Tim Bontemps (4:11)

difference in this game on both ends of the court. I really thought the Knicks did play pretty solid defense. They held the thunder to 103, which is like one of their lowest totals totals in a couple of months. They only gave up 50 in the first half, but Chet was getting wide open jumpers time after time. I don't know if you blame Cat, but people were getting beat off the dribble and Chet was wide open. He was getting easy catch and shoot opportunities to begin with. He was aggressive, looking for a shot. Then that turned into him attacking closeouts which turned into him coming across screens Movement three pointers which turned into mid range jumpers in the fourth quarter. On the other side, the Wemby effect was there for Chet Holmgren as well. How many times did Jalen Brunson get into the lane and throw a jump pass? The defense on Brunson I thought was awesome. From the Oklahoma City Thunder. There was an extra set of eyes on him every single time. There was the help from Chet or from somebody digging down to try and deflect inside while Brunson is driving. He just never got comfortable to the point where he got a wide open look for three to tie the game and just couldn't make it because he was 5 of 18 on the night. Most of his shots come in early. This was just a good game. Like the Knicks I think for taking the loss. Have to hold their heads pretty high, how well they played defensively, how well they have been playing defensively. And Landry Shamit is good now.

Tas Melis (5:26)

Oh my God, the guy was like

Tim Bontemps (5:28)

Dustin Dort off the dribble scoring easily. He's maybe the best on ball defender that the Knicks have. He plays tough, at least at the point of attack. So they found something with him. With Alvarado coming, no Mitchell Robinson for last night, maybe he would have helped as well. But the Knicks were playing small. That was definitely, definitely helping them. I thought in that fourth quarter if they get a little bit better performance from Brunson, probably a win for New York, all things considered. But to me Cheddar Cheese was the guy that made it happen for Oklahoma City.

Tas Melis (5:55)

Yeah, the huge first half where he couldn't miss from three and then he did have like a timely like baseline jumper down the stretch and then SGA hit a huge, huge three. That sort of gave them some breathing room though. Like you said, Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby off the tip out there. Offensive rebound, had a chance on the final possession there to tie this thing up and maybe get it to overtime. But instead OKC wins their fourth straight snaps. The Knicks little win streak there. Back to back situation for both teams too. But SGA hadn't played in the game prior. Like you said, no Mitchell Robinson there for the Knicks. And then some injuries to the Thunder guys too in Hartenstein and Caruso. I guess leaving this game so fun. Second half for sure. I'm with you guys. What do you think about Mike Brown picking up his first technical foul as a Knicks head coach first quarter he was complaining to the referees that they missed what should have been Shay Gildas Alexander's third foul. When he crashed into Jalen Brunson there, no call on the play. I think even scored the bucket. And Brown after the game said, sga, he's a tough cover and he does a great job of convincing the referees, probably better than anybody in the league that he's getting hit. But Brown was pissed. Brown was. I thought he like bumped up against the referee and trying to prove his point there. What he thought was a Brunson charge.

Trey Kirby (7:13)

Oh, he should have been pissed.

Tas Melis (7:15)

Yeah, they missed that one.

Trey Kirby (7:16)

They did miss that one. And that would have given Shea three fouls with two minutes left in the first quarter. So he sits for a bunch of minutes, most likely. Instead he plays nine plus minutes in that second quarter. So, yeah, they made a big difference. I know the headlines are, as you sort of said, Shay knows how to make sure the referees don't know that he's pushing off or that he can draw a foul, because that's where the headlines went. He can draw a foul, then he knows how to draw a foul. But that wasn't the story on that play, right. Or in this game. He had seven free throws in this game. One of them was a technical free throw that Mike Brown got. So he really wasn't going to the line a lot. But the story is shake and draw fouls. In this instance, it was. You should have called a foul and he would add three fouls. That's what the story is right there. So, yeah, he's right. Brown was right. Yeah. Hit him. I thought that should have been charged.

Tas Melis (8:04)

Fair enough.

Trey Kirby (8:04)

Yeah.

Tim Bontemps (8:05)

I mean, Brunson's a flopper, you know, that's why he doesn't always get the call. He calls himself an under the rim rim protector because he's always trying to take a charge. He probably should have gotten the call there.

Tas Melis (8:14)

He drew like how many in this game?

Tim Bontemps (8:16)

At least two.

Tas Melis (8:16)

Yeah, two or three, I think.

Tim Bontemps (8:18)

But offensive crazy to go this long without getting a technical. I know Mike Brown's a good guy, but come on, step it up for your team. That's like a Fred Hoiberg move. Sucked as a coach.

Tas Melis (8:28)

I will say Mike Brown doesn't usually do this type of like post game, calling out a guy too, that sort of. That is not the Mike Brown playbook for. So for him to do that, you know, maybe it means a little something. But yeah, look, SGA, not this one. Like you're talking about TAs, this was probably a charge, but you know the chicken wing that SGA does to create space. Brunson does it all the time. Too. He's probably. They're probably the worst two in the league at it or on the short list at least. So they sort of balance each other out, I guess in this game. But good stuff.

Trey Kirby (8:58)

Good stuff.

Tas Melis (8:58)

No one's going to be upset if this is a finals preview or finals matchup. Supposed to be a very competitive series with. Especially when the Knicks can play this type of defense, at least how they have over the last, what we say, like four or five weeks. They've been pretty elite.

Trey Kirby (9:10)

Yeah. And good job by the head. The ESPN headline writers that wrote the headline as Mike Brown colon SGA does great job convincing refs he's getting hit. You know, they made that about him drawing free throws. You know, that's smart. But it wasn't about it in this instance. Again, just shot seven free throws. Refs did a good job. The Knicks pushed the ball. You don't really think of the Knicks as a team that pushed the ball, but they beat them 142 in fast break points. They. They were into it again. I just thought the rotations were a little slow. Like Mo Dioara, the guy, I mean, he just missed one. You got to rotate, dude. You know, he looked good shooting threes. Put one on the floor to shoot threes. That being said. Yeah, they just weren't perfect in this game against a really good team that you said. Alex Crusoe went out, but I guess he'll be fine.

Tas Melis (9:56)

Yeah, I think so.

Tim Bontemps (9:57)

I always gets hurt.

Tas Melis (9:57)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (9:58)

Yeah. Hardstein left calf injury. As Tim Bontheim said, that's the third time he's injured his left calf this season. So is that something to worry about? A little bit. But you got so many guys. That's not. If you got one guy out, you're all right. But the Caruso thing, it's something to watch, but he should. He looks like he's fine.

Tas Melis (10:15)

Any other notes?

Tim Bontemps (10:16)

Not for me. Not on this one. Nick.

Tas Melis (10:18)

So it was great. Really entertaining. Let's go to the Charlotte Hornets, one of the hottest teams in the league, continuing their win streak here. They beat the Celtics 118, 89. Six straight win. They're above.500 and this was an ass kicking TK and I know you know, this may be a schedule loss for Celtics. I think it was their sixth game in nine nights. So heavy part of their schedule. A lot of games. But man, Charlotte also in a back to back situation. Like they just like from the jump and kept their foot on the gas.

Tim Bontemps (10:47)

Yeah. Scalabrini said on the broadcast that he thought the Hornets surprised Them. And he also said it felt like it's us playing us.

Tas Melis (10:55)

Yeah.

Tim Bontemps (10:56)

And it definitely felt like that. The way the Hornets were getting things done on the offensive end. Everything worked for them last night. Lamelo doing his silly basketball moves, hitting a one footer from 35ft out on the left wing. That worked. Set plays for Brandon Miller. That worked. Getting out in transition off steals, that worked. Kobe White dribble drives, that worked. Ryan Cockbrenner rolling to the hoop. That worked. The ball always moves side to side with this team and you see why they went after Kobe White. This was his best game so far as a Hornets. 17 points, six assists, zero turnovers and a couple of threes in 20 minutes. He just had 20 against Portland as well. It means that the hornets always have two of LaMelo, Miller, Khan and Kobe on the court. They needed another ball handler behind LaMelo Ball who has been awesome for this team. I think it's going a little bit under the radar how good this guy is. You'll read Charlotte Hornets breakdown and he's like the fourth guy mentioned and he should be no lower than the second guy mentioned. He really makes this team go. But adding another guy who can dribble, pass and shoot and Kobe White means that they have 48 minutes of playmaking and scoring with the ball in their hands. Not to mention Miller and Khan. It feels like every time they get a catch and shoot, it's going to go in. And I think it almost always goes in for Khan. 19 threes last night for the Hornets. Only 10 for Boston. 5 turnovers for the Hornets, 16 for Boston. This was a Celtics like game for the Hornets. They play each other again. Pretty soon the surprise factor won't be there. I don't think that's the entire reason they won. They just look better. They won the position possession battle and they have a good offense. That means you're going to win a lot of games. And the Hornets have been winning a lot of games.

