Tas Melas (3:18)

Yeah, none of this really matters. At the same time, I think Jalen Brown should be there over Donovan Mitchell. The way they perform night in and night out around Jaylen Brown on the Boston Celtics. What they're doing this season knocks Donovan Mitchell's spectacular year down a little bit. You know, we'll get to their fantastic performance last night a little bit later, but they don't do it as often as the Boston Celtics.

J. Skeets (3:41)

They.

Tas Melas (3:42)

So I think that's going to factor in when people look at these starters. But they'll both make it. You know, they're both being all stars.

TK (3:50)

They'll both be starters.

J. Skeets (3:51)

Yeah, they will.

TK (3:52)

They'll both be American starters, I do believe. And their numbers are basically identical. Yeah, the Celtics are a little better than the Cavs so far.

J. Skeets (3:59)

Fair enough to give them the nod here as the. As the starter in the East. Okay, so let's go to the reserves. I think usually the best way to do this is go through some of the guys that at least I think are a lock. You guys can tell me if you agree or not. And we'll go from there. Once we get down to like the final two, three, four spots, then it gets a little interesting and guys start making their case for some guy over another. But Donovan Mitchell guy, Donovan Mitchell, if we don't have him in the starting lineup there in the east, he's the first guy as a reserve. That's an absolute no brainer. Like you said, big game last night, big takeover in that game against the Sixers. So Donovan Mitchell is there, Spida is there. All right. Jalen Johnson feels like a lock.

TK (4:40)

Oh, yeah.

J. Skeets (4:40)

One of the leading contenders for most improved player.

Tas Melas (4:43)

He would have been there last year, but he got injured. Trey. Trey Young was the Guy who got it from the Atlanta Hawks last year just cuts, but he got injured early in the season. Otherwise it would have been Jalen Johnson.

J. Skeets (4:54)

And Jalen Johnson's even gotten better here. He's averaging career highs and points and shooting percentages on an increased usage. And he's flirting with all the triple doubles. Jalen Johnson, a lockdown. That's seven guys. Scotty Barnes, lock it in. Everybody's nodding for me, okay. I think he's one of the best two way players in the league. When you're considering defense. Toronto does have a great record. You know, they're in contention for having home court in the playoffs in a first round. They deserve a rep. I guess in that sense it's Scotty Barnes over Brandon Ingram.

Tas Melas (5:25)

If you're picking between the two, the guy is spectacular. I do think opposing coaches plan their defensive plans around Brandon Ingram because he's good offensively, but Scotty does it. All the moments I had yesterday watching him the against the Indiana Pacers where I was like, oh, just defensively how strong he is. I won't repeat the Jalen Brown quote about Scotty Barnes again. Why he's so strong, but he is super strong. He plays everywhere.

TK (5:58)

Yeah, last night was kind of the perfect encapsulation, I think, of the All Star cases for Barnes and Ingram because Ingram led the Raptors in scoring 30 points on really good percentages, 52% from the field. Scotty Barnes put up 26 points and 13 assists with seven rebounds, two steals and a block, plus 14 for Barnes, plus zero for Brandon Ingram. The impact stats definitely tilt towards Scotty Barnes and it's the two way factor. And that's why for me, he's the lock over Ingram.

Tas Melas (6:26)

Okay, so when the coaches get their ballots and they say, hmm, a Raptor, let's take one, are they picking the guy that their entire coaching staff is thinking about going into the game? Because they often think about Brandon Ingram and will that hurt Scotty Barnes case, or are there enough international American players that anyone of them gets there anyway? That being said, it should be Scotty.

J. Skeets (6:47)

Okay, we got Scotty Barnes. So that's three locks. Donovan, Mitchell, Jalen Johnson, Scotty Barnes in the East. Is Jalen Duran a lock for your All Star team?

TK (6:55)

He wasn't quite a lock for me. He was a research lock. Like as soon as I checked the numbers, he's like, yeah, you're in. But I didn't have him in my top eight.

J. Skeets (7:04)

Okay, okay.

Tas Melas (7:05)

For me he's a lock. Part of it was the other Tier that we're going to get to. He deserves it more. They are the best team in the Eastern Conference, no doubt. So a second Piston is fine with me.

J. Skeets (7:20)

Okay. Yeah. His counting stats are not quite as impressive as some of these other guys. There's no doubt. But still 18 and 11, chipping in a block and a steal per game. His player efficiency has improved every year in the league, which is something I think, and you said it, the Pistons almost feel like deserving of a second all star. Him and Cade, that two way game is very important. Also, the US Is going to need some big guys. You know, they're going to be a little short on size. So let's get Jalen Duran as an American in there. Somebody's got to try and slow Jokic and Wemby and Giannis and the international big. So I think he's in there. It's unfortunate just because he's been injured here the last little bit, but he still played a lot of games. Okay, so we got Duran as a guy in here. So that's. That's four of the seven. Yeah.

TK (8:04)

Three things I like about Jalen Duran. Number one, him and Cade Cunningham wearing khakis together on the bench for the Pistons. Looks great. Number two, I was looking at while I was doing my research locks here.03 point attempts for Jalen Duran this season. He's stretched out his range, but he's like the one center. He's like, no, I'm just dunking. All I'm going to do is be inside. So respect to that. And then also the Detroit Pistons basically put out a thirst trap video of this guy changing clothes and like taking his shirt off and signing stuff. And I had so many. Maybe this says something about me. So many tweets coming through in my algorithm that were like, oh my goodness, look at this man. Look at how beautiful this man is. The tweet has left contained. It's not just for NBA Twitter anymore. So he's one of the hottest dudes in the league. That puts him over the top for me.

Tas Melas (8:52)

There is no doubt. Yeah. The three things I like about Jay, I was close to him at a Hawks Pistons game where he showed how massive he is. He is truly massive. You want to talk about. Guys.

J. Skeets (9:07)

You got to see this video.

Tas Melas (9:08)

This is, this is. No, no, no sexual talk here. This is just a physique. But the second thing I like about him is that Yanis De Campo was interviewed by Greek media this past summer after the bronze medal that he won in Euro basket. And he was Asked about playing in Europe versus playing in the usa, he said, well, I get hit so much more in American basketball, which you often hear the opposite. Oh, they play physical. The first guy he said that hits him that he thought of, took him a second to think who's the guy. He said, Jaylen Duran. So a physique factor. And the third thing is Trey's tweet that he mentioned, the great tweet. Apparently I haven't seen it. Now I'm gonna be searching. I won't search during the show, I'll search post. But Jalen Duran, I think it's a kind of a bad time. As you said, the injury. Yeah, that's it and yeah, frankly, that's it.

J. Skeets (9:57)

Yeah, that's it exactly. If he was still playing here over this last little stretch, it'd be a no brainer. We have Mesolock. He's in. I think he's going to be there. And that's four of the seven. So guys, that leaves three All Star game spots in the east for what, five to seven deserving players. I don't know how long your list went. We're going to have some snubs but. But I want somebody to step to the pulpit here and make a case for a particular player in the Eastern Conference that they got to have on there pitcher case on one guy here, tk.

TK (10:28)

You know who I'm going to right away? Michael Porter Jr. Wow.

J. Skeets (10:33)

Okay.

TK (10:34)

I got six names on my long list of. For the last three here, MPJ 268 and 349 from the field, 40 from three, 84 from the free throw line. He's been awesome. His like on off impact stats for the Nets make them from a bad team to one of the worst teams out there. He's basically their entire offense taken a crazy tough shot selection. I believe this year it feels like there's a hand in his face every time and it doesn't really matter. So MPJ was an easy one for me.

J. Skeets (11:01)

Okay, let's. Before we agree or disagree on him, do you have another name that you want to say? Got to be on this team.

Tas Melas (11:08)

That's got to be on this team. It's tough because the 10th and 11th and 12th spots here I don't think are all must be on their type of guys. Carl Anthony Towns here mid January as this is the worst time to be talking about Carl Anthony Town.

J. Skeets (11:25)

Bad timing on his part.

Tas Melas (11:26)

Yeah, I think everything going around the New York Knicks and I think that's why Duran is in there for sure because as A big. He's got to be there. But I will take Carl Anti Tez. It is nuts to think that this team is 25 and 15, basically on the same pace as the New York Knicks last year for 51 wins when everyone here at this table started to appoint them as the best team in the Eastern Conference, when they started to make their run against the. Or up against the Detroit Pistons. But they ain't. Maybe it's Josh Hart being injured and not having the same heart that they need, but because all these rest of these guys in my eyes are a little bit. Maybe they won't make it. I think Cat will be there just because of the numbers. Because he is the second best player on the New York Knicks, a good team. He's there. But they're all kind of like, I don't know. It's going to come down to. I don't know.

