Takes

The Philadelphia 76ers are the best team in the NBA right now

The Sixers might just be the best team of these who are just kind of waiting or the best team in the NBA who were just waiting because they have sort of destroyed the Hawks the last two games.

The Nets are a legit super team and are asserting dominance even without James Harden

I think the Nets are a legit super team. These guys are missing James Harden... and they are still crushing it with Kevin Durant, who has snapped back into pre-injury form. When Joe Harris, the best catch-and-shoot guy in the league, is your fourth option, man, you're a super team.

Don't bet against Kawhi Leonard in the playoffs

The last thing I'll say is don't bet against Kawhi Leonard in the playoffs. This dude came down from 2-0 in that first round series with one of the all time performances... he's really doing stuff that nobody else is doing.

The Brooklyn Nets are the best team in the NBA right now

They look like they're going to certainly come out of the East... they've coalesced at the exact right time and are playing, to my view, the best basketball in the league right now.

The 2017 Warriors were better than the 2021 Nets because of defense

I don't think so. Those Warriors teams... were defensive juggernauts and offensive juggernauts. I'll take pre-injury KD over post-injury KD... and I'll take Steph over Harden by a narrow margin.

The Nets could win the title if every starter had to score the exact same amount of points every game

I really think they could do it... they're all running plays for Joe Harris in the third quarter. I think they could probably do that. That's how good they are.

In the future, the 2021 MVP will be a difficult trivia question

He's going to be a trivia question down the line. I'm telling the audience right now, there will come a time in your life when you are asked who the 2020-2021 MVP was. And you're going to need to remember this moment when I'm telling you that it's Jokic because it will win you money.

The 76ers will win their series against the Hawks

I do think the Sixers are going to win that series. But I've been wrong many, many times before. 40 points for Mr. Suck It [Embiid], he's out. I guess Triple H, he's out. Mr. Suck It, he's out.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is no more than a 1B option

The hot takes now are... Giannis is no more than a 1B. He can't ascend to the next level. The Bucs have hit the wall that they've hit every single year. I tend to believe there's some truth in that, but it's more that the Nets are so much better than we're giving them credit for.

The Nets could beat almost any team if all five starters had to score the exact same amount of points

How many teams do you think that the Nets could beat in a seven-game series if... All five of their starters had to score the exact same amount of points... It's like everyone has to score exactly 14 points. [With Harden healthy], I think they could beat almost everyone.

Kevin Durant is the most 'regular' superstar of all time in the NBA

I also think he's... the most regular superstar of all time in the NBA. He's as close as you can get to normal. He's just like a regular dude, and he thinks like a regular person would, realizes this absurd situation that he's in where hundreds of millions of people have opinions about him who he will never meet in his life. And he's better at basketball than all of them.

The Brooklyn Nets will be considered one of the greatest teams of all time within a month

I feel like we're going to be, in a month, the conversation is going to be like, are the Nets one of the greatest teams of all time? If they keep playing the way they have in these first two games, they deserve it because it really is like they just fucking jump on you.

I am officially counting LeBron James out

So, well, let's just do a quick straw poll. Are you counting [LeBron] out? ... I want to count him out. Yeah, I'm going to do it. I'm going to count him out.

Kyrie Irving has the most desirable game of any NBA player

I think Kyrie Irving has the number one. If you could pick which game you could have, if you're any NBA player, you'd pick Kyrie Irving. Because his handles are incredible. His finishing at the rim... he's just so goddamn good.

Kyrie Irving would win an NBA-wide one-on-one tournament

I think that if there was, like, a bracket one-on-one tournament in the NBA, I think that Kyrie would probably win.

The NBA is a 'sick league' where stars care more about movies than winning

The best player in the world [LeBron James] is walking off the court with 15 minutes left in the game like an asshole. And nobody says a word to him. And then he talks about his fucking cartoon movie after the game. Imagine being on that team. You just lost after being champions and talking about the Monstars.

LeBron James will flirt with retirement this offseason to get people talking

My prediction for this offseason is that LeBron James, he's going to pull like an Aaron Rodgers. He's going to publicly flirt with retiring, but privately he's going to be like, I'm going to come back. But he wants people to talk about whether or not this is the end of the road for him.