Trey Kirby (12:32)

Yeah. The Celtics may have not been ready, but the Hornets won this game. Wasn't that the Celtics lost this game in my eyes because the Hornets apparently got to Boston at 5am because they were on a back.

Tas Melis (12:43)

I thought it was 4:00am has it?

Trey Kirby (12:44)

Oh yeah. And that may have just been me.

Tas Melis (12:47)

It was late.

Trey Kirby (12:48)

It was late or early. And the Celtics came off just a great win when they were playing the fifth game in seven nights. Yeah, that's so, so sure. Six and nine. Sure. But the Horns kicked their ass and it did look like they're sort of looking in the mirror at guys who could create on the outside little bit of penetration. Let's get it out to somebody else who can shoot. A lot of guys can shoot on this team. That's the beauty of this team. They have three guys that shoot eight threes or more. There's only 14 guys in the league that do that. So I got three of them. And they are ready to fire and they're ready to cut when they need to cut. As Trey said, you know, you got a calc brenner role, you got a Brandon Miller cut for a huge dunk in this game. I think I like the Jalen brown dunk more. I'm both great dunks, but in this game. But they play really good defensively. They allow the fewest free throws in the game. They defensive board really hard. They offensive board really hard. Surprised with that. Number one at defensive rebounding, number three at offensive rebounding. But yeah, they just with lamelo ball playing like lamelo we've seen at times being able to penetrate and dish that ball. And you have Brandon Miller in there and now Kobe white who creates for himself. That's what he does out there. They got a lot of guys, but the celtics, yeah, I think part of it was a little flat. They had a five second violation. You don't see those very often. But the hornets won this thing. They were and are awesome to watch.

Tas Melis (14:18)

The hornets have a 20 and 2 record now with this starting lineup. Their preferred starting lineup of lamelo ball. Brandon Miller, con canepel, Miles bridges and Moussa Diabate. 20 and 2. And these like some very quality wins against good teams. And just like before that game last night, I saw that that unit had outscored opponents by nearly 31 points per 100 possessions over like approximately a 300 minute sample according to NBA.com so just unbelievable numbers here for that starting five. And then yeah, now you got the Kobe white. He just puts so much pressure on a defense. The guy just attacks, attacks, attacks and plays with pace. And I thought last night even every time the celtics were like, ah, here we go, we'll make a run, get back into it. Seemed like Kobe white had a bit of an answer or sort of a score to like shush the crowd a little bit. So great game. Also that celtics crowd, they love themselves some con caniple. What a shock. But nice little bounce back game for him because he was, he was in like a tiny little slump for con cannipple. A rookie, two games, hadn't shot the ball that well, but got a Couple of free throws going, led them with 20 points, four of eight from deep. Have you seen his shooting splits from home to the road? They're wild at home. Khan Caniple is shooting 38% from deep. Really, really good on the road. The guy's shooting 49% from 3, 52% from the floor. Overall, like his usage is up there. All his stats are up. So he's like sort of a better road player right now. You know, sort of a small sample size, one year. But I don't know that's fares well, if they got to go into a playoff series here, they're going to be starting on the road.

Tim Bontemps (15:56)

They're going to be starting on the road. But they're only two and a half games back of sixth in the Eastern Conference.

Tas Melis (16:02)

Philly nearly lost last night.

Tim Bontemps (16:03)

That would have been Jabari Walker saved their hide last night, I thought. But the Hornets are definitely playing better than anybody. Ahead of them Philadelphia, Orlando and Miami. I think they only play Philadelphia one more time. It's one one season series. So that's a tiebreaker. That'll be a huge game. I think they got Miami maybe a couple of more times. That'll be big. I don't think the Hornets are going to win a first round playoff series, but people there will be. They'll get like probably 25% of the picks, I think because I mean they're just a fun team to watch. You know, it'll be different when they get into a playoff situation, but they're enjoyable and they have a real identity and like people in the Stream team are saying, Charles Lee was a coach for the Celtics two years ago. He said, I like what you're doing. We just won a championship. I'm going to take that. And with some young guys. And now that Lamelo finally has other players around him, he plays good basketball. I'm glad. I've been a Lamelo fan this whole time.

Trey Kirby (17:01)

Yeah, it was a swing from the first 20 games of the season to what they are now. But you can talk yourself into them winning a series.

Tas Melis (17:07)

You can't. You can't. I can't. I can't. Here's what would be a win to for them. In my mind it's like do what the Pistons did last year. Get into a series. Let's get there first. I know we're jumping ahead. Maybe they are the fifth best team in the Eastern Conference right now. They probably are. They're better than the Raps, probably better than the Sixers. How banged up they are the Hawks and Magic. You can't have faith in really those teams anyway. But get into a series and like the Pistons did against the Knicks, put up a hell of a fight. Make it a very competitive first round series, no matter who you're playing. Win a couple, have a couple, go down the stretch, take your lumps. But I'm not. I don't think they're. Because they're not going to play the Raptors. They're not going to play the Sixers. They're going to be playing one of

Trey Kirby (17:45)

the better teams in the Eastern Conference. I'm sorry, I'm not thinking really about the other side of the ball, the other teams. I'm thinking about what Charles Lee is building there. What don't they have right now?

Tas Melis (17:56)

Fair.

Trey Kirby (17:56)

They have guys who can fire away from three. They have really good rim protectors in both Diabate and Calc Renner. And then, you know, things aren't going right like we saw in this game, the great pickup of Kobe White. Just to throw out there and put the offense on you, man. Because that's what he does. He's not a creator for anybody really. He creates for himself and so they have the right things. Are they going to be able. Are they going to be able to play enough defense? Does it doesn't matter. I mean, is Lamelo gonna be able to carry this into postseason? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's. That's the bigger question. Is bright lights never done it.

Tas Melis (18:34)

Yeah, yeah.

Trey Kirby (18:35)

So that's that. There's that question.

Tas Melis (18:36)

Just get there. I mean that's the first step here.

Tim Bontemps (18:38)

Just get there.

Tas Melis (18:39)

Maybe get the six seed, which. Yeah, they could chase down one of those teams or. Or make your way in through the play in. I mean we could have this first round matchup right Again. They could run that back. We could get Celtics, Hornets. That would be enjoyable, right? Maybe maybe three, six, maybe two, seven, something like that. So it's possible we see it again and then we get all those clips of. Wasn't that the series where Alonzo Mourning hit a game winning shot for the Hornets way back in the day? He think that was against Celtics, wasn't it?

Trey Kirby (19:03)

I think so.

Tas Melis (19:03)

You're going. I'm going way back. Like early 90s, basically. Mid-90s. Yeah.

Tim Bontemps (19:09)

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Tas Melis (19:57)

Let's show you the other results from last night in the Association. Talked about the Thunder win, the Hornets win, but Sixers just beat the Jazz. Blazers took care of business beating the Grizzlies. We'll get to Drew Holiday a little bit later in the show. Hawks 1 beat the Bucks and Clippers beat the Pacers. That's a weird one because I guess the Pacers would really want the Clippers to win that game to help their chances of keeping true. Anyway, off of that, if the playoffs started today, guys, we got the brackets on NBA.com I don't know how long they've been up there, but I noticed today. So there's a look at what the play in games would be. And I bring it up because the Clippers and Blazers both winning last night, they would right now play each other in one of those nine, 10 games. And then, you know, you see the other side there. Hornets, Hawks, both winning last night as well on the east side. But that would be a 9, 10 matchup too. Any takeaways from any of those other games last night or even the the bracket that we here on YouTube?

Trey Kirby (20:55)

A takeaway from Indiana going to play Los Angeles. We got a tribute video for Avitza Zubots.

Tas Melis (21:00)

Nice.

Trey Kirby (21:01)

That feels like that quickest turnaround on a tribute video in the history of the NBA. The guy got traded two and a half weeks ago or whatever. Maybe it's. Maybe it's three weeks ago, maybe it's four weeks ago. Anyway, it feels fast. Whatever.

Tim Bontemps (21:13)

One month ago today, right?

Trey Kirby (21:14)

Is it February?

Tas Melis (21:16)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (21:16)

Yeah. So a month that's. That's better to look at.

Tas Melis (21:19)

We must have had quicker, have we not? I don't know.

Tim Bontemps (21:21)

I don't think that's the fastest turnaround.

Tas Melis (21:24)

Yeah, great question.

