like, shit, man. I don't know, like, I mean, like, they, they have the next numbers last year. They will beat, every time they played the next, it was not, it was non-dependent. And it is, I think like a match of wise, I don't think the next, I think the nicks are not well suited to guard a team like Detroit. They're not well suited to guard a team like Boston really. When you get a guy like Tatum or Cade, who can kind of put Brunson and Kat in action, and you can attack either, either you're going to swish it. And I'm going to attack Kat or I'm going to get Brunson on me. And I'm going to back him down the drain just bully the fuck out of them. I mean, I made a bunch of money in the, in the wells because I knew that Detroit, the Orlando was a bad match of Detroit. Yeah, yeah. And I knew that like the nicks would have been a bad match for, like, the pistols would have been a bad match for the nicks, right? And then once that didn't happen, like, essentially, like, the nicks I had, the nicks, like, not advanced, like, I had the nicks once the truck was out. I was like, no, once the truck is out, the plant is clear, because the team that like gives them fits is out, right? It was very much a, and it was just a thing with the pistols. Their problem was like, they just didn't find out enough shooting. And they added, I say to Joe, which is interesting. I don't know that they still, I still think that the playoffs series, they still don't quite have it yet, but they're very much team that like profiles to me, like a team that's probably going to make fun of this. That's right. That one, we've seen this pattern before. They had the big season, it's a little bit this point in the playoffs. I think next season is, oh, they're going to make the conference time, it's right, problem. And they're kind of over a little bit overlooked. I mean, I think what's, I mean, like, you know, we can talk about like the, in that, if we're talking about the central, I mean, like, I think there, it's the pistons and then, I mean, go to Cleveland real quick before I like get to the, yeah, it's the pistons in Cleveland, and then there's not a whole lot. And then, you know, we're going to talk about the series. Yeah, we're going to talk about it in the end, a little bit. Yeah, Andy is an interesting team. I think Cleveland is, is how good is James Harden still? So they won 52. I like getting paid in once in a while. I just don't really like anything they have on the bench. Is my, my problem with them? It comes down to a worse than last year. It does come down to how good James Harden is. I still think the calves go, are going to go as Evan Moby grows. And if he's the same guy, he's been for the last, you know, two or three years, then it's going to be a toss up whether they can, you know, they, they, okay, they got to the Eastern Conference final, but I mean, it wasn't that impressive. Like they, they squeezed by two series that, I don't know, in my opinion, I think they, they should have lost versus the triangle. And they probably should have lost versus Detroit. I think I think, I think Arturo was saying when we were talking playoffs at there, they had the worst, worst record you could possibly have as a conference finalist, because they, they went seven, seven, and then got swept in the conference finalist. It's terrible. They lost 10. What do I mean, like they shouldn't, like the only reason they lost, they lose, because like, I mean, like Toronto kept insisting on Brandon, I'm Brandon Ingram. And it was right. And it was like, every time Brandon Ingram was on the floor and Jan and Dern. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I think I'm gonna look up. I think Brandon Ingram's on off was insane. It was all over. He was like, he was like, I was like looking to go like, what in the fucking world? Okay, so he's on off stats for the playoffs last season, because those were insane. So 25, 26. Okay, so playoffs, the minute I love it almost. So the, the, the, the, the calves were six points better, right? When he was off for four. And then like, it's the same thing, it's in season in the playoffs. And I think it was much, much worse in the, in the, in that series. So it's, it's, it's, it's, that's how I said, this is why Adam Kauai is like a big deal. Like, if you like, if you thought to go, why on that thing, that thing's like significantly better. Like, like, do we think Cleveland is better or worse than they, than last year? As I said, they were, I mean, like Vegas would seriously think they're worse. So Vegas is saying like, this team is, I think compared to each, they are worse, but they're more or less the same team, just the conference. Well, I mean, I think the, I think also the assumption is that James Harden is better than Garland. No, no, James Harden is how long this point? James Harden is 40. In James Harden is 37 and it's, it's a bit of a rustler, he said. We, it's going to be interesting. I think that's going to be interesting. I think that mobile is a guy who was like, I was super high on mobile when we came in. He was in, he's like, he is an insane defensive wrestler. Like, he's a guy who defends extremely well, has from the start and is a foul. Everything else hasn't really developed and really is kind of stagnant, right? So yeah. I think I, I'm leaning slightly better as a team, but it's going to be outweighed by the EC much