J. Skeets (12:13)

Cat's funny because he's. The numbers are like still 21 and 11, three assists. But he is having the worst shooting season of his career. He's only shooting like 47% from the floor. That may have went down after last night. I don't know, 35 from deep and talking.

Tas Melas (12:27)

And he mentions not being extremely comfortable in Mike Brown's offense. You know, he's just not super into it. You see body language against the Kings.

J. Skeets (12:37)

Bad clip last night of Carl Anthony Towns hitting the ground, not getting back on defense. Mike Brown calling him out in the. In the post game press conference after another loss.

Tas Melas (12:46)

He's in there for me.

J. Skeets (12:48)

I know he's definitely, obviously on my short list. I assume he was one of the names within your six there.

TK (12:52)

He got in for my number 12. He could have been higher. But that was a disgusting performance from Towns in the second half last night. He did nothing.

Tas Melas (13:01)

Yeah, it's a bad time. It all depends when the coaches get their ballots. As you said, the reserves get selected. When. When do they get?

J. Skeets (13:09)

February 1st is when we know or we're told.

Tas Melas (13:11)

So starters here is when we don't got them. Yeah, yeah, we'll get him in a week.

J. Skeets (13:16)

Okay, well, you got Michael Porter Jr. Or. You made the case. You got Carl Anthony Townes. You made the case. I'm going to make the case for Norman Powell as a deserving all Star here. He's following up what was a really good season last year with the Clippers and he somehow has leveled up and I did not see that coming. I was like, wow, that was just like one of those weird and nominal years. But he's Been better in Miami. He's had to sort of carry the bigger offensive load than I think even they imagined when Tyler Herro was out. Powell's numbers. Powell's numbers are similar to Heroes numbers last year when he was an All Star. So I think Powell is a deserving All Star. You're nodding along. Got him in the mix.

Tas Melas (13:53)

Yeah, he was my 11th. He is there. I guess he's playing for Team International because I just watched a Miami home game where Sean DePaul. Sean Paul was doing the halftime show. Sean Paul's doing the halftime show, and he did a lot for Jamaica and the suffering that they had with the Hurricane recently. And a lot of the clips were Jamaica and Norman Powell playing basketball. And so because Norman Powell wants to play for the. The Jamaican national team, I guess he's on Team International. But I do think this is the year finally old Normie gets there. He definitely deserves to be.

J. Skeets (14:30)

Oh, he does.

Tas Melas (14:30)

And.

J. Skeets (14:31)

And probably was deserving last year. I remember we talked about him as at least maybe a possibility, but above.500 team. Yeah. You know, it's not Bam. If you're having a Miami Heat representative. It's obviously not Hero because of injuries. I think it's Powell. What do you think on Powell, TK? Do you have them in?

TK (14:46)

These are my 10, 11, and 12. Norm Powell was in for me. I couldn't get there with bam. He's been so inconsistent offensively. I think the on off swings are more favorable to Norm Powell as well. And I wanted a Heat in there. So when it came down to those two. Yeah, it was Norm over Bam for me. Old Normie.

Tas Melas (15:03)

Okay.

J. Skeets (15:04)

Okay. So Norman Powell is in. We all agreed on Norman Powell, the Carl Anthony Towns of it all. That's the. The one I have as my 12th guy here because there's another name that, you know, we'll get to when we're talking snubs or maybe even making it. But look, if you guys are both having Carl on your team, he's in for me as well. So Norman Powell and Carl Anthony Towns comes down to this last one. Your thoughts on Michael Porter Jr's case, or do you have someone else?

Tas Melas (15:31)

It was hard taking a team that's, what, 13th in the standings in the Eastern Conference in the Brooklyn Nets and Michael Porter Jr. They're 11 and 27. But I took him over Desmond Bain because Desmond Bain feels like a little. The way Trae Young was sort of awarded this credit last year, given an All Star appearance when he's not necessarily the best player on Their team. He's only. He would only be getting it because Franz Wagner was hurt. Franz would be there. And Michael Porter Jr's year has been spectacular. The way he's been able to just transfer into a number one spot on a team. A guy that we often say, oh, he just, he's. He's just not mature enough to be able to do it. Do you see his podcast on Curious Mike? Yes, that's entirely true. His podcasts have not been good. But the NBA says, hey, you should rein back on what you talk about. He's done that. And he's also somehow rolled into the number one spot on that team. That part is incredible. Even though they stink. So it was between him and Desmond Bain for me. Sorry, Pascal, you don't even make it.

J. Skeets (16:39)

Yeah, see, I wanted to make a case for Pascal Siakam, but they're dead last in the Eastern Conference. But I guess if you're putting Michael Purdy Jr. And it's sort of like, what's the difference? We're talking two wins at this point between the Nets and the Pacers. Yeah, but the Desmond Bain part of it all is interesting because that would be the one team if we keep Bane off. Like when you look at the Eastern Conference good teams, Orlando wouldn't have one. But then Bane has not had lights out production.

Tas Melas (17:05)

Right.

J. Skeets (17:06)

Come through in the clutch in a couple big games. But like, to put this in perspective, Bankero shoots better percentage than Bane this season and always talked about how bad Ben Caro's been. So it's sort of weird he's played 10 less games. I get that.

Tas Melas (17:19)

You mean it's just his field goal percentage.

J. Skeets (17:21)

Field goal percentage? Paolo shot better than Bane.

Tas Melas (17:24)

Yeah, he's a big man. I know.

J. Skeets (17:26)

Still, I mean, we like crap, and rightfully so. Paolo hasn't been able to hit a three to save his life, but I'm just saying, Bane is not lighting it up by any means here.

TK (17:34)

No, my guess is that if you throw out like the first 10 games for Desmond Bain, his percentages look really good. Sure, because he was. He had a really slow start there in Orlando, but he's still 19. 5 and 5. Like MPJ's numbers blow him out of the water.

Tas Melas (17:47)

Yeah, it took him. It took him a few just to get used to this entirely new offense. The whole team did. Really. I mean, they just weren't comfortable. Then Desmond Bain spikes a ball at Anyaka Kong wu's head and then things start rolling for him. So, yeah, he hasn't been incredible. You know, his True shooting percentage is better than Paolo Ban Caro's because of his threes, but he's been their. Their lead guy, just emotionally, I think. You know, beside, Jaylen sucks. And if you have to credit an Orlando Magic player right now, it's him over Franz just because Franz is hurt.

J. Skeets (18:20)

Yeah. This is the thing with Michael Porter Jr. Better stats, but Bain better team. It's like twice as many wins as the Brooklyn Nets. So it's like, what are you doing? Was there anyone else in consideration here for one of our final spots?

TK (18:31)

Siakam and Ingram were the last two guys for me.

Tas Melas (18:33)

Yeah.

J. Skeets (18:34)

Josh Giddey didn't peruse Josh Giddy's 199 and 9. No.

Tas Melas (18:39)

Well, his injury definitely changed things, but.

J. Skeets (18:40)

It was in the talk, and then the. And then, you know, he's not. This is the ultimate snub. But the Hornets have a bunch of guys that do put up like 19, 20 points per game. And con Knippel as a rook has been really, really good. He will be. He's not making it, don't get me wrong. But he's been the most efficient of all those guys that score a lot.

Tas Melas (18:58)

Ridiculous percentage.

J. Skeets (18:59)

Great, great year. Okay, so it sounds like Michael Porter Jr. Ends up getting it over what? I guess. What if I had to, you know, Gun to my head, I guess. I take Siakam. You made the case for Bane. But I'm fine. MPJ. Sure. Hilarious.

Tas Melas (19:14)

Yeah.

J. Skeets (19:15)

26 a game.

Tas Melas (19:16)

Yeah. I'm definitely surprised at how mature he feels. Like on the court, you know? Yeah, well, on the court, yeah. But in the locker room as well. I mean, not in his podcast. I'm talking about his podcast.

TK (19:29)

He does give good post game.

Tas Melas (19:30)

Yeah.

TK (19:31)

Interviews.

Tas Melas (19:31)

I think he talks about his. Every guy on his team. Like he is trying to help everybody. He talks about Nolan Traore. Like he will mention everybody on his roster. He's. He's doing what he can pretty well. I know they're 11 and 27. It's not good. But putting Paschi in there, Pascal is 9 and 32. I had trouble doing that.

J. Skeets (19:52)

I know, but this is the funny.

Tas Melas (19:53)

Halfway through the year, 14 wins, we're.

J. Skeets (19:56)

Like, oh, yeah, Siakam's in for sure because he's putting up. Siakam's made the all star team like three times prior. And these are like identical numbers to what he was doing when he was an all Star. So that he's just being penalized because they have under 10 wins. Yeah, for sure.

TK (20:11)

Yeah. They're the worst team in the league.

Tas Melas (20:13)

And that's why coming into this year, Brooklyn was talking about as a team that's going to win under 20 games. You know, they have impressed more than as. As much as the Pacers have disappointed. I mean, people wanted to pick them as a.500 team this year, and they're obviously nowhere close. They're pace for 18 wins, so that's part of it.