LeBron James will never be 100% healthy again

He's old. He's 36. He's not as dominant as he used to be. He's never going to be 100% again. He said it himself.

The Lakers would have beaten the Suns if Anthony Davis stayed healthy

I do think – I'll say one nice thing about the Lakers. I do think that if Anthony Davis stays healthy in this series, it's totally different. They were up 2-1, tie ball game, game four, and he gets hurt.

LeBron James quit on his team in Game 5

So game five, he quit on his team. I mean, I don't know how you could see it otherwise. He left the game with five minutes and 40 feet, left the bench.

Repeating as champion is the hardest thing to do in sports

LeBron has done it once. Hardest thing to do in sports is repeat, right?

The Lakers 2020 Bubble championship simply didn't happen

I think we can all agree that just didn't happen. It doesn't. Yeah. The bubbled never. That's not basketball. Yeah. No fans around.

Brad Stevens is the right person to run the Celtics front office

If there's anyone that knows exactly what this Celtics roster needs to be and beat these teams that are on the next level, it is Brad Stevens. Obviously, Danny Ainge said that he was like, there's been moves that me and Brad didn't agree on, and now Brad has full control to do whatever he wants.

The Hawks will beat the Sixers in the second round because of Joel Embiid's injury

They don't have Joel Embiid because he can't stay fucking healthy ever. And they're going to get boat raced by the Hawks in the second round and not make the Eastern Conference Finals again. That's my opinion.

It is harder to stay at the top than to reach it in professional sports

It's always easy to have the hunger before you get it... But then when you are successful, in our case, when an NBA championship, you know, you understand what it takes to be able to stay at that level. And it's not easy... Now you're not the hunter anymore. You're the hunted.

NBA players leave the bench early to shave time off post-game recovery and travel

Being a vet, former vet, knowing the thing, they wanted to get the treatment because he put in his head... It takes 30, 40 minutes, 45 minutes, and this is after a game, if not an hour. And so he's got to shower. He's got to change. He's got media obligations... and they still have to get on the plane and go back to L.A. Just trying to trim down those minutes.

The pandemic has caused fans to lose their minds and forget how to behave in arenas

I do think the pandemic has fucked people up more than we realize. And people are just getting back into the real world and losing their fucking minds. Preseason. Yes, preseason. No one knows how to act right now. Give it a couple weeks. I do not think it's some huge epidemic where this is going to be the new norm that fans are just fucking with players constantly.

The Celtics will not win another game in their series against the Nets

[Jason Tatum] had 50, right? Yeah, that's fine... The starting lineup, it's one of those things where it doesn't matter. You could play those starting two lineups 100 times and the Celtics might win one. [Big Cat: 'Can we call it over?'] 100%. It's over.

Joel Embiid didn't hurt his knee; he actually hurt his back or tailbone

I don't think [Joel Embiid] hurt his knee. I think he hurt his ass slash back. He grabbed his back. He fell on his back. His back has been bothering him all year. He grabbed his back, but he also grabbed the back of his leg. This is Drew Brees' ribs all over again. Joel Embiid's back is hurt.

Tom Thibodeau's coaching style prevents teams from having an extra gear in the playoffs

Tom Thibodeau is a fantastic coach, and he will always get your team to overachieve and play to their max ability during the regular season. And then when you get to the postseason, there's no extra gear... he also played Julius Randle the most minutes of anyone in the NBA this year. It's always going to go like this when you do that with your star player who can't figure out a double team.

I'm predicting a vintage, dominant LeBron James performance in Game 5 against the Suns

I think we're going to get like a vintage, vintage LeBron just every single way... 38 [points], 12 [rebounds], 8 [assists]. It's going to be one of those stat lines where Nick Wright will be like, 'no player since Michael Jordan has ever done this in the playoffs.'

Luka Doncic is actually several years older than the Mavericks claim

I think Luka's older than we think he is... I think it's a Danny Almonte, Alfonso Soriano thing. I don't think Luka's 22 years old. I think Luka's probably 27, 28 years old. If you're a player that's not born in the United States and you come over, there's a lot of paperwork that can get either lost or changed very easily.

The Lakers will win their series against the Suns

The Lakers are up 2-1. They're going to win this series. The Suns, I feel bad for them. I don't know how the Lakers don't come out of the West.