Trey Kirby (21:25)

Attribute video. So not to be unexpected. The Clippers handled the Pacers okay. They dealt with that. And you saw Philadelphia take care of Utah after the disappointing loss to San Antonio and they lost to Boston. So not unexpected. I mean, they had a lot of guys hurt again, but then not unexpected. And then we saw a Milwaukee team against the Hawks that may not be good enough to make a Play in. And that's, that's where we are at this point with the Milwaukee Bucks. It's sad. I know the Hawks have won five in a row, all bad teams. A couple Wizards, a Blazers, a Nets, and now the Bucks. All bad teams. And so I haven't looked at. I haven't looked at the strength of the schedule the rest of the way and how difficult the opponents are for the Milwaukee Bucks.

Tas Melis (22:08)

But not looking good.

Trey Kirby (22:10)

No, of course not.

Tim Bontemps (22:11)

That's four straight blowouts they're getting destroyed in this game. 29 against the Knicks, 23 against the Bulls, 27 against the Celtics. 18 last night against the Hawks. They've been outscored by 83 total points in the second halves of those games. They fall apart defensively, get beat off the dribble. They over help. They don't know where they're supposed to be. They were doubling Jock Landale post ups all night. 20 threes for the Hawks last night. 18 of them were assisted. They would just get the ball into the paint easily, kick it out for a wide open 3. Giannis played, but you didn't really feel him. I don't think he's really done much on the defensive end to help the Bucks. I think in these four games there are 27th in defense, which is bad, but they're 30th in offense. So things are not clicking at all for Milwaukee. And like you said, five. And oh, for the Hawks since they benched Zach Ricochet, though he played well last night shooting wide open jumpers. Man, this, this was really bad defense for the Bucks. They look really, really bad.

Trey Kirby (23:05)

Yeah, yeah. The DOC has been throwing out guys with the Bucks. As we said his last game, they sit Ryan Rollins just because they want to sit Ryan Rollins. For some odd reason, Usman Jang, who they got at the deadline a mere four weeks ago, is starting games. And so they're dabbling. And I don't know if they're trying to impress Yanston Guppo here. You see this Usman Jang, we got a wing, maybe play with him. Let's see how much you guys can grow over the next 20 days and maybe we can convince you to stay. But because they're dabbling and because they're experimenting now with 20 games left. Yeah, you're going to get bad rotations and CJ McCollum's going to just float by Kyle Kuzma. Now, I will say Dyson Daniels, he did a good job against Giannis, I thought, just fighting and scrapping. Yeah, his numbers are good because they're always good. Yeah, but he did a good job there. But yeah, they gave up way too many points again. That's what they do. 131 points against the Hawks, who've been scoring really well against those bad teams. But they've been hot. They have been hot. And their bench was good with. With Recess, Shea and Corey Gisbert doing their thing.

Tas Melis (24:09)

Bucks are definitely 1, 2, 3 Cancun right now.

Tim Bontemps (24:11)

Yes, they are.

Tas Melis (24:12)

1, 2, 3. Hit the golf course.

Trey Kirby (24:14)

I guess I was like 8 and 2 in the 10 games before this four game streak.

Tas Melis (24:19)

Yeah, again, they were good. They were garbage teams too, as Bobby said.

Trey Kirby (24:22)

Well, most of them.

Tas Melis (24:23)

Even he admitted that. It's like, yeah, we beat the crap

Trey Kirby (24:25)

teams, but yeah, they can't beat a crap team now. I mean, they, they're just bad.

Tas Melis (24:30)

No, they are. I mean, in Kuzma, like, I mean, like you said, to go back to the whole. What is Doc doing here? Like, I know he had that stupid pass the other night. I guess it was against your Bulls where he, like, that was the weirdest pass where he, like, I don't even know how to describe it, where he flipped it to the corner. Anyway, he plays sort of pearly in that game. Then he gets a DNP the next game. But then he's back playing against the Hawks last night and he actually, Kuzma played for him. Played well, shot 7 of 8, scored well. Yeah, you're right. This week.

Tim Bontemps (24:56)

I mean, he was, he was one of the major culprits on the defensive.

Tas Melis (24:59)

Defensive end. Yes. He does it all back.

Tim Bontemps (25:01)

Bobby Portis hasn't sprinted on defense this season.

Tas Melis (25:05)

No, they're, they've, they've given up. They have. If we're being honest, they gave up probably a long time ago.

Trey Kirby (25:09)

Oh, come on. They didn't give it a long time ago. I mean, they, they beat, they beat the Heat, they beat the Cavs. There are some injuries there. They beat the Thunder in that eight and two run. But yeah, now it's. You just can't lose all these games. Again, throwing Ryan Rollins to the bench, it didn't make any sense. The guy has been there, point guard, and I know they haven't had a good season, but he has been good for them. So I just don't understand the dabbling. And Giannis doesn't seem extremely excited. He scored a basket. It was an N1. He hits the ground. Bobby Portis was ready to sprint and help him up, but Yanni said, I'm just getting help him help myself. I don't need any help? Maybe he's looking out for his future on his own in a different city. Either way, I'm reading into that. But the Bucks stink, unfortunately.

Tas Melis (25:51)

One of the other takeaways from some results last night and all credit to Tom Hab, who was first to notice this. The bottom 10 teams in the NBA right now are on a collective 44 game losing streak. When you add them all up in terms of consecutive games loss, we're at 44 for the bottom 10 teams. And you said the other day to me, T.K. it's like, well, could have been even worse if the Bulls didn't pick up that one random win though, I guess it was against.

Tim Bontemps (26:21)

It was against the Bucks.

Tas Melis (26:21)

It was against the Bucks. So point is, that's a lot of losing games there for the bottom 10 in the league streak, if you want to call it that ends tonight though. We got Jazz Wizards, we got Pelicans King. So you know, two teams are picking up wins.

Tim Bontemps (26:35)

That's big. So it's really big.

Tas Melis (26:37)

So the collective, you know, we. Unfortunately on Tankathon, it won't be all lost as the streak after tonight because unless they do the impossible and somehow both lose in both these games, I don't know what would have to happen. I said before I want Tanking to go to the next level. Start scoring on your own basket to really put pressure on Adam Silver to try and fix this thing. But yeah, that's an incredible stat though.

Trey Kirby (27:01)

It is.

Tas Melis (27:01)

The bad teams are bad.

Trey Kirby (27:03)

It is.

Tas Melis (27:04)

And want to be.

Tim Bontemps (27:05)

Maybe they, they do want to be bad. Who's your favorite draft guy? Like I'm sure you've seen clips going around Boozer. Really?

Tas Melis (27:12)

Yeah.

Tim Bontemps (27:12)

I'm surprised you would choose him, but.

Tas Melis (27:14)

Yeah, me too. I think Boozer's going to be the best. Well, I mean they're all look great. Yeah. But Boozer is going to be the number one pick in my mind.

Trey Kirby (27:19)

Yeah, he's the one who stands out in my mind.

Tim Bontemps (27:21)

But yeah, I think he's going three, I think really seems to have the least rep. Yeah. Because he's not a jumper, he's not an athlete. He's a winner. I think he's the best guy as well. But he used to be between one debancer probably.

Trey Kirby (27:34)

Yeah, yeah, he's hot. He's so hot right now.

Tim Bontemps (27:37)

He's a super athlete and an unstoppable scorer. And I think Peterson would have gone number one if he didn't have these injuries. Slash load management. That's going on a very weird situation. I Personally don't care about that stuff unless he's actually hurt because hamstrings tend to linger. A guy who has had leg problems. Darius Garland played a second game for the Clippers last night. He was much better. 12 points, 8 assists. He looked twitchy again. He was getting downhill. It looked like good Darius Garland. And I said the last one looked like bad Darius Garland where he's very tentative. He was aggressive against the Pacers. A good team to be aggressive against for sure.

Trey Kirby (28:13)

As far as those losing streak goes, I think the Jazz have the best losing streak of all the teams. Like just the most digestible team that works really hard. A team that's aggravating to play against. Against the Sixers, I mean, they almost pulled it out. They have a lot of close, a lot, very close losses in these ones. Lost by four to the Sixers, three to the Denver Nuggets, you know, and some, and some, some worse ones. But at the same time, you know, they're, they play hard even though they don't have their top guys. They all have to have surgery.

Tas Melis (28:47)

Let's take a break and when we come back, we will do the underrated player draft.

Trey Kirby (28:53)

We are 10 days away from both the NCAA men's college bracket and women's college bracket being determined. You know that Sunday selection thing, you guys see that South Alabama Coastal Carolina women's brawl yesterday where our referee went down and passed out?

Tas Melis (29:10)

Yes.

Trey Kirby (29:10)

Knocked out, I should say. It was scary.