J. Skeets (20:31)

Okay, well, here's our Eastern Conference team as of January 15th. We got the starters, Giannis Jelen, Brunson, Tyrese Maxey, Cade Cunningham, and J. By the way, new rules, positionless starting five, remember? So theory that makes easier for everyone here. Yeah. Then our bench is Donovan Mitchell, who, by the way, did you see his recent comments that he wants to play for the international team, the World team.

TK (20:55)

Really?

J. Skeets (20:56)

Maybe Panamanian descent.

TK (20:59)

They hinted at it last year when.

J. Skeets (21:00)

They did the fake. I know, but come on.

TK (21:01)

Team USA versus World.

J. Skeets (21:03)

I don't think we're going to need you on the World team either. I think you got to be on the American one of them anyway. Jalen Johnson, Scotty Barnes, Jalen Duran. And then where it gets a little more difficult, we had some debate. Norman Powell, Storm and Norman making his first All Star team at what, 32, 33 years old. He's up there in age old Normie. Yep. Karl Anthony Towns. Cat gets in. And then the final spot after some debate, Michael Porter junior. Okay, there it is. Snubs, Siakam, Bane, Ingram. Anyone else? Those were the main ones.

TK (21:36)

Those are the main snubs, I would say. And the Stream team agreed with us. We asked for the last East all star between MPJ, Ingram, Siakam and Bane. MPJ 35% of the vote, followed by Ingram, 33% of the vote.

J. Skeets (21:47)

Oh, interesting. Now we have a big Canadian contingent watching.

TK (21:50)

That's true.

J. Skeets (21:50)

A lot of Raptors fans.

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Tas Melas (21:57)

Because I want to get confident.

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J. Skeets (24:24)

Okay, let's go to the West. J.D. you got the likely starters here in the Western Conference. Shay Gilder's Alexander, he's a lock. Jokic, he's a lock. Luka, he's a lock. Victor Wembanyama, he should be a lock. He's taken a big step forward in his third season. Spurs are like one of the best teams in the west. And then that fifth spot, just like the east, it's probably between Steph Curry and Anthony Edwards. We went back and forth a little bit I guess maybe ultimately went Steph, he is higher in the fan vote. So that's just 50% of the actual starting vote. We'll see what the players and the media think.

Tas Melas (25:02)

The colors.

J. Skeets (25:02)

Doesn't matter.

Tas Melas (25:03)

The colors on these uniforms. The variation. Spectacular.

J. Skeets (25:06)

You like that?

Tas Melas (25:07)

Yeah. As I think you. You made a short on this one Skeets recently that they got to go to their All Star jerseys. Their own jerseys for the All Star game.

J. Skeets (25:15)

Yeah. Yeah.

Tas Melas (25:16)

Look at that. We're going to Browntown with Steph the gold. There's others. There's spectacular colors here.

J. Skeets (25:23)

Okay, so we're gonna slot Curry into that fifth spot again. Some people will be upset. Anthony Edwards is not on that graphic. Both of them are going to start for one of the American squads again. So it will not matter. They might be on the same team.

TK (25:35)

Snub alert. Snub alert. Should be ant.

J. Skeets (25:37)

It does not matter.

TK (25:38)

You guys don't have respect for your elders.

J. Skeets (25:41)

So Anthony Edwards.

Tas Melas (25:43)

Yeah, go ahead.

TK (25:45)

How much respect?

J. Skeets (25:47)

Anthony Edwards is our first lock as a reserve. Then if he's not on that starting graphic, Guy's averaging 29, 5 and 4, and the wolves are a better team than the warriors. And he's having the best shooting of his season of his career. And yeah, okay, we had it wrong. He should have been on the graphic. Anyway, Ants in there. Jamal Murray.

TK (26:04)

Got him.

Tas Melas (26:05)

Got a lock.

J. Skeets (26:05)

Okay, we get to finally cross his name off the best players never to make an All Star team list. Right? He didn't start slow this year.

Tas Melas (26:13)

Jokic won a championship with an All Star. Here he is.

J. Skeets (26:16)

There we go. There we go. And as. And with Yoko, Murray's importance has never been greater and he hasn't fallen off at all. And they're actually surprising a lot of people still winning here. Are they second? Are they second now in the West? Actually, I mean, I misspoke when I.

TK (26:30)

Said they are currently second by a half game over the Spurs. I think Murray could have been a bubble boy prior to this stretch here without Jokic. And then the way he's been playing without Yoko, it pushes him into a lock for sure. I had him there, there anyways, but I think no denying it at this point.

Tas Melas (26:48)

Oh, I would have had him as luck no matter what. Just because it's. He's so efficient. This is his best start to a season of his career. YIC or not. The numbers are. The numbers are nuts. I have to look at them six times to make sure.

J. Skeets (26:59)

26 points per game and seven or eight assists per game. He's shooting the hell out of the ball from three.

Tas Melas (27:03)

Yeah. Almost 45 from three, 48 from the floor. His Best efficiency season. Somehow that summer made him better. I don't know.

J. Skeets (27:11)

Two Rockets as locks here.

Tas Melas (27:13)

He didn't do anything specific in the summer. I know you're looking at. What do you do? He just got ready for the year better than he ever has. There's something going on there.

TK (27:21)

Didn't have to play for Team Canada.

Tas Melas (27:22)

No more. Done with that.

J. Skeets (27:25)

Kevin Durant and El Prin Shengoon. Both locks for me. Yes. Tas. Okay. Yeah.

Tas Melas (27:30)

Chad Holmgren and Shen. Yeah, for sure.

J. Skeets (27:32)

Not Chet.

Tas Melas (27:33)

Oh, I'm sorry.

J. Skeets (27:33)

Kevin Durant.

Tas Melas (27:34)

Oh, Kevin Durant. Yeah. Sorry. My bad.

J. Skeets (27:35)

Two Rockets.

Tas Melas (27:36)

My bad. My bad. I got Chad on the brain.

J. Skeets (27:39)

KD is flirting with another 50, 40, 90 season. He's going to make his 16th all 16th all star team. He's going to become one of only four players with 16 plus all star selections. Can you name the other ones?

TK (27:54)

LeBron.

J. Skeets (27:55)

Yep. He's at 21 right now. Will he make 22? We'll see.

Tas Melas (27:58)

Kobe Bryant.

J. Skeets (27:59)

Kobe hit 18.

Tas Melas (28:00)

Kareem Kareem 19.

J. Skeets (28:02)

There you go. You did it. Then there's a lot of guys with 15. It's like Duncan, obviously. Durant was a couple other guys.

TK (28:09)

Jordan probably.

J. Skeets (28:11)

Yeah. Something around there. Carl Malone maybe was around.

TK (28:13)

He played forever.

J. Skeets (28:14)

Yeah. Anyway, and then Shen Goon, all star last season. No reason he wouldn't be in here again. 22, 9 and 7 on better efficiency compared to last year across all three of the categories like field goal percentage, three point percentage, free throw percentage. Okay.

Tas Melas (28:31)

No, he did deserves to be there.

J. Skeets (28:32)

Okay, so that's four guys ant, Jamal Murray, KD and Shen Goon. That leaves three All Star spots for the rest of the West. State your case for a guy, your most luckiest of locks of the remaining.

Tas Melas (28:46)

Three spots here, lesson when whether it's me or whether it's the All Star coaches or the coaches, I should say in the Western Conference when they get their ballot, they're going to say two belong from the best team in the Western Conference at 34 and seven on pace for 68 wins. The Thunder deserved two. And the other one who's going to get it is Chet Holmgren. And he is the guy, the linchpin of the best defense in the league. Does anybody care about defense? Doesn't matter. He is their second best player this season, so he deserves to be there.

TK (29:18)

Yeah, I had chat as a lock as well for all the same reasons. You get basically one selection per conference as a defense guy and Chet is the defense guy in this one. Shout out to Rudy Gobert and You know, if he makes the team, we get to see Wemby vs. Chet in.

J. Skeets (29:33)

An All Star Game. Very exciting. That's a good point. Good, Good point. I have him as well. He was. I mean, we're obviously debating whether he makes it over some of these other guys, but you're right. It's almost. It's pretty similar to the Jalen Duran case in the East. Like we're saying, Pistons leading their conference, obviously an instrumental part in that success. Need a second guy. Feels like they deserve a second guy. Yeah, Thunder are going to get him. It's not going to be J Dub this year because of his injury for a majority of the season, so Chet's in. All right. Make a case for another guy.

TK (30:02)

TK I got Devin Booker made the list for me. Suns have been a great story this year. A really surprising team, and he's been really good. 25 points per game, four rebounds, six assists. Only shooting 30% from three takes. Basically only impossible threes is what it feels like. But 45 from the field as well. He's been a top 10 clutch performer in the league this year. And Booker's just fun to watch. So I got him in the mix.

