Lakers-Nets Trade Grades, Kings Fire Mike Brown & Bold 2025 NBA Predictions
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You can't see me. You can't see me. You can't see me. We can't see John Cena, but this man doesn't even need to see the hoop to make the shot with his strong-ass jumper. That's a walking goat right there, man.

Good morning, sweet world! And welcome to the No Dunks Podcast on The Athletic Network. It's Monday, December 30th, 2024. I'm J.E. Skeets, back in the Classic Factory and alongside me, as always, Tess Millis. Podcast listeners!

This is for you! Next to him, it's the bearded one, my top shot hot boy, Trey Kirby. Ayo! Ayo! And over yonder, making the magic happen, super producer, filling in for JD, it's Eshwa Kid. How y'all doing? What's up, Esh? Good to see everyone, back from the holidays. Good times? Everybody get what they wanted for Christmas? Sure. Okay? Good stuff? Yeah, man. I asked for a giant sweater. Got it. Came through.

I'm going to ask for new headphones because mine are crapping out on me here. Uh-oh. Yeah. Uh-oh. Yeah. So, hey, JD, bring me back some new headphones, please. We got lots to talk about. We got to talk about the Kings firing head coach Mike Brown. We got some winners of the NBA weekend. Got a few year-end questions, seeing as this is our final show in 2024 as we get set for 2025. But first, I turn to the Southern lawyer. We got all sales.

Oh, there he is. Good to have you, good sir. Yeah, the Los Angeles Lakers have agreed to a trade, sending D'Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis, and three second-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shaq Milton. This one going down on the weekend. So the Lakers, key piece being DFS.

He comes to them as a 3 and D guy and obviously D'Angelo Russell going back to Brooklyn. This guy's had a very weird career playing twice for the Lakers and now twice for the Brooklyn Nets. But what do you think? Let's talk about this and give it some trade grades, I guess.

Well, the Lakers win this thing because they get Dorian Finney-Smith. Everybody wants a Dorian Finney-Smith for Christmas or for whenever. Dorian Finney-Smith is just a very good basketball player to have on your team. He would work on every single basketball team. And that's why this is only the second time he's been traded in his career. He started for the Dallas Mavericks as an undrafted guy, played there for six and a half years.

just the perfect guy to have on your team to play extremely hard on the defensive end and shoot the three ball, of course. But they had to go get Kyrie Irving, so they had to put him in a trade. And Brooklyn wanted him, but then they turned bad, and now they got to go a totally different direction, get super bad. So they move on. But this guy guards everybody. The Lakers need somebody. They've been lacking. Without Jared Vanderbilt, they just don't have a perimeter guy to guard anybody. And so this guy is perfect for that. He's the only guy to guard everybody.

guards, forwards, and centers at least 15 times. That's a stat that you don't hear too often, but at least 15 times for each. He'll guard anybody according to second spectrum, and he'll hit shots. He also becomes the Lakers' best high-volume three-point shooter. I mean, it's true. There's shades of Contavious Caldwell Pope playing with Anthony Davis and LeBron James and winning a freaking title here.

they're not as good as they were in 2020, but he is the perfect guy to be exactly that. He's going to shoot a lot, like Contavious Cobble, Pope Hitta, all those threes, the most threes in the playoff run in 2020. This guy's that. This guy's shooting 43.5% from three-point line. I couldn't believe that. Yes, very high on 5.4 attempts per game.

And he's been always a pretty damn good three-point shooter. Then there was a lull, but this is a career year for him right now. Good timing for him to then get moved, I guess, to the Lakers to play with LeBron and AD. Are you as high on this as Tass is? Is DFS and Milton coming to the Lakers? I'm not as high as Tass is because this is like an improved Jared Vanderbilt, the perfect kind of trade for Tass. And it all...

So let's Gabe Vincent get a little bit more shine on the Lakers as well. So a double win for Mellis. But I think this is good for the Lakers. They definitely improved and they did it for pretty cheap. I don't necessarily know that Dorian Finney-Smith even starts for this team. I'm assuming he'll get the opportunity. But you know, LeBron, AD, and Reeves, they're locked in as starters. A big part of the reason this trade even happened is that Austin Reeves has become such a good playmaker, putting back-to-back games.

Double digit assist games up, had the game winner on Christmas Day, followed that up with 16 assists in the Lakers next game. They're comfortable giving him the ball to be a creator. I think Max Christie probably continues to start since he's going to likely be their best perimeter defender. I still think since he's a smaller guy than DFS, DFS is more of a wing defender. Like I saw the stat too about all the players he's guarded. That just tells me that the Nets had nobody to play defense.

Like, he's not the guy you want guarding point guards, which I think will still be an issue for the Lakers because who is their best perimeter defender now? At the guard spot, I guess it's Reeves. I guess it's Christie. Maybe Gabe Vincent is the guy. There's still question marks there, but...

I don't know. I think the Lakers did good here to only give up three second round picks, which, you know, could be juicy in the future, assuming LeBron and AD eventually fall off and those picks maybe end up in the high 30s, something like that. That'd be a good get for the Nets. So I think this definitely helps the Lakers. They've got nobody else to handle the ball outside of LeBron and Reeves right now. That's a question to me. But doing this for only second round picks and...

And yes, D'Lo's contract is big, so they can't maybe get the salary together as easily. But they've got picks, first-round picks that they can trade. You get a player who could actually help them really move the needle. Because I think Dorian Finney-Smith is helpful, but he doesn't really change their outlook here. Yeah, well, Lakers GM Rob Palenka, man of his word. I remember when he said, we're going to wait 30 games

to see what we have with this team. We'll evaluate the roster, and then we'll make upgrades around that mark. So it was like, what, 31 games or something like that. So he did do that. He gets DFS. Now, the other part of this for LA, which is nice, creates salary and luxury tax flexibility, moving $3.5 million below the second apron.

which could be important, obviously, in making another move. Finney Smith makes $15.4 million player option for next season. That'll be fascinating to see what he does with that. You'd sort of expect him to test the market and then maybe get a new deal with the Lakers. But yeah, for just three second round picks, and then obviously D'Lo, who they've been trying to trade for months on end here, pretty good haul. They still have two first round picks and one second, the Lakers do, if they want to try and upgrade, what, the center position?

Is that maybe where they would look to next? Because Boo-ha says the plan, according to team sources, is see what this group looks like with Finney Smith in the fold, and once all their injured players are actually back,

Vanderbilt, Christian Wood, I guess, and then see, you know, what they could do maybe ahead of the trade deadline. That's sort of what Boo-Ha's reporting with The Athletic. Yeah, they're still desperate. I mean, they're still desperate for the big guy spot and the ball handlers. I mean, that is a worry as much as I love Gabe Vincent.