better. So it's, I feel like once I do, once I do the, once I do full build, I'm going to be calves over a butt face. Like, yeah, slightly over. I think they're going to like, 48 pull. Yeah, maybe. I can totally see them winning 45 though, right? I can see how the will stall obviously. Yeah, because the middle gets really muddy in the east. Yeah, I'm like, it's just teaming like, okay. So now let's go to more interesting one, which is a pace. Boy, that pace is over. I think that was my favorite, my favorite over under to just smash it. Yeah, I think, I think, I mean, like Carlisle trying, right? And I think the fact that I got Halberton back, um, is this team better or worse than the team from two years ago? Uh, I think they are the same, which is kind of. Sorry, Zubak, Zubak is better to me for this team. Yeah. Theoretically than Turner, but I think relative, like the rest of the roster, like their bench is to me, not that way. And I think last year, that kind of. And people can say, for me, my thing is last last year was a tank job. I mean, they were not, they were basically like last year. Actually, you're from hell because they were the tank job. But when you look at the last two seasons, they were, it wasn't like, they were some 61 jerk, they were 50, you know, 50, 45 win team. And they lost, you know, a top 10 player. So, you know, I'm saying, we're not a good team. They're not live is is is is Halberton, name hard, uh, Ness Smith, who I love former Celtic strategies, forgot it, love it, Siacum and Zubak. I think they're top five, actually, really fucking good. Yeah, I think it's one of the better starting line-ups in the league. And we got like, we got, oh, we top in there, like TJ, you got it. I just don't like these, I don't like the depth. And I think you can't really win. At least right now this year, like me, you see Kelly, we're junior. You're like, oh, Kelly, we're junior, uh, Quinges, I know where he's at. That's not playoff that Ben Shepherd awful, but they're very well coached. That's going to be very well coached. Yeah, my thing is, is they just said, like, they've never been a good defense. They, they topped out what, like, 15. When they have finals, I just feel, I just feel like they're better than 43 now. I don't know. The East is tough, man. If you go, if you go one, 15, when you're straight, you're fine. They won 50 last year, they won 52 years ago. Um, I feel like it's an over. I think like, I could always see this team, like 46, 47 is, I think we're important to see. It depends on how that breaks together. Like, we, it's like some of this calm, this division is, it's a time for us. So it's somehow like, yeah, they're playing the bowls and they're playing the, they're playing the walking, so I think I can. Do you think which team finishes with a better effort? Cleveland or, or, uh, or India? I could see, I could see Cleveland fit. I mean, you know what I'm saying? Cleveland, I think Cleveland gets underrated as a regular season. Cleveland, yeah, in the regular season for the past, you know, since since they gotten down to Mitchell, like this team, 2025, 24, 25, they went 64 games. And obviously they got their ass kicked by the Pacers. But like, it, it, as a regular season team, I just have never been impressed with India. I think their, their playoff success kind of carries them a lot in terms of what they can do. And obviously that's fair because, you know, you go to the finals. You go to the Eastern Campus finals, people are going to assume that you know how what it takes. But obviously, you can only play who you play, but they played in your team both for them, right? Like, they saw Milwaukee, what, in 2014-25, game towards Achilles, and obviously that team's terrible. Then they played Cleveland and all that stuff happened in New York, OG, Tour, or whatever it had heard of hamstring in that series. Even the year before, New York got hurt again. And so like, their playoff success is playoff success. But to me, it's like, there's asterisks on the playoffs. There's asterisks. I'm not under, but I'm not over. I don't know what to think of them, but you know, I wouldn't be surprised if they won 50 games this year and I wouldn't be surprised if they were in the playoffs. I think, I think some of that, it's going to be fun to see them dominate. It's fun to hate LaBron again. You know, it's fun. It is. It's, it's, LaBron is one of my favorite guys to like sports eat and root against. I'm happy he's back in the East because I just, I hope we play the sixers in the playoffs. And I just, I'm like, for me, losing to him in 2018 is one of those like, I really wish we had that. I just really wanted to beat him. And that wants to hear that, that pissed me off so much. I got so mad when he didn't sit. He played all 48 minutes in that game seven. And I just wanted him to take like one four minute break. That's all he needed. And he was like, Nope, I'm playing 48 minutes. What I'm going to say to the audience right now that's been listening, like I've been listening to this whole, you know, this whole presentation by Te Tre and Arturo is, you know, listen, intently, take your notes and you know what I would do. I go to pagerdata.com and, you know, take all this information and really apply them to these AI models that James and our good buddy here, Arturo has worked on over the past couple months for not only the