Tas Melas (30:24)

An absolute lock. He deserves to be there.

J. Skeets (30:26)

Absolute lock.

Tas Melas (30:27)

Absolute lock.

J. Skeets (30:28)

Impressed to hear this. I'm a little surprised because I think there are two other names that some people are going to say got to be over Book.

Tas Melas (30:35)

Book deserves to be there with how the team has turned into what they are right now. He is their best player. By far their best player. The reason why his three point percentage has dropped after a spectacular start was teams are doubling him and he does often take difficult shots. I don't care about the stats. This is a guy they're on pace for nearly 50 wins. That's freaking phenomenal.

J. Skeets (30:58)

Nobody had them.

Tas Melas (30:59)

Yeah.

J. Skeets (30:59)

Flirting with 50.

Tas Melas (31:00)

So who are the two? Who are the two that are.

J. Skeets (31:01)

Well, I think my, I guess, guy I'd like to bring to the table as a lock in these final three spots. Denny Avdia is basically the Jalen Johnson of the Western Conference. Like, the numbers he puts up are unbelievable. If you watch the Blazers games, they're not empty stats by any means. He is their offense. They've had no point guard for the entire season. He's taken over that role. So I have him as an absolute lock here. In fact, I had him ranked above Chet, above Booker, but those were the names. And then the other name is Kawhi Leonard, the Kawaii of it all. So that's where like, I came down to Booker and Kawhi and I went back and forth, back and forth, won the team, success won. Kawhi's obviously just had better individual success. The heater he's been on.

TK (31:42)

Yeah, he's had a little bit better statistical season than Booker I suppose, but he's played 30 games, Booker's played 37. It came down to Abdia and Kawhi to me for the last one I went with Abdiyak mostly because I watched that game they played against the warriors and the Trailblazers looked terrible without Denny Adbia. He's their entire offense. He's also played 10 more games than Kawhi. So most of the guys that I left off the Western Conference have missed a quarter of the season at this point.

J. Skeets (32:11)

Okay.

Tas Melas (32:11)

Yeah. He's only missed one game at this point, right?

J. Skeets (32:13)

Yeah.

TK (32:14)

Unfortunately for Denny it's going to be adding up right now since he's out with injury and these other guys are playing for the most part not Reeves, but we'll see.

Tas Melas (32:21)

Yeah, for me the last one was Denny Abdia easily he deserves to be there because they put so much on his shoulders and he continues to just fight through it and maybe miss a shot here or there. Yeah, it doesn't matter. That's a skill to be able to play for 48 minutes like that. As the guy that I thought would be sharing a lot of the role with Shaden Sharp but he hasn't had to do that. Hasn't they haven't been on the floor enough to to say that Shaden Sharp has taken that off his shoulders. So that is a spectacular year for me. That's a easy one for me. The west was kind of easy for me at the bottom.

J. Skeets (32:57)

I, I, I am literally baffled that there's not more love for Kawhi because I'm usually the Clippers hater of the bunch here.

Tas Melas (33:04)

Somebody's got to pay the guy's average.

J. Skeets (33:06)

Pay for what, 6 and 4 and he's shooting basically. If we round up 50, 40, 94 efficiency as they now as you guys have pointed out over the last couple of shows are back in that lease the play in mix.

Tas Melas (33:18)

They are.

J. Skeets (33:19)

He's completely carrying them. He's a six time all star. This is his best season ever right now. I mean it's only 30 games, I get that. But that's a lot of games for Kawhi too, so there's that too. But look, I love Devin Booker so I love that the Suns are deserving of a rep there. So those were the three names I say all that to say, I'm with you guys. I had Avdia, I had Chet Holmgren, and then I had Devin Booker just making it over Kawhi Leonard.

Tas Melas (33:43)

Yeah. I don't know if the fact that we've got two Houston Rockets on there and they are sort of dropping down the standings kind of can cancel them each other out a little bit. I think it's doubtful Kawhi should not be there. Somebody's got to pay for the salary cap circumvention, which seems to have happened here.

J. Skeets (34:00)

It's a good point. We are waiting on the results of that.

Tas Melas (34:02)

We're not going to get it before the All Star Game.

J. Skeets (34:04)

You don't think so?

Tas Melas (34:05)

They're getting it. They are getting an All Star Game. After what has happened, it's hard to not believe what happened in terms of the salary cap circumvention. Somebody's got to pay for it, and it's Kawaii not being an All Star.

J. Skeets (34:17)

You want to bump up the All Star ratings, Silver should come out and say at the halftime of the All Star Game or in between one of the games, we're going to give you the results from our. From our lawyers on the Clippers investigation and do the salary caps for convention with Kawhi Leonard. Oh, my God. The ratings would skyrocket.

Tas Melas (34:35)

So he's gonna do it live on the mic?

J. Skeets (34:37)

Yes.

Tas Melas (34:37)

Okay.

J. Skeets (34:38)

He reads it. Yeah, exactly.

Tas Melas (34:39)

Yeah. I hope he does it quickly. I hope it's succinct. Not like last year where we had Mr. Beast and Kevin Hart.

J. Skeets (34:45)

Let Mr. Beast read it.

Tas Melas (34:46)

Yeah, that's a good idea.

J. Skeets (34:48)

Or Kevin Hart. Sure. Okay. So there it is. I mean, I'll go over our 12 All Stars in the Eastern Conference. Excuse me. In the Western Conference, man. Shay Jokic, Luca Wemby, Steph Curry, Anthony Edwards, Jamal Murray, Kevin Durant, Alperin Shengoon. And then we have Denny Avdia, Chet Holmgren and Devin Booker. Snubs in the west, obviously. Kawhi, we talked about. You said a couple guys that haven't played a lot of games. I assume you're alluding to LeBron James, who's played basically half the game. 21. Austin Reeves, 26, who played. I thought he was even less than that. And then Larry Markkanen. Yeah, yeah, George, maybe. Okay. But we have them getting squeezed here.

Tas Melas (35:29)

Triple J not. Not even included Jaren Jackson Jr. Because of how they've been a little disappointing. You know, I'm just saying, guys who have been All Stars before.

TK (35:40)

He didn't make my list, 23 games for.

Tas Melas (35:43)

Okay, that low for Reevesy.

TK (35:45)

Reevesy boy.

J. Skeets (35:46)

So I can't believe this, guys, but if I've counted it upright, we have exactly eight international players. We're not counting Norm. We're not counting Donovan Mitchell. You guys are American.

Tas Melas (35:57)

What about Cat?

J. Skeets (35:59)

No, American.

Tas Melas (36:00)

We have Dominican Republic.

J. Skeets (36:02)

From our list, we have Avdia Shengun, Jamal Murray. Then you have four in our starting bunch of the west sga, Jokic, Luka, and Wemby. And then one. We only have one in the Eastern Conference, and that's Giannis because we didn't have Siaka making it. So we have eight.

Tas Melas (36:17)

Well, I do think that Cat, because he's played for the Dominican Republic for so long, since he was a teen, will be on the international team once he's selected. And then you can shove LeBron in just like that.

TK (36:27)

That's a good way to do it. They're going to use the toggle to mess with these All Star rosters.

Tas Melas (36:34)

I mean, Katzek wants to play for the international team, as he always has. Yeah, I would want to win, too, as a child. What?

J. Skeets (36:40)

I would want to win, too.

Tas Melas (36:41)

Well, no, he's a Beast Boy, but he has. He's selected.

J. Skeets (36:44)

Not even make the team. Yeah, we have him on our team.

Tas Melas (36:47)

Yeah. The LeBron not being around, and he probably doesn't want to be there. No disrespect to LeBron, but he probably wants to chill out. Does he need to make another All Star Game? Obviously not, but he likes to have, you know, the individual accolades. Right? He likes them, but does he need another.

J. Skeets (37:06)

Does it sound better. Does it sound better to have 22 All Star Game selections or 21 All Star Game selections? Both. Great numbers.

Tas Melas (37:14)

I think he wants to get to 23, if anything, now that you mentioned those numbers.

J. Skeets (37:17)

He's going to play again and make it again.

Tas Melas (37:18)

Yep.

J. Skeets (37:19)

Oh, got him. All right.

TK (37:21)

He might.

Tas Melas (37:22)

He might.

TK (37:23)

He's the kind of guy who'll be like, I would rather be on the beach for All Star Weekend. And then if they doesn't get named to the team, he will say, that's disrespectful to not name me to the team.

J. Skeets (37:32)

That's true. That's true. Well, he would just, like, prefer just to be announced to the team. But, hey, you don't have to come.

TK (37:37)

Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

J. Skeets (37:39)

All right. Those are our All Stars. Uh, agree or disagree? We debated a little bit at the end, I guess. So, like, are you. Are you Booker over Kawhi Leonard? Are you Booker over a couple of These other names tight vote in the.