It's a lot on Austin Reed's shoulders right now, right here, right now. And I know he's been playing better lately, and he had a game winner. I mean, maybe that's why they do this, but they are a little desperate in that side of things and the big guy spot. Yes, Jackson Hayes might come back, sure, but this ain't Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee winning a title. I mean, this is their weakness, that's for sure, but they just wanted to get tougher and scrappier, and I think a guy like

Doreen Finney-Smith, who almost got into a fight with OG Ananobi a month ago. I mean, they like that type of thing. And so that's going to help them. What's interesting from the Nets side, I mean, they had a juicier package than what they got for Doreen Finney-Smith. I know D'Angelo Russell is fine and all that, but they had apparently a top 15 protected first round pick offered from the Grizzlies with Luke Kennard, Jon Conchar,

That's a juicier pick. You're surprised they didn't take that to what you're getting at. Yeah, what they did, they wanted money to come off the books right here and right now in D'Angelo Russell's contract. He's expiring. Done. Contrar signed through next year, so there's some money that would have been on their books. But,

The only reason is they just want to be able to sign. I don't know who they're signing. Who are they signing? Is it a Jimmy Butler deal that they're going to push, go all in for? I mean, I don't know. But Sean Marks just wanted to have the books free, and that's what happened here. Were you shocked by, again, these reports? I think Mark Stein first won on that with the Grizzlies sort of proposal there, including that top 15, maybe top 17 protected first round pick, and then the deals. I got a Michael Scato as opposed to Jeff Barnes. I'm taking a Mark Stein over a Scato any day of the week, my man.

I got a Ricky Gervaiso that said it was a top 18 protected. But honestly, like the Grizzlies are pretty good right now. The pick is going to be in the mid 20s. And guess what? The next second round pick, which they would have had to send to the Grizzlies, is going to be in the low 30s, like 33. So we're talking about an eight spot difference. It really doesn't matter in that case, especially once you get into the guaranteed contracts.

side of things, Conchar being signed for longer. All the Nets want to do is be bad. They traded Mikhail Bridges so that they could tank. Unfortunately, they won a bunch of games with Dennis Schroeder and stored a DFS in town. I don't think he's actually been winning them games, but Dennis Schroeder certainly was. They shut both those guys out. They're going to be one of the worst teams in the league, and maybe they can run back like a Jordan Farmer-Johan Petros sort of deal because literally who are they going to sign? It doesn't matter. They need to have some lottery luck to really turn around the franchise in Brooklyn.

I bet they win yesterday with Dorian Fittiesmith. Did you see Jordy Fernandez? Nets head coach after the game said, we just needed one more grown-up to bring the guys together and calm everybody down. They needed somebody to score a basket. That ain't Dorian Fittiesmith. Well, they had a 20-point lead. They scored four points in the last eight minutes. We'll talk about it. Yeah, we can talk about it.

Yeah, not now. So let's hear from you. Do you think they should have the Nets maybe lean towards that grisly sort of deal with at least protect first round pick? I guess Conchar, right, has, I mean, it's not a big contract, but.

No, it's money. Guaranteed money, yeah. Yeah, it's some guaranteed money. My question is, yes, they've got lots of money freed up, but the free agency market ain't amazing. Well, I'm sort of with Trey. That's like a problem for another day, to be honest. It's let's be bad and let's get some lottery luck and land one of these hopefully generational talents in this apparently loaded draft. I mean, that's the plan, and maybe Cam Johnson is even next year to be definitely.

dealt to really lean into it. And maybe they get a first round pick for that. But they traded for D'Angelo Russell and the Grizzlies trade. They would have got Luke Kennard and John Conchar. Are they plus six wins? I don't think so. D'Angelo Russell is the perfect guy to have on your team. If you're tanking, he's going to score 25 a game and take 20 shots a game, just like Cam Thomas is doing. And they're going to lose it in the fourth quarter. Like that's if they even keep them around, they could cut them. They could trade them for like another second round pick. Uh,

But I don't think D'Angelo's not winning this team a lot. No, and neither are Luke Kennard and John Contra. I mean, this is just to lose and to clean the books. That is for sure. 2017, Brooklyn received D'Angelo Russell the last time. And Timofey Mozgov from the Lakers in a trade for...

Big man, big man. Who went down? Brooke Lopez went back. Brooke Lopez and the number 27 pick who turned into? Kuzma. Kyle Kuzma, that's right. Good trade. He's not Kaep Lopez. Yeah, that's right, that's right. So we will see here what happens next. Is this some sort of like little domino? I saw Mark Stein did report that players like Valanchunas, Malcolm Brogdon, Kelly Olenek, Bruce Brown, who returned for the Raptors, cowboy hat off, uniform on, Jordan Clarkson, these are players that are expected to be available for

for second round compensation. You know, maybe similar to what just happened with DFS going to the Lakers. And if you're keeping track and you know Bobby Marks is, Brooklyn now has 31 draft picks in the next seven years. That's very OKC Thunder like. I think it's maybe one less, but they have 15 first round picks, the Nets do, and then 16 second round picks. So that's how you get to 31 right now. So that's definitely the game plan here in the tear it down and rebuild it back up here.

We will see what happens with the next move. Hopefully this is just setting up to be at least an exciting trade down. There's a lot of movement at least. Sounds like a lot of second round picks being traded for guys that you've heard of. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Will there be a big splashy name in one of the Bulls players even or an Ingram or something like that? Or Fox, of course. I know we'll get into the Kings in a second. Yeah, I don't know how big it gets. I think it'll get slightly bigger. John Collins. Okay. Slightly bigger.

He could go for a second round pick. It feels like that's the price right now. Prices are definitely going down. Schroeder went for second rounders. Dorian Fittiesmith went for second rounders. And they did those deals early, which makes you think the deals... They're not expecting the offers to get better in the next two months. So, I mean, like maybe...

like first round pick swaps for some of the guys who are former all-stars. I don't know, but it feels like maybe a buyer's market here. If you actually want to trade some kind of stuff because nobody wants bad money on their books. That's the main thing is that you can't have bad contracts on your books in the new CBA, which is probably also why the Nets did this. They don't want to get screwed. Just having John Contra around messing up their books for no reason when he's not going to be a big player for them in the future. I think also like Cam Johnson is,

If they really are like, we are getting rid of everything, like it's an absolute fire sale, I think he warrants a first-round pick or a swap. But whether or not they're like, we need to keep some talent or we'd like to see come real players around here, we'll see. Moving on to what was the biggest news of the weekend until the trade. On Friday, the Sacramento Kings fired head coach Mike Brown less than halfway through his third season with the team. Now GM Monty McNair called the move a difficult decision. That's why he did it over the phone.

The guy was in a car driving with a damn plane to board with his team to go to LA. But he thanked Brown for his work. Assistant Doug Christie took over as interim coach and he was already handed his first L there on Saturday night versus the Lakers, who they just cannot beat. So not a great start there for Doug Christie, but your reaction to the Kings firing another coach in Mike Brown here amid that five game losing streak at home after they had gotten back to 500.