Tas Melis (29:12)

There's like eight ejections, I think.

Trey Kirby (29:14)

Yes.

Tas Melis (29:14)

A lot of people were tossed. A lot of the women were.

Trey Kirby (29:16)

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Tas Melis (29:57)

Remember we got somebody writing in. It may have been a woboy sponsor talking about his Alma material. Miami, Ohio, the Redhawks and how they were undefeated at the time he wrote in. I forget what they were at. They were maybe in the 20s or high teens. Yeah, okay. They still haven't lost.

Trey Kirby (30:15)

Oh, wow.

Tas Melis (30:16)

Yeah, I think they're 30 and oh, 31. And, oh, what conference they play? Mac.

Tim Bontemps (30:23)

Gary Trent Jr. Shaq of the Mac.

Tas Melis (30:25)

Return of the Mac senior.

Tim Bontemps (30:26)

My bad, my bad.

Tas Melis (30:27)

Return of the Mac. I say that song. I think we just had an anniversary on that song. I saw Mark Morrison tweet that.

Tim Bontemps (30:33)

Gotta be 30 years, probably. I mean, that's a 90s song.

Tas Melis (30:36)

Yeah, absolutely.

Tim Bontemps (30:37)

Wow.

Tas Melis (30:38)

Anyway, way to go, Redhawks. Man, like, you gotta. You gotta be in the dance. I don't care what conference you're in if you haven't lost a game.

Trey Kirby (30:44)

Yeah, yeah, right. Yeah, right, right. So who's the. The max competition here?

Tas Melis (30:49)

Oh, I got no idea.

Trey Kirby (30:50)

It's hard to.

Tas Melis (30:51)

Yeah. Sephora,

Tim Bontemps (30:55)

Fenty Beauty.

Tas Melis (30:56)

Thank you.

Trey Kirby (30:57)

Thank you.

Tim Bontemps (30:57)

Yeah, I know. I know. Makeup as well, man,

Tas Melis (31:02)

I got no idea. Well, who are the teams?

Trey Kirby (31:04)

Maybe it's maybe line. I wanted. I just wanted the conference to come up immediately, but it didn't, so I got to look more.

Tas Melis (31:12)

Okay.

Trey Kirby (31:13)

I mean, I thought Akron State.

Tim Bontemps (31:16)

You got Ball State there.

Trey Kirby (31:17)

They got Akron, Kent State. Toledo, Ohio.

Tas Melis (31:20)

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tim Bontemps (31:21)

Bowling Green.

Tas Melis (31:22)

These are not. I love. So a lot of Ohio teams is what you're telling me.

Tim Bontemps (31:25)

In the Mac Mid American Conference. The Northern Illinois University Huskies in DeKalb, Illinois, not DeKalb.

Tas Melis (31:32)

Yeah.

Tim Bontemps (31:33)

That's confusing. If you are one of 50 people who have ever lived in DeKalb county and DeKalb County.

Tas Melis (31:39)

Wow.

Trey Kirby (31:39)

Yeah.

Tas Melis (31:40)

Which one do you prefer?

Tim Bontemps (31:41)

DeKalb.

Tas Melis (31:42)

DeKalb.

Tim Bontemps (31:43)

Yeah. I think the Atlanta way of pronouncing it doesn't make any sense.

Tas Melis (31:47)

Where's that L, man?

Tim Bontemps (31:48)

Exactly.

Tas Melis (31:49)

Yeah. Why do you need it? Take this L. Okay, so. Well, you know, I was thinking, actually on the drive in today, I was like, oh, yeah, we gotta eventually pick our March Madness bracket again. We do that every year. We have no idea what we're doing. Yeah, we do, but we. One year will go perfect. Hit every pick.

Trey Kirby (32:07)

Yep.

Tas Melis (32:07)

What do they say the odds are? It's like one in like 2 million trillion quadrillion. Yeah.

Trey Kirby (32:12)

Whatever it is.

Tas Melis (32:13)

What are you gonna say?

Tim Bontemps (32:15)

New strategy. Don't pick the teams that have draft prospects.

Tas Melis (32:19)

Yeah.

Tim Bontemps (32:19)

Pick the teams that have average ages of like 22 and a half.

Tas Melis (32:22)

We're just going old teams.

Tim Bontemps (32:23)

Yeah.

Tas Melis (32:23)

Yeah.

Tim Bontemps (32:24)

Old guys are better.

Tas Melis (32:25)

Yeah, let's do that.

Tim Bontemps (32:25)

They're grown men.

Tas Melis (32:26)

All right.

Trey Kirby (32:27)

To go how far?

Tim Bontemps (32:29)

To the championship.

Tas Melis (32:30)

We're taking the Redhawks now. We're taking these red hot Redhawks. They should. They score a ton. I was looking it up. They. They shoot the hell out of the ball, man. As a team, I think they shoot, nearly 40% from three, they scored 90 points per game. That's a lot in college, I think.

Trey Kirby (32:42)

Yeah.

Tas Melis (32:42)

So. All right, well, we'll take them.

Trey Kirby (32:45)

I like Akron 25 and 5.

Tim Bontemps (32:47)

The Zips.

Tas Melis (32:48)

The Zips.

Trey Kirby (32:49)

Yeah, the Zips. Great name.

Tas Melis (32:51)

Yeah. Zippers.

Trey Kirby (32:52)

30 in a row. Miami. Miami. Ohio's 1 30. Who.

Tas Melis (32:56)

Do you remember who. What NBA player went there? He does. Do you.

Tim Bontemps (33:02)

I got two.

Tas Melis (33:02)

Oh, you got two. One was Wally Zerbiak, was it not? Yep. Yeah.

Tim Bontemps (33:06)

Ron Harper.

Tas Melis (33:07)

Ron Harper was the other one. Oh, there you go.

Tim Bontemps (33:08)

They might have more, but those are the two.

Tas Melis (33:10)

Two solid players. Yeah. Okay, let's do our underrated player draft. Very few rules to this one. You can't pick an All Star. I think that's fair, right?

Trey Kirby (33:20)

Yeah.

Tas Melis (33:21)

Up to you. What you determine is underrated. The other guys can take offense, I think, to it, if they do not feel said players underrated enough. But I think we all know what this means. Just guys that are not star players but are really important or that you like and you think have had great seasons. And we're really focusing on this season. We'll do three rounds, so we'll draft nine total players, and then you can bet your ass we'll do a. What about this guy?

Tim Bontemps (33:44)

Oh, yeah.

Tas Melis (33:44)

At the end. Because, look, there's so many guys, especially for us sickos, that you could pick from. I have a trivia question to decide between you guys. Who picks first? And then we'll just go, one, two, three. One, two, three. One, 2, 3. It's a weird one, but I'm watching the game at Madison Square Garden last night. Place I've been, it's a pretty amazing place to watch a game, and I want you. So I'm going to start with one who wants to answer first because the other guy will do an over under on whatever the other guy says. Who wants.

Tim Bontemps (34:13)

I got a number behind my back.

Tas Melis (34:15)

No, no. Oh, we're gonna decide. Okay, go ahead, throw a number behind your back. Or.

Trey Kirby (34:19)

Oh, what do you want? That's how we're deciding.

Tim Bontemps (34:22)

Do you think it's even or.

Tas Melis (34:23)

Yeah, okay.

Tim Bontemps (34:24)

My number.

Tas Melis (34:24)

Okay.

Tim Bontemps (34:24)

Even or odd?

Trey Kirby (34:25)

I just showed it.

Tim Bontemps (34:26)

That's okay.

Trey Kirby (34:27)

Oh, I didn't.

Tim Bontemps (34:28)

All right, don't look, don't look. I'm gonna look.

Trey Kirby (34:30)

I didn't look at the monitor. Okay.

Tas Melis (34:32)

Okay.

Trey Kirby (34:32)

Definitely even.

Tas Melis (34:33)

Okay, Trey. Okay, so you're gonna pick the number here. All right, here's the question. And then you're getting a chance to go higher or lower.

Trey Kirby (34:40)

I didn't, like, monitor that time what

Tas Melis (34:43)

is the official seating capacity for an NBA game at Madison Square Garden? Okay, you're going to give the number and then Trey will decide whether he goes over.

Trey Kirby (34:52)

Official.

Tas Melis (34:53)

Official. Look, I. I checked as much as I could that this was official. I know it can change, I'm sure, but yeah, this is.

Trey Kirby (34:59)

The numbers, do they include standing room?

Tas Melis (35:01)

Oh, God damn, Tess. I don't know.

Tim Bontemps (35:04)

On the catwalks.

Trey Kirby (35:05)

19, 750.

