Takes

Coach K is the best coach I ever played for across all levels

He's the best coach I ever played for high school. AAU college, six, six coaches in the pros, I think. Yeah, he was the best coach I played. He was the best coach I played for.

The five greatest current 'basketball geniuses' in the NBA are Draymond Green, Chris Paul, LeBron James, Rajon Rondo, and Ja Morant

I'll give you the top five, top five. Okay. So [Draymond], Chris [Paul], LeBron, Rajon Rondo. And I'm gonna, I'm going to go with the guy that Draymond mentioned on the pod and that's Ja Morant. I think Ja Morant's... already a basketball genius.

Kevin Durant is also a basketball genius because of his obsession with the game

Yeah, he is. He is. A lot of guys that are basketball geniuses... they are obsessed with basketball and they watch basketball... I think [Durant] out of anyone in the NBA right now, I think he loves basketball more than anyone.

The Miami Heat are the best and most complete team in the Eastern Conference

I think the Miami Heat to me are the best team in the East... To me the most complete team to me, and again, this is health dependent... I think the Heat is the team to me, health aside where I'm like that team has the least amount of question marks.

Ben Simmons is actually right-handed but shoots left-handed

I've told Ben that [he's right-handed]... he disagrees with me, but when I watch him, right. He does it with his right hand. If I asked him to throw, he would do it with his right hand... I think he's a right-hand person that shoots the basketball left-hand.

The Phoenix Suns will win the Western Conference

Who's winning the West... Phoenix. Phoenix is... Phoenix, Phoenix. There's I, there's more wild cards to me in the East and there aren't in the West.

Coach K might coach the Lakers next year

Maybe a chance that [Coach K] goes and coaches the Lakers next year. Why not? LeBron needs a coach. LeBron basically went to Duke. LeBron did say he was his favorite coach he ever had.

The Celtics are legitimate contenders to win the Eastern Conference

Celtics are back. They had some trouble early in the year... they have fully figured it out. Their defense is unbelievable. I think right now they're second in the league defensively. Beginning of the year, I didn't think that the Celtics had a shot to win the East. Now I do.

Never buy James Harden, always lease him on six-month rentals

Maybe that's the key to James Harden. You just need six month rentals where it's like, he's going to be in shape. He's going to be happy. He's going to try really hard. And you lease him. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Never, never buy James Harden always lease him.

Zion Williamson is a better player when he is fat

I'm going to say something controversial. I think that Zion Williamson is a better player when he's fat. I want him to get fat. Well, in fact, well he D he doesn't play right now. He's a better players to get fatter. Yeah. He just needs to get so fat that they roll them out there.

Bronny James could probably start for Williams College as a 16-year-old

somebody was just asking me, honestly, I'm not, I'm not qualified to speak on it. I'm not tapped into high school basketball... [but] I'm going to say, I'm gonna say probably just for like just sheer athleticism from, you know, I've had the, the Williams debate a lot division three basketball.

James Harden is the perfect piece to pair with Joel Embiid

I do think the Sixers are very good now. James Harden's perfect piece to pair with [Embiid], but it's going to piss people off, especially that James Harden has now done it twice where he's skinny all of a sudden again, he feels great and he just duped everyone.

The Dallas Mavericks are officially contenders to win a championship this year

Are we officially contenders? For sure. I mean, you know, it takes time to adjust to a new coach. We're 18 and six over the last 24 games. Our defense is top three and our offense is top 10. If you're a top 10 offense and a top five defense, you have a chance to compete for a title.

LeBron James is a shitty general manager

I don't think that people give enough credit to LeBron for being such a shitty general manager. He's actually not good at it. And, but in another way, he's very good at it. And, that Russell Westbrook was the perfect guy for LeBron to get on the team to be like, this is why we're bad because of him.

LeBron James is intentionally sabotaging the Lakers so they can draft Bronny

He's trying to fuck up the Lakers roster so badly that they will be in a position to draft Bronny. So then he goes back to Cleveland and then he comes back to LA to play with Bronny.

LeBron forcing his way onto Bronny's team will stunt Bronny's growth

Bronny Jr. is probably going to not even want that dude... if you see any of the draft projections or watch him play, it's like, he's good. He's not lottery pick good. But someone's going to spend a first round pick on him cause they can then get LeBron... there's a chance it could really suck for Bronny.

The NBA should get rid of the three-point line

I think they should get rid of the three really... I think much like the shot clock, where they were like enough of this... I think he should get rid of the three really.