The timing is painful, that's for sure. They did it on a Friday news dump and Friday evening, as you said, on the way to an airplane. The worst part is they lose Thursday night. He comes in, has a practice on Friday, runs the whole thing. And then after a press conference that he holds, he gets ready for the plane.

And they said, nah, nah, you're not getting on that plane. We're going with Doug. They changed it to Doug Christie. This is a guy who signed an extension six months ago. And now they were a 13-13 team. And you said that five-game losing streak. I mean, I think they're doing it, frankly, because he has lost the locker room to some degree. The guys in the locker room just don't love him all that much. And they're going with a guy in Doug Christie who –

As a former player and has been there with the Kings, can't just boss everybody around. They think Wes Wilcox and Monty McNair in the front office, I like saying Wes Wilcox, that they will be throwing a guy in there that can hold the locker room together a little bit. But as the Nuggets head coach Michael Malone said, no balls, no class. That part of it is...

It's true. I mean, it's difficult to look at this and say, the guy just had a five-game losing streak. He just gave him an extension, and he's on his way to the airport. And you call him on the phone. I mean, it is a Friday news dump, and that's the whole point. And if they don't lose that fifth game, where De'Aaron Fox fouls Jay Niby, which wasn't a foul. I don't know how you call that foul from the position of that referee there. I mean, I thought we got...

I thought we got rid of those pump fake jump to the left fouls. I mean, that's a dumb call. Anyway, if that call isn't made, I don't think this happens. It is about the losses. You're saying if the Kings win that game and snap the streak. Probably. But he has lost the locker room to some degree, even though the stats say this team is fine and okay. So that's what it's all about.

Fine and okay used to be so good for the Sacramento Kings, but they made the playoffs one year, so expectations changed. They won 48 games that year. Mike Brown, unanimous coach of the year, which is crazy to look back at because you're like, I remember when you were the coach of the Lakers. Didn't go well. I remember when you were the coach of the Cavs. Didn't go well at the end there, but caught

lightning in a bottle and decided we got to try and play defense when in reality they probably should have went even harder offensively. The rest of the Western Conference got better. They won 46 games the next year. Basically the same team. Yeah. Nothing really changed. They finally made a move this year bringing in DeMar DeRozan, shipping out Harrison Barnes and it hasn't gone well. I think Tass is right. The Kings, Mike Brown in particular, has lost the locker room. You saw him calling out De'Aaron Foxx.

After the game against the Pistons, but even games prior to that, he was getting really frustrated calling out the team saying, we're not locked in here. We're not given the right sort of effort, paying attention to detail. We're not doing any of that kind of stuff, which you should do if you're trying to be a good defensive team. But again, I'm saying I don't think they should have tried to be a good defensive team.

That was the problem the entire time. You had a defensive head coach who had a great offensive team. Didn't make sense. Mike Brown still got screwed, just like Michael Malone got screwed once upon a time. And this is why the Kings missed the playoffs for 16 years. They hit...

a tough patch and they fired their coach. Right, right. You got to have some sort of stability to actually be able to string together playoff appearances. And that should be enough for the Kings after missing it for again, 16 straight years, they got back lost in seven games and they're not going back. Yeah. I mean, it's like, it's not a stretch to say Mike Brown was their best coach since Rick Adleman in terms of winning percentage and six team success. Yeah, sure. Of course. I mean, it's not even close. So yeah, I'm with you. But they fired him before that was the case.

Yeah, exactly. Because they're emotional and they, and it's all Vivek Ranadive, who it feels like to me is the ones like, yo, what happened to our number one offense? I liked that basketball. That was way more fun. What, why are we even trying to play defense and what's going on here? And why are we losing all these home games in this new arena? We built like, it feels like it was just reactive, similar to what the Maloofs used to do, where it's just like this overturn of their head coaches. Now, now Brown, look, he publicly criticized Fox. Yeah.

Obviously, this admits Fox saying, hey, what's the plan here, GM? What's the plan here, front office and ownership? Like, where are we going? What's going on with my deal? And what are we doing to improve this team? So this is the part where I'm like rolling my eyes. Like, I think Fox is gone anyway. Like, he's going to be toast anyway. So I think this was maybe stupid to let Mike Brown, at least he's trying to keep players accountable. I think you can go overboard in today's NBA where you have these superstars who some –

have thin skin uh for sure especially when the losing is happening winning fixes everything and no one cares there but i don't know i think they're gonna look back and go well yeah michael malone we remember when we canned his ass he went on to win a title dave jagger's doing pretty well we've got we had him once upon a time he go like it's mike brown is a good coach at least in terms of getting results in the regular season he's proven that for a long time now so pretty silly here and now we just hand it to doug gristie i mean it's like

Okay. Like he wrote some words on the board, you know, joy together. I forget what the third one was, but it was just as cheesy. And it's like, then they got out and they went and had like their worst defensive game of the season against the Lakers. I don't think it fixes anything is my point. Over our Jay Triano, who is their lead assistant, Doug Christie just jumps over him and takes the spot.

Because they think he'll have the locker room a little bit more than Mike Brown, who I think we've got to be clear about. When he goes into press conferences, definitely has called those guys a ton. After Rich Paul, Darren Fox's agent came and sat there in front row and was there to talk with the front office about Darren Fox's future. And after that game, it was Mike Brown saying –

listen, you got to have two feet in the circle, not one foot in one foot out. I mean, he was talking about, I think he was talking about Darren Fox and, and over and over he was going at Fox. So maybe Fox just went front office that I don't like this guy. He also called out. It's a bonus. And so maybe it's that maybe he just extended too far when it comes to postgame press conferences.

And that's it. Well, Darren Fox doesn't feel guilty. His answer was, you know, when asked about it, I was like, well, this is the NBA. It's a shrewd business. Don't worry. He gets paid. Basically, I'm paraphrasing here. Us players get coaches fired all the time. What's the big deal? But it's like embarrassing for a franchise. It's just another reason why you're like, oh, this is why there's been no stability and no success for decades here. Because this is how this front office operates.

It's like they're just on a whim, just suddenly like, oh, I guess somebody doesn't like him. Oh, my God, we're losing some games. Okay, get him out of here because suddenly we have expectations that maybe you got a little too far over your skis as well. There's that part. Ziller, who's obviously a noted Kings fan, he wrote, the thing about the Kings under Ranadive is that everyone is a mood swing away from being fired. This is just bad management.

There was no reason to fire Brown right now, no matter how disappointing this season has been. Went on to say he called it dumb and impulsive, which again sort of has been a characteristic of this front office for a while now. And the prior front office. It's sort of just been a trend there in Sacramento. So Doug gets a go. And it wasn't even like the season wasn't bad when they were 13-13. I mean, yes, they'd like to be more than 13-13. But it really was that five-game losing streak. Now it's six. That's long. That's super long. And they said, hey...