TK (37:51)

Stream team between Booker, Abdia and Kawhi. 36% for Abdia, Denny, Devin, Booker.

Tas Melas (37:58)

Yeah.

TK (37:59)

Got 36%. 32 each for Denny and Kawhi.

J. Skeets (38:02)

Okay.

Tas Melas (38:03)

It's a great story. Who is the Phoenix Suns second best player? Dylan Brooks.

J. Skeets (38:09)

Yeah. Yeah.

Tas Melas (38:10)

And they're 2416. Love me. A C, O, double L, I, N. But. But that's. That's how good Booker season has been. You know, shout out to Jordan Knott. Their head coach has been spectacular too. But, oh, double T from Book. From what Book said in the off season when he was asked, how are you going to turn this team around? When they stunk last year, they were horrendous last year. He's that I got to do everything. There's not one thing he was asked what's the one thing he's like, I got to do everything. That's a great story.

J. Skeets (38:41)

It's so similar now. I think about this, like the east to the west, like the slots. Because we're sort of like with Booker, we're doing. Or we were debating with Bane being a good team, but is he there? But we went more with the bigger numbers. Let's say, you know, Michael Porter Jr. And we're sort of doing the opposite here. We're going Booker in the west.

Tas Melas (38:59)

Yeah. But he's clearly their best, their leader.

J. Skeets (39:01)

On a good team. But Kawhi has bigger numbers and we have him because they started so slowly and they're done. I'm just saying. Just making an observation.

Tas Melas (39:08)

Thank you for.

J. Skeets (39:09)

I like our team, man. I like our team. I think we nailed it.

Tas Melas (39:12)

Yeah.

J. Skeets (39:12)

Kawhi will probably be there.

Tas Melas (39:14)

Yeah.

J. Skeets (39:15)

Just when I think of the coaches filling it out like, I was like, I don't know.

Tas Melas (39:19)

Yeah.

J. Skeets (39:19)

But maybe they're like, they illegally.

Tas Melas (39:21)

And. And the coaches. Coaches filling it out can definitely take Bane over Michael Barr Jr. I hesitate when I say that because. Because Bane isn't their best player, but he's played games.

TK (39:33)

He's their most reliable player.

Tas Melas (39:34)

Yeah.

J. Skeets (39:35)

All right. That's our all stars. Let's hear whether you agree. Disagree. Let us know in the comments. We're gonna take a break and we'll get into last night's games.

TK (39:42)

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J. Skeets (40:25)

NBA seven games on in the association last night, we're going to show you the final scores for everybody on YouTube. I won't go through every result, but we did have some injuries last night. Jalen Brunson had to leave the game in the first quarter after hurting his right ankle. Cooper flag left the game in the first half. He sort of did try and come back, but ultimately they shut him down in the second half. He had a sprained ankle. And Darius Garland, another foot injury for this guy in a really quality win by the cavs over the 76ers. So I just let everybody know those injuries. Do you have a big takeaway, though, from any of last night's results?

Tas Melas (41:02)

I'll try and be a positive Pete about Darius Garland's foot. It was the other foot that he didn't have surgery on this past offseason. So. So maybe because that team looked like the Cleveland Cavaliers people were expecting in the playoffs last year. I mean, they were up in Philadelphia shorts defensively. That looked like a such a different team. So they win. Sam Merrill, you know, who is kind of key for them to also left the game in this one. He shoots, gives him a little bit of space. So yeah, that's. That's a bad sign. But I'll try and be a positive Pete there just to start us off.

TK (41:33)

Yeah, that's just bad news for the Cavs. Cause Garland has been getting into a pretty decent rhythm for the Cavs, getting his feet underneath him. Not didn't even mean to say it like that. To me, he's kind of crucial to the best version of the Cavs. He plays three fewer minutes per game than Donovan Mitchell does, but still leads the Cavs in drives. The silver lining. I don't know if it's a silver lining. It was his other foot. It wasn't the foot that kept him out earlier this season. But now it just means you got foot problems on both of your feet.

Tas Melas (42:01)

So not great.

TK (42:03)

But I thought Evan Mobley was pretty terrific in this one. 17 points, 13 boards, six assists. Just a steal and four blocks. We didn't even bring up his name when we were talking no All Stars, but this was an all Star like performance. He played really aggressive, played with a ton of confidence and was just kind of dominant inside. His size, I thought really gave Philadelphia problems. And him and Jared Allen just Adam Bead completely out of sync. I thought for the majority of this game. He had four turnovers in the first eight minutes of the game.

J. Skeets (42:30)

Oh, my God. Every time I watched a bunch of this first half, he was traveling. Every time I was watching and they were travels, it was like, what are you doing? He was getting frustrated definitely. He's forgetting that he had to dribble before he moved his feet.

TK (42:41)

Why do you gotta do that?

J. Skeets (42:42)

Yeah, and this was our pick em game. And I mean we did call the part where it's like, who knows what you're gonna get from Cleveland. They're such a Jekyll and Hyde team. You backed them and they hit a million threes last night. Donovan did take over.

Tas Melas (42:55)

He looked great.

J. Skeets (42:56)

Yeah, it was awesome. But like, you don't know, like very easily could have been 133, 107 the other way or tough team to figure out.

Tas Melas (43:03)

But one team that I'm starting to know is that the Denver Nuggets are going to be spectacular in the playoffs. This is ridiculous how good they've been with Aokic 6 and 3 now without Jokic. And Peyton Watson was named player of the week last week. What I just thought that this would bring them together. Without Nikola Jokic there, they just become a stronger team, stronger locker room. And I mentioned Peyton Watson to start here because he could be a guy that's kind of key to take on the team's best offensive player on the other side and just stop them a little bit. The. The offense which got him this player of the week honor aside, you know that's going to, that's going to be there. But that growth. You see guys like Tim Hardaway last night, even, you know, Spencer Jones or Dron Holmes who only played five minutes on Pickett. But yeah, yeah, Jalen Pickett also on the list. But Dron Holmes might just get a throw out there for three minutes, go foul a guy. I, I mean that just that thing where they've developed this team so they looked good against unfortunate the news as you said on the other side. Cooper flag in that game.

J. Skeets (44:10)

Yeah, I mean when, when Jokic went out, we were sitting here going, huh, look, if the Nuggets can just hang on to like the sixth or seventh Seed sort of stay in the play in or at least the top of the play. I mean, look, they're in the second spot now in the Western Conference. This has been amazing. Amazing record here without Jokic. And even the losses, a couple of those were competitive. Yeah. And they were in them. Yeah, they've been great. Yeah. At 28 and 13 now and a really good road record and. Yeah. Quality win in Dallas. Any other games you want to touch on? I know you had a crazy game.

TK (44:43)

Yeah. Really, Another exciting Bulls game. They just played that great one against the Rockets that had like, I don't know, 30 lead changes, 17 ties. Last night against the Jazz, 26 lead changes. Bulls got up eight with two minutes left. And then Kobe White was trying to throw it all away. He fought Keonte George twice, once on a three pointer, once on a layup. He thought it was clean, but the dude flew from one end of one side of the lane to the other for a body check in the air.

J. Skeets (45:06)

Boop.

TK (45:06)

That's a foul. Bulls finally get a stop. Then a brutal turnover from Kobe White just hang on to the ball. They were probably going to foul you go to the free throw line. Keonte George scored eight points in 58 seconds to get the Jazz back in the mix here. Bulls miss a shot, but a nice offensive rebound and save by Isaac Okoro. He finds Trey Jones in the corner standing on one foot, Flamingo style. Finds Vuch underneath for a layup. And then Keonte George finally missed the shot at the buzzer. He beat him in Utah on a buzzer beater as well. So kind of funny to see it come down to the final shot for him once again. We'll talk a little bit about Bryce Sensible later. But yeah, that was a fun game. I thought kind of that was the best game of the night. So one of my main takeaways last night was I'm glad we're picking All Stars.

J. Skeets (45:50)

Yeah, I know it wasn't the same last night.

TK (45:54)

I do think. Yeah, but fun balls game. The Brunson thing didn't do anything to turn his ankle. Look like Skeets out there. You've been rolling them over a lot lately without even anything happening. So I think it looked pretty minor for Brunson, but it did look like the kind of thing that's probably going to bother him for a couple of months here. Towns, like I said, didn't do anything in the second half. Zero points, three shots, three rebounds. He just like stands down in the dunker spot and waits for things to happen for such A long time. Once he went down or once Brunson went down, it's like this should be the opportunity for Carl Anthony Towns to go and put the team on his back, put up some big numbers, but it was mostly Ogn Andobi. I thought that was aggressive for the Knicks in this one.