Three-point specialists are dying because every player is now a shooter

Three point specialists are dying. That's what I'm saying. I'm worried about the three point specialists. When you have guys like Jabari Smith and Paolo [Banchero] and Chet Holmgren... all the guys that are that big, that are now [shooting]. It's stupid.

Kobe Bryant has the strongest connection to his city of any modern athlete

I guess you could say Jeter, but that doesn't feel as tight as the Kobe thing. It feels like 1990 degree Mickey Mantle shit... There's not five people in modern sports that are more connected to the way a city loves them than Kobe and LA.

I could record two points and a rebound in an NBA game

That was the thing on the, on the team plane home one year or one flight, we said, I can get you two points in, in a rebound in NBA game. You could? Yeah, I think I could, but rebound, the rebound would be tough.

The Brooklyn Nets won the James Harden for Ben Simmons trade

I disagree. I think the Nets got the better end of the deal. Between Harden and Embiid, you basically get like a three-month period with James Harden where he can truly be happy in any environment before he starts to hate something about his life... Ben Simmons, I feel like the Nets could be the right place for Ben to be because he doesn't have to shoot.

The 76ers are a legitimate title threat with the addition of James Harden

I still think [Ben Simmons] is talented... but yeah, I mean, if you put Ben Simmons with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, those guys are so fucking good. I still think, I saw it and I was like, Ooh, that's pretty good for both teams. I think the Sixers become a real, real threat now.

Joel Embiid and James Harden will play great together but Embiid will get injured in March

I think James Harden and Joel Embiid are going to be fucking insane together. And they're going to go on a tear. And then Joel Embiid is going to get injured at like the end of March.

James Harden is unhappy living in Brooklyn

James Harden is upset. This is going well. I fucking love the Nets—they're going to Kevin Durant's hurt, Kyrie plays half the games. And I saw the quote... James Harden doesn't enjoy living in Brooklyn, not just because of the climate, but also the state income tax is different than Texas.

LeBron James is the ultimate coach killer

LeBron and the coach killers back. It looks like Frank Vogel might get fired. There's a lot of rumors right now. No one does it better than him. No one kills a coach better than LeBron... Bron is going to come off the court and just be like, all right, he keeps his job one more game. Give him a look like, yeah, he's just doing the fucking gladiator up and down after every game for Frank Vogel's life.

Anthony Davis has bulked up too much and it has negatively affected his mobility and shooting

I feel like everybody called [Anthony Davis] a pussy last year... and I just feel like, all right, well now I'm definitely lifting more. And I think he came back and I think the bulk has actually slowed him down and it just didn't work. Anthony Davis, when he played, was arguably the worst jump shooter in the league based on how many shots he was taking.

Russell Westbrook's style of play does not lead to winning and he will never change

How many fucking years do you have to watch [Russell Westbrook] do the exact same thing that never leads to winning and think that it's just magic and it's going to work out at some point? Like most of us don't change and a basketball player that's as stubborn as he is isn't going to change... in the playoffs, it doesn't make any sense. He doesn't offer up any spacing for AD and LeBron, he's never set a screen in his fucking life.

Klay Thompson is a more dependable and valuable addition than Kyrie Irving

[Clay] is a better player and Clay's more dependable and Clay's available for all games. And he's not banned for half of them.

Kyrie Irving is one of the most gifted basketball skill players of all time

When you really put all the talent parts of Kyrie together—his handle, his shot making, the difficult shot-making that is an acceptable shot for Kyrie... it's actually not crazy to talk about him being actually one of the most gifted basketball skill people that we've ever seen.

The Chicago Bulls are the best story in the NBA right now

I do think the Bulls 35 games in are the best story in the NBA, just because no one thought they were going to be the one seed right now and they're playing great basketball.

The Bulls ceiling is the Eastern Conference Finals and they aren't a championship team

I'll go golden state and I'm going to say Milwaukee again. And it's kind of a bet against the newness of Chicago, not loving Chicago's options defensively for the size of Middleton and Giannis... maybe an Eastern Conference finals [ceiling for Bulls].

Following your shot in the NBA is a strategic mistake

The funniest thing is, is following your shot in the NBA is like the dumbest thing you could do... you get a transition on your face every single time.

Johnny Davis is the National Player of the Year in college basketball

Johnny Davis, right? National player of the year, if you had a vote, yeah. Number one, you would build on it.