It's time to go. And maybe, yeah, who knows how high this went and whether it was Vivek Ranadive telling his front office that we got to go because he seemed to be mad apparently when they were getting spanked by Tyrese Halbern in this five-game losing streak coming back to Sacramento after the trade and giving it to them. And he was mad. Sideline. How are we getting spanked by this? They got killed by that team. So that's the interesting part.

I'd like to know how much Vivek was involved. Yeah, I mean, the reporting is that this was a Monty and Wes call, right? But doesn't totally feel like it. I'll say that. Though, from that perspective, from the Vivek Ranadive perspective, it's like Monty McNair and Wes Wilcox aren't going to fire themselves. And they're the ones who signed Sabonis to an extension instead of doing some kind of a move. They're the ones...

that brought into Rosen when everybody's like, you're bringing in this guy who eats up all these possessions and plays slow for a fast playing team. They stood pat after the 48 win season. It didn't make any sense, but they're not going to fire themselves. They like making millions of dollars. Yeah. It's a good gig. It's a sweet gig. Yeah. You know, it's got to get a do. It's gotta be the coach's fault. Uh,

Because we've eroded the depth of this roster. Did we hire him? Yeah. Did we give him an extension? Yeah. But it's not our fault. Yeah. And then to circle back to the beginning part, you're like, how this news broke and how sort of like, what the hell, that's how you told him he was fired is pretty damn gross. Where he gets a chance to obviously...

the team in practice. There's like tons of video of him talking to Fox. So we obviously had a one-on-one with him about what went down at the end of the game. I'm sure about his comments. I'm sure about everything with Fox and Rich Paul and his camp and then has like what a 15 plus media scrum. Yeah.

which Mike Brown loves to do. And it's pretty damn good at it and entertaining for sure. Especially for us content creators. Like he says a lot and he'll like tell people, like he'll call people out of course. And he'll tell and explain his schemes and stuff like that. And then he gets on the, you know, in his car to go to the plane. And then that's when they do it. It's like, that's pretty, that is no class. Yeah. Like that's what a shitty organization does. You don't hear that from the well-run organizations. No. Yeah.

Yeah, and I wanted Mike Brown to pull out the laptop like he did at the press conference once to show everybody that Jaden Ivey foul at the end of the Pistons game was bull crap. I hated that. I hated where that referee called it from. You can't see the play through Darren Fox's body. That's impossible. Mike Brown should have pulled out the laptop. That should never have been put in the position for them to make that crappy call. You know what I mean? The way they played it.

Because they had talked about it. Reckless closeout. Yes, exactly. Reckless, indeed. So we'll see. We'll see what happens here in Sacramento. Man, light the beam, baby. Those were the good days. That felt like now an eternity ago, but it was two years ago. Yep. Maybe the Kings are just the Bulls. One playoff appearance. You got a guard who's represented by Clutch who...

Makes all-star teams, but not the greatest all-star. You got DeMar DeRozan and you got a big international center who can't play defense. Wow, there's a lot of similarities. One playoff appearance for the Bulls. You're right, you're right. But their stability, man. They didn't fire their coach, Billy Donovan. That's right. It's working out perfect. 107 and 88 for Mike Brown. Better than Billy. Yeah, better record than Billy. In a Western conference, that is good, of course, especially when you compare it to the Kings coaches of years prior.

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Let's get to some winners of the NBA weekend. Let's turn a little positive here. TK, we'll just do one round of this because I do want to do some year-end questions. Your big winner of the NBA weekend. Cole Anthony, Tristan Da Silva, and the Orlando Magic get a winner for me. 21-point comeback against the Nets. Lacking Dorian Finney-Smith.

Nets were up by 17 with 7 minutes left and they scored 4 points in the final 7 minutes of this game. Zero of them on made shots. They got 4 free throws. Two of them were off a screen foul and the other two were off a loose ball foul. Literally not even getting shot attempts because they don't have a point guard right now. No, uh,

Dennis Schroeder, obviously. He's been traded. But Dennis... Tristan Da Silva and Cole Anthony were sweet for the Magic. Da Silva might have won Rookie of the Year last night. Oh, boy. Ten points in the final seven minutes. He was basically running the show for the Magic.

who have nobody out there because Jalen Suggs went out in this game as well. He's got a right wrist sprain. Cole Anthony didn't even play in the first half of this one, but they dusted him off because they needed something to happen. Five points, two assists in the fourth quarter. Had a game winner as well. And that was a weird play because it looked like it was supposed to go to Tristan Da Silva. So he was just sprinting for like, you know, the Iverson cut. He's going to catch the ball at the other wing.

They cut it off. So he just keeps running and he ran into whoever was defending Cole. Anthony was like a running fullback screen. It looked awesome. Got an easy layup for Cole Anthony and he got the winner there. But like I said, uh, kind of a bummer for the magic to lose yet another player in Jalen Suggs. He's going down. Obviously Franz Wagner, uh, is out right now. Magic are four and five since he went down. Mo Wagner lost in the meantime as well. Uh,

The only good news, I suppose, for the Magic is that Paolo is ramping up his rehab. Paolo Boncaro might be back. They say still, though. It's going to be a couple of weeks, but I'm impressed the Magic are still top four in the Eastern Conference despite all these injuries. And they're just kind of staying afloat because they can play defense, completely shut the Nets down. They had nobody to make plays for them. And then just enough scoring to pull out the win. Tristan Da Silva.

Tristan Da Silva. I was like, this guy is bringing the ball up. They're giving it to him on the elbow every time down. And he was making it happen. I know the Cavs have the best record still in the NBA. So Kenny Atkinson would deserve a lot of love. And then,

I guess maybe the Grizzlies with a really good record. But I feel like Jamal Mosley has got to be one of the frontrunners for Coach of the Year, just how he continues to get this team to victories despite guy after guy after guy going down to injury. I feel like we're one week away from us saying –

Goga Batasi might be an all-star. I swear, like, three good games here together in a row, and we might be saying that he was awesome with this game. But, yeah, what do you think of the Magic continuing to do it? Goga almost got his wig taken off. He got hit in the head, and that was a hard hit that he took. But no matter the hits, this team just gets up and keeps fighting. They are a scrappy bunch. Jalen Slugs has gotten hurt in a couple games and had to leave games. Doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter. So it is surprising that four and five since Fran's been out. This team is...

He's definitely given Jamal Mosley Coach of the Year candidate for sure. And as I said, Jordy Fernandez, I think he's a little mad that this team was 9-10. Brooklyn, that's 9-10 when they traded Dennis Schroeder. They were ready to be close to 500. But then you trade everybody now. Whoever wants Cam Johnson is available. I mean, that guy deserves a first-round pick for him. He's a damn good player.