Tas Melas (46:38)

Yeah. And this is Mike Brown as a head coach going back to Sacramento. Not a good sign for coach. Sucks for coach. Although Precious Achu is speaking of Sacramento and New York. He's on Sacramento. Former Team New York 20 and 14. Yeah, but yeah, that was disappointing from Cat. No doubt. And the Cooper flag thing, going out with an ankle injury. It's the same ankle that he hurt on Monday. That being said, he did come back to the bench, but just didn't play anymore. So maybe the or the Mavs are just pulling the plug on this season. Like to some degree, Cooper's gonna play. But then Daniel Gafford also got hurt in this game. So Anthony Anthony Davis out, Derek Lively out. Now Gafford, I don't know how he's. How long he's gonna be out for with an ankle injury, but at some point they gotta pull the plug. I mean, it's being plugged, pulled for them, but I don't know. Kyrie is supposed to come back at some point.

J. Skeets (47:29)

Why?

Tas Melas (47:30)

Yeah, that's a good question. They have their pick, right? So they do stay bad.

J. Skeets (47:34)

Yeah, they have their pick this year and then don't have it for like, exactly. Whatever, three or four years. Sacramento, eight wins over the last 25 games. Here we go, baby, Here we go. Hell yeah. That's a 30 plus win percentage.

Tas Melas (47:48)

Oh, 32.

J. Skeets (47:49)

But let me tell you, the wins. They beat Denver, Minnesota, Miami, Houston, Dallas, Houston again, the Lakers, and now the Knicks. Okay, some quality teams there.

TK (48:00)

Quality wins. They got more wins than wedgies now, so that's good.

J. Skeets (48:04)

Yes.

TK (48:04)

I was also impressed with Maxime Reyno. Yeah, this guy's gonna be a good dinker dumper dude. Yeah, 7 foot 1, but for whatever reason, he takes 50% of his shots from 3ft to 10ft, shooting 57. He catches the ball, he jumps straight up in the air, shoots it way high and it drops in nicely. He only has 14 dunks in 780 minutes despite being a huge dude. He's just all about the floaters.

Tas Melas (48:31)

Shooting 57%. Like 57% overall or from 3 to 10.

TK (48:35)

Just on those floaters. Just on the 3 to 10 floaters. The deeper dumper deity, Maxime Reyno.

J. Skeets (48:41)

It's got the weird number. Yeah, 42, right?

Tas Melas (48:44)

Yep.

J. Skeets (48:45)

It's a strange one. Yeah. Yeah.

Tas Melas (48:50)

You said. So they're 8 and 17 over the last 25 games. I guess I jump out to the, to the stats and see because we all picked them for an over number.

J. Skeets (49:00)

Yeah.

Tas Melas (49:01)

Over 34 and a half.

J. Skeets (49:02)

Hey, they can do it and they're.

Tas Melas (49:03)

Still not gonna do it.

J. Skeets (49:04)

Come on, come on, come on. Kings.

TK (49:06)

32 of their games right now.

Tas Melas (49:07)

So they got half a season left.

J. Skeets (49:09)

Yeah.

Tas Melas (49:10)

They've gotta go and win 23. They gotta be above.500.

TK (49:15)

They gotta go 23 and 18.

Tas Melas (49:17)

Yeah. Yikes.

J. Skeets (49:19)

Unlikely like the beam.

Tas Melas (49:21)

24 and 17. They gotta go the rest of the way. Okay.

J. Skeets (49:24)

Probably not hitting.

Tas Melas (49:25)

Probably not.

J. Skeets (49:26)

And then my final note from last night. Grady Dick, great game. 21 points, 11 rebounds for Grady Dick off the bench. One of the best games he's played all season for sure. And it wasn't just like he was reigning three. He was like scoring in a bunch of other ways and obviously helping off on the glass. And Raps had a huge lead and then they gave it all back and then they. Brandon Ingram hit a couple threes to put the Pacers, those pesky Pacers to bed. So snapping the winning streak for them.

TK (49:51)

Yes, indeed.

J. Skeets (49:52)

Yeah. Let's get to some news. New wizard star Trey Young, still recovering from MCL and quad injuries on his right leg, will be reevaluated after the mid February All Star break. This is what Shams was telling us yesterday. So Washington is taking a cautious approach with the injuries to their new point guard. I set the fan dual line for Trey Young. Games played in a Wizard's uniform this season. I think we set it at 21 and a half. Something like that. Trey. Yeah, it was 21 and a half. Cause Trey said he's going to play 21 games. Exactly. I took the under. I pounded the under. And Tass was a little more optimistic that he might be over, but wrong. Not looking good, buddy.

Tas Melas (50:31)

I was done. Definitely wrong about that. And just, just had some faith that they put him on the basketball floor. I mean, obviously he is injured.

J. Skeets (50:40)

Yeah.

Tas Melas (50:40)

But they're basically saying, see you in a month, bud. Like, they're basically saying, don't ask questions about him. I mean, I still think that they are using this season as a trial period for Trey Young working out. Like because they can have a little teeny, tiny mini training camp around the All Star game when there's lots of days off. Like just go him, have him go out there and play with the guys, practice and see what he can do in the second half. It is odd because we got the report from Bond Temps and Windhorse that there will be an extension for Trey Young in talks this coming off season. They reported that a while back and I thought that is nuts.

J. Skeets (51:17)

And it might only be two years, like 70 million or something I'm hearing. I think Mark Stein was reporting that. So less money, but getting obviously a couple more years tacked on.

Tas Melas (51:26)

And the report is that they would rip up the player option for next year and do that instead. Which doesn't sound crazy.

J. Skeets (51:33)

No.

Tas Melas (51:33)

If it's two years, great deal. Yeah.

TK (51:36)

For two years especially nobody on their books that's on anything but a rookie deal. That'd be a great deal.

Tas Melas (51:42)

That's why two years makes sense and.

J. Skeets (51:43)

A big part of sitting Trey here and why some of us thought he wasn't going to play a whole lot. Sort of just like the Raptors did with Brandon Ingram when they traded for him at the deadline. Then he didn't even play at all. Well, Washington owes the Knicks their 2026 first round pick, but it carries a top eight protection. So if it's top eight, they get to keep it and then they just have to give the Knicks two second round picks. So otherwise if it falls out, it goes to New York. So there's some incentive to be one of the worst teams still. I mean, I guess if you're top four, if you're one of the four worst teams in the league, you're guaranteed you're keeping it because you can't fall out of that top eight protection.

TK (52:17)

Lowest you could get is eighth. So that was the question for me is can they lock in a bottom four seed in four weeks? They got 14 games basically until break. Looking at the wins right Now, Indiana has nine, New Orleans has 10, just like Washington, they also have 10, Sacramento has 11, Brooklyn has 11. Sacramento's hooping right now.

J. Skeets (52:39)

The Zards are fine, man. The Pacers are winning a little bit more. Things are winning a little bit more these four weeks.

TK (52:44)

As long as Washington doesn't surprisingly get hot. You know, I think maybe they had their hot week and a half that all these bad teams are going to have when they win like five out of seven or something like that.

Tas Melas (52:56)

Recently four out of seven. Something. Not great, but yeah, it was something.

TK (53:00)

Yeah. So if I'm looking at those five teams, Pacers, Pelicans, Wizards, Kings, Nets, I would have to imagine the Kings are the team that gets better throughout the season. So how do they respond? They're going to try and trade everybody I don't know if it'll work. Otherwise, they're going to be the guys with the bruises that don't heal.

J. Skeets (53:18)

Yeah.

Tas Melas (53:19)

Yeah. That's why I thought they would still be bad enough to have Trey Young play.

J. Skeets (53:23)

They would still play Trey Young and still.

Tas Melas (53:25)

Yeah. Don't worry. Yeah. Because they are. Yeah. As you said, number three in the reverse standings right now. How much are they going to get better? I mean, but they could win enough to be fifth. Like you said, that's doesn't guarantee them a top eight pick, so. Yeah, I guess that's what the front office in Washington's doing.

J. Skeets (53:44)

Yeah. They have not always had the best luck when it comes to the lottery. The Washington Wizards, they've had some, but.

TK (53:52)

No, they jumped up to number two. But in the draft, where everybody's like, there's not really a franchise guy.

J. Skeets (53:56)

Yeah, they're happy with sar, I think, but good point.

DJ Hester Prynne (54:00)

When you feel uncomfortable, what do you put on?

TK (54:03)

Biggie?

DJ Hester Prynne (54:03)

You put on Biggie when you feel uncomfortable.

Tas Melas (54:05)

Because I want to get confident.