NBA, which we are covering right now, but they also have an AI model for the MLB playoffs. They got one for the NHL. They're doing the NFL. It's, it's, it's sports time, baby. It's round ball time. And I'm absolutely loving what we're watching this year. Absolutely love seeing the Cowboys lose at a bus today also. I also love seeing my, my Dodgers just put, put Atlanta out there, Mr. Misery, love seeing the New York Yankees lose all the time because, you know, I don't like New York Yankees, but, you know, as the fan of these terribly awful, you know, teams who buy their titles, like the Lakers and the, and the Dodgers. It's going to be a good year. It's going to be a good year, but we're all here. Go to pagerdata.com. You know, use, use the information, you use the information there. It's all great. Before you go to the casinos, before you go to, you know, your apps, your Kelsey sets, your, your draft Kings, your fan duels, your prize pigs, all of the above. You know, maybe it takes some time. Do some of these, but also if you have a problem with gambling, go to call 1-800-Gamber.com that just call 1-800-Gamber. Yeah. On some sort of rock. Hope here's open. And that's it. I think anything else we want to mention before we close, because I think we've had almost three hours. He would preview the interview. Yeah, we are at three hours, you know, just like Monday, Nitro. Yeah, you cover it all of it. Well, we had a good vibe, and I thought like he was, well, maybe let's go, let's play 30, baby. Hey, I think we can. We can't escape the Skydance thing, because now Skydance will have access to the Final Four and the NBA All-Star game. Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, like, you know, like, so I guess, I guess TNT actually did get the NBA back, right? Yeah. Somehow, some way. You know, we'll see. I was never a big fan of the NBA coverage on TNT, so I was actually kind of glad when they went back to NBC. Yeah, I thought I would miss it, and I really did them last year. No, I mean, at the point, I thought that like, they weren't really adding anything to the conversation for the last five years, and they weren't really kind of doing that. It's a frustrating thing to me, where like, we, you know, I would follow guys like Trey, and like, there's other guys within like guys like guys, or like guys like Zach Lowe, like, those guys know what they're talking about. And I can actually get real knowledge. And this, it frustrates me when what we get from the coverage is probably the dumbest of any of the major sports in the U.S. right? Really? That's the best. Like, like, one thing I'll always point out is like, I always listen to this Spanish broadcast for NBA games, because generally it's Spanish broadcast is much much smarter. They actually talk about my roles, it's sets, they talk about what they have doing, not like, oh, both teams must play hard, which is just like a really frustrating thing, or like, the current commentary booth is exactly like fucking, I'm playing 2K. In fact, it's less informative than what I'm playing 2K. Well, at least, at least, at least 2K knows the player's name. That's kind of like, yeah. But hey, that's like, oh, God. Anyway, like, I'm not going to go like to frustrated with it. I do wish again. Like, I will say that the NBC coverage might see it's much better than anything you see. That's awesome. Yeah, NBC, it treated the NBA like a thing. They made it feel bigger. They covered it really well. And here's the thing, like, NBC sports are actually like really good at that, because something I call, they didn't really job wrestling when they were doing WWE. They made it feel like a big thing, and I think they did the same thing with it. Yeah. And it's important that like, your TV part, John Tesch, yeah, yeah, they treat it like a big fucking thing, and they treat it as a fact, and like, they treat the audience like they're not completely none at once. And it actually like comes out like a bunch of, and hopefully that will continue, right? Like, you'd be better coverage. Yeah. Yeah. This will, this will be awesome. But, you know, we've come to the end of the show. Uh, Trey, if people wanted to follow you, where can they follow you? Follow me on Twitter, T-A-T-O-L-I-S-E-R-I-G, follow my sub-stack. I don't have the link, but I think my, I'm just going to Twitter. Yeah. And also, like, if you're a Celtics fan, you should follow it. Like, I do, and it is always like fun. Yeah. As a Celtics, as a Celtics hater, I have to follow what my enemies are doing. Yeah. Um, just giving me the signal. Uh, Arturo, I know you can follow you at American numbers on Twitter. Trey, uh, you have on your YouTube, TKZT, YKZY, a bunch of hours, it's like FNBA content for you. Uh, yeah. At this spreadsheet, we've all been looking at as my spreadsheet. I got it up on my video. I talked about her talk, we just spreadsheet. So you can have another hour of NBA content there if you want. Yeah. And, uh, as I say on every show I do here, uh, we are very thankful for you to listen to us. But, um, we're desperately out of time. And we will see you next time. I have listened and enjoyed the prescriptions capacity for yapping and the absurd. And though we are worlds apart, like us, there is more that meets the eye. I am Optimus Prime. And I send this message to any intelligent being. We are here. We are listening. See you next time.