Tass, who do you have as a winner of the NBA weekend? I'm going with the Golden State Warriors because I think they have their closing lineup for the rest of the season. Forget about who they start, but they're closing with Curry, Schroeder in the backcourt, Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kaminga, and Draymond Green as your center. It ain't the death lineup, but it's their best five-man unit, and it was pretty good. Jonathan Kaminga, two really good games.

on the weekend. He can come off the bench as Steve Kerr has him, but he plays a ton 37 and 34 minutes and that produced back-to-back 34 point games for him. And you get to see an aggressive Jonathan Kaminga coming off the bench.

because he's playing with the second unit guys to start the game. And I think that helps a little bit. And I think that's part of the play with Steve Kerr. He doesn't have to work around Steph Curry in the offense. He just comes out and just scores. And then he closes games. And he did that pretty well against the Phoenix Suns where they won this weekend. They lost to the Clippers. They didn't have Steph in that game. And then they go beat the Phoenix Suns and they ran a play for Jonathan Kamingo with 30 seconds left. Uh,

in inbound play where he got fouled. He made three big free throws. He got to the rim for tip-in shots at the end there. And I know this Warriors lineup that I just mentioned there with Curry and Schroeder and Wiggins, Kaminga and Green.

It ain't Dynasty Warriors, but it resembles to me the team that everybody compares the Golden State Warriors to in the San Antonio Spurs dynasty a little bit. You know, they're changing who they are, like the Spurs did. It was all Timmy. We're all running inside out with them to start for the Spurs. Then they went to the three-point shot. Then they ran through Kawhi Leonard a good amount. So they are going to run through Jonathan Kaminga and not the guy who comes in

is playing off the split screens like they did with Steph and Clay and hit three point shots, but going through him a little like Kawhi. So I'm making the Spurs dynasty comparison. It is. It's wrong. It's wrong. The Warriors won

four of their last 16 games. They're a slumping team. And it has changed his mind. A couple of weeks ago, it was Kaminga starting. Now, he's coming off the bench. And he's going to continue to come off the bench. He's their manager nobly. Just go through him a bunch of times. So, it is an interesting five-man unit. Will they be able to get... I don't know how far they get. They ain't going to win a championship. But,

The Dennis Schroeder thing is interesting because he's one of the few guys who got traded before December 15th. He still can be part of a deal if they find something juicy out there. There aren't many trades that can happen twice a year, but because he got traded before December 15th now with the new CBA, he could be part of a guy who's a star that they're still looking for because they don't want to be doing Curry, Schroeder, Wiggins, Kamenga, Green. But...

It's not bad. When you look at it, you squint and you look at it. They can play defense. Kaminga was really good against Kevin Durant in that Phoenix Suns game. But that's their closing lineup. It ain't their starting lineup. It's their closing lineup. Is it a showcase still, though, here for Kaminga to move him? And especially with the Lakers now making a deal and as a team they're battling for in terms of position, will they now feel like more...

more like uh inspired to do a deal here right before the trade deadline yes uh i think everything that we see with kuminga from now until the trade deadline is 100% showcase stuff it is better for him to play in small lineups they need as much shooting as they can get on the court for him to have space to work inside so him closing alongside wiggins curry and schruder i think is smart those are the three best outside shooters outside of buddy healed who's

hot when he's hot, but doesn't give you anything defensively. So it's a good environment for Kaminga to be able to play downhill like he likes to do. If he gives an effort defensively, he can make an impact, but I don't think he'll be there in March because I think that he is their best chance of being able to lure somebody who's

gonna maybe move the needle because i'm with you test this is their best looking lineup but it's probably still a play-in team or at the best the back end of the top six and that's likely a first round exit which isn't the point for the warriors uh if they're going to be paying curry and green the next couple of seasons they want to get better and kaminga playing well is good for them for their seating now and also good for them to get some team to be enticed by jonathan kaminga yeah

A couple mini winners of the weekend. The Clippers, you know, you said they did beat the Warriors there. No Curry. But they beat them 102-92 on Friday night. They're now 18-13, the Clips are. And, and, and, and, Kawhi Leonard rumors that he's going to return to the lineup this weekend in 2025 on January 4th is when we might see Kawhi. So that's good. I'll give them a mini winner of the weekend. OKC.

proving that they're clearly the best team in the Western Conference. Like, there is no doubt. They crushed the shorthanded Grizzlies, I will say that, 130-106 for their 11th straight victory. We got to throw that in air quotes. Because, you know, they did lose the NBA Cup game, but it doesn't count. So actual regular season games that matter, that's 11 straight for OKC. But SGA was awesome. He scored 35 points. I don't even think he played in the fourth quarter in the blowout. He's pulled neck and neck with Jokic.

In the basketball reference MVP tracker, I think it's Jokic 40%, you know, chance to win MVP again. And then Shea right there at 38.6%. Shea's numbers have been nuts since that brutal cup game that we saw in person where he was bad, no case he was bad. He's been on fire. They've won 11 in a row. But they haven't. But they have. But they haven't. Yeah, that's weird. But I wanted to give a winner of the weekend to...

fracases. Just a damn fun word to say first off, but we had a couple fracases over the weekend. On Friday night, Yusuf Nurkic, Najee Marshall, PJ Washington.

all ejected after a fracas occurred in the Mavs-Suns game. Fracas or frockets? Yeah, I don't know why I said it with a weird accent. I think priests wear frockets. I watched Conclave. Maybe that's why I said it. Nurk committed an offensive foul when he popped Daniel Gafford with an elbow in the head sort of while he was backing up.

Najee Marshall, man, he took exception to that. And we had a little melee kickoff. Boom! Najee threw a punch. I mean, we don't see a lot of punches thrown in the NBA. He legit threw one. It hit Nurk. And then the following day, we had a bunch of suspensions off of this. Nurk, he got three games for his involvement in the incident. Marshall got suspended four games. Now, I think why he got that extra one. Now, he did definitely throw a punch that connected with Nurkic's face.

He then apparently attempted to further engage Nurkic in the corridors by the locker rooms. So maybe that was like one more for that. Like, hey man, it's over, let it go. And then Washington got one game for further escalating the altercation by shoving Nurkic to the floor. So that was our first fracas. Then last night, man, Ahmed Thompson.

threw Tyler Hero to the floor like a damn rag doll. He had him by the jersey. He just chucked him. Tyler Hero's very light compared to Elmland Thompson. But that kicked off an altercation between the Rockets and the Heat. It resulted in six ejections for that little thing because when the dust settled, we had Thompson, Jalen Greene,

Hero and Terry Rozier all thrown out. And then we had two coaches, Rockets head coach Emei Yudoka and then assistant coach Ben Sullivan. They also got tossed. Before that, Fred Van Vliet got tossed. Like seconds before all this, which is probably what led to this and all the chirping and all that. He bumped, was it accidental or was it not, Mark Davis. And that's enough to get you out of there because they called him for a five-second violation. And Fred's like, I was calling timeout. Mark Davis is like, no, you weren't.