Tas Melis (35:07)

Okay. 19, 750. Trey Kirby, you either go over or under. This will decide who gets the number one pick. Lower task mills gets number one pick. 19, 812. Very strong. That was really prediction.

Trey Kirby (35:19)

I went. I went down on 50. I went down by 50.

Tas Melis (35:22)

So it feels like 1980, man. You would have been 12 off.

Trey Kirby (35:25)

It feels like that's like a generic number. No, it feels like that's a generic number for NBA arena.

Tas Melis (35:31)

It's pretty big.

Trey Kirby (35:32)

19, 8.

Tas Melis (35:32)

It's pretty big. I think, compared to a lot of the other ones.

Trey Kirby (35:35)

Yeah, maybe that.

Tim Bontemps (35:36)

That does seem on the bigger side. Okay.

Trey Kirby (35:38)

Okay.

Tas Melis (35:38)

So anyway, tasks. We're gonna go 1, 2, 3. And you have the honor here. With the first pick in the underrated player draft.

Trey Kirby (35:47)

With the first pick, it feels like you gotta get dirty. And by dirty, I mean pick a guy who's really good and isn't super underrated. You know what I mean? Like, hold on, hold on.

Tas Melis (35:58)

You're taking a guy that's not underrated? Yeah, in the underrated player.

Trey Kirby (36:02)

Well, underrated. The. Our only rule. Our only rule is no All Star.

Tas Melis (36:06)

Yes.

Trey Kirby (36:07)

Right. So should our rule be. Hasn't been talked about as a potential all Star. Maybe. But I'm taking Derek White, who has been talked about as an all Star.

Tas Melis (36:16)

Okay.

Trey Kirby (36:17)

Yeah. I mean, that's border.

Tas Melis (36:19)

Yeah. This is borderline.

Trey Kirby (36:20)

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if we want. Maybe we should just go deeper than that. I should just toss Derek. What now? Whatever. He's heading my three. My three man team. Well, I don't know. He's Derek White. He is probably the best guard, blocking shop blocking guard in the NBA of all time. Done. Period. Yeah, it could be all time. But when you talk about Boston, why he is underrated, other names are mentioned first. And yeah, he. He needs to be really good for them to win. There's no doubt about that. And he does it all, man. He really, truly, 100% does it all. But again, when you talk about Boston, you're talking about the Jays and you're talking about even Peyton Pritchard. I'd say before him, I had Pritchard

Tas Melis (37:06)

above Derek White in my rankings for underrated player only because Derek White has not had a great season, like shooting the ball. He hasn't.

Trey Kirby (37:13)

Well. Yeah, well. And Derrick White, too. They've both dropped off a little bit because so much has been on them. If you look at their true shooting percentages this year versus last year when Jason Tatum was there. Yeah, they've dropped off. Peyton Bridgerton has started this season, so it's been different for him. So his numbers have dropped off. So have Derek White's.

Tim Bontemps (37:30)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (37:31)

But that will change when Tatum does come back. So Derek White.

Tas Melis (37:34)

Okay.

Trey Kirby (37:35)

You're leading a great team, my friend. I think it's going to be a great team. A three man team. You can do it all. Good luck to you, sir.

Tas Melis (37:45)

TK who's your underrated pick?

Tim Bontemps (37:47)

I am going to be taking a big A wing and a guard.

Tas Melis (37:49)

Oh, wow. You guys are actually building three out of three teams.

Tim Bontemps (37:52)

Yeah, I didn't approach it that way. Derek White is a good choice. He is underrated, but him and Pritchard are too highly rated for me.

Tas Melis (38:02)

It's the Boston media we're talking.

Tim Bontemps (38:04)

I mean, Pritchard has an award, so I. I disqualified him as well. I'm going for my team is going to look the worst, for sure.

Tas Melis (38:12)

Guarantee it.

Trey Kirby (38:12)

Good for you.

Tim Bontemps (38:13)

Musa Diabate. I have on my list my number one pick. He has more offensive rebounds in his career than made shots last year. All we talked about was his offensive rebounding. And yeah, we talked about Moussa Diabate last year. Did any other NBA podcast? I don't think so, Tim, but we did and now he's on my team. Everybody loves Moussa Diabate. He fought against Jalen Duran. It was really exciting to see. He's got his own celebration, which is pretty impressive for a guy who's eight points and eight rebounds. But he defends, he sets screens, and he throws down a big dunk every now and then. So antlers up for me.

Tas Melis (38:47)

Yeah. And they now they. Now they sell those foam antlers for smart. Yeah. Cashing. Very smart on the moose.

Trey Kirby (38:54)

Great. It is incredible how they are the number one defensive rebounding team. A lot of it obviously, is that guy. We've talked about him so much. Sometimes I say Musa C instead of Musa Diabate. Because we say Musa all the time. I'm like, oh, yeah, C say he's a guy.

Tim Bontemps (39:09)

He's a guy.

Trey Kirby (39:10)

He's the guy who plays for the Dallas Mavericks, has the same Musa name, but he is. He is so good. And the scrappiness is important on a team like that. And, yeah, he almost got into a fight because he got angry. But, yeah, he plays with all his heart on the floor. There's no doubt.

Tim Bontemps (39:25)

Last night they compared him to Wemby and Ben Wallace on the Celtics broadcast.

Trey Kirby (39:30)

Whoa.

Tim Bontemps (39:31)

I was like, wow, wow. And that was not even Tommy Hindson. Scalabrini has really fit into that role, I think perfectly. I like listening to him on the broadcast. He gets excited.

Tas Melis (39:41)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (39:41)

Yes. He said, do you remember? No. He said, do you know who Ben Wallace is?

Tim Bontemps (39:47)

Wow. Wow.

Trey Kirby (39:48)

And play by play, guy who's young. And that was the whole joke, is that Ben Wallace hasn't been, you know, playing for what, 15 years, 16 years. He's like, yeah. What's your question? Do I know who Ben Wallace is?

Tas Melis (39:59)

Yes, I do. He's a Hall of Famer. I saw James Jackson at the Athletic right. This morning, early. I saw this morning about the Hornets Knipple, Miller, Diabate provide three key elements for any basketball team. Sound floor, spacing. Knipple, effective isolation, scoring. That's Brandon Miller this season. And then consistent interior play. And that is the Moose. That's Diabate, you know, in addition to, obviously what Lamelo can bring to that team. But he has been great. I had him on my list. Tas. I'm not sure if you did, but he was there. So Trey takes him in the first round. Takes the Moose. Good stuff. All right. I have the first pick to close out the first round here. Third pick overall. I love this guy. I talk about him all the time. Give me Josh Hart.

Trey Kirby (40:39)

Nice.

Tas Melis (40:39)

That guy impacts winning in every way imaginable. He's the best NBA rebounder. I was going to say pound for pound, but inch for inch, because the guy's under 6, 5 and he has, like, a total rebound percentage of 13% or higher over the last four seasons. He's done it, like, multiple times. No other guy that short puts up those type of rebounding numbers. And, you know, he's starting here most of the season. Gives him 13, eight and six shoots fairly consistent in those starts. He just plays unselfishly. And it's like if, like, I don't know, if you were to do the old, I guess, ringer ranking, I don't know where Josh Hart would be on the top 100 players in the NBA. I don't even know if he'd be selected top 100, but. But my point is, if we lined every guy up and you're just trying to create a winning team, like he's Going to be taking over so many guys that score more or bigger names if you're just trying to win to be like your fourth or fifth piece because he's just the perfect connector. So he's could have been on this list if we had done this draft for multiple years. And he still has it to me. So Josh Hart, this is the time

Tim Bontemps (41:45)

of the year as well that he's going to start racking up triple doubles. We'll get them occasionally here and there during the first couple of months of the season, but then when it becomes who's playing the hardest in March and April. Josh Hart often plays the hardest. So watch for some big lines.

Tas Melis (42:01)

It's true. Okay, we've got Derek White, Moose and Hart gone. Back to you for the second round.

Trey Kirby (42:08)

Yes. Two of the guys that were at the top of my list. Josh Hart up there as well. Maybe because we're, we're hardcores. I thought him and Derek White almost, almost unpickable. But listen, they're underrated. Definitely both of them. That's what they classify as. So that's fine. But two of the guys are off. Diabate, great one. So I'm trying to think, am I going big? Am I going big beside my guy Derek White? And that's what I'm going to do. And I'm going to take the guy who backs up Musa Diabate. I'm taking Ryan Calbr.

Tas Melis (42:38)

What?

Trey Kirby (42:39)

Okay, okay. He is under it. He was the Big east defensive player of the year four years consecutively. And this year it's better than the Mac.