DJ Hester Prynne (54:06)

This is DJ Hester Prynne's Music is Therapy, a new podcast from me, a DJ and licensed therapist that asks one simple question. Who do you want to be? And what's the song that can take you there? Music changes what you feel, and what you feel changes what you do. Right. That moment where a song shifts something inside you, that's where transformation starts. This year, I'm talking to experts across every area of life, like personal finance icon Gene Chaty, New York Times journalist David Gellis, relationship legend Dan Steven Savage, human connection teacher Mark Groves, and the man who shaped my ear more than anyone, Questlove. They'll bring the strategies. I'll pair them with the right records, and we'll teach you how to use the music to make change stick. This isn't just a podcast. It's unconventional therapy for your entire year. Listen to DJ Hester Prinz. Music is Therapy on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

J. Skeets (55:02)

All right, some other news. The Charlotte Hornets are finally retiring Dell Curry's number 30 jersey on March 19. Curry, ranked second in career points, scored almost 9,900 points in Hornets history. He won Sixth man of the Year in 94 for Charlotte. He spent a lot of time there, 10 of his 16 NBA seasons in the Queen City, and he's been with them after his career. Obviously, he's a team ambassador. He's a television analyst. So Del Curry's jersey going up in the rafters. Be honest. Did you already think it was there. Was that just me?

TK (55:35)

It's a little surprising that it hasn't been retired.

J. Skeets (55:38)

He's.

TK (55:39)

He's not their first jersey retirement. Bobby Phil's. When he passed away, they retired number 13. But this will be the first guy they're retiring for his on court exploits. He was their first ever draft pick. So like it's crazy that they're waiting this long. I mean he's been the broadcaster for 17 years.

Tas Melas (55:56)

Right.

TK (55:57)

But he definitely deserves it.

Tas Melas (55:59)

And why now? It seems like it's deep into why now?

J. Skeets (56:04)

Somewhat new ownership, I think in Charlotte. I think that, you know, they come in and say, let's, let's pay respect to Michael Jordan. The legacy of players.

Tas Melas (56:13)

Michael Jordan only wanted championship only. That's the only way.

J. Skeets (56:16)

Yeah, probably Jordan's like, we're hanging your jersey up. Would you win Del Curry? You had a good son. That's what Gemjay would say. That's me channeling mj.

Tas Melas (56:25)

Yeah.

J. Skeets (56:26)

Hey, I'll give you this. Your son's better than my son ever was.

Tas Melas (56:29)

I mean, when you start as, wow, we're getting perfect.

J. Skeets (56:34)

Am I wrong?

Tas Melas (56:36)

No, no, you're not wrong.

J. Skeets (56:38)

Both of his sons. Del Curry's got him two. Zero and sons.

Tas Melas (56:42)

It's true. I don't, I don't know.

TK (56:45)

Marcus makes more headlines than Seth does.

J. Skeets (56:47)

Okay. Still, he's a better NBA player.

TK (56:50)

Yeah, I agree.

Tas Melas (56:52)

Was a great athlete herself. Kids destroying him. When you were going through the top Charlotte Hornets in history yesterday and there just, there just hasn't been much. And so that's why it's understandable that they haven't retired anything until this point other than the late Bobby Phils.

J. Skeets (57:09)

I said, I said Del Curry second all time. It's what, Kemba Walker's number one in, in Hornets history.

Tas Melas (57:15)

Yeah.

J. Skeets (57:15)

As the all time leading scorer. Will he have his jersey retired?

TK (57:19)

Maybe, I guess so.

J. Skeets (57:22)

He's.

TK (57:22)

He's third in games played. Like he's probably the best Hornet after Dell Curry from a longevity standpoint, I guess.

J. Skeets (57:31)

Yeah.

Tas Melas (57:31)

Took him to the playoffs twice. He took it.

J. Skeets (57:36)

Took him.

Tas Melas (57:36)

They had a seven game series against Miami. When that guy. That was a good series. It was against Dwayne Wade when that guy.

J. Skeets (57:43)

Purple backpack guy.

Tas Melas (57:44)

Yeah, purple backpack, front row.

J. Skeets (57:45)

His backpack in the rafters. Actually, Actually they retired it.

TK (57:48)

Best backpack in history.

Tas Melas (57:49)

And his headband, he had a cool headband.

TK (57:52)

He invented the ninja headband. Actually, not many people know that.

J. Skeets (57:56)

All right, so did you guys see how they surprised Del Curry too? They did like an elaborate Interview with Eric Collins out on the floor and they got him. I mean, then they, you know. Oh, did you see the clip? It's worth watching. Del Curry's like. He's in tears.

TK (58:12)

Totally.

J. Skeets (58:12)

He's very emotional and Eric Collins is tearing up. Like, it was pretty cool. They surprised him. Then they brought, you know, some other. Like Mugsy Bogus was there. Mugsy Bogus? How's he not retired just as a legend. Larry Johnson, Mugsy Bogues and Alonzo Morning Legends collection. They should be.

TK (58:29)

I did laugh when Del Curry hugged Mugsy Bogues.

J. Skeets (58:32)

He's like, oh, little fella. Hey, come on, man. Come on. Yeah, you're right.

TK (58:40)

Haven't grown since we retired, unfortunately.

J. Skeets (58:44)

Oh, man.

Tas Melas (58:44)

Yeah, he's got to take it. But he definitely. Obviously he felt emotional because he feels something for Charlotte, because we saw a similar. Not to belittle what the New Jersey Nets did for Vince Carter, but they did something similar where they surprised Vince Carter. He didn't really care all that much. Did he care all that much? He respected it. But then he got retired by the Toronto Raptors, and that's when he got emotional because that one meant a lot to him. While the. The Nets one. Anyways, I just want to pat Vince on the back, really. The team that. The team that, you know, it's the first. It's your first team that. That's all that matters. It's like your first album. That's all that matters, really. You know, like this. The other teams. Vince's Nets magic.

J. Skeets (59:28)

Yeah. The Raptors are not retiring Del Curry's jersey.

TK (59:31)

He was great.

Tas Melas (59:31)

Raptor.

J. Skeets (59:32)

He was great.

Tas Melas (59:33)

And Mugsy. Also great and Mugsy.

J. Skeets (59:35)

Right. Good point.

Tas Melas (59:36)

Which. Which guy would you retire if you're the Raptors? Dell or Mugsy? That's a tough question.

J. Skeets (59:44)

Damn. I guess I would. Dell if I have to pick between the two.

TK (59:50)

Drake once wore a Dell Curry Raptors jersey to a finals game.

J. Skeets (59:53)

Yeah, because Dell gave us Steph Curry as a child with Seth playing on the Raptors floor. Oh, how many times have we seen that footage?

Tas Melas (60:02)

There's some stories there.

J. Skeets (60:03)

So, yeah, give the nod to Dell.

Tas Melas (60:05)

I agree.

TK (60:05)

Okay, we did have another big news drop. While we were recording the podcast, Shams posted Golden State's Jonathan Kaminga has demanded a trade away from the warriors as he has become eligible to be moved.

J. Skeets (60:18)

Today, right before we went live, I did say to you, happy Jonathan Kaminga trade day.

TK (60:23)

He said, get me out of here.

Tas Melas (60:24)

Okay, Trump's taking it to the.

J. Skeets (60:27)

I don't think you needed to demand like, we got you, don't worry. Problem. We've been working it. We're getting. We're getting it set up.

Tas Melas (60:35)

I guess it's just to get more people talking. I mean, what's the. Does it help his trade value? I mean, it's really just to bring him into the conversation more with every other team in the league that's already been talking about him. That's interesting.

J. Skeets (60:49)

Okay. Of the Night, sponsored by Greg Stapleton. Thank you, Greg, for sponsoring. Woah, boy. And I think you got a good one here from last night. Jazz forward Bryce Sensiba. This guy scored 21 points off the bench in the first quarter last night, the most by an NBA reserve in the opening period in at least 29 years. I say at least because it's the highest number since the statistic was first tracked in the 96, 97 season. So it's very possible this is the most ever in a first quarter by a bench player in NBA history. That's a lot of points. 21 points. Lance Stevenson had the record. He scored 20 in the first quarter off the bench in 2022. So not that long ago.

TK (61:38)

Nice.

J. Skeets (61:38)

I don't know. You remember that? No, I remember us talking about it. Anyway, sensible. Career high 43 points in a loss to the Bulls. Crazy finish. As we talked about 15, 22 from the field, eight, eight at the line. He had five threes, five boards, two assists, two steals. Bryce Sensible.

Tas Melas (61:53)

I saw our man John Schumann on Blue sky last night as it was as happening. And he wrote 21 first quarter points are the most for any bench player in the first quarter. In the 30 seasons that we have play by play data topping lance Stevenson in 2022.

J. Skeets (62:06)

Right.

Tas Melas (62:07)

And then. And then.

J. Skeets (62:08)

That's where I got it.

Tas Melas (62:09)

He starts. He starts dropping.

TK (62:10)

I heard it on podcast.

Tas Melas (62:11)

And then he's. Oh, did you.

TK (62:12)

Yeah, like a minute ago.

Tas Melas (62:14)

Which podcast? This one.