I called five seconds first, and Fred bumped him. Do you think it was accidental? That's one of those ones. He wasn't going to be upset to bump him, but...

It wasn't like chest bump over there. You know, just sort of brushed up against him. Yeah. It was, it was definitely accidental. I think Mark Davis said immediately, I think I couldn't read his mouth, but he basically said, you bumped me. That results in you getting tossed. Yeah. Frederick von fleet. So Fred went, and then this is when like, you know, like 10 seconds later, this whole thing, uh,

kicked off and i assume we'll get some more suspensions absolutely today yeah it was a toss it was a hip toss yeah that was nice he may have done like that i think i think i think both these teams sort of like that yeah we're talking the rockets in the heat here like scrappy bunches step up for your guys um and that's why i'm giving it a win of the weekend you know who else likes it nba fans for the most part

Like, I don't, no one wants to see anyone get like really hurt or anything, but a little animosity.

I'm okay with it. That's what Kyrie said. It's great. After the Suns versus Mavericks, when he's like, it's good for the ratings. People tune in to see fights, I guess. Maybe this is the Fred VanVleet objection was revenge for him trashing all the refs when he got kicked out of a game a couple of weeks ago. They would not forget that. They're not going to give him the benefit of the doubt after he called everybody out and said, you all suck. They're doing it for the brotherhood. That's right. That's quite possible. Did you see Kyrie's face as the Najee Marshall fight? Hilarious. He was like, ratings going through.

I know he was a tough guy, but not like this. Yeah. DJ Washington, that's another guy that will never back down from a fight. And then Nurkic is a guy who gets in a lot of fights. He does. So it was perfect. Yeah. And speaking of referees maybe doing something for the Brotherhood, Ime Udoka also got extremely close to a referee a few weeks ago. But Udoka loves this kind of stuff. He goes to the locker room and says,

Amen. Amen. We had a priest fracas. We've got to get some more. Yeah, why not? He did. He loves that stuff. He said, just don't act like Europeans, as he said about Albert and Shang-Goon. Anyway. Which we still don't know was whether it was a compliment or not. Remember we were like torn on that? Well, I think both ways. Yeah, that's true. It was a compliment sort of. Okay. I'm with you. Yudoka sort of likes this, this identity, this attitude.

The flip side is the Rockets do lose their cool a lot. Yes. And I think it comes from the top down. I think they are sort of taking on Yudoka's personality. And while that can be good and you want to play with that energy and that attitude and that toughness, you can cross the line and guys are going to lose games here.

potentially suspended and stuff like that. And maybe it pays off in the long run because guys come together more, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But, I mean, you can go too far, and they do have a temper, it feels like, to them. They have temper boys. They have some temper boys. We'll get them the t-shirts. Anyway, fracas. Win of the week. It's just fun as hell to say. Franz or frans. I mean... Fracas or fracas. Okay, Hero had a pretty funny line, too, after the game. Because he...

Part of, obviously, the hip toss from Thompson. Funny sunglasses, too. Yeah, that guy loves his crazy shades. He keyed the comeback, though. He was awesome. Tyler Herro scored 27 points. This guy should be an all-star. And he believed that what frustrated Thompson was, quote, I guess that's what happens when someone's scoring, throwing dimes, doing the whole thing. I'd get mad, too. His whole point is, yeah, we stormed back. We took the lead. You couldn't stop me, bro.

And then so, you know, you tossed me. That's right. He's right. He's not wrong. Yeah. I meant Thompson gets suspended. I think he's a suspender. Yeah, do you think that'll be it? Or guys. Maybe Terry Rozier coming in for a little. He came and jumped on. I meant Thompson. So Tyler Hero, you think maybe avoid suspension because he's. He didn't do much. He was mostly flexing it. Arms out. Kangaroo.

That's what I think of. Yeah, yeah. Those ones that come up to, like, windows in Australia. You're like, holy crap, that's a jack kangaroo, man. That guy's scary as hell. You always see them, like, somebody comes in to, like, punch those guys when they're attacking their dog. Don't do it. I wonder if there's a team called the Jackaroos. Like, there's the Jackrabbits, but a jack kangaroo that flexes. Jackaroos. Yeah, I mean, that's cool. Sounds sort of familiar. There might be.

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Let's get to some NBA year-end questions here because this is our final show for 2024. We'll be back later in the week with a drop podcast in the new year. But some questions for you guys. First one, I don't know who wants to go first. Which struggling player or team can ring in the new year on the right foot, right? They can turn the page on maybe a crappy 2024 or a disappointing start to the season and really go in with a fresh set of eyes.

Mine's a little cheap because Dante DiVincenzo is kind of back already, but he is a new guy. You know, he looks like the old Dante DiVincenzo before he got traded to the Knicks. Because over his last six, he's averaging 15 points on 50% shooting and 49 from three. Here we go. Wow. And this weekend, he was on fire. Five of ten of threes against Houston. And...

He had a 26-point night against the Spurs. I mean, he just looked bad the first 18 games of the season. The numbers are poor. And Rudy Gobert, I think he summarized it pretty well. This was in John Krasinski's piece on The Athletic. Rudy said, from what I felt, I think he was still hanging on to some frustrations from what happened. Basically talking about being traded. And he was. And Dante said...

What I did was I stopped comparing what you do last year. I changed it. Stop comparing what you did last year and just go out and hoop. That's what he said. And he's just doing that. And he's playing on the second unit, and he's playing differently. He used to just sort of play off the ball with Jalen Brunson and just catch and shoot. But now he has to come off.

these picks where he has to come and he's going downhill in the, in the paint and he's got to find the corner shooters and he's just damn good at it now, but it has a totally different game. And he's really, really good at it when he was, he looked like a different guy, the first 20 games, but Dante is back and,

Playing like himself. Okay, I like that one. Dante DiMincenzo in the new year. Who do you have, TK? Team or player? I got a team. The Philadelphia 76ers, and just like Tass, maybe they're not actually struggling. They've won nine of their last 12 games. Sixers are up to 11th in the Eastern Conference. They're a half game back of the Pistons in 10th. They've got Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George starting and finishing consecutive games. They beat the Celtics?

Yeah. Not bad. That's a good win. Their last 10 games, 14th in offense, 13th in defense, 14th in net rating. They've kind of just stabilized here. Not a real championship contender, I don't think, but...