Tim Bontemps (42:52)

It's better than the Mac.

Tas Melis (42:53)

I know that much.

Trey Kirby (42:54)

I, I have been. I talked him up in the summer league because of those. I was watching him and he's still doing it. He's still just good at that side of the floor. Now he's not the most super athletic guy, but there's a reason why the team is number one in defensive rebounding. Diabate is part of it, but also Ryan Calbrander is. That guy is just so good at not biting and just being giant. He swatted Jaylen Brown so hard yesterday. That's Jaylen Brown. He was going at Ryan Calibra and Calbrander just played it perfectly. So you want a team that will have a guy that's going to deter you from the rim. It's calcbrenner. It's a deep pick. He's probably not going to start a lot in his career, but he's starting for this three man team. You and Derek White are leading this thing. Ryan Kalkbrenner, a rookie getting selected here

Tas Melis (43:41)

in the underrated player draft.

Trey Kirby (43:42)

Yeah.

Tas Melis (43:43)

And we were debating the other day, will he make an all rookie team? Obviously only 10 selections. We sort of were like, it's maybe him or Maxime Renault of the Kings. Like, it could be one of those big white guys that have played great and maybe one of them gets in there.

Tim Bontemps (43:57)

So.

Tas Melis (43:58)

All right, calcbrenner.

Tim Bontemps (43:59)

I like that. It is his rookie season and it is Musa Diabate's fourth season and Kalkbrenner is four days older than Musa.

Tas Melis (44:07)

That's amazing.

Trey Kirby (44:08)

Yeah. When we talked about the NCAA and picking old teams, Brian Calbrenner would be on it. That's right. He's literally 24 years old. That's old.

Tas Melis (44:16)

Yeah.

Tim Bontemps (44:17)

You got to stay in college a long time to win four straight defensive players.

Trey Kirby (44:20)

Yeah, yeah. He's like, you know, you look at him and sometimes you think, is that Brooke Lopez? When he grows his hair a little bit, he's got some brook in him. So I just convinced myself even more. Oh, yeah, I want Brooke Lopez on my team. Also, I want Ryan Calbrenn.

Tas Melis (44:37)

Trey, you got the next pick here. Fifth overall pick.

Tim Bontemps (44:40)

All right, give me Julian Champagne.

Tas Melis (44:45)

Were you torn between the two spurs sharpshooters? Him and Devin Vassell.

Tim Bontemps (44:50)

Vassell. Vassell. Too good for me.

Tas Melis (44:52)

Okay.

Tim Bontemps (44:53)

Yeah, he was like, he's a top five pick, right?

Tas Melis (44:55)

No, no, he was like 111.

Trey Kirby (44:57)

Okay.

Tim Bontemps (44:58)

Yeah, yeah, you're right.

Trey Kirby (44:59)

You're right.

Tim Bontemps (44:59)

So a lottery pick couldn't do it, but yeah, 38% for champagne. He's also a solid rebounder, almost six rebounds per game. I feel like he's just the perfect guy to have around. Wemby shoots it when he's open, contributes on the defensive end. And at this point it's still. You got to check the box score to know if you're talking about Julian or Justin. Yes, Julian is farther ahead than Justin for me. But yeah, pretty. Pretty similar dudes. But yeah, give me Champagne. Great name.

Tas Melis (45:31)

Okay. No complaints with that. Yeah. Okay. I understand maybe why he didn't want to take a vissel. Yeah. Going as a lottery pick. But he's been around for a long time, Vassal, and he's changed his game quite like this guy. That guy was like a 20 point per game scorer. I had forgotten about that on some crappy spurs teams there. But now he's taken on a different role with obviously more talent on that team and he has played his part. I had Vassella in the mix I had champagne as well, so I like it. I have the final pick of the second round. I'm going to keep it local and I'm going to play the homer card. Of course. Nikhil Alexander Walker, I think has been very underrated this year. He's been one of the best surprises for the Hawks here. He signed a four year, $60 million deal in a signing trade with Minnesota to get him to Atlanta. That looks awesome. Now he is basically a 20 point per game scorer in this league. And I think he's just been basically what every Hawks fan thought Dejounte Murray was maybe gonna be when they went and got him back in the day. Nikhil has done that. I saw that he averaged more points per game this year than Trey Young did before the trade. That's wild to think of, but NAS usage percentage career high. But he still takes care of the ball. His true shooting percentage right in line. Still with what he was doing with the Wolves, which was obviously in a more reduced role, smaller role. So to keep up that efficiency, to take care of the ball, to be their point guard guys 24 and 4, man, he's just, he's just really, really good. And he gives it on the defensive end too. So I think it's been overlooked though because the Trae Young trade, the Jalen Johnson ascension to all star level, the Kaminga even deal here at the deadline, you know, and The Hawks are classic. 500 Hawks. So it's like, okay, no one talks about him all that much. I think he's been really underrated.

Tim Bontemps (47:14)

Yeah, to me he is sort of like Paul Millsap. Weird comparison, but think about Paul Millsap when he played for the Utah Jazz. You're like, wow, he's really good behind Carlos Boozer. Imagine if he ever gets an opportunity. That's the same thing with Nikhil Alexander Walker behind Anthony Edwards there in Minnesota. He comes to the Hawks and maintains his efficiency, gets more opportunity. So like his per 36s can be pretty similar. But to go from playing the role you are the minutes, you are taking a huge step forward and still playing that well I think is super impressive.

Trey Kirby (47:48)

Yeah, it's interesting you brought up Paul Millsap because Kale Alexander Walker was also on the Utah Jazz. It's one of the.

Tas Melis (47:55)

Yes, he was.

Trey Kirby (47:56)

It's a, it's a great come way back around story for Nikhil Alexander Walker. He was expected to be awesome playing with Zion Williamson at the beginning of his career with the Pelicans. Didn't work out. You're going to Portland the next Day he was dealt to Utah, the next day he was dealt to Utah and then a year later Utah dealt him away. Now, you know, even with Minnesota, they wanted to keep him. Yeah, Tim Connolly didn't have the money from Taylor to give him the money that he deserved. So here he is in a peak role. You know, I had him at the top of my list and I was thinking again, we're hardcore. So I thought he's too good for that.

Tas Melis (48:32)

No, nobody, nobody even knows who Nikhil Oxford Walker is. Yeah, Casual stone.

Trey Kirby (48:37)

No, they don't. I mean he was waiting for Shea Gilgis Alexander outside this event. Shea Gil just Alexander had showing off his shoes and he was just standing there waiting for him. People weren't giving high five and getting autograph from the Walker they were waiting for for him. But yeah, he could be most improved player. He could.

Tas Melis (48:55)

Yeah, he's jumped up a couple votes.

Trey Kirby (48:58)

Jumped up 10 points this year compared to last year. He is now fifth in most improved player odds. From FanDuel, it's Jalen Darren, Jalen Johnson, Ryan Rollins, Denny Abdia and Nikhil Alexander Walker and then Keante George.

Tas Melis (49:14)

So he probably gets end of the ballot. Mip love.

Trey Kirby (49:17)

But yeah, yeah, great, great season.

Tim Bontemps (49:19)

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Tas Melis (50:09)

Happy with that? Pick one more round. Oh, Tess. Lots of names left on the board.

Trey Kirby (50:13)

Too many, Too many.

Tim Bontemps (50:14)

Too many of names out there.

Trey Kirby (50:17)

It's like Jumani Kamara is so good and he would just be perfect on my team. So I'll, I'll just, I'll just be quick about it and take him.

Tas Melis (50:28)

I like it.

Trey Kirby (50:29)

Yeah, it's a smart pick. Even though I, I again, I, I talk about him, I, I feel like I, I know him. Like he's my bud. Like I listen to his podcast. Like he's too, he's just too good.

Tas Melis (50:39)

His pod.

Trey Kirby (50:40)

No, I don't know if he Has a podcast, but I don't think he does.

Tim Bontemps (50:43)

But he very well could.

Trey Kirby (50:45)

I said that because I said he feels like my friend. Like I know him. Like. Like I do listen to him.

Tas Melis (50:50)

What a weird thing to say. Does he have a podcast or not? Gotcha.

Trey Kirby (50:53)

Yeah. I don't know. It is amazing.

Tas Melis (50:56)

I just, like, I think. I think for him, I had him on my list too. I actually am upset you took him. When you think underrated, a lot of times my mind goes to like three and D guys that are actually three and D guys. And to me, you know, those are classic sort of underrated guys. And he fits that bill. This guy's. I mean, he made. He got some love last year, right? He was on second team, all defense. Yeah.