J. Skeets (62:15)

Yeah.

Tas Melas (62:16)

And then he. No, I'm not done. And then I'm not done. This is the important part. It cacked off with this bucket, which made me cackle.

J. Skeets (62:23)

It cacked off. Is that what he wrote?

Tas Melas (62:25)

You know, it kept.

J. Skeets (62:25)

Oh, capped.

Tas Melas (62:26)

Capped like Mike Kaplan. Okay. It made him cackle because he's that good.

J. Skeets (62:33)

It was a pretty crazy shot because he was just. He couldn't miss.

TK (62:36)

He could not miss.

Tas Melas (62:37)

Yeah.

TK (62:37)

Had a crazy one late in the fourth quarter as well, over two defenders. Also didn't get his first assist until 7 minutes 45 left in the fourth quarter. Why? Pass.

J. Skeets (62:46)

He's a bucket.

Tas Melas (62:47)

Yep, he is.

J. Skeets (62:48)

Bryce Sensiba. Will he ever score 50? Will that be his career high? 43. Snow's no joke.

TK (62:54)

My guess is that yeah, that's going to be his career high. But I could see him being a 50 point scorer. It wouldn't surprise me if he did. He wouldn't be like a mystery Tony Delk, Corey Brewer type if he were to do it. But I think they said he hadn't scored. He never scored 30 in a game, even in college. I think they said on the broadcast last night.

J. Skeets (63:13)

Huh.

TK (63:14)

I think that's what I thought.

J. Skeets (63:15)

He had one 30 point game under his belt in the NBA previously to this 43. But I could be wrong.

Tas Melas (63:22)

You could be right.

J. Skeets (63:23)

Could be wrong.

Tas Melas (63:28)

I. I do recall he did have.

TK (63:30)

A 34 point game. So I don't know what you're telling me.

J. Skeets (63:31)

Adam, what the hell? It's okay, we put it on. Adam Amin is already said it on the broadcast.

Tas Melas (63:37)

Yeah.

TK (63:37)

He's like, this is his best game in years. Years. Probably since his high school days.

J. Skeets (63:42)

Oh, probably. He did throw that in.

TK (63:43)

Yeah.

J. Skeets (63:43)

I mean, covered his ass.

Tas Melas (63:45)

That's a lot of shot attempts. In part. No Lowry on the floor yesterday. So, you know, that kind of helped his shot attempts go up. But he can drop it at any time. Yeah.

J. Skeets (63:53)

What a great name too. Bryce. Sensible. I just love saying his name.

Tas Melas (63:58)

B, R, I, C, E. You know, I didn't see that coming. That's a Y. That's a Y name.

J. Skeets (64:05)

Yeah, but LeBron's son, he's a. He's a. Yeah, yeah.

TK (64:09)

I've got a friend who's A, B, R, I, C, E as well.

Tas Melas (64:12)

Huh?

J. Skeets (64:12)

Yep.

Tas Melas (64:13)

Guess you saw that coming.

TK (64:15)

No, no, he actually loves it when somebody is spelled Bryce with an eye because it's. Because like you're saying, it's unusual. So there you go.

J. Skeets (64:22)

There you go.

Tas Melas (64:22)

Yeah.

J. Skeets (64:23)

Pick him. We got an interesting one.

TK (64:25)

Not Bryce on the ball.

J. Skeets (64:26)

We gotta get this pick in here, Tas, because the game starts in three hours.

Tas Melas (64:29)

Afternoon basketball.

J. Skeets (64:30)

Hell yeah.

TK (64:31)

Noon ball.

Tas Melas (64:32)

Always fun. The Grizzlies are visiting the Orlando Magic in Berlin, who are the home team in Berlin. And they get a five and a half point line to play with. They are the favorites. The home team is the favorites. Orlando must win by six or more. Skeets, you're taking them while Trey and I think that the Grizzlies can deal with that. Lose by 5 or less or win. What is anyone thinking?

J. Skeets (64:58)

Well, John Moran is not playing. We thought he might. Said he just got into it with Vince Williams. He's there had an argument with him instead that went viral. He's not playing. He is there. And the two Wagners are back, though. Mo came back recently and I think Franz is playing here this afternoon, which is. Which is fun.

TK (65:16)

Did you see all these Adidas videos with Detlef Shrimp talking about the hesitation dribble?

J. Skeets (65:22)

I did see a little bit. Yes.

TK (65:23)

I was laughing.

J. Skeets (65:24)

Yeah. Yeah. So I'm taking Team Germany here in the Magic.

TK (65:29)

I thought this was a very hard pick. The Magic haven't won back to back games since December 1st. They're coming off a win, so strike against them in my book. And just the number is big. So give me the points. I think this is a hard pick, though.

Tas Melas (65:43)

Okay, same with me. I'm taking the points, you're taking the points. Got the COVID You argue on the practice floor right before bringing. Brings the team together. We'll see. We'll see. Yeah, he's going over there for not only that game in Berlin, but I guess, of course he'll be there in London as well when they play. Until they trade him Sunday. Yeah. Will they trade him before his next game? That'd be right.

J. Skeets (66:07)

Be a nice courtesy if he didn't have to take the flight to London, though. Maybe you have to make a connection through there anyway. No, no, no, I guess you wouldn't. You could fly from Germany, straight to Orlando, straight to America.

Tas Melas (66:16)

To America. America maybe. Not to Memphis.

J. Skeets (66:18)

No, no, not to Memphis. Can't imagine.

TK (66:21)

I would imagine.

J. Skeets (66:22)

Yeah, yeah, maybe Philadelphia.

Tas Melas (66:25)

Kevin o' Connor get out of New York.

TK (66:27)

If they trade him, do you think the new team would have to go get Ja from the eu?

Tas Melas (66:33)

Oh, they send a private flag.

TK (66:36)

I'm just like, it ain't on us anymore.

J. Skeets (66:39)

I saw this going around. I don't know if it's real that John Moran already, like, bought a house in Miami. See this?

TK (66:43)

I did see the reports, but I didn't check. Yeah, first.

J. Skeets (66:48)

Oh, you heard it here first.

Tas Melas (66:51)

That's the first time I heard about Morant buying a house in Miami.

J. Skeets (66:53)

You heard it here first, guys. John Morant bought a house in Miami. It's just a matter of time before he's gonna get traded there. All right, anyway, I got the Grizzlies. Did you see that attention to detail on that graphic, by the way. Not Grizzlies at Magic. Grizzlies vs Magic v. And then a little German flag.

TK (67:09)

That's a beautiful flag.

J. Skeets (67:10)

That's where we are. I guess the Magic will be the road team when they play in London.

Tas Melas (67:14)

I guess so.

J. Skeets (67:15)

Yeah, they flip it and then they let the mascot do the work. That game, at least that's what happened while we were in France for the two games that was the same teams back to back in the same arena. But Pacers were the home team and then the spurs were the home team the next game.

TK (67:30)

It's mostly for some of the mad Scots.

J. Skeets (67:31)

No. Yeah, it was like it was the dance crews and mascots. Yeah. J.D. am I right? That's sound, right? Isn't that what happened 100, right? Yeah. Okay.

Tas Melas (67:40)

Yeah, I mean it makes sense. In Germany, all the German born players, they're the home team.

J. Skeets (67:44)

Yeah, very smart.

Tas Melas (67:46)

Do the Grizzlies have any Brits? I don't think so. Doubt it.

J. Skeets (67:54)

I don't know. Maybe Zach Edie has a great grandfather that.

TK (68:01)

They have an Italian. Kentavius Caldwell Pope.

J. Skeets (68:06)

All right, we'll see you guys tomorrow morning. You gotta join us tomorrow morning. You gotta join us every morning. But we have a big surprise guest tomorrow morning. I'm gonna leave it at that. Hope to see you here at 10am Eastern. Till then, Clipper Bros, you heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys.

TK (68:25)

Awesome.

Tas Melas (68:26)

Thanks for joining us. And remember, the graphics looking spectacular. Also the monitors looking spectacular. I love this one with the firework type of look here.

J. Skeets (68:37)

Look in the matrix.

Tas Melas (68:39)

Is that for our guest tomorrow? Yeah. Looking great.

J. Skeets (68:44)

Very good. Brace today, people.

DJ Hester Prynne (68:50)

When you feel uncomfortable, what do you put on Biggie? You put on Biggie when you feel uncomfortable.

Tas Melas (68:56)

Because I want to get confident.

DJ Hester Prynne (68:57)

This is DJ Hester Prynne's Music is Therapy, a new podcast from me, a DJ and licensed therapist. 12 months, 12 areas of your life. Money, love, career, confidence. This isn't just a podcast. It's unconventional therapy for your entire year. Listen to DJ Hester Prynne's Music is Therapy on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

J. Skeets (69:20)

This is an iHeart podcast.

Tas Melas (69:23)

Guaranteed Human.