Jimmy Butler is not a top 15 player in the NBA

I've long said that Jimmy Butler is not a top 15 player in the NBA. He doesn't look at all like he did last year. I don't know what the difference is.

Nike's NBA jerseys are an abomination

What Nike has done with jerseys is an abomination. Whatever the Knicks were wearing was so fucking bad. It was like, it looked like if they made a movie set in the future and like New York City set in like 20, I don't know, 90, this is what the Knicks are wearing.

Home teams should always wear white in every sport

In any sport, one team should wear white... the home team should just wear white. Yes. That's it. And then the away team wears color. They can maybe switch it between a couple different colors. But the home team should always wear white.

The 'sports are better with fans' honeymoon phase will end by Thanksgiving

We're in a nice honeymoon phase where it is incredible to turn on a game and just be like, oh, my God, this is awesome... I think sometime around Thanksgiving, if you're still doing that, if you're still pointing out the extremely obvious sports are better with fans, you're late to it.

The Brooklyn Nets are the 'new' L.A. Clippers

I think the Nets are the new Clippers in that regard. They're obviously very good. They're super talented. They're the favorites to win it. But can it work? Do they have production after the first three guys? ... Is Kyrie nuts? And is James Harden a little too? Can those three personalities mesh? That's what the new Clippers are to me.

You can't beat the Lakers if Anthony Davis is hitting three-pointers

Anthony Davis, if he doesn't make all those three-pointers, it's a much different game. You can't beat the Lakers if Anthony Davis is wet from three.

The Clippers must blow it all up if they lose their first-round series

You have to figure it out because you know what happens if they lose the series? You got to blow it all up. You got to trade Paul George. Everybody. Trade everyone.

The 2021 Brooklyn Nets are the greatest team ever assembled

The Nets look like the greatest team ever assembled tonight... Ever... No hyperbole.

The Nets will only lose if their stars have off-nights or are distracted by off-court issues

You have to hope that KD and Kyrie have off nights and that James Harden went out to a strip club... I was thinking I was like, you have to take James Harden out to the club. You have to get a Twitter troll to go after KD. And then you have to have like some type of fact or like, whoa, moment with Kyrie that he just spends the whole time being like, is the world flat or not?

The Lakers will bounce back and win the Western Conference

The Lakers, unfortunately, are going through their struggles. But I think they'll bounce back tonight. I'm expecting them to come out the West.

Michael Jordan is the GOAT over LeBron because he has no skill deficiencies

MJ always is going to be there at the forefront... MJ is my guy... for me, [LeBron] can't, it's the skill set. And it's the skill set that separates them from me. And MJ has no deficiencies when it comes to the game of basketball on both ends of the floor.

The Milwaukee Bucks will win the 2021 NBA Championship

I'm going to go with – I know this is going to be crazy... I got Milwaukee in the finals for me... And then at the end, said and done, Milwaukee's walking away with it.

The Celtics vs. Nets series is basically over after Game 1

Obviously, the Celtics lost. That first half, though. They had a great first half. They had a chance. Kemba Walker played terribly in the second half, and the series is basically over. Sweep. Maybe gentlemen's sweep.

The Heat vs. Bucks first-round series is going seven games

The Heat, Bucks, I think that's going seven. Giannis Cantu Fritos. Yeah. Well, not in 10 seconds.

Ben Simmons is the greatest basketball player who cannot score of all time

He went six points, 15 rebounds, 15 assists. He might be the greatest basketball player who cannot score of all time. He's broken the game. He can't score. You would think that it would be impossible for a guy that is bad at shooting to be an elite basketball player. But he's somehow figured out a way to be insanely good at basketball while also not scoring points.

The Lakers money line in Game 2 against the Suns is the lock of my lifetime

I responsibly, 1-800-GAMBLER, if you have a problem, I think the Lakers game two is the lock of my lifetime. I think LeBron will answer. And AD, like we said, he forgets that he's a seven-footer. He thinks he's a mouse. He's an elephant. The Lakers will be fine in this series, and LeBron will start dominating, and it will all be for naught.

The Suns will win their first-round series against the Lakers

I disagree with you. I think the Suns are going to win. I think they're going to win the series. I've just been down this path too many times. It's just too many times for LeBron to give up game one and to be like, oh, there it is.