Trey Kirby (51:16)

So, yeah, he got plenty of love. He is great and he works perfectly. If we're playing three on three, Derek White, take that into consideration. And Ryan Kalkbrenner, I guess we should

Tas Melis (51:27)

have talked that through. I really failed my building of my 3 on 3 team. I will not be making the Olympics.

Trey Kirby (51:32)

Yeah. But I've got. I've got a guy that's talked about a lot in Derrick White, a guy that's talked about a decent amount to money, Kamara. And then a guy who's not really talked about in Ryan Calcbrenner. So there's. There's those. I've got rankings now. They kind of like fit a. A mold here.

Tas Melis (51:46)

But he was. When you think draft picks, he went like, end of the second round, he barely got drafted to Monte Kamara. And now he starts and contributes for Portland and 13, 5, 2 and a half assists, a steal per game. And he's making 37% of his catch and shoot three.

Trey Kirby (52:01)

So that's.

Tas Melis (52:02)

Obviously you're looking for that element in a 3 and D guy. So good pick. I had him. I'm upset you took them.

Trey Kirby (52:08)

There's other three and D guys, though.

Tas Melis (52:09)

Okay, tk, Give me your final selection here.

Tim Bontemps (52:14)

I sort of hesitate to pick this guy because he was a high draft pick. He's had some notable moments, but I think he's still underrated overall. Cason Wallace is my final pick here. He went 10th. He's got a championship. But this guy is the next Derrick White. Only instead of blocks, his thing is steals. He's leading the NBA in steals. We've seen him have 20 point games when SGA and J dub are out of the lineup for the Thunder. His percentages are a little bit down this year, but I think it's just because he's taken on a little bit bigger role. It'll be interesting to see what the Thunder end up doing with his next contract because we know the plan for OKC to keep everybody together is you pay the big three in cheddar cheese, J Dub and SGA and then you cycle through all these other guys. But he's such an awesome fit, so maybe they'll find a way to be able to pay him. And it's Caruso who progresses out of the system and eventually they find a replacement for Wallace. But that's my final guy. I wanted my guard out there and I think he gives it defensively, but it also is a contributor on the offensive end.

Trey Kirby (53:21)

Great player. Just great player. They got to keep him. They have to keep. I know.

Tas Melis (53:26)

Financially, I mean talking about, you know, Nikhil Alexander, Walker.

Trey Kirby (53:31)

Yeah.

Tas Melis (53:32)

Not being able to stay in Minnesota.

Tim Bontemps (53:33)

They just traded for the books. A.J. mitchell is good. He could get drafted in this underrated player draft. We will see what they end up doing. But he's good.

Trey Kirby (53:40)

He is really good.

Tas Melis (53:41)

Well, if you took case in Wallace who went 10th Overall, I am going to take Devin Vassell then by golly because I just love this stat and it goes to something you were talking about the spurs hitting threes trey the other day. Like when they do, God, they win a lot. The spurs are 3612 when Devin Vassell just plays. So that's a 75% win percentage right there. That's like one of the best records in the league. I know they have one of the best records in the league. It's even better when he plays. He's hit three or more three pointers in 21 games this season when he does, the spurs are, excuse me, 17 four in such games. They basically never lose when he hits three or more. And if we take or we add him to that stretch that he missed in January, I think it was early January, he missed like 11 or 12 games. If he had played in those games. This guy's top 10 in the league in three pointers made because of like how many he hits on average. And I just think they've done a great job. Him and Mitch Johnson and the spurs coaching staff of like changing his shot diet just enough. They flipped it. And what I mean by that is last year 52% of Devon Vessel's shots were the two point variety and only 48% from deep. So it was a nearly 5050 this year. It's the way it should be with this guy. 43% of his shot attempts inside the arc 57% from three point land. So I think that's pretty cool that this guy has turned into one of the best role players in the league. He was a 20 point per game scorer. He was flirting with that on a bad team. Now he's taken a step back in the pecking order and he has found his role. And as the numbers illustrate, he's an important piece to the spurs winning these games. And I think when we get into postseason matchups here, him, champagne, both of them. They're going to have to hit threes to go very, very far and they're a big part of the equation. Why so I'll take Devin Vessel obviously. Never making any sort of team or anything like that or even flirting with an all star team. Probably never will either. Devin Vassell, the last pick. Who else was on your list? You guys said a lot of the names actually drafted, but go ahead.

Trey Kirby (55:38)

The.

Tim Bontemps (55:38)

The guy I wanted to take as a guard instead of Case and Wallace, but I just simply couldn't do it because he's only played nine games this season. Ty Jerome.

Tas Melis (55:47)

Yeah.

Tim Bontemps (55:48)

Yeah, he's good.

Tas Melis (55:49)

Yeah, he.

Tim Bontemps (55:50)

It was. It seemed a little fluky last year when he was like 12 per game. 50, 40, 90 for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He had a really poor postseason and they really. I don't know, it was combination of not being able to pay him and maybe they thought we got the best of Ty Jerome. He didn't come back. He had calf problems to start this season. Didn't come back until the grizzly season was basically over. But he's almost at 20 a game. 50, 40, 90. I think he's a good shooter. I think he's got great touch with his floaters and I think he's a pretty decent passer as well. I think Ty Drome actually is good.

Trey Kirby (56:25)

Surprised Naji Marshall was my guy in that. He's. He's not. He's not talked about a lot, but he is just fit perfectly into Dallas. Not surprising because they're a bad team. But he has improved dramatically in every way. You know, he still doesn't shoot the three ball all that well, but it doesn't matter. He plays so hard. So Jason could place him a ton. Yeah, cutting scoring inside. It's. He's one of those guys that you see him drive in and he takes contact and you think, okay, he's going to put that up. That ain't going in. He just find. He just. He just shoves it in. He just finds a way to push shot it in. Edit every Single spot on the floor, inside the arc. But yeah, he's been great at 15 points per game. It's surprising for him to be doing that in his most efficient season from two point land. Again, not great at three point line, but still, he's just so good.

Tas Melis (57:20)

Two other guys I had, Pele Larson with the Heat, I think has gone under the radar. I think he's a solid player. He's always getting hit in the face, but he's a good player. And Mamu for the Raptors has been really, really solid. It's. It's fallen off a little bit as of late, but overall, his season in basically 60 games played, the guy's like 11 and five off the bench. He can hit the three. He's, you know, he's playing, he's an undersized. Big teams have figured him out a little bit. I said this the other day, like, they're like, oh, just put a small forward on him and it makes it a little more difficult for him. But he's been good. He's been very good at the contract he's at. So those were two other names when it comes to. What about this guy?

Trey Kirby (57:58)

Yeah, we could go all day.

Tas Melis (57:59)

We could go all day, baby.

Tim Bontemps (58:01)

Hartenstein, Keita Dahron, Sharp, Ozo Iguidaro, Mitchell Robinson, Sam Merrill, Isaiah Joe, Dante DiVincenzo, Asar Thompson, Dean Wade, Quentin Grimes, and yeah, I put them on my list. Grayson Allen.

Tas Melis (58:13)

Oh, wow, Nice.

Tim Bontemps (58:15)

Those are all. That's my full thing.

Tas Melis (58:17)

Yeah, the Thompsons I had on my list and I removed them. I was like, ah. They feel. They both feel like they get talked enough about.

Tim Bontemps (58:23)

See, I think Asar is much more underrated than it's probably true.

Tas Melis (58:27)

But I'm feeling there's even like that that's turned a little bit even now. Maybe with the Pistons record out the way it is. Like, I'm hearing more about Asar now and his importance.

Trey Kirby (58:36)

Yeah.

Tas Melis (58:36)

And how he's better than Amen on the defensive side as well.

Trey Kirby (58:39)

Yeah, yeah. I was thinking about throwing Dennis Jenkins in there. You're talking about the Pistons. It depends on the man team you want to build. Because if you want some scrappiness, you call for Dennis Jenkins. That guy fights.

Tas Melis (58:52)

How did you not select Colin Gillespie?

Trey Kirby (58:55)

Because I talk about him every day.

Tas Melis (58:57)

Okay.

Trey Kirby (58:58)

It doesn't feel very underrated.

Tas Melis (58:59)

I draft him every day is the answer. Yeah, yeah, you're on the show. Okay, Fair enough. All right. Who do we miss? There's other people out there. Let us know in the Stream team. Let us know in the YouTube comments. Tweet us at no Dunks Inc. Or hit us up on ig. Wherever you want to talk to us. Of the night. Sponsored by indie rock band Missed Dunks at Summer League. It's a real thing. The debut album, Fared well is out March 13th, right around the corner. Two singles in a music video. That music video, Mr. Fables Leaving Town, is out now on all streaming services. What the hell am I saying right now? Missed Dunks at Summer League fared well, and Mr. Fables leaving town.