There's a chance they squeeze into the top six. They're only three and a half games out of the sixth place, out of sixth place right now. The teams they're chasing, the Heat, who could end up trading Jimmy Butler, have been pretty inconsistent. The Pacers, disappointing. The Bulls, probably getting worse. The Pistons, a young team. There's a chance, I think, that the Sixers can still get into a guaranteed playoff spot because they've got a pretty favorable schedule here at the New Year's. They've got a four-game road trip, but it's the Blazers,

the Kings, the Warriors, and the Nets...

all winnable games at the very least. Then they come home for three straight games against the Suns, who are struggling right now. The Wizards, who stink, and the Pelicans are somehow even worse than the Wizards. So they got a chance to knock on the door of a 500 record here. And as long as they're able to, you know, every finger and every toe you have crossed, keep Embiid, Maxie, and George on the court, they're going to be a playoff team. I think they'll lose probably in the first round of the playoffs, but the way the season started,

It was a question mark if they would even get there. Sure, sure. That's a good one. A sixth place finish for them would be ideal. It would be better than last year when they were finished as a play-in team. Jesus. And they'd be facing the Knicks again, probably. Knicks look like the three seed right now. They would do it again. One more time. Three-six, Knicks, Sixers.

I mean, it was a great series. Yeah, it was a great one. All right, second question here. Which player has proved enough to make his first All-Star roster? And I think we can remove Wemba Nyama from this discussion. That's like a no-brainer that he's going to be there. Hell, he might even start. So it feels like there's a bunch of other guys you can make a case for. Who do you think makes their first All-Star game? Well, when I heard Dominique Wilkins, Hawks broadcaster, saying that Jalen Johnson should be an All-Star, Jalen Johnson should be an All-Star, I said, nah.

this early in his career number one and in a tough Eastern Conference where there's a lot of really good forwards

And the Hawks position. I said, nah. But then I started looking at the numbers. His numbers are sick. Yeah. And he is sick. 20 points, 10 rebounds, five and a half assists. He's a really good passer in the pick and roll situation. Trey Young sets him up in the middle and he'll find guys in the corner. And he is a highlight machine. He likes dunking on guys, number one, very much. And he overpasses these fancy schmancy passes. And that's why he's, you know,

way too many turnovers, but they are good. I mean, if you, the NBA wants to be modern and just get the, the Instagram highlight machine in the all-star game, this guy, I mean, he can dunk over everybody. He's kind of like Trey young where he likes to do a little fancy flexes, you know, that kind of thing. Yeah. And he's, he's good at it. And this Hawks team, uh,

Being 18 and 15, three games over 500 for the first time in years. Over two years. Wow. Since 2022. They have to be really good. And Trae Young's likely going to be the guy that would be picked. But Jalen Johnson's a damn good player, and he'll be an all-star at some point. Mm-hmm.

It's a good pick. I think he should be on a lot of people's short lists as a guy who has a chance to make his first All-Star game. Who else you got? Well, I was considering Jalen Johnson as well, but I don't know if he'll make it because I think the Hawks will only get one All-Star and it's like, who are they choosing between? Big Johnson, 20, 10, and 5. A steal and a half. A block.

incredible percentages or trey young 22 a game scoring not shooting the ball very well but leading the league in assists at 12 per game but trey young always gets snubbed for an all-star berth so it'll be interesting to see if coaches actually choose him because i don't think he'll be a starter uh but you know the hawks are definitely pushing vote for both of our two guys yeah i wonder who coaches would pick uh for the backup spot my guess is probably trey young since he's the

draw that stirs the drink, but who knows? The other guy, you mentioned him earlier, Tyler Hero is guaranteed an all-star this year. He is kind of the embodiment of when people say people that the NBA shoots too many threes, what's really happened is that they stopped shooting twos from the mid-range and started shooting threes, and that's exactly what Tyler Hero did. Suddenly his efficiency ticks way up. He's scoring. He's the best scorer on the Heat. He's just been a really good player this season for Miami. So I think

he's likely the all-star because bam underwhelming season jimmy we don't even know if he'll be a heat by the all-star break so he hasn't had an all-star season as well so i think he should probably get a nod one more guy from the eastern conference who i like his chances more and more as this season progresses especially because his team is winning games is kate cunningham with the pistons i mean you know they're they're crawling their way to 500 they're just them even being in sort of a playoff race or a

is a win. That's a great job there by the Pistons. And Cade is a huge reason why. His stats are amazing.

He's averaging 24 points per game, seven boards, nearly 10 assists, just under 10 assists per game. And the percentages are ticking up here, you know, close over a 19 PER. Like he's really, really good. He's starting to clean up some of the problems that he had at the end of games where he would just like sloppy turnover and stuff like that. So I like Cade's chances. He obviously would be the Pistons representative if they were to get one and is deserving. So going to be not an easy task here to build these teams. I guess the assistant coaches still do that.

Tough to keep track of this, but I think so. Yeah. After we know the starters. I mean, it is the head coach's job, but they don't do it. Yes, yes, yes. All right. One more question. This is a fun one. What's one bold NBA prediction for 2025?

Kawhi Leonard's going to play basketball. I mean, that's the one. That's risky. It is risky. But apparently he has been practicing basically all of December and trying to get ready. And so he's going to be a Los Angeles Clipper with the Clippers on the front. Playing again. Yeah, he's doing it. He's going to be playing basketball. Did you see the commercial that New Balance released? Of course. Like over the weekend? Yeah. Like the fishing one? Yeah. Yeah.

It was really weird. It was weird. It's Kawhi talking to another Kawhi. The one Kawhi's fishing. You love it. And that's sort of what the premise is, I guess. Yeah. It's sort of teasing the comeback. It's teasing the comeback, which hasn't been announced. And we don't know for sure, but they're just teasing it. Like, he must be playing.

He's got new shoes he's showing off, of course, too. Yeah, they show up. It's an odd commercial. It was an odd commercial. Not much is said, which is Kawhi-like, but it's weird. All right, so Kawhi Leonard is going to play in 2025. I went with that. I went crazy. What do you got, TK? A real crazy one would be Kawhi Leonard will play in the playoffs. We'll see. Yeah.

That's still a long time from now. I got three for you, Skeets. Number one, a favorite won't win. A midseason favorite. I don't know if it's going to be the Celtics winning the championship or Jokic winning MVP, but one of those two will not happen. Okay. Okay.

I think Shea actually did just leap Jokic for MVP favorite on BetMGM because they're on this fake 11-game win streak, which is pretty hilarious because people were changing their Tim Bontemps drop hole votes from Shea to Giannis after the game that now apparently doesn't count. Now Shea's in front. Hilarious stuff. One of those. Either the Celtics or Jokic will not take home

at the end of the year. Okay. Number two, the NBA is going to rig the lottery for the Bulls. Oh, I thought it was for the Raptors. That wouldn't be a rig, man. The Raptors have a shot. They're terrible. They've lost 10 straight. The Bulls only have a 2.5% chance and it's time for them to put a star in one of the biggest media markets in the world.