The Bulls can compete with anyone in the Eastern Conference

I actually think [the Bulls] are very, very good. And they could compete with anyone in the east... the nets do not scare me.

Steph Curry will break the all-time three-point record tonight at Madison Square Garden

Steph Curry is going to, by the time you're listening to this, Steph Curry has already broken the record... I'm actually going to go to the game. I'm excited for it.

John Wall to the New York Knicks would be 'fucking sick'

John Wall was injured. He's now healthy. He's trying to play. And the rockets are just saying, no. ... So John Wall to New York would, would be fucking sick.

LeBron James got off easy with a one-game suspension for punching Isaiah Stewart

LeBron James basically owns the NFL [sic], which we already knew, but the fact that he got suspended one game for assault is fucking ridiculous... He looked him dead in the eye and then punched him in the face. Like if you watched the replay, he knew exactly what he was doing.

LeBron James is an absolute fraud for how he handled the Alex Caruso departure

Last night was a perfect encapsulation of how LeBron is just an absolute fraud. The story came out that the Lakers basically asked Caruso to take less money... LeBron is the GM. Everyone knows this... then it's all over him hugging them on social media like 'love you bro'.

Giannis Antetokounmpo might leave the Bucks in two years for a new challenge

Yannis is already planting the seeds to maybe leave Milwaukee... He said 'one challenge was to bring a championship here and we did.'... He said 'in two years that might change. I'm being totally honest with you.'

Jimmy Butler is a top-one player in the NBA

Jimmy Butler is a king, top one player in the NBA. He got fined due to attempting to escalate the situation and also for not snitching.

We are officially flipping the switch and betting overs in the NBA

The story's gotten too big now. It's gotten too national. So now I'm officially acknowledging we're flipping the switch. We're betting overs in the NBA now. Because too many people are getting – once NPR does a story about a trend in basketball, you can be sure that they're the last ones... So now we're betting overs officially.

Kyrie Irving is refusing the vaccine as part of a viral marketing scheme for the new Matrix movie

My cool throne is Kyrie Irving, because I'm pretty sure he's not getting vaccinated for an entire like prolonged ad for the new Matrix thing that's coming out in December... I think he's not getting vaccinated as part of a viral marketing scheme for the new Matrix.

The Malice at the Palace was started by the fans, not the players

Ben Wallace had nothing to do with the malice in the palace. You know what I'm saying? Ben Wallace had that happens all the time where a player fights a player, the fans started the Malice in the Palace... I wasn't okay with taking the full blame, you know, I, I wasn't okay with that.

Michael Jordan was the toughest player I ever defended

If I go on order of the toughest guys I've defended, and this is going to put, this is going to answer your question. The obvious would be first like Michael Jordan was the hardest guy. I haven't seen defended then as a tie between Kobe and LeBron, and then next would be Richard Hamilton.

Richard Hamilton was an exceptionally difficult defender assignment because he never stopped running

Richard Hamilton was hard because all he's doing is running the whole time. So I'm not a shooting guard, but I often guard the best players whoever's doing work... rip Hamilton, all he doing is running the whole time. And that's extremely tiring... He separates so well once at the point of the screen, he's gone. And it's so hard to keep up with.

Coming back from a meniscus tear in five days was the dumbest mistake of my career

I tear my meniscus takes about six weeks to come back... I come back in five days... dumbest, dumbest mistake of my life in terms of my career came back too early. I didn't hurt myself, but I was receiving a lot of fluid in my knee. So I had to keep draining the fluid.

The Chicago Bulls are officially back

My cool throne is the Bulls because Bulls are back. They're the last undefeated team in the East. They are good.

If Ben Simmons is faking mental health issues to avoid playing, he is setting mental health awareness back significantly

I applaud Ben Simmons for being so brave. Yes, exactly. I would like to agree. Yeah. I would say it's okay to not be okay... If he is faking it, he's actually setting mental health way back way.

Ben Simmons is the reason the Philadelphia 76ers have been held back

I keep saying it and I feel like there's some people who still don't understand it. Like Ben Simmons is the reason why the Sixers have been held back. It's not that he, like if Joel Embiid was holding out, it'd be a completely different scenario here because Joel Embiid is their best player by far in away.

LeBron James is the ultimate package and a perfect role model

I think LeBron is the ultimate package, you know, he is a great, you know, athlete, you know, he's a great human being... the longevity the way, you know, he's been so consistent over there in a long time. He's 37 now he's a year older than me. So, you know, I always just aspire to be like him.