Trey Kirby (59:38)

Yeah, that's funny because you said Ms. Dunks at Summer League Fared well. I laughed. I. I wrote that. I put that in. Yeah, but I still laughed because it sounded like you said they did good. But that's the name of their new album.

Tas Melis (59:50)

That's the album. Yeah.

Trey Kirby (59:51)

Yeah. But I was confused because I had copy pasted three other random song names in there and I was looking, where are these song names? I couldn't find them. So I threw in Mr. Fables leaving town, which isn't out now on all streaming services. Instead. I didn't know if they wanted me to talk about those other things like did that.

Tas Melis (60:07)

You just went the extra mile, eh?

Trey Kirby (60:09)

Yeah. Well, he said we got to do the research here.

Tim Bontemps (60:12)

I listen to the tunes.

Tas Melis (60:13)

Yeah, yeah, they sound.

Tim Bontemps (60:14)

They sound good. I don't know if you guys are familiar with Hum and Shiner, but I got some Hum and Shiner vibes.

Tas Melis (60:19)

I am not.

Tim Bontemps (60:19)

No, just a nice guitar bands.

Tas Melis (60:21)

Okay, good.

Trey Kirby (60:22)

There's a video of them running around or the one artist running around Memphis. It's cool. That's cool.

Tas Melis (60:29)

But their band is called Ms. Dunks at Summer League 100%. I mean, look, I'm intrigued. You have my curiosity. Well, bite goes to Drew Holliday. Whoa, man. That's not a boy. That's a man. Drew Holliday scored a season high 35 points to lead the Blazers to a victory over the Grizzlies. Shot 13, 19 from the field, 8 of 11 from deep. Contributed A game high 11 assists, 5 rebounds, 1 steal in 32 minutes. Jeremy Grant also had a good game. So it was sort of the older guys coming through. They were hoping for the Blazers last night as they got that win over Memphis to obviously help them out there in that. In that jumbled sort of mess of the play in. In the Western Conference. Congratulations to Drew Holliday. I wonder if he has ever even won a Woah boy long career. I mean. Yeah, I mean I did it. I did do it for a Long time. Way back in the day. Yeah, maybe. Maybe.

Tim Bontemps (61:24)

It's possible.

Tas Melis (61:26)

Good game. Good, good game. Pick them. That's a loss for me. Last night I had the Thunder, which they won. So you're like, what the hell? You won. Well, no, I needed them to win by five. I mean that could have happened. Obviously a bucket a score here or a Knicks miss at the end. Maybe I get there. But you guys covered. So I'm one and two. You guys are two and one.

Tim Bontemps (61:48)

That was exciting. I felt like a real gambler last night. Like celebrating when the Knicks missed the

Tas Melis (61:54)

three pointer to not go to overtime,

Tim Bontemps (61:58)

but then also grab the offensive rebound so they got another shot which didn't result in free throws that would have pushed it over 5.

Tas Melis (62:05)

Assuming I may have wondered.

Tim Bontemps (62:07)

Yeah, I was like, yeah, this is what it's like.

Tas Melis (62:09)

Came down to one re. One rebound. Maybe have decided it.

Trey Kirby (62:12)

Yeah. Yeah. It did not feel right being excited when the Knicks missed a three point shot. But I was like, yeah, nice.

Tas Melis (62:18)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (62:20)

Oh, well. Tonight the Lakers go to Denver. Denver's favored by five and a half. Feels big. Denver hasn't won two in a row in a month. So this is their attempt tonight and that's why I picked them. Even though it's probably not smart. They got so many guys injured. No Aaron Gordon, no Peyton Watson. We know that. That's been happening for a while. Kim Johnson also questionable tonight, so that's. It's not a good recipe, but I picked them anyways. So. Did you, Trey, Why did you pick the Denver Nuggets?

Tim Bontemps (62:56)

I don't know. The line being so big kind of is like, huh, Are they. Are they telling us something here? I. I do think that the Nuggets can be effective offensively against the Lakers and I don't know, I think a little bit. Bit of weird vibes with both teams.

Trey Kirby (63:11)

Yeah, we'll see.

Tim Bontemps (63:12)

We'll see.

Trey Kirby (63:13)

Yeah. They also don't have Spencer Jones to throw at Luca. He's also going to miss night's game. Although the Lakers are healthy. Is that why you're taking them?

Tas Melis (63:19)

Yeah, part of it. I mean, I'm taking the points here. I'm hoping for a close game at the end of the day like we saw maybe in massive square Garden last night. Will that happen in the mile High city? We'll find out. It's still early, so I'm not panicking. But you know, I could obviously gain this game back here if I get the Lakers to lose by five or less or even win, for crying out loud. Why not? Go win it.

Tim Bontemps (63:40)

Go out there and win it.

Tas Melis (63:41)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (63:41)

Yeah.

Tas Melis (63:41)

Do it for me. Okay. We'll find out tomorrow how that one goes down. We'll talk about it. I'm sure that's probably one of the marquee games on tonight. Lakers Nuggets. Thanks for joining us here today. If you are a fan of Survivor, and you should be, because Survivor 50, we've had two episodes of this season. It's already better than the previously, I don't know, five seasons combined in my mind, like, we covered some pretty crappy Survivor seasons, if we're being honest. You don't.

Tim Bontemps (64:08)

Well, I mean, we're talking about crappy episodes.

Tas Melis (64:10)

Oh, God. This guy. This guy. His pants on national television last year. That's a happy man. And he was happy he's got poop. He wasn't happy about it, but, you know, he took it in stride.

Tim Bontemps (64:19)

Yeah.

Tas Melis (64:19)

Or took it in. Took it in. Waddle. Yeah. So we'll talk about Christian crapping his pants on Survivors episode last night around. No bus coming up at 1pm Eastern. It's got its own YouTube feed, its own podcast feed. So please check that out and subscribe. You know what, Just go subscribe even if you're not a Survivor fan or Traders fan, because we did that too. Just go subscribe for us. Just help your boys out. That's. That's not a lot to ask in my mind. It's not. Click over and the link is in the show notes. So click over and subscribe. Please help us out.

Tim Bontemps (64:52)

Wow.

Trey Kirby (64:52)

There.

Tim Bontemps (64:52)

There are people in the live tribe already.

Tas Melis (64:55)

Oh, Nora said at 8 o' clock people were talking. Yeah, yeah. The Survivor fans are.

Tim Bontemps (64:59)

You poop your pants and people want to talk about it.

Tas Melis (65:01)

Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, we're going to talk about you pooping your pants. I'm sure on no Buffs later today. Which time? I was thinking of the time in Las Vegas at a nice dinner.

Tim Bontemps (65:11)

Oh, I was thinking the time on NBA tv.

Tas Melis (65:15)

And those are just since we've known each other. Unbelievable. Incredible. So we'll talk about that on no Buffs. Hopefully. Hopefully you'll join us. Until tomorrow though, when we're here for the drop podcast. Clipper Bros. You heard it here first.

Tim Bontemps (65:29)

Have a great time. Turn up.

Tas Melis (65:31)

Love you guys.

Tim Bontemps (65:32)

Awesome.

Trey Kirby (65:33)

Thanks for joining us. And remember, TV has changed. They will show anyone pooping themselves as we just talked about on Survivors. So tune in to no Buffs a little later. Maybe it'll be another time for Trey. Probably not.

Tas Melis (65:45)

Maybe. Maybe you'll shit your pants after you do the smelling salts tomorrow. That'd be pretty amazing.

Tim Bontemps (65:52)

Like, don't wear white. Trust me.

Trey Kirby (65:54)

What? Why do you think that that encourages, I don't know, stuff going on in the body.

Tas Melis (65:58)

Have you ever done smelling salts? No. So who knows what your body, how your body's going to react.

Tim Bontemps (66:02)

A little bottled insanity in the nose.

Trey Kirby (66:04)

You guys can try it out.

Tas Melis (66:05)

Oh, we probably will. Oh, yeah, we probably will.

Trey Kirby (66:08)

I did. I forgot to bring it. It's here.

Tas Melis (66:10)

Okay.

Trey Kirby (66:11)

I forgot to bring it. It's over there.

Tas Melis (66:12)

We're doing it tomorrow.

Trey Kirby (66:13)

It's got to drag it on the bottom.

Tas Melis (66:14)

Paying off February's pick and loss by doing smelling salts, which will. Will inevitably lead to all of us doing smelling salts. Probably. Probably. So we'll see you tomorrow. Brace the Day.

Tim Bontemps (66:29)

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Trey Kirby (66:56)

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.