In the United States. Okay. Bless us, Adam. But my real prediction here, Victor Wembanyama is going to be a first-team all-NBA player. Whoa. Okay. Right now, 25 points per game, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks, and a steal, shooting 48% from the field and 36 from 3. In December alone, 29 per game, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 48%, 39 from 3 on 9.8, 3.8.

attempts per game. You know he's going to win defensive player of the year. He's leading the league in blocks right now. And most importantly, he has only missed five of the Spurs' 32 games, which puts him ahead of a lot of other players who are going to be gunning for first-team All-NBA. Because Jokic will make it. Giannis will make it. Shea will make it.

I think Tatum will be a guy as well, but the fourth spot is probably up for grabs because Luka Doncic has already missed 10 games and he's out of the lineup right now. Embiid is not going to be eligible to make this team. So I think Wemby has a shot alongside guys like Donovan Mitchell, Towns, or Brunson from the Knicks, whichever guy...

gets, you know, a little bit of a second half juice. At the very least, I think he's going to make second team, guaranteed, but I wouldn't be surprised if he makes first team. Yeah, that's a good one. I'll give you one immediate bold NBA prediction that I think is going to happen as soon as maybe Tuesday night or at least this week, and that is LeBron James, who just turned 40 today, happy birthday to the king, will score...

40 plus points in a game. Now, I think if he plays, he didn't play in the last game, he had an illness or they put it down as an illness. He plays the Cavs on Tuesday night. He'll obviously be 40. The only player to ever score 40 in a game at the age of 40 plus, that's Michael Jordan. And you know, LeBron James is going to want to also check that off. So I think it will happen very soon here. Again, whether it happens on Tuesday night or some point this week,

he's going to do it. And if it takes a lot of shots or him driving to the rim nonstop to hit a bunch of free throws, LeBron, you know, has that one on the, on the checklist probably to surpass Michael's high of, uh, I think was 40 as a, as a 40 year old there with the wizards, uh, back in the day. That's, I mean, that's just a no brainer. That's going to happen. Yeah. Yeah. He'll probably go for 50. So give me that one as an immediate bold prediction. Let's hear from you. That's a fun question. Let us know in the stream team. Let us know in the YouTube comments. You can tweet at us at no dunks, Inc. You're bold. Uh,

2025 NBA prediction. Okay, pick them. It's been so long. Oh, yeah. I forgot we did this, but we have a tie. There it is. At the bottom of the standings in our December pick them and the loser will have to co-host or be a correspondent outside for a week.

The weather's turned a little nicer over the last couple days, but it's been rainy. It's chilly right now. The heat is not on in the studio. And I saw a report that Atlanta might get like a foot of snow in the coming days. I don't know if I believe that. But anyway, it's Tass and it's Esh who are tied for last place in December. So tonight's game is going to decide it.

it hopefully this is it this game decides it all okay yeah we talked about it ash and i did i said ash you go first because i'm so bad at picking games i don't want to pick i'm going to pick the opposite of you and as the knicks go into washington again they just played there yeah they're playing again

Washington is an 11.5 point underdog. They just have to lose by 11 or less. Oh my God. What a line this is. That's a crazy line. Okay. So Ash was comfortable picking the New York Knicks and I was comfortable taking the Wizards. I mean, you know, I'm going to be the one sitting outside

Talking about basketball. It's going to be fine. Wait, what's Brunson's status? Is he a go? I don't know if he is. I couldn't tell you. You're playing the Wizards the second time. You might give a bunch of guys the night off. It was an overtime game. It was an overtime game. It was just a four-point loss. Just a four-point loss.

You know what would be really stupid is if it's an overtime game again and they lose by 12 points. Don't talk that into existence. That's not allowed. But anyways. No, that could happen. That would be amazing. I know I'm going to lose. It's okay. It's okay. I think I'm going to lose. Me, I'm going to lose. The Knicks are going to blow. I'm feeling really confident, but it's me. This is how it's gone every time. Like, even last month or earlier this month, I shot off hot. Some shit happens, isn't it?

I know it's going to happen. I'm going to be outside facing it. Hey, look, this is your first time ever doing this. It's infuriating, isn't it? Yes. It is? Yes. I don't know what it is. How did it be so good? How did it be so good? It's ridiculous. It's so infuriating. But December is my worst month. I've had to eat a fruitcake in January before. Oh, interesting. December is definitely my worst month. That's your lull? Yes. And so today, December 30th, is going to be our last game. There's no game on December 31st. And to make it fun,

We're going to do it on playback. Oh, we're going to watch this game. Of course. I sucked Ash in. I said, you're watching playback. Oh, this is a must watch everyone. At least part of it. Front to back wizards Knicks. I love it. Part of it. I got it.

of it. We'll be jumping around games on playback. Yeah, Bulls Hornets is also tipping at 7 o'clock. That's where we're going to go live tonight. Another big game. Yeah, huge game. Only Sickos tonight. We only want to see Sickos out there for this big game. Big games, I guess. Bulls Hornets and Wizards Knicks. But the stakes are high, obviously, in that Knicks-Wizards game. So join us. That link is in the show notes. Join our playback room. It's a lot of fun. I guess we're doing... Oh, I mean, we have to. We have to do the whole game.

Yeah. Unless it's a 40-point blowout. Oh, yeah, well, you never know. You never know. It better not go over time. No.

All right, so let's call it there. We will see you tonight, hopefully, in those playback streets for that game. Thanks so much for joining us here. We will see you later this week on Friday. I know we've had some strange weeks here on the holiday season. Back to normal next week, but we'll be back on Friday for the Drop Podcast, so make sure you subscribe, hit the like button, leave us a five-star rating and review. Ooh, first Friday of the month.

Okay. Could get some reviews in. And the year. Yeah, yeah, interesting. 50 five-star reviews for the first one of the year. Wow, wow. So if you want to get a review in, maybe you'll make Friday's show. So get at it this week. Until Friday or tonight on Playback, Clipper Rose. You heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome. Thanks for joining us. And remember, usually we're five times a week, but it's because of the NBA Cup schedule.

really threw things for a loop. Really did. Big time. I know teams are upset at the NBA Cup schedule. So fans, if you're upset, write Adam Silver a letter and say, hey, No Dunks was on five times a week until the NBA Cup came around. They had to go to Vegas. It's ruined everything. Yeah, it has. Write him a letter. Write him a letter. Embrace the day, people.

The first ever 12 team college football playoff is set and you can join me, David Ubbin and me, two time national champion, Alabama, Damian Harris and me, Chris Vanini, two time national champion in the college football 25 video game on until Saturday, the athletics college football podcast for all the playoff previews, predictions, coaching carousel and transfer portal news four times a week throughout